If the PM wishes to be re-elected in 2019, there are a few things he needs to learn from his predecessor
'The media today is completely free from the government-induced fear factor.' 'It is only scared of the public backlash and its TRP ratings,' say Sudhir Bisht.
'I am not a friend of anyone who wants to defend, justify and glorify any businessman, power drunk person or religious fanatics, fake activists, apologists of terrorists, appeasers of some, oppressors of others, pretending to be political leaders,' says Amit Mehra.
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
As for structural reform, there are signs if one looks hard enough.
'I am quite optimistic that sooner or later, my wishful thinking would turn into a reality.' The only hitch is that the INC president's own career ambitions may be hurt if the Congress merges with the BJP,' says Sudhir Bisht.
Leaders from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh gave an exhaustive account of the reasons for the party's defeat to party general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Monday and enumerated the steps to be taken for rebuilding the party. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports.
Will the EC would make an example of the RK Nagar by-election, either by ensuring free and fair polls or by countermanding the same, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The DoT is wrongly asking subscribers to link their mobile numbers to Aadhaar in order to keep them active, says Gopal Krishna.
Only three percent of Indians pay income tax; our tax-GDP ratio is among the lowest in the world. This must change. Our elites must realise that India's poverty has damaging consequences for them, and that they can help decrease it. The food security bill, with all its limitations, will hopefully contribute to generating such awareness, says Praful Bidwai.
'A CEO is successful if he is able to retain the confidence of his shareholders. And the shareholders of India Inc have backed their prime minister-CEO to the hilt,' says Sudhir Bisht.
'The role of Parliament is to hold the government of the day, whichever party is in power, accountable for its actions, policies.' 'The amount we are wasting on Parliament is a very miniscule amount. But the cost of delay in policy-making is huge and that affects the entire nation.'
NDA under Mr Modi is as focused on the rural poor with doles and hand-outs as the UPA under Dr Singh was.
The absence of a clear underlying economic ideology in the Budget was quite evident, say experts.
Families, torn apart by the Malvani hooch tragedy, where 104 people lost their lives confront a dark and hopeless future.
Kidney scouts roam around the labour markets in the poorest districts of Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi in search of potential donors.
'What we are going to see is a large number of white collar jobs getting lost.' 'Job loss can drive people to depression, drugs, alcoholism and even suicide as there is no one to turn to when they are down.' 'There is no in-between now -- things go from a luxurious lifestyle to no lifestyle.'
'The new generation voter is hyper-nationalistic, but it isn't essentially illiberal.' 'They will find the rants of Adityanath as laughable as Irfan Habib's. They will also find the BJP's polarising approach to vote-gathering unacceptable if it fails to deliver jobs and growth,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Former chairman of the UIDAI Nandan Nilekani, elucidates how Aadhaar could become the spine for alternative banking and could replace government services with cash benefits.
With clouds of storm hovering over Parliament's budget session, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday sought the "cooperation" of all MPs in the smooth conduct of legislative business but gave no indication of plans to bring changes in the controversial land acquisition ordinance.
'The boy has remained so simple. Still wearing that sweater and light pants. He doesn't even have a decent pair of shoes! So much like one of us! How can we not give him another chance?' 'And what is Modi Sir doing? He changes clothes three times a day and wears designer clothes. He isn't the son of a simple chaiwallah we voted for.'
Even after filing your income tax return online, your job won't still be over! Here is a six-point checklist for taxpayers to be observed after e-filing of ITR.
'These people are living on the edge of starvation and governments need to show much greater compassion towards them.'
Even without Shah's TN visit and the rest, the increasing bonhomie between the BJP and the AIADMK factions in the state have become more visible than ever in the post-Jaya era, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Even as plans to redevelop Dharavi continue to gather dust in government files, its young residents have chalked their own course and chosen to fly high. Hepzi Anthony recounts a few inspiring tales.
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'India is doing better than when we took office 17 months ago'.
The Modi government's array of economic policy has been impressive.
'The police go into villages, kill villagers, rape women, burn homes, file false cases.' 'They want to empty Bastar of the tribals so that corporate houses can be given a free hand in our land.' 'My father was killed by Naxalites. This is very ironical because the police accuse me of being a Naxalite. If I had been a Naxalite, would I not have been able to prevent my father's death?'
Why did the district magistrate take over an hour to order retaliatory firing on the murderous SBVS mob?
This Budget plans for an increase to 10.3% of GDP from 9.9%.
The linking of biometric UID/Aadhaar number to all public services makes "We, the People of India" worse than slaves, says Gopal Krishna.
'Let me talk about young Indian startups with their hearts in the right place and how they are proving that innovations that represent 'affordable excellence' -- breaking the myth that 'affordability' and 'excellence' cannot go together -- is indeed possible!' says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, in this fascinating feature.
'Chidambaram, lots of people argue not without justification, is all about bluff and bluster without any concrete achievement on the ground. His record in the finance ministry fully endorses that view,' argues Virendra Kapoor.
Sanjeev Nayar offers some ideas on how Indians can help in improving the lives of those living in border areas and in the process help the Indian Army.
'Under the guise of Maoism, the State is presently determined to clear out the whole Bastar area of its tribal population.'
Rediff readers share their Cash Crisis experiences.
Even in this season of political-peeing-on-lampposts, Rahul Gandhi's statement takes the cake (with due apologies to another astute observer of poverty, the much late Mary Antoinette).
The Opposition on Monday charged the government with trying to promote crony capitalism, creating fear by giving "unbridled power" to taxmen, trying to snoop into people's lives through increased use of Aadhaar through the provisions of the Finance Bill.
It emerges that not only does the CIDR project fails the test of fairness, justness and reasonableness besides the test of not being fanciful, oppressive or arbitrary; it also fails the test of Arthashastra, Hadith and the Bible.
