ACN Nambiar's life was extraordinary and intricately linked to momentous turns in history. Having lived in Europe for five decades, he was witness to and entangled with what we today -- with the benefit of hindsight -- call recent history.
'In the first elections, Hindutva forces got only 6% of the votes and won only 10 seats.' 'It was a great defeat for them.' 'They have held that grouse against Nehru since then.'
Departing from the protocol, President Pranab Mukherjee will visit the former PM's residence to confer upon him the prestigious award.
Yet another surgical strike? India's Osama bin Laden moment? A fresh demonetisation exercise? What could it possibly be?
What Shekhar Gupta would have really liked to know from Pranabda: Why did Sonia prefer Dr Singh to him as PM? Why did he deny finance first, why did he accept it 5 years later, and why did he make such a mess of it? How did he force Sonia to nominate him for President and not Hamid Ansari? And how does he justify that most toxic legacy -- the Vodafone tax amendment?
Coming down heavily on Pakistan, President Pranab Mukherjee has said unless it dismantles the terror infrastructure on its soil, there is no scope for progress in talks between the two countries.
Kamat was a Member of Parliament for the Mumbai North West constituency in 2009 and the Mumbai North East constituency in 1984, 1991, 1998 and 2004.
'Rajan epitomised the best of his generation -- veneration for knowledge, for old fashioned morality of honesty and modesty.' Economist Devaki Jain, Padma Bhushan, salutes her brother who passed into the ages last week.
'If I get posted to a place, if people engage with me just as an Indian diplomat, I have X amount of leverage.' 'But when they look at me as the high commissioner of India and the author of Slumdog Millionaire, many more people are willing to meet me, more quickly than they would as a pure diplomat.'
As someone with nostalgia for the good cheer and friendly feelings of Brazilian people, former Ambassador to Brazil B S Prakash can only hope that when they see on their TV screens their President being feted on Rajpath, they will sense India's goodwill for Brazil.
If Jammu and Kashmir comes under Governor's rule, it will be for the eighth time in four decades.
'His record will be clouded by the same negative factors as of Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, namely, their politics and therefore social policies,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'Both the governor and the President enjoy an enormous array of 'grey' powers.' 'All parties criticise these when in the Opposition. But why does no government dismantle them when these parties come to power?' asks Aditi Phadnis.
India needs 1.4 million hotel beds a night but has only 2.4 lakh, points out Rahul Pandit, MD and CEO of Ginger Hotels.
Making his debut in West Bengal in the current campaign, Bharatiya Janata Party's PM candidate Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the Left parties and the Third Front, saying they will make India a "third rate" country.
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam was admitted to a hospital in Shillong following a sudden illness on Monday.
Going by precedence, the 15th presidential election scheduled to be held on July 17 this year will see a contest, notwithstanding the frenetic political confabulations for a consensus candidate.
'In economic matters governments should not take sides based on religion and caste,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
'The Modi Model we see now is still the old Gujarat Model.' 'But with an acknowledgement that governing India is more challenging than governing Gujarat,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
The results are a ringing endorsement of Modi's popularity, his government's achievements in the last five years and his campaign, which centred around national security, nationalism and Hindutva.
Taking its baby steps towards realising India's ambition to send humans into space, Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday successfully tested the atmospheric re-entry of a crew module after its heaviest launch vehicle GSLV MK III blasted off from Sriharkota.
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
From Swachh Bharat to spearheading the Make in India campaign, the PMO seems to be at the centre of all policies, writes Nivedita Mookerji.
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive time, heading a 42-member ministry.
The Congress scion will step into his mother Sonia Gandhi's shoes as the party president next week.
Many ministries couldn't use the allocated funds since it came into force, resulting in much-needed savings.
The Supreme Court's refusal to stay execution of Yakub Memon on Wednesday drew sharp reactions from legal experts.
'Both Nehru and Patel were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other.' 'Neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi has much in them to claim such legacies.' 'They are symptomatic of the sad days that have befallen the nation midwifed and contemplated by Nehru and Patel,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
'The Modi government's greatest blunder is to exploit sensitive external relations in its domestic politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'If there is lesser number of elections, populism will naturally be restricted.' 'Decisions will be taken speedily because there won't be the spectre of adverse electoral impact of the decisions because elections will be held once in five years or maximum two times in five years.'
20 years ago this day, May 11, 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test at Pokharan in Rajasthan. In a fascinating interview on Rediff.com, K Subrahmanyam revealed how Indian PMs reacted to nuclear ambitions.
The retrospective tax decision reversing the January 2012 Supreme Court verdict in the Vodafone case has often been cited as the reason for foreign investors losing confidence in India as an investment destination.
'If the RSS should be saluted for choosing such a scholarly statesman to address its highly trained cadre, one must also praise Pranab Da's sagacity for having gracefully accepting the invitation, thus disapproving any ideological apartheid,' says former BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
The 61-year-old feisty leader, who had single-handedly wrecked the red bastion in West Bengal in 2011, was unfazed by the Left-Congress alliance ahead of the assembly polls.
'The central learning of the day was that if the BJP leadership can cajole, coax and convince regional parties to vote for bills, it would not be a stretch to see the same votes cast in favour of the land bill,' a senior Congress leader from a northern state told Rediff.com
'The purported jitters of the ministers under Modi, the intriguing part is that the stories churned out by the rumour mill have not so far been denied. For aught I know, they may not be true. Or, if true, all that Modi intended was to subject his ministers to a process of grooming to ensure that all of them adhere to a uniform code of propriety, discernment and credibility,' says the distinguished civil servant B S Raghavan.
The need for co-ordinated policy between Centre and states was likewise foreseen and assigned.
In this May 2014 interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com, the politically conscious Karnad spoke of why he is concerned about Modi coming to power.
