'Some in the Congress believe the party should, somewhat brazenly, claim the cause of fighting corruption as its own. But the Congress's idea of fighting corruption is nothing but tinkering with laws, it lacks the stomach to take on the corrupt,' feels T V R Shenoy.
And you won't guess which film tops Raja's list! And why.
Roshan Shah, a Canadian citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India, filed a Right to Information application in Gujarat in 2013 to demand that Narendra Modi, then the Gujarat chief minister, make his educational qualifications public.
As Rajasthan waits for December 8 when counting of votes will take place to decide the fate of its Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Bharatiya Janata Party's Vasundhra Raje among others, PB Chandra tries to gauge the mood in both the parties, especially after the exit polls results were announced.
A chemical engineer, Anirudh gave up his high-paying job to work for welfare of farmers in Tamil Nadu.
The State must stand as a solid tower of confidence to provide a guarantee of safety to its citizens and instill fear in the hearts of offenders. But where is that State, asks Tarun Vijay
'We have the political will to take this to the very end.' 'But what eventually happens depends on the effectiveness, honesty and missionary zeal of the officialdom in the frontline of the battle against corruption,' says S Muralidharan.
While Congressmen may try and give Rahul Gandhi credit for the withdrawal of the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers, it was the President's timely intervention that saved the day for the Congress, says Anita Katyal.
There are unprecedented political implications of identification based on 'biological attributes of an individual', such as employed by Aadhaar, warns Gopal Krishna.
'While the government must be relentless in its efforts to curb unruly elements to ensure secular harmony and protect its goal of national development,it must not lose the moral high ground by giving in to the antics of the anti-nationalist lobby.' 'They must be countered and relegated to the dustbin of history,' says Vivek Gumaste.
The work of Norman Borlaug, who helped save billions from starvation, is worth recalling, especially as opposition to gene-modified crops mount, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Vandana has been attempting to bring in radical changes in the unhealthy food habits amongst the tribals.
Parth Gupta quit a good corporate job to work for the welfare of farmers in rural Madhya Pradesh.
'As in the Panchatantra tale of the cat and the monkeys, it is possible for the clever swing State to play off the two competing powers.'
One does not need to be extraordinary to be a hero. Sometimes, cutting your hair can be enough.
As two recently declassified Intelligence Bureau reveal that the Jawaharlal Nehru government had spied on the family of Subhas Chandra Bose for nearly two decades, one of India's political mysteries takes centrestage. Rediff.com reproduces this 2006 report in which Sumit Bhattacharya reported that a website claims that Netaji, in fact, did not die in an air crash, as was being believed, and that Netaji had escaped to Russia.
'The main ploy of the BJP's pre-poll proclamations on corruption was so cacophonous and resounding that it unexpectedly worked out to its greatest advantage. But there seems to be a lull after the sound and fury over corruption,' says Ram Ugrah.
Shriya Rangarajan has come a long way from the comforts of the western world.
Has New Delhi internalised the truth that it does not matter, asks Saeed Naqvi. Such deafening silence from the government, principal opposition, even the pundits!
Find out how Lavanya Ashok, vice president and executive director private equity at Goldman Sachs is inspiring other women to follow their dreams too.
Why are so many people so reluctant to give up on Arvind Kejriwal? The simple answer is 'Narendra Modi', or rather the fear of Narendra Modi,' says T V R Shenoy.
William S Pinckney was arrested by the Kerala police for alleged violation of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act.
Young, city-bred, successful, enthusiastic Indians are ditching their cars and cycling to work.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the four major factors that contributed to Modi's win in the 2014 elections.
'Our story was really made after we saw what was happening in Punjab.' 'Earlier it was 'drug film, cool thriller, hipster movie.' Then we went to Punjab and we said, "Boss!"'
A G Padmanabhan's dream is to make India a 'no food waste economy' and promote sustainable ideas.
Son Kunal Kapoor's insight into his legendary actor father are a must-read!
Shalini Krishnan discovers the amazing talent and creativity of tribal children in Odisha.
Now that the Aam Aadmi Party has uploaded 'evidences' in the form of videos, it has sought to democratise the legal process as now the public can also judge. Do we find this method acceptable? Are you free to enact a trial online or publicly, placing, propagating, popularising 'evidence' to prove your point? We know that this 'evidence' may not stand in a court of law. But that does not worry the moral brigade known as the AAP, argues Apoorvanand.
Shuvajit was confident of making a huge difference in the lives of people in rural India.
Rediff.com digs into its archives, tracking down Dr M R Rajagopal's sincere efforts of changing lives and changing the way India looks at palliative care.
'In Hindu society, marriage is not between a man and a woman, but between their castes; politicians do not ask for human votes, but for caste votes....' 'Have you heard of such nonsense anywhere else in the world? And we claim we are civilised!' 'One or two or a few people becoming President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Speaker etc from the downtrodden do not mean that the untouchables are uplifted and caste-based slavery is over.'
'I told the lady I was two months pregnant, but that did not seem to bother her.' A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com visits the infamous cages of Mumbai's oldest red light district, Kamathipura, to find out how human trafficking has given India the awful reputation of the nation with the highest slavery rates in the world.
'Counter terrorism does not appear to be good guys fighting the bad ones; it is about people being picked up, detained and charged with crimes they did not commit.'
Nehru's sentimental attachment to the Mountbattens deeply vitiated the Kashmir issue. It was certainly the most important factor for the failure to find a solution in the first years of the conflict.
Power2SME, a one-stop shop for sourcing and buying raw materials for SMEs, is the only B2B firm in this space.
The Indian Spring represented by Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign, which has culminated in the Aam Aadmi Party's impressive electoral debut in New Delhi, began around the same time as the Arab Spring in 2011 but they led to different outcomes in India and the Arab world, says Ramesh Ramachandran.
'Arvind's face fell... He started to say something, but couldn't continue. He broke down and as the tears fell unheeded, he crumpled to the floor.'
'Imagine how secure are our seaports and airports that 10,000 objects can leave every decade and our custodians are not even aware?' 'This kind of targeted looting when thieves pick and choose the best of Indian art and steal on an industrial basis will eventually impoverish our great land.'
The year 2014 has been an eventful one for India. The country got a new government and a new state, broke new frontiers in various fields and of course its share of controversies.
