The full-court press on India over Ukraine, the BBC 'documentary', the Oxfam report, the Hindenburg attack on Adani and obliquely on the Indian economy, and any number of other acts are signs that India is a target, warns Rajeev Srinivasan.
After more than two decades and three attempts, the government has finally sold its flagship national carrier Air India, and it is deja vu for Maharaja as it returned home to its founding father the Tata group. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata founded the airline in 1932 and named it Tata Airlines. In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India, and in 1948, the Air India International was launched with flights to Europe. The international service was among the first public-private partnerships in India, with the government holding 49 per cent, the Tatas keeping 25 per cent and the public owning the rest. In 1953, Air India was nationalised and for the next over four decades it remained the prized possession for India controlling the majority of the domestic airspace.
Criticising the saffron party for "undermining democratic values" in the country, the chief minister said, "Democracy exists in Bengal but it is under threat in several other parts of the country."
Thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra reached Mumbai on Sunday evening to participate in a rally at the state capital on Monday against the Centre's three new farm laws.
Shadow of elections may overshadow political consensus at GST Council meetings.
'As a person who has seen the treasure, I am worried about its safety.'
Non-Congressism is the answer to India's current difficulties, says Dr Shambhu Shrivastava, who gives a historical perspective of non-Congress experiments in 1967, 1977, 1989 and 1998.
This divisiveness is upsetting social cohesion and can throw the bright young people thronging to Bengaluru with billion dollar ideas in their creative minds off balance, warns Shekhar Gupta.
The Shiv Sena accused Jyotiraditya Scindia of working hard to see that Pilot quits the Congress.
'Now, it feels like the darkness has descended again.'
Sudhir Bisht recalls the battle of 1984, in which UP's strongman H N Bahuguna was felled by Bollywood superstar turned political novice Amitabh Bachchan.
None of the 2,600 workers had any clue about the suspension of work notice, put up on the gate of India's oldest automobile plant last Sunday.
Two powerful US Senators have urged President Joe Biden not to impose provisions of the punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act against India for buying the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
The representatives of thousands of agitating farmers, who are sitting on various borders of the national capital since November 26 demanding repeal of the three agri laws, have said that the countrywide strike on Tuesday would be observed with full force.
Why are the poor turning Right instead of turning toward far-Left parties, ponders Pranab Bardhan.
'Goa is a tiny state, but in terms of its Business of Politics, several powerful lobbies of India are involved in it, be it the mining lobby, hoteliers' lobby, casino lobby, hawala lobby, drugs lobby etc.'
Senior freedom fighter, social worker and former Union Minister Dr Mohan Dharia passed away on Monday morning. He was 88. Dharia was a close associate of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar and was among the Young Turks of the Congress during the late 60s.
On Sunday, Rajya Sabha passed the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.
As the nation woke up to images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi splashed across the front page of newspapers by Reliance Industries to announce the launch of its 4G services, Shiv Sena's Member of Parliament from South Mumbai, Arvind Sawant, was not impressed.
'India needs to adopt a more proactive policy of triggering exports to China.'
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
Upon implementation of the 7th Pay Commission the expected yearly burden on the central exchequer will be more than Rs 100,000 crore. Central government employees will get on an average a 24 per cent pay hike. Still, the unions aren't happy.
No nation is fully sovereign to do what it wants to do in the face of opposition from others, points out Aakar Patel.
India has said that the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment free of terror and hostility.
The minister also cautioned the social media giant and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg of repercussions under the IT Act in case of any data breach came to light.
He slammed the Samajwadi Party for being sympathetic towards terrorists and claimed that the previous government headed by it had sought to withdraw cases against several terror accused as 'a return gift'.
From the Republic Day violence to Lakhimpur Kheri incident and terms such as 'toolkit' and andolanjeevi entering the Indian political lexicon, it was controversies galore during the year-long farmers' movement against the contentious agri laws.
We have our own problems for sure and they are not trivial, but for now, our economy is in not too bad a shape, our politics is as personality-driven and authoritarian as that of most countries in the world. We must make the best of what we have and not be excessively unhappy looking at the grass on the other side of the septic tank which may not be greener after all!, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
When the Centre tries to encroach upon the subjects that are under the prerogative of the state, or where the centre tries to evade from any responsibility guaranteed to a state through a constitutional provision/obligation, it poses a threat to federalism.
He maintained that the laws were for their benefit and then apologised to people of the country, adding that the government could not convince a section of farmers despite its clear heart and clean conscience.
Hitting out at the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, he said, they were "shamelessly" opposing the abrogation of Article 370.
Mark Tully on the India he loves.
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
Nationalisation has served its purpose. It's time to move ahead, keeping majority ownership of the government in a few banks to serve the people, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
George Fernandes' underground crusade against the Emergency catapulted him among the leading opposition figures.
'Is the application the Press Council's voice or the government's? 'It has been reported that other members of the PCI were taken aback at the Press Council's application. 'These members need to publicly question the chairman to redeem their own positions,' says Jyoti Punwani.
The deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Friday afternoon.
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
'Non-separation of religion from politics is India's most daunting challenge'