Gilgit Baltistan's large frontage with Kashmir and Ladakh across Kargil and the Siachen Glacier gives Pakistan and China the perceived scope for conduct of collusive operations against India and wrest control of the major course of the Indus and Shyok, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
As part of the National Democratic Alliance government's media blitzkrieg to highlight achievements made during its one-year rule, three Union ministers will participate in a 'talkathon' session today during which they will answer questions posted on Twitter.
It took a lockdown for us in India to even recognise that the plight of migrants needs to be addressed. They were faceless and unrecognised. They were unappreciated and even hounded. They were poorly paid and exploited, notes Ramesh Menon.
Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan has proclaimed his determination to set Tamil Nadu's fiscal house in order in five years, and Friday will show how he plans to go about it when he rises to present the Stalin government's maiden budget, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a nearly 25-minute televised address to the nation, Modi said implementation of the lockdown will be strictly ensured in its second phase and detailed guidelines will be brought out on Wednesday to ensure that outbreak does not spread to new areas.
'The Chinese have been moving in step by step; inch by inch for the last 40 years.'
'Fiscal purists would quarrel with the idea of selling assets to pay for current expenditure -- such as the payout to farmers and the health insurance programme -- for the obvious reason that the process cannot go on forever.' 'At some point, the list of assets available for sale will run out,' notes T N Ninan.consultations -- something already aired in connection with the lease of airports to the Adani group, says T N Ninan.
'The logical step is to challenge the very legitimacy of the Chinese claim over Tibet,' recommends Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
As a percentage of the aggregate Budget expenditure, it is 12 per cent.
'While all would agree on the need to be ready to launch cross-border strikes on terror camps, there is sharp disagreement on how best to do it.' 'Through IAF fighters, or surface-to-surface missiles?' 'Or should army Special Forces be created to do the job?' 'If air strikes are the agreed priority, additional funding must be made available for the purchase of fighters and missiles.' 'If it is to be Special Forces, the army must be facilitated in raising a Special Forces Command,' notes Ajai Shukla.
Sixteen deaths in rain and flood-related incidents have been reported from western Maharashtra in the last seven days, while the toll in Karnataka rose to five since Sunday.
8,000 asylum-seekers reach Germany in a single day amid deepening refugee crisis
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
The Centre has accorded top priority for cost-effective, pollution-free transportation modes, such as waterways, which reduce logistic costs and increase road safety. Union minister of roads, highways, ports and shipping Nitin Gadkari speaks to Sanjay Jog about the government's strategy.
Residents in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra continue to struggle as floods leave them in a watery hell.
It is expected that this meeting could possibly pave the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the US later this month.
Over 20,400 foreign nationals have been evacuated from India amid the coronavirus crisis and any decision on bringing Indians from abroad will be taken at a later stage after reviewing the situation, the government said on Friday.
The Union health ministry said West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh reported a casualty each on Monday, taking the total number of deaths to nine in the country due to COVID-19.
The capital outlay to cover the modernisation programmes have got a hike of 10.05 per cent.
Portfolios of more than half-a-dozen ministers are expected to be changed.
Two hundred years after George Stephenson built the steam-powered Blucher, Open Knowledge pays tribute to 200 years of rail transport.
He said both countries are opening new areas of cooperation in the energy sector, telecommunications and science and technology and they have set up funds to facilitate investment in high technologies.
Paris security forces will receive reinforcements to protect fan zones during Euro 2016 soccer matches held in the French capital, the city's police force said on Thursday.
Parks would cut transport cost by 10% for industries, allow freight movement on larger trucks and rail.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
From Dabur to HUL, here are 10 stocks with significant rural exposure in the auto, agri-chemical and fast moving consumer goods sectors, which should see an uptick in sales growth.
Continuing its probe into covert activities of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the National Investigation Agency has arrested a man hailing Bihar in the national capital,
Overall, the populist/ electoral elements in the budget have remained measured with the finance minister being clearly aware of a higher-than-expected rise in oil prices, less-than-planned tax revenues and the wider deficit for FY 17/18, constraining his margin of maneuver, says Claude Claude Smadja.
The new Ministers of State sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan include Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former IAS officers Alphons Kannanthanam and R K Singh, former diplomat Hardeep Puri and ex-Mumbai police chief Satyapal Singh. Two other new faces are Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, and Shiv Pratap Shukla from Uttar Pradesh.
Modi's visit to Spain will be first visit by an Indian prime minister since 1988.
Giving economic aid to Kashmir is like giving TB medicine to a patient suffering from cancer and expecting it to work, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Srikanth Kondapalli on what to expect from the seventh BRICS summit meeting to be held in Russia in July.
Of the 20 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, eight were from Maharashtra, three each from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, two from Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
"Our neighbouring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialise," he said at a function to flag off a new semi-high speed train from Delhi to Varanasi.
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
As people crisscross the country, eager to return to their homes, the cases have raced past 80,000 with at least 2,649 deaths, according to the Union health ministry on Friday. While there is no exact count, this includes a large number of those who have returned to their states.
An estimated 223 people have lost their lives since August 8 in Kerala's worst floods in decades that has caused damage worth more than Rs 20,000 crore.
