The Indian ace was called in to speak about 'Influencing Public Policy -The Role of the Celebrity'
"The policy of Macaulay, which sowed the seeds of mental slavery in India, will complete 200 years in 2035. This means there are 10 years left. Therefore, in these very 10 years, we all must come together to free our country from the slave mentality," he said.
Abdullah emphasised the 24x7 model of politics pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team, and said that "no sooner has one election finished, they've already moved into the next territory... We will move into those states two months before the elections. We will be lucky if we sew up our electoral alliances before the last date of filing nominations".
On President Putin's two-day trip to India, Jaishankar said for a "big" and "rising" country like India, it is important to maintain good cooperation with as many important players as possible in the world in line with freedom of choice.
Jaishankar described as a "reasonable supposition" to expect some improvement in the relations between India and China following the last round of disengagement but hesitated to say that there could be a reset of the ties.
Flagging "anxieties" of business leaders on issues like red tape, tax laws, regulation and proceedures, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he often found it tough to deal with these challenges due to "lack of political consensus on reforms".
Chief Minister Narendra Modi stunned his audience at a summit on Friday by claiming he believes in the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. Both Mahatma Gandhi and his idea of Ram Rajya are relevant for me," he said in an interaction at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Friday. Modi said that he also believed in Gandhi's idea of Gram Swarajya, according to which village-level representatives should be appointed unanimously as elections led to violence.
Agriculture growth this year would be negative at minus two per cent as a result of adverse impact of drought particularly on kharif crop which would be down 15-16 million tonnes.
India's economic growth rate slipped to 6.9 per cent in the second quarter this fiscal, the lowest in nine quarters.
Defending the government's decision to open up the multi-brand retail sector to foreign investment, Plan panel deputy chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday said it would help farmers as well as consumers.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday declared that his country will not be the first to use nuclear weapons against India and would work towards opening trade, besides underscoring that Kashmir belonged to the Kashmiri people.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday invoked her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi to send a message that but for the former prime minister's 'much reviled' bank nationalisation four decades back the country's financial institutions would have been hit by the current global economic crisis. "Every passing day bears out the wisdom of that decision (bank nationalisation in 1969)," Gandhi said in her address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
PM Manmohan Singh's speech at Hindustan Times Leadership Summit
It was more of a reunion of two old friends on Friday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wasting no time in hosting his "good friend" George W Bush to a sumptuous Indian lunch of prawns, mutton korma, fish curry, lamb chops and a host of other delicacies at his residence 7, Race Course Road.
Excerpts from the text of the Prime Minister's address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Friday
Addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here today, the actor also described politics as "one of the most self-sacrificing kind of jobs" and apologised on behalf of the film industry for having "caricatured" politicians in movies.
GDP growth in 2010-11 stood at 8.5 per cent.
The government on Friday said the foreign direct investment norms in the retail sector would be liberalised further to ensure that investment flows into post- harvest agriculture activities.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid believes that the on-field behaviour of cricketers has improved in the last few years but the increasing media reporting of incidences of code of conduct violation has made it look otherwise. Dravid said he does not consider sledging against the spirit of the game.
The finance Minister's comments came on a day when states finance ministers deliberated on various aspects of GST structure at a meeting in New Delhi.
Democrat leader John Edwards is a a likely presidential candidate for 2008.
Market regulator SEBI on Tuesday said it would ease norms for public offers and delisting of shares shortly, but step up market surveillance.
Former United States President George W Bush is a 'great friend of our country'.This is how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described him as he hailed the key role played by Bush in ending India's 34-year isolation in the nuclear field.Dr Singh, who later hosted a lunch for Bush, had told him last year "the people of India deeply love you".
"Steep rise in Sensex sometimes surprises me, sometimes worries me. I don't think fundamentals of economy changes day-to-day. Sensex is driven by corpus inflow of funds," he said while speaking at Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi..
What caused the supermodel's public breakdown in New Delhi?
Exuding confidence that India had the 'resources and the wisdom to grapple and deal' with the crisis, the prime minister said all instruments of public policy -- monetary, fiscal, public investment and exchange rate -- 'will be deployed' to tackle it.
He described the agreement as a "very good step forward".
If talks are progressing in the right direction, the violence will come down automatically," the Mirwaiz contended.
The Congress president rejected suggestions about any threat to the UPA coalition due to the frequent pressure from the Left on various issues and maintained that the party-led government faced 'no serious problem' so far.
Despite poor governance, the BJD-BJP alliance may win an other term, since the main opposition Congress is in disarray and has no credible leaders.
Stocks ignored better-than-expected double digit industrial production figures in August to snap a three-day rally on profit-booking after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he was "surprised and worried" by the sharp rise in stock prices.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday clearly stated that she was against early elections and ruled out any confrontation with the Left Front over the India-United States nuclear agreement. "No, we are not in favour of early elections. As the prime minister has said, the deadline is 2009. We are going to do all that we can to see that we implement our programmes till 2009," she said. Gandhi said that the govt will be working towards reaching a consensus with the Left.
The prime minister also said he still has hope that the nuclear deal will not die a slow death.
The actor said the new, nascent media was offering a log of jobs and the people who were being recruited did not have a good idea of what should be done. However, Khan added that a lot of the reportage also made people in politics as well as in the entertainment world more accountable. "I have used media for my gains time and again. Now, I can't complain that they are using me. We have a synergy here. We go along hand-in-hand," admitted the superstar.
The two were attending the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
Jaishankar described the October 7 strikes on Israeli cities by Hamas as "terrorism" but at the same time asserted India's long-standing support for a negotiated two-state solution to the Palestine issue.
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