By calling the Congress demand for covering lotus ponds absurd, ridiculous, the EC has done well. After all, even despite occasional lapses, there are wise men around, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Indian officialdom enjoys well over a week of Sundays every month
Hundreds of migrants, who continue to arrive in Europe as they flee the scenes of chaos and brutality of the Islamic State in the Middle East, have created sharp divisions among European Union member states which are increasingly finding it tough to control the massive influx.
Karnataka's SLP against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's acquittal has as much for the legal community across the country, as its electoral fallout may have for the political fraternity, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Culture is our asset. Culture is our identity.' 'Wherever you go in India, every millimetre can be measured with culture.' 'There is so much to see that even one life is not enough.'
'Our first great challenge is to create 12 million new jobs each year, to make the demographic dividend an economic dividend.' 'We are nowhere near that,' points out Mohan Guruswamy.
The prosecution in the December 16 gang rape case on Saturday told a court in Mumbai that the brutal assault meted out to the victim and her male friend by the alleged rapists was with a motive to "eliminate" them so that neither was left alive to narrate the horrific ordeal.
Veterans bemoan the 'lack of intention' shown by the Modi sarkar, who seem to have reneged on their poll promise.
CBI sources said that Kumar has been charged with abusing his official position to award contracts to M/s Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd and securing government tenders worth Rs 9.5 crore between 2007 and 2014 for the company.
'Public sector banks are like an extended arm of the government.' 'They rush to rescue certain sectors or they rush to invest in certain sectors to prop up the economy which the private banks don't.'
'One one hand, the BJP puts Uniform Civil Code as a goal in its manifesto, and on the other, it pushes massive discrimination against Hindus.' 'This is not sabka saath, sabka vikas. Rather it is "Haj ka saath, church ka vikas",' argues Sankrant Sanu.
These risks are viewed as more acute in the online world.
DMK leader MK Stalin is concerned that a no-trust move would force the EPS faction to patch up with not only the OPS group but also the TTV camp and also get the 'Two Leaves' poll symbol unfrozen, which could upset his party's electoral apple cart, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Though federal, the Constitution is unitary in nature. All matters relating to revenue are centralised. It is necessary that matters related to finance have to be decentralised... States need more freedom in designing schemes with their interest in mind. There has to be a Constitutional amendment to give more powers to the states. A special session of Parliament should amend the Constitution, especially the 7th Schedule,' Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday dismissed Aam Aadmi Party MLA and former law minister Somnath Bharti's anticipatory bail plea.
Considering that all sides to the game feel being targeted by the BJP-ruled Centre through taxmen and their ED/CBI counterparts, both factions may not rule out the possibility of patching up after a time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
It is well-known, and the Brooks-Bhagat report vouches for it, that the real failure for the 1962 debacle against China was not military, but political, says Ram Madhav.
'Mumbai's killings in January 1993 came at the tail end of two outbursts of vicious communal violence, whereas today, it's peacetime in a 'new India'.' 'At that time, the perpetrators warned onlookers to keep their mouths shut.' 'Today, the perpetrators take videos of their attacks, such is their confidence.' 'The mobs have succeeded in terrorising an entire community and indeed, all those dealing in the transport of cattle, whatever their religion,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Today as one sees the Owaisi brothers of Hyderabad seeking to lay claim as the custodian of the Muslim vote and the upholders of the community's interests, it is Shahabuddin who springs to mind for having been there, done that, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The verdict said that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating ones and hence, the convicts did not deserve any leniency.
After recognising its adverse health effects, the govt has now dismissed its own lab reports to conclude that the evidence against plastic is insufficient.
What does one deduce from this silence? That the minorities in the BJP era have been muted, perhaps even coercively, asks Sajad Ahmad Dar.
It is possible that this experiment might see a rise in the Union government's cost incurred on tax concessions, without any increase in the tax base or coverage, says A K Bhattacharya.
A case that J Jayalalitha 'does not want' is back and in the Supreme Court. N Sathiya Moorthy reports on the possible repercussions of the disproportionate assets case on Tamil Nadu politics.
The government has at last commenced important structural reforms.
Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's video address to an Indo-Pakistan entrepreneurs' event in Islamabad was abruptly cut off after he lambasted the Pakistani government for ceasefire violations on the Line of Control and suggested the civilian administration did not control the military.
'It is just that we have our standards so low that anybody looks good now.' 'His sort of extremely terminological exactitude is a serious problem. He doesn't seem to understand the difference between exclusive economic zones, territorial waters...' 'I am expecting a lot of confusion because of this... Unless Parrikar starts going into the depth of the problems, he is only going to compound the problem rather than resolve it.'
'Modi's more than dozen interviews are helping him fine-tune the rough edges of his campaign. He is trying to influence floating voters, undecided voters, non-committal and caste-neutral voters into deciding whether to go for the Lotus or not. These could have been Congress voters, but its divided house, torn between the old guard and Rahul Gandhi, seems to have got completely confused.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt lists what the Congress did wrong to find itself in such a sorry mess today.
'Their vote bank has shifted to the BJP; the Congress is yet to realise it.'
There is much work to be done to design a good GST.
Should candidates for particular positions in the government be permitted to agitate for changing the recruitment process itself? The candidates have to meet the requirements of the jobs rather than ask for their own standards to be accepted as the requirement of the jobs. Those who cannot meet those criteria should seek other jobs that match their skills, says T P Sreenivasan.
These automotive companies were afraid of competition and made wrong accusations on grounds of safety.
She is changing India one village at a time.
Agricultural incomes can be taxed without hurting farmers, as a substantial section - the small and marginal ones - will remain outside the tax net simply because their incomes are likely to be below the basic exemption limit of Rs 250,000 per annum that is extended to all taxpayers in India, finds out Ishan Bakshi.
The Hindutva brigade's silence on the rape may possibly be explained that this incident is an intra-Hindu affair for them. What is even more intriguing is that vocal gender activists have preferred to almost ignore the incident. Why? Is it because homosexual rape does not involve the woman either as victim or as aggressor, asks Mohammad Sajjad.
'Mulayam has by design cornered the people's attention back to the party and Akhilesh.' 'People were only talking of Modi and demonetisation, but now suddenly everybody is talking of Akhilesh and the SP.' 'My personal subjective impression is that the SP is neck and neck with the BJP.'
Captain Indu Nair, joined a private airline after her tenure as a pilot in the Indian Air Force ended five years ago. Among the first batches of women pilots in the IAF, she flew during the Kargil conflict. As a commercial airline pilot, one of her best experiences, she says, is when she takes off with an all woman crew - in the cockpit and the cabin.
Manish Sisodia's elevation as Delhi CM would set Arvind Kejriwal free to take up a significant role in national politics, or he could return to activism, says Sudhir Bisht.
Investors with stalled projects and mounting bad debt will refinance their loans.
A new book reproduces original Chinese maps that contradict Chinese propaganda. The book reveals Chinese intelligence admissions that Beijing never maintained any army base, customs office or other government function in the disputed area until 1983.
