In January 2006, King Abdullah became the first Saudi monarch in 51 years to visit India.
The PM could as well face the first test of his government's multilateral policies.
While Modi has spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor (270 days versus Dr Singh's 306), he has travelled more extensively and actively than any other Indian PM.
The Congress, however, downplayed it saying the party did not want to involve its senior leaders in the issue.
'Right now, we have no relationship with Pakistan. And the relationship with China is not great.'
India Inc has welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking control of the finance portfolio after P Chidambaram was named as the home minister, saying the country will stand to benefit at this crucial juncture.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday agreed to carry forward the peace process and resolve all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir through negotiations and peaceful means.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
Into his 10 year, Manmohan Singh is struggling to retrieve his legacy -- thanks to bad luck, a bad situation and at least two very bad calls, says Mihir S Sharma
Manmohan Singh will be the first Indian PM to travel to Islamabad since 2004. Amir Mir reports
'...spent 1/10th of his time at 24, Akbar Road...' 'He would have met thousands of party workers and ordinary Congress supporters who have love for the party.' 'Left of Centre intellectuals have shaped Rahul's values, but he lacks earthiness.'
Politely decline to be prime minister, and hand the baton to someone else in the BJP -- like Sonia did to Manmohan Singh -- advises Krishna Prasad.
Now that the prime minister has put into his mouth what should have been firmly planted on the ground, if the Pakistanis insist on talking to us about self-determination for Kashmir, lets then also talk self-determination for Baluchistan.
Images from Day 2 of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the MCG on Friday.
Modi flagged off the first batch of pilgrims led by Akal Takhat Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib through the corridor, which was thrown open days ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on November 12.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who have extended support to the Congress to form the government in the state, were not present.
Sharmishtha, who has quit politics, also clarified that she has not tried to tweak her father's views about anyone.
After spending nearly 50 years in a colonial bungalow at 24, Akbar Road, the Congress moved into a new office on January 15. Rasheed Kidwai, who knows the history of the Congress better than the Congress, looks back at the people who breathed life into this address.
The Planning Commission was better than the Niti Aayog as it used to take up the issues of the states with the ministries concerned.
"I feel very sad. I have no control. They are all adults," Dr Singh said while replying to queries on the sidelines of the Padma awards function in New Delhi.
Refusing to let Prime Minister Manmohan Singh off the hook over the appointment of P J Thomas as the central vigilance commissioner, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked Dr Singh if he would fix the responsibility for the error."Since the prime minister has very graciously accepted the error of judgment, would he now appreciate that responsibility and accountability co-exist? Does the prime minister now intend to fix accountability within the government," he asked.
Union minister Chirag Paswan has caused a flutter by stating he would choose to give up his ministerial berth instead of a compromise on his principles, in keeping with the precedent set by his late father Ram Vilas Paswan.
'Just because the NDA has a majority and the BJP is the single largest party does not mean that this Modi government enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha.' 'It is always possible that some members (of the NDA and even the BJP) may defect, some members may not want him to be the prime minister and they might vote differently (against Modi) in the confidence vote.'
'We don't have to go abroad for anything.' 'Anyone who thinks we have a lot to learn from the US needs to have his head examined.' 'We are in a new era.'
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, had said that stimulus measures need to continue till there is robust recovery in the developed world, which account for bulk of India's exports.
Reports (not denied by India) that the USA had 'for the first time provided real-time details to their Indian counterparts on the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion' into Tawang at the LAC in December 2022, helping India thwart China's expansionist designs, show how operationally effective the USA-India friendship has become on the ground. A engaging excerpt from Sreeram Chaulia's must-read new book, Friends: India's Closest Strategic Partners.
The fundamental construct of India's neighbourhood policy still needs to be what Vajpayee postulated, Manmohan Singh embraced, and Modi energised. It's just that we need to junk domestic politics and excessive religiosity, while acquiring much humility and a renewed respectfulness towards our neighbours, recommends Shekhar Gupta.
The Prime Minister's Office has denied that Jaswant Singh had named the 'mole' in his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Dubbing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the most hapless Prime Minister India has ever seen, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday slammed the United Progressive Alliance government as the most ineffective, corrupt and indifferent dispensation since Independence.
Leaders of only a few Asian countries have visited Myanmar in the new era. Notably, China is not among them. Dr Manmohan Singh's visit, the first by a prime minister since 1987, is imbued with larger regional significance, says Rajiv Bhatia.
The Prime Minister's remarks came even as a draft statement finalised at the Summit showed developing countries' failure to get any figures in paragraphs about financing sustainable growth for poorer economies.
On his first official visit after becoming the prime minister of Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai on Saturday said all "misunderstandings" have been "dispelled" and a "new chapter" has been opened up in Indo-Nepal ties. The Nepalese prime minister also assured New Delhi of developing a mechanism to check the Fake Currency Notes circulation on Indo-Nepal border.
Prime Minister opportunistically engaged flawed leaders and regressed into NAM rhetoric during his UN visit, says K C Singh.
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who had several meetings with Indian leaders during his nine-years at the helm, feels Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is a "nice man" for his country. Musharraf, who met Dr Singh a number of times, including during his visit to New Delhi in 2005, said he liked the Indian prime minister.
Nirupam had filed a defamation case against Rai after the former CAG in his book in 2014 made the allegation against him and repeated it in interviews to the media.
Britain's new Prime Minister David Cameron, who heads the Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition government, would visit India later this year, official sources said on Friday.
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