Only 40 of the 160 projects under the Namami Gange Mission -- a Rs 20,000 crore project for cleaning the river -- have been completed.
A defiant N Srinivasan was elected unopposed as BCCI President for a third year during the Board's AGM in Chennai on Sunday even though he will not take charge till further orders from the Supreme Court.
Unruffled by the Supreme Court order prohibiting him from taking charge even on winning the election, under-pressure BCCI chief N Srinivasan has said he will stand for the Board's Presidential polls in the Annual General Meeting in Chennai on Sunday.
'The problem of a Hindu rashtra is that it has no text which can be adapted to the modern world.' 'The most prominent element of the Hindu way of organising society and the State is through caste.' 'This is not acceptable to most Hindus.' 'Because a Hindu rashtra also erodes the power and the rights of the majority of Hindus, we can be assured that this is not something that the BJP, or any other force can do,' argues Aakar Patel.
Because no other leader cared for Indians as selflessly as he did -- and it all started from a remote corner at the edge of this vast country, 100 years ago.
Janata Dal-United MLC Manorama Devi faced an arrest warrant on Wednesday for violating prohibition laws and allegedly harbouring her fugitive son.
'As he goes down, he will almost certainly drag a few others down with him.' 'Once the mutual mudslinging has died down, collateral damage will probably include more bankers than politicians, given the nature of how things work in India,' says T N Ninan.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited Bijnor district where she met families of two persons killed in the violence. Internet services have been suspended in several areas till Monday, while prohibitory orders remained in force across the state.
Following the Supreme Court ruling against liquor being sold within 500 metres of state and national highways, the infamous Indian jugaad is in play once again. Veenu Sandhu, Nikita Puri, Ranjita Ganesan & Avishek Rakshit find out how India is coping.
Given the international practice, it is inexplicable why the government is going with anonymous electoral bonds.
'Forming cults around Lalus, Nitishes, Mulayams, Mayawatis and Mamatas will do as much harm to the Republic as the bhakti of the Hindus for Modi will do,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The UID number should have age, breed, sex, lactation, height, body, colour, horn type, tail switch and special marks details of the animal, the Centre said.
The last leg of poll campaign saw many national leaders canvassing for their parties.
The awarding of in-principle licences for 10 small finance banks is likely to be a game changer in a way which may not be adequately realised right now.
Desolate streets with security personnel and a communications lockdown has left the Valley cut off from the world.
Consensus building is likely to be the biggest casualty.
Persistent efforts by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and its full members to block implementation of some crucial recommendations of the Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha committee on Wednesday provoked the Supreme Court to observe that public functions relating to cricket can be taken over by the government with the enactment of a law in Parliament.
The mohalla committee movement in Mumbai celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The movement, which was born in the wake of the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-1993, has played an important role in ensuring that Hindu-Muslim riots do not recur in the Maximum City.
'In the name of pluralism-secularism, the kind of politics that was pursued revealed to many that it was basically a favour to Muslim conservatism and communalism -- a politics of minority-ism, rather than of secularism.' 'This is how significant sections of Hindus have been made to loathe the very idea of Indian secularism by now,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Almost all recent labour strikes were declared illegal by the labour department of Gujarat.
With tempers rising on intolerance, it will be hard to run House proceedings.
'Amit Shah was, briefly, a stockbroker before devoting himself to politics. By instinct or training, he knows the value of keeping blue chips in one's portfolio.'
'For the last 10 years the Congress made the RSS an idea of intolerance, anti-minority, especially anti-Muslim, and an idea of fascism.' 'That has been demolished now by Pranab Mukherjee.'
Annabel Mehta, Sachin Tendulkar's mother-in-law, has dedicated her life to working with the Beautiful People of the other half of Mumbai without whom the city would neither exist nor thrive. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel met the amazing lady who was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to underprivileged communities.
'The ruling provides a Constitutional template, it draws boundaries, and there is this expectation that henceforth political parties will not make crude appeals to religion for electoral gains.'
Even as floods play havoc in Uttarakhand, several states have opposed the provisions of a 38-year-old Model Flood Bill aimed at minimising losses to life and property in the natural calamity.
The top 10 in terms of the number of MSMEs is dominated by the larger states with Uttar Pradesh at the top.
The babas' vote banks and the politicians' greed for en bloc votes, is the curse of Punjab and Haryana.
A Ganesh Nadar shares interesting vignettes that usually get lost in the heat-and-dust of election coverage.
'It was a battle that took many forms, ranging from non-violent mass satyagrahas, mammoth public meetings, huge protest rallies in cities and towns to underground organisation of sabotage of communication and transport networks, an underground radio, illegal patrikas (newsletters) and the formation of parallel governments in Ballia, Midnapore and Satara.'
Public Money, Private Agenda -- The Use and Abuse of MPLADS by A Surya Prakash provides a comprehensive look at the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme, which was launched 20 years ago in 1993. Excerpts from the book.
The man behind Aligarh Muslim University 200 years on.
'They must take the bull of conservatism within their own ranks by its horns as much as they need to speak out against the fallacies of the non-Hindutva (or 'Muslim-friendly') political forces as well,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Unruffled by the Supreme Court order prohibiting him from taking charge and braving scathing criticism he has encountered on issues of propriety, a defiant N Srinivasan is certain to be elected unopposed as the president of the BCCI during its AGM in Chennai on Sunday.
In an address that was telecast live on national broadcaster Doordarshan, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday patted the Narendra Modi government for initiatives on national security, economy and international relations in a short period of four months.
Even while rejecting Israel Military Industries' petition, the court has effectively granted foreign vendors the constitutional right to be treated equally with Indian companies.
'The Congress has become two distinct parties, one of the durbar, the other of the field and if they keep drifting apart, death is a certainty,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Following her spat, 'Aunty National' Irani took to Facebook to speak out against her detractors. Here's the Facebook post in response to her critics which Rediff.com represents verbatim:
The elections in two eastern Indian states were keenly observed in Bangladesh for two major contentious issues, writes Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.
Travelling across tribal Dahod to an about-to-be-born township near Ahmedabad, Sheela Bhatt examines the 'Modi effect' and how it will play out in the polls in the prime ministerial candidate's home state.Travelling across tribal Dahod to an about-to-be-born-township near Ahmedabad, Sheela Bhatt examines the 'Modi effect' and how it will play out at the polls on the prime ministerial candidate's home state.