Superstar Rajesh Khanna's bungalow Aashirwad has been sold and will now be occupied by an unknown businessman.
After Modi became the prime minister, the Indo-US relationship has seen an upward trajectory, he said.
Inspections only in domestic authorities' presence, visiting US drug regulator told
'The success or otherwise of Modi's foreign policy will largely depend on the equation he is likely to strike with Donald Trump.'
In a strong retaliation, India on Tuesday initiated a slew of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US embassy, terming as "barbaric" the arrest and strip searching of India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.
Seeking to seize "transformative moment" in ties with India, US Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday for talks on key issues with the new Indian leadership.
Margaret A Hamburg, the first commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) to visit India officially, will meet heads of major domestic pharma companies such as Ranbaxy, Wockhardt, Cadila Healthcare and Lupin in New Delhi.
Less than a fortnight after rejecting the Adarsh scam report, Maharashtra cabinet on Thursday decided to partially accept recommendations of the judicial commission, announcing action against indicted bureaucrats but appeared going soft on politicians named by the commission.
With senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade's strip search triggering a major row between India and the United States, the invasive post-arrest procedure is again in the limelight over a year after America's top court ruled in its favour.
From mistreatment, sexual harassment to low wages, domestic workers are in a poor state in India with hardly any legal protections, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
The Government of India and the Indian community in the United States have strongly condemned the arrest of Dr Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York. Some activists blamed the Indian government's failure, claiming that the issue with the domestic help, Sangeeta Richard, was not handled properly though the Indian authorities had faced two similar cases in New York earlier.
The two governments have already set a target of increasing bilateral trade in goods and services to $500 billion.
The perfunctory management of external affairs has left India's foreign policy establishment largely unprepared to manage the consequences of dramatic international developments, says Nitin Pai.
A day before Ambassador Meera Shankar was to return home after completing her tenure in the US in the summer of 2011, her maid, without informing anyone, left her official residence on the outskirts of the city never to return.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who expressed regret over the arrest and strip-search of Devyani Khobragade, was aware of the senior Indian diplomat's arrest.
Describing America as India's "vital partner", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday embarked on his first visit to the US confident that his five-day trip will mark a "new chapter" in bilateral strategic ties.
'The American envoy has not quit over any tension in ties or over any issue related to meeting BJP PM hopeful Narendra Modi.'
There was no breakthrough in US Secretary of State John F Kerry's India visit, but no breakdown either, says C Uday Bhaskar.
'In this resurgent India, class is the new caste. We are shaken up only occasionally, and briefly, when a battered, tribal teenager from Jharkhand looks us in the eye from our closet,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Two US lawmakers write to the House Speaker asking to extend an invitation
Women have been leaving the investment decision to husbands.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Dr S Jaishankar told Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa that it was "a very nice meeting and President Barack Obama was extremely cordial."
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To no one's surprise, the first question directed at Indian Ambassador to the United States Dr S Jaishankar -- at the end of his first public address since he assumed his duties in December -- was about the controversial Devyani Khobragade episode.
Contracts with India-based domestic assistants for officials abroad have become a headache for the Indian government.
Ambitious diplomats continue to be attracted to politics but do they make good politicians, asks Jyoti Malhotra
The major driver of Mod's foreign policy can be gauged from his economic priorities such as creating employment opportunities for the youth bulge. Related to this is emphasis on manufacturing, and infrastructure development, which in turn raises the issue of FDI. He has already articulated his views on all these issues, says Rup Narayan Das.
As Japan beefs up its defences against China, both New Delhi and Tokyo seem to have decided to re-energise their relationship to ensure a strategic balance in Asia. It is a clear signal that they may be ready to work together in containing if not confronting China, says Nitin Gokhale.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has moved a federal court here to dismiss the visa fraud case against her, saying there is lack of personal jurisdiction since she had been accorded full diplomatic immunity by the US Department of State.
The United States has ruled out acceding to either of the two Indian demands --withdrawal of charges against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade, and an apology for alleged mistreatment, after her arrest in New York last week.
Ashley J Tellis, a leading authority on Indo-US relations, tells Archis Mohan in an emailed interview that it is time Washington and New Delhi agreed on the contours of their 'strategic partnership', and that India's elite could learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in how he has put India's interests first and his own sentiments about the Americans second.
'Non Resident Indians know that India's problems are the combination of many factors over the centuries, including foreign rule, lack of resources and the ever-growing population, among other things. Yet, India has achieved many things and even looks at Mars as a neighbour.'
'Modi's promise of change during the election campaign was on the domestic front, but his first year in office focused on foreign policy beyond all expectations,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The diplomat's arrest has led to a major diplomatic spat, the likes of which I have not seen in my nearly three decades of covering the US-India relationship, says Aziz Haniffa. 'The knee-jerk reaction by the powers-that-be in Delhi was myopic to say the least.'
'Just how strong were the ties between the world's largest and oldest democracies that an incident involving a diplomat and a maid led to anger threatening the relationship itself? Or had the relationship been weakening in the past few years, masked by the empty symbolism of State dinners, asks Devesh Kapur.
'Crafting a coherent, transparent and consistent policy vis-a-vis our neighbours, leave alone the rest of the world, is unlikely to be high on the priority list of the new Indian government, which will be sworn in before June,' says Ramananda Sengupta.
Meet the US Attorney who took on Donald Trump.
'I do hope the Patel family sues the hell out of the state of Alabama, and I hope the Hindu American Foundation and other community organisations are helping with legal aid and monetary support. For, there is reason to believe that it is religious and racial bias that led to the incident: In other words, a hate crime. There is no reason to suffer that silently.'
Isn't National Intelligence Grid and UIDAI engineered by vested interests, asks Gopal Krishna.
'The Modi-Xi and Modi-Obama meetings, with an interval of just 12 days, are juxtaposed superbly at a crucial point in the prime minister's life. Can Modi carve out a win-win situation with the superpower and the emerging superpower at the same time?'
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