online News Portal

Twitter Music review

Until now, my problem with social music services has been this. Following friends doesn't really turn up much music I actually want to hear. We didn't become friends because we share musical tastes, and too few of them are using the services I'm trying out.

Twitter's new music service solves this problem. It helps that it's free. With it, I'm able to sneak a peek into the musical interests of the artists I like. For example, I discovered that Gotye likes the Divine Fits, a Los Angeles-based band I'd never heard of until now, because he follows them on Twitter.

With a tap on the colorful photo representing the band, I can listen to a 30-second preview of the new song of theirs that is being tweeted about the most. For the Divine Fits, that's "Like Ice Cream." It was catchy enough for me to want to hear more.

After listening to a preview, I can tap a button to buy the track on iTunes or listen to the full song through a $10-a-month subscription from Spotify or Rdio. I can also find other songs from the artists through those outside services.

As a discovery tool, Twitter's #music service provides a convenient, visually pleasing way to filter through the deluge of music that's out there.

Sure, I could have replicated this feature by digging through Gotye's Twitter profile and individually going into the profiles of people he's following to determine if they're artists. Then I could search elsewhere for their songs or music videos. But that's more work than I'm ready to put into this.

The #music service highlights the artists for you and features the song preview right there.

The service also has a tab for emerging artists that it somehow digs out from tweets. I'm not sure how they're selected, but random poking around this page is how I found the broody music of Skylar Grey.

Finding new music can be tough. It's easy to get hit over the head by the chart-toppers, who are everywhere. There's also a "popular" tab in #music for a rundown of which artists are trending on Twitter.

It's way more difficult to find music you like if you never knew a band existed. This provides a way.

For now, #music is available as an iPhone app and on the Web. Twitter says an Android version is coming, but it didn't say when.

Beyond its usefulness for music discovery, the Twitter #music app is fun to play with. It is far more engaging than Twitter's regular app, and swiping around makes the squares representing artists bounce around. Tapping to play a song clip generates a spinning icon with album cover art that harkens back to the heyday of vinyl records.

True, this is a marketing tool and I was skeptical to start. And #music is not perfect for listening. Artists have only one song apiece on their profiles, so if you want to hear more you've got to go elsewhere.

And even if you buy a song from iTunes after discovering it here, tapping the play button on the artist's square again will still play the 30-second preview. I discovered this after buying Skylar Grey's "Final Warning" for 69 cents. To hear the full version, I had to go back to the iPhone's music player.

It also didn't track the #NowPlaying tag very well, despite putting it in all my tweets from the service. There was a considerable lag in showing these tweets from people I follow compared with my normal Twitter feed.

For full song plays within the service, you have to sign up for a premium subscription to Spotify or Rdio, each of which costs $10 a month.

This made using #music much better, although I discovered more artists by listening to just 30 seconds, making a quick decision and moving on - kind of like speed dating for music. The clips will play back-to-back, which can make for a jarring listening experience. But you also can focus your time on quick music discovery and go elsewhere to learn more.

Connecting the service to my Rdio account helped because the songs I played through #music showed up on the Rdio app's history list. That way, I could switch to Rdio to listen to the whole album.

Thanks to #music, I discovered that I like the Divine Fits and Skylar Grey within, say, a half hour of fiddling with the service. That makes it worth downloading, in my view. I'll go back to it when I'm on the hunt again for music I didn't know was there.

PayPal now allows Indian merchants to receive up to $10,000 in one transaction

Online payments provider PayPal has increased the per-transaction receiving limit for merchants in India to $10,000.

This essentially means that merchants registered with PayPal will be able to receive up top $10,000 in one transaction for export-related payments for goods and services.

According to an email communication from PayPal, merchants will be able to accept credit and debit card payments on their website, mobile, eBay listing, or by sending an invoice.

However, to be able to receive export-related payments, merchants would need to confirm their email address, and add a Permanent Account Number (PAN), Purpose Code and local bank account to their PayPal Account.

The move comes after the Reserve Bank of India issued a notification allowing Online Payment Gateway Service Providers like PayPal to increase the per transaction receiving limit to $10,000 for export related remittances, as reported by MediaNama.

Previously, the receiving limit per transaction was capped to $3,000 by the RBI. While merchants carrying out transactions through online payment providers will now be able to receive payments of up to $10,000 in one go, it's worth pointing out that these payments will be automatically transferred to their bank accounts as payments are auto withdrawn every day. The steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India are to ensure that these transactions get recorded.

In September 2011, the RBI had capped overseas payments per transaction to $500. The limit was increased to $3000 after just one month.

Microsoft for lack of Windows Phone updates, apps

It looks like Nokia has finally come out in the open against Microsoft's slow pace of pushing updates to Windows Phone 8.

While the Finnish handset giant has been churning out new handset models and updated versions of its own services and apps, Microsoft has often been criticised for not playing a very conducive role when it comes to bringing its mobile OS on par with Android and iOS.

Till now, tech evangelists and Nokia fans had been panning Microsoft for ignoring the Windows Phone 8 platform, however, it now seems that Nokia also wants Microsoft to get out of its slumber.

In a recent interview with International Business Times, Bryan Biniak, Vice President - App Development at Nokia, has fired salvos at Microsoft, subtly conveying the message that smartphone sales are suffering due to lack of updates.

He said, "We are trying to evolve the cultural thinking [at Microsoft] to say 'time is of the essence.' Waiting until the end of your fiscal year when you need to close your targets, doesn't do us any good when I have phones to sell today."

Biniak also talked about the problem related to lack of apps, and how it's affecting the consumer's perception against Nokia's Lumia smartphones.

"We are releasing new devices frequently and for every new device, if there is an app that somebody cares about that's not there that's a missed opportunity of a sale," he added.

"To give you a reason to switch, I need to make sure the apps that you care about on your device are not only on our phones, but are better. I also need to provide you unique experiences that you can't get on your other devices."

While the Windows Phone platforms boasts of 165,000 apps, a number of major apps including Instagram are missing form the platform. New releases and variants of popular games like Angry Birds and Temple Run also arrive on Windows Phone, months or sometimes years after they release their iOS and Android versions.

A lot of software development on the Windows Phone platform is being supported by Nokia, with the company developing its own imaging software for its camera-focused offerings.

Nokia says it will continue to invest in the platform's development on its own.

"As a company we don't want to rely on somebody else and sit and wait for them to get it right," said Biniak.

BMW unveils electric car i3 in 3 continents; eyes Indian market

Beijing: German luxury car maker BMW Group Monday launched the first production series of its all-electric 'i3' city car simultaneously in three continents -- Asia, Europe and the US.

The company said it sees huge potential in India for the BMW i3 and is in talks with the government on the issue of sustainable mobility.

The i3 would go on sale in London by the end of this year and in Beijing and New York from the beginning of 2014.

While it will be priced 35,000 euros in Europe, the i3 will cost USD 41,350 in the US. The company has not yet decided price for the Chinese market.

Asked if the company has plans to launch the i3 in India, the Group's Board member for production Harald Krueger said: "I was in New Delhi last week. We have discussed about this with the concerned minister. We will definitely come to India as we see there is a potential market. But we cannot say when (i3 will be launched in India)."

The infrastructure in India for such electric vehicles has to be developed first, he added.

The four-seater i3, with its zero emissions all-electric engine and a range of 130-300 kilometres, is designed mainly for city use.

Commenting on the launch, BMW AG Norbert Reithofer said: "It is a milestone in motor industry. BMW i3 is a revolutionary car for sustainable mobility. This day will be remembered in future."

The car is made of carbon fibre and reinforced plastics on a light aluminium chassis to reduce weight.

"This is for the first time carbon fibre has been used for mass production in BMW. It is a technology breakthrough. Use of carbon fibre is 50 percent lighter than steel. It makes it (car) safe," Krueger said.

The car weighs 1,200 kg, while battery about 230 kgs. More than 80 percent of the vehicle parts can be recycled. It can be charged at home from conventional domestic plug socket or have a BMWi wallbox installed to charge battery in around six hours. It can also be charged at public stations.

The i3 will also have the option of a range extender which uses a two-cylinder petrol engine with nine litre fuel tank to maintain exclusively the charge of the lithium-ion battery, thereby increasing the range of the vehicle to around 300 kilometre in day-to-day driving.

The BMW created a separate 'i' sub-brand to market electric vehicles. The Group has invested more than one billion euros in developing BMW i3, the Group's Board member for Finance Friedrich Eichiner said.

The company plans to unveil 'i8' hybrid sports car next year.

Social media users at risk of potential identity fraud

Sydney: The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has reportedly warned the social media users about their vulnerability to possible identity fraud following a multi-prolonged identity fraud attack earlier this year.

According to a news website, the ATO has established a new team of identity crime busters in the organisation and has cautioned netizens using social media that criminals had perpetrated the scam using data stolen from a taxpayer's online activities.

One of the ATO's second commissioners, Geoff Leeper said that the attack earlier this year had been detected and stopped, and the loss of money was minimal and added that although the organisation didn't get 100 per cent but got the majority of it once they identified the form of attack.

Leeper warned that such attacks are caused as a result of theft of an identity and said that people need to be incredibly cautious with their online identities as it is possible for someone who is not that careful to make it easier for someone to steal their identity.

The report said that ATO's client identity unity established in Canberra will operate throughout the country and Leeper further noted that the team needs to be as vigilant as the criminal s because the attackers would ping different parts of the government system until they find a weak door.

A counsel with the Tax Institute of Australia, Deepti Paton said that the establishment of the new unit was a 'welcome move' as there was an increase year on year in identity fraud and it is a very sensible initiative.

She further added that because of the high level of cash transactions that goes on around lodgement of tax returns, it was quite important to stay ahead of these things rather than wait and see, the report added.

Britain's Home Office sends mixed signals on visa bonds

London: Britain's Home Office was on Monday at the centre of a volley of confusing statements around the proposed 3,000 pounds visa bonds for visitors from six "high-risk" countries, including India.

While some reports indicated that a pilot scheme involving a refundable 3,000 pounds cash bond for visitor visa applications from the six Afro-Asian countries originally shortlisted was to go ahead as planned, a Home Office spokesperson insisted "we are not confirming the list of countries at this stage and our original statement on the issue stands".

Besides India, the other affected countries are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana. The pilot scheme is expected to run for a year from this November before being extended to all visa types.

"We're planning a pilot that focuses on over-stayers and examines a couple of different ways of applying bonds. The pilot will apply to visitor visas, but if the scheme is successful we'd like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country," the Home Office said in a statement, without confirming the list of countries being targeted.

"This is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain. In the long run we're interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services," it added.

The proposed plan, which classifies India as a "high-risk" country despite the so-called "special relationship" and "strategic partnership" between India and the UK propagated by British Prime Minister David Cameron, had triggered widespread outrage among ministerial circles in Delhi.

Meetings between British and Indian officials have been taking place to address Indian concerns on the scheme, which was described as "an affront" by commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma last month.

Cameron had reportedly expressed his opposition to the idea soon after and sent the idea back to the drawing board following India's protests.

However, it would now seem that the Home Office is all set to bulldoze the policy through and the confusing messages may just be a way to try and manage the resulting uproar from the affected countries.

The latest reports come even as another Home Office scheme is faced with possible legal action. An advertising campaign that targets racially mixed areas of London with mobile billboards warning illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest" is being challenged as causing "tension and confusion" by a refugee group.
A Home Office spokesperson said the initiative had received several positive responses, which would be assessed after the pilot ends today.

The department has been under increasing pressure to bring down migration figures, one of the Conservative-led government's key elections pledges.

Potential targets for breast cancer therapy identified

Singapore: Scientists have identified genes that could be potential targets of drugs for aggressive forms of breast cancer, says a study.

Findings by scientists at the A*STAR`s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), were reported in the July 2013 issue of PNAS.

Using integrated genomic approaches, GIS scientists led by Qiang Yu, in collaboration with local and international institutions, set out to search for targets that can be affected by drugs.

The scientists discovered that a protein tyrosine phosphatase, called UBASH3B, is overexpressed in one-third of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) patients. UBASH3B controls the activity of an important breast cancer gene.

The researchers found that deleting this gene expression markedly inhibits TNBC cell invasive growth and lung metastasis in a mouse model.

Lead author Qiang Yu said: "The identification of target genes is always the most crucial first step towards treating a disease. It is heartening to know that UBASH3B is an important element of the pro-invasive gene network and targeting UBASH3B not only inhibits TNBC invasive growth, but also significantly reduces metastasis."

Bengal panchayat results suggest strong show for Mamata Banerjee

Seen as a prelude to Lok Sabha elections and a litmus test for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the ruling Trinamool Congress surged ahead of opposition Left Front and Congress in 11 of 17 districts in West Bengal, as initial results of gram panchayat polls came in today.

329 counting centres, spread over the 17 districts, would decide the fate of 1.69 lakh candidates, including around 90,000 women.

The Trinamool Congress had won 6,000 gram panchayats and panchayat samities uncontested.

The ruling party was much ahead in former Maoist strongholds in the districts of Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapur, as also in East Midnapur where Nandigram is located till 2:00 pm.

It was also surging ahead in the traditionally Marxist strongholds of Burdwan and Hooghly districts, besides in South and North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Birbhum and Coochbehar.

In Burdwan district, the Ms Banerjee's party won 96 gram panchayats, Left Front 14, Congress and BSP one each.

In Nadia district, TMC captured 40 gram panchayats, Left Front 21 and Congress 6.

In West Midnapur, TMC won 59, Left Front 25 and Congress one.

The Left Front for whom the election was an opportunity to stage a turnaround after its 2011 assembly poll debacle was ahead in North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad districts.

In Murshidabad, seen as a Congress stronghold under Minister of State for Railways Adhir Chowdhury, the Left Front won in 16, Congress 12 and Trinamool one.

The manual counting of votes for nearly 58,000 gram panchayats was taken up first with that of panchayat samities and all-important 17 zilla parishads to start subsequently.

The final verdict was expected by Tuesday.

Twenty people were killed in the five-phase elections marked by wrangling between the State Election Commission and the state government besides court battles.

Britain's most famous new mother

She transformed herself effortlessly from ordinary Kate Middleton into a future queen -- but for Britain's most famous new mother, the work has just begun.

Exhausted after giving birth, 31-year-old Kate will have little time to recover before she and Prince William present their newborn son, third in line to the throne, to the world's media camped outside the hospital.

It is a public start to a very public motherhood.
Despite being the daughter of a former air hostess and the first "commoner" to marry a future king since 1660, the glamorous Duchess of Cambridge has so far taken to royal life with remarkable self-assurance.

"She has many of the attributes of a natural royal performer," said Patrick Jephson, former private secretary to William's late mother Princess Diana.

Kate's beauty and charm draw frequent comparisons with Diana -- but so does the relentless hunger with which the press follows her every move.

And while hugely popular after her fairytale wedding to Prince William in 2011, she now faces the challenge of raising a future monarch in the spotlight.

Though her family has humble roots -- Kate's great-great-grandfather was a coal miner -- her own upbringing was a privileged one.

Her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, met as lowly British Airways employees but later made millions from a party supplies business.

Catherine, their first child, was born in the town of Reading, west of London, in 1982.

The family lived in Jordan when Kate was a toddler -- she could reportedly sing "Happy Birthday" in Arabic before English -- before returning to Britain and setting up their company Party Pieces in 1987.

Kate was sent to the expensive Marlborough College boarding school, where she mingled in the same aristocratic circles as William.

But it was not until 2001 while studying history of art at St Andrews University in Scotland that she met her husband-to-be.

Known at school for being hard-working and sporty, Kate kept up her whiter-than-white image at university.

But her halo occasionally slipped, most famously at the student fashion show where she wore transparent dress.

And while there were jibes about her unaristocratic background -- William's friends allegedly whispered "doors to manual" as she passed, in reference to her mother's past as a stewardess -- they were firmly a couple by 2003.

-- 'Waity Katie' --

After university, while William began his military training, Kate worked for Party Pieces and took a part-time job as a buyer for fashion label Jigsaw.

Alone in London, she was hounded by photographers in a grim reminder of Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, pursued by paparazzi.

Nicknamed "Waity Katie" by British tabloids, who accused her of hanging around for a proposal, it was a difficult time -- made worse when William dumped her in 2007.

Many jilted girlfriends would have got revenge by selling their story, but Kate maintained a dignified silence during what turned out to be only a brief split.

"At the time I wasn't very happy about it," she later said of the break-up. "But it made me a stronger person."

Kate's reserve has fed claims that she is boring -- one columnist described her as the "largely mute daughter of a party-hat seller".

It is rare to hear her speak -- and if she has a "naughty sense of humour", as William says, it is kept well hidden from the public.

Nonetheless, her Alexander McQueen wedding gown installed her as a fashion icon, while her mix of designer labels and high street bargains has made her a fixture on the world's "best dressed" lists.

Echoes of Diana, meanwhile, are never far away.

In September the furious royals sued over photographs of Kate sunbathing topless in France, raising fears she could face the same intrusion as William's late mother.

And as with Diana, there was constant speculation about when Kate would produce an heir.

Novelist Hilary Mantel has complained the duchess has none of the "human awkwardness and emotional incontinence" that made Diana interesting.

But the princess's former private secretary insists that there is more to Kate than meets the eye.

"She is a strong-minded woman," Patrick Jephson told AFP.

"She has her own ideas about how she should serve the title that she now holds and how she prepares herself for being queen. This is, after all, an apprenticeship for the main job."

Pope leaves Brazil after giant beach mass

Pope Francis returned to Rome late Sunday after leading a giant beach mass in Brazil for three million pilgrims, ending his historic trip to reignite Catholic passion with pleas for a humbler Church.

The first Latin American pontiff arrived in Rome hours after addressing a sea of faithful who waved flags, danced and chanted "long live the pope!" on the crescent-shaped shoreline of Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach.

"I depart with many happy memories which I know will nourish my prayers. Already I am beginning to miss Brazil, this great people showing so much affection and friendship," the pope said before boarding his plane.

Before ending his first trip abroad since his election in March, the head of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics urged young believers gathered for World Youth Day, a religious event, to "go and make disciples of all nations."

"Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent," the 76-year-old Argentine said as scores of people took a dip in the ocean.

Later, the pope met with Latin American bishops and urged them again to get out of their parishes and take the word of God directly to the region's slums -- one of the main themes of his week-long visit.

"Bishops must be pastors, close to the people, men who love poverty, men who do not think and behave like princes. Men who are not ambitious. Men capable of watching over the flock entrusted to them," he said.

The pope, who has championed a "poor Church for the poor," practiced what he preached last Thursday when he visited one of Rio's notoriously dangerous slums.

The pope voiced concern this weekend over the "exodus" of Catholics to other beliefs or secularism.

Even Brazil, the world's most populous mostly Catholic country, has recorded a drop in Catholicism while Evangelical churches have boomed. Almost 65 per cent of Brazil's population was Catholic in 2010, down from 92 per cent in 1970, according to the census.

In his farewell remarks at the airport, the pope revealed that during his visit to Brazil's revered Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida he had "implored Mary to strengthen you in the Christian faith, which forms part of the noble soul of Brazil, as indeed of many other countries."

The pope was able to draw huge crowds every day in Brazil, culminating with the massive mass on Copacabana which drew twice the audience that the Rolling Stones attracted in a free beach concert in 2006.

The final ceremony included staid Bible readings but also a rousing concert with a band and choir that could have been seen in one of Brazil's many and expanding Evangelical churches.

"World Youth Day was fantastic. Everybody is united on God's path. Now the pope leaves and we have to evangelize," said Andressa Pusak, 25, of Brazil, who was among the throngs who had camped out on the beach before the mass.

The pope announced that Krakow, Poland, the native land of late pope John Paul II, who started the World Youth Day tradition, will host the next gathering in 2016, prompting Polish pilgrims to jump up and down on the beach.

Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and Evo Morales of Bolivia were on hand for the mass.

The pope used his visit to delve into political and social troubles in Brazil and elsewhere, voicing support Saturday for young protesters "who want to be actors of change" and urging them to use "Christian response" to their concerns.

"It was quite a change from what we have been accustomed to over the past 30 year. But it was more a revolution in style, Francis does not want to change the doctrine," said theologian Fernando Altemeyer, of the Catholic University of Sao Paulo.

The pope returned to familiar issues on Sunday in his first interview since he succeeded retired pope Benedict XVI, telling Cathedral Radio that family was "important, necessary for the survival of humanity."

Later, addressing thousands of World Youth Day volunteers, he urged the young believers to ignore those "who say marriage is out of fashion" and "rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary."

The crowd then chanted: "This is the pope's young crowd!"

Britain confirms nearly three lakh visa bond for Indians

Britain's Home Office confirmed Monday it will demand a 3,000-pound ($4,630 ors. 2.75 lakh) refundable bond for visas for "high-risk" visitors from six former colonies in Africa and Asia - a pilot scheme that has brought warnings at home and abroad that it will damage trade.

Britain said in a statement Monday that it will go ahead with the pilot scheme despite the outrage, charges of discrimination and warnings of retaliation.

The statement sent by email did not say when the pilot would start. But it said it could apply the scheme in the future for all visas and any country.

"The pilot will apply to visitor visas, but if the scheme is successful we'd like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country," it said.

For now, the targeted countries are Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Government data shows citizens of those countries applied for more than half a million visa applications last year.

Nigeria's government made a formal demand last month that Britain renounce the proposal as it was being discussed. Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru called in the British high commissioner to express "the strong displeasure of the government and people of Nigeria" over the "discriminatory" policy.

Ashiru warned the move would "definitely negate" the two country's commitment to double trade by 2014. Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and a huge market with its more than 160 million people. British government figures indicate 101,000 Nigerians were issued visas in 2012.

There were protests in India last month when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited, causing him to declare that a final decision had not been taken on the policy.

The Home Office said it hopes the bond system deters overstaying of visas and recovers costs of foreign nationals using public services like hospitals and schools.

Immigration was a key issue in Cameron's election campaign for his Conservative Party. Cameron has pledged to cut net immigration from 252,000 a year in 2010 to 100,000 a year by 2015.

One move that has come under heavy criticism recently has been a government campaign targeting people who overstay their visas. Billboards were put on two vans for a week in six of London's boroughs. Their message said: "In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest." Leaflets with the same message will be distributed for a month.

The Home Office statement said the visa bond "is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain."

Telangana state likely to be announced tomorrow

A new state of Telangana is likely to be announced tomorrow by the government. Sources say that the top decision-making body of the Congress, its Working Committee, will formally endorse the move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, a decision which was taken by party president Sonia Gandhi a few days ago.

Before that, Mrs Gandhi and the Prime Minister will meet with their allies who participate in the government to formally inform them of the road-map for India's 29th state.

Hyderabad, sources said, will not be designated a Union Territory. Instead, the city with its booming economy powered largely by the IT industry, will be a shared capital for Andhra Pradesh and the new Telangana state.

Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh who are from the two non-Telangana regions of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema had objected to statehood for Telangana, arguing that their voters would respond with retributive force. But the party has reportedly made it clear that it will not reconsider its stand; Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is upset but has been persuaded not to resign in protest, said sources.

Telangana's future is imbricated with the national elections, now just months away. Andhra Pradesh has 42 parliamentary constituencies. The Congress has calculated that creating a new state will deliver strong returns. But just in case, it's weighing how to graph the geography for maximum electoral ground.

So the government may seek to affix two districts from Rayalaseema to Telangana's existing 10 districts. This will ensure the new and old states have 20 parliamentary seats each, and that the stronghold of political rival Jagan Mohan Reddy is divided across the new border.

THE PROCESS FOR FORMATION OF THE NEW STATE

The actual formation of the state is expected to be completed by early next year. The cabinet will share its plans with President Pranab Mukherjee and the Andhra Pradesh legislature will be asked for insights.

The PM will then set up a committee to negotiate consensus between the leaders from the three regions of the state for issues like how to share revenue and water.

Both Houses of Parliament will have to then pass the resolution for the creation of a separate state.

The five-decade struggle for a Telangana state was forced onto the contemporary national agenda in 2009 by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS, headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao. He fasted for 10 days, triggering huge rallies of support.

In response, in December 2009, in a surprise announcement, the Centre said it was sanctioning statehood. But within days, the government backtracked as violent protests erupted in the other two regions-Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.

Read More