Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 71st Republic Day.
Bihar's ruling JD-U and Lalu Prasad's RJD on Sunday decided to contest the state assembly elections in alliance and constitute a six member committee to finalize seat-sharing.
As the party moves forward into the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it not only needs to strengthen the state units and reach out to the grassroots level, but also forge alliances with like-minded parties.
The persistence with Aadhaar, to the exclusion of all other identity systems, is a dangerous path and should be avoided if the risks of digital vulnerability are to be eliminated. Till such time that the ownership of the Aadhaar system is transferred to an independent body, concerns over Aadhaar's digital vulnerability will persist, says A K Bhattacharya.
The PBD this year functions as a political stage for the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi have been wooing the Indian diaspora through widely publicised events across the country. At the PBD, the mood was either largely pro-Modi, and when not, apolitical.
'One does not understand why you should launch your attack against the Constitution, against Gandhiji, against the Left and Congress regimes at a moment when the Hindutva regime needs such attacks against them.' 'By doing so, don't you think you are playing into the hands of Hindutva forces?', Mohammad Sajjad, who teaches history at Aligarh Muslim University, asks Sharjeel Imam who was arrested on charges of sedition on Tuesday, January 28.
Will Malik's worldview, shaped by his years with the socialists, Charan Singh, the Congress and V P Singh, help him govern the troubled state? Or would his rule have the imprint of the party he joined in the latter years of his chequered political career?
'I want to assure the country that no country, no government can tolerate anybody taking the law into their hands, whether it is an individual or a group.'
Today as one sees the Owaisi brothers of Hyderabad seeking to lay claim as the custodian of the Muslim vote and the upholders of the community's interests, it is Shahabuddin who springs to mind for having been there, done that, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'I will not say that the AIMIM is a 'B' team of the BJP. But due to the AIMIM, the BJP benefits for sure'
Still unsure about where you want to travel during the long Diwali weekend? We'll help you out.
With a shatter-proof display, the Moto X Force is a rugged warrior.
Yadav is all set to approach the Election Commission of India to claim the election symbol of the party -- 'arrow'.
'Ashok Singhal was an amazing missionary, a monk in civil dress. His personal ego and pride simply evaporated before the national cause.'
'The more emphatic denial of any proposal for an OIC foreign ministers meet in Islamabad appears aimed at keeping Pakistan on a leash,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Generations of Indians don't quite grasp that there would barely be an India had it not been for the Sardar whose steadfastness and guile stitched together that which had been united only in philosophy and spirituality and sometimes not even then -- for thousands of years. A fascinating excerpt from Hindol Sengupta's The Man Who Saved India, Sardar Patel and His Idea of India.
Born as Ajay Singh, the diminutive shaven headed politician is known for his provocative speeches and mass following across Uttar Pradesh.
Modi said Vajpayee would remain an inspiration and said the outpouring of emotions following his death despite his being away from public life for over a decade due to illness, shows his greatness.
Adityanath will be the 21st UP chief minister and the fourth from the BJP.
'If anybody wants me to act in their film for free, just make me sing all the songs!' 'I don't even care about the script.'
The Archaeological Survey of India on Sunday installed a couple of close-circuit cameras around the ruins of an 18th century fortress in Daundiya-Khera village of Unnao district (about 140 km from Lucknow), where its teams were busy digging in search of 1000 tons of gold, believed to have been buried there -- as per a dream witnessed by a popular local godman Baba Shobhan Sarkar.
'The Ek Do Teen star struggled with a problem skin all through her reign as numero uno.' 'And yet acne never got into the way of her incredible success.' All this and more in Sukanya Verma's Super Filmi Week.
Cutting across party lines, political leaders welcomed the government's decision to confer Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour, on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf on the futility of the 'who is a Hindu?' debate.
Atalji witnessed many lows in his life. With these, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf, come lessons that can help you in your life.
'In today's situation, it is not going to help anyone's case if they try to politically contest with the BJP on ideological issues.' 'Instead, it is best is to swim along the tide, present the more acceptable face of the cultural Hindu, but not be a political Hindu as the BJP or Mr Modi is.'
'Amit Shah and Modi have a disciple and guru relationship. But Modi and Jaitley's relationship was based on friendship. That's the difference.'
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who will demit office as the Chief Justice of India in a week's time, has etched his name in the annals of history by giving finality to one of the most politically and religiously sensitive cases, the Ayodhya land dispute, which dates back to even before the Supreme Court came into existence in 1950.
'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.
'This is possibly a long drawn battle and if the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are together in this long battle, a new political picture will emerge in the country.' 'In this battle if we have to sacrifice or give up anything, we are ready.' 'We have to remain cautious against the BJP's attempts to break our unity.' 'We want this alliance to stay.'
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
Terrorists hurled a grenade at a busy bus stand in Tral in Pulwama district on Thursday.
A lot of people only associate him with his music. And, obviously, he's a great musician. But Rahman, above all else, is a living example of spiritual equilibrium and intrinsic human goodness. A fascinating excerpt from Krishna Trilok's Notes Of A Dream: The Authorized Biography Of A R Rahman.
'The educated, employed, and self-sufficient Dalit is being attracted towards the BJP. The middle-class that has rapidly emerged among Dalits in the last two decades has deviated from its path. It has become a traitor to its own class. It cannot distinguish between a friend and an enemy.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on range of issues -- from Rafale deal to Ram temple and triple talaq.
The BJP doesn't want to focus entirely on an anti-Mamata campaign.
'If they were really serious (about conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar) what were they doing for the last five years?' 'Why do they have to take so long?' 'Gandhi himself never got the Bharat Ratna so it does not really matter.'
Modi also reminded Congress of the Emergency, saying it's a blot on the democracy that will never fade.
'The story has to be told well, it has to be marketed and presented well, and now, released well too.' 'Only then will the film do well.' 'The actor walks away with the victory credit, but we do not give enough credit to the script writers, directors and producers who put up a film that shines.'
