'My question is not why he has accepted the governorship, my question is why did the government offer it to him? By his accepting it, an impression is sought to be created that judges are no better than anyone else and will accept anything.' Fali Nariman, the legendary lawyer, speaks on the controversy over the National Judicial Appointments Bill and former Chief Jusice P Sathasivam's appointment as Kerala governor in an exclusive interview.
T P Sreenivasan was India's high commissioner in Fiji in 1987, when Sitiveni Rabuka toppled the Indian-dominated government there. Ambassador Sreenivasan stayed on for two years after the coup, fighting for the rights of the people of Indian origin before he was expelled by Rabuka. 'Meeting Sitiveni Rabuka, who had overthrown a democratically elected government, discriminated against the Fiji Indians, brought untold humiliation and suffering to them, tried to disenfranchise them, ordered me out of Fiji and closed down the Indian high commission was a difficult decision to take even after 25 years,' notes Ambassador Sreenivasan who eventually caught up with Rabuka over a game of golf.
There are unprecedented political implications of identification based on 'biological attributes of an individual', such as employed by Aadhaar, warns Gopal Krishna.
'One can understand this prejudice in the minds of policemen against Muslims, without accepting it. But what tilts the balance disproportionately is the police's blind eye to offences committed in the name of the majority.' says Jyoti Punwani.
'ISI mouthpieces in the media have been quick to blame India for the attack. Clearly, the intellect and worldview of these characters (which includes fairly senior retired military officers) is based on Bollywood movies like Ek Tha Tiger and Agent Vinod... More seriously, the fact that ISI touts have been using this opportunity to train their guns on India raises serious questions about all the talk of the army being on the same page as the civilian government on the issue of improving relations with India,' says Sushant Sareen.
Expenditure on health in India is at a global low of 1.2% of GDP.
The full transcript of the exclusive interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Pakistan thinks it is winning this low intensity conflict.' 'It is a serious observation. Half the battle is convincing your adversary that he cannot make headway.' 'A lot depends on how the internal professional management of the army and the handling of situations that are bound to rise sooner than later in his command, are done.'
Drones are of course, remotely controlled and modern ships are also chip-driven.
They also voiced concerns over a double penalty being sought to be imposed on them for KG-D6 fields output not matching targets.
Tata Steel is fine-tuning strategies to enhance revenues.
However, he refrained from speaking on Mexican immigrants and also declined to repeat his frequent promise to force Mexico to pay for the wall.
It's time the government accepts that Digital India is too distant.
'We are a plural society that for centuries, not for 70 years, has lived in a certain ambience of acceptance.' 'It is under threat,' outgoing Vice President Hamid Ansari tells Karan Thapar.
While nuclear engineers cheer KNPP's first full operation, on nine other sites which house atomic reactors, scientists spend sleepless nights.
It would be fair to say that markets are coming to the end of a down-cycle and are at the cusp of the next up-cycle.
Given the twin embarrassments of a TTV win and party nominee Karu Nagarajan losing his deposit, polling fewer votes than NOTA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP boss Amit Shah would be pushed to rethink their strategy. Tamil Nadu would thus become a part of the BJP's grander strategy for 2019 rather than a stand-alone affair, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
India should not miss the opportunity to develop high-speed railway.
'Political parties have appropriated our military victories -- the Kargil war is the BJP's and the Bangladesh war is the Congress's -- what is going on?' As Uttarakhand -- where faujis number nearly 40% of the state's population -- prepares to vote, Rediff.com's Archana Masih discovers what upsets retired soldiers in Uttarakhand the most is a forgotten protest in the heart of Delhi.
Upendra Kushwaha, president of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, which is part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, admits the Bihar assembly elections will be a close contest and will be fought along the lines of caste.
States need to create alternative marketing structures for farm produce since middlemen also provide vital services that are otherwise unavailable to the farmer.
Since 2000-01, the Indian economy has shown the tendency of being unable to absorb all domestic savings as investments.
The government has taken a number of steps to address the situation faced by farmers.
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
'AMU is a secular university with an Islamic ethos.' 'We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. Let me tell you Muslims do not need reservations. They need affirmative action in education.'
The former finance minister also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the words he chose to attack his predecessor Manmohan Singh, saying he should remember that the Chair he sat on was used by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee and hence he should use right language.
DLF says it has started the process of giving possession of housing units at New Town Heights project according to its commitment
'Nehru is often portrayed as a visionary with his head in the clouds. But he had his feet firmly planted on the ground when it came to building and nurturing institutions and setting them on the right path with the right traditions,' says B S Raghavan.
With over 135 news channels, about a third owned by politicians and real estate guys, the news TV market is a nightmare, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Before considering reducing the freedom of private investors in the derivatives market, we need to check if the maladies in markets elsewhere exist in India, says Susan Thomas.
'Bhutto feared elements of the so-called establishment, including people linked to the intelligence services. She highly distrusted individuals like Hamid Gul who -- she was convinced -- maintained active ties with jihadists.' Heraldo Munoz, author of the sensational new book, Getting Away With Murder, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa in an exclusive interview.
'Will 'Make in India' be able to harness the demographic dividend so it does not become a disaster?' 'Will 'Digital India' live up to the lofty promises the government and private sector made as part of its recent launch?'
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Laying down a host of criterion for the selection of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has made it known that no tainted leader will be given a ticket by the party.
Transcript of Nikhil Pahwa's chat with Rediff readers.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget.
Nehru's sentimental attachment to the Mountbattens deeply vitiated the Kashmir issue. It was certainly the most important factor for the failure to find a solution in the first years of the conflict.
'The main reason for having neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy is to make it more competitive and less affected by doctoring of wickets.' 'There is no reason why people shouldn't be able to see Virat Kohli playing a Ranji Trophy match at any location.'
'Think about this: A widow of a jawan is drawing only Rs 3,500. If OROP is implemented, she will get additional Rs 1,500. These poor girls are young and have no source of income; they are trying their best to just make ends meet. It is the pain of these situations that has driven me to this.' 'We don't want to put pressure on the government -- that's not our intention. We have full faith in our prime minister. We are asking for a meeting with him, and when we get that, we are sure he will not only give us what we are asking for, but 10 per cent extra.' Major General Satbir Singh, who headed the OROP agitation at Jantar Mantar, speaks out.