Chastened by the Kargil conflict, Pervez Musharraf will be remembered for gradually lowering the profile of terrorism and seeking a realistically negotiated settlement to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan when Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
Teen Murti Bhavan served as the official residence of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
'I am still the girl who grew up in a close family in Madras, in the South of India, and I am deeply connected to the lessons and culture of my youth. I am also the woman who arrived in the US at age twenty-three to study and work and, somehow, rose to lead an iconic company, a journey that I believe is possible only in America. I belong in both worlds,' says the ex-Pepsico chief in her memoir
Congress as the opposition party has become increasingly aggressive against the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the border standoff with China.
After casting his ballot in Dispur, Guwahati, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dismissed the claims of a Modi wave sweeping the country and said it was just a creation of the media.
'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.'
Kumari Selja, who has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha, has quit the Union council of ministers to work in the party.
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.
During the two-day Summit in St Petersburg attended by the world's top leaders including US President Barack Obama and host Vladimir Putin, Singh declared that India has been affected by currency volatility in the past few weeks and was taking steps to finance the current account deficit in an environment that is seen to be friendly for stable foreign capital flows.
Although the credit for acquiring the technological skill must be given to India's outstanding nuclear scientists, the decision to go nuclear was a political one that entailed clarity of vision, courage and resolve, points out Rup Narayan Das.
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.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday questioned the character of the opposition alliance, saying its true face was seen when it indulged in corruption to save its governments.
The 59-year-old Vikram Misri assumed charge of the key position at a time India is looking to navigate various geo-political challenges, including its frosty ties with China following the lingering eastern Ladakh border row and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
According to sources, several opposition leaders are also considering boycotting the inaugural function on Sunday, alleging that the government has insulted the President.
'Right now, we have no relationship with Pakistan. And the relationship with China is not great.'
'What criteria is GoI (government of India) using to judge how long the lockdown is to continue...'
However much one underplays the meeting between India and Pakistan's top leaders, it can never be undervalued, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday again took a digital tablet wrapped in a traditional 'bahi-khata' style pouch as she headed for Parliament to present Union Budget 2023-24 in a paperless format just like the previous two years. She posed for the traditional 'briefcase' picture outside her office along with her team of officials before heading to meet the President. She, however, was holding a tablet instead of a briefcase to present the Budget in a digital format.
Did Prime Minister Modi receive a different kind of reception at the Biden White House on Friday than he has has been used to at the American president's home?
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may intervene in the discussion on several files pertaining to coal block allocations going missing, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said on Thursday.
Giving extensions to secretaries after fixing their tenure is unfair to the rest.
'Evidently, something has gone terribly wrong in the state of the Indian Union.' 'The rulers seem nervous that the pandemic is spinning out of control,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to allow us to project his real personality to let the people of India know exactly what he really was. He was always shying away from greater public exposure. Since the last two years we have seen enormous criticism, ridiculing the prime minister. He has been made into an object of jokes. It certainly hurts. I think this man deserves lots of good reviews... His contribution to social policy, his contribution to the economy, his contribution to coalition management, his contribution to foreign policy.' Dr Sanjaya Baru, Dr Singh's former media advisor who is in the eye of a storm over his book on the prime minister UPA speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday used her trademark 'bahi-khata', a ledger wrapped in a red-coloured cloth, to carry Budget documents as she arrived in Parliament House to present her third straight Budget. Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman finance minister, had in July 2019 ditched the colonial legacy of a Budget briefcase for the traditional 'bahi-khata' to carry Union Budget papers. She used the same last year and again on Monday.
Dr T V Somanathan is the first finance secretary to be appointed Cabinet secretary since 1985. His appointment at this juncture seems to carry much meaning for the forthcoming trajectory of reforms and restructuring of India's steel frame.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday and congratulated him on being awarded the Bharat Ratna -- the highest civilian award in the country.
In a curious turn of events on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked Rajeev Topno, a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Gujarat cadre and a part of the Prime Minister's Office under former PM Manmohan Singh, as private secretary.
The old Parliament building will now be known as 'Samvidhan Sadan', Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Tuesday as the functioning of Parliament shifted to its new building in New Delhi.
Former union minister for child and women development and senior Congress Party leader Krishna Tirath on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after meeting party chief Amit Shah.
Modi to receive Lokmanya Tilak National Award, constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak
The change of heart in the US and India was propelled by the increased threat of China to both countries, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
As the old Parliament building hosted a session one last time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday bid a poignant farewell recalling the country's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru's iconic 'tryst with destiny' speech for continuing to inspire everyone and another predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 'governments may come and go' remark.
Breaking his silence over India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting scheduled at Colombo next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said a decision would be taken only after considering all relevant factors, including sentiments of Tamil people.
A myth was nurtured for nearly three decades that any chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who visited Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar district was doomed to go out of power.
A high-powered British parliamentary committee has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking if he was consulted over a controversial plan to introduce a hefty 3,000 pounds cash bond for 'high-risk' visitors from India.
'They are fighting it out, but they have deeply traumatised; they are alive and they are carrying on in life.'
Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his two-nation visit, analyses the outcome of crucial talks between the PM and his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.
10 per cent for those who earn up to Rs 30 lakh a year and 25 per cent for those who earn more, suggests T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
