Asking the Central Bureau of Investigation to respect the line that divides between policy making and policing, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday came down heavily on investigating agencies and Comptroller and Auditor General for "overstepping" their limits by attempting to convert bonafide executive decisions into either crimes or abuse of authority.
"The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC," the Union home minister said replying to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Upper House.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, on Sunday reinstated recognition of a student group, whose de-recogition had triggered a controversy, and appointed a professor as its faculty advisor, bringing an end to the more than a week-long standoff.
The high-voltage campaign for the February 4 assembly elections in Punjab came to an end on Thursday evening following hectic campaigning by various political parties.
The Congress on Friday raked up the post-Godhra riots issue against Narendra Modi, latching onto the claims by former Research and Analysis Wing chief A S Dulat to demand that the prime minister apologise for the communal violence in 2002.
Shortly after former Defence Minister George Fernandes died at the age of 88, leaders across the political spectrum paid tribute to the veteran leader. Here is how our leaders reacted to the tragedy.
'Without destroying idol worship, you cannot destroy caste because idol worship keeps religious communities in its religious ideology. The RSS is a big promoter of idol worship.' 'They may have an OBC PM, but neither the RSS or the VHP talk about an OBC becoming a priest. The equation is: Business in Baniya hands. Religion in Brahmin hands. OBC votes for the BJP.'
Prime Minster Narendra Modi's op-ed in the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeines talks about development, New Age India and his 'Make in India' campaign. Here's the complete text of the column.
Smriti Irani will reprise her electoral battle with Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.
Rahul Gandhi has taken a break from his ongoing 'Navsarjan Yatra' in Gujarat to meet the families of victims of the explosion.
Taking a cue from the massive victory of the Grand Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said such a tie-up was possible in the state where assembly elections are due in early 2017.
One of the most charismatic figures of Tamil Nadu politics and the most enduring mascot of the Dravidian movement breathed his last at 6.10 pm.
'By resorting to divisive issues, the BJP is giving the impression that even if it is voted to power it won't do anything new to give Bihar a facelift. It will repel voters with the belief that the BJP can't do anything without communal polarisation as its core ideology. This is sad and unfortunate,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The reshuffle was expected to show some sign about the BJP's awareness of the looming difficulties.'
'But there is no certainty that the new inductees will be able to breathe life into the government,' says Amulya Ganguli.
There will be some populist announcements in Budget.
Holding Pakistan responsible for the violence in the valley, the J-K CM said hat if Islamabad is really concerned then it will try to help in fixing the crisis rather than fanning the flames.
Ansari relinquishes office after a decade.
The issue of "not inviting" Punjab government to the foundation stone laying event of a cancer hospital in Sangrur snowballed into a controversy with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal accusing the Centre of "grave and avoidable political impropriety involved in keeping Punjab in the dark".
Closing ranks, Political parties bristled with outrage over the killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistan with Congress President Sonia Gandhi declaring that India could not be cowed down by such "blatant acts of deceit".
Security will be a consideration, as would protocol, but given Modi's penchant for the unconventional, it should not come as a surprise if he indeed decides to attend the ceremony in Kabul, says Ramesh Ramachandran.
While a centralised approach to running things expedited decision-making in Gujarat it may become the very thing that decelerates Modi in the Centre, opines Nilmadhab Mohanty.
With just eight days left for the winter session, Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minster M Venkaiah Naidu held consultations with Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy Leader Anand Sharma.
The oath taking ceremony will be on March 19 at 5 pm and all national leaders of the party will attend the ceremony.
"On martyrdom day, I pay my respects to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who sacrificed their life for the nation," PM said in a statement.
As indications emerge that Centre could withdraw the controversial ordinance on lawmakers, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Wednesday engaged in a slugfest over the issue with the Opposition claiming victory and the ruling party accusing it of changing tunes.
Gujarat govt will set up a Tribal university in the Narmada district, over 100 smart Ashram shalas, 10 new hostels for tribal girl students
'The prime minister has merely paid lip service condemning these crimes instead of launching a massive crackdown against such brutalities,' argues Professor Mohammad Sajjad.
The calculated playing up of confidence by Amit Shah and his team obviously means that the BJP has a strong counter-strategy in place to turn the tables on the Congress before the monsoon session is over, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
'People want to see Mr Sinha win again because he has always been there for Patna whether he has been a leader or not.' 'Even when he was an actor, he was a proud Bihari.' 'He is not doing it because he only wants to win an election, he wants to do it because he really loves Bihar.'
India stands at an embarrassingly low 130 among 190 countries in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings. But in our worry over it are we forgetting the big picture -- to make India an attractive investment destination -- wonders Avirup Bose.
A man of perseverance and great survivor, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had an astute political sense honed by decades of experience in Kashmir politics that has stood him in good stead in crafting a delicate alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party to return as chief minister for the second time.
An economist from J&K and a popular face from the RSS/BJP sat together to craftily weave an alliance in what is one of the most difficult agenda-setting exercises in recent history.
Non-Performing Assets are a wake-up call for public sector banks.
As he took oath of office on Sunday night, Nara Chandrababu Naidu has earned a unique distinction of becoming the first chief minister of a new state in addition to being the longest-serving CM of Andhra Pradesh.
One can understand that all MPs are equal in that sense and are endowed with varied talents but that does not automatically qualify them to run ministries. Some are adept at meeting challenges and some simply are not, and remain ornaments. By seeking pro-rata quotas, the very purpose of a forming a ministry of talent is lost, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was on Wednesday sentenced to death by a special tribunal for his role in the killing of thousands of people during the nation's independence war against Pakistan in 1971.
In the 2009 election, P Chindambaram the Sivaganga seat by a narrow margin. Then the Congress was in alliance with the ruling DMK. This time his son Karti is battling the seat with the alliance. India abstention at the UNHRC on an anti-Lanka resolution will further fuel Tamil anger against the Congress party. This leaves the finance minster sulking and his son facing an uphill political debut, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'In the final analysis, all Budgets everywhere are like the schemes hatched by A A Milne's lovable Winnie-the-Pooh.' 'They may be well-intended, but often go awry.' 'Although Pooh and his friends agree that he 'has very little brain', he is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense.' 'This Budget at a first glance does not appear to belong to that latter category,' says economist Shreekant Sambrani.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the four major factors that contributed to Modi's win in the 2014 elections.
'In the long term, the party that is going to be irrelevant is the Left.' 'It seems absurd that the people of Kerala are the last ones to wake up to the reality that this kind of discredited dogmatic ideological politics has no place in the modern world.'
