The improved outlook on the Government of India announced by rating agency Moody's might need to be viewed with some scepticism. There is no doubt the performance of the Indian economy has sharply improved from the deep trough it hit last year. But the ability of the second largest global ratings agency to assess an upside and downside before events make everyone wise about India has been dismal for a long time, as the chart shows.
Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
An interesting contest is on in Malkajgiri, the biggest Lok Sabha constituency in the country.
Several Congress leaders interpreted it as a dig at Prime Minister Modi who is yet to address a single press conference in his 54-month tenure.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, actor Pawan Kalyan and I will come together to get 111 seats in Andhra Pradesh, says Narendra Modi in Hyderabad. Vicky Nanjappa report
Continue to invest normally unless prices fall drastically in April-May. If prices do fall drastically, invest more than normal, advises Devangshu Datta.
'This is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved by law alone.' 'This can be resolved only by creating trust again.' 'So much bloodletting has taken place, there is no point in going on and on.' 'Let us sit together and negotiate'
'If the blatant criminal act of destroying a place of worship is to be rewarded by giving the whole land to those who committed that act, then it raises lots of questions.'
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu had begun seeing Governor Ravi's decisions and actions as a part of the state BJP's non-stop criticism of its government and directed from Delhi, a view strengthened by the governor's decision to return the NEET exemption bill, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha did not agree to the submissions of senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Amit Desai, counsel for Tejpal, that the proceedings be held in private to safeguard the reputation and privacy of the journalist.
The Income Tax department has issued notice to a firm owned by Robert Vadra as part of its probe to understand the "financial structure" of the company and real estate projects undertaken by it.
Every time we look at the Congress, its future, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, we find the situation more hopeless than even a few months earlier, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The 72-year-old master strategist ensured that the Congress's internal conflict ended and took on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- the state's longest ever serving chief minister.
Pranab recalled how she once stormed out of a meeting, leaving him feeling "humiliated and insulted".
Till such time that a new governance framework comes into being, the progress of reforms in health, education, land, labour, electricity and agriculture could remain fraught with problems, agitations and delays, observes A K Bhattacharya.
The Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhavan sex scandal and the paternity suit a love child filed against Tiwari dogged him in his 80s.
It is a timely reminder that when faced with twin threats, India has succeeded by wisely choosing allies, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Congress is being increasingly seen to be standing with Pakistan as Tharoor's statement was not an isolated incident'
She faced off against former disciple-turned-defector Suvendu Adhikari in a very different contest. It's not land acquisition, but an ego clash that has acquired, tragically, communal overtones, explains Kanika Datta.
A slow and ineffective response to allegations of scams under the erstwhile United Progressive Alliace government strengthened anti-Congress impressions in the minds of voters, which resulted in the party's poor show in the Lok Sabha polls, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
'Government shouldn't be in the business of running airlines, instead it should develop the ecosystem of civil aviation.'
'It was more than ego.' 'It carried with it a sincere belief that he was the quintessence of the country, that the country's destiny was irrevocably intertwined with his destiny.' An excerpt from T J S George's The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits.
Reacting to the criticism, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said the government could not initially allot space at the Marina beach for burying the DMK leader due to pending cases against construction of memorials on the famous sands.
'Wisdom demands Modi moves to restore the critical institutions of the State and dial back on the cult building around his persona,' say Sonali Ranade and Shealja Sharma.
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
The Padma Bhushan was conferred on 17 personalities including N Chandrasekharan, chairman of Tata Sons, Krishna and Suchita Ella of Bharat Biotech, Cyrus Poonawalla, Satya Nadella, chairman of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai, chairman of Google.
In a communication sent to Kumar, the EC asked him to be cautious in future while making statements.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar kicked up a storm with his allegation that some former prime ministers had "compromised" the country's "deep assets", triggering a demand by Congress that he give evidence or tender a public apology.
'Narendra Modi could be too old to change his personality. On the other hand, his attachment to the RSS could be mostly sentimental. So one must hope that if he becomes prime minister, he is able to detach himself from the RSS view of the world as completely as Narasimha Rao detached himself from the Congress's First Family.' 'India cannot be governed by the autocratic methods by which he has governed Gujarat. If he becomes prime minister he will have to learn to speak in a more civil language about his political opponents,' historian Ramachandra Guha tells Arthur J Pais/Rediff.com
India's most powerful prime minister in five decades gets publicly admonished -- if gently -- by the US vice-president. The question is, would this make him reflect on how and why, or which ones of his government and party's missteps exposed his flank like this? asks Shekhar Gupta.
That is what you will hear again after Nirmala Sitharaman presents a speech that will prove to be meaningless and numbers that will show themselves to be wildly off the mark, observes Aakar Patel.
'We will be hoisting the tiranga, but this kind of celebration is uncalled for when the farmers in this country are dying by suicides, their families are ravaged by poverty and farmers are not enjoying any freedom.'
The controversial interaction took place on Thursday when Rahul began taking questions from the audience.
By pegging the exact area of the Babri Masjid site at 0.313 acres, and not the original 2.77 acres, the government hopes to be in line with the court ruling in the 1994 Ismail Faruqui case which mentions return of land to original claimants once the exact area needed for acquisition is determined, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
If and when India and Pakistan bilateral talks take place any issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir will not be on the table. Any future talks with Pakistan will be only about PoK, tactically or otherwise.
'When a Project Director is appointed, the whole organization -- including the Chairman ISRO -- works for his success. It is a lesson that has been of abiding value all through the other projects I have worked on,' recalls the late President, one of the earliest pioneers at ISRO.
Applying balm on the wounds of the two religious groups is a better course of action for the rulers. Common sense dictates the verdict be accepted in good grace by all sides, suggests Virendra Kapoor.
No government can 'ignore inclusiveness in a democracy', Montek Singh Ahluwalia tells Anjuli Bhargava.
With the fall of Congress, Chidambaram's political graph too started moving southwards.
It's seen as a signal that he wants to engage with India Inc at a time when the economy has started looking up.
