The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Among the 36 new faces in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers, eight are lawyers, four are doctors, two former IAS officers and four MBA degree holders, besides several engineers, making it an eclectic mix of professionals.
'When Priyankaji's candidature wasn't announced, where is the question of her backing out?'
The ruling Congress, voted to office in 2018 after 15 years in opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the main contenders for power in the state, where the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and some regional outfits are also in the fray.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
China has signalled that it will prevent India from assuming leadership of the Global South, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Sharma was sent to Lucknow for a purpose, but he has merely been adjusted in the party hierarchy because the chief minister refused to induct him into his government. He was secretary in the Central government and was holding a much higher office than the state ruling party's vice-president' Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
'If Modi-Shah had not changed the leadership, one section would have parted ways with the BJP for sure.'
Petrol pumps in many cities witnessed long queues on Tuesday as people came to fill up their vehicle tanks fearing shortage of fuel amid the protest by truck drivers against a provision in the new penal law on hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
The average age of the new Union council of ministers has reduced to 58 years from 61 years previously following Wednesday's reshuffle.
The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into a case related to two women being paraded naked in strife-torn Manipur, saying the approach of the government was of zero tolerance towards any crimes against women.
Sacking Ajay Mishra would further antagonise Brahmins in UP already upset with Yogi's government.
'...to bring the Global South and others to the negotiating table on the basis of Gandhi's non-violence so that we can leave a safer world for our children.'
This comes after Gandhi on Tuesday replied to the Lok Sabha Secretariat's notice to vacate his official bungalow, and said he will abide by the notice.
Gandhi said it was his responsibility to tell the truth and it is for the people to listen or not to listen.
The domestic LPG business in the country, which caters to 133 million households, has undergone a sea of reforms in the current financial year, helping the government check the burgeoning subsidy bill.
The outcome in UP is far more significant than in the other states going to the polls next year. An unlikely setback in UP can cramp the Modi government, virtually making it a lame-duck two years ahead of the 2024 parliamentary poll, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'The BJP would like to capitalise on Yogi's tough image on criminals, law and order situation, and hands-on CM.' 'Modi will be an additional advantage, but it is primarily a contest between Yogi and Akhilesh.'
Indian celebrities and politicians ranging from Bollywood mega stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several chief ministers lost verified blue ticks on their Twitter accounts after Elon Musk's microblogging site started removing check mark icons from accounts that did not pay Rs 650 per month subscription fee.
India had sought Pakistan's permission to use the country's airspace on October 28 for Prime Minister Modi, who will be visiting Saudi Arabia to participate in an international business conference on October 29.
Rai said that the terminology was part of the regional dialect and there was nothing obscene about it.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
For the first 90 days of 2021, from January 5 onwards, one Union minister will visit one district in Tamil Nadu every week till the assembly election.
There was a time when gas was offered to India at a cheaper price but we could not close those deals.
In an interview with Ajay Modi & Jyoti Mukul, ONGC chairman R S Sharma says uncertainties continue in the business even after decontrol of petrol prices.
The second richest Indian said he felt bad about the delays his projects faced in India.
'The central BJP has worked out an arrangement -- Yogi manages the state while Modi manages the Centre.'
rivals Congress, JMM and TMC and Samajwadi Party.
There are rumours that Ajay Singh who previously headed SpiceJet may get an investor to bail out the airline of dire consequences.
The Centre has appointed senior IAS officers Vumlunmang Vualnam and Neeraj Mittal as new secretaries in the ministry of civil aviation and the department of telecommunications respectively in a major secretary-level bureaucratic reshuffle, a government order stated.
September 2, 2022 was a historic day in the Indian Navy's history as Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi commissioned India's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant at the Cochin Shipyard in Kochi.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association president and Balrampur Chini managing director Vivek Saraogi speaks to Ajay Modi on the way ahead for the industry.
Cities, roads, stations rechristened in the time of Modi.
Other Bollywood stars cheered the BJP win as well.
A Rampur court on Thursday sentenced Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case, a government lawyer said.
In a major development, India and the US have agreed to end six trade disputes at the WTO through mutually agreed solutions, while New Delhi will remove retaliatory customs duties on certain American products such as almonds, walnuts, and apples.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
Nine National Disaster Response Force teams were deployed for rescue operations following one of the worst railway disasters in India that killed at least 278 people and injured more than 900. According to official data, the force rescued 44 victims and retrieved 121 bodies from the spot.
The opposition has renewed its demand for the minister's dismissal after a special investigation team told a local court that the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed was a "pre-planned conspiracy".
Senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha said the residence in question was built in 1942. The Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD), after an audit, had recommended its renovation, he said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances