But why should India be talking to the Taliban in the first place? There is no love lost there. India will never forget or forgive the humiliation to which the Taliban subjected it in the IC-814 hijack, notes Shekhar Gupta.
We look at the siblings of celebs who are ready to make their debut in Bollywood.
Mr Modi and Mr Shah will need him if they want to win UP again in 2022 and India in 2024. This signals a Yogi Adityanath-sized change in BJP politics, even under Mr Modi, Shekhar Gupta.
'Behind the BJP's anti-Congress crusade is an attempt to divert attention from the Ladakh standoff,' explains Amulya Ganguli.
Rediff.com shares some of the lighter moments of the North Korean autocrat.
The leaders in poll-bound Karnataka have chosen another way to bring their sons or daughters into the political forefront -- by making them work for it, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
'If Rahul Gandhi disappears, Modi has to talk about his own policies and why they failed'
'When real issues hit everybody, the frenzy of Hindutva will start fading.'
Prassthanam is worth a one-time watch. Just don't go with high expectations, feels Karan Sanjay Shah.
The jobless armies of youthful India are getting angrier and desperate, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Can compassion, common courtesy or an 'emotional connect' win seats in the harsh realpolitik of UP, a state riddled with divisions of caste and religion, and confronted with a seemingly impregnable BSP-SP alliance? asks Sunil Sethi.
The real effect of the so-called 'weak-allegations' against Robert Vadra is that the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is shaken to its core, even if temporarily, says Sheela Bhatt.
'The RSS guides us, never dictates.'
'You have to go from winning elections to winning people,' sociologist Ashis Nandy tells A Ganesh Nadar.
One of the significant outcomes of the Meghalaya assembly polls is the end of one political dynasty in the state and the rise of another.
King Thibaw, who was crowned in 1878, ruled Burma (now Myanmar) for seven years with his Queen Supayalat. It was a time when the royal family was treated like demigods; they lived richly in the Golden Palace in Mandalay.
'India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating'
In 1998, the Congress asked her mother to campaign. 'We had a family discussion. We explained to our mother that you will be used, you will be discarded once you are done with the campaign.' 'A few days later I got a call from my mother. She said, "I have decided to campaign".' 'We were stunned. Why was she doing this?' Payal Mohanka listens in.
Most great ideas fail due to lack of vision and execution, writes Bharati Jacob, founder-partner, Seedfund, one of India's leading early stage investors.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh took a dig at BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi for his frequent gaffes at poll rallies and asked the saffron party to arrange history lessons for him.
'According to a powerful section of the Congress the vote was anti-Congress, anti-dynasty and pro-Modi, in that order. They say Modi won because he represented and completely played upon "Bhartiyata".' 'Sonia is being accused, privately, of protecting her son at the cost of the party's interest.' 'For the first time ever, 24 Akbar Road, the Congress headquarters, is assessing the "neeyat (intent)" of the Gandhi Parivar, which has never happened before.' A Rediff Correspondent lifts the veil off the churning within the Congress party in the wake of the party's rout in the election.
Senior leaders Sushil Kumar Shinde and Mallikarju Kharge could be elected as next party chief.
'Brand Kejriwal-AAP have a long way to go even if they win another Delhi election...'
'It is a force nobody can ignore, not even Mr Modi, because it will keep punching above its weight,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Adityanath spent hours reviewing the arrangements for the ceremony at the Ram Janmabhoomi, where the temple will be constructed following the go-ahead last year by the Supreme Court.
LA Lakers confident ahead of NBA season.
As Annus Horribilis ends with a whimper, the tantalising question is: In its 100th anniversary as the capital of colonial India, will Delhi become the graveyard of yet another dynasty, asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
A list of those with low attendance in the Lok Sabha throws up some big names, reports Vicky Nanjappa
She wrote this in reply to an article about the proceedings of Bombay high court during the hearing of the stay order plea by the actor's lawyer against the demolition drive of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation at her property.
Home-grown fare, international discoveries, brand new seasons of hugely anticipated series, Sukanya Verma lists her top 10 OTT shows.
Eighty five-year old Swedish writer and political commentator Jan Myrdal was in India recently. Son of Nobel laureates Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal, Jan talks to Business Standard on elections, politics and the Left-wing extremism in the country.
The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation.
The phrase for this month is Who made it 'first' to the finish line? Keeping in line with this spirit, we bring you a few world's first. Take this quiz to find out how much you know about them.
Other than an exchange of pleasantries and a series of banal tweets from Bilawal Zardari, it is hard to know what the scions of India and Pakistan's most prominent and enduring political dynasties talked about when they met for Sunday lunch in New Delhi.
Paper currency was first developed in China in the Tang Dynasty during the seventh century, and was later introduced in the Mongol Empire, Europe and America.
While dynastic politics may have receded in the Lok Sabha, it is alive and kicking in states
The South Asian nations could script a new history of cooperation and prosperity that could serve as an example for other nations, notes Dr Rahul Mishra.
Pilot added that Gandhi's elevation had been in the pipeline for long.
