The recent tragedy confirms the view of humanitarian aid as a political weapon
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
'The hour is very late, and the choice between triumph and tragedy knocks at our door,' says Ajay Shah.
It took a lockdown for us in India to even recognise that the plight of migrants needs to be addressed. They were faceless and unrecognised. They were unappreciated and even hounded. They were poorly paid and exploited, notes Ramesh Menon.
The National Cricket Academy under the chairmanship of M P Pandove said it will enter into a strategic tie-up with Cricket Australia along with the setting up of an independent complex to shift the facility from Bangalore, while also extending help the national cricketers of Nepal, who have been affected by the earthquake.
'Our biggest problem has been keeping this country together.' 'Nation building is never easy. It is a very difficult task.' 'Even 70 years is not too long a time.'
It is a sight that both warms and breaks the heart. The women of Shaheen Bagh seem oblivious of the cold, these women and their children, the latter ranging in age from 19 days to early teens, who have been occupying the road for over two weeks now. Some of them have not gone home for days, but their faces are clear, unlined by fatigue, their eyes bright and fierce as those of the falcon, shaheen, the area is named for.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
'Whether he will apologise or not is not a problem.' 'I want him to make an effort to create a new world, by learning from history.'
'The stimulus packages, sector reliefs, loans etc are coming to industry, but state governments have not got any money from GST, no money from excise, no money from any income source.'
'I am more worried about the BJP as I see lot of marginalisation of top leaders in the BJP.' 'I am really worried about the terminal decline of the Congress. And the greatest tragedy is that there are so many good people in the Congress.' 'It will take a couple of years, but this is the most appropriate time for a new political party and leadership to emerge.'
'Open defecation kills more Indians than any terrorist organisation could, but turning that around will take communicating that all Indians are created equal and that continuing this practice is anti-national,' points out Rahul Jacob.
Some workers in India were also make to work on Sundays and national holidays "in sweltering heat, without adequate supply of clean drinking water or any breaks".
What will Indian cities do about its growing mountains of waste?
Privacy is liberty itself. And in ruling on it, the Supreme Court must not only seize the concerns of today but also gaze into the future, says Apar Gupta.
Sharing the "pain" of quake-devastated Nepal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hoped that the "beloved brother" bounces back quickly from its current crisis even as he observed that the task of recovery was long and arduous.
'One won't find a lawyer in any court in the country willing to believe that a talented lawyer like Bansuri Swaraj would appear in a case for free, that too in a metropolis like Delhi.' These and other Sheela Bhatt takeways from the August 12 proceedings in the Lok Sabha.
Recent statistics show that the situation is no different across the country with several hospitals lacking the infrastructure to manage a breakout of a blaze.
The hospital that draws patients from all over India giving them hope by saving limbs and wants you to know that skin donation gives life to burn victims.
'Both Nehru and Patel were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other.' 'Neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi has much in them to claim such legacies.' 'They are symptomatic of the sad days that have befallen the nation midwifed and contemplated by Nehru and Patel,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
Livelihoods and lives are being destroyed in the name of building a 'better' India, writes Congress leader Sachin Pilot, in an exclusive column for Rediff.com.
29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
Two years after a midday meal took the lives of 23 children in Gandaman, Archana Masih sits down to have lunch at the same government school and discovers that much has changed and much remains the same.
In a powerful signal to New Delhi that the United States is a reliable defense partner, Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn introduced US-India Defense Technology and Partnership Act in Senate
The comedian claimed that he had been paying Rs 15 crore as income tax for the past five years, but still had to pay Rs 5 lakh as a bribe to the Mumbai civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
The accident occurred around 5.45 pm near Khatauli town, 40 km off Muzaffarnagar, leaving 23 people dead, the Uttar Pradesh police said.
Ignoring all previous protests and opposition to the deal, the saffron party has changed its stance, without providing any explanation. What has changed? Accountability and explanations on this U-turn will be welcomed.
'Galbraith had a powerful ally in Washington -- not as blunt and direct as the ambassador -- but committed to see Krishna Menon go.' 'This was President Kennedy himself.'
What happened in Uttarakhand is a national tragedy. Why couldn't Dr Manmohan Singh announce that he was forming an Uttarakhand Relief and Rehabilitation Committee, with himself as chairman but inviting Narendra Modi to become the deputy chairman, asks T V R Shenoy.
In all the noise surrounding the Dok La confrontation, Claude Arpi focuses on a crucial issue that has hardly been covered -- the construction of roads for the armed forces and the local population to reach the most remote border posts.
'I felt like a used and discarded rag.' 'The pro-dialogue constituency has shrunk in the valley.' Academician and author Dr Radha Kumar was among the three interlocutors which the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government appointed on Kashmir in October 2010, speaks of how the panel report was never acted upon.
Here is the complete text of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's address at the inauguration of the national media centre in New Delhi on Saturday.
'Modi as chief minister did a superb job of rehabilitation after the Kutch earthquake of 2001. He can use that hard-earned expertise for the benefit of the people of Kashmir too -- but only if they let him do so,' says T V R Shenoy.
'Pakistan has a big role to play in fomenting trouble, but we need to ask ourselves why ordinary Kashmiris are coming out in large numbers to attend the funerals of terrorists.'
Mahesh Rangarajan, director of the historic Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi, tells Sheela Bhatt how the first prime minister will always remain relevant, and the efforts being made to keep his legacy alive.
China's obsession with exports and electronics assembly can also be attributed to having learned from the Singaporean textbook.
'Devyani -- she is a public servant and her personal life has already received far too much attention -- and her ambitious father now need to retreat to the background so that wiser diplomatic heads restore sanity to India-US relations as India prepares for parliamentary elections,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
