Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party, accusing it of repeatedly "wounding" the Indian Constitution. He claimed that the Congress, driven by its "lust for power," has consistently undermined the principles of the Constitution. Modi, however, praised India's democratic journey since its independence, highlighting the country's strong democratic roots and its unwavering commitment to its founding principles. He underscored the importance of unity for India's future development and emphasized that the Constitution is the bedrock of that unity.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
A special website has also been created to mark the year-long celebrations, Union Culture Secretary Arunish Chawla told reporters during a briefing at the National Media Centre in New Delhi.
Hossain said they will "always try to maintain good relations" with India.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the BJP of a "conspiracy to save Home Minister Amit Shah's skin" following a clash in Parliament over allegations of disrespect towards B.R. Ambedkar. She alleged that BJP MPs instigated the violence and pushed opposition members, including Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, to prevent them from entering Parliament. Gandhi also challenged BJP MPs to say "Jai Bhim" and accused them of having "violent intentions" and insulting the legacy of Ambedkar.
The US Justice Department on Thursday charged Yadav for his role in the assassination plot.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took a strong exception to the Hindu temple incident in Brampton.
The much-delayed decadal census exercise and the work to update the National Population Register (NPR) are likely to begin early 2025 and the data will be declared by 2026, thus changing future census cycles completely, official sources said.
Seema's questioning also comes at a time when a little-known right-wing fringe group in Greater Noida has threatened a protest if Haider, who illegally entered India with her four children, is not evicted from the country 'within 72 hours'.
In some states, many women voters had enrolled themselves by their relationship with the male members of their family instead of providing their own names.
Framing the next chapter in Swiggy's journey as a responsible corporate citizen, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Sriharsha Majety unveiled the company's eagerly awaited public listing. Majety, who has largely shunned the spotlight, shared reflections on his entrepreneurial path and the strategic pivots he and his co-founders navigated in building Swiggy. "We started with code aggregation, then pivoted to logistics, and that became Swiggy.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said all Indian nationals left Kyiv on Tuesday after the Indian embassy issued an advisory, asking them to get out of the Ukrainian capital urgently.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
Mumbai, infamous for its voter apathy, stepped out to exercise its franchise on Wednesday.
'Look at the post mortem reports. Every body (of the 10 Kuki-Zo youth who were killed) has almost 12 bullet marks on it.' 'Why do they have to fire so much even if they wanted to kill them?' 'One or two shots would be enough to kill them. Why then they had to fire so many bullets on them?'
The Indian embassy in Ukraine issued a fresh advisory in view of increasing Russian attacks on several Ukrainian cities and reports of heavy fighting around the capital Kyiv.
More than two dozen lawmakers and prominent Indian Americans gathered at the US Capitol for the annual Diwali celebration, highlighting the contributions of the Indian American community and the strong US-India relationship. The event, organized by the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, also featured addresses from several Congressmen and Senators who expressed support for Indian Americans and emphasized the importance of the US-India partnership.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
'In Mumbai, isolation is a very different isolation.' 'It's not about actual physical loneliness.' 'It's the loneliness in the company of others, and I felt that that is a very Mumbai thing.' 'You can be travelling in the ladies compartment squashed against everybody's armpits and still be really, really sad and alone.'
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed petitions challenging the 1976 amendment to the Constitution that added the terms "socialist", "secular", and "integrity" to the Preamble. The court ruled that the inclusion of these terms, made through amendments, is valid and does not affect the original adoption of the Constitution in 1949.
Ten states and Union Territories have so far detected the presence of the JN.1 sub-variant of the virus.
'We should be mindful that the religious minority community in one country is the majority in another (and) so treatment of the minority community in our respective countries will be an important variable in our relationship'
More than 750 eminent citizens, including historian Romila Thapar, economist Jean Dreze and actor Naseeruddin Shah, on Wednesday came out in support of a news website which is alleged to have received dubious funds to spread Chinese propaganda.
Carter was in politics, but not a politician, certainly not a transactional politician, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered immediate medical aid for farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite fast at the Punjab-Haryana border. The court also urged farmers to adopt the Gandhian way of protesting and to ensure that Dallewal's life is saved. The court has formed a high-powered committee to make recommendations to the stakeholders regarding the farmers' grievances.
Chief Adviser to Bangladesh's interim government, Muhammad Yunus, has said the issue of attacks on minority Hindus in his country is 'exaggerated' and questioned the manner in which India projected it.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone of the Bombay high court's new complex on land allotted by the Maharashtra government in Mumbai's upscale Bandra area, he noted the mega project was a collaboration between the state and the judiciary to provide modern infrastructure to citizens.
Within his short lifespan of 63 years, Raj Kapoor left behind an incredible cinematic legacy. Dinesh Raheja continues celebrating Raj Kapoor's birth centenary by looking at seven sequences from his films that have defined Hindi cinema.
Joseph Francis A Pereira, a citizen of Pakistan who currently resides in Cansaulim, south Goa, is the first in the state to be given an Indian citizenship certificate.
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
The bench allowed the rejoinder affidavit to be filed by petitioners in two weeks thereafter and posted the matter for final hearing in January, 2025.
The high commission of India in Dhaka and the assistant high commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna have been assisting in the voluntary return of Indian nationals, he said.
Indians hoping to study in Canada should think twice because many students have ended up in substandard colleges with no job prospects despite spending lakhs of rupees, resulting in depression and suicide, India's top envoy there says.
The entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government over Rs 12,000 crore, the officials said.
Fissures surfaced among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners ahead of the Jharkhand assembly elections as the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday expressed disappointment over the announcement of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress contesting 70 of 81 seats in the state.
"Everything may look normal in Kashmir. Everything may look normal here. We may be celebrating the victory, although of course some people believe that that victory or that success of 2024 was perhaps only marginal, perhaps a lot more needs to be done," he said.
The United States is waiting to see the results of the Indian investigations on the murder allegations.