The near total political paralysis of one of India's largest states, Andhra Pradesh, over its proposed carve-up, raises fresh questions about how the world's largest democracy will handle questions of identity and territory in this young century. Telangana, the new state proposed, is not a fresh demand, but even as it seems closer than ever to materialising, it opens a Pandora's box in a vast country of over a billion...

In a new twist to the alleged Rs 5,600-crore scam in giving away contracts for ambulance and emergency healthcare services to a private party in 10 states, the Centre told the SC that though the funds for the services were from National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the onus rested with the state governments to ensure transparent bidding process. A PIL had alleged that it smelled a gigantic scam in former...

In his engaging book on a love affair between a Hyderabadi princess and an Englishman in the 18th century, William Dalrymple reminds us that “the road from Hyderabad to the port of Masulipatam was one of the most beautiful in the Deccan”. In unearthing this fact from travelogues of the time, Dalrymple draws attention not just to the wealth of Hyderabad, inherited from the richest kingdom of the Deccan, Golconda,...

There has been uproar in southern India's Andhra Pradesh assembly in protest against the government's decision to create a new state. Lawmakers have shouted slogans against the decision to carve out a new state of Telangana in its north. An estimated 35 million people will live in the new state, Telangana. Separately, a four-day strike called by a regional political party demanding a separate state has begun in India's tea-producing Darjeeling...

Wants exclusion of tiger reserve area falling within its purview  Says construction of dam will disturb the core habitat of wild animals Minister concerned at the ecological implications of project NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has asked the Centre to review the Ken-Betwa river-linking project in Madhya Pradesh in view of the ecological implications. In a letter to Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mr. Ramesh...