Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
While PNB did not name the other lenders, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank are said to have offered credit based on letters of undertaking (LOUs) issued by PNB. Foreign bank branches too are under investigation.
Gimmicks such as appointing high-profile brand ambassadors like Sachin Tendulkar will not work.
Industrialists have the same complaints as they did in the UPA's second stint.
With stake sales to begin in some PSUs & banks, Jaitley and team to trot the globe to get more foreign investors.
Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry is keen to promote the 'Make in India' campaign.
She lamented the fact that people were being viciously attacked for holding different beliefs in the "prevalent atmosphere of intolerance".
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares for his maiden Independence Day address, various ministries have been asked to furnish by this month end details of programmes in different sectors which could form part of his speech, possibly in the form of announcements.
The prime minister has followed a dual strategy. He is invoking Gandhi to project himself as a statesman and yet, because he is essentially a politician, he has to take the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh along as well
The choking of natural drainage brings monsoonal Mumbai to its knees year after year.
Hitting back at Narendra Modi, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said the Congress party wanted him to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Nanded due to the anti-incumbency factor and that he had the backing of his family including sitting MP and brother-in-law Bhaskarrao Patil.
In the unlikely event of the BJP-NDA losing all five states going to the polls in February-March, the Presidential electoral college numbers could be significantly altered, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Narendra Modi is single-handedly changing the formula to win elections. With money, human resources, mobile technology, the Internet, advance planning and tremendous confidence, he has spread his image more in UP villages than in urban areas.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports from Lucknow on how Team Modi is changing the rules of the election game.
His address comes a day after the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses crossed the landmark figure of 100 crore in India.
The talk in a tea stall in the Yadav-dominated village of Mohli in Munger district of Bihar is all about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's exhortations to 'Yaduvanshis' to dump Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has fielded an unprecedented 22 candidates from the dominant backward caste.
Modi said these steps exemplified his government's approach of 'minimum government and maximum governance'.
He may not have been declared Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate just yet but Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday seemed to have already donned the mantle when he said the nation would be comparing his speech with that of Prime Minister on Independence Day on Thursday.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Storming the capital with a whirlwind campaign, Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram and alleged that they have ruined the country with their "bookish knowledge".
Most top industrialists rate PM's first 100 days in office as 'good', primarily due to his intentions, not concrete policy measures.
Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury was on Thursday seen in a video purportedly grabbing the collar of an on-duty police official during a protest called by her party, the act forcing the police to slap a case against her.
'It needed political courage on the part of the prime minister to make such an intervention at the present juncture when the hawkish opinion rules the roost in the Indian foreign-policy discourses in our media, and, unfortunately, the sane voices have largely fallen silent,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
For the past, blame the Congress. For the present, blame the Congress. For everything, blame the Congress. But for your future, vote BJP.
'Anybody and everybody who opposes this government for whatever reasons will be branded a terrorist and charged in such a manner that all human rights will be taken away.'
'India could become the newest Asian tiger under Modi's dynamic leadership. Modi could become the Nehru of the 21st century, and re-establish a new Tryst with Destiny, by stating once and for all that Mera Bharat Mahaan is and will always be a truly secular and inclusive democracy in the best spirit of Bharatiya-tva,' says Ram Kelkar, offering an NRI view of the Modi triumph.
But critics caution that over-centralisation can lead to new bottlenecks
The main event, which is being held at Capitol Complex, is likely to be attended by around 30,000 people out of the total 1,20,000 who have registered themselves.
The earliest ones included whistles shaped like birds, toy monkeys that could slide down a string and small carts made from materials found in nature such as sticks, clay and rocks. While there might be no disputing India's rich toy-making tradition, the industry is languishing for lack of investment and technology, and also owing to competition from cheap imports. And though it has been listed among 24 key sectors under the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the question remains: will this push help place it in the global game? Currently, 80-odd per cent of the toys sold in India are imported - nearly 60 per cent of them from China.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar levelled charges of fake encounters against the Narendra Modi's government as a quid pro quo for the UPA dispensation giving him a clean chit in ISRO spy case "fabricated" by him.
'Nitish Kumar was not happy about promoting R C P Singh as Union minister.'
Branding the BJP as a group of "outsiders" and "Bharat Jalao Party", she said it has been continuously insulting the icons of Bengal, Netaji being the "latest addition to the list".
'I was shocked by the kidnapping episode. I could have lost my life.'
The US State Department and other lobbies who denied Modi a visa when he was chief minister of Gujarat, says one organiser of the Madison Square Garden event, will get a clear idea of what kind of "force" is behind Modi in America. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com meets the people behind the event in New York and finds out what's in store for Sunday's show.
The T20 World Cup is slated to be hosted in India this year in October-November. The venues for the tournament are yet to be revealed.
'We plan to touch Rs 1 trillion of Amul brand's turnover in the next five years.'
Companies owned by fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi have allegedly siphoned off over Rs 6,344.96 crore from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) using fraudulent letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit, a CBI investigation into the scam has detected. The findings were submitted by the CBI in a supplementary chargesheet filed before a special court in Mumbai last week, where the agency said the PNB was conned by its employees who were allegedly hand in gloves with Choksi and his company executives and who facilitated the scam as part of a criminal conspiracy. The PNB officials at the bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai issued 165 letters of undertaking (LoUs) and 58 foreign letters of credit (FLCs) during March-April 2017, against which 311 bills were discounted.
It is unrealistic to expect that change will happen in one year: Birla
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Centre has transferred around Rs 1,35,000 crore so far under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme with the payment of eighth instalment on Friday and is also procuring higher quantity of paddy and wheat at minimum support price to boost farmers' income.
Its 'failure not just affects the military's effectiveness but could also be politically vulnerable for the BJP,' observes Ajai Shukla.
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reports from Shivaji Park and the MMRDA ground to sense the mood of Shiv Sena workers -- from the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde camps.