'I grew up in an environment which is very submissive and conservative. People would judge you if you wore a short skirt.' 'I made my way up from there to Mumbai and landed a big song Aila Re Aila with a huge star like Akshay Kumar.'
In India elections are never fought in a straight line. It's fought on many issues, at many levels, with multiple emotions and with a bit of good luck, too. Sheela Bhatt reports from Rajasthan.
'The idea that the J&K issue gets internationalised by allowing foreign delegations to visit it appears bizarre to me because the issue is not about Article 370 or the decisions relating to the abrogation, but more to do with the post decision handling,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
SBI Cards & Payment Services reported mixed results for the January-March quarter (Q4) of FY24. While it managed to deliver strong earnings growth, it saw a perceptible decline in net interest margin (NIM) and suffered deteriorating asset quality. Taken together, the market was disappointed with the share dropping 3.5 per cent.
India has strongly rejected as "baseless" allegations of its interference in Canadian elections and asserted that the core issue has been Ottawa's meddling in New Delhi's internal affairs.
Credit outstanding to the housing sector rose by nearly Rs 10 lakh crore in the last two fiscals to reach a record Rs 27.23 lakh crore in March this year, according to RBI's data on 'Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit'. Experts from banking and real estate sectors attributed this growth in housing credit outstanding to a strong revival in the residential property market post-COVID pandemic on pent-up demand. According to the data of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on sectoral deployment of bank credit for March 2024, the credit outstanding to the housing (including priority sector housing') stood at Rs 27,22,720 crore in March 2024, up from Rs 19,88,532 crore in March 2023, and Rs 17,26,697 crore in March 2022.
The JV will be set up in about 8-10 cities, including Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Indore, Jaipur, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai. The investment is expected to provide significant synergies to the Future Group, which has a large advertisement budget and aligns well with the group's businesses such as Future Media, which has interests in media and advertising.
'One of R&AW's greatest achievements is in projecting itself as benign.' 'This work -- done in tandem with the Diaspora and the MEA -- sells a story of India as mostly the victim.'
At least one commentator felt that both the BJP's reach and popularity had been underestimated in Kerala. They have shown systematic gain; one that seems personality-neutral and therefore institutionalised, explains Shyam G Menon.
The West Bengal Congress unit issued a denial and said the state president meant "TMC and BJP are just the opposite sides of the same coin as both are venomous and spread lies".
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
However, the minister said the government was making serious efforts to end the menace and this was illustrated by the implementation of the Right to Information Act which will "make the walls of secrecy crumble and help in eradicating corruption".
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
As the final five phases of polls draw closer, rift among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners, Congress-Left combine and the Trinamool Congress, which are fighting separately has intensified, triggering a fierce contest across half of the remaining 36 constituencies in West Bengal driven by local issues such as Sandeshkhali and the SSC scam.
Pakistan's negative perception of India's role in Afghanistan is a matter of "continuing concern," a Pentagon official has said, while appreciating the development assistance being offered by New Delhi to the war-torn country.
Sources said the selection committee could meet either on March 13 or 14 depending on the convenience of the members and the appointments are likely to be made by March 15.
The finance ministry expects a broad-based moderation in inflationary pressures on the back of an anticipated reduction in food prices as a result of the uptick in summer sowing. The retail inflation rate remained stubbornly clung to the 5 per cent mark in seven of the past eight months. "Core inflation is trending downwards, indicating a broad-based moderation in price pressures... Driven by strong domestic growth and benign global commodity prices, core inflation is declining continuously.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pointing out that bilateral ties were based on shared strategic perceptions, President Pranab Mukherjee has assured Bhutan that India will continue to support capacity-building efforts in the neighbouring country.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked various state governments to apprise it in six weeks on the action taken in incidents of mob lynching and cow vigilantism.
'Formation of the Cabinet Committee on Investment is very positive news.'
A 'hybrid model' to host next year's Champions Trophy in Pakistan remains an option as India's participation cannot be decided by the ICC if there is a government policy against it, a source in the governing body's all-powerful executive board told PTI on Friday.
Advising judiciary to avoid "perception-driven" verdicts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said it should have an internal mechanism of "self-assessment" as judges are considered "divine" and seldom face any criticism unlike the political class.
The high court said a sense of responsibility has to be attached while retweeting content about which one does not have knowledge and added that retweeting of defamatory content must invite penal, civil as well as tort action if the person retweeting it does not attach a disclaimer.
One of England's heaviest Test defeats could not shake Ben Stokes' conviction in their high-risk approach and the touring skipper believes they can still win the five-Test series in India.
Saini, 54, a low profile OBC leader, rose through the ranks in the party and was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP's legislature group at a meeting held in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
'Mr Attorney General, we are seriously concerned about the conduct of the governor. We did not want to say it out loud in court, but he is defying the Supreme Court of India.'
Being dubbed as a 'Test specialist' at times can be a bane rather than a boon and no one understands it better than Cheteshwar Pujara, who feels that the perception of people would change soon.
This period of strong growth not only offers opportunities but also calls for strategic considerations to ensure sustainable development and equitable prosperity in the years to come, suggests Sujan Hajra.
The World Cup has helped changed people's view of Russia, FIFA President Gianni Infantino told an audience at an event in Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre on Saturday, standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the wake of reported incursion attempts by China, India on Wednesday said such incidents take place due to difference of perception about boundary and leaders of both the countries are in talks to resolve the issue.
In 2019, actor turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP, won by defeating then Kumaraswamy's son and joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JD-S alliance Nikhil by 1,25,876 votes.
'The 2020 assembly election was a Tejaswi Yadav election; whereas this is a Lalu Yadav election. It is his plan.'
Samson expressed gratitude for the support from the 'Men in Blue' skipper
BJP workers depend on Annamalai's popularity to emerge victorious. He has has made 100 promises to be fulfilled in 500 days and assurances include cleaning up rivers, an international airport and food vans named after former Chief Minister K Kamaraj.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances