'Putin is in danger of losing face in his Ukrainian adventure. His bluster is a response to this.'
A culture of science and innovation must be embedded in society wherein people not only use new technology but understand it as well. Without this, obscurantism and blind faith can sit side by side with digital technology and, in fact, use the same technology to reinforce their hold on people, says Shram Saran.
Sure we understand that isolating affected communities is part of the pandemic protocol, but we don't wish our life and freedom to be tossed aside at the slightest excuse, states Shyam G Menon.
On November 7, which marks 100 years of the Russian Revolution, Syed Firdaus Ashraf recalls a conversation he once had on Communism.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Beijing visit, a state-run newspaper on Tuesday carried a highly critical article of him.
The highly-anticipated summit, which began early Tuesday, is the third engagement between Xi, 68, and Biden, 78, since February.
India lost around 38.5 thousand hectares of tropical forest in the last decade. Nearly 14 per cent of the country's tree cover! It is one thing for Modi to announce that India will reach a net-zero level of emissions in 2070. But if it is serious, it needs to start today, points out Ramesh Menon.
Privatisation in Russia was endorsed by technocrats. It led to the rise of Vladimir Putin.
'... That they should emerge as role-models to be emulated by the fellow countrymen; and that the middle classes should not stick only to hate-filled and scornful criticism and condemnation against the state of affairs,' remembers Mohammad Sajjad.
Rather than worry about what picture of India is being painted in the foreign media, the focus must be on marshalling all our energies to provide relief and solace to our deeply wounded and dispirited citizens, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Days before Narendra Modi arrives in the US to speak at the UN, meet Barack Obama, gupshup with the likes of Nadella, Pichai, Zuckerberg, and address desis in Silicon Valley, his ministers will help set the commercial and strategic tone for the prime minister's visit.
'The prime minister did not think that COVID-19 was a serious challenge as late as March 20.'
Successive governments focused on altering the clearance processes but largely gave a pass to the second, and essential, element of environmental regulations for monitoring pollution levels and how industries followed conditions laid down for clearances.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
Pranab Mukherjee's book The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years takes the readers through the economic and social unrest of the period leading up to the emergency, rise and fall of leaders, many splits within the Congress, while promising to offer more in the next two volumes of the trilogy, says Nivedita Mookerji.
In EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who has kickstarted the long-pending anti-trust investigation into Google, the internet search giant may have finally met its match.
When BJP leaders, including Mr Modi's number two, Amit Shah, use the pandemic to launch an assault on state governments run by opposition parties, or to topple them, they are exploiting a grave crisis in cynical political self-interest, notes Shekhar Gupta.
First time voters say they expect political leaders to focus on "real issues".
'Unless the State is a welfare State, unless the State has more welfare measures, it will not be able to deal with these kind of sudden situations.'
While it is the right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) which chose Kovind, Narayanan, a diplomat-turned politician, became vice president in 1992 and the president in 1997 courtesy active support from the Left, which had proposed his name first
China has relaxed its one-child policy and further freed up markets in order to put the world's second-largest economy on a more stable footing.
'Balakot and Pulwama will definitely help the BJP, but it will still not help them to create a 2014 like situation or go beyond that.'
Thirty years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, coerced collective amnesia envelops the Chinese nation about that horrific event. Claude Arpi glances back at how the student uprising could have changed the Middle Kingdom forever had the Chinese Communist party not traveled on the route of martial law.
There is growing alarm at the inexorable rise of China, both of its military prowess and its aggressive bullying of other countries plus its subjugation of whole portions of its own population.
'We have been appealing to various governments for so many years that there should be no dams in the Himalayas, but no one listens.' 'Nature responded in its own way.'
'I do not require validation from a hostile media. My conscience is clear.'
The 42-year-old Acharya's appointment for a three-year tenure was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
'The present government swears by Hinduism. But we lost three of our sants during earlier BJP regimes.'
Canada's new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named a young and ethnically diverse cabinet, with a ministerial team that for the first time in the country's history is equally balanced between men and women.
The two leaders enjoyed the sunshine with a walk in the grounds of Schloss Meseberg, an 18th century Baroque castle in the Brandenburg district of Germany.
At a time when China is trying to make its foray into South Asia, India should use its shared history to strengthen its ties in the region, says Dr Rup Narayan Das.
A consensus builder, Jaitley was regarded by some as Modi's original 'Chanakya'.
'A lack of strategic trust and the 'persistent security dilemma' prevails between India and China,' points out Dr Rup Narayan Das.
China, France and Spain are emerging as hotspots for Indian students.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's opinion piece in Canada's The Globe and Mail focuses on commercial cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector.
Dr Kalam continues to live in the imagination of the people of this nation and remains a role model for the youth and missile and space scientists who are diligently following his vision to achieve new laurels for India, notes S M Khan, who served as President Kalam's press secretary.
Apart from being the CM twice earlier, he has won a series of Lok Sabha and assembly elections from the state and headed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee four times.
'India's relationship with China has been and will continue to be complex, delicate and sensitive,' says Rup Narayan Das.
'Sachin Pilot has revived the Congress.' 'What goes in favour of Ashok Gehlot is experience.'
