The RSS realises that with a majority BJP government at the Centre and in several states, now was the best time to undermine and perhaps outdo the Congress-Left 'stranglehold' over campuses and young minds.
In a strong retaliation, India on Tuesday initiated a slew of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US embassy, terming as "barbaric" the arrest and strip searching of India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.
'Human rights violations are there in rural areas and in cities. In rural areas it is crude and in the open. In urban areas it is well hidden.' 'Awareness has grown several fold. India has 160 national and state human rights institutions. No other country in the world has this.' 'Unfortunately the right to association, right to assembly, freedom of expression, right to protest and discuss are all being curtailed systematically one by one.'
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.
India's majoritarian regime is now making a dangerously fast-paced move towards theocracy, like its western counterpart did a few decades ago, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
'They were the leaders of my country and the children of Mother India, but they didn't die as martyrs.' 'They were killed, most unfortunately, by a well planned enemy plot, and they were victims of political violence,' states Sudhir Bisht.
'Besides electoral opportunism, a sustained vilification of AMU on one or the other pretext helps them sustain their 'everyday communalism', the new strategy of the BJP of the Narendra Damodardas Modi-Amit Anilchandra Shah era,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'It upsets me to see blind cricket going unnoticed by the government while it rewards even the smallest achievement in normal cricket,' the Sachin Tendulkar of blind cricket tells Geetanjali Krishna.
'These young men have become religious fundamentalists and gone to lead the life of Salafis somewhere.'
Rajnath Singh, under whose stewardship the Bharatiya Janata Party has stormed to power with its highest-ever tally, took charge as the Union home minister.
Anandiben insists her daughter was not involved in any land allocation scandal.
'The Indian soldier will fight where he is asked to, and he always has.' 'It is up to us as a democratic society to see that his service and sacrifice is for the most useful causes, and that we do not needlessly ask him to die for us,' says Aakar Patel.
When KV Thomas took over as minister of state for food and consumer affairs (independent charge) on January 19, 2011, he was tasked with taking forward one single, important objective: expedite the implementation of the National Food Security Bill.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
One may fault this government for incompetence, corruption, and delayed action but it cannot be faulted for lacking a vision.
Fighting sex trafficking and forced labour became Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat's life mission. The winner of the US State Department's 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes Award speaks to Rediff.com
Education remains one of the key focuses of the new government.
The move is aimed at reflecting the diversity of India and highlighting the contribution of prominent personalities.
Is it just the glamour?
Devulkar had a certain abnormal vagueness about him that was unreal and defied belief. That came across in both his slightly too easy-going, extra-cooperative manner and the ragged nature of his testimony.
'The blood that runs in the veins of our family can never be anti-national.' 'They called Kanhaiya a traitor for questioning the Indian Army. Do they know that our cousin was killed by militants in Manipur while serving with the CRPF?' Archana Masih/Rediff.com travelled to the land of Lal Salam, Lal Sitara and comrades to find out what moulded India's most talked about student leader, Kanhaiya Kunar.
'We say we are proud to be Indian. Can we be proud of such an India where its people are hungry and on the streets?'
Why must Indians adjust their time-tested system because of what the West needs, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
62 mass murders carried out with firearms across 30 US states. Of these, 12 were in schools, 19 at workplaces, the other 31 cases took place in shopping malls, restaurants, government buildings and military bases. The average age of the killers was 35, with the youngest only 11 years old. B S Raghavan on how the killings will continue until America confronts the urgent need for gun control.
Bhilar, a strawberry farming hub in Maharashtra, has been transformed into India's first 'books village'.
In 1998, the Congress asked her mother to campaign. 'We had a family discussion. We explained to our mother that you will be used, you will be discarded once you are done with the campaign.' 'A few days later I got a call from my mother. She said, "I have decided to campaign".' 'We were stunned. Why was she doing this?' Payal Mohanka listens in.
A look at few gurus who have attracted controversy in recent times.
'A dangerous and false binary is now surfacing in Indian political discourse, which must be firmly rejected.' 'It is that we have to choose between freedom and development.' 'For us freedom is neither merely an instrument for development nor to be subordinated to development.' 'It is, as our founding fathers proclaimed early in our freedom struggle, 'our birthright' on which we shall never compromise.' 'Growth, wealth and development are fruits of democracy, not substitutes.' Dr Manmohan Singh's thoughts on democracy: A Must Read!
A look at few gurus who have attracted controversy in recent times.
Hindu-American Congresswon Tulsi Gabbard coasts to a rollicking re-election victory in in Hawaii's 2nd District
'Disability is god's gift.' 'Had I not been blind, I don't think I would have got the chance to represent my country.'
The government is by far the largest employer; job security is guaranteed for government employees, and their wages are set through once-in-10-year Pay Commission.
If an elected government had been sworn in, Jung's tenure and the government would have been more or less co-terminus and Jung would have been just the ceremonial head of Delhi. Now, he will run Delhi, pending another round of assembly elections, says Aditi Phadnis
Her great grandfather began sugar co-operatives in Maharashtra. Her grandfather was an eight time MP. Her uncle is currently leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly. Her cousin joined the BJP on Tuesday, March 12. Nila Vikhe Patil, who could one day become prime minister of Sweden, unravels her India connections in an e-mail interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
A G Padmanabhan's dream is to make India a 'no food waste economy' and promote sustainable ideas.
'I cannot conceive of any reason than my unsparing criticism of government policies that the government picked me to send a message to many who dare to take it on.'
Anup Raaj, 23, describes how Super 30, a free IIT-JEE coaching institute located in Patna, Bihar, changed his life.
Martin Sorell on how effective is Modi's media strategy
'They don't always agree with our governments, their teachers or their parents, but it is the conviction of their ideas, and their determination to share them with the world that, I believe, is one of the greatest sources of hope for our planet.' 'The colonisation of space, understanding the very building blocks of matter and the universe, utilising our understanding of the human genome to conquer disease -- these are the tasks waiting for a fellowship of minds to realise new triumphs in our collective destiny.'
With India poised to become the largest economy in the world by 2030, it cannot afford to leave half of its workforce behind.
