Meanwhile, Australia skipper Michael Clarke, who was entangled in a war of words with Cricket Australia over his availability, is still a doubtful starter for the first Test following question marks over his fitness.
The failure to restructure our armed forces in line with contemporary needs 14 years after the Kargil war will impose strategic costs beyond just delays and scandals, says Nitin Pai
'Modi's political economy is more inspired by Indira Gandhi than Vajpayee.' 'She so wanted an Opposition-mukt Bharat.' 'Sounds familiar?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'We have never had a policy regarding Pakistani artistes working in India.' 'We welcome them with open arms and that remains the official policy of the Indian government, including the current dispensation.'
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
No other foreign leader seems to have been extended such a warm welcome by an Israeli Prime Minister in the past few decades.
Aseem Chhabra is impressed by Rima Das's Bulbul Can Sing, Ritesh Batra's Photograph and eight other outstanding films.
On planes, on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, Hulu, MUBI, Kanopy, film festivals... Aseem Chhabra tell us how he watched 309 films in 365 days.
A 'soft' approach must be nurtured to complement the hard-line of spending billions in physical conflict; that is the only way to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS.
Despite the Indian government's recent efforts anecdotal evidence indicates that there has been little change in the extortionist behaviour of a significant proportion of tax and police officials, says Jaimini Bhagwati.
'Here was a man who played a major part in helping the Bengalis of East Pakistan create a new nation, secured the merger of Sikkim into the Indian dominion and built R&AW into a formidable outfit, comparable to the best in the world.' Rameshwar Nath Kao shunned the limelight, hated to be photographed and preferred to work behind the scenes. A revealing excerpt from Nitin A Gokhale's much awaited book, R N Kao: Gentleman Spymaster.
The summit is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Doklam standoff last year.
'Obama probably thinks, "He is quite a guy!" Americans on Capitol Hill think, "He has guts. He is a big player".' An Indian official explains the importance of the Modi visit to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Saturday after powering away from the field to secure victory in the women's 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon.
Vinita Bisht and Vinita Kamte lost their husbands -- one an NSG commando, the other an IPS officer -- in the 26/11 terror attack. Six years later, Archana Masih/Rediff.com meets them to discover that closure is one of the hardest things to find.
The underlying tone of a call for separate Mumbai city is always seen as a class war and a linguistic war, says Neeta Kolhatkar
'The whispers and the murmurs had reached even the king's private quarters.' 'Of a royal surgeon wielding a chain-saw like a carpenter; a chemist with a cannister of acid; the royal chief executioner instructing someone about the fine art of handling swords...' 'All this being supervised by Mohammed's closest confidant.'
Modi will reach Bangladesh capital of Dhaka on Saturday morning.
India has criticised the UN over lack of any 'specific concrete action' by member states to penalise those who attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and chief ministers of various BJP-ruled states attended the ceremony.
Lieutenant General J F R Jacob, Chief of Staff, Eastern Army Command during the 1971 war, reveals how, armed with only a draft surrender document and an aide, he made the Pakistani army led by Lieutenant General A A K Niazi surrender.
'Why can't we make it mandatory for all IAS and IPS officers to serve in the armed forces for a year before joining service? What stops us from making it compulsory for every Member of Parliament to spend three months, immediately after taking oath, in military barracks/maybe a few nights in the bunkers on the borders, to learn and understand the life of a fauji?' wonders Tarun Vijay, MP.
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The president called for tax reform that eliminates corporate-friendly loopholes, highlighted his earlier proposal for free community college.
The remarkable story of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, will be seen in a film featuring Aamir Khan.
Till recently there was no monument to the Maratha victory or the great Maratha General Mahadji Shinde. It was a defeat, such as never suffered by the British in India.
'I cannot conceive of any reason than my unsparing criticism of government policies that the government picked me to send a message to many who dare to take it on.'
Distressing as the first month of the Trump administration -- with its missteps on matters of governance, ethics and protocol -- has been, it has been a comic opera of buffoons by comparison to the horrors that await us, fears Rahul Jacob.
Lieutenant General J F R Jacob, Chief of Staff, Eastern Army Command during the 1971 war, revealed how, armed with only a draft surrender document and an aide, he made the Pakistani army led by Lieutenant General A A K Niazi surrender.
Lieutenant General J F R Jacob, Chief of Staff, Eastern Army Command during the 1971 war, revealed how, armed with only a draft surrender document and an aide, he made the Pakistani army led by Lieutenant General A A K Niazi surrender.
Lieutenant General J F R Jacob, Chief of Staff, Eastern Army Command during the 1971 war, revealed how, armed with only a draft surrender document and an aide, he made the Pakistani army led by Lieutenant General A A K Niazi surrender.
