With a rise in the clout of Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh, fearful Hindus are being radicalised.
Budget will get a welcome reception from the international biz.
A good deal of the 92nd Academy Awards (going hostless second year in a row) was a drag what with a staggeringly dull red carpet, long-winded, lacklustre speeches and uneven live acts following too quickly one after another.
Intolerance toward the minority communities or attempts to humiliate them or the refusal to go the extra league to build an inclusive society -- these are all evident today in our society, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Rahul Gandhi has not erred by not engaging with Muslim conservatives. After all, they had misled his father in 1986 to legislate a misogynistic law after the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case, which helped the BJP rise at the cost of the Congress, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Jauhar is a recurrent theme in the history of that period. And Khilji was hardly the only Muslim invader whose onset forced women to self-immolate. Nearly the entire Mughal clan, including the benevolent Akbar, forced jauhar on the defeated, says Vikram Johri.
'The jurisprudence of a modern secular State has to be strictly rational.' 'Rather than aastha and aqeedah, our jurisprudence as well as the executive and legislature have to act in accordance with Constitutional rationality,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
'If, as appears to be the case, India is on way to 'mending fences' with China, and China is equally desirous to 'reset' the relationship, this could be a self-reflexive moment in India's positioning vis-a-vis not just the Dalai Lama, but also the Tibetan issue and China as a whole,' points out China expert Alka Acharya.
'The diplomat's arrest has led to a major diplomatic spat, the likes of which I have not seen in my nearly three decades of covering the US-India relationship, says Aziz Haniffa. 'The knee-jerk reaction by the powers-that-be in Delhi was myopic to say the least.'
'The Modi government is about privatising profits and nationalising losses.'
The hounding of former AMU students by some alumni over their 'wining and dining' during Ramzan is deeply disturbing, says AMU Professor Mohammad Sajjad. 'Intolerance, irrationality, bigotry, religious/sectarian hatred, and all such pernicious tendencies must be fought and resisted, more particularly by university campuses, in order to build a better society.' 'Have we, as academics, failed, and that too, quite miserably?' he asks. 'I feel like confessing and saying yes, we have indeed failed.'
'Why is the government in such a hurry?' 'The answer is the December assembly elections and the 2019 general election.'
The apex court said it has imposed certain conditions on Purohit while granting bail.
'There could be some aberrations here and there. This has nothing to do with the government or the ruling party. The government machinery is put in action when atrocities take place. They are not sitting silent.' 'Beyond making sensational news, what purpose does returning the awards serve?'
"It would be my hope that people understand why this particular transaction is important for us," the EAM said in Washington, DC.
Stoking a controversy, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on said the credibility of government and judiciary was at stake after the "urgency" shown in Yakub Memon's case while his party MP Shashi Tharoor questioned the efficacy of death sentence in serving as a deterrent.
In conversation with Karan Thapar, former Vice President Hamid Ansari takes on one of the most sensitive issues of our times.
'A good opportunity has thus been provided for both countries to back away from the brink without loss of dignity.' 'There is every reason why they should strain every nerve, and grab every chance, shedding all thought of belligerence and showing who's the boss, to establish, maintain and preserve all it takes to lift themselves by their bootstraps,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'...that it takes fantasy seriously as a part of real life'... A fascinating excerpt from Jonathan Gil Harris's book, Masala Shakespeare: How A Firangi Writer Became Indian.
The State is trying to curb the students movements, therefore, there are suspicions against some of the Subramanian report on education's recommendations, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Jasmit Singh, 85, recalls a horrific train journey to New Delhi on the day Indira Gandhi was killed.
'Modi's power rests on the Hindu vote.' 'It is this vote bank that sees the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala as an intrusion into its religious practice and is frothing at the mouth.' 'History shows us the ill-fated consequences of a strong government buckling before street power,' cautions Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
As Delhi gears up for assembly polls, Upasna Pandey speaks to Aam Aadmi Party leader HS Phoolka about the Modi factor, the issues on which the Sikh electorate and why the AAP is likely to return to power.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis faces the challenge of ensuring that Dalits and Muslims -- who are likely to be most affected by the beef ban -- do not drift away towards the opposition.
'You cannot suppress a section of society permanently.' 'The spark of revolt will catch fire sooner or later.'
Vaccination against measles has been declining steadily over the last ten years in India. This must be reversed in order to avoid a serious outbreak of the disease, says Phalasha Nagpal.
The fever of banning meat spread on Thursday with such directives being issued in Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmedabad.
'You can disagree with Dr Ilaiah's analyses of how the caste-based economy works, or with his prescriptions on how to fix it.' 'But a disagreement that is couched in terms of 'offence' given and received shuts down the debate that is essential to build a more just and modern India,' argues Mihir Sharma.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his over four-hour visit to the US Capitol established a personal rapport with top lawmakers and seems to have won over his critics.
Taking on Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik for his remarks on the law and order situation in the state, the ruling Samajwadi Party on Monday dubbed him as "a RSS worker" and advised him to join the Union ministry to pursue his "communal agenda".
Activists associated with women's movements from different parts of India on Wednesday wrote an open letter to social activist Anna Hazare expressing their disappointment over the Gandhian campaigning for the Trinamool Congress Party in the upcoming Loksabha elections.
'Indian democracy has become an oxymoron.I am hopeful that more people will boycott this politics of perversion and hatred and realise that this isn't sustainable for our great nation to prosper.
'In a world where the corridors of power are packed with sexually promiscuous men, it would be interesting to see what sort of a president a man committed to one woman 25 years his senior would make.'
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).
'Public dissent is the highest public duty and I will continue to speak out,' says Harsh Mander.
'This is basically aimed at vilifying Nehruvian ideals.' 'Why?' 'Because, Nehruvian leadership is seen by Hindutva forces as the one which did not let them have their Hindu Raj.' 'The Hindutva proponents have always assumed that had Sardar become the first prime minister, India could never have become a secular State,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Whatever Mr Modi's other shortcomings be, his consistent efforts to motivate have created an aura of positivity, hopefully stable. He has also shown that he is not averse to taking decisions with possibly negative implications for him, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's reported remarks that Bihar poll results prove that a majority of Hindus prefer harmony on Sunday received the support of the Janata Dal-United while the Bharatiya Janata Party played down the statement.
It said the prime minister of Pakistan has neither chosen to condemn the heinous act nor condoled with the bereaved families.
