'Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to allow us to project his real personality to let the people of India know exactly what he really was. He was always shying away from greater public exposure. Since the last two years we have seen enormous criticism, ridiculing the prime minister. He has been made into an object of jokes. It certainly hurts. I think this man deserves lots of good reviews... His contribution to social policy, his contribution to the economy, his contribution to coalition management, his contribution to foreign policy.' Dr Sanjaya Baru, Dr Singh's former media advisor who is in the eye of a storm over his book on the prime minister UPA speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
'Opening everything is not appropriate ... everyone has been saying the third wave is a couple of days away'
'The BJP's all-India plans can be expected to become clearer around 2022-2023, particularly if -- as some anticipate -- the senior Congress leadership cracks, broadly as between the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists and those who may be termed 'pro-changers',' observes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
On Friday, during his interaction with the media, the prime minister is expected to present his aggressive and confident face. Sheela Bhatt reports
'The worst case scenario is a rebound of the virus.' 'Life is not going to be what it was.' 'Life as we know it has changed forever.' 'The new normal therefore is test, trace and treat.'
Budget speeches have been replete with incomprehensible and even hilarious statements, says Rathin Roy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to articulate his concerns on the terrorism emanating from Pakistan during his meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on November 24. Dr Singh is also expected to tell Obama that India wants Pakistan to dismantle the terrorism infrastructure operating on its soil and ensure that its land is not used to launch acts of terror against India.
In his first exclusive interview since he took charge as the Mumbai police commissioner, Dr Satyapal Singh fields a volley of uncomfortable questions from S Hussain Zaidi
'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Sunday underwent a routine medical check-up.Informed sources confirmed that such a medical check-up is a must before undertaking a foreign trip. Dr Singh is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh in the United States next week to attend the G-20 Summit hosted by US President Barack Obama. Media Advisor Harish Khare said Dr Singh's health was fine and he was attending to his work as usual.
Dr Singh sent a signal to Mumbai markets on Wednesday that he meant business -- to first understand, then act. "Wait and watch," a source in PMO said that many changes are expected soon in North Block. He will be visiting North Block next week to the office of Finance Minister in order to meet the junior officials.
What Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari really discussed at their meeting. Sheela Bhatt reports
"I am asking our authorities to bear your views in mind when they handle such visits in future and to share such information as they may have about such visits with the government of Tamil Nadu beforehand," Dr Singh said in a letter to Jayalalithaa.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh walks the red carpet at the Ela Airport in Myanmar on May 28, he would be seen by many there as arriving a little too late. Is New Delhi really prepared to take China's lost ground? Atishay Abbhi examines
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday exchanged pleasantries, their second informal chat in two days at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday personally bid goodbye to his personal staff in his South Block office while thanking them for their assistance.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday refuted reports about China planning to attack India and maintained that the policy of both the countries is to engage in dialogue on the border issues though there has not been much progress in recent times.
The Prime Minister should focus his energies now on reforming higher education.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi again on Sunday to discuss matters related to Monday's expected Cabinet reshuffle. Dr Singh had met Sonia Gandhi in this regard earlier on Saturday. Dr Singh also met Kapil Sibal, who is presently holding the telecommunications and human resources development ministerial portfolios. It is likely that he may be relieved of some responsibility in the reshuffle.
Response to Rahul yatras in Gujarat forced GST cuts, says Congress. It reflects Modi's willingness to listen, says BJP.
Arun Jaitley, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, on Wednesday termed the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about Anna Hazare's detention "disappointing". The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that the Opposition "rejects" the explanation given by Dr Singh on the events leading to the arrest of Hazare and his aides.
Manmohan Singh said Narasimha Rao can truly be called father of economic reforms in India.
Prime Minister Modi made a strategic blunder of Nehruvian proportions -- presuming no war can happen now, and the Chinese won't be a military threat and risk their economic interests, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Singh, who headed the UPA coalition government between 2004 and 2014, turned 88 on Saturday.
He is talking, making sense, and India is listening. Rahul Gandhi needs to listen to him, too, says Shekhar Gupta.
He said that his government is deeply committed to the welfare and prosperity of the Indian community in Tanzania.
'Rahul Gandhi has personally paid a heavy price for this character assassination and remorseless ridiculing and the Congress, of course, has been demolished politically.'
Rediff.com's Vipin Vijayan, who is travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, says India will make efforts to elevate relations with Thailand to a strategic partnership.
The book, which was in the news recently for Pranab Mukherjee's critical comments on the Congress, including his observation that the party lost political focus after his elevation as president, is set to be launched next month by Rupa, which published the two earlier volumes of his memoirs.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday wrote to the Public Accounts Committee expressing his willingness to appear before the panel which is looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Following up his announcement at the Congress plenary session, Dr Singh made the offer in his letter to PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi. Addressing the concluding day of the Congress plenary, Dr Singh had said he would be 'happy to appear' before the PAC though there was no precedent.
'We are on the world map. Every country is watching this event.'
'Some people are natural born healers.' Geetanjali Krishna discovers that degrees don't matter in two tiny UP villages, healing does.
In his customary pre-departure statement, Dr Singh said it was in India's interest to have an open, stable and rule-based international economic environment.
No decision has been taken so far on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the of Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in Sri Lanka on November 15-16, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday, asserting it will be taken after considering all aspects including "national interest" and "international obligations".
Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday along with ten union leaders of public sector units and Aganwadis from Jammu and Kashmir and drew his attention to the fact that 10 PSUs, Aganwadis and Asha units have not been paid for last eight months.
Dr Singh also has to fill up another two top sensitive posts in the next four months. An immediate urgency is to find successors to Chief Information Commissioner Habibullah Wajahat and Prasad Rao, head of the National Technical Research Organisation, which handles cyber terrorism, as they retire this month end.
Known as the 'poor man's capitalist' for his insistence that market economies must work to include their poorest citizens socially, legally and economically, de Soto is a legend in academia for his work on informal economies and how to bring impoverished populations into the mainstream.
Against the backdrop of Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's unrelenting attack against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday hit back at the BJP, saying the use of "bad" language against political rivals did not bring any dignity to the opposition party.
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hoists the national flag from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence Day on Sunday, it will be seven in a row for him, with only Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi ahead of the economist-turned-politician.
