Cutting across party lines, lawmakers on Monday sought the passage of the amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act at the earliest amid the clamour over the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16 gang-rape case even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress traded charges over the delay in clearing of the legislation.
He wrote a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi who immediately accepted his resignation and relieved him of his charge as party General Secretary.
The opposition Congress could muster only 16 votes against the government with one of its legislators absenting from the crucial floor test.
Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry slam the government's decision to ban sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter; meat traders fear spike in cow vigilantism.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Kanhaiya Kumar is India's latest political rockstar. More so in Mumbai, where his address this evening gave Mumbaikars a glimpse of the heydays of the Communist movement in the city of textiles mills and mill workers.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for repealing the measure. He said the Centre's decision amounts to an "intrusion" to the rights of the states in the country's federal structure.
India needs to take note of China's assertiveness in implementing its national security law as also its recently exhibited sensitivity to criticism of Xi Jinping by the Indian media, says former senior R&AW officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
The NHRC issued notice to the Union ministries of home and human resource development seeking a report over the reported ill-treatment of Kashmiri people in the aftermath of the attack.
"The RSS is trying to change the nature of India. Other parties haven't tried to capture India's institutions," he said.
Any economically weaker from Brahmins, Rajputs (Thakurs), Jats, Marathas, Bhumihars, several trading castes, Kapus and Kammas among other upper castes with an annual income below Rs 8 lakh and not owning more than five acres of agricultural land will get the benefits of the reservation.
'I say Modi was India's last chance.' 'Because the kind of work this government has done -- I'm talking about physical delivery -- is fantastic, like no time in our history.'
Shankar Acharya gives ten predictions on key politico-economic developments in the world and ten for India.
Saturday will be the last time the Mumbai Mirror will hit newsstands as a daily. Two Saturdays ago, its owners, the Times of India group, shocked the city by deciding to convert the Mirror into a weekly newspaper. Jyoti Punwani salutes the Mirror and its editor, Meenal Baghel, for its pathbreaking journalism.
Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to the angst of the professions.
With a decelerating economy that weakens India's hands on geopolitical issues, it will be interesting to know which way this trip will go.
Stating that the Third Front has no policy or commitment, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday termed the 'alternative' combination of parties as a "parking slot."
'A fierce crusader against communalism, George joined hands with majoritarian forces, never to revisit or re-assess his saffron association.' 'He was a Union minister in 1998-2004, a time when people like Graham Staines were lynched in Orissa.' 'On the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, George went on to kind of justify the slashing of pregnant women, by saying in the Lok Sabha that this was nothing new for India.' 'Thus, he was in sharp contrast to what he had himself stood for in the heyday of his political career in the 1970s and 1980s, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'I was present at a meeting where he decided to permit the IAF to strike at Pakistan positions in Kargil, with the caveat that they should not cross the LoC.' 'Confident that the Indian Army would succeed, Mr Vajpayee was positioning himself to tell the world after the Kargil conflict was won that India did not violate the 'sanctity' of the LoC,' recalls Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's envoy in Islamabad in that eventful year, 1999.
'Those who thought they are above law and above courts of the country are now approaching courts praying bail; some people have already gone inside (jail) which is their rightful place.'
The National Democratic Alliance government's parliamentary managers have a busy weekend ahead, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
'Some farmers know when elections are due.' 'Before that, they take loans.' 'They then ask their farmer unions for loan waivers and the political party who shouts first about a loan waiver (gets the votes).'
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said it would have been good if Rahul had attended the budget session
Modi said the Goods and Services Tax has within one year of its launch led to over 70 per cent jump in indirect taxpayer base, demolished check-posts and merged 17 taxes and 23 cesses into one single tax.
Economic reforms seem to be on a slow train, while good old fiscal populism is alive and flourishing.
'Our honourable CM is so shameless that she will say the state is among the safest for women.'
Shadow of elections may overshadow political consensus at GST Council meetings.
They would intensify the protest if their concerns are not addressed in the Budget.
'What happens in case the party joins a post-poll alliance with another party whose ideology the legislator is opposed to?' 'Should s/he let down her/his voters merely because her/his party leadership has taken a decision in that direction?' asks Aakar Patel.
Buried in a Kolkata cemetery is an Englishman who served India well during her struggle for freedom. Charles Freer Andrews was a benevolent force that neither the Indians, nor the British could ignore.
'When it is an open ballot, the division taking place in the open house will be for all to see.' 'As they say sunlight is the best disinfectant, this (aspect of the order) brings in transparency and it's in keeping with the best democratic principles.'
Kumaraswamy made the stunning claim that the BJP offered the MLAs of his party Rs 100 crore and ministerial berths.
Bihar became the first non-NDA state and overall second after the BJP-ruled Assam to pass GST bill.
Among the private banking majors ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 0.2%-0.5% each.
'Sounds familiar? Barring inflation, much else looks, sounds, and feels more than a bit like 1974.' 'A phenomenally popular leader, with a party of unquestioning followers, a broken Opposition, a nationalist high and an economy in free fall, crippling joblessness,' recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Mark Tully on the India he loves.
The NDA candidate tells the Election Commission that the Maoists plan to kidnap him.
As the debate on possible ruling dispensation at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh feels that extending outside support in a coalition set up is "impractical, utopian and unworkable".
At least 13 attempts were made earlier at modernising.
'The Parivar's ideology and politics was and remains the very opposite of what Dr Ambedkar stood for.'
