'Afzal Guru was convicted of supporting the attack on India's Parliament. The Supreme Court said "the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded" to Guru.' 'Till we can think up similar justifications for hanging non-Muslims, I do not think we can delink terrorism from religion in our minds,' argues Aakar Patel.
'...a dazzling flash, and then, fizzle,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
Asserting that "the BJP first set Hindus against Muslims", Badal said the party has "become the most powerful divisive force", out to "replay its evil game in Punjab".
It is astonishing, even for many of us who may have wide exposure to music, to see how such world-class performers are so little known in their own land, notes Aakar Patel.
Kejriwal's centralised way of governance might work in Delhi, but Punjab will call for delegation, observes Sanjeev Nayyar.
'Gujaratis need not be ashamed of the lack of martial tradition.' 'They contribute to their country in other ways.' 'And, of course, they can also claim that while they may not have produced many martyrs, they produced the greatest one: Gandhi.'
What got the Jats of Haryana so furious?
It takes a special kind of place to impress the chef who has cooked for Modi and Obama, and has charmed the likes of the Dalai Lama, the Pope and even Queen Elizabeth!
The noted publisher of Hindu religious and spiritual texts, which has seen tough times in the recent past, hopes the new UP CM's spiritual background will boost sales.
The Padma Bhushan was conferred on 17 personalities including N Chandrasekharan, chairman of Tata Sons, Krishna and Suchita Ella of Bharat Biotech, Cyrus Poonawalla, Satya Nadella, chairman of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai, chairman of Google.
It is bound to fail like the earlier ones, again causing Pakistan enormously more damage than to India, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to take Punjab's close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, with a one-to-one meeting with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday, said an official spokesperson.
Emotions ran high as the farmers performed ardas (prayers) and havan to thank the almighty and started their 'victory march' from Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur protest sites to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in convoys of tractors, bedecked with colourful flowers and lights and blaring songs of jubilation.
'The BJP and Congress are like those Bollywood lovers who are kept apart by their families where it is a generational problem of different values: The older ones think differently from the younger ones,' argues T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'Every bit of the parade is important. Everything that is being executed, you have to be completely in it,' says Captain Tania Shergill, the first woman adjutant at a Republic Day parade.
'They call us Punjabis as nashedi (drug addicts). So I also asked him with a smile, 'aaj aap kaunsa kar ke aaye hain (what did you take today). He failed to realise my gesture but only saw me smiling,' Akali leader and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur said.
The founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition first attracted attention in the US as the "Punjabi tycoon" who was a huge supporter of Narendra Modi in the US. 'He will be best for India. There is no better ally for the US than India in the region,' Shalabh Kumar tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
They alleged that they fled from their country because of religious persecution from the Hindu majority.
Lovers of good cinema should not miss this opportunity to watch one of the best Indian films of 2016, raves Aseem Chhabra.
'...that it takes fantasy seriously as a part of real life'... A fascinating excerpt from Jonathan Gil Harris's book, Masala Shakespeare: How A Firangi Writer Became Indian.
'If the museum in his memory inspires and instils among Brahminical British Indians an attitude of equality towards Dalits, the edifice would be worth it,' reports Ashis Ray.
'At 23, he has experienced what very few of his age have: Poverty at home, a stint in jail for his student activism.' 'His experience told him that if you want your rights, you have to fight for them.'
Remnants of the Khalistan movement in Vancouver may stage a protest against Prime Minister Modi
'Till we are able to understand this reality of what is happening to our fellow citizens today in 2018, it would be hypocrisy to continue to teach in our textbooks about the great atrocity of 1919,' argues Aakar Patel.
Brigadier Gagneja (retd) was attacked by bike-borne assailants on August 6 in Jalandhar.
"Peace and harmony is the only way forward to ensure a prosperous future," Dr Singh said.
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Theatre director Saif Hyder Hassan talks about his new play Ek Mulaqat.
In October 2007 Raja Sen visited Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's village in Punjab to find out how its residents, and relatives, feel about their oddest export. His report was published in India Abroad, a weekly newspaper published in the US and owned by Rediff.com.
Sukanya Verma looks back at the trend's most memorable incarnations in recent times.
'India is a strange place.' 'On the one hand we have the most advanced science working on our origins and our ancestry.' 'On the other we are at war with ourselves over a temple to a god whom our first ancestors knew nothing of,' says Aakar Patel.
'A perception has been built in our country that whatever Modi says you cannot challenge that.'
The Kartarpur corridor was an excellent opportunity for the Congress to seize centre-stage in Sikh religious affairs. After all, the Akalis never achieved this in their years in power, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
An analysis of the results in Haryana reveals that caste-based voting is anything but dead. It could even help the Bharatiya Janata Party win a second successive term in the state in the forthcoming assembly polls, reports Nitin Kumar.
'Her work involves hiring people to serve in the hospitality industry, and she acknowledges that though remunerations are fixed, those with fairer skins are the first pick of companies, while those of a darker hue have a difficult time getting placements.'
On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, 34 years and 19 days later after the horrific crimes, two men were sentenced to death and life in prison for their involvement in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in which over 3,000 Sikhs were killed. It was the first verdict after the riots-related cases were reopened by a Special Investigation Team in 2015. In his novel Man With The White Beard, Shah Alam Khan recalls a calamitous time in India's history.
Saluting the late music composers most memorable film songs.
Deras like Sacha Sauda made the poor feel secure, cared for, loved, provided a support system and gave them dignity, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
