'In this election, the only thing that is going to matter is which caste aligns with which coalition.'
The government's largesse was widely expected after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost power in the recent assembly polls in three Hindi heartland states, where rural distress was cited to be one of the reasons for the defeat of the saffron party.
'There is a degree of civility, efficiency, cleanliness and cultural ease here that has all but vanished in the squalid, chaotic and rootless Hindi heartland,' says Sunil Sethi.
China and India remain the cultural heartlands of gold, generating 55 per cent of global jewellery demand and 49 per cent of global demand, says the World Gold Council.
'When an individual becomes authoritarian, you can overthrow the individual easily. 'When the system becomes authoritarian, whoever challenges the system will be called a criminal or an anti-national.'
A pick-up in farmer income could have a cascading impact on the rural economy, though agriculture is becoming a smaller part of India's overall rural incomes.
Rediff readers share their favourite Holi pix and memories.
Will it be a cakewalk for Indian Union Muslim League state unit general secretary P K Kunhalikutty in the newly-carved Vengara assembly segment in Kerala's Muslim heartland Malappuram? If the initial trends are any indication, he is expected to have a smooth sailing in the April 13 polls, putting behind his upset defeat from adjacent Kuttippuram in 2006.
Days after two assailants murdered Iqbal Kaskar's driver-cum-bodyguard Arif Sayyed Abu Bakr at Pakmodia street, a heartland of underworld don Dawood Ibrahami various theories continue to do the rounds. Rediff.com's N Ganesh brings you a blow-by-blow account of the shootout.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday passed a bill providing internal reservation of 10.5 per cent for Vanniyars, a most backward community in government jobs and in admission to educational institutions.
The Congress has kicked off the Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign against state Chief Minister Mayawati with the party signaling in no uncertain terms that Rahul Gandhi would be at the centre stage of the fight for UP, a battle which is set to last for the next one year as Hindi heartland's biggest state becomes the battleground.
A hushed silence has descended on the terror groups in their hotbed in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt close to Afghanistan after the slaying of the world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden, with US intelligence saying that militant chatter lines had gone dead.
The closure of 1962 conflict and demarcation/freeze on border dispute would lay the foundations for a friendly and peaceful relations between the two great countries and be a guarantee for peace in the 'Asian Century', says Colonel (retd) Anil A Athale.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL) today announced its foray into the regional television space with the launch of its Hindi entertainment channel - Big Magic. The channel, which will be targeted at the core Hindi heartland, will be launched on April 4.
'Counter-insurgency operations cannot be conducted by following inflexible SOPs.' 'It is unwise to enter jungles with a large body of troops without precise intelligence,' asserts counter-insurgency expert Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
Bury, one of English football's oldest clubs, were expelled from the Football League (EFL) on Tuesday after failing to resolve their financial problems or find a new buyer, the EFL said in a statement.
The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday held its first ever Cabinet meeting in the Tamil heartland of Kilinochchi, the erstwhile administrative capital of the vanquished Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam."The weekly Cabinet meeting commenced in Kilinochchi at 10 am today under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapakse," a statement said.The meeting was conducted at the administrative building of the defence forces headquarters near the Iranamadu tank.
Somers said, "Number one, the message has to be that now we are living in a global economy and that a knowledge partnership with India is enabling our American companies team with their Indian partners to remain globally competitive."
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday wound up his four-day foot march through the dusty heartlands of rural Uttar Pradesh here and returned to Delhi.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday wound up his four-day foot march through the dusty heartlands of rural Uttar Pradesh and returned to Delhi.
The issue combined with its alliance with anti-Congress parties in 1989 won the BJP 85 seats in Lok Sabha elections against mere two in 1984.
The Congress party is poised to drop to single digit with an all time low figure of 9 seats out of 405 in the UP assembly elections to be held in 2012 according to a comprehensive survey commissioned by the party.
The BJP has bettered its show this time as its vote share in several states is well over 50 per cent, nothing short of a statistical wonder in Indian electoral history.
'Like a madman, I was meeting everybody who ever knew me and getting numbers. I used to text them and ask for work.' 'I would randomly land on different sets and meet people.'
At least 30 people have been killed and scores injured in the terrorist attacks on two mosques in Lahore, said a state run rescue service spokesman.
Presenting some of the best moments from around the globe in the last 24 hours.
BWith a distracted president brooding in the White House, Pompeo seems to think his day has come. He seems to be pushing a personal agenda before a target audience in America, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Congress didn't win elections only on soft Hindutva.'
The finance ministry is planning to change the face of banking in the Red corridors at the tribal heartlands of India. The move is part of the government decision to redraw its law and order management and development plans in view of the growing Naxalite menace threatening India.
The Agni-V can reach beyond Tibet to high-value targets in the Chinese heartland, even its northern-most provinces.
SM Krishna needs to talk to his own establishment on the direction of India's Af-Pak strategy.
This crisis requires political sophistication and governance skills. This BJP has neither, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Modi and Shah can't afford to lose any of the 24 per cent Dalit vote of 2014, says Shekhar Gupta.
After sweeping Bihar, Nitish Kumar tells CNN-IBN in an interview that people's faith in good governance has been established in the state and that he has never eyed the Prime Minister's chair.
Insiders say the BJP is now concerned the LJP putting up a good fight against the JD-U would mean benefitting the MGB in those seats. Moreover, Chirag and Tejaswi are known to be friends, and the former is battling for his political survival.
The kidnapping took place in the oil heartland of southern Nigeria.
Alkazi, who was the longest serving director of the National School of Drama and mentored generations of actors, produced plays such as Girish Karnad's Tughlaq and Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug.
The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh battles its own and Opposition over the community's 'victimisation' and alleged preference to the Rajputs. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
The 27-year-old German national, later identified as Rami Mackenzie, was allegedly an expert in making suicide vests and was wanted by German authorities for links with extremists. He was clad in a burqa which covered his face at the time of the arrest.
When the country's largest iron ore producer, NMDC, declares its financial results for 2009-2010, it will report a Rs 1,000-crore drop in net profit. Not on account of last year's slowdown, but Naxalite attacks.
