Rahul Gandhi has set out to revamp the Congress party after the recent drubbing it received in the assembly elections. Renu Mittal reports
This is for the first time the UNHRC has issued a report on the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir and PoK.
Has Owaisi's MIM become an albatross for Imtiaz Jaleel, former journalist and the party's candidate in Aurangabad?
'Those who have followed politics even when there was no Twitter know what the word 'jumlebaaz' means,' says Utkarsh Mishra.
'There is anger against Rahul and this will become obvious in the days ahead.' 'He tried to run the party like a corporate.' 'He has been successful in wiping out the party from large parts of the country.' Within the Congress party there is extreme anger at Rahul Gandhi's style of politics.
The Zakat Foundation of India runs welfare initiatives for the destitute and helps with the education of poor students. Upasna Pandey/ Rediff.com discover the origins of this organisation
The government now ends its mandate with reaffirmation in the vote-on-account of the same goals, for which it claims to have a clear line of sight.
Digvijaya Singh, the Congress veteran who is one of its general secretaries, talks about his inability, despite years of urging, to get party vice-president and supposed heir, Rahul Gandhi, to communicate more directly. And, on related matters of generational change.
A never-seen-before Rahul Gandhi exuded toughness and aggression. And it was not only about the words he used to castigate the opposition but his dialogue delivery, facial expressions, overall body language that conveyed a different, more confident Gandhi, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
'It is performing for my country which motivates me every day.' 'That is why till the day I can give my best I will continue to be in boxing.'
Incidents like these are a wake-up call, says School Education Secretary Anil Swarup. 'Today, if a particular problem has been found, technology allows solutions to address it,' he says, suggesting alternatives such as printing and distribution of encrypted question papers on the day of the exam. Swarup wants electronic tracking to keep tab on who has access to and can, therefore, leak papers.
"There is no doubt we are fighting with our backs to the wall but these political bonfires in the BJP will help to consolidate our position to some extent," a senior Congress leader tells Rediff.com's Anita Katyal.
In 2016, the Centre has been able to get only seven IAS officers from all states so far.
'We feel there is definitely something murky in the system.' 'Will anyone believe that Nirav Modi will go to a branch and bribe a low-level officer?' 'Just look at the people with whom he had moved around.'
'It was Dr B R Ambedkar's foresight which saved us from some marauding state political leaders who could have indirectly disfranchised large sections of our population as we see some attempts even now,' says V Balachandran.
20 years ago this day, May 11, 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test at Pokharan in Rajasthan. In a fascinating interview on Rediff.com, K Subrahmanyam revealed how Indian PMs reacted to nuclear ambitions.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday refused to vacate the stay granted by it last month on Haryana government's decision to grant reservation to Jats.
With the Aam Admi Party rewriting the rules of the game in politics, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi plans to take a cue from it by dropping undeserving sitting MPs and fielding fresh new faces in next year's Lok Sabha elections. Anita Katyal reports
'The present-day Congress party does not lack leaders who want a Rahul-led Congress to taste electoral success, but wish he fails in his efforts to cleanse the party.'
U R Ananthamurthy was one among the most creative triumvirate of Modernist Kannada literature of the late sixties and seventies (the other two being the late P Lankesh and K Poornachandra Tejaswi). He will be missed by all who care to step out and fight for justice and human rights of ordinary people in India despite being surrounded by the consumerist fog, says Shivanand Kanavi.
On this one issue that touches the raw nerve of Tamil Nadu, Modi had better heed M Karunanidhi's sage words conveying "the desire and appeal of all well-wishers of the nation that Prime Minister Modi should focus on accelerating economic growth and social development" and not, let me add, let his ministers embark on disruptive escapades, says B S Raghavan.
Narendra Rawat, an 'arrest-happy' Congress leader, is expected to launch a fair amount of political tamasha against his rival, Narendra Modi, in Vadodara.
'Some in the Congress believe the party should, somewhat brazenly, claim the cause of fighting corruption as its own. But the Congress's idea of fighting corruption is nothing but tinkering with laws, it lacks the stomach to take on the corrupt,' feels T V R Shenoy.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
If the Modi government is to keep its promise of change, it must bring in fresh faces.
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Opposition parties on Wednesday alleged that selective leak of information on demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes to 'friends of BJP' and demanded making public the names of those who had bought gold and foreign exchange of over Rs 1 crore since April.
Prakash Javadekar enjoys being information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs minister, but heading the green ministry is turning out to be thornier than he had expected.
'Modi's idea of India is to make it less liberal, less tolerant and a less accommodative of diversity.' 'We are headed, if Modi continues, to become an ill liberal democracy.' 'Modi is not Vajpayee. Vajpayee was fundamentally decent, tolerant and fair. He played by the rules of the game. Modi is a different story.'
The DMK still wants to look elsewhere for excuses to its electoral debacle, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Should Sasikala seek to follow Jayalalithaa's footsteps in the matter, and if at all she is not disinterested in keeping the twin posts together, the by-election to Jayalalithaa's constituency R K Nagar could be the starting point, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'We have about Rs 4 lakh crore debt on a state budget of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.' 'We are in a debt two-and-a-half times our annual budget,' says the banker who would have been Tamil Nadu's finance minister had the DMK won.
What is the road ahead for Rahul Gandhi? Shehzad Poonawalla offers a blueprint.
'Sonia is trying to become a politician again. Will she succeed?'
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