With the number of swine flu fatalities in India touching double figures on Tuesday, panic is slowly setting in.

Schools, malls and cinema halls in Pune are already shut and nearly a thousand people across India have tested positive for the virus.

The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic on June 11, has spread around the world since emerging in April and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to WHO estimates.

But is India ready to tackle the outbreak?

More supplies of flu drug Tamiflu and testing kits are being imported and private hospitals are being asked to help state-run hospitals cope with a surge in people rushing to get tested.

Some also feel that the media hype over swine flu is causing needless fear.

On Tuesday, the Hindustan Times said the common flu could be killing an estimated 572 Indians every day, much more than H1N1 flu — in most cases, infection has been mild and patients have fully recovered.

So is there really cause for panic?

The Indian Space Research Organisation has said that Chandrayaan-1, the country’s first unmanned moon probe, has malfunctioned and its two-year mission may need to be curtailed.

The Chandrayaan-1, which cost $79 million, was launched in 2008 to map the moon’s surface and look for precious metals.

The moon probe’s successful launch in October enthused the media and distracted India from an economic slowdown, collapsing stock prices and outbreaks of ethnic and religious violence.

In a recent interview, Delhi Metro chief Elattuvalapil Sreedharan told Reuters that the government should concentrate more on building basic infrastructure.

“The pressure should be more on that rather than going to the moon,” Sreedharan said.

Do you think the moon probe project was a mistake in a country where millions still survive on less than $2 a day?

The music world, the Jackson family and thousands of fans bade farewell to Michael Jackson at a public memorial on Tuesday.

“The more I think about Michael, and talk about Michael, the more I think that ‘King of Pop’ is not good enough,” said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, who signed The Jackson 5 in 1968.

“I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived.”

Here’s your chance to pay your final tributes to Michael Jackson.

The Delhi High Court’s ruling that homosexual sex among consenting adults is not a crime is expected to boost an increasingly vocal pro-gay lobby in India that says a British-era law banning gay sex is a violation of human rights.

The current law bans “sex against the order of nature”, and is widely interpreted to mean homosexual sex in India.

The High Court ruling applies to all of India, but can be appealed at the Supreme Court.

In a country where gay sex has been a taboo, will the court ruling have any bearing on how conservative Indians view homosexuality?

Prime Minister-elect Manmohan Singh has said he will try and persuade Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent to the Congress party, to take on a cabinet position in the new government.

Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great grandfather were all prime ministers, had become the most visible campaigner of Congress in the month-long election to win over Indian youth as well as millions of poor villagers.

Critics say the political freshman is too young to deal with complex problems like Pakistan, and that as a member of an elite family he was disconnected from much of India.

But local reports suggest the 38-year-old bachelor may be offered the plum position of Information and Broadcasting Minister.

Should Rahul Gandhi join the cabinet? If yes, which portfolio would suit him best.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani’s prime ministerial ambitions were crushed when the ruling Congress-led coalition defied predictions to sweep the 2009 general election.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition was only about 11 seats short of an outright majority from the 543 seats at stake, according to election commission data.

The Times of India described Advani as the “Ivan Lendl of Indian politics”, comparing his inability to grab the top job to the tennis player’s failure to win a career Wimbledon title.

Variously described as a hardliner, a hawk and a wily politician, the 81-year-old Advani is a leading advocate of his party’s trademark Hindu revivalism. But critics said his age may not have played well with young voters.

Does the BJP’s electoral defeat signify the end of Advani’s political career?

With just hours to go before the counting of votes, several exit polls have shown that India’s ruling Congress-led coalition is slightly ahead of the BJP-led alliance.

The probable lack of a clear winner has stoked concerns that the coalition that emerges after a month of elections may be unstable.

Which party will get the most seats? The Congress or the BJP — who will be invited to form the next government?

As election fever reaches its peak amid the counting of votes on Saturday, all eyes are now on which party will cobble up a majority and stake claim to form the new government. And who will be India’s new prime minister? Will it be –

MANMOHAN SINGH

The father of India’s economic reforms, Singh’s image of a compromise prime minister opened him up to criticism that he took orders from Congress party boss Sonia Gandhi and he has been criticised as a weak and directionless leader.

He regained stature by pushing through a civil nuclear deal with the United States, despite opposition from his left allies.

Singh, 76, takes a keen interest in economic issues — a rarity in India where prime ministers focus mostly on foreign affairs and domestic politics.

LAL KRISHNA ADVANI

Variously described as a hardliner, a hawk and a wily politician, Advani is a leading advocate of his Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) trademark Hindu revivalism.

Born in Pakistan when it was a part of undivided India — he is hawkish about ties with Islamabad — the 81-year-old is more of a career politician than technocrat.

When Advani’s own coalition government was in power in 1999-2004, it pushed pro-market reforms including privatisation of state-run companies.

MAYAWATI

A caste-based politician known as the “Queen of the Dalits”, Mayawati, who uses only one name, has emerged as a strong political force.

Based in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, 53, has prime ministerial ambitions and she has played an important role in gathering opposition to the government.

If Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party does well, it could cast doubt on what economic direction a future government with her would take and further entrench caste politics nationally.

Will one of the three head the new government in the coming weeks? Or is there a dark horse waiting in the wings. Tell us who you are rooting for and why.

As the world’s biggest democracy goes to polls in April and May, Reuters India gives its readers the chance to say what they would do differently if elected the country’s prime minister.

Will you speed up foreign investment projects? Will you focus more on agriculture, putting more money in the pockets of farmers? How will you tackle militancy? And what will you do vis-a-vis Pakistan?

Tell us what else is on your wishlist.

Tata Motors is launching the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, on March 23. Bookings open in the second week of April and the 100,000-rupee car is slated to hit Indian roads before July.

As D-day draws near, excitement is palpable among the middle-class. Dealers are reporting thousands of enquires daily for the “people’s car”.

But do Indian cities have space for the Nano on their roads? New Delhi is already bursting at its seams with cars big and small — and it’s a problem that’s fast spreading to other cities.

A year ago, R.K. Pachauri, head of the U.N. body on climate change, had said the Tata Nano was not the transport option for the one billion people of India.

Do the people have any other option?