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).
Our political history tells us this has never worked. A united Opposition does work in some specific, limited situations, especially in the states. But never as some brilliant pan-national collection of diverse interests with no ideological or political core, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
What do Rekha, Sunny Leone and Tiger Shroff have in common?
Unlike any other business, banking is a turf where the captain's role is the most critical. Often a bank is defined by the personality of the CEO who runs it. Both HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the creation of their CEOs, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Pulkit Arya is the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader from Haridwar.
The BJP at 43 is a work in progress, with total ideological continuity and much substantive change in political method and style, observes Shekhar Gupta.
He announced his 24-hour fast in a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, speaking at length about his anguish over the ruckus in the House during the passage of two farm bills on Sunday.
As vice president and ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankar is inheriting a troubled legacy. Although the government faces no real numerical challenges in the Upper House, political and legal challenges are there aplenty.
The Indian contingent, comprising under-20 boys and girls archers, were scheduled to leave for the United States on Friday for the June 8-14 event in Yankton, South Dakota, but the US embassy granted visas to only seven archers, two coaches and a Sports Authority of India official while rejecting 20, thereby putting serious doubts over India's participation in the event.
We have a government with an extremely weak economic team advising a PM who hardly pays attention to their thoughts, says Jayanta Roy.
She was cremated on the banks of the Alaknanda at Shrinagar around 6.30 pm in the presence of commissioner, Garhwal, Sushil Kumar and Pauri district magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande.
There's a long way to go before human beings are replaced by machines -- in banks at least.
The two entities' combined distribution network would comprise 4,182 banking outlets and 476 ATMs across 34 states and Union territories of India, with more than 31,000 employees serving about 15 million customers across the country.
The 76-year-old Nepali Congress president, who has served as the prime minister for a record fifth term, defeated his challenger party general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa by 39 votes, officials said.
The additional director general of police (security), however, said in an order on Friday that the security personnel were 'being withdrawn on a purely temporary basis in connection with an emergent law and order duty'.
The central bank tweaked the retail inflation range to 4.8-4.9 per cent in the first half of 2018-19, and 4.7 per cent in the second half.
Deepa Gahlot lists 10 popular Mani Ratnam films that you can watch on streaming platforms.
All the officials, suspended with immediate effect, have been charged with "failure to take adequate legal action" with regard to "assault.
At the pre-Budget meeting at Niti Aayog, Modi called for a focussed effort from all stakeholders in order to achieve the target of $5 trillion economy. The participants urged the government to focus on credit expansion, exports growth, governance of PSBs, increasing consumption and job creation.
The BJP expelled Vinod Arya and his son from the party, a day after the leader's another son was arrested in the murder case of a woman receptionist at a resort in Uttarakhand's Pauri.
A controversy has erupted over the decision to discontinue postage stamps of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi with the government saying only one family can not get this honour, even as the Congress termed the move as "insult to the history" and demanded an apology.
As we enjoy his thrilling The Night Manager series, Deepa Gahlot looks at 10 Anil Kapoor films on OTT that shows off his versatility and star power.
'Whoever whispered in his ears that go for demonetisation, misled him completely' and the PM lacked the sagacity to know that it would not work, Yashwant Sinha tells Archis Mohan.
Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony at the forecourt of majestic Rashtraparti Bhavan.
Nitish Kumar's decision to resign as the state chief minister was as dramatic as the time he decided to tie up with old foe Lalu in 2015.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) supporters stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Friday as the crowd swelled there, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration's ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site where security force in large numbers was re-deployed.
The political stability that Tamil Nadu saw under Chief Minister Jayalalithaa may be a thing of the past, as the new administration struggles to find its feel, says R Rajagopalan.
Political power has now been outsourced fully to the Modi government. Even if the RSS is still, in principle, his guru, nobody would dare to whisper a word of advice to Modi, forget some whiff of criticism. When the shishya grows into such a popular and domineering leader, the guru has to applaud from the sidelines, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Entertainment may be its raison d'etre but the tears brought about by cinema are no less significant.
Priyanka Chopra parties in Hollywood, while her Mary Kom team has bash back home.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members of the previous Cabinet could be retained.
'How do we explain that on the economic, internal security and strategic fronts, India's unstable coalitions have acted more decisively and boldly than all our full-majority governments yet?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'There is no evidence that it was Nehru who ordered this surveillance (on Netaji's kin). It was a very low-level Bengal-based operation.' 'Netaji's grandnephew Sugata Bose has written in his book on the leader that the existing evidence that Subhas Bose died in that plane crash is overwhelming. No historian looking at that evidence can come to a different conclusion.' 'Contrary to popular belief, there were very little differences among the three (Netaji, Nehru and Gandhi). Netaji was of the opinion that some amount of violence was necessary to bring independence for India.' Historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee says that the controversy over the alleged spying on the kin of Netaji is a damp squib.
As Soumitra Chatterjee turns 80 on January 19, we look back at his best movies.
'These children are wards of the State. They were exploited because the state government and its officials didn't do their jobs.'
The DMK feels its genuine gestures have had no bearing on the governor's politico-administrative conduct, which is 'more political and politicised than administrative and Constitutional', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Vikramank Singh looks back at the year gone by!
'Pakistan needs to be constantly at war with somebody, ultimately resulting in it waging war on itself and its own people,' says Shekhar Gupta.