Digvijay Singh's indictment of Home Minister P Chidambaram's strategy seems to be a preamble to the party's stance on Maoists which will differ from the government's plan, says Sheela Bhatt.
A S Dulat, former Indian spy chief, speak about the implications of the Devid Headley case in an in-depth interview.
The recommendations of the people's tribunal on the problems of the tribals and the Maoist insurgency offers a comprehensive plan to tackle the situation and looks into the root causes of the issues at stake.
That there is something awry in the entire strategy is now established. Now, even moderate critics of the government are questioning the methods of the home minister and his ministry.
The end of an 'ugly episode' revolving around Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik and Hyderabad girl Ayesha Siddiqui is a great relief for the country and the Muslim community, says senior politicians and powerful community leaders of Hyderabad city. Reports Sheela Bhatt.
China has allowed access to relatives of jailed Indian merchants, who were arrested on charges of smuggling diamonds last January.
The tense atmosphere between India and China has changed for good after the Copenhagen summit, claimed a top-level source dealing with the Chinese in Indian government.
Tuesday's dastardly ambush of Naxals at Dantewada, which claimed the lives of 75 CRPF jawaans and policemen who were on their return path from an overnight search operation, raises many unanswered questions. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt speaks to local journalists, politicians as she tries to bring forth the flipside of the massacre.
It was a rare event for the Pakistani experts and strategists dealing with India when former chief of Research and Analysis Wing A S Dulat went to Lahore in the last week of January. He was there to attend a closed-door seminar to discuss range of issues concerning India and Pakistan.
"I do not believe in superstars. For me the only superstar has been Dilip Kumar and he will always be. I don't consider anybody after him as a superstar," said Bollywood actress and MP Jaya Bachchan in New Delhi, while interacting with Indian Women's Press Corps.
Pakistan is currently at the turning point of history, believes Hamid Mir, the political editor of Geo Television."Within two days, Pakistan parliament's joint session will take up 18 amendments of its constitution, which will change some 80 articles of the constitution. These amendments are set to curtail the president's powers," Mir said. Mir says, "The new amendments will make parliament more powerful than it ever was."
The Trinmool Congress, fuming over the manner in which the Women's Reservation Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, has claimed that the Congress 'cheated' their leader Mamata Banerjee over the issue."Till the last moment, we were kept in the dark. Congress leaders didn't show us their cards till the last moment. This is not the way to treat allies," said Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi.
In view of slim majority that the UPA has in the Lok Sabha and its allies opposition to the suggested fuel price rise in the Budget, the women's bill will not come up there immediately
When asked if there would be instability in Lok Sabha after the differences over the bill , she said, "I can't say. I am not an astrologer. Let's see."
Congress President Sonia Gandhi's writ seems to have run and how! The government in a sudden move, almost deceptively, put the women's bill to voice vote in the Rajya Sabha and opened the new chapter in constitutional history.
There was shock within the non-Congress Members of Parliament to see how the government remained inactive within the Rajya Sabha when the Women's Reservation Bill was tabled on Monday.
Political pundits, sociologists, political scientists, feminists and historians and almost everybody has said that if the bill becomes an act then it will be the biggest socio-political news since independence. This will have the impact bigger than the Mandal Commission that gave reservation to lower castes and it will go deeper than the Ayodhya movement that attempted to ignite Hindu identity cutting across caste barriers.
Prakash Karat, general secretary of Communist party of India-Marxist, termed the Budget 'flawed'. While speaking to rediff.com, he said, "The increase in indirect taxes will add to inflation. The government is neither going to achieve growth nor it will be able to contain inflation with this budget."
A report by leading Pakistani daily The News, on the bilateral talks held in New Delhi on Thursday, has claimed that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was not invited to Pakistan by her counterpart Salman Bashir.
When the entire Opposition walked out of Parliament, protesting against the move to raise excise duty on diesel and petrol by Re 1 per litre, the politics over the Budget began even before Pranab Mukherjee could complete his important speech.
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