'Most Hindus believe in living in peace with their Muslim neighbours and vice versa.' 'It is this India we have to preserve.'
Mohammed Taufiq has been a waiter at Kolkata's famous Coffee House for 36 years. After encountering at least 50, 100 new faces every day -- including Satyajit Ray once -- all he wants now is to return to his village after retirement.
'In the next two years, we might see a new kind of realignment across India.' 'I don't see political alliances working against the BJP until an alternative political agenda is created.'
Muslims constitute 20% of UP's electorate. Currently, Muslim voters are divided between Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati's BSP. What will tilt the balance? Can Muslims back the winning party? Mohammad Sajjad explains the mysteries of UP's Muslim politics.
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
The Indian community said that the prime minister surpassed all of their expectations.
UPSC toppers -- Ira Singhal, Nidhi Gupta, Vandana Rao and Suharsha Bhagat -- tell Rediff.com how they cracked the tough national exam.
'Secularism is associated either with corruption, malgovernance or minority votes.' 'That allows the BJP to construct its own majority vote.' 'It will remain a feature of electoral contests, but it is not the only reason for the BJP's success.'
'Rahul is misguided by a handful of family retainers who don't want him to show unrestrained initiative in forming allies.' says Sudhir Bisht.
With one year left for assembly elections in Karnataka, the last big bastion of the Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has found an emotive issue to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party as the latter prepares the ground for a fight to grab power. Raghu Krishnan and Nikita Puri report.
'India, by virtue of its gigantic population and geography, stands at the very front line of this climate catastrophe.' 'But this is a threat that our easily distracted national mind is ill-equipped to think about, let alone plan for,' says Rahul Jacob.
'Only on two occasions has the RSS thrown itself completely on the side of the BJP.' 'In 1977 in the wake of the Emergency. And in 2014 with Modi.' 'Now, I've been told that this is not going to happen in 2019.'
... to choose your own calling cautiously
'The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill' makes employment of children below 14 years as cognisable offence for employers and provides for penalty for parents.
'What was said about Muslims was the most important part of the three-day RSS 'seminar'.'
'Whoever whispered in his ears that go for demonetisation, misled him completely' and the PM lacked the sagacity to know that it would not work, Yashwant Sinha tells Archis Mohan.
Have India's tigers increased by 30 per cent in the last four years?
S Bhagyalakshmi, an AIDS counsellor, has been "living with the HIV virus for 20 years now." She is an inspiring example of how AIDS should not stop anyone from living a fulfilling life.
'He is a man whose utterances have been so virulent and communalistic.' 'That's why many people did not look at him as the party's choice for chief minister.' 'UP is the state that reports the largest number of communal incidents every year.' 'Modi may not be using the Hindutva card, but he never condemns the incidents too.'
'The top-most functionaries and destiny-makers of the nation have thrown away the pretensions of statesmanship.' 'They seem to have made a categorical announcement that the next general election will be fought on the solo plank of Hindutva, rather than on good governance, economic development, and employment to youth', says Mohammad Sajjad.
Thirty-six-year-old Haseena Hussain, who fought a long battle after being attacked with acid, has called upon all acid attack victims to be independent and not be bogged down in life.
Better economic conditionsM, easy availability of jobs and plain carelessness are some of the top reasons of overstaying in India, says Vicky Nanjappa
Veterans bemoan the 'lack of intention' shown by the Modi sarkar, who seem to have reneged on their poll promise.
'Ambedkar's ideas have their own teeth -- if you don't have an appetite for them, you can't swallow them.'
If the BJP or even the regional parties delude themselves that they are going to win the 2019 Lok Sabha election, then they are over-interpreting the assembly election results, says Kumar Ketkar.
For an institution looking to revive past glory, the Nalanda University's initial days have been far from glorious.
The Group of Ministers constituted for the creation of a separate state of Telangana on Wednesday discussed the sharing of river water and irrigation resources in Andhra Pradesh after the state's bifurcation, but failed to arrive at a resolution.
'What will be achieved by the prime minister's condemnation of each and every unfortunate incident? Will just the PM's condemnation bring about closure to these cases,' asks Sudhir Bisht.
Two young engineers educate children with iPads n remote villages.
Using the Jinnah portrait as an issue, and by demonising AMU and consequently Indian Muslims, the politics of communal polarisation is sought to be played out ahead of the Kairana Lok Sabha by-poll and to sustain it till the next Lok Sabha election, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The Congress shall have to take some brave-tough decisions to give a new social face to the party and its leadership composition,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Modi said there has been a 'silent revolution'.
'How can the BJP give Muslim candidates tickets if they don't have any good Muslim candidates?'
Just days after Kailash Satyarthi won the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaigns against child labour, photographs captured barefoot children clearing waste from the Yamuna. We take a look at the progress or lack of it on the issue of child rights.
The new season looks super dreary, warns Sukanya Verma.
Almost all recent labour strikes were declared illegal by the labour department of Gujarat.
'They must take the bull of conservatism within their own ranks by its horns as much as they need to speak out against the fallacies of the non-Hindutva (or 'Muslim-friendly') political forces as well,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Rahul Gandhi has taken the fight to the Modi government, feels Milan Vaishnav. Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from Washington, DC.
'The blood that runs in the veins of our family can never be anti-national.' 'They called Kanhaiya a traitor for questioning the Indian Army. Do they know that our cousin was killed by militants in Manipur while serving with the CRPF?' Archana Masih/Rediff.com travelled to the land of Lal Salam, Lal Sitara and comrades to find out what moulded India's most talked about student leader, Kanhaiya Kunar.
What we need to do straightaway is to get our act together and educate children better than merely award degrees. Since English cannot be thrown away, it would be better to learn it well. The crux lies there. Lowering standards of UPSC tests is no use, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
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