'If Manipur is divided on ethnic lines, similar demands will come in other states also.'
Bipin was the brightest among our coursemates and went on to become the first CDS of the country. I believe that all those who have known him and Madhulika will miss them very much, observes Lieutenant General Himalaya Singh (retd).
Indian policymakers are almost alone, alongside the United States, in seeking a hard and multi-sectoral global decoupling from China in the expectation that it will boost their economies, observes Mihir S Sharma.
Students' organisations and political parties are participating in the bandh to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there.
'The BJP portrays a make believe world.' 'The Tripura victory is being seen by some as a result of bahubal and money power -- but that would be a very simplistic explanation.' 'Money and muscle power can play a role up to a point, but the BJP's victory is remarkable because it replaced a party that was in power for 25 years.'
'My point to everyone is, look, if you have an opportunity to alleviate the pain, you should do it, period. And if you don't, you're going to lose credibility worldwide'
'The majoritarian solution is what the BJP always prefers.' 'But this solution suffers from a major weakness: It ignores subjective preferences which can be important and non-negotiable,' points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Life in the north-eastern state of Manipur continued to limp back to normal as curfew was relaxed in 11 districts, including Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur and Jiribam, for six hours from 5 am, as no fresh incident of violence was reported, officials said on Wednesday.
'The first two months of monsoon are not looking good.' 'In case both the halves fail, it is going to be misery.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg are being finalised, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday but did not give a direct reply on the possibility of a meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The answer to Chinese tactics of nibbling territory is not defence of every inch -- a military impossibility -- but instead, nibbling at Chinese territory wherever we are in a stronger position, counsels Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'If there are provocations and people try to exploit and manipulate the situation along linguistic, religious lines, then Assam might relapse into its troubled past.'
'The unfolding events indicate a dangerous internal security situation in Manipur and the region. It can have external ramifications also.'
'...and then get scaled down somewhat.' 'It will be difficult for any side to occupy meaningful territories, maybe just a bit here and there, and the destruction may vary on either side.'
In the wreath laying ceremony for the slain Colonel Santosh Mahadik in Srinagar, all the officers and the jawans of the 41 RR paid their tributes to him.
The five-state assembly elections are seen as a now-or-never, no-holds battle for the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Giving economic aid to Kashmir is like giving TB medicine to a patient suffering from cancer and expecting it to work, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
General Pande said the northern border region has been peaceful and steps have been taken to maintain peace through established protocol and existing mechanism.
'The most important thing is that medical aid reaches people whenever required.'
'It is flabbergasting to think that this heavenly region has, for decades, been coveted by India's aggressive neighbours,' says Claude Arpi after a recent visit to Ladakh. 'Wanting to use the newly created infrastructure to defend the borders after the clash of 2020 with China and the resulting standoffs, the home ministry is keen to boost border tourism to show that these areas are controlled by India.'
High-pitched identity politics, which is the norm in the northeast, has continued to compound the boundary problem.
This comes as IR posted its worst operating ratio (money spent to earn every Rs 100) in 16 years, at 96.9 in 2016-17.
'...through the will of the people and commitment of leaders.' 'It may not happen today or tomorrow, but it will happen.'
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
The UN Security Council on Wednesday failed to adopt a Brazil-led draft resolution that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict to allow full access for aid to the Gaza strip after the US vetoed the text.
Here are some of the political leaders' who await their fate.
Eight stadiums in Doha will host 64 matches at the World Cup.
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar came under fresh attack on Monday from state Bharatiya Janata Party president Sanjay Jaiswal whose party seems annoyed with junior ally Janata Dal-United's shrill demands for special assistance from the Centre.
Balasore district hospital looked like a war zone with the injured lying on stretchers in the corridor and rooms bursting at its seams with extra beds propped up.
'While the fears in Assam and other north eastern states are natural given their experience since 1947 when successive governments and even political leaders in Delhi have repeatedly let them down, the intent and provisions under the Citizenship Amendement Bill -- when examined closely -- should remove those apprehensions,' says Nitin A Gokhale, the well-known commentator who lived in and reported from the north east between 1983 and 2006.
Defence ministry says the focus was on suitability and merit for the selection of the new Army chief.
The unalloyed truth about the Ukraine-Russia conflict is that it is a war that Russia cannot lose and Ukraine cannot win, observes Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
The train crash happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, around 7 pm on Friday, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe.
The Chinese have only created limited defences for protection of their posts which are located well in depth and much away from the Line of Actual Control, notes Colonel S Dinny (retd).
'This is not a cricket match where one side lost and the other side won! Kashmiris are our own.'
'The Arunachal border is not demarcated in that way, so there can be differing perceptions (between two sides)'
Surface links to Assam's Barak Valley and Dima Hasao district and to neighbouring states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur remained snapped on Tuesday as incessant rains triggered landslides and washed off roads as well as railway tracks in multiple locations of Assam and Meghalaya.
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