'IT is not just about export and dollars -- or about big cities like Delhi and Mumbai --but also about how it is improving villages," said a proud Sachin Pilot, Union minister of state for communication.
The small, sweet village of Mawlynnong is not only beautifully clean, but has a character that will win your heart.
'Jairam Mahto's new party dented the NDA because he pulled a lot of the OBC vote.'
Lady officers in the Indian Air Force have become trendsetters, carving a prominent place for themselves in diverse IAF stations across the country. This year, for the first time, the IAF contingent was led by a young lady officer at the Republic Day parade. Rediff.com's Archana Masih meets some dynamic IAF lady officers who make India proud.
No, they are not politicians, bureaucrats or film stars, but a group of young singers who can stir the rusted chords of your soul with the power of their voice. Ladies and gentlemen... the Shillong Chamber Choir...
"I have 27 missed calls during the time I've been speaking to you! Here if you don't answer the phone, there is every chance a party member will tell you 'Because you didn't answer my phone I'm leaving your party.'" Archana Masih reports on how a graduate of the prestigious Wharton Business School fits into the unusual landscape of North-East politics.
>Rohini Acharya, Lalu Yadav's daughter who donated her kidney to her father in December 2022, is on her introductory campaign trail in the constituency that has been represented by her father four times.
'Everybody of a certain age wanted to write like Rushdie and so did I but I wouldn't want being hunted around the world. I am sure even Rushdie wouldn't want that life, says Pakistani Writer Mohammed Hanif.
Members of Parliament from diverse parts of India -- from the Naxalite-affected regions to south India -- react to President Obama's speech.
The MP of Kanker, Chhattisgarh, on why local support is needed to counter the Naxals.
A month after the Dantewada massacre, young girls from the Maoist-affected region of Chhattisgarh will begin a 9-month training programme to become CRPF constables.
Do you like the first look?
'Because of the paucity of force, we have to be extremely creative in your ops. You can't go for an all out war,' says Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan.
No journey can give you a taste of the Indian landscape like train travel. Rajesh Karkera and Archana Masih capture vignettes on one such long journey through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The house in Allahabad where Amitabh Bachchan lived in many, many, years before he became THE SUPERSTAR.
'This trip will solidify India's understanding of the new kind of world leadership Obama wishes to achieve, one very different from that of George W Bush,' says Professor William Chafe.
'These incidents of indiscipline in army units are happening with increased frequency which is a dangerous trend and is a wake up call for the senior leadership of the armed forces,' says Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd).
The man who wrote two of the 20th century's greatest novels, Animal Farm and 1984, was born in Motihari. But few come to the sleepy Bihar town seeking George Orwell.
In Gujarat, the system is such that even if Narendra Modi is not there, the growth will continue. But in a place like Bihar it is different, it will still matter who is the CEO of the state,' says social scientist-economist Dr Shaibal Gupta.
A new house, an inverter for electricity and a scooty are the material things Sushil Kumar has acquired from his prize money. But what he misses most is his cycle. Archana Masih meets the first winner of Rs 5 crores on KBC at his home in Motihari, Bihar.
Conrad Sangma, 35, Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Meghalaya assembly that goes to the polls on Saturday, explains the need for a fresh approach to solve the problem of insurgency in the state, the reasons for the lack of women in state politics and the need for cultural exchanges between the North-East and the rest of India.
'No one is saying that the police can become the solution, the police have to become the first respondent to create a situation where other people can enter,' says Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan.
Lieutenant General Kuldip Singh Brar (retired), who has been on the hit-list of Khalistan separatists since 1984, survived an attempt on his life in London last year. The general tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih what it is to live a life under threat and how he has not let that cow him down.
'Neither are Baloch insurgents capable of breaking up Pakistan, nor has Pakistan learned any lessons from the 1971 debacle that led to the country's dismemberment.'
'If the Indian Army is deployed aganist Naxals it would mean that the whole political system has failed,' says Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (retd).
National Security Guard Director General N P S Aulakh on how the NSG has changed after 26/11.
'Will President Dissanayake calibrate his foreign policy taking into account India's immediate security concerns? We need to watch.'
A year after her husband Mukesh died in a bomb blast in Mumbai, Sheela Seth and her nine-year-old son Mohit confront grief and an uncertain future, reports Archana Masih.
BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar's wife and son who keep themselves far from the political limelight reveal what it is like to campaign for the first time.
Young men who are injured or martyred in the line of duty have been reduced to statistics in news reports. Archana Masih reports on the injured security personnel recovering from a deadly Naxalite ambush in Chhattisgarh and looks at the lives behind those numbers.
'I am filled with hope and inspiration as I have the privilege to view this testament to Gandhi's life. He is a hero not just to India but to the world,' Obama wrote in the visitor's book.
Sub Lieutenant Shivangi, the daughter of a village headmaster in Bihar, will conduct maritime reconnaissance and search and rescue missions.
'There are no quick fixes... The security forces can kill terrorists, but terrorism will be killed only by the people,' says Lieutenant General V G Patankar (retd).
Honorary Captain Bana Singh won the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest ranking gallantry award, for recapturing a Pakistani post on the Siachen Glacier. Living a retired life in a quiet village in Jammu & Kashmir, he makes you feel that his act of phenomenal courage was part of a soldier's day at work.
Far from civilian populations, facing the onslaught of weather, terrain and a hostile neighbour lurking in the distance, the band of young men at the Indian Air Force's most strategic radar location near the Line of Control say life is hard, but they would not have had it any other way.
27-year-old Vinod Dhar's entire family was massacred when he was just a teenager. He now has a government job and a flat alloted by the government in a township for Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu but almost a decade later, the horrors of that night remain with him. Archana Masih reports from Jammu.
Have You met Mr Tata, interacted with him? If you have, we would love to hear from you. Please mail your memories of your encounter with Mr Tata, complete with the date of the meeting, your full name, where you are based, what you do. And if you have a photograph of yourself with Mr Tata, please mail that too. Do mail your recollections to ReadersWriteIn@rediffmail.com
On Judgement Day, Lalu Yadav ultimately paid the price for 15 years of misrule in Bihar.
Barack Obama's staff could not have chosen a better venue than Humayun's Tomb for his only cultural outing in the capital.
