Two years is when the honeymoon surely starts to sour, so what should Prime Minister Narendra Modi focus on ahead of 2019? Devanik Saha offers some ideas.
Director Jayant Gilatar's sloppy 'tribute' never ever develops into anything noteworthy, writes Sukanya Verma
The Congress kept sheltering Quattrochi, and the BJP was more intent on shielding the Hinduja brothers. The fact is that the two roads crisscrossed, and neither the truth prevailed nor did the law take its course, says Mohan Guruswamy.
Ambitious diplomats continue to be attracted to politics but do they make good politicians, asks Jyoti Malhotra
The winter session of Parliament is set to be stormy with Opposition parties closing ranks to target the government on issues including 'intolerance' even as the ruling dispensation expressed its readiness to discuss all issues.
BJP gives only 7 per cent instead of promised 33 per cent representation to women in its national executive
'Modi has lost a great opportunity to show himself to be a leader, mentor and path-setter, capable of rising above narrow party interests,', says B S Raghavan, the distringuished civil servant.
Growing foreign travel is one sign of the radical change in rising India's vacation dynamic.
Delhi, which has gained infamy as one of the world's most polluted cities, has for some years now witnessed a sustained campaign from various quarters seeking a ban on firecrackers. While the Centre launched the newly approved, eco-friendly firecrackers earlier this month as a "safer and cheaper" alternative, the mood in the market is tepid, says Ritwik Sharma.
According to convention, Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi should be named as General Dalbir Singh Suhag's successor as army chief
Indian golfer Shiv Kapur collapsed in the final round and signed a disappointing card of three-over 73 to finish tied 12th after being in a position of contention at the $1.3 million Hong Kong Open in Hong Kong on Sunday.
For three days, no business has been transacted in the Rajya Sabha with the Opposition digging in its heels.
UP now has 16 ministers, the maximum from any state, in an apparent bid to keep the Dalit and other backward class votebank content.
'Amid the frequent cries that the defence budget falls short of what is needed, we tend to ignore the reality that any enhancement in the allocation is just not possible, and the armed forces have no option but to operate within this constraint.' 'So, unless deadwood -- especially manpower -- is identified and eliminated, we simply cannot have a modern military of the type that India needs,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Indian golfer Shiv Kapur found the going tough as he returned with eight bogeys and two birdies in the second round but still is set to make the cut in the 142nd Open Championships in Muirfield, Scotland, on Friday. Kapur returned for a six-over 77 in the second round, and at three-over for two rounds he is expected to stay for the weekend.
'What will work is not fear of the law, but of real and swift prosecution under the law.' 'That can now be a possibility thanks to the Supreme Court judgment.'
'You've got to be a doer to be re-elected.' 'You don't have to be a great communicator or an orator any more because voters want to see action and development on the ground.' 'And they want a doer rather than just an orator.'
'Modi deliberately chose such unhinged people because they said what he wanted to, but couldn't,' says Aakar Patel.
Political observers say Banerjee is fast emerging as the face of the Opposition and would be a force to reckon with in the next general elections in 2019.
Angry Congress members staged a walkout during Modi's address.
'The emphasis is on nationalism, which the party apparently feels will have greater resonance than one on religious identity which may have lost some of its appeal in recent years.'
''At this stage we are closer to military confrontation than at any time since 1971.' 'Given the known positions of the two governments, it will not be surprising if this happens sooner rather than later,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
The new season looks super dreary, warns Sukanya Verma.
Facing the threat of censure motion in Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee on Wednesday expressed regrets over his objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over which BJP had strongly protested.
The PM hailed the armed forces in context of Kargil Vijay Divas and paid tributes to the fallen heroes.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his Cabinet and inducted 21 new ministers. Of these, 4 - Manohar Parrikar, JP Nadda, Suresh Prabhu and Birender Singh were appointed as Cabinet ministers. Other than this, Modi has inducted 17 other ministers of state. Here's a quick look at them:
Empowered in the Modi government, junior ministers have enough on their plate.
'When you start delving deeper into these disappearances, you have to face the question: Was it a policy at the State level?' 'It surely couldn't have been random officers acting on their own.' 'Was it planned? What does it mean if the State allows its police to become lawless and act with impunity?' 'Perhaps the NHRC, for the 21 years that it has been seized of the matter, avoided these questions.'
'That's the beauty of Naveen.' 'His intermittent support to the NDA and Modi confuses BJP workers in Odisha.' 'It gives an impression that Naveen has a tacit understanding with the NDA and that the BJP will not really challenge him wholeheartedly.'
Despite holding 281 seats in the Lok Sabha, the BJP-led government has promulgated as many as six ordinances to pass legislation
'The failure to remember the martyrs on a grand scale is a national problem. As a nation-State, India time and again fails to honour its true heroes: The men in uniform.'
'I want to assure the country that no country, no government can tolerate anybody taking the law into their hands, whether it is an individual or a group.'
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's call for a Federal Front as a "ploy" to increase her bargaining power with Congress and BJP before the 2014 polls, the Left parties feel it cannot be successful without a common minimum programme.
This theory of 'Hindus vs the rest' sees the two communities as two separate blocs. Isn't that the two-nation theory? What of the deep bonds that the communities have on the ground? asks Jyoti Punwani.
Here are highlights of the 68th Republic Day parade.
'We are doing away with human interface in metering, billing, and collection.' 'That in itself will bring down losses by 50 to 60 per cent.'
'In the 30 years since the Ayodhya movement began, the RSS has created a generation of Hindus who are the mirror image of those fanatic Muslims who take to the streets at the slightest, even imagined, 'insult to Islam,' argues Jyoti Punwani.
The film, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, is a satirical take on godmen and superstitions.
'Am I wrong in presuming that UP is being seen as a new laboratory of communal politics like one has seen in Gujarat,' asks Ashutosh.
