'Nowhere in the country, except perhaps Jammu and Kashmir, do extremist groups enjoy political patronage as they do in Kerala. Terrorists are exported from Kerala to Afghanistan, Syria.'

The inspirational story of Beno Zephine!

India has been described as the diabetes capital of the world, so it's inspiring to hear about a man who fought the dreaded disease by doing what he loved to do.

Swadeshi economist, columnist and chartered accountant S Gurumurthy speaks to Shobha Warrier about one year of Modi Sarkar.

In the second and concluding part of his interview, Gurumurthy outlines the two areas he believes the government should focus on.

Social activist Nalini Sekhar has worked to improve the working conditions of the waste-pickers of Bengaluru for the last four years and describes the her work as being rife with "occupational hazards which energises her to work with more vigour".

'Without destroying idol worship, you cannot destroy caste because idol worship keeps religious communities in its religious ideology. The RSS is a big promoter of idol worship.' 'They may have an OBC PM, but neither the RSS or the VHP talk about an OBC becoming a priest. The equation is: Business in Baniya hands. Religion in Brahmin hands. OBC votes for the BJP.'

The BJP government is no better than the Congress -- as wretched and anti-people. In addition, it is explicitly and aggressively communal, says Venkatesh B Athreya, in a hard-hitting interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com.

The biggest achievement of the Modi government in the past one year was it could bring positivity in the minds of people and industry, says V P Nandakumar, executive chairman of the Manappuram Finance Ltd, in an interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com.

C K Ranganathan, CMD of the $12.50 billion CavinKare, in an interview with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com, says though he sees signs of improvement everywhere, the Modi government has a long way to go to make the country business friendly

This is the story of two youngsters from Bengaluru, who converted adversity to their advantage.

'It is a national shame that the only country that enacted a food security act is now better known as the land of farmer suicides. Indian farming can change only if national irrigation policy is implemented in totality,' Dr M S Swaminathan tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com

Economist S Janakarajan, in an interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com warns that without proper infrastructure, India will never be able to build a market economy.

Ashraf Palarakunnummal has one mission in life -- to ensure the dignity of the dead. This he does by seeing to it that expats who die in the Gulf are transported back to their home countries without too many hassles for the bereaved families. Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com talks to the Good Samaritan who was honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman recently.

ISB professor Krishnamurthy Subramanian tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com that Modi government's continuation of tax terrorism is driving away investors.

Two Americans, Diana Jue and Jackie Stenson, are living their dreams in India's rural heartlands...

One of the leading political analysts in Tamil Nadu, Gnani Shankaran speaks to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com from Trichy on the Jayalalithaa verdict.

'In my hospital, there must be at least 150, 200 Indian nurses. There are other hospitals nearby, and my calculation is that there may be at least 600, 700 Indian nurses working there.' 'All of us are worried. I want the Indian government to help us get out of here,' says an Indian nurse working at a maternity hospital in the Saudi Arabian city of Najran which was shelled early this week by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants.

The family of Viswanatha Gurukkal, who was attacked by a group of youngsters, blames some political parties for taking up anti-Brahminism as their poll plank. Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com reports.

'The younger generation may be hip, modern and Westernised outside, but there is something very Indian and traditional in them.' 'It's debatable just how good the concept of marriage is, but this is the only system that has survived over centuries.'