One thing Beijing must understand is that India is not obsessed with being a threat to China but only wants a rightful place for itself in the world, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Bangladesh's violence-plagued general elections, being boycotted by opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, on Sunday witnessed low turn out in initial hours amid heavy security, as voters preferred to stay inside home fearing violence that has left six persons dead in last 12 hours.
The year gone by saw the high and mighty of the corporate world face the music in the Delhi High Court which held that the telecom majors are amenable to CAG audit and Mukesh Ambani's RIL struggling hard to get rid of an FIR lodged on gas pricing by the 49-day-old AAP regime.
Hard men with guns cannot manage the state forever.
'I do not think Rajiv Gandhi at that stage had any influence on his mother. Indira Gandhi relied totally on Sanjay and she looked upon him as a dependable son.' 'What really affected people and eventually Indira Gandhi was the sterilisation drive. She lost so badly in north India because of these drives.' 'She is the one who has given this aura of 'the family' to the Gandhis.' The second and final part of veteran journalist Coomi Kapoor, whose book The Emergency: A Personal Account was published recently, to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com about Independent India's darkest phase.
Making it easier to do business is a key element of our strategy, says Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.
B S Prakash takes a tongue-in-cheek look at what India's neighbours think about the proposal of a SAARC satellite.
'The Pakistan government, we were told, has a plan to renovate several Hindu temples and Buddhist sites, which over the years have fallen into disrepair. The aim is to create a pilgrimage circuit to attract visitors from all over the subcontinent.'
'If you prove that a mandir was demolished and a mosque was constructed there, we will leave the place.'
'What gives hope is that Modi's own leadership is vitally linked to his capacity to deliver on the economic front. Indeed, if he succeeds, India's foreign policies will have changed beyond recognition,' feels Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Flaring of tempers comes atop much simmering trouble on clashing views; these stands might now get frozen.
The World Health Organization's Global Tuberculosis Report 2014, published recently shows that 9 million people developed TB in 2013, and 1.5 million died, revealing that there are almost half a million more cases of the disease than previously estimated.
It will allow more transparency in policies and flexibility in premium payment, besides improving processing of claims.
Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys a close relationship with Shinzo Abe. For Abe, "a strong India is in the best interest of Japan, and a strong Japan is in the best interest of India."
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RBI's forex swap window for oil marketing companies addresses an urgent issue but what happens when the dollars have to be returned?
'Clearly, from the Indian viewpoint, the US retrenchment from Asia cannot be happening as good news.' 'The abandonment of the US' pivot to Asia exposes the US-Indian partnership to be a mere transactional relationship,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
The failure to restructure our armed forces in line with contemporary needs 14 years after the Kargil war will impose strategic costs beyond just delays and scandals, says Nitin Pai
Finance minister tries to put house in order before reforms are unveiled in February.
The world is still figuring out the man as he continues his enigmatic journey towards the first 100 days of his presidency.
Arun Jaitley had a tough fiscal hill to climb.
The positivity over Narendra Modi's election speech in Jammu is unanimous, but it comes with guarded optimism as many would like to wait and watch to see how the new government actually manages the 25-year-old issue, says Upasna Pandey
If you opt for a petrol variant, you will need to reapply for loan.
'China made it evident that neither the swing-ride at Ahmedabad nor the red carpet at New Delhi worked, by timing its muscle-flexing in Ladakh to coincide with Xi's visit.'
'The root of the Kashmir problem lies in Partition. To solve the issue, we have to begin from there and settle it forever.'
An industry of scamsters is operating in the guise of call centres in India.
We bring you this excerpt from Shaili Chopra's book, When I was 25.
The government has provided a long-term vision.
In October 2007 Raja Sen visited Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's village in Punjab to find out how its residents, and relatives, feel about their oddest export. His report was published in India Abroad, a weekly newspaper published in the US and owned by Rediff.com.
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.
Jaitley said the Opposition has been using the zero hour to raise the issue for 'getting footage on TV'.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to deliver his third Independence Day speech on August 15, he is inviting ideas from citizens on issues he should speak on
India can stay relevant in Afghanistan not by being a bystander but by actively bolstering anti-Taliban forces monetarily, militarily and politically, say Lt Gen R K Sawhney and Sushant Sareen
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
Born and abandoned in Mumbai, reborn in Sweden, Erika Sandberg says she is Indian on the outside but feels Swedish on the inside. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel narrates her tale.
Indian economy about to take-off
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the Central Party School in Beijing on Thursday:
The sluggish legal system in India makes it extremely difficult for law-enforcing agencies in the ministry of finance to punish violations of foreign exchange laws. Unfortunately, it is not just FEMA. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act too has significant infirmities, say Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Pranati Mehra.
'It was only relatively recently that Subhash Kapoor was able to secure the sources in India, Afghanistan and Cambodia, that allowed him to get the really highest level objects, and that helped propel him in recent years up the ranks.'
