'In the hands of a majoritarian government, with utter contempt for the cultural plurality and diversity of our great nation, the pipe dream of making Hindi the sole official language takes on nightmarish proportions.'
Sops for middle class, poor and farmers on cards.
Israelis began voting on Tuesday in a general election following a high-pitched campaign
'It is possible that Akhilesh has set his sights on 2022.' 'By then, his present day enemies will be more or less a spent force while he himself will still have a clean image and, at 49, will be regarded as young.'
'... and committed.' 'Priyanka had so much happening in her personal life...' 'Once we started, Priyanka rose to it.'
'Growing up in Karnataka, in middle-class and forward-caste background, Ambedkar did not enter our consciousness at all, I realised.' 'The 'exclusion' of sections of our society was not only physical; it was comprehensive in the sense that all aspects of their lives including the life of an exceptional intellectual and stalwart had been under-understood by people of my class, I thought,' says B S Prakash.
Sathyan Anthikad sticks to formula in Jomonte Suvisheshangal.
While Pa Ranjith proved yet again to be the salt of the earth in his land mafia film, Zoya Akhtar took a haphazard route to make something that was hardly rooted in Asia's biggest slum, feels J Jagannath.
Why the Bihar defeat can be the best thing for him as PM, but only if he has the humility to read the writing on the wall, says Shekhar Gupta.
India's rising GDP may have propelled the middle class to become richer, buy new cars, travel around the world and build assets, but it further pushed the economically disadvantaged and poor into poverty and drudgery, says Devanik Saha.
'Our passionate love for our nation as seen in our anger at slogan shouters does not extend to caring for the nation in other ways. We are one of the dirtiest people on earth and even our holiest river the Ganga can only be cleaned if the Supreme Court orders it, and even then with difficulty,' says Aakar Patel.
'In this season of inspired mean-spirited campaigning, it still seemed remarkable that we are more likely to learn civics lessons from school children than our leaders,' says Rahul Jacob.
The film is way too slow, writes Namrata Thakker.
Only 4.5 per cent of the population in the country is educated upto the level of graduate or above while a majority of 32.6 per cent population is not even educated upto the primary school level.
Paresh C Palicha recommends Anuraga Karikkinvellam.
The film's unoriginal action and the plot-within-plot structure may prove to be its downfall, warns die-hard Transformers fan Rajesh Karkera.
'We are finicky, extremely detail-oriented, authoritative and we like it like that.'
'It is the regional parties and their leaders who are the ones we have to watch.'
Sanjay Dutt's relationship with Madhuri Dixit, the break up and heartache that followed.
'Middle-level managers account for 10 per cent -- or 450,000 people -- in the IT industry in India.' 'And of these 225,000 would lose jobs over the next one decade as their work would get automated.' 'This is grim news for many reasons,' says Aakar Patel.
The ambitious Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10 crore poor families.
The UK spends about Rs 1.5 lakh per citizen. India spends Rs 260 per citizen. Of course we are a poor nation, but we are a poor nation that last year spent Rs 59,000 crore buying 36 fighter planes and this year is spending Rs 99,000 crore on a bullet train, says Aakar Patel.
Chandrakant Sompura has either planned, designed, built or renovated over a hundred temples in India and abroad.
It is this new Muslim who is not burdened by the Pakistan guilt, who is ready to fight it out for the rights enshrined under the Constitution, and who is not defensive about Muslim identity that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are out to crush, argues Mohd Asim.
Chief Justice of India Justice T S Thakur today said that "corresponding upgradation" of judiciary was a must to face the challenges of emerging social and economic scenario and observed that "unpolluted and speedy justice still remains a distant dream".
The Modi-Shah definition of secularism is, India is a confident, resurgent Hindu, and therefore secular, country.
'Who will cast me?'
'It's all about how many Instagram followers you have, which ramp you're walking on,' the actress who is sensational in Sacred Games tells Rediff.com's Ronjita V Kulkarni.
Amole Gupte strokes Sniff with a gentleness that one has now come to associate with his filmmaking (Taare Zameen Par, Stanley Ka Dabba or Hawaa Hawaai), says Sukanya Verma.
'BJP leaders might ponder the all-consuming arrogance that grips the Modi-Shah combine a year ahead of the next general election,' says Sunil Sethi.
The winds of nationalism laden with religion will now yield to those of concern over the stalled economy, unemployment, and a general malaise and unhappiness, predicts Shekhar Gupta.
The amended bill also provides for a stiff Rs 1 crore penalty and a jail term for private entities for storing Aadhaar data.
A Ganesh Nadar visits the village in Tamil Nadu that shot into national prominence in 1981 when half the Dalits there converted to Islam. He spoke to the Hindus and Muslims and came back with two very different stories.
The government's negligence towards this 'treasure house of knowledge' can be seen from the fact that monkeys roam about freely in the reading rooms, disturbing the calm of the library, as well as putting the lives of the readers in danger, writes Sajad Ahmad Dar.
Dedicated to the goddess of happiness, this beautiful tourist attraction remains spectacular in its desolation, says Geetanjali Krishna.
How much is a vote worth? In Telangana, it seems the going price for a vote in the Legislative Council elections is Rs 5 crore.
In East Delhi the biggest challenge for BJP's Gautam Gambhir, barring his opponents, is one of perception, says Thirumoy Banerjee.
When China protested strongly over the August decision on J&K -- not once but twice -- we ignored it. And to compound matters, we simply turned our back and walked over to the 'Quad' alliance with the US, upgrading it to ministerial level, and thereafter began following the American footfalls on Taiwan and COVID-19 to taunt and humiliate Beijing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'This Chinese behaviour we have not seen for a very long time.' 'This sort of build up on the border, this pattern in Chinese behaviour, and especially the aggression and brutality with which our people were attacked on the 15th of June, this is not something we have seen before.'
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