'If Article 35A is scrapped, then Jammu's identity will be over.'
Former chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra says the Supreme Court order to frame guidelines for civil servants to insulate them from political interference is a mere elaboration of reports of committees constituted by the central government.
Gross NPAs of public and private sector banks stood at Rs 2.41 lakh crore and 26,571 crore respectively.
The poll watchdog also said that as per laws related to elections, after the declaration of results, the only option available to verify the data of votes cast was filing an election petition before the high court concerned.
The linking of biometric UID/Aadhaar number to all public services makes "We, the People of India" worse than slaves, says Gopal Krishna.
Given the importance of equipment modernisation, the overall defence budget should rise at least at the same pace as salaries and pensions, so that equipment modernisation is not hit.
The parallels between Modi's direct and indirect methods and his fan base, and those of Trump, are blinding.
From triple talaq to simultaneous polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday touched upon the various issues n his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio address.
In the light of the efforts being made to forge electoral unity between scheduled castes and Muslims, Mohammad Sajjad examines what the architect of our Constitution, B R Ambedkar, had to say about the Muslim community.
Leaders from the Opposition celebrated after the BJP strong man resigned on the floor of the assembly.
SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said Naresh Goyal would be eligible to bid for the airline when the lenders auction it next month.
Opponents of the CAA and NRC have gone to town accusing the BJP of an ulterior motive (read, disenfranchisement of Muslims) in implementing the NRC. By the same token it can be alleged that anti-CAA opponents have a nefarious agenda in mind that would be scuttled by the implementation of the NRC: Namely the accrual of dedicated vote banks and the restoration of Muslim hegemony over at least parts of India, especially Bengal and Assam, argues Vivek Gumaste.
'No private citizen can be prevented from holding or propagating in India or abroad, a view contrary to that of the government of the day. The government, it seems is misreading the mandate in the Lok Sabha as being a mandate to crush dissent. In times when ruling parties have brute majorities in Parliament, the true test of safeguarding democracy is its ability to allow dissenting voices to be heard,' says Indira Jaising, the former additional solicitor general.
Trouble is brewing for government in the monsoon session of Parliament, which is expected to start next month, with the Congress on Monday hinting at stacking up ammunition on issues like failure at the Nuclear Suppliers Group, terror strikes and diatribes of Subramanian Swamy.
It emerges that not only does the CIDR project fails the test of fairness, justness and reasonableness besides the test of not being fanciful, oppressive or arbitrary; it also fails the test of Arthashastra, Hadith and the Bible.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday slammed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao for dubbing as "fascist" the Centre's directives on special powers related to law and order in Hyderabad vested in Governor, and demanded immediate withdrawal of his comments.
"We should safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and achieve full unification of the motherland. This is the aspiration of all Chinese people. This is also in line with fundamental of the Chinese nation," he said in an apparent reference to Taiwan which China claims as part of it.
Pulwama must become the defining moment in our fight against terror, effecting a sea change in our mindset. The erratic, blow hot blow cold approach, the hallmark of our anti-terror-Pak-Kashmir policy must end. In its place is required a pragmatic, comprehensive, robust hard line course that is relentlessly pursued even in times of relative calm until the final objective is met, namely the eradication of separatism and the total annihilation of terror, says Vivek Gumaste.
Continued lack of consensus at next meeting could cast shadow on GST rollout by April 1.
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The implementation of the much-hyped Aadhaar Card scheme is in trouble following the Supreme Court's interim order on Monday, which observed that the card can be issued only to Indian nationals and the identification number cannot be made mandatory for availing of benefits of the government's subsidy schemes.
What will the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government do to answer the queries and fears of investors who will want to be doubly sure they would not be harassed at a later date, as has been happening to Sterlite, should be interesting to watch, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The onus is on companies to put in place a vigil mechanism to detect and deter fraud.
In a sight rarely seen in the United States senate, dozens of Democrat members shut down the House of Representatives to protest their chamber's lack of action on a legislation to stop gun sales to people on some terrorism watch lists.
Unless the judges factor in the ungovernability of technologies and their beneficial owners, present and future Presidents, prime ministers, judges, legislators and officials handling sensitive assignments may become redundant with reference to their age-old roles for securing 'national resources and assets', warns Dr Gopal Krishna.
'If there are provocations and people try to exploit and manipulate the situation along linguistic, religious lines, then Assam might relapse into its troubled past.'
At a time when nationalism is a much-debated topic and the Armed forces' sacrifices are being ignored, a 'Wall of Heroes' at schools and colleges across the country to inspire the youth is a must, says Tarun Vijay.
Did you know that employers have to pay equal remuneration to its male and female employees who are carrying out the same or similar work?
He, however, did not give any date for the proposed challenge which he announced in his opening remarks at the meeting.
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
He accused the Congress of hatching a conspiracy to destabilise the country and 'demoralise' its soldiers.
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
Admittedly, EVMs too have a UID number and any convergence of data can make the secret ballot system a party of history, warns Dr Gopal Krishna in the 5th part of his series against Aadhaar.
'It is from her that present-day political stalwarts continue to draw lessons on testing the limits of Constitutional democracy, and whose slogans even her party's staunchest opponents imitate even after over 30 years of her death,' says Veenu Sandhu.
Steps taken to prevent misuse of the platform have to be balanced with data privacy and security concerns, say experts.
Over 200 noted authors, including Salman Rushdie and Neel Mukherjee, have asked British Prime Minister David Cameron to raise the issue of "rising climate of fear" and "growing intolerance" in India during his talks with his counterpart Narendra Modi.
Writers including those who had returned their Sahitya Akademi awards on Sunday wrote to the National Academy of Letters urging it to respond in a "strong, humane and robust" manner to situations.
Senior counsel, Diwedi submitted that technology is advancing and we have limitations of understanding the technological developments.
'Nehru's hegemonic politics has been responsible for many ills, which undoubtedly includes Kashmir'
The SC said that it was the duty of the state governments to ensue law and order in society.
The UN Security Council has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a threat to peace and security, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon deciding to deploy an "unprecedented" emergency health mission to combat the outbreak that has impacted the lives of millions.
