She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the highest civilian awards from 13 countries, including six with predominantly Muslim population.
India comes under attack over religious intolerance, human trafficking and slavery at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
B'desh minister termed as "untrue" the allegations of minority repression in the country.
'I do hope the Patel family sues the hell out of the state of Alabama, and I hope the Hindu American Foundation and other community organisations are helping with legal aid and monetary support. For, there is reason to believe that it is religious and racial bias that led to the incident: In other words, a hate crime. There is no reason to suffer that silently.'
Bharatiya Janata Party Vinay Katiyar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had a heated argument.
The EU ambassador to India hoped the principle of equality will be upheld in the CAB. He also said that Pak must take action against terror groups.
'The feeling is growing that if India slips in the realms of liberal tenets, it will be a tragedy not only for the country, but also for the world because it will lose a remarkable role model,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
It is a difficult problem and will require the Union, state governments and civil society, meaning NGOs, to work together, points out Aakar Patel.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
The letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa reports
The Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed a resolution requesting the Centre to take strict action against BBC for tarnishing the image and popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with its documentary on the 2002 riots in the state.
'What was predictable, but entirely missed by Modi's strident critics, is that the excessive and intemperate demonisation of Modi allowed him to assume his own metaphor -- the underdog, the martyr, the marginalised,' says Dr Aseem Shukla.
No nation is fully sovereign to do what it wants to do in the face of opposition from others, points out Aakar Patel.
'He needs to control his foot soldiers by taking either stern action against the over enthusiastic members of his group or convince them to stop causing him this embarrassment.' 'We know that most of these leaders are not going to be prosecuted by Indian authorities. So we are seeking alternate means to bring them to justice,' FIACONA President John Prabhudoss tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
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The Mahatma's descendants differ over Modi and the BJP victory... US-based Coalition Against Genocide vows to oppose Modi... Only Hindu US Congresswoman congratulates Modi... George Joseph/Rediff.com reports from New York.
Xi arrived at the Nyingchi Mainling Airport on Wednesday and was warmly welcomed by local people and officials of various ethnic groups, Xinhua news agency reported.
'... while leaving the dirty work he orders to his subordinates.'
The West has always preferred a timid, half intelligent and a dependent India rather than a decisively independent and self-reliant one. A pliable Indian leadership suits the West best, says Tarun Vijay.
The foreign minister said he has other engagements in Bangladesh while the home minister cancelled the visit due to ongoing protests against CAB.
'Whom do I want to marry and what decisions I make for marrying the person I love are totally personal decisions, in which neither the State nor the courts have any right to interfere.'
'Non-separation of religion from politics is India's most daunting challenge'
A cartoon of Lord Ganesha depicting the tussle between the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Cricket South Africa has outraged South Africa's Hindu community, which termed it a denigration of their faith.
'Many sepoys fought with distinction, winning some of the first Victoria Crosses to be awarded to Indians; and indeed, as in any army fighting under such inhumane conditions -- standing in the freezing sludge, with shrapnel tearing through bodies and being subjected to gas attacks -- some buckled under pressure.'
President Maithripala Sirisena's new Cabinet was also sworn in and Rajapaksa was named the new minister of finance and economic affairs.
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pakistan's 'approach is one of getting even, an eye for an eye, or death by a thousand cuts.' 'The entire effort is to be the equal of India. Unfortunately, the reality is that this can never be the case.' 'India will always be the bigger, economically stronger, technologically more self-reliant country.' 'Therein, lies the dilemma Pakistan faces which leads it to perennial enmity with India,' notes Ambassador Gautam Bambawale in the Air Marshal Y V Malse Memorial Lecture 2019.
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'His contributions in setting up transparent precedents of governance are still basically intact despite the cynicism of several of his successors,' notes Jamini Bhagwati.
He, obviously, later said that his remarks had been interpreted out of context.
Seven persons had been arrested in connection with the blasts.
'Having a voice at the table means the other side has to show up to listen. It became clear that wouldn't happen,' says actor Maulik Pancholy, one of the 10 members who resigned from the US president's advisory commission on Asian Americans.
While Congress criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for being "insensitive", saying yoga, a great discipline of ancient India, does not belong to the saffron party, Janata Dal-United termed it as yet another attempt to "impose the communal agenda" on Indian masses.
Shastri took the first big step to transform India's agriculture, the benefits of which his successors reaped in plenty, says A K Bhattacharya.
The President talked about demonetisation, electoral reforms and disruptions in Parliament.
'We need to be in a perpetual state of aggression, and able to swiftly change the goal posts to keep Pakistan in a state of imbalance,' argues Sanjeev Nayyar.
'For a long time Pakistan dreamt that India would break up and that it would be the predominant power in the region,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'When you see Modi standing there at the G20, or in New York or at the United Nations, amongst all the leaders, he stands out in the crowd.' 'He looks different, he sounds different, and he has something about his quality of presentation, his oratorical skills, which clearly set him apart from the crowd.' 'The relationship between Modi and the rest of the world and India and the rest of the world has been reset as a result of the election in 2014.'
'When he first came to office, my belief is that the PM's reading of the landscape was that, with a vanquished Congress and fragmented Opposition, he was looking at least at two terms in office. This reading perhaps allows for a more cautious, gradual approach.' 'It was only a matter of time before the government was forced to come face-to-face with a serious corruption scandal. This is not a commentary on the BJP, but a statement about India's political economy.' 'There is growing concern about the government's commitment to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and an independent civil society. Thus far, the positive movement on strategic and economic matters has crowded out these concerns, but they are lingering beneath the surface.'
Muzzling NGOs is unbecoming of a democracy. Self-confident democracies encourage, indeed applaud, the involvement of citizens' associations, including NGOs, in social and political decision-making and development planning. Instead, our paranoid government bullies and terrorises them, says Praful Bidwai.
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