With the world wowed by the incredible amount of riches found in the secret vaults of the Sree Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, member of Parliament from the city Shashi Tharoor spoke to rediff.com's Shobha Warrior about the treasure, what should be done with it and the government's role if any as far as the temple goes.
Government representatives told a parliamentary panel that the US has not officially conveyed to India that it should cut tariffs by April 2.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asserted that the party's Kerala leaders 'stand as one' and were 'united' by the light of purpose ahead.
The party renominated Shashi Tharoor from the Thiruvananthapuram seat.
The 68-year-old former diplomat has been a vocal advocate of Samson's inclusion in the national set-up and had criticised his omission from the ODI World Cup squad last year.
I have lived in Switzerland without feeling Swiss, I have lived in Singapore without feeling Singaporean, he told an Australian daily
Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha that the situation in Manipur is largely under control, with no deaths reported in the last four months. However, he acknowledged that the situation cannot be considered satisfactory as displaced people are still living in relief camps. Shah attributed the violence to a high court decision regarding a reservation-related dispute, emphasizing that it was not terrorism-related but ethnic violence between two communities. He highlighted government efforts to establish peace, including discussions with both the Meitei and Kuki communities and a rehabilitation package for the displaced. While the opposition supported the resolution confirming the imposition of President's rule, they urged for a swift return to peace and normalcy in the state.
Tharoor's statement came just ahead of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA)'s a crucial decision on whether India should play Pakistan in the 2019 ICC World Cup in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.
He said India's diversity was its biggest asset and could propel it towards becoming a great power among nations if this diversity was not undermined by religious intolerance and political opportunism.
"This follows disgraceful attacks on the Indian cultural centre, temples and Hindu homes in several places, even as reports came in of Muslim civilians protecting other minority homes and places of worship," Tharoor said in a post on X.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla chided Congress member Deepender Hooda over certain remarks as Shashi Tharoor chanted 'Jai Hind, Jai Samvidhan' after taking oath as member of the House.
Tharoor came second in the first straw poll held in August among the Security Council member countries.
Tharoor has alleged that Republic TV continued to engage in "defaming and maligning" him despite an assurance given by their counsel in the court on May 29.
A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was booked in connection with a scuffle on the Parliament premises, sources said police are likely to record the statements of the two injured MPs on Friday and may also call the opposition leader for questioning.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
'Must every believing Hindu automatically be assumed to subscribe to the Hindutva project?' asks Shashi Tharoor.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed sadness over 'pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated' while being deported from the United States and recalled that America had to express regret over the treatment meted out to India diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013 after the then United Progressive Alliance government retaliated sharply.
'It's a rare privilege, within a matter of months, I have changed my residence, my profession, my daily thrust of work, and it's in some ways quite invigorating,' Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for external affairs, tells Aziz Haniffa in an exclusive interview.
The proposed legislation on Emigration (Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2024) seeks to replace the Emigration Act of 1983 with a view to facilitate the circular mobility of people intending to emigrate for overseas employment.
As the curtain falls on the campaign for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday, April 24, a ringside view of the closing ceremonies.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha candidate Shashi Tharoor has been booked for allegedly carrying out a false campaign against Union minister and rival candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar, police said in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
Besides representatives of Facebook, the committee has asked representatives of the ministry of electronics and information technology to remain present on September 2 to discuss on the subject of "safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space".
The Labour Party in the UK secured 412 seats in the 650-member House of Commons in the general elections.
Expressing his disappointment with the media over its coverage of the death of Sunanda Pushkar, the External Affairs Minister said the media should set the bar higher for itself and not stoop to such levels. Sanchari Bhattacharya reports.
Misri is also likely to brief the parliamentary panel on the recent upswing in India's ties with China following the agreement to resume patrolling at friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
The grilling of Brigadier-General Dyer by Akshay Kumar's Sir C Sankaran Nair, as shown in Kesari 2, is purely an imaginary sequence, proves Utkarsh Mishra.
Taking a dig at ruling the BJP over its stand on the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said that nationalism is now decided by whether one can say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' or not.
The lawyer said Tharoor made a reference to an article published in the Caravan magazine six years before the statement was made.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has sent a legal notice to Shashi Tharoor, accusing the Congress MP of making defamatory statements against him on a TV channel recently.
Attacking the PM Modi over alleged ignorance of local leaders, Tharoor said, "It seems that under the BJP even God must serve a political purpose and members of other parties must not be allowed to worship in the prime ministerial presence."
Former National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon has stated that the political dynamics between India and Pakistan have resulted in a "controlled level of hostility" that benefits the ruling elites in both nations. Speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival, Menon described Pakistan as a "brand new state" still grappling with its national identity. He argued that India's foreign policy towards Pakistan is influenced by its domestic politics, resulting in an uneasy equilibrium characterized by a "controlled level of hostility." Menon also questioned the concept of a multipolar world, stating that the current global order is merely "confused." He emphasized that the United States remains the world's true military hegemon, while other nations, including China, are regional powers. Menon further argued that there is no binding international order, leading to a state of "between orders." He highlighted the absence of definitive international agreements on crucial issues in recent decades.
Indian English is the only language that uses the expression 'non-veg' for meat, fish, and those who consume them. A fascinating extract from Shashi Tharoor's A Wonderland of Words: Around the Word in 101 Essays.
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
Opposition leaders in India have expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of the deportation of Indian illegal immigrants from the United States during his recent visit. They criticized the manner in which the Indians were sent back, shackled and handcuffed on a military aircraft. The leaders also discussed the need for India to address the root causes of migration and the importance of national interest in diplomatic relations with the United States.
'When I stepped down from the (United Nations) secretary general's race, the first visitor I had was a former minister of the Vajpayee government inviting me to the join the BJP.'
By filing his nomination as Congress president on Friday, Shashi Tharoor has shown he is no 'quockerwodger' -- a word he introduced into our lexicon which means someone acting on the instructions of an influential third party.
Unfortunately, the best man does not always win, but I feel enriched by the experience of the campaign and getting to know Rajeev Chandrasekhar, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The Congress on Tuesday claimed the bill on holding simultaneous polls was against federalism and 'anti-constitutional', and said the voting at its introduction stage in Lok Sabha showed the Bharatiya Janata Party lacks the two-thirds majority required to pass a constitutional amendment.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
'@IamSanjuSamson, who hit a century in his last ODI, has not been picked for ODIs, while @IamAbhiSharma4, who hit a T20I century in the #INDvZIM series, has not been picked at all/'
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