Rearing roosters for cockfight costs lakhs but pays dividend in crores

Cockfight is a sport where blood flows freely and, those who organize this sport in rural Andhra Pradesh spend lakhs of rupees to rear and feed each bird in preparation of the bloody sport. Even though it is illegal, it is a mega sport in the countryside during Sankranti with stakes running into hundreds of crores of rupees.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 11 January 2016.

It may be of interest to note that a rooster weighing four to five kgs costs Rs 4 lakh, and many feel it to be a good investment because returns can be many more times its value.
The West Godavari district, known for its prime aquaculture ponds and lush green agricultural fields, leads the cockfight 'industry' - and people spending about Rs 200 crore on betting. Neighboring districts of Krishna and Guntur are in the second slot in the betting hierarchy.
In view of the huge amount of money involved, the organizers go all out to keep the roosters ready. Their meals consist of almonds, cashews and minced mutton (kheema). Moreover, the birds are administered muscle-building hormones and antibiotics. Thereby, they can withstand injuries during the fight.
Cockfighting is prohibited under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act, 1974 and bird lovers oppose these events as thousands of roosters die in the sport but, cockfight enthusiasts describe as a "traditional sport".

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Telangana to modify Yadagirigutta temple to make its own version of Tirupati temple

The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the creation of the new state of Telangana has brought with it problems of a different nature that had probably not been anticipated earlier. That is the temple controversy. Andhra Pradesh has retained several temples at which people turn up in huge numbers for pilgrimage and the most famous one among them is that of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala. That is believed to be the richest temple in India. And, Telangana does not have any matching temple.
Therefore, Telangana is understood to be drawing up plans to create a matching temple that could attract lakhs of visitors on a regular basis and which would boost up revenue.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 23 July 2015.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has directed that a temple be built that could match the stature of Tirumala. The temple chosen is that of the Yadagirigutta temple that is dedicated to Sri Laskhmi Narasimha Swamy. The temple town is just 50-Km from Hyderabad and is well connected by rail and road.
Right now, it receives approximately 50,000 visitors and devotees on weekends and, its revenue is already going up. Its income is now Rs 73 crores in 2014-15 as compared to Rs 66 crores in the previous year.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Heavy rains lash Andhra and Telengana – 150 fishermen missing

Normal life was thrown completely out of gear as heavy rains continued to lash Andhra and Telangana for the second day. 150 fishermen have been reported as missing – they had ventured out to sea on 17 June in 20 boats. Officials have set up control rooms to meet the flood threat.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 21 June 2015.

The missing fishermen are from East Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts and officials have launched a search operation in the Bay of Bengal with the help of the Coast Guard.
The worst hit districts in Telengana are Warangal, Khammam and Adilabad – the streams and rivulets are overflowing and traffic is blocked while marooning low-lying areas are marooned while dozens of villages have lost connectivity.
The water level in the Godavari at Bhadrachalam has been steadily increasing and people living in low-lying areas are in panic. The water level at Bhadrachalam stood at 24 ft on Saturday afternoon – this was nearly 11 ft up when compared to Friday evening.
The production of coal in the Singareni open cast mines in Khammam, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad has been affected because the rain water entered the open cast mining area.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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With over 2000 deaths, India experiencing 5th deadliest heatwave in the world

India, with the death toll crossing 2000, is experiencing the 5th deadliest heatwave in the world as per an international database of disasters and reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 31 May 2015. The arrival of monsoons is delayed, it is overdue and the weathermen predict that there would be some more delays.
The deaths due to the current heatwave is maximum from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, while affecting large parts of the rest of the country.

For the records, the deadliest heatwave on record in India is the one of 1998 one in which 2,541 people died. However, in 2003, there has been recorded the most lethal heatwave in the world which killed more than 71,310 people in Europe. These figures are maintained in the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) and by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) based in Brussels, Belgium.
As per records, six of the top ten heatwaves in terms of deaths have occurred in the 21st century, which has also recorded eight of the ten warmest years ever since records of global temperatures were started being kept.
2014 was tied at the warmest year on record with 1998, and the first quarter of 2015 has already been declared the warmest on record. Obviously, one can assume that global warming and increasing population are the contributory factors to the increasing ferocity of heatwaves.
Incidentally, in the list of top ten deadliest disasters, Indian heatwaves figure four times — 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2015.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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