The 79-year old leader, who served as the chief minister of Kerala twice, breathed his last in a private hospital in Bengaluru at 4.25 am. His end came while undergoing treatment for cancer, party sources said.
Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani resigned on Tuesday night after pressure mounted on him from the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front to quit.
National security, consolidation of border defences and border security highlights China's Tibet policy, points out Jayadeva Ranade, the former senior RA&W officer and China expert.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and various other state ministers sat on a dharna in Mumbai on Thursday to protest against the arrest of their cabinet colleague Nawab Malik by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
'What matters is meeting the needs and expectations of the people who have voted to provide governance for the country.'
Protests at this time when efforts are underway to strengthen the PLA and keep morale high would be worrying for the military leadership, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
Ananya Chakravarty (52), who was an inspector in Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and was posted as a field officer in the Cabinet Secretariat, was found hanging from a fan while the bodies of his wife Jaishri, son Arnab (17) and daughter Disha (12) bearing blunt injury marks were found in the house which was bolted from inside, police said.
The next prime minister must ensure that the mistakes made by Manmohan Singh during his tenure are not repeated, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan on Tuesday landed in trouble for his harsh remarks against the Constitution, triggering a huge political row in the state with the opposition demanding for his sacking, but the Left leader later expressed regret and claimed news reports in this connection were 'distorted'.
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.
By creating groups of secretaries, the Modi government has precluded the need for groups of ministers, which were so ubiquitous in the first decade of this century in New Delhi. Each group will have a leader who will be expected to steer the schemes for implementation, cutting through the ministerial turf battles.
It is significant that Modi who speaks of introducing a new kind of governance, decided to amend the law to accommodate one person, when the law was made to ensure that bureaucrats do not use their connections to seek out lucrative postings.
A new military rank system had been introduced for the PLA, but all soldiers must always obey the Communist party, reveals Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
The panel is expected to suggest various relief measures to put economy back on track as soon as possible, the sources said.
Lost in this maelstrom is the unasked question about what are the secrets the government really needs to keep? One can appreciate the need to keep news about movements of troops secret. But what is the need of sealing, and sequestering away the bulk of the work being done by ministries dealing with economic and social welfare, asks Sunjoy Joshi.
Two elderly Chinese aerospace experts are hospitalised after a violent attack by a 'Princeling', states Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer, highlighting the power the 'Princelings' ironically hold in the Communist People's Republic.
A visit to Tibet appears to have become the new touchstone for expressing fealty to Xi Jinping, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
Patel's name was declared as the leader of the legislative party unanimously at the meeting held at the party's state headquarters 'Kamalam'.
Wang Yang and Xi Jinping's visits signal the beginning of a major Chinese push to bring about a transformation of Tibet, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
It will be interesting to see whether India-China border tensions figure during the deliberations of PLA deputies to the NPC and CPPCC, notes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
Modi's minimum government, maximum governance will go a long way?
'He is exposing the failings of the BJP, which is rankling the party.'
The one-member commission of inquiry under former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium will probe the alleged irregularities in DDCA.
Even if it wants to censor what you read, watch, or consume, the amount of content online is so huge that it is physically impossible for any government to do it, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The letter was sent as an early warning of what was then widely being perceived as a plunder of national resources.
There was no law or autonomous body governing digital content in India so far. Now, OTT and other platforms, including digital news websites, are expected to fall within a governmental framework of rules and regulations.
Shashi Tharoor has also been retained as the chairman of the panel on Information Technology.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in the state demanded an apology from the Uddhav Thackeray-led government over this incident.
India, Taiwan and countries with large numbers of Tibetans, Uyghurs and overseas Chinese will be prominent among those that witness elevated United Front activity, notes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RAW officer.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on the hit-list, not because the chief minister was unhappy with his performance, but because there were constant complaints from other ministers that he was sitting on their files far too long, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Keeping Kashmir out of the informal summit does not mean that they have given up their strategic interest.'
Senior BJP MLA Nimaben Acharya is all set to become the first woman Speaker of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly as the opposition Congress has supported her nomination for the post.
The demand for a fresh caste census has stirred the political atmosphere in Bihar for some time.
The decision about the high-powered committee was taken as the government apparently thought of taking one step at a time instead of hurrying things up in the face of growing resistance from farmers who gave their lands for the development of Amaravati as the new capital, under the previous government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu, reports Dasarath Reddy.
Statements emanating from the recent Chinese Communist party congress suggest potentially increasing pressure on India with regard to the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, notes former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
Some 74 projects from Odisha and another 51 projects from Chhattisgarh have lined up before the Project Monitoring Group.
Defending its decision to raise the number of seats under the India-United Arab Emirates (UAE) air services pact, the Civil Aviation Ministry, in a note to the Cabinet Secretariat and key ministries, has said no additional points of call have been allowed to the Gulf country.
Banerjee also alleged that instead of using the spyware for the security of the country, it was used by the central government which she claimed purchased it, for "political" reasons against Judges and officials.
'It seems the action against Nupur was because the vice president was in Qatar and officials in his secretariat did not want any embarrassment.'
Redevelopment of the Central Vista Avenue, stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and has a deadline of December 2021, has achieved 60 per cent of physical progress, the Union housing and urban affairs ministry told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
