For the year 2026, the President has approved the conferment of 131 Padma awards. The list comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Friday announced his support for rebel Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Anup Kumar Srivastava in Bihar's Gopalganj, alleging that his own nominee Shashi Shekhar Sinha withdrew from the contest under pressure from the saffron party.
After the Filmfare OTT Awards, Alia attended the 25th ITA Awards held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai.
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor alleges that the BJP pressured three Jan Suraaj Party candidates to withdraw from the Bihar elections, accusing the ruling NDA of threatening opposition candidates and urging the Election Commission to ensure candidate security. The BJP denies the allegations.
What piques the narrative is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah decide on crucial matters, they play it close to their chest, and revel in springing a surprise.
Members of the film industry trouped in to say their last goodbyes to Manoj Kumar at a prayer meet held on Sunday evening.
The reality is that far from being friendless, India is better positioned in the world than at any point post-Cold War, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Yadav, who was embroiled in controversy for his speech at a VHP event in December, has opted out of a seminar on the Ram temple movement in the Kumbh Mela area on January 22. Yadav was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the seminar, which is being held to mark the first anniversary of the consecration ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla in the Ayodhya temple.
The Patna high court on Wednesday granted bail to Janata Dal-United legislator Munna Shukla and Shashi Shekhar, another leader of the JD-U, who were last week sentenced to life for the murder of former Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994
'She was lying there and I mustered up enough guts to lay next to her and hold her tight.' 'And she said, "Oh my, Girish, isn't he supposed to be nervous?"' 'Making light of the situation, Girish said, "No, he's been practicing with a pillow the whole day".'
According to the family members, she had joined the said hospital just a day before the incident.
Senior IAS officer and former MyGovIndia chief Gaurav Dwivedi was on Monday appointed the Chief Executive Officer of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati. A 1995-batch officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, Dwivedi will have a five-year tenure from the date he assumes charge. Currently, he is posted as Principal Secretary, Commercial Tax, in the Chhattisgarh government. "The President of India has today appointed, after due recommendation by the Selection Committee, Shri Gaurav Dwivedi, as Executive Member (Chief Executive Officer) in Prasar Bharati for a period of five years from his assumption of charge," a statement from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
From NCTC to GST and from economic reforms to targeted subsidies/entitlements the political need of the present times is leadership in Patel's mold that can engage, negotiate, build trust and confidence where possible, awe and overwhelm when necessary, says Shashi Shekhar.
When Truth dies along with it dies the 'Fabric of Trust' that holds nations and societies together. From raising dishonest questions over the Batla House encounter to raising false bogeys over the Rushdie visit, the Congress stands guilty of causing irreversible damage to that fabric of trust, says Shashi Shekhar.
'With the Special Investigation Team's closure report finding no case to be made against Modi on Zakia Jafri's complaint, the public debate has once again returned to The Narendra Modi Question.'
Chief ministers who have been championing federalism must take the lead in reforming the Rajya Sabha so that it truly represents the interests of their states rather than the permanent political interests of unelected party apparatchiks in Delhi, says Shashi Shekhar.
There is palpable disappointment within a section of Young and Aspirational India that has come to identify with Centre Right economic thinking and had looked up to the BJP to advance that agenda in the years to come, says Shashi Shekhar.
'Let us rescue history from the leftist high priests of history. In the process, let us also rescue history from the narrow mindset of the political right that has reduced reconstruction of history to an exercise in political victimhood.' Shashi Shekhar on the furore over the removal of an essay on the Ramayana from the syllabus of Delhi University.
It is Andhra Pradesh and not Uttar Pradesh which is the real litmus test for Rahul Gandhi's political leadership, says Shashi Shekhar.
There cannot be any fence sitters in this political churning. The 'apolitical' campaigns will have to take a political stance sooner than later.
'Much of what we call corruption is but a side effect of a deeper malaise. The chalta-hai attitude and its innovative twin jugaad. Shortcuts have become endemic. Every shortcut we take compromises a principle, corrodes an institution and sets a wrong precedent,' says Shashi Shekhar.
By endorsing the Sangma candidacy the BJP could take the first steps towards a new federalist coalition that shares something more than a common enemy, says Shashi Shekhar.
The history of our nation may not always have charted a linear trajectory to greatness. But that must not distract us from recognising that we as a nation we continue to find new and innovative ways to reconcile contradictions, transcend fault-lines thus avoiding the pitfalls of so many of our neighbours, says Shashi Shekhar.
It is not inconceivable that elections in India can be fought by a party maintaining a distinct regional identity in state elections while merging to fight on a common symbol in the national elections, says Shashi Shekhar
For far too long, the BJP has postponed an uncomfortable debate on the need for radical change. The outcome in Uttar Pradesh presents the perfect opportunity to force that debate, says Shashi Shekhar.
The tenth anniversary of the Gujarat 2002 riots comes at politically importune moment unfortunately for the process of justice inside the courts and for the process of reconciliation outside the courts, feels Shashi Shekhar.
'Let us start the debate in 2012 in favour of a directly elected executive with a civil society-based Electoral College as a check for a directly elected strong leader in the mould of a Narendra Modi with civil society as a check which serves the national interest far more than an indirectly selected, weak but acceptable prime minister vulnerable to pressure from regional parties and outside groups that may have propped him or her up,' argues Shashi Shekhar.
'In many ways, 2011 had come to resemble the mid-1990s when an unusual number of politicians found themselves in prison or out of office over various charges of corruption. It is not a happy parallel to draw on for the then Congress government was followed by two long years of political instability and frequent elections.'
'In many ways, 2011 had come to resemble the mid-1990s when an unusual number of politicians found themselves in prison or out of office over various charges of corruption. It is not a happy parallel to draw on for the then Congress government was followed by two long years of political instability and frequent elections.'
We must make politics that uses demographic identity as a wedge, less and less relevant, says Shashi Shekhar.
IITs are ready for and deserving of the autonomy they seek, being the only remaining institutions of excellence in India that are relatively untainted by the general institutional decay we see all around, says Shashi Shekhar
It is clear that the Congress party is now in a last ditch attempt to raise the Narendra Modi bogey with an eye on the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh, says Shashi Shekhar.
The aspirations of India's people have gotten far ahead of the political debate as one sees the malls in tier-2 cities and car showrooms in 'rurbanised' towns, notes Shashi Shekhar, who visited India after two years.
The lessons from the Ishrat Jehan episode should be about providing a remedy in the process of law enforcement so fake encounters are prevented, and to remedy the process of justice so that officers of law are held accountable for their illegal actions.
The success of Gujarat has today put it in a place where it can negotiate and navigate international relations of direct economic consequence to it without being held back by the timidity in New Delhi, says Shashi Shekhar.
Whether one likes Narendra Modi or not, one cannot deny him the credit of putting the national debate back firmly in the political realm and on the merits of relative political choice, says Shashi Shekhar
Parliament is essential to the success of Indian democracy and the citizenry should be in the forefront of demanding reforms which help improve and strengthen Parliamentary democracy, says Rohit Pradhan.
'India's parliamentary democracy is ridden with flaws,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan. 'Parliament has become a monarchy, with seats captured by a strongman, and then inherited by his wife or children.'
Swami Vivekananda's famous speech in Chicago at the Parliament of Religions played a key role in spreading Hindu philosophy in the West. On Swami Vivekananda's 149th birth anniversary, Shashi Shekhar reconstructs the Indian spiritual leader's nearly decade-long stay in the US from a collage of original newspaper clippings that give a first-hand account of impressions of his life and teachings while in America.
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