Here are some tips for healthy fasting.
The armed forces are facing a shortage of over 52,000 soldiers with the Army topping the list with over 21,000 vacant posts, the government said on Wednesday.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday jointly sounded the party's bugle for 2014 Lok Sabha elections from this eastern Uttar Pradesh hub, ill-famed as a home and haven for several terrorists.
Lieutenant General Harbakhsh Singh, GOC, Western Command, disobeyed the then army chief and took on a superior Pakistani armoured column. The Indian Centurion tanks outgunned the more modern Pakistani Patton tanks in the battle at Khem Karan, that proved the turning point of the 1965 War. Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) salutes the Soldiers' General.
Highly decorated police officer and former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval, considered one of the finest operational brains, was on Friday appointed as the national security adviser.
Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy sailed the oceans and conquered likely death after a storm badly injured his spine and destroyed his boat. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met the decorated sailor who fought all odds to return home alive.
'Pakistan's recent utterances and tendency to use pinpricks to try our patience appear reminiscent of 1965. We are a strong nation, emerging stronger,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities:
People can deposit idle gold with authorised agencies and take advantage of the price escalation of gold as well as earn interest on the deposit.
Tubes gone, Irom Sharmila the brand is dead. As long as she was trying to kill herself, she had value to the cynics trying to build their careers over her fast, says Shekhar Gupta.
'When it comes to national politics, the Modi-Shah BJP has successfully redefined secularism.' 'If a party like the Congress has to have a future, it has to move closer to the secular centre from the far Left where its Left infatuation during the UPA years dragged it,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
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'The Indian Air Force wanted to fight. My squadron leaders and flight lieutenants, all of us were eager to fight. Unless they are keen I can't have confidence.' Marshal of the Air Force, the legendary Arjan Singh, on the 1965 War.
As India remembers its soldiers who fought and died in the Kargil War, Divya Nair recalls a recent day of homage at the Kargil War Memorial.
Banks can also allow the depositors to deposit their gold directly with the refiners.
Breath-taking manoeuvres by air force jets, a procession of tableaux presenting a glimpse of India's cultural heritage and the progress made by the country and all-women marching contingents of the three services, these are some of the attractions in store for dignitaries and guests at the Republic Day function.
'Why isn't the story of the valiant 13th Kumaon a part of every child's textbooks?' 'Why have we let these brave men die unwept, unmourned, and unsung?' asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
'We were firing at Patton tanks that were moving towards India.' 'Fighter aircraft are the biggest menace for tanks because they come at great speed, attack from a height and their rockets are lethal.' 'The Hunter travels at 400, 420 knots. One knot is 1.6 times a km, so it was at a speed of 700, 800 km/hr.' 'You come at great speed and when you see the tanks, you pull up because attacks are always done in a dive.' 'You go up to 3,000 to 4,000 feet and then dive on to the target and let off your rockets...'
'It would not be incorrect to say that the Chinese-Pakistani strategy of containing India began in the aftermath of the 1965 war.'
Pakistani troops targeted over 60 hamlets and scores of border posts in heavy overnight shelling in Kathua and Samba districts, with mortar bombs landing deep inside Indian territory.
Vinita Bisht and Vinita Kamte lost their husbands -- one an NSG commando, the other an IPS officer -- in the 26/11 terror attack. Six years later, Archana Masih/Rediff.com meets them to discover that closure is one of the hardest things to find.
'Why has the rhetoric gone down on the Indian side, Durrani wondered aloud.' 'I said because almost total normalcy and peace had returned on the ground in Kashmir,' recalls Shekhar Gupta. 'The general gave me that career spook's laser look. And he said: "That situation on the ground can change in no time".' 'This was precisely when the Pakistanis began their first incursions into Kargil.' 'Durrani had been retired for five years.' 'But once the ISI boss, you are always in the know.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for a "four-coloured" revolution signifying the colours of the Indian tricolour in the area of power and agriculture, marine sector and milk production to take the country forward.
'I was playing a rockstar.' 'After three days, I get a script that my character will turn into a lion.' 'I felt I hadn't signed up for this, so I told Ekta about it.' 'Ekta told me, "Beta, na tu important hai na main important hoon. Woh spot wala hai na, usko ghar pe khana khilana hai".' 'She said if she didn't change the content, she would not get TRPs and eventually, her show would shut down.' 'If the show stops, she asked me if I would take these workers home.' 'I said "Let's become the lion".'
Shashi Tharoor says the British Museum should change its name to Chor Bazaar because whatever it has within its portals is the result of 200 years of theft. The museum is once again in the eye of a storm for the possession of a statue of a god Hindus, across the world, worship as the Supreme Being.
Ajit Balakrishnan envisions a flag to capture the spirit of the impending conflicts of the Information Age.
Shama Sikander talks about love, sex and relationships.
'The range of purchases throw a light on India's threat perception as also its perceived role of being a stabilising influence in the region,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
This is how the Bollywood star reacted to Mumbai's cops' 'moral policing' after they rounded up and harassed 13 consenting couples from a hotel near Aksa beach in Mumbai
True Indian scenes most often lie on less travelled routes, along roads that have fallen off the map, after modern highways have come up. On the fourth leg of their 2,148 km journey, Rediff.com's Archana Masih and photographer Rajesh Karkera discover one such forgotten place in the Thar Desert.
Set aside a few minutes from your busy schedule and try these postures.
By jettisoning the seniority principle, the government has sent a strong signal that only merit and suitability will count in occupying posts in the higher echelons of the military, writes national security expert Nitin Gokhale.
Suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed, convicted in the 2008 Batla House encounter case, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday by a Delhi court for killing decorated police officer M C Sharma and injuring two other cops.
'Whether Kashmir or anywhere else, whether in peace or in war, pay commissions or no pay commissions, hollowness and shortages notwithstanding, the Indian Army -- and Sekin Fif -- will always be there to keep India together.'
'He was unlike anyone else I had met until then or ever since.' Lt Gen Ashok Joshi (retd) remembers one of India's most famous soldiers who passed away on Sunday.
50 years after the 1965 War, India still thinks we can have a 'limited war' when our opponent has time and again shown it does not believe in a limited war, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Perhaps the finest example is from the current avalanche itself.' 'The Commanding Officer of 19 Madras (the affected unit) is Colonel Um Bahadur Gurung, a Gurkha who joined the Madras Regiment.' 'He inspired this recovery operation at 19,500 feet, a unique feat by itself.' 'He knew that if it was delayed the chances of finding the mortal remains in the Saltoro's ice would be impossible.' 'He did not pass orders from his base at Kumar (15,000 feet) or gave directions; he simply went there himself, inspiring the multitude that followed.' Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), who has served on the Siachen Glacier, salutes the incomparable spirit of the Indian Army.
The Light Combat Helicopter is heavily armoured to protect its two pilots from enemy fire, and has a 'stealthy' fuselage that is hard to detect with radar. Ajai Shukla reports
'David Dhawan did not stand by me during my bad phase. When a person thinks that you are not competent enough to do his film or work with him, one should not ask for work from that person.' Govinda vents out against the director.
When Rediff.com's Archana Masih and Rajesh Karkera set course from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, they could not think of a better place to begin their journey than the stately campus that has given India some of its greatest military heroes.
