Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has been appointed as school education secretary.
'A hotline between the Chinese and Indian military establishments is essential if the possibility of conflict is to be minimised.' 'When relations are uneasy, even minor incidents can spiral out of control,' warns former senior RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
Some believe she should no longer be the face of the struggle to free Myanmar from the new military dictatorship, observes Prakash Bhandari.
The court convicted Sengar for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child.
'Who is the government to decide about my religion?' 'We are governed by the Constitution. The Constitution has given me the independence to follow my religion.'
'The humanity displayed by ordinary, lower middle class residents of north east Delhi -- Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs -- will be remembered perhaps even more than the evil wrought in the riots,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
The families of the Muslim youth from Hashimpura who were shot dead 28 years ago had some committed supporters in their long struggle for justice.
His demise marks an end of a glorious era of the Indian Air Force.
'When the clouds lift and the mists clear, when saner heads and minds sit down to parse the outcome, they will find that the Congress was not lacking in either fight or spirit,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'The military officers at China's National People's Congress reflect Xi Jinping's preference for elevating politically reliable, younger, officers with good professional qualifications,' says former RAW officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
Javadekar was at the event, where presence of his ministerial colleague V K Singh last year had drawn flak from the media, for around 20 minutes, and extended his 'best wishes' to the Pakistani people on the sidelines.
The Congress party on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministerial colleagues, latching on to the controversy surrounding newly-inducted minister of state for HRD Ram Shankar Katheria over his graduation marksheet.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf traces the trajectory of Lal Kishan Advani from the highs of the 1990s to the present, when he may have to watch the elections from the sidelines.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
'These trends put at risk not only minorities or the media or some other out-of-favour group, they can and do concern everyone,' warns T N Ninan.
An alert has been sounded by the Delhi government after the water level of Yamuna river crossed the danger mark, an official said.
'Fear is not created by those who are defending minorities and Dalits.' 'Fear is being created by the actions of political leaders like Yogi Adityanath and police forces.' 'The kind of hate statements that are being made to which there is silence from the prime minister's side.'
Arvind Kejriwal is poised to return to power with a simple majority. Even if the BJP wins 20 to 25 seats, it will be seen as a victory, says R Rajagopalan.
The top court issued notices to Union ministries of law and justice and minority affairs as well as the National Commission of Women after taking note of the plea of Delhi-based woman Nafisa Khan challenging the practice of polygamy and 'nikah halala', and said that the matter will be taken up a five-judge Constitution bench.
'The Congress shall have to take some brave-tough decisions to give a new social face to the party and its leadership composition,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The current BJP leadership believes the party's expansion across India, and thus their own survival at the top, depends on injecting communal tension into areas where it has so far been largely controlled,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
India witnessed religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions and the police in some cases failed to respond effectively to communal violence, according to the US State Department report on International Religious Freedom.
The judgment in the December 16 gangrape case involving a minor was on Monday again deferred till August 31 by the Juvenile Justice Board.
Attempting damage control, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday described the last year's riots in Muzzafarnagar as "unfortunate" and said his government took immediate steps to check them and there was no delay in calling the army.
It looks like Hindi, which faces political opposition at the front door, is entering Tamil Nadu through the kitchen, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
He pointed out that such a restriction is not prevalent in many Islamic countries.
'We were expecting death sentences, but now the court has acquitted them, despite Aseemanand himself admitting to his crime in front of a judge.' More importantly, it seems the tag of 'Hindu Terror' coined by the United Progressive Alliance government was wrong all along. Amjedullah Khan, spokesperson for the Majlis Bachao Tehreek, has been tracking the Mecca Masjid blast case from day one and was also involved in securing the release of more than 100 Muslims youths who were falsely accused in different terror cases in the aftermath of the blast. He spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com about the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand and what it means.
A recent inquiry report by the Geneva-headquartered Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has cast serious aspersions on the claims of the Sri Lankan government over alleged war crimes duirng the conflict with the LTTE. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The president-elect has vast public, social, and political experience which will help him better to discharge his duty as the First Citizen of India.
'If the museum in his memory inspires and instils among Brahminical British Indians an attitude of equality towards Dalits, the edifice would be worth it,' reports Ashis Ray.
The good news is that within the first 14 months, orders for manufacturing and commissioning of the entire 88,537 Mw capacity for the 12th Plan have been placed, according to the Central Electricity Authority, the country's apex power planning body.
The Aligarh Muslim University Teachers' Association on Thursday urged political parties "not to play politics over the dead bodies" of the victims of the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar.
Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lankan president-elect, will be sworn-in on Friday evening following his stunning victory in the tightest-ever presidential race that ended the 10-year-rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa.
India's majoritarian regime is now making a dangerously fast-paced move towards theocracy, like its western counterpart did a few decades ago, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
With months to go for the Karnataka assembly elections, the man in the hot seat, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah says he'll make billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and the Punjab National Bank scam an issue in the upcoming Karnataka elections . In an interview to CNN-News18's Deepa Balakrishnan, the CM also says that Hindutva is not a campaign issue in the state.
Modi's minimum government, maximum governance will go a long way?
'He still has to deal with party norms and traditions and has been careful to follow the order of seniority,' points out Claude Arpi.
The Trump Administration plunged into another crisis on Thursday after reports surfaced that United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice with Russian envoy to Washington during the presidential elections last year.
'Which path should Muslims take politically as they have been completely marginalised?'
New Delhi is approaching Gota with an open mind, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
