Former NSA Shivshankar Menon said the defence minister did not have a right to voice his personal opinion on nuclear policy in public, particularly when that opinion contradicted the country's official policy.
With Rahul showing a significant lead over Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in opinion polls across southern India but lagging in the north, the Congress believes his contesting from the south will help galvanise cadres.
Have India's tigers increased by 30 per cent in the last four years?
A day after the Union cabinet withdrew a controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers it had earlier cleared, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Thursday termed the decision as "strangulation of democracy" as it was effected after condemnation by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Former prime minister and BJP veteran leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya will be conferred with the country's highest civilian award the "Bharat Ratna" after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his consent in his regard on Wednesday.
Shortly after former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away, leaders, including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, paid tributes to him.
Muslim organisations, who have for years claimed that the Batla House encounter was fake, have not changed their stand after Thursday's verdict.
Delhi doesn't want Modi to invest his substantial political capital to help Trump without the visit yielding positive results for India.
The death toll climbed to 15,301 with 407 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data.
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
The Delhi Police appear to be on a weak footing in the Batla House encounter case. The verdict in the case will be delivered on July 25, reports Vicky Nanjappa
'The judge said that anybody who does not believe in the RSS ideology is not acceptable to you. You have terminated his contract because he thought differently.' 'The Modi government has no accomplishment to show. Therefore, they are using the tool of nationalism to divert the country's attention from very serious things like farmers suicides and the water crisis.' 'You cannot simply dismiss anyone because they are not willing to raise a slogan and not think like you.'
'This is about reviving this country as a centre of Hindutva at Ayodhya.'
Non-performers were not punished, performers were not rewarded, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
Girish Karnad lived several lives not only on the stage but also as a scholar, theatre personality, an actor and director in a career spanning over five decades.
'Only on two occasions has the RSS thrown itself completely on the side of the BJP.' 'In 1977 in the wake of the Emergency. And in 2014 with Modi.' 'Now, I've been told that this is not going to happen in 2019.'
'The minister is not concerned about our daughters' well-being.' 'Just when the sex ratio for girls is showing an improvement across every district, the minister wants the onus to be on the women knowing very well that decision making in India is in the hands of the male.'
People queued up to pay their final respects to former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Nadella advised the start-up community to learn from the failures
The Bharatiya Janata Party feels it has more to lose if it gets into an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party in Seema-Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
'What the Congress needs now is an ideological and social contrast to the BJP.' 'The Congress stable of princelings cannot do it,' argues Mohan Guruswamy.
Rupal Shah Palanki was officially sworn in as a judge of the superior court of Connecticut, United States recently.
Some of the key proposals of the agenda relate to transforming the banking sector, addressing agrarian distress, countering hate crimes and discrimination, and spurring employment generation.
Some lawyers in the Congress argued against upsetting the judiciary. It was a tongue lashing from Sharad Pawar that spurred the Congress and other parties to go ahead with their move.
Minority conference organised by the JD-U turned out to be a poor show with few from the Muslim community attending it, exposing the falling credibility of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a secular leader, says M I Khan.
Eight states and Union Territories have Muslim share of population in excess of national average of 13 per cent. Mayank Mishra report
The Happy New Year soundtrack has quite a few winners, says Joginder Tuteja/ Rediff.com.
It is important to approach the belief of people in ancient India's achievements with a sense of proportion, balance and empathy, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
If Jaitley is finalised for the First Citizen's post, Modi will have scored two strategic goals, reports Rajeev Sharma.
When a university allows a small group of students to prevent classes being held; when the professor selected to hold those classes gives up and goes back to his hometown; what conclusion can be drawn, asks Jyoti Punwani.
The Members suspended included K Ashok Kumar, R K Bharathi Mohan, M Chandrakasi, Jayakumar Jayavardhan, K Parasuraman, Dr K Kamraj, P Kumar, M Vasanti, C Mahendram, K Margatham and P Nagarajan.
"In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
'All the hoardings showed only Rahulji. No pictures of Indiraji and Rajivji. What is the Congress's worth without its history? It is unthinkable that none of our hoardings shows Indira and Rajiv. It was a total fiasco to see that many advertisements were in black and white. In such competitive politics, how can you experiment?' fumes a Congress leader.
Vaayai Moodi Pesavum is a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable film
We celebrate Independence Day with this special feature, published on Rediff.com in January 2013.
Mughal Garden opens for public from February 13.
Cupid has played its role for years in the 200-year-old Presidency University in Kolkata but for the first time, love will now become a subject of study in its undergraduate curriculum. The unique interdisciplinary course on love would be offered by the varsity's sociology department and would be available to students of all streams as a 50-mark optional paper.
