'aris can be boiling hot in July. The choice of viscose over cotton was deliberate. Cotton would have crushed badly. We used viscose because it is a wood pulp fibre and lets you breathe. It is cooler than silk. We had to consider breathability because the athletes would be on a barge, in the heat, for up to five hours.'
Ae Watan Mere Watan tries to get a grasp on the mind of youngsters, shaped by the words of inspiring leaders, committed to the cause of independent India. It's significant because their support isn't based on 'andh bhakti', but leadership that encourages questions, observes Sukanya Verma.
Scindia claimed Tharoor is "lost in his esoteric world of thesaurus", and for him "data mining of selective press articles from the internet qualifies as "research".
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
Modi also reminded Congress of the Emergency, saying it's a blot on the democracy that will never fade.
A democracy is one, only if it has a robust Opposition. And as its actions show, the Modi-BJP combine gives two hoots for that. So, the Opposition must learn to convince people why the BJP must go. Else, it can count down to 2029, points out Shyam G Menon.
'Priyanka Gandhi play is not only about winning allies and lifting spirits; it's also about cash'
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said it's a pity that since switching sides, Scindia has adopted the Modi government's "uncaring attitude" to the public.
The committee has also recommended highlighting 'Hindu victories' in various battles in the textbooks.
On June 26, for the likes of me, the music died. Any impression of potential change held forth by the outcome of the 2024 general election, was vaporised, reveals Shyam G Menon.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who were present at the meeting, asked party leaders to remain united and connected with the people, sources said.
Modi said he is seeking a third term not to enjoy power but to work for the nation. "If I had thought of my home, it would not have been possible to build homes for crores of people," he said.
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for 'false' allegations of irregularities in a food processing project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for electing a strong and stable government in an uncertain world beset by geopolitical tensions as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its manifesto, prioritising development and welfare while shunning populist measures and contentious issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
'The Congress may not be able to dump the family entirely, but it could move to a new operating model in which the family takes a 'chairmanship' role while day-to-day affairs are handled by a new CEO.'
'What the Congress needs now is an ideological and social contrast to the BJP.' 'The Congress stable of princelings cannot do it,' argues Mohan Guruswamy.
The five-state assembly elections are seen as a now-or-never, no-holds battle for the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also took exception to the jathedar's statement and dubbed it as "mischievous".
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Gogoi and Sarma have been locked in a war of words on 'X' since Wednesday on the issue of the chief minister's wife's company allegedly being given a credit subsidy of Rs 10 crore.
'The BJP and Congress are like those Bollywood lovers who are kept apart by their families where it is a generational problem of different values: The older ones think differently from the younger ones,' argues T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Throughout 2022, China turned to the PLA as an increasingly capable instrument of Statecraft, strengthening its ability to 'fight and win wars' against a 'strong enemy', points out Ajai Shukla.
Veteran Communist leader and former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, one of the most popular and crowd-puller leaders in the history of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist in the state, turned 100 on Friday.
In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
According to the Pentagon report, the PLA is creating options for dissuading, deterring, and defeating external intervention in the Indo-Pacific region.
As Rahul Gandhi grew in the Congress party, sycophants decided that he would be the modern day prince who would ward away all their problems and deliver them to power in a kingdom where he will finally be crowned as the king.
'We are calling companies to set up assembly plants for mobile phones while all the components are imported.' 'Only the last turn of the screwdriver is done here. And you call it self-reliance, Atmanirbharta, etc.' 'Unless you invest in research, you will not climb up the ladder. But this government is happy getting sub-contract work.'
Pratinav Anil is able to foresee some agency and assertion on the part of India's Muslims. His hope emanates from the citizenship rights movement of Muslims in 2019-2020, notes Mohammad Sajjad.
The 77-year-old was recently diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital, where he died at 1.28 am, a Congress leader said.
The Congress Working Committee finally accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.
On his sixth visit this year to Karnataka, where assembly elections are due by May, he also asserted that the 'double engine' government is a necessity for the fast-paced development of the state.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
Tytler, who remains sidelined in the party, was seated along with other party leaders including Dikshit on the stage where the function took place at the Delhi Congress office.
Opposition Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh are locked in a battle over construction of a memorial for revolutionary freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad at his birth place, Bhabhra in Alirajpur district.
It is a question that his supporters must ask of the prime minister. It may be enjoyable for them to pass through this phase of going after other Indians. But once this has been achieved to satisfaction, then what?, questions Aakar Patel.
Rahul said that if you ask the BJP why a train accident happened, they will say the Congress Party did such and such thing 50 years ago, taking a swipe at the government following the Odisha train accident, one of the worst railway tragedies in the country.
...close to the 2024 general election. The BJP calling the Congress 'seasonal Hindu' is as laughable as the saffron party sparing itself the title of 'seasonal extreme Hindu.'
How else should one describe its election campaigns of the past years?
It was typically obsessive religion and personality cult with economic development for fig leaf, asserts Shyam G Menon.
Pranab's earlier fear of Sonia relying too heavily on a coterie due to her lack of experience turned out to be unfounded. As per Pranab, Sonia had her close advisers but she did not follow anyone's advice blindly. A fascinating excerpt from Sharmistha Mukherjee's Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
'Nearly 13,000 individuals have been charged for sedition since 2010.' 'If the Supreme Court stay ever gets vacated, arrests will follow immediately.'
