Hurling petrol bombs and stones, Gorkhaland supporters on Thursday fought pitched battles with police, who broke up protests, bursting teargas shells and baton-charging violent crowds, plunging Darjeeling hills into deeper turmoil.
The Union Health ministry put the number of positive cases at 82, eight more since Thursday night, which includes the woman and a 76-year-old man from Karnataka who became the country's first coronavirus fatality besides 17 foreign nationals, Health Ministry officials said.
Only he, with his tremendous political capital and personal stature, can pull it off, observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
The beauty of the relationship between the two countries is that they agree to disagree and perhaps that is the strongest bond between the two governments and their relationships, notes Rup Narayan Das.
'Collateral damage during operations needs to be avoided.' 'Such an objective can be achieved more easily should stone throwers not gear up to en masse oppose security forces.' 'With the conditions being quite sensitive at this stage, the death of one of these boys could easily serve the terrorists in instigating violence,' notes Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Ten trade unions with a combined membership of 15 crore workers in public and private sector, including banks and insurance companies, are on a nationwide strike to protest against changes in the labour laws.
On display was India's military might and cultural diversity.
In heart-wrenching scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, coffins of soldiers arrived in several states for the last rites with full military honours.
'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'
India is currently under the 21-day lockdown since March 25, with only essential services exempted to contain the fast-spreading virus.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also asked the RBI to make public details of FDI inflows from Cayman islands since demonetisation.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to China with a bagful of initiatives, but not all seems to have been fulfilled given China's reluctance to go the whole hog with him
It took a lockdown for us in India to even recognise that the plight of migrants needs to be addressed. They were faceless and unrecognised. They were unappreciated and even hounded. They were poorly paid and exploited, notes Ramesh Menon.
The new minister must commit himself to supporting long-term defence plans or else defence modernisation will continue to lag and the growing military capabilities gap with China will assume ominous proportions, warns Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Ushering in a new era of movie watching, the Union government allowed multiplexes, cinema halls and theatres to reopen from Thursday within the framework of a set of standard operating procedures.
Wang Qi, 77, was received by his close Chinese relatives, besides officials of the China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Indian embassy when he arrived in Beijing along with his son, daughter-in-law and grand daughter from Delhi-Beijing flight.
'Like Nehru, too, Modi has found dealing with Beijing more and more difficult and has adopted an increasingly assertive approach towards managing India's northern neighbour.'
Iran's decision to keep India out and welcome China to the scene is a huge strategic setback for India, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
As the MAMI film festival kicks off, Aseem Chhabra picks the must watch Indian movies.
'The separatist resurgence in Balochistan is thwarting Pakistan's plans to build CPEC projects to optimally utilise Balochistan's energy reserves,' points out Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'Those who thought they are above law and above courts of the country are now approaching courts praying bail; some people have already gone inside (jail) which is their rightful place.'
By becoming the first woman ever to contest a Lok Sabha election in Mizoram, Lalthlamuani has already made history.
BJP strategists need to remember even at this late hour that 'negativism' sells when you are in the Opposition as the Indian voter has mostly voted anti-incumbency, and not when you are in power. You still needed to highlight your achievements and promises, and let the voter draw his conclusions, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
China's white paper on Asia-Pacific security cooperation extends an olive branch to India. It mentions India 15 times -- a record in all Chinese white papers issued so far. New Delhi's response will need to be carefully calibrated, says China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
Hollande will be arriving in Chandigarh on January 24 where he is expected to be received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was merely responding to the changing currents in the region, which, unfortunately, are not favourable to the Palestinians, says P R Kumaraswamy.
'China's growing nexus with Pakistan and the two countries' unresolved territorial disputes with India continue to pose a formidable national security threat to India,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'The BJP is taking a risk in Assam, but it may face a tough time in coming times,' says Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty.
The opposition has been critical of the Centre's handling of the situation, accusing it of not doing enough to ease the hardships of the migrant workers, many of whom have lost their jobs during the lockdown which started on March 25.
It is a dark legacy bequeathed by Nehru to India. In its DNA lies the subconscious fount of India's schizophrenic geopolitics that forsook in one sweep all its historically-entrenched strategic interests in Tibet in favour of China, says R N Ravi, on the 60th anniversary of the Panchsheel Agreement.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
'At this point, neither the army or the IAF has that immediate, punitive deterrent power against Pakistan.' 'Forget a three-week war; on the LoC, where the action is, Pakistan has until now fielded better infantry weapons, body armour, sniper rifles, and matching artillery' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Beijing is comfortable with Hasina's pragmatism -- perceived as 'pro-India', but staying out of Indian orbit and receptive to forging close ties with China and yet, siding with neither neighbour,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The two countries also decided to expand trade and commercial ties holding that there are opportunities to exploit untapped economic potential in the two countries.
India along with major world economies is participating in the first-ever global meeting being held here to discuss and evolve mechanisms to combat the clandestine and largely undetected terrorist financing network of the Islamic State terror group.
'Agreements signed between the Maldives and China have seriously worried India.'
'Over the last year, Bajwa has created the environment to support bold moves on India. The ball is in India's court,' a senior Pakistan military officer tells Ajai Shukla.
There are reasons to doubt Gadkari's words.
'Notwithstanding the realisation among the Indian leadership to build up its navy for the force's expanding role, the Indian Navy was allocated only 15% of the interim defence budget presented in Parliament in February 2019.' 'The outlay for the navy's capital acquisition is not even adequate to meet its committed liabilities,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
