Former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray on Saturday night died at his south Kolkata residence after a protracted illness.He was 90 and survived by his wife Maya Ray. "Ray was ill for quite a long time and had been on dialysis since March. The end came at about 6:50 pm," his assistant M Kaviraj told PTI.
Former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray reminisces about his long association with the Communist Party of India-Marxist stalwart Jyoti Basu while flipping through an old album. Indrani Roy Mitra notes down the ruminations.
The country's leading legal brains will prepare a watertight defence for India's skipper before the ICC-appointed arbitrator Justice Albie Sachs.
She will also be the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after K Shankar Bajpai.
She will also be the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after K Shankar Bajpai.
Dr Manmohan Singh first embossed himself on the national consciousness when as India's finance minister he flagged off economic reforms which changed this nation forever.
Former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray wrote to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram recently suggesting the central government involve social bodies for the welfare of the Lalgarh people reeling under acute poverty and underdevelopment.
Sumit Bhattacharya listens in to conversations in poll-bound Kolkata.
Sourav Ganguly is likely to go for another appeal against the six-match ban slapped on him by the ICC
While India today is vastly different from the India of 1975, the need for vigilance against authoritarianism remains the same, asserts Utkarsh Mishra.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee died while being treated for cardiac ailments at a state-run hospital in Kolkata on Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
Also, with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not in the running for the party president's post, a non-Gandhi would be at the helm after over 24 years following the polling on Monday and counting on Wednesday.
'It was a moment when I felt what power can get. Such a reception was beyond my expectation.'
Then chief minister Jyoti Basu once told an industrialist that capitalists were class enemies and he should expect no sympathy.
'And because she was very close to Indira Gandhi, she was close to me.' 'Sonia is a wonderful person'
'Gehlot is right now doing things, which are not appreciated by the Gandhis.' 'The Gandhis have realised that their writ does not run in Rajasthan, therefore they have deflected the issue to Kharge.'
Pranab Mukherjee's book The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years takes the readers through the economic and social unrest of the period leading up to the emergency, rise and fall of leaders, many splits within the Congress, while promising to offer more in the next two volumes of the trilogy, says Nivedita Mookerji.
The combined Left parties drew a blank in the polls to the assembly which they had run with an overwhelming majority for 34 long years, with their vote share dwindling to a mere 5.47 per cent in 2021.
Ms Banerjee's triumphal declaration of having attracted investments worth Rs 2.43 lakh crore at the summit, are numbers that no one but she and the enigmatic state finance minister Amit Mitra believe, points out Kanika Datta.
'The time has come to substitute the present Constitutional set-up with an alternative democratic framework,' argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'It is from her that present-day political stalwarts continue to draw lessons on testing the limits of Constitutional democracy, and whose slogans even her party's staunchest opponents imitate even after over 30 years of her death,' says Veenu Sandhu.
The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was not aware of the Constitutional provisions allowing for declaration of Emergency that was imposed in 1975 and it was Siddartha Shankar Ray who led her into the decision, says President Pranab Mukherjee.
The NDA candidate tells the Election Commission that the Maoists plan to kidnap him.
'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.
'In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy.' 'She packed Parliament with her supporters with loyalty being more important than ability; she superseded judges; she corrupted the civil service.' 'She knew how to use people against each other and was quite a master of that.' 'She would do this with calculated skill and in the bargain cause enmity between brothers, split up families.'
Indian Americans are not just shining in the fields of technology, education and management. You can now spot them every where... in politics, in research, in the movies and even on YouTube, says Ignatius Chithelen.Indian Americans are not just shining in the fields of technology, education and management. You can now spot them every where... in politics, in research, in the movies and even on YouTube, says Ignatius Chithelen.
'In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy,' says Khushwant Singh.
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