In putting the country's economy back on the rails, it is best that Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley draw on grass-roots feedback and their own practical sense and native wisdom without allowing themselves to be sucked into the quicksand of economic punditry, says B S Raghavan.
'I have never seen anybody disliked more as prime minister than Modi.' 'What is interesting is in his prime ministership, no matter whatever happens in any corner of India, Modi is blamed for it.' 'Modi has not suspended any Constitutional liberties. No Opposition leader has been put in jail... Modi is not Hitler.'
Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide on Friday, having escaped the more serious charge of murder for the killing of his girlfriend, and the Olympic and Paralympic track star could face a lengthy prison sentence.
'My own Indianness has kept me evolving and changing -- and that's something that nobody and nothing can take from me,' says Roopa Unnikrishnan, who left the Indian shores a decade ago. As India gears up to honour its pravasis to mark their contribution in the nation's development, Rediff.com presents different perspectives on the Diaspora.
Did the human drama provoked by the Japanese invasion of Burma and the Indian exodus from Rangoon inspire director Vishal Bhardwaj's forthcoming epic?
BS Annual Awards 2014: Power-packed jury picks the best 7 of corporate India
The last seven Indian sailors held hostage by Somali pirates were released October 30. Chirag Bahri, Indian coordinator for the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme that aids piracy survivors and their families, speaks to Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com on how the near-impossible was achieved.
Pakistan's dismal public health system is rife with mismanagement and a paucity of resources. Amidst this shambolic system, one hospital in Karachi has been providing specialised healthcare to millions. Free of charge. As the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation celebrated 40 years of successful service, Dr Sanjay Nagral visited the facility and met the man who helms it, armed with the simple philosophy that 'No person should die only because they are unable to afford medical expenses.'
Shopkeepers are losing buyers in droves to e-tailers for everything from fashion to smartphones, and are struggling to find solutions.
'India cannot expect to be insulated from the crisis. Europe is India's biggest trading partner with two-way trade of E72.5 billion or Rs 530,000 crore last year,' says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
'As Rai spoke, in an unbelievably dead pan, almost off-the-cuff tone, about helping plan the murder of two youngsters, drugging them with vodka and whiskey spiked with dava (medicine), smothering one, dragging a body in rigor mortis out of a car, burning a corpse, destroying evidence, and so on, it felt like he was discussing nothing more surprising than the intricacies of the weather.'
Here's your weekly digest of the craziest and funniest stories from around the world
Images of the events that shaped the world in March.
Alicia Kom, a Melbourne girl who made her LFW debut last year, talks about the struggles in her modelling career and how she made it despite 45 rejections in three years.
Yuvraj has switched focus to business.
The group needs to rustle up Rs 5,000 crore in cash and an equal amount in bank guarantees for bail.
The gorgeous Karan Kapoor will be back in India soon. Very soon!
Sarvesh Agrawal tells Shobha Warrier about how he built a start-up "of the interns, by the interns and for the interns."
'Being a hero is not a very easy task. You have to dance around trees, not to mention all the odd and unnatural things you have to do. Now I am spared of all that.' Jagapathi Babu reveals why playing an antagonist is far more rewarding than being a hero.
'There is a Jack Warner or two in every Caribbean parliament today.'
In the pitch dark of the African night, a herd of cape buffaloes gather at the watering hole for a drink, taking care to stay by the edge to avoid the crocodiles lurking in the depths. In Gangiova, a village in Romania, a doctor places her stethoscope to the chest of a newborn baby, listening intently for the beating of his tiny heart. These are just some of the moments that have been picked by the judges for the Sony World Photography Awards. For the 2017 competition, photographers entered 227,596 images across the awards' Professional, Open and Youth categories. The Open competition winner will receive $5,000 (Rs 3.3 lakh), Sony digital imaging equipment and flights and accommodation to the awards ceremony at Somerset House in London. Sony World Photography Awards has been kind enough to share some of their shortlisted pieces with us.
'I was in love and so I got married very early. Love makes you do crazy things. If I had not married then, my life would have been different. Today, I see women balancing their careers and homes. They are giving equal importance to their personal desires and their families, and that is great. I haven't been able to find that balance.' Bhagyashree, close and personal.
Computer whiz Jefferson Prince, who has built a 70-employee gaming company from scratch, tells S Saraswathi about motivations and challenges of entrepreneurship.
Bollywood's Badshah turns 50 on November 2, and it's time to celebrate his life and movies.
'My stay in Mumbai was taken care of by Vinod Khanna, food by Daisy Irani, work was provided by Feroz Khan, and Sunil Dutt paid me without my doing any work. My wife is 12 years younger than me. She was a child artiste. I got the title Shakti Kapoor: Cradle snatcher. But she was too good so I decided to marry her. I will marry Shraddha off after three years. I don't want her to be an older heroine or marry at 40. I want her to marry at the peak of her career. But I will not force her.' Straight talk from Shakti Kapoor.
Aseem Chhabra is heartbroken that India overlooked the acclaimed film, The Lunchbox, as its Oscar nominee.
'It wasn't difficult to play a chef because it was not about knowing recipes. I just had to look comfortable in the kitchen,' Aditya Roy Kapur tells Patcy N.
'If policy-makers hold the lives of animals to be more significant than the welfare of a human populace, I can't believe that they're likely to do anything progressive for India.'
'The more I lived in India, the more I realised that America was my home too.'
'Talent has no religion. There will be people who will criticise me, but if I take them seriously, I won't be able to do a lot of things in my career.' Pakistani actress Humaima Malick gets ready for Bollywood success.
Om Puri, notes Arthur J Pais/Rediff.com, has given one of the most endearing performances of his career in producers Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey and director Lasse Hallstrom's new film, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Besides the passion, your disciple and endurance is what will take you to the end.
'If Modi arrived like a juggernaut, he left like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces were being dismantled bit by bit. It was as if India had seceded quietly from him.' Shiv Viswanathan's social science fiction about what India would be like in 2020.
'The origins of the model of planned economic development adopted by independent India was a direct consequence of the war.' 'The war provided an opportunity for groups at the margins of Indian society to find new avenues for mobility.' 'The war also led to the emergence of India as a major Asian power and set the stage for it to play a wider role in international politics.'
'A few months ago, everybody was saying, "Why isn't Vijender taking part in the Olympics?"' 'This is not like going to Haryana or Delhi that you just take a ticket and reach there.' 'Going to the Olympics is not easy'
T N Ninan lists a few David-Goliath encounters in the Indian markets, all of which make life interesting, though difficult if you are an investor looking for the next multi-bagger.
Sahara and its founder Subrata Roy have been under scrutiny for years over its financial products, including for possible money laundering.
Overseas education consultant NNS Chandra offers advice on everything you need to know about pursuing an international education.
'The Modi government's lurch toward America has not brought it any dividends so far. The Western world is simply not in a position to make big investments in India... India needs to take a leap of faith vis-a-vis China.'
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