The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
'No finance minister has the capacity to put the economy in an ICCU just like no finance minister has the capacity to take it for 10% growth!'
Twenty people were gunned down in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district in a police operation said to be against red sanders smugglers that came under severe attack from the government and political parties in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which claimed 12 victims were labourers from their state.
In the light of the global scenario on infiltration for economic gain what Modi said in his speeches in Assam and West Bengal recently was perfectly legitimate. Intellectual dishonesty marks this discourse in our country, argues Ram Madhav.
Following the Budget being announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, leaders across the political spectrum provided their views.
Being a pragmatist Modi is not likely to give preference to China over Japan. Both security and economic aspects are likely to shape Modi's decision in terms of engaging the two biggest economies of Asia, says Sana Hashmi.
'In order to restore things to even keel, the government would be very well advised to cut its current political losses and work towards healing wounds across the nation. It still has its work cut out. It will have to work very hard to repair the political damage among Dalit and tribal communities,' says David Devadas.
The Marathi poem, Gandhi Mala Bhetala (Gandhi met me), is a satirical critique of those who falsely claim to follow the path of Mahatma Gandhi
It was also suggested that an all-party delegation should visit Kashmir to assess the situation but the government did not make commitments regarding any of their demands.
A Congress-led opposition on Tuesday came together seeking to pin down the government on the demonetisation issue in the winter session of Parliament beginning tomorrow but a consenses eluded on Trinamoll Congress's proposed march to Rashtrapati Bhawan for meeting the President.
Incidents of arson, firing and vandalism were reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab as protesters agitated against the dilution of the SC/ST Act.
'The Congress's allies won't be left behind in looking out for their own interests. Some will demand a bigger share of the ministerial or electoral pie, others will simply jump ship,' says T V R Shenoy.
Government's reforms are too half-hearted. But Rahul Gandhi's Congress is too amateurish and inept to hold it to account.
India's 70th Independence Day at the UN will feature A R Rahman, only the second Indian artist after M S Subbulakshmi to perform at the UN.
The Dalai Lama is a huge charmer, knowing how to say things that will please an audience in his gentle avuncular manner.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
The Modi wave has blotched the Congress party's copybook. For the first time since the Lok Sabha was constituted in 1952, the party has failed to secure enough seats to be designated as a parliamentary party, notes A Surya Prakash.
The winter session of Parliament beginning on Thursday is expected to be a stormy affair, with the opposition set to raise the 'intolerance' issue.
The BJP's hobnobbing with M K Alagiri and ally Vaiko's controversial demands has the potential to rock the BJP's boat in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The BJP portrays a make believe world.' 'The Tripura victory is being seen by some as a result of bahubal and money power -- but that would be a very simplistic explanation.' 'Money and muscle power can play a role up to a point, but the BJP's victory is remarkable because it replaced a party that was in power for 25 years.'
'We must delink religion from politics' 'Leaders with vested interests have brought religion into politics.' Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose, the BJP candidate against Mamata Banerjee, on the campaign trail.
'The animosity in the BJP against Swamy continued for a good more than thirty years.' 'It was only after herculean efforts by a reconstituted and more just RSS, that Swamy was finally inducted into the BJP in 2013.'
'If the Nairs split between Shashi Tharoor and the BJP candidate, O Rajagopal and the Nadars combine with the Leftists and the Christians to vote for the CPI candidate, Bennet Abraham, what would happen to Tharoor. It is presumed that the voters do not cast their votes, they vote their castes,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan
'What if Modi becomes the fascist the leftists paints him as? What if he does suspend the Constitution and declares himself the ruler, with support from the army? What exactly will you do, Mr Leftie?' asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Tapas Pal tendered an unconditional apology on Tuesday for his threat to kill Communist Party of India-Marxist workers and having their women raped after he was asked by an embarrassed party leadership to do so following widespread outrage.
'Do you know there is a 500 page report prepared by an inquiry committee headed by myself? When I placed the report in Parliament, have you heard any single Opposition leader give a notice for discussion? Why are they not demanding a discussion in Parliament on the report? They could have established that there was a scam. Today, a Parliament Committee report is as good as a Parliament report and this report says the 2G scam is no scam. Our government is suffering because of the media hype on these scams,' Congress MP P C Chacko tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
As political rivals clamour to retain their pan-Tamil credentials, the BJP may use the 'nationalist' card to even the odds in its favour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
20 times increase in people joining RSS on rss.org, Marginal increase in number of branches. Archis Mohan reports
'I rejoice in the fact that Justice Iyer has left a legacy, after all, legacies no not reside in brick and mortar, but in living humans and there are many of us who have followed in his footsteps and continue to do so.' Former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising salutes the legendary Justice V R Krishna Iyer who passed into the ages last week, the judge who restored her faith in the Supreme Court of India.
Trinamool congress MP and Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University Sugata Bose tells Kavita Chowdhury that there is a sense of fear and insecurity among our minorities.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi's stand that AMU is not a minority university reveals the anti-minority stand of the political party now in power, says Mohammad Sajjad, outlining the long history behind one of India's premier universities.
Left parties and Kolkata police were on Tuesday involved in a tussle over the cremation of the body of a 16-year-old gangrape victim, who died in a city hospital after attempting suicide.
52 world leaders, including Narendra Modi, will attend this week's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. Obama will meet separately only with the Chinese president.
'Otherwise, how is the government going to make more revenue?' 'The most important thing the GST does is to transfer money from the household consumers who are the most productive users of capital to the most unproductive users of capital, namely the government.'
There is no denying that the Deepa identity has overnight caught the people's imagination across the state. But converting that into an imagery and from there as support and vote-base is a different matter altogether, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Modi cannot content himself anymore with merely indulging in Congress bashing and referring to the Gujarat 'miracle'. He'll have to show that his party is as clean and as innovative as the AAP. And this is impossible because AAP is new and the BJP is now old: the people have tried it already. What they have not tried already is Modi, and this is what may make the difference,' says the respected political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot.
'India should think big: About how in a multi-polar world, India can indeed be one of the poles, rather than being a secondary power that has to worry about 'alignment' with one of the poles. A G3 in other words, India should look to getting others to align with itself rather than the US or China,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'Under the guise of Maoism, the State is presently determined to clear out the whole Bastar area of its tribal population.'
For the fifth day in succession, a united opposition led by the Congress party on Friday created turmoil in Rajya Sabha demanding a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on forcible religious conversions, leading to two adjournments before lunch.
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