Former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan and former chief secretary of the North West Frontier Province, Rustam Shah Mohmand, tells Aditi Phadnis that the United States is part of the problem in Afghanistan.
Sometimes, it pays to be single. This seems to be the message Arun Gawli's Akhil Bharatiya Sena has given through its performance during the past two years and ahead of the 13th Assembly election in Maharashtra. The gangster-turned-politician's party has not only utilised 100 per cent of the MLA's fund for local area development, but is also the only party to do so.
From wearing oversized glasses to the oratory style and issues--Raj Thackeray is trying to emulate whatever his uncle Balasaheb Thackery and the Shiv Sena stood for. A perturbed Uddhav Thackeray, his cousin and son of Balasaheb, already called him "a contractor working on commission for the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combination because he fears that he might be put in a cage like a rat if NCP-Congress comes to power".
A poll update from Maharashtra's Nashik, where Raj Thackeray is on fire
It is a city where a few of the country's most strategic roads like National Highways 3, 6 and 211 crisscross each other. And for their political inroads, all election candidates in Dhule are chanting two "I"s -- irrigation and industry.
India's very own "banana republic"--Jalgaon district in northern Maharashtra that produces than 16 per cent of India's bananas and 3 per cent of the world's output--is living up to its name: in the coming assembly elections, it has the highest number of rebel independent candidates who are literally driving their parties bananas!
Putting an end to the fierce scramble for India's iron ore resources, the government has decided to split the Chiria iron ore mines in Jharkhand into two and give at least half the reserves to Steel Authority of India Ltd for its expansion plans. The other half will be kept for development by the private sector later, said informed sources.
A poll update from a village in Maharashtra.
President Pratibha Patil's son is fighting on a Congress ticket against the powerful two-term sitting Member of Legislative Assembly and Maharashtra Finance Minister Sunil Deshmukh, who has quit the party to contest as an independent. A R Rahman made it a part of his Oscar awards acceptance speech. But not many imagined that the politics of Amravati would revolve around Salim-Javed's immortal dialogue in the Hindi blockbuster Deewar: "Mere paas maa hai!"
The Bihar result could be a flash in the pan but it has Nitish Kumar seriously worried. More so, because the loss represents a defeat for many of the reforms he was trying to introduce.
Kaushik Basu, the C Marks Professor of International Studies, professor of economics, and director of the Center for Analytic Economics at Cornell, has been asked informally if he would consider becoming Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), a post that will fall vacant after Arvind Virmani ends his tenure and leaves to join the International Monetary Fund at the end of the month.
After voting with sworn political enemy Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against its one-time ally the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) last year, the Left is again considering floor co-ordination with the BJP in Parliament.
The government is actively considering raising the retirement age of all central government employees, including those in the armed forces, from the present 60 to 62 years.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has submitted a report to the prime minister outlining all the pros and cons of the move, including the cascading effects on government employment and the huge savings, at least for two years, on account of retirement payouts.
How did a leader, once as important as Buta Singh, suffer such a precipitous fall from grace? After being Home Minister and governor, Singh is looking at a Bihar government probe at some of the actions he had taken as the governor of Bihar and his family is caught up in a clutch of court cases -- most of a criminal nature.
The retraction was preceded by a shouting match between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Railway Minister Mamata Banerji, who had threatened to walk out of a Cabinet meeting protesting some provisions in the Bill earlier this month.
'We want to make Bengal an automobile hub.'
As the Congress brass is gearing up for the Cabinet reshuffle after the current Parliament session, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought TC chief Mamata Banerjee's suggestions for her party's new nominee. Banerjee has conveyed to the PM and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that she has nominated Sudip Banerjee for this slot.
Acting against the wishes of the entire state unit of the Congress and even senior central leaders, Gandhi decided to give two prestigious Assembly seats, Sealdah and Bowbazar, to the TC, on Saturday night. Byelections to these seats are slated for this month.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday stepped in to ensure cabinet ministers don't keep their junior ministers idle but give them more work to do.After reading out her written speech in the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, Gandhi made an unusual impromptu addition over this issue. According to insiders, Gandhi -- in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and most of the Congress cabinet ministers -- pitched for Ministers of State.
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