'If you go by the essence of the Constitution of India, I don't see any problem in having a separate PM for J-K.'
'The conception of Make-in-India, Skill India, Smart Cities, Digital India, Beti Bachao, Beti Padao and so on show a visionary breadth of mind, and Modi is almost the first political leader in India to put them into effect with single-minded zeal,' notes B S Raghavan, the former civil servant.
Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan is thrilled that he stood second in his second attempt at cracking the prestigious UPSC civil services examination.
Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki has sought response from Bhupinder Singh Hooda government on the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for cancellation of recent controversial appointments by the chief minister.
'Both Modi and Shah know the importance attached by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita to self-introspection (swadhyay) as one of the virtues of wise leaders.' 'From the way both leaders are painting the BJP's performance in the Karnataka election, one can only conclude that they have flunked Lord Krishna's test,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
A Special MCOCA court has convicted 12 of the 13 accused in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai suburban train bombings in which 188 people were killed.
Senior Indian Administrative Services officer Ashok Singhvi, who is the Principal Secretary (Mines) in Rajasthan, was arrested in the wee hours of Thursday by the state Anti Corruption Bureau in the eighth arrest in a bribery case involving clearance for reopening of six closed mines of a miner.
The incident took place on Monday night in the presence of Kejriwal, a senior official alleged.
Contrary to the popular belief that the IAS cadres manage the country - they are actually required to manage politicians, most of whom do not pass any sort of muster, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Ajit Doval is now India's all-powerful security boss. This concentration of power disrupts our layered security system. Will it not weaken whatever remains of the power and authority of the home, defence and finance ministers? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'The debate, by being mostly in Hindi, lost much of its educative relevance to the southern states.' 'All the prime minister's debating skills and oratorical prowess went over the heads of the South Indian audience,' points out B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
In the wake of forthcoming assembly polls in Haryana, retired bureaucrats and police officers are in the fray to test political waters in the 'jat' heartland which goes to polls on October 15.
YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Andhra Pradesh minister J Geetha Reddy have been named in two fresh chargesheets filed in a local court by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing alleged quid pro quo investments in companies owned by the jailed Kadapa MP.
Dr Renu Raj cracked the UPSC exams at her very first attempt. 'You should be sensitive to what is happening in society and you will get through the exams,' she tells A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com
If the government could do without 23 per cent of the authorised posts, surely a start could be made in government downsizing by abolishing these vacancies, says A K Bhattacharya.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned T K A Nair, advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, which included granting of a block to Hindalco at Talabira despite it being rejected by a screening committee of the coal ministry.
'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.
The chief minister skipped meals and remained awake the entire night on a makeshift dais along with some senior ministers and party members.
Sunil Paliwal is managing director of Aavin, the highly successful milk cooperative of the Tamil Nadu government. He has worked with J Jayalalithaa for 12 years. He pays tribute to the departed leader.
The famous pilgrim place of Lord Shiva, the Somnath temple in Gujarat will now be off-limits for non-Hindus as authorities have decided against entry to people following other faiths without prior permission.
In a major move, the government has amended service rules to ensure that Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service officers maintain "high ethics" and "political neutrality" while discharging their duty.
How Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung handles the fight with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue of appointment of a chief secretary will be an interesting insight into his personality, says Aditi Phadnis
'What Trump and Kim have demonstrated is that leaders need not remain prisoners of the status quo and they can, by showing the necessary will and courage, break out of the hang-ups and constrictions of the past and carve out a new pathway for themselves,' says B S Raghavan.
Here's a list of the full first-time ministers in the second term of the Narendra Modi government.
'Patience, hard work and perseverance are the three simple things that one needs to pass in the UPSC exam or for that matter any exam.'
M I Khan traces his story and finds that he was a virtual nobody 25 years ago.
16,933 candidates have qualified UPSC's civil services preliminary examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the results of which were declared in a record 50-day time.
Finance Commission has got new team who are committed to growth initiatives.
"Considering their role, eight convicts deserve death penalty," the prosecution told the court.
Maintaining that action was taken against Durga Shakti Nagpal to 'teach her a lesson' for acting against the sand mafia, an Indian Police Service body has written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to ensure justice to the young Indian Administrative Service officer.
The panel will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for the central and state governments, study the impact of GST on the divisible pool, and propose performance-based incentives for states.
'Modi should not feel shy of proclaiming as the meaning of secularism regard for all religions in proportion to their numbers in tune with the spirit of democracy and adopting it as State policy,' says B S Raghavan.
It rained investments on India as the Make In India programme, envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a focus on the manufacturing sector, raked in Rs 15,20,000 crore in committed investments.
'Rahul is only making a pathetic public spectacle of his lack of judgment and good sense by hallucinating that somehow, the Congress, or whatever political combine is cobbled together, will displace the BJP at the coming Lok Sabha election by constantly harping on the Rafale deal,' argues retired civil servant B S Raghavan.
'What has hit me between the eyes is Modi's seeming utter contempt for public perception of the yogi being an unrepentant bigot who also carries the baggage of many criminal cases against him,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
A special Air India flight carrying 46 Indian nurses set free by Sunni militants ISIS in strife-torn Iraq and 137 others arrived in Mumbai on Saturday. The flight carrying 183 Indian nationals from Erbil landed in Mumbai at 8:43 am.
Forty six Indian nurses initially stranded at a hospital in Tikrit and later moved to Mosul have been freed by the fighters of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Bureaucrats heading disinvestment and financial services usually don't get appointed as finance secretary.
She had got 849th rank in the 2014 civil services exam and was allotted the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise).
Vasundhara Raje, who led the Bharatiya Janata Paty to a landslide victory in the Rajasthan assembly polls, was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister for the second time, in the presence of Narendra Modi and other top party leaders.
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