'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
On Saturday, July 1, 2023, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas will complete seven years of service in the Indian Air Force.
Electoral setbacks and thwarted ambition can have an unpredictable effect on leaders,, observes Aditi Phadnis.
On Friday, September 9, 2022, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, chief of the air staff, flew a sortie on a Rafale aircraft with his fighter pilot son Squadron Leader Mihir V Chaudhari as part of a training mission at the Air Force Station in Hasimara, West Bengal.
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
Sources within the Congress, including those who have been members of the teams that drafted its 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifestos, said the Karnataka government decision lacked any empirical basis.
In a series of tweets, she attacked the SP accusing it of being an expert in "narrow politics".
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'
Average monthly GST collection rose from Rs 90,000 crore during the first year of its implementation -- 2017-2018 -- to Rs 1.68 trillion during 2023-2024, representing an 87 per cent rise.
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday.
After the Mahagathbandan rejected his overtures, the need for political survival forced Pashupati Kumar Paras to stick with the NDA. The BJP may reward him with a governor's post after the election.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
At present, there are 18 Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
At the core of Nitish Kumar's decision was a cold political calculation. He assessed that the RJD's support base was unlikely to vote for JD-U candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. He was unsure of winning even half a dozen if he stayed with the RJD and the Congress.
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
On Wednesday, July 13, 2022, the President -- who is the supreme commander of Indian's armed forces -- attended a farewell banquet hosted in his honour by the Chiefs of Staff Committee in New Delhi.
It sent shock waves in the party -- a political greenhorn had taken on Modi in his home turf of Gujarat. Smriti had clearly tried to choose sides, in this case Vajpayee's camp. Many felt that this would end Irani's career. A revealing excerpt from Nidhi Sharma's new book She, The Leader: Women in Indian Politics.
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
'Most leaders, from Lalu Yadav and Mamata to M K Stalin, respect and trust Sonia. She should continue unless she expressly declines.'
'How was it possible for Singh to have got a government job, and that too one involving the handling of guns, had he been insane?'
At least three people, including a chief security officer of President Asif Ali Zardari, were killed and about 12 others injured in Karachi on Wednesday when a powerful blast targeted a bulletproof vehicle in a congested area.
With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections less than eight months away, the SP is experimenting with yet another template of combining a soft Hindutva tenor with its time-tested Muslim-Yadav combination to reclaim its lost political capital vis-a-vis the BJP.
As India progresses towards formulating its own model of theaterisation, the public must get involved in the debate because in the end, it affects the well-being of the entire nation, asserts Biswajit Dasgupta.
Dharmendra Pratap Singh is 8 feet, 1 inch tall.
A home loan is a long-term contract, so do shop around before signing on the dotted line, advises Sarbajeet K Sen.
Can Nitishbabu create an anti-BJP phalanx like Jayaprakash Narayan did in 1977 or will his efforts come undone by Opposition leaders' political ambitions and, of course, the BJP's agency-aided campaign of intimidation?
Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, who will head the IAF from October 1, will keep our fighting capabilities sharpened and operationally ready for conflict at all times, notes Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
So who cost the SP more seats in UP? Hemantkumar Shivsaran does a deep dive to find out.
'The BJP's real weapons are Hindutva, organisation and finance.'
An adverse outcome against the BJP in UP can well be taken into its stride by the ruling combine at the Centre, argues Virendra Kapoor.
'It conveys the impression that there is not enough talent available among the serving officers.' 'That does not reflect well on the professionalism of officer corps.'
The rather amateurish, even ham-handed, attack would lend some credence to a 'false flag' theory, of the PTI leadership staging this incident, to provide new impetus to a flagging agitation, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RAW, India's external intelligence agency.
To minimise hardship for legal heirs, home loan borrowers must purchase additional insurance cover while taking a home loan.
The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Despite the Delhi police's tarnished reputation in recent months, viewers find themselves rooting for Inspector Hathiram Chaudhary because he displays both vulnerability and remorse, observes Ranjita Ganesan.
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