'The EC should not have let the initiative go into the hands of the political leadership. By allowing this to happen, they have opened a Pandora's box.'
'There is a clear relationship between the Char Dham road widening and these landslides.' 'The situation has further worsened with the massive influx of tourists whose number are running into several lakhs per month.' 'No parameters have been laid down to control tourist inflow and the result is that the Char Dham yatra has seen a sharp escalation in accidents and loss of lives.'
'The government has to explain (to the army, air force and navy chiefs) whether they want a punitive strike, a deep punitive strike, or whether they want limited war or an all-out war, will it be a circumscribed war or will it be a shallow attack along the border.'
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
Instead of harvesting the wrath against the BJP and using it to their advantage by opting for a collective form of leadership, the Congress decided once again to bestow their trust in the Hooda family who were given a free hand in the distribution of tickets. This turned out to be the biggest blunder and this faulty selection was the single over riding factor in the Congress defeat, explains Rashme Sehgal.
'People's expectations were very high.' 'We felt both sides had understood each other.' 'But the removal of Article 370 triggered apprehensions within the Naga people.'
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
With the fight now having been taken to the seizure of nuclear plants, it is one more warning to Europe that this prolonged war could end up with disastrous consequences, observes Rashme Sehgal
'If he were to drop even one nuclear weapon on Europe, it would start a nuclear war that would destroy everybody.'
'Xi is keen that the remaining three territories still outside the Chinese ambit -- Taiwan, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Senkaku Islands in the East Sea -- be absorbed by the Communist regime by the time the centenary of the revolution rolls around in 2049.'
'The implication of being adamant is to be arrogant. So yes, he is arrogant.'
'Mumbai's corroding infrastructure, Delhi's pollution, Bangalore's rain water drainage, Kolkata's electricity -- these are all real and serious life threatening situations.'
'The PLA will not voluntarily withdraw from Indian territory.'
'This cannot be credibly explained away by referring to a "technical glitch".'
'A threatened people should not be forcibly held in a place where their lives may be at risk.'
'They are both very individualistic and have similar personalities.'
'There is a trust deficit between Delhi and Srinagar. It is there even today.'
'It is obvious that this is both illegal and unconstitutional.'
'What has the impact of 40 years of warfare in Afghanistan been on us?' 'Afghanistan is marginal to India's future.'
'For the first time, all major countries are discovering India's indispensability to their own foreign policy interests.'
'Viral infections rise in winter and better care needs to be taken in the next few months.'
'The RSS ideology has been borrowed from fascism and is not borne out of Hinduism.' 'They want India to have one historical identity whereas India is a land full of divergence which goes in every direction.'
'They keep issuing statements to win a few rounds of applause.'
The demand for minerals, boulders and sand is so great that it has fueled a black market and the goons who control this trade do not hesitate to kill law enforcement officers and reporters who have tried to expose them.
What is particularly worrying is that the vast majority will not have access to testing or even to proper treatment. These cases could have been avoided if the government had shown the political will to do so, observes Rashme Sehgal.
'Has any prime minister spent so much time in one state holding election rally after rally?'
'The Russian attack might be a wakeup call for Europe.'
'The government is using the agencies of the government to suppress the Opposition.'
Women and children have been given short shrift with these crucial sectors facing substantive budgetary cuts, discovers Rashme Sehgal.
Being made a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs makes her an important player in BJP politics, observes Rashme Sehgal.
'...for three hours to the seven or eight of us who spoke at the meeting.' 'Talking together and allowing us to express our thoughts on these important issues is a good beginning.'
'They forget that denial of basic rights has helped create a big political void which is adding to a deepening alienation.' 'This creates a fertile ground for extremist elements and targeted killings which we are witness to once again.'
'The threat of ceding space to China in Afghanistan appears to be one factor propelling our government to get a bit more active now.'
'The greater the delay, the more the likelihood of crucial evidence being destroyed.'
'There were literally thousands of houses with cracks.' '40 percent of the town has been affected.'
'It is not just the police, but all agencies of governance that are progressively being 'captured' by the forces of Hindutva, led by the central government and by the governments of the states where the BJP has power.'
'If we go in the same direction as them, we cannot expect a different result from them.' 'Our fall is going to be very swift.' 'Within a decade, we can expect the situation to change for the worse.'
'Pakistan and the jihadis's capacities have been diminished because of increasing dominance of our security forces.'
'This is probably why the late General Bipin Rawat, who hails from the Garhwal Himalaya, said that the existing roads are fine with the army.'
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