70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu's unending legislative fight for exemption from NEET has now flagged the question if it's time to review the Supreme Court's famous verdict in the 'Mandal case', fixing 50-per cent upper-limit for all reservations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
If you have answers to these, you need not worry about Britain's exit from the European Union, Raghuram Rajan's exit from the Reserve Bank of India or Narendra Modi's chances of re-election in 2019; your financial future will be safe, says P V Subramanyam
Law must not only change with changing social needs, it must recognise technological advancements, the Kerala high court has said while referring to a larger bench the question -- whether a wedding under the Special Marriage Act (SMA) can be solemnised online via video conferencing.
The government has spent a little less than one-third of the Budget estimate of capital expenditure, it can still spend about Rs 20,000 crore this year without disturbing its fiscal deficit target.
The sub-quota scheme may now lead to a ganging up of non-Vanniyars in individual constituencies against the Vanniyars just as in the past, such ganging up against SC-ST candidates was seen in the non-quota constituencies, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Enforcement Directorate is expected to soon file a chargesheet against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi and former Telecom Minister A Raja for alleged money laundering in the 2G spectrum case.
All the 27 public sector banks together have market share of about 70 per cent.
'The CAA should be kept in abeyance, without making it a prestige issue.'
'Laying down a clear policy on the future of illegal migrants will dispel anxieties and help in implementing the CAA, NPR and also the NCR,' suggests former Union home secretary Dr Madhav Godbole.
Public intellectuals who frame the ideological antipathy between the RSS & Co and Jawaharlal Nehru in the light of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and Hindu Raj alone, miss the point by a yard, argues Shaan Kashyap.
The final and most significant reset in the relations between the government and the RBI is the manner in which the process of appointing the governor and deputy governors of the central bank has been changed.
'Modi wants to go down in history not necessarily as India's first overtly Hindu RSS pracharak prime minister, but as a world statesman who built the idea of India as a great nation.'
For a party that has adopted the successful social re-engineering model from Gujarat, Rajasthan and across the rest of the 'Hindi belt' over the past decades, Tamil Nadu continues to remain a tricky customer, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
It has been alleged by the AAP government that it is unable to function as most of its decisions are either annulled or changed by Centre at the behest of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on the ground that Delhi is not a complete state.
India and Japan's effort to form a multilateral group of liquefied natural gas buyers to avoid paying higher prices for the fuel is laudable as an objective but is unlikely to be effective immediately.
For the past 10 years or more, the RBI has been turning down dozens of applications under the RTI Act that sought disclosing the list of wilful defaulters and the RBI's inspection reports. In fact, it is the only organisation that has a granular and complete view of the heist that has been going on for 25 years at least. But it has escaped any blame for the multiple rounds of bankruptcy and massive periodic recapitalisation of public sector banks caused by bad loans. In fact, they don't want anyone to know how incompetent and collusive they have been in handling bad loans, says Debashis Basu.
The two senior most leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist are at the loggerhead over alliance or adjustment with the Congress.
The recent meeting of chief justices and chief ministers skirted vital issues, which could have helped in improving the efficiency in the functioning of courts
Yuki Bhambri, the country's No 1 singles player, will open India's Davis Cup campaign when he takes on world No 85 Lukas Rosol in the first singles of the World Group play-off match against the Czech Republic, in Delhi, on Friday. The second singles will be played between Somdev Devvarman and Czech No 1 Jiri Vesley.
Trains were set afire and blocked, and public vehicles attacked as protests over 'Agnipath' swept across several places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu on Thursday amid partisan political voices in favour and against the new recruitment scheme for the defence forces that has set off a firestorm.
After Raj Babbar's comment -- that a hearty meal in Mumbai can be bought for Rs 12 -- another Congress leader on Thursday claimed that just Rs 5 was sufficient for a meal in Delhi.
The police in Noida has prohibited any religious activity, including offering of Friday prayers by Muslims, in a public park.
It was a quiet reopening with few people venturing warily to watch a mix of regional, English and Hindi reruns such as "Chhichhore", "Thappad", "Tanhaji" and "The Spy".
The court observed that 10 per cent reservation for poor among the unreserved category takes the total quota beyond 50 per cent, which is not permitted as per the SC's earlier decision.
Looks like the Udta Maker makes will get no help from the government
'Whom do I want to marry and what decisions I make for marrying the person I love are totally personal decisions, in which neither the State nor the courts have any right to interfere.'
'The fact that housing units worth a whopping Rs 4.5 lakh crore in top seven cities are stuck under various stages of non-completion indicates that there is a dire need to create stress-asset fund which will help bail out lakhs of distressed homebuyers,' says Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, a real estate services company.
'What will work is not fear of the law, but of real and swift prosecution under the law.' 'That can now be a possibility thanks to the Supreme Court judgment.'
"How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better," Jaitley said.
If the impact of the Greece crisis spreads across Europe and parts of the world which are more interconnected than ever before, India cannot hope to be insulated, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
Congress strategist and Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN has said that the 2014 general elections are not a battle between Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
'What happens in case the party joins a post-poll alliance with another party whose ideology the legislator is opposed to?' 'Should s/he let down her/his voters merely because her/his party leadership has taken a decision in that direction?' asks Aakar Patel.
The power of judicial review is being stretched to breaking point.
'Alok Verma can say he was helpless, but he could have made representations to the CVC, the Chief Justice of India or the prime minister in writing.' 'He could have told them that his number 2 was not cooperating and is corrupt, but he did not do that.' 'He acted arbitrarily and in a hurried manner, overnight.'
Ajit Balakrishnan on how the Web could return to its original egalitarian goals.
'To treat a Hindu fleeing persecution and certain death in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan on par with a Muslim voluntarily sneaking into India for economic reasons or otherwise is callously cruel, blatantly perverse and grossly unjust.' 'The concept of equality cannot be invoked to perpetuate a historical wrong that needs to be righted,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
His recent walkout from Chief Justice Dipak Misra's court earned him critics in courts. 'Yet, even the senior-most judges give him the respect that he deserves.'
'The moment the BJP loses a state, it announces some policy which never takes off.'
'The entire brouhaha with regard to the CAB smacks of blatant Hinduphobia, a duplicitous exercise, morally corrupt in its construct and aimed at divesting deserving Hindus of basic human rights by raising the bogey of Muslim discrimination, and must be called out for what it is,' says Vivek Gumaste.
'It's still very early. I have just been handed over the matter and therefore I haven't formed any views on it as yet,' Justice B N Srikrishna tells Pavan Lall.