'There is an insistence that the government bring about reforms if India is to succeed. The fact is that many nations have done reforms, but are not Great Powers,' says Aakar Patel.
'The assumption is that the lines have been drawn and the two sides (India and Pakistan) have gone to battle. All of us, whether analysts or politicians or citizens or cricketers or housewives, must see the other side as an enemy and must reject everything it says or does even if we gain nothing from it. I am no longer able to subscribe to this stupidity,' says Aakar Patel.
As many as 47 people, including 20 security personnel, have been killed and over 130 injured in the R S Pura sector in Pakistan shelling and firing this year.
'There are moments, and the hanging of Yakub Memon was one, where all of the gathered injustices are crystallised. Those gathered at the graveyard were not there to protest. They came to sympathise because they are also victims,' says Aakar Patel.
India and the US joined the global community on Tuesday in backing Afghan government's efforts to involve Taliban elements in the peace process but made it clear that amnesty should only be offered to those who had no links with the Al Qaeda and other terror groups.
Immigrants from five countries -- India, Bolivia, Lebanon, Sudan and Ghana -- stood in a line during the ceremony in the White House.
'The government is going to introduce legislation that would make it easy for Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Zoroastrians, Sikhs and Jains to migrate legally to India.' 'But looking at that list, my entire well-meaning question, as may be obvious, is: What about Muslims? They seem to have been specifically left out of this formulation,' says Aakar Patel.
Successful demonetisation will help in raising revenues on sustained basis as more and more people will come under the tax net, says a World Bank report.
A report by Amnesty International titled 'Safe Schools: Every Girl's Right' has found that a shockingly high number of girl students in India face physical, sexual and psychological abuse on a regular basis. According to the report, instances of abuse are highest in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi, with the national capital, where 87 per cent of young female students reported facing abuse, listed as the worst place for young female students.
A career that almost always fell apart after promising to fall into place -- Ambati Rayudu will be remembered as someone who could not live up to his rare cricketing talent, undone by a mercurial demeanour that often led to run-ins with authorities. His cricketing journey ended abruptly on Wednesday after a heart-breaking and baffling World Cup snub.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's all-powerful Working Committee, which meets in Mumbai on August 13, would decide whether former Indian Cricket League (ICL) players can take part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held in March-April next year.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has shortlisted the changes it hopes to see in Budget 2017.
'Till today, the RSS only speaks of Hindu Rashtra but never explains what it means. It cannot, because it would be unacceptable to even a majority of Hindus, forget the Indian Muslims and Christians,' says Aakar Patel.
The sources said friends of India prevailed over those of Pakistan in the European Parliament on Wednesday.
India's ODI specialist Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement from first-class cricket to focus on One-Day Internationals and T20s.
Players who have severed their links with the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) through the one-time amnesty offer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seem all set to be seen in action in the Indian Premier League's next edition. A formal decision to clear the deck on ex-ICL players' participation in the third edition of the IPL, to be held in 12 venues from March 12 to April 25, is expected to be taken by the BCCI's Working Committee in Mumbai.
The Aam Aadmi Party and talks about next Lok Sabha elections seem to be hogging the limelight when it comes to discussions around India at the World Economic Forum's annual talk-fest of the rich and famous from across the globe.
India's plan to sell the Advanced Light Helicopter to Myanmar threatens a European Union arms embargo to that country, Amnesty International claimed on Monday.
Former US attorney-general Ramsay Clark slammed the West Bengal government for 'perpetrating atrocities' on the people of Nandigram as part of a globalisation drive to set up industries there.
'What kind of insensitivity does it take to get taxpayers to cough up for an aircraft costing a few billion for your personal use, at a time when the country you head is in so much trouble?' asks Sherna Gandhy.
'Blocking Parliament brings attention to a party that has poor speakers like Rahul Gandhi. It is unlikely to shine in debates, assuming we were a nation that enjoyed listening to sparkling intellectual exchange, which we are not.'
'What the long term repercussions of the Ayodhya judgment are will unfold in time.' 'And I hope the consequences are not going to be as damaging to us as they were to Pakistan,' says Aakar Patel.
The organisers of Qatar's 2022 World Cup said on Sunday they were investigating the death of an Indian labourer at one of its sites but denied it was caused by working conditions which the wealthy Gulf country is under pressure to improve. Along with accusations of corruption during its World Cup bid, Qatar has long been under fire from rights groups for labour abuses. Last week, world soccer body FIFA urged Qatar to hasten improvements for builders on World Cup sites and said it would monitor conditions. Qatar, an energy exporter which has the highest income per capita in the world, is also under pressure from the United Nations to address workers' rights before World Cup construction peaks in 2017. Labourer Jaleshwar Prasad, 48, fell unconscious on Wednesday while performing steel work at Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor, 50 km (31 miles) north of Doha, a witness told Reuters. Organisers said the death was not caused by working conditions.
Swaraj and Tillerson discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including the situation in the neighbourhood and the Indo-Asia Pacific region, officials said.
When African ambassadors said the attacks against Africans are 'xenophobic and racial in nature,' the MEA declared 'strong Indian institutions are adequate to deal with aberrations that represent an act of a few criminals.' 'This is a lie,' says Aakar Patel. 'India's institutions can't even protect Indians against mob attacks, how will they protect foreigners?'
What is the wider political strategy behind Mr Modi's concerted attack on black money, asks Subir Roy.
'The Modi government did not deny it had acquired the NSO platform, and did not deny it was spying on its citizens by hacking into their phones,' says Aakar Patel.
'We have done majoritarianism through other means.' 'The Citizenship Amendment Act, read together with the National Register of Citizens, will prove what I mean,' notes Aakar Patel.
'The goal is achievable. What is stopping us from getting there?' asks Aakar Patel.
'There is no acceptable definition of what terrorism is and who a terrorist is.'
'Even before the outbreak of the flu, it had become clear that the tax revenue numbers for 2019-2020 were overestimated,' observes A K Bhattacharya.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley counter Rahul Gandhi's attack over issues related to the JNU, intolerance, inflation and foreign policy.
'The Sena can quickly reduce most solutions to violence.' 'When in power, it will revert to this gene which is coded into it and we will no doubt produce entertaining and frightening moments,' says Aakar Patel.
Trump had scrapped the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme earlier this month which protect some 800,000 people who came to the US illegally as children.
Congress trained its guns on the National Democratic Alliance dispensation on a wide range of issues including economy, employment, price rise and foreign policy.
'Azim Premji has given away about one-and-a-half lakh crore rupees of his wealth.' 'Most of us will not even know what that sum actually means.' 'To put it into context, it can fund India's health budget and education budget,' points out Aakar Patel.
'We have not been able to use the potential of our location in the region and the world and our strength as a nation and an economy to establish an EU-like structure in South Asia,' points out Aakar Patel.
Over the last two years, despite an amnesty scheme, only about Rs 2,500 crore of taxes have been recovered.
