Donald Trump's new CIA pick hasn't been greeted with the avalanche of media gush that inevitably follows a woman who becomes the first among her gender to get a top job.
In a time of crisis like this, a government needs its people and politics united. A nation of India's size and diversity can't fight a stronger rival with fraying social cohesion, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'The theme of death seems to be a theme about which many of us, raised in Western societies, have almost completely removed from consciousness; it represents a theme that is suddenly and forcefully resurging now.' 'And for some, this is scary and destabilising.'
'Votes-for-notes no longer only means cash and goodies for fence-sitting voters,' points out Sunil Sethi.
'Don't forget the BJP in the last election almost doubled its vote.' 'Even if they were not traditional BJP supporters, they were convinced about Mr Modi.' 'If the voter perceives that Mr Modi has performed well and he reinforces it, they will vote for him.' 'Otherwise, they won't.'
'In a world where the corridors of power are packed with sexually promiscuous men, it would be interesting to see what sort of a president a man committed to one woman 25 years his senior would make.'
Four decades of federal evolution made India more secure, but coronavirus is reversing that. Modi's central government has tasted power again and is unlikely to give it up, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'All this talk of 'tactical nuclear weapons' or a limited nuclear war are 'false flags'! It looks like India and Pakistan are slowly but surely inching towards this realism,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
They warned that Islamabad wants to send a 'strong message' to India against isolating it on the world stage.
Adam Purinton, the shooter who is a navy veteran, later told a bartender in Clinton, Missouri, where he was hiding that he had killed two Middle Eastern persons.
'If the school of bluffers includes those who get to the top not from deep knowledge but from delivering 'a clever quip or a leftfield surprise argument', then Modi is the undisputed Bluffocrat Emeritus,' says Sunil Sethi.
Here are 8 factors to watch out for, says psephologist Yogendra Yadav.
Girls in the Kashmir valley hurling defiance at the security forces will detract from the legitimacy of India's response and its standing in the world, says Ajai Shukla.
'It seems likely that the February 2019 crisis is over.'
Christopher Wylie deposed before the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee amid an escalating row around alleged Facebook data breaches linked with the controversial UK-based company, which has also been linked with alleged attempts to influence elections in India.
Five inspiring women who travelled thousands of miles to Hyderabad recently to grow their business and skills share their tales of global entrepreneurship. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel listened in.
Overseas education consultant NNS Chandra has answers to all your queries related to pursuing an education abroad.
'15, 17 years back we were not even in existence in the US. Today nearly 1/3 of prescriptions written comes from India.' 'India is showing that in a very competitive environment -- like the US and Europe -- our industry is doing very well.'
'The macro-economic stresses -- high interest rates, rupee depreciation and capital flows -- have receded now.' 'Interest rates have come down, inflation is down and the rupee has bounced back.' 'If oil prices continue at this level, there will be no vulnerability.' 'Growth is a different story.'
Substantial gains can still be made with good policies and initiatives.
'There are thousand ways to pressure Pakistan to make it behave.' 'Going to the ICJ was the worst possible option,' says Colonel Anil A Athale.
Nikita Puri lists the best shows and films to watch online as you ace social distancing.
US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, newly elected co-chair of the influential Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, discusses her vision for US-India ties with Rediff.com's Monali Sarkar.
Times without count we have bought more complex procedures in the name of simplification, says Shreekant Sambrani.
With Jaitley preferring continuity over change, good days might take a little longer to arrive, says Shankar Acharya.
Mihir S Sharma on the false opposition being created between 'governance' and 'vote bank politics'.
30 years ago, after India sent in troops to resolve a crisis in the Maldives, Ambassador B S Prakash was part of an Indian government team assigned to the islands to help the then president. This is what he discovered. A Must Read!
The action against the Lucknow passport officer was a hasty reckless decision taken by an establishment playing to the gallery to appease the pseudo-secular elite of the country, the Lutyens Delhi lobby intent on discrediting the Hindu identity, and an action that blatantly violated the basic tenets of justice, argues Vivek Gumaste.
The Russians had appealed their exclusion from the Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the doping scandal from the 2014 Sochi Games.
'For the last 10 years the Congress made the RSS an idea of intolerance, anti-minority, especially anti-Muslim, and an idea of fascism.' 'That has been demolished now by Pranab Mukherjee.'
'I was actually appointed captain for the West Indies tour (in 1971).' 'But Mr Vijay Merchant (the then chairman of the selectors) didn't like me nor did he like 'Tiger' Pataudi. He thought we were far too flamboyant.' 'He made Ajit Wadekar captain.'
'I say Modi was India's last chance.' 'Because the kind of work this government has done -- I'm talking about physical delivery -- is fantastic, like no time in our history.'
Weekly digest of the craziest stories from around the world.
'Is Xi's China stable?'
'No one can say whether the regime will fall all at once or if its leaders are devising a new solid and competitive -- anything but democratic -- model.' A fascinating excerpt from Francois Bougon's Inside The Mind of Xi Jinping.
Can Sidharth Malhotra and Sonakshi Sinha bring back the magic created by Rajesh Khanna and Nanda in the 1969 original?
'One can be sure that General Rawat will have all-round support and that the Indian Army will have a strong chief,' says Rear Admiral Sudarshan Shrikhande (retd).
Even as the United States snuggles closer to India with the thinly veiled objective of containing China, the Indian strategy is to avoid alienating either nation.
With wages rapidly rising in China, all is still not lost. Wage costs in India are significantly lower and this fact could still help us turn the tide in our favour.
India comes under attack over religious intolerance, human trafficking and slavery at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
'... not even a moral one, let alone a legal one.' 'Even if it is assumed that Deepak Kochhar tried to influence his wife into doing something dodgy for his 'social acquaintance', why would she do it?' 'By all accounts she has been granted share options in ICICI Bank of a very substantial amount which easily makes her a multi billion-pati.' 'She did not become CEO against some stiff competition by being stupid and concocting devious cock-and-bull renewable energy stories.' S Murlidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas, unravels the Deepak Kochhar-Videocon controversy.
