'Do you think I am so stupid to turn away Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn?'
Thirty one outstanding teachers were invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a first-ever in-residence programme.
'From the day I've taken over as chairperson of the CBFC, Ashoke Pandit and Chandraprakesh Diwedi have ganged up against me,' Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani tells Subhash K Jha.
Bezubaan Ishq is pure drivel, warns Paloma Sharma.
'Nehru once told JRD, "I hate the mention of the very word profit".' '"Jawaharlal, I am talking about the need of the public sector making a profit!" JRD replied.' 'Nehru reiterated, "Never talk to me about the word profit, it is a dirty word".' A fascinating excerpt from Shashank Shah's The Tata Group: From Torchbearers To Trailblazers.
'This is basically aimed at vilifying Nehruvian ideals.' 'Why?' 'Because, Nehruvian leadership is seen by Hindutva forces as the one which did not let them have their Hindu Raj.' 'The Hindutva proponents have always assumed that had Sardar become the first prime minister, India could never have become a secular State,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'I never imagined I would be a father and complete my family without getting married.' 'I'm privileged that my parents supported me, a lot of people don't have that.'
Who are the men the prime minister relies on to execute his impressive agenda?
Now that Arnab Goswami is signing off from the Times Group, his cacophony and his shrill sermons will be missed. So will be the fish market. Thank God for that because for me the fish had started to stink, says Sudhir Bisht.
'I know of at least one techie who quit his job to join the AAP in Delhi. Many others traveled to India to volunteer during the election. If you ask these volunteers why they were doing it when they can't even vote in India, they say, "We want a corruption-free India".' Ritu Jha looks back on the year that was; it was party time, she says, for news junkies like her.
A glance back at some important events that occurred in 2018.
It is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi, officials in Washington believe, US President Barack Obama has found an Indian leader who is willing to walk the talk to realise the common goals of the two countries. Lalit K Jha reports
'There are problems related to the Indian film industry that I'd like to address rather than to keep harping on the negative zone of hurdles in film certification,' Minister for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore tells Subhash K Jha.
Indian American Democrat Ro Khanna is still trailing against seven term incumbent Democrat Congressman Mike Honda in California's 17th Congressional District in the November 4 general election.
Maitri, which provides free and confidential services to South Asian-American families facing domestic violence, at its 23rd annual gala raised half a million dollars. Ritu Jha reports
'He depended too much on assurances given by sadhus and sants. He may not be culpable, but he was wholly responsible for December 6, 1992.' 'While Manmohan Singh came to reforms out of conviction, Rao came to reforms out of compulsion. If the compulsion had not been there, I don't know how he would have responded.'
What is Change really like in Bihar? Once seen as India's basket-case, what is its turnaround story like? Archana Masih reports from India's other most talked about state.
It has been said that by 2025, India could become among the top five economies in the world. If India does become a $5 trillion economy but gets all its rivers polluted, food chain poisoned and genetic pool depleted and biometric database of Indians sold or stolen at the behest of commercial czars, will it not be a pyrrhic economic victory, asks Gopal Krishna.
'We are calling for democratic accountability even as we talk about Digital India.' 'We are not against Digital India and it is important for India, but the government should not see what is applicable just to entrepreneurs but also to the vast majority of Indians who do not have the kind of advantages that many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have.'
'Communalism and communal riots happened in India only during and due to colonialism. Pre-colonial India didn't have this problem of communal conflicts and religious strife.'
20 years ago this day, May 11, 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test at Pokharan in Rajasthan. In a fascinating interview on Rediff.com, K Subrahmanyam revealed how Indian PMs reacted to nuclear ambitions.
'The Ek Do Teen song was shot for many days.' 'Listening to it so many times during the shoot, we knew it would be a big hit.' 'When Tezaab was released, Madhuri had gone to the US for a holiday.' 'When she returned to Mumbai, there was a large crowd waiting for her at the airport, calling out 'Mohini, Mohini,' her character from Tezaab.' 'That day Madhuri had arrived in the real sense.'
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh interacts with readers on Rediff Chat as he discusses the period that changed India's history, forever.