'Over 50 crore Indians are currently suffering from a livelihood crisis, something to which the whole country had shut its eyes to for the past six months.' 'We woke up only after the IPL was affected.'
Rediff's data journalists bring you data about toilet/bathroom and sanitation facilities across India from the 69th round (2012) of National Sample Survey.
'Made in Heaven plays well as a busy show; when it's hip, but without being hopeless,' feels Sreehari Nair.
He is one of a group of young players who have helped to make golf the fastest-growing sport in urban India.
'I still remember I couldn't buy How To Learn Acting because I did not have sufficient money.' 'Later, when I searched for the book, I could never find it.'
Reliance Industries Ltd is expected to invest Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion), of the total Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) announced, in its telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm over the next two years, credit rating firm Moody's said on Monday. The investment in the telecom business is a credit negative for RIL because RJio will not generate any EBITDA (an indicator of cash flows) for at least next 12 months, it said. Moody's added however that RJio will be a formidable competitor in the sector making it a credit negative for top telecom operators already in the field. "Based on RIL's March 2014 annual report, we estimate that it has already invested about Rs 400 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) in Reliance Jio, and we expect RIL to invest the next Rs 300 billion in Reliance Jio over the next two years," Moody's Investors Service said in a statement. RIL recently announced that it will launch commercial 4G telecom service of RJio in 2015 entailing investment of Rs 70,000 crore. RIL has said that RJio will initially cover about 5,000 towns and cities accounting for over 90 per cent of urban India, as well as over 215,000 villages in India and the target is to expand this to over 600,000 villages. Moody's said RJio will be a "formidable competitor in India's telecom sector" as it will enter the business with financial muscle. RJio's entry into highly competitive telecom sector is also credit negative for incumbent mobile operators and market leaders Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India because "it will undoubtedly result in intensified competition that will lead to declines in average revenue per user and margins". But, it also said that strong spectrum holding of incumbents; existing large subscriber-bases and well- established brand equity; offering 2G and 3G services (apart from 4G services being launched) as well as marketing and distribution architecture mitigate much of the near-term competitive threat from Reliance Jio for them. "Furthermore, given issues of language and literacy, large parts of rural India remain a substantially voice-based market where near-term demand for 4G services may be muted," Moody's said.
After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented his fifth straight budget in the Lok Sabha, Bharatiya Janata Party members and ministers from the Cabinet reacted positively to the Budget. Here are some of the reactions.
The consumer confidence in urban India has increased by 9 points.
More than 100 million new users added in just one year; mobile internet usage seen as next frontier.
It said 33,510 slums were estimated to be in the urban areas of the country of which 41 per cent were notified.
Hails country's recent digital highways and predicted India to become digital content capital of world.
Using the western concept of a wedding registry, many couples are directing the attention of their friends and relatives to a donation registry and encourage them to give directly to their favourite charity in lieu of a gift.
Telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm has arranged credit facilities worth $1.5 billion with lenders, including Bank of America and Barclays, to refinance existing loans.
While chits and the formal financial sector are not 'largely substitutable', users like the commitment to savings that these enforce and the flexibility in borrowing, reports N Sundaresha Subramanian from New Delhi.
The real estate sector presents a daunting picture with revival prospects appearing to be bleak.
'A war is being fought in South Kashmir.' 'Do not underestimate your enemy, be sensible and cautious and be prepared for the worst if you choose to move in the region unprotected,' advises Sanjeev Nayyar.
The licensee will have to ensure that at least half the areas under rural telecom exchanges gets the required street level coverage.
Most adult Indians should have access to bank deposits, credit and remittance facilities as well as insurance and mutual fund products in the next decade, and technology will play a big role in this transformation, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In the heat and dust of a Baramati rally with Supriya Sule.
Our busy schedules, our living conditions where sunlight is often a luxury, pollution as also social mores that frown upon exposure are collectively responsible.
Solving problems through science was the key takeaway from the Prime Minister's speech.
"Nobody can forget June 25-26 in the history of India. 40 years ago, the country was bound with chains of Emergency and turned into a jail for the lust for power," he said.
We don't know what percentage of new fathers in the Indian corporate sector take their parental responsibilities seriously enough to use the leave, says Kanika Datta.
Mythological and historical shows are lapped up not just by the young, but equally by grown men and women.
'Parents are like customers and the customer is king.' 'As a result, disciplining by teachers is also frowned upon.' 'One of my teachers gave a student a C in some subject and the father says to me: "I didn't send my son to an expensive school like this for him to get a C!"'
India's demographic dividend may not automatically give rise to tangible economic gains -- at least not with immediate effect -- but it is likely to have a big impact on the coming Lok Sabha elections, Mayank Mishra
HSBC analysts believe the UV which might sell about 3,000 units a month might fail to be an aspirational product in urban India.
They can carry huge amounts of data, have a lot of bandwidth, but operate at short ranges, between 200 metres and 2-3 km reports Surajeet Das Gupta
The Congress is hopeful that the new messiah of the middle classes will cut into the BJP's votes in urban India, thus damaging the chances of the saffron party and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, believes Renu Mittal
'Even if you are aping the West, if you customise the idea for the Indian market, localise it based on the Indian ethos, it will succeed.'
This development can strengthen the case for interest rate cut by the RBI.
TTV Dinakaran's road to reaching the poll stage could still be strewn with legal difficulties, as much as political problems from other new players, like actors Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Dhruv Gupta explains how, as more and more young people fall prey to diabetes, organisaions get affected and how companies can contain the losses due to drop in productivity.
Author Sahil in his latest book talks about the extravagant spending at Indian weddings.
