'...still have lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but could have won 140 seats.'
Like Nehru, Modi is loathe to touch the public sector. His policy towards Israel leans towards 'non-alignment'. You can find other similarities: frequent public speeches, personalised leadership, total control over foreign and strategic policies, even stylised dressing, says Shekhar Gupta.
"This is not the first time that ministers who have been charged have held on to their portfolios. I think the previous government itself had several [of them]," he said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 will present a record eighth consecutive budget that is expected to contain measures to shore up weakening economic growth and ease the burden on the middle class struggling with high prices and stagnant wage growth while being fiscally prudent.
Recalibrating data of past years using 2011-12 as the base year instead of 2004-05, the Central Statistics Office estimated that India's GDP grew by 8.5% in the financial year 2010-11 and not at 10.3% as previously estimated.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
'To identify with the common man, Modi had to look like one.' 'The disastrous suit with his name written on it never made its reappearance.' 'Frequent dress changes during the day, which led Arvind Kejriwal to calculate that Modi spent crores on his attire ever year, too stopped.' 'Instead, a newer Modi emerged: Humble and eager to serve.' Narendra Modi has cleverly repositioned himself as a man of the masses in the past three years, says Aditi Phadnis.
Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, has alleged a "rot" within the Congress party and called for serious introspection. She criticized the party's lack of ideology and its treatment of non-dynastic leaders, citing the case of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. She also questioned the party's failure to convene a Congress Working Committee meeting after her father's death, highlighting a perceived loss of institutional memory. Mukherjee, who has since left politics, also advocated for a memorial to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a posthumous Bharat Ratna award for him.
Let's take a look at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new team:
In a significant move, the United States on Wednesday removed restrictions on three Indian nuclear entities, over a week after National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced that Washington was finalising steps to 'remove' hurdles for civil nuclear partnership between Indian and American firms.
Union Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday resigned in the wake of a Himachal Pradesh court framing corruption charges against him.
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
This is the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to media persons ahead of his interaction with them in New Delhi on Friday
Amberish K Diwanji on Indian prime ministers and the seven-year itch.
The status of the peace process and the Sri Lankan government's efforts are believed to have been discussed during the 30-minute meeting.
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Former Comptroller Auditor General Vinod Rai has come out with a stinging criticism of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying integrity is not just financial but intellectual and professional too and claimed that Congress leaders had sought to apply pressure on him to keep the PM's name out of audit reports.
As a leader, he was ambitious, not for himself but for India and its people. His was not the short-term election cycle calculation of individual political gain. His was a practical vision of how to better the lives of his fellow citizens, asserts Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, who served as foreign secretary and national security advisor when Dr Singh was prime minister.
'...as then it brings them closer to the complaints and grievances that the public faces.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said the 'wholesale attack on the democratic system' currently underway in India is the single biggest risk the country is facing, and asserted that allowing different traditions to thrive is very important as 'we cannot do what China does, which is to run an authoritarian system'. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Speaking at a seminar titled 'The Future is Today' at the EIA University in Medellin, Colombia, Gandhi also alleged that there are 'huge amounts of corruption at a centralised level' in India now. "In India, we have huge amounts of corruption now at a very centralised level. So, three or four businesses taking over the whole economy, having a direct relationship with the prime minister, is rampant in India," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said. "But I believe decentralising power, making things more transparent, bringing people into conversations, and bringing people into processes is the best way forward," Gandhi said while addressing the seminar on Wednesday. Hitting back at the Congress leader for his remarks, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused Gandhi of insulting and degrading India on foreign soil. Posting a video clip of Gandhi's speech on X, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, 'Rahul Gandhi does it again, degrades India on foreign soil. From defaming our democracy in London, to mocking our institutions in the US, now in Colombia he spares no chance to insult Bharat globally.' 'This isn't dissent. It's disgrace to the fake Gandhi. Criticising BJP may be your right but dare you malign Mother India for your cheap and petty politics,' Bhatia said. Speaking at the seminar, Gandhi said India has a much more complex system as compared to China and its strengths are very different from that of the neighbouring country. India also has a very old spiritual tradition and a thought system with profound ideas that are useful in today's world, he said, adding that there is a lot that the country can offer in terms of tradition and way of thinking. "I am very optimistic about India, but at the same time, there are fault lines within the Indian structure. There are risks that India has to overcome. The single-biggest risk is the attack on democracy that is taking place in India," the Leader of Opposition said. "India has multiple religions, traditions and languages. India is actually a conversation between all its people. Different ideas, religions and traditions require space. The best method for creating that space is the democratic system," he said. "Currently, there is a wholesale attack on the democratic system in India, so that is a risk. The other big risk is different conceptions -- some 16-17 different languages, different religions... So, allowing these different traditions to thrive, and giving them space to express themselves is very important for a country like India.
'If the government cannot provide the best resources to IIT faculty, it has no right to expect the best research either,' says Santosh Ansumali.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's unprecedented protection of Law Minister Ashwini Kumar is baffling say many in the Congress party. Renu Mittal reports
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have vowed to move forward with plans to work together to build US-designed nuclear reactors in India. The decision was made during their meeting at the White House, where they also agreed to significantly expand energy cooperation. The move comes after India announced plans to amend its nuclear liability law and the Atomic Energy Act, which had previously been obstacles to the implementation of the US-India civil nuclear deal.
'Shashi Tharoor is destroying the history of India.' 'He is distorting facts about the Congress party.'
He did not believe in any fiscal puritanism. In 2012, when it was almost certain that the government will breach the 2012-13 fiscal deficit target, he wrote that in abnormal times, abnormal measures are required to get back to normalcy.
In what was perhaps the most critical meeting before full-scale war broke out, Shastri defined India's immediate war objectives to his defence minister, army, and air force chiefs: 'To defend against Pakistan's attempts to grab Kashmir by force and to make it abundantly clear that Pakistan would never be allowed to wrest Kashmir from India; To destroy the offensive power of Pakistan's armed forces...' A fascinating excerpt from Shiv Kunal Verma's must-read 1965: A Western Sunrise India's War With Pakistan.
'Geopolitically and diplomatically it's a very difficult situation for India.'
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
His longest I-day speech before Thursday was 96 minutes in 2016 while his shortest speech was in 2017 when he spoke for around 56 minutes.
'He is the prime minister for all citizens of our country and his conduct must be worthy and consistent with that obligation that he/she has as prime minister
RS Chairman Dhankhar called Kharge making the claim a "very sad moment" and asked him to withdraw his statement, the Leader of Opposition insisted the government give the correct figures and continued with his speech.
Tharoor said his remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by India's responsible respect for the LoC and the IB.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh skipped his usual attire of pristine white to take part in a photo-op with United States President Barack Obama and the top leaders of Asia.
"In 1948, Indian armed forces were in a decisive position to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but then PM Jawaharlal Nehru declared unilateral ceasefire," Amit Shah said. In 1971, Shah said, 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered and India had 15,000 sq km Pakistan territory under control, but still PoK was not taken back. During the 1962 war with China, then PM Nehru bade goodbye to Assam in a speech on Akashvani, he said.
The record lies with first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who did the honours 17 times from 1947 to 1964.
The census will be carried out with a reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country, the notification said.
What Indians think of the political crisis in New Delhi.
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