Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan has ignited a political controversy by labelling Operation Blue Star a 'black day' and referring to those killed as 'martyrs', while criticising former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and likening the military action to an invasion.
At sunset, in Vashi, New Bombay, a modest roadside stall, near the entrance of General Arun Kumar Vaidya Kala Kendra, quietly draws a steady stream of endless customers -- office-goers, students, families and regulars.
'Deeply shocked and terribly heartbroken to learn that we have lost Ajit Dada in a tragic accident.'
10 Heroes of the 1965 War which ended on September 23 60 years ago.
Recently declassified documents reveal that the Indian government wanted to invade the sacred precincts of the Golden Temple even if it hurt national interest, says senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley.
This will be the first instance since Independence that two of the three service chiefs will be the government's chosen men.
'The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.'
'Khalistan would have been in existence today, but for the army.'
The village in Maharashtra has continuously sent soldiers to the Army since World War I. Every other person you meet is a soldier or a retired soldier or is aspiring to be a soldier.
'I'm now living under threat, but life has to go on because as a soldier, you can't run away from it.'
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
The idea of weaponization got a fillip from an unexpected quarter. In the last week of October 1985, Rajiv met US President Ronald Reagan. Reagan told Rajiv, 'Pakistan has already made a bomb.' When Rajiv started talking about disarmament, the US president cut him short, 'Don't talk theory, think of your own protection.'
The recent input by the Intelligence Bureau -- suggesting that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is being targeted by militant Khalistani groups -- indicates that the Inter Services Intelligence is planning to re-launch its covert movement in India.
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and two other public sector oil firms will install 22,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations over the next 3-5 years to support the nation's target to reduce its carbon intensity and reach net zero emissions by 2070. IOC, the country's largest state-controlled refiner by capacity, will set up EV charging facilities at 10,000 fuel outlets over the next three years, chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) said it will set up 7,000 stations over the next five years while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has plans for 5,000 stations.
There have been no reports of casualties. Neither is the cause of the fire known.
The blaze started around 6:30 pm on Monday in an open plot near an IT Park along the General Arun Kumar Vaidya Marg in the western suburb, located adjacent to the Colony.
This is the first time that petrol sales in the world's third-largest oil importer have risen since the March 25 nationwide lockdown crippled economic activity and sent demand plummeting.
B D Pande was Punjab's governor during Operation Bluestar. In this excerpt from his memoir, In the Service of Free India: Memoir of a Civil Servant, Pande reveals what really went on behind the scenes during those dark days in India's history.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Sunday met party patriarch L K Advani, who is sulking after Narendar Modi was named the party's prime ministerial candidate.
In super-human acts of valour, Havildar Abdul Hamid personally knocked out five tanks over two days, effectively derailing the enemy offensive in the 1965 Indo-Pak War. 'Decades later, I realised not only how much the nation owed to this great son of India but also that my entire family was probably alive thanks to him,' says Vijay Dandapani.
If the government of the day would like to set in place a smooth and well-planned changeover and facilitate the incoming chief to chalk out his action plan well in advance, the announcement of a successor needs to be done early, observes Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
India is Asia's third-best performing equity market.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Prince Karim Aga Khan were among the eminent personalities awarded the Padma Vibhushan, country's second highest civilian honour, by President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Wednesday.
What do the critics of the prime minister know, India has reached the zenith of its glory under the Modi dispensation, says Durba Dhyani.
General Bakshi is understood to have been assured by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that the process was under way to appoint him as India's first tri-service commander, a post that would, at least nominally, place him senior to General Rawat.
Over the past two decades, six of the eight army chiefs have been from the infantry and the other two from the artillery division. The appointment of either General Bakshi or General Hariz would interrupt the infantry's prolonged domination of the army command, says Ajai Shukla, a retired army officer himself.
'Everyone is still trying to understand the quantum of impact demonetisation will have on the economy.'
'In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy.' 'She packed Parliament with her supporters with loyalty being more important than ability; she superseded judges; she corrupted the civil service.' 'She knew how to use people against each other and was quite a master of that.' 'She would do this with calculated skill and in the bargain cause enmity between brothers, split up families.'
'Pakistan thinks it is winning this low intensity conflict.' 'It is a serious observation. Half the battle is convincing your adversary that he cannot make headway.' 'A lot depends on how the internal professional management of the army and the handling of situations that are bound to rise sooner than later in his command, are done.'
From planning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign trips to playing a key role in the Jammu and Kashmir elections, former RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav is become increasingly important in the BJP
'Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but the officer was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed.' 'I am not supporting him, but I am also not criticising him.' 'He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police,' points out Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd), who was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir.
'In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy,' says Khushwant Singh.
