Finance Minister Arun Jaitley witll spearhead the campaign with BJP President Amit Shah as its chief strategist.
Were the May 1988 nuclear tests a success? 20 years after Pokharan, a look back at those decisive atomic tests through the eyes of someone who knew.
'Under the present Defence Procurement Procedure, it would have been a nightmare, and a long, long one at that, to build 108 Rafales in India. Modi realised this and took the wise decision, though it is a definitive setback for his Make in India scheme.'
A combative Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday mounted a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of running a government "of some people, by one person for a select few" and said he has not much to showcase even as the government completes one year.
'Omerta is a work of true moral force; it is, at the risk of sounding fancy, a motion picture for our times,' says Sreehari Nair.
The dent on India-US relations caused by L'affaire Devyani will not remain for long as those will be determined by strategic and economic considerations, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The earthquake with epicentre at Lamjung, around 80 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu, and had its impact inseveral cities in Bihar and West Bengal and eastern India. Anumber of aftershocks were felt for a long time after the quake.
The seasons in 2012 and 2013 went by with hardly any property launches, mainly due to an economic slowdown and a need to clear the backlog
Trinamool leaders have claimed the NRC process and subsequent verification is vote bank politics. Other critics call it as modified ethnic cleansing. But putting poll rhetoric aside, the issue dates back to a time when many of these leaders had no political relevance.
Modi, while speaking at a poll rally in Gujarat on Sunday, had sought to link the dinner meeting hosted by Aiyar for Pakistani dignitaries and attended by Manmohan Singh, among others, with the ongoing assembly polls and a conspiracy against the BJP.
Modi's Vietnam visit is timely and crucial for several reasons. First, Vietnam lies at the heart of India's vision for Southeast Asia as also its 'Act East' policy. India also wants to boost its defence exports to friendly countries. And it is looking to increase trade between the two countries will now is only $7.83 billion, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
'In this resurgent India, class is the new caste. We are shaken up only occasionally, and briefly, when a battered, tribal teenager from Jharkhand looks us in the eye from our closet,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The world is still figuring out the man as he continues his enigmatic journey towards the first 100 days of his presidency.
Sources said that the Congress was working to move the motion on Wednesday and is in the process of filing a notice in this regard.
'Overlying his idealism was a hatred of war and of all things military. He gave no deep thought to politico-military matters and this prevented him from making sound security decisions.'
Dept to focus on real estate, infra, mining and manufacturing to detect evasion.
'The danger today is that out of sheer fatigue and exasperation, the US might cut loose and exit from Afghanistan leaving it to the region to cope with the debris, which it is ill-equipped to handle,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Make in India' will be central to Mr Modi's visit to Europe and Canada. It is difficult to predict what will happen with the Rafale deal, but if it goes through, it will undoubtedly become the 'Mother' of all 'Make in India' projects,' says Claude Arpi.
The success of the government will depend substantially on the quality of its team of key ministers, officials and advisors
'The irresistible Cuban cigars, which acquire their unique flavour as they are rolled on the thighs of Cuban women, have always been the ultimate temptation for cigar connoisseurs in the US.'
'In a relationship that does not permit cricket, how can the prime ministers embrace and send a false message,' asks Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Election manifestos may have lost their earlier importance. But a closer look at them does reveal a lot about a political party's own assessment of where it went wrong and what its future policy directions will look like, says A K Bhattacharya.
'The media today is completely free from the government-induced fear factor.' 'It is only scared of the public backlash and its TRP ratings,' say Sudhir Bisht.
'For India, the phase of pure restraint has passed.' 'Restraint has failed to reform Pakistan or rein in terrorism,' says Vivek Gumaste.
Jaitley's team presents a quintessential mix of foreign-educated, intellectual technocrats and seasoned bureaucrats
'The first 55 years of Natwar Singh's life give a fascinating narrative of our diplomacy,' says Ambassador B S Prakash after reading One Life is Not Enough.
'By the time he came out after nearly five hours, he had a one-to-one conversation with the President, a delegation-level meeting, a reception, a dinner, a tour of the White House and a joint statement of a kind none of his predecessors ever had,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Claude Arpi gives a fascinating firsthand account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959 and explains why he will once again receive a grand welcome, whether Beijing likes it or not.
'Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to allow us to project his real personality to let the people of India know exactly what he really was. He was always shying away from greater public exposure. Since the last two years we have seen enormous criticism, ridiculing the prime minister. He has been made into an object of jokes. It certainly hurts. I think this man deserves lots of good reviews... His contribution to social policy, his contribution to the economy, his contribution to coalition management, his contribution to foreign policy.' Dr Sanjaya Baru, Dr Singh's former media advisor who is in the eye of a storm over his book on the prime minister UPA speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
'It is highly doubtful that the Trump administration will consider inserting itself into the volatile India-Pakistan dispute.'
'We use the word "historic" perhaps too much, but the prime minister's visit certainly was historic in so many ways.'
India must watch for signs after Peshawar that Pakistan is waking up to the dangers of Islamism, muses Ajai Shukla
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
'Who would have thought that Brexit would take place or Donald Trump would become US president or Kim Jong-un's madness could bring the prospect of nuclear war over Asia?' 'It is the time of the unexpected; the French elections should perhaps be seen in this perspective,' says Claude Arpi.
'Secretiveness and the element of surprise in announcing decisions marks the Modi style of diplomacy. From being a voluble politician, he became a reticent statesman... But the diplomatic dance is performed on thin ice and his adroitness is still to be proved,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The verdict in the right to privacy case is historic and of global significance because it establishes dharma, righteousness and destroys adharma.
The verdict in the right to privacy case is historic and of global significance because it establishes dharma, righteousness and destroys adharma.
Terrorism and Afghanistan were the focus points of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov on his first visit to Central Asia.
'We are moving away from the path of democracy and towards Hindu religious dictatorship,' scientist P M Bhargava, who announced his decision to return the Padma Bhushan, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com
Immediately after India launched its surgical strikes, sources said, it had informed the US of its action.
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