Much depends on the BJP's electoral performance in next year's assembly elections. If the party fares well in UP and some states like Goa and Gujarat, it will be able to fob off the attempt at a reappraisal of its Hindutva doctrine, observes Amulya Ganguli.
The op-ed ends with a call to the world to work shoulder to shoulder to end hate, violence and suffering.
India on Monday proposed new ideas for further enhancing cooperation with Bhutan while asserting that commitments made by the previous government will be fulfilled.
What is foreign policy worth if it stands disconnected from domestic realities? Make no mistake, the horrifying visuals of the human suffering in metropolitan India is only the tip of the iceberg. The vast swathes of the hinterland are heaving with untold sorrows, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A series of events were held across the country to mark the day and government officials, security personnel and others took a pledge 'to preserve the unity, integrity and security of the nation and also strive hard to spread this message'.
At some stage this fall in the quality of life will begin to hurt anybody's popularity, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that Sisodia would be arrested on Monday and alleged the move was initiated in view of the forthcoming assembly elections in Gujarat where it is in a direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The finance minister could well be on her way to setting a record of achieving the biggest single-year reduction in the government's fiscal deficit, explains A K Bhattacharya.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
Agnipath may be an exercise to address the genuine needs of the armed forces. But overall, it betrays the tendency to use the military and paramilitary for employment generation and shaping a national character, instead of treating them as the professional services they are, notes Shyam G Menon.
'The Modi government can't ignore the political symbolism that the perceived perpetrators are being allowed inside an Indian military base which was attacked by their puppets, either by tacit approval or compliance of the Pakistani military establishment,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Earlier, Arun Jaitley had said 60 prosecutions had been launched on the 'HSBC list'.
He said digitisation was aimed at bringing in accountability and added that more cash would bring with it social evils.
'While all would agree on the need to be ready to launch cross-border strikes on terror camps, there is sharp disagreement on how best to do it.' 'Through IAF fighters, or surface-to-surface missiles?' 'Or should army Special Forces be created to do the job?' 'If air strikes are the agreed priority, additional funding must be made available for the purchase of fighters and missiles.' 'If it is to be Special Forces, the army must be facilitated in raising a Special Forces Command,' notes Ajai Shukla.
He said "it is very essential that the police keeps four steps ahead from criminals and criminal-minded people".
Terrorism is not just a threat for a country but to the entire civilization, Modi said.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
'The speech he delivered had a profound impact on my colleagues,' US Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
'We should expect a cold-blooded, transactional relation that requires a lot of engagement and mutual trust to sustain,' says Constantino Xavier, Fellow, foreign policy, Brookings India.
'By manipulating India's electoral laws, the aim of the Modi government is to weaken democracy to such an extent that it ultimately crumbles.'
'The most important issue for Indians, the only way in which to get them quickly out of poverty, is sustained high growth.' 'If we are not doing that despite a strong government and a leader with clarity of vision and purpose, we are facing big trouble.'
Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in Modi 2.0 government.
American help in defending our independence will send a strong signal to the Chinese, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
"Those who won in the recount are now asking the Election Commission why Modi is going to Gujarat," he said.
'The problem of a Hindu rashtra is that it has no text which can be adapted to the modern world.' 'The most prominent element of the Hindu way of organising society and the State is through caste.' 'This is not acceptable to most Hindus.' 'Because a Hindu rashtra also erodes the power and the rights of the majority of Hindus, we can be assured that this is not something that the BJP, or any other force can do,' argues Aakar Patel.
The CBI sources said the agency has charged them with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and under Provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act in the chargesheet.
If the Ladakh episode has ended, this is the time to find the truth about all the aspects of it and inform the nation and the world, the time is here and now, advises Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The time has come to substitute the present Constitutional set-up with an alternative democratic framework,' argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'We may think that in our border quarrel, the Chinese can give up a bit of territory here or there to satisfy us, but that's not how they see it.' 'Arunachal Pradesh is 90,000 square kilometres and twice the size of Taiwan.' 'The Chinese can't be seen to be asserting their rights to Taiwan and on the other hand, cheaply giving up Arunachal Pradesh.'
Budget forces last minute change in finance minister's plans.
In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
'BJP leaders might ponder the all-consuming arrogance that grips the Modi-Shah combine a year ahead of the next general election,' says Sunil Sethi.
'Why has the peace been kept?' 'Basically because there is a balance.' 'Maybe they think that balance has changed.' 'People can make mistakes. People can miscalculate.' 'If that is the cause, then I think what we have done, matching their build-up, etc, it is giving a good account of ourselves in the face-offs.'
India's unpopularity coincides with China lengthening its shadows in Nepal, says Rajeev Sharma.
'There is a time for lowering one's expectations of the economy -- and therefore not trying to do too much in the Budget,' notes T N Ninan.
The first prime minister to visit this Maoist hotbed in three decades, Narendra Modi on Saturday asked Naxals to abjure gun and allow peace so that the macabre drama of death will end to pave the way for development.
About 78 per cent respondents said they were also satisfied with the steps taken by their own state government, according to the findings of the survey.
Was the defence minister kept in the dark with the PMO directly dealing with the then defence secretary in the matter of General V K Singh's birth date? Was the trust deficit between the government and the then army chief so wide that instead of communicating directly with General Singh and the defence minister, the PMO and other arms of the government were depending on half-baked inputs from the Intelligence Bureau?
Senior counsel S S Naganand, representing the Government PU College for Girls, its principal and a teacher, on Wednesday told the full bench, comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit, that the hijab row was started by some students owing allegiance to CFI.
The prime minister also contended that he was grateful to the authorities of the monastic order for granting him an opportunity to spend a night at the math. He insisted that the ambiance at Belur Math reminded him of his duty towards people.
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