Lawmakers were not going to be in town on that particular day, and would be in their constituencies preparing for the mid-term elections in November. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports
'When it comes to India-Pakistan relations, seminal moments of progress invariably bring out saboteurs of peace -- whether we're talking about fresh provocations along the LoC, or even a terror attack in India.'
The Indian market is highly competitive, and tariffs here are amongst the lowest in the world.
The known unknowns in Prime Minister Modi's Saudi visit assume great significance, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The reason I call Dadri a landmark turning point in our politics is the relatively muted response of the self-styled secular forces.' 'Top leaders of the Congress haven't even taken a padyatra to the village, just a 40 minute drive from Delhi. Lalu, Nitish, Mamata, all claimants to the secular vote, are afraid of messing with an issue involving the cow.' 'Holiness of the cow has now become as multi-partisan an issue as hostility to Pakistan,' says Shekhar Gupta.
BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that if the party comes to power in the next general election, its foreign policy wouldn't be much different from that of the Congress government. Aziz Haniffa in Washington
'Such kind of mythology-based talks do not in any way contribute to science'. 'My biggest concern is these things will (eventually) become part of school curriculum (in India), and that is completely unacceptable.' Ramprasad Gandhiraman, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Centre in California, has launched a petition demanding that a lecture on Ancient Indian Aviation Technology to be delivered at the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai be scrapped. Ritu Jha/Rediff.com reports.
The US intends to break up India's strategic partnership with Russia and to continue to interfere in Indian-Iranian relations, apart from inserting itself into the Sino-Indian bilateral discourse, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, analysing the US defence secretary's visit to India.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a dangerous phenomenon, but the terrorist organisation can not be defeated by air strikes alone, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said.
Rakhi Sawant is as uncensored as they come.
The greatest progress on civil rights in the United States since Abraham Lincoln was under the Southern Democrat Lyndon Johnson, the past master of wheeling and dealing in Congress.
The United States of America sought Pakistan's help in 1998 to prevent Osama bin Laden from launching an Al Qaeda attack against it, with then President Bill Clinton asking Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to personally use his influence to prevail over the Taliban in averting the imminent strike.
'Progress demands regular senior-level attention from American leaders.' 'A leaders' summit is great, but we need sustained engagement to continue to forge new agreements and find new areas of cooperation.'
'I had some disagreements with the channel. The differences were such that we had to part but it was nothing controversial. Krushna is an artist, what issues will I have with him?' Kapil Sharma tells us his side of the story.
'Our approach to India is no different from the approach that we have made in India over the years, recognising its non-aligned status. That's their decision; we're not trying to change that. We have common interests, and we have actually built on those common interests... We think there's more potential to build on those common interests.' 'Security, stability, freedom of sea lanes, economic development, energy, all those are certainly in the interest of India and the region, as they are to the United States.' The transcript of US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel's interaction with reporters travelling with him hours before he landed in New Delhi on Friday on a three-day visit to India.
62 mass murders carried out with firearms across 30 US states. Of these, 12 were in schools, 19 at workplaces, the other 31 cases took place in shopping malls, restaurants, government buildings and military bases. The average age of the killers was 35, with the youngest only 11 years old. B S Raghavan on how the killings will continue until America confronts the urgent need for gun control.
'Just how strong were the ties between the world's largest and oldest democracies that an incident involving a diplomat and a maid led to anger threatening the relationship itself? Or had the relationship been weakening in the past few years, masked by the empty symbolism of State dinners, asks Devesh Kapur.
Two years into power, there is very little to show for the Modi government by way of 'achievements' on the foreign policy front, and his China, Pakistan policies are gasping for breath, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The boy has remained so simple. Still wearing that sweater and light pants. He doesn't even have a decent pair of shoes! So much like one of us! How can we not give him another chance?' 'And what is Modi Sir doing? He changes clothes three times a day and wears designer clothes. He isn't the son of a simple chaiwallah we voted for.'
Vir Das' commencement address to graduates of Knox College is the best advice you'll read today.
'Modi's victory is his own victory. Now what he has done thereafter, it seems to me, leads us to believe that he was a bit too prolific with his promises.' 'One achievement of Modi's I will praise is that he has put the fear of God among his ministers and officials.' 'Indira Gandhi's sentiment of controlling everything, centralising power in to her hands is the quality that persists in Modi' Veteran journalist Inder Malhotra casts his experienced gaze on one year of the Modi Sarkar.
A reformed Planning Commission should reflect the diversity of Indian debate.
In his penultimate State of the Union address, Barack Obama said that the economy is improving.
'There appears to be in the Indian polity a link between being Single and being of prime ministerial timber. It is a trend, a preponderance -- not a statistical verity,' says Dr Shashi K Pande.
'Diplomatic engagement will continue even as India keeps all its options open with respect to discretely targeting the Pakistani military and its terrorist proxies.'
'When he first came to office, my belief is that the PM's reading of the landscape was that, with a vanquished Congress and fragmented Opposition, he was looking at least at two terms in office. This reading perhaps allows for a more cautious, gradual approach.' 'It was only a matter of time before the government was forced to come face-to-face with a serious corruption scandal. This is not a commentary on the BJP, but a statement about India's political economy.' 'There is growing concern about the government's commitment to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and an independent civil society. Thus far, the positive movement on strategic and economic matters has crowded out these concerns, but they are lingering beneath the surface.'
'Will 'Make in India' be able to harness the demographic dividend so it does not become a disaster?' 'Will 'Digital India' live up to the lofty promises the government and private sector made as part of its recent launch?'
India comes under attack over religious intolerance, human trafficking and slavery at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
It is not in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a clear majority, but the Rajya Sabha that the Opposition has ganged up to checkmate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plans.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has to deal with 3 powerful enemies: the media, the political establishment, and business houses.
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