She was capable of a level of human compassion that is rare today among politicians, recalls Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who knew the Communist legend K R Gowri, who passed into the ages on May 11, from his childhood.
Amid a nation-wide controversy, the Union Public Service Commission has withdrawn changes suggested by it in civil services mains examination, dropping mandatory English language paper requirement.
In 10 months, her property value has zoomed almost six times
What the UK is getting out of the Serum Institute is what India is losing. And the responsibility of the Indian State ought to have been to dictate where Serum Institute's vaccine doses should go, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'What was the message that was going to them?' 'The message was, we are a great country and we have beaten Covid!' 'No one talked about the precautions to be taken.'
Baglay replaced Vikas Swarup, who was made India's new high commissioner to Canada.
Saran, an IFS officer of the 1970 batch, will succeed Shashank, who retires on July 31.
Does IAS officers' work go unappreciated, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
The USS John Paul Jones acted like a dog marking the lamp post, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We don't need to hinge India-UK relations on shared hostility toward China,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"He will complete this tour as I have now accepted his apology," Rai added.
The Narendra Modi government on Monday appointed Arvind Gupta, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, of the 1979 batch, as Deputy National Security Advisor. This appointment comes within days of Nehchal Sandhu quitting as deputy NSA, citing personal reasons.
Pinarayi is exploring the potentials of 'socialism with Indian characteristics'. The next five years under Pinarayi's watch will be a transformative period for Kerala's development, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
The humiliating rebuff given to the power brokers in Delhi in Kerala's local body election carries a big message: Malayalis thoroughly disapprove of the Modi government's shenanigans to misuse central agencies to destabilise a genuinely popular state government, notes M K Bhadrakumar.
"They should go wherever they want," Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar said on Thursday when asked of Prashant Kishor and Pavan Verma's repeated questions about the party's stand's on the newly enacted Citizenship Act.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday presenting the S K Singh Award for recognising excellence in the Indian Foreign Service, to Tanmaya Lal
This was the first meeting of the top Indian diplomat with Trump after he was sworn in as the US President on January 20.
The road ahead will be long and winding and much resistance can be expected from the high-flying 'hawks' in our skies. But that should not deter the policymakers from planning a road map with the 'big picture' in mind, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
US-Pakistan relations are poised to touch a qualitatively new level under the Biden administration, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Vikas Swarup, whose debut novel was made into the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, has been appointed as spokesperson in the external affairs ministry.
An Indian diplomat should aspire to represent something even larger than the government, even larger than the somewhat abstract concept of the 'Indian State'. He should rejoice in representing the ethos of India and all of its grand sounding facets: Civilisation, culture, customs and cuisine, says recently retired Ambassador B S Prakash.
Senior analyst B Raman assesses Brajesh Mishra's role as India's first National Security Advisor, his part in the 1998 nuclear tests, the Kargil conflict and more.
BWith a distracted president brooding in the White House, Pompeo seems to think his day has come. He seems to be pushing a personal agenda before a target audience in America, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India cannot choose its geography and devise regional strategies to dovetail into the Western Indian Ocean hypothesis conceived in the Pentagon, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Arun Singh, India's ambassador to US, will retire in September.
'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Interestingly, in his entire remarks, Modi never once mentioned regional security, Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar points out.
Aditi Phadnis profiles V S Sampath, India's newly-appointed Chief Election Commissioner.
'India should not be taken by surprise if the Biden administration seeks China's cooperation at some point,' alerts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Incumbent Ambassador to Paris Arun Singh is likely to replace Jaishankar as India's Ambassador to the United States.
A diplomat-turned-politician, she took the initiative to organise a number of international seminars hosted by Indian Parliament since she took oath as the Speaker on June 3, 2009.
What is the guarantee that another Trump will not arise and reach out to the American people directly? The fact of the matter is that Trump's support base remains the envy of any American politician, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Russia is the only country that can act as facilitator for any eventual Chinese-Indian rapprochement,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Indian side has realised that not talking to Pakistan has not served any useful purpose.'
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will present the first Shailendra Kumar Singh award, named after the late distinguished Indian Foreign Service officer, on Friday at an event organised by Manju S K Singh, his widow, and the Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a democratically elected leader who received a massive mandate of 71% of votes, and he owes nothing to Delhi or Washington for staging his political comeback, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said Indian diplomacy needed to acquire an economic perspective to its thinking and strategic approach, for furthering the country's interests in the changing global order.
The US has been, historically, a sleeping partner in India-China relations. Today, any attempt by the Modi government to make a bilateral move to improve relations with Beijing could upset Biden's apple cart, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'By treating Nepali politicians as shabby buffoons to be pampered one day and collared another day, India badly exposed itself.' 'A belief got entrenched in the Nepalese mind that we are a dangerous neighbour,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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