The Supreme Court order directing cinema halls to play the national anthem before screening to "instill committed patriotism and nationalism" has received mixed reactions from legal experts with a few terming it as "judiciary's over-enthusiasm" and others saying playing it and respecting it won't cause any harm.
'What has changed is the desperation of Pakistan proxies and the separatists in their failure to foment violence and civilian casualties in Kashmir.'
Extending support to YSR Congress for a unified Andhra Pradesh, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday said immediate priority was to restore normalcy as the state was heading towards anarchy due to Centre's "unilateral" decision.
'The police go into villages, kill villagers, rape women, burn homes, file false cases.' 'They want to empty Bastar of the tribals so that corporate houses can be given a free hand in our land.' 'My father was killed by Naxalites. This is very ironical because the police accuse me of being a Naxalite. If I had been a Naxalite, would I not have been able to prevent my father's death?'
'Gandhi turned his life into a counter-intuitive experiment in old ideas like non-violence and swadeshi.' 'He offered numerous universal ideas that talk to the human condition.' 'His ability to take risks was outstanding,' says Sopan Joshi, explaining why the Mahatma's ideas are as relevant as ever.
'It was one of the greatest learnings in my life to see someone like the great Amitabh Bachchan go through such a tough phase.' 'He had been there, done it all and really didn't need to prove himself.' 'Yet, he channelised it all and came out with one of his best performances,' Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra tells Savera R Someshwar/Rediff.com in a fascinating conversation about the films he has made and the actors he has worked with.
It is urgent that we break the silence around the 'M' word, one ward and gram panchayat at a time, so that women and girls -- irrespective of their financial capacity -- can demand the information and materials they need, says Archana Patkar.
Sunday's operation, the biggest in the Belgian capital since the Paris attack, began shortly after a government meeting on the crisis and a decision to maintain for a second day the highest possible alert level in Brussels.
Glaring contrasts in various spheres in this Nehru-Gandhi family pocketborough are being raised by the rivals to target Congress President Sonia Gandhi for lop-sided development in the constituency from where she is seeking a fourth term.
With India lagging behind on several human development indices including healthcare and education, the Union government's decision to up the spending on these sectors is a step in the right direction. However, much more needs to be done in the way of increasing accountability and arresting corruption if headway is to be made on these fronts, says Devanik Saha.
When industrial output and inflation fall simultaneously, though it is both a piece of good and bad news, taken together they can signal clear signs of an economic slowdown.
'The lockdown was for both: To flatten the curve or more correctly, delay the rapid spread of COVID outbreak, and to create healthcare infrastructure.'
'All the vaccines that are available in most countries, right now, are all highly effective and safe.'
He had come in search of jobs in America to rescue his presidency and India failed him in more ways than one, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
During his time as executive chairman, the company's net revenues grew 17-fold to Rs 42,777 crore and profit after tax nearly 40 times to Rs 10,289 crore. Total shareholder returns grew at a compounded annual rate of around 20%. Besides numbers, his biggest achievement was to transform ITC from a cigarette company to a diversified enterprise.
'Visiting my friend in his affluent locality, I realised that the Delhi weather had become the great equaliser.' 'Pollution was always in the air, everywhere, and had become the primary subject of all conversations,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash.
Tripura's popular chief minister shows up the failures of the elitist central leadership of India's Left, says Devesh Kapur
'A hundred days later, it is a moot point whether the lockdown has been partially or totally effective, or, as sceptics indicate, plain ineffective.' 'Did it actually deflect infections and the loss of lives, or was it merely a hasty decision rammed down the populace's throats that choked the economy and caused the searing tragedy of dispossessed migrant workers?' ask Radha Roy Biswas and Manoj Mohanka.
'Outside investors don't want to get tangled up in a religious war.'
This was disclosed at a high-level inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Thursday
'The carpet under Indian society is filled with members of the LGBTQ community, stuffed away like if you leave us swept under long enough, we'll go away. But here's the thing. You can pretend we're not there as much as you want, that doesn't change the fact that we're there and we're getting louder, we're getting angrier.'
You know how, given the right lighting and the right positioning, you can project huge dramatic shadows onto a screen with nothing more than a couple of wiggling fingers? The India show we take around the world, and around India at election time, is a bit like that.
The Congress has ruled India for 54 of the last 67 years; that it took the party over six decades to come up with bills that provide citizens their basic needs is a shame, not a moment of triumph, says Amberish K Diwanji.
People on the Ladakh sector of the border with China are compelled to ponder over a heart ripping prospect of a future in China -- a country they viscerally hate for steadily usurping their land. Their swelling disillusionment and popular frustration with India is fraught with grave geo-strategic and national security implications for the country. New Delhi's morbid indifference is indeed frightening, says R N Ravi.
Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer.
Manish Sisodia's elevation as Delhi CM would set Arvind Kejriwal free to take up a significant role in national politics, or he could return to activism, says Sudhir Bisht.
Villagers attribute Adarsh Nangla's 'fall' to a combination of government apathy and decline of the collective spirit
Over 26 people have lost their lives country in the aftermath of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.
Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to the angst of the professions.
The Manmohan Singh government's rush to pass the Food Security Bill reflects extreme paucity of logic and action, says Neeta Kolhatkar
'Whenever you roll out: effectiveness is important, operational logistics are important, side effects are important and vaccine hesitancy is important.'
Vaccination against measles has been declining steadily over the last ten years in India. This must be reversed in order to avoid a serious outbreak of the disease, says Phalasha Nagpal.
Raju's grandfather had commissioned a similar sahasra nama mala for Lord Balaji 50 years ago. Raju now wanted to offer a new garland.
If Narendra Modi could tame his obsession with the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, Arvind Kejriwal resist polishing his halo and Rahul Gandhi find his voice, we could begin a debate about the future of this country that actually addressed the seriousness of its problems, says Rahul Jacob.
India continues to battle poverty, child and maternal deaths, according to a United Nations report on the Millennium Development Goals that said while several key global targets have been met, more sustained effort is needed to cover disparities by the 2015 deadline.
Atheela Abdullah, who grew up in a small village in the Malabar region of Kerala shares her inspiring success story.
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.
The challenge will be to force the officials of his government to own this vision.
We have brought about a slew of reforms that would help improve governance and also facilitate industrial growth, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje tells Sahil Makkar.
Nandan Nilekani and his wife Rohini are trying to improve education across India.
