Swaraj also called on Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw and held discussions with him on issues of mutual interest.
'As he has no executive track record, so far, he is all talk and hence essentially a braggart and a bigot.' 'That he is described as the 'Trump of the tropics' should give a shorthand summary to what he stands for on issues in general,' points out Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former envoy to Brazil.
The Trinamool Congress won 211 seats.
This is the first meeting chaired by Gandhi after relinquishing the post of Congress president last year.
'All of Indira Gandhi's bad economic ideas are being strengthened, from nationalised banks to anti-poverty, handout yojanas,' says Shekhar Gupta.
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Being public sector employees, they still saw no reason to stir themselves unduly.
Vice President Hamid Ansari said that there is no shift in India's foreign policy and asserted that it is participation that matters as it is "not a conference of Prime Ministers".
The president said China would never allow "any people, organisation or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time, in any form."
'When it vanishes as a national force (meaning when it can no longer get sufficient votes to hold onto its symbol, the hand) it will not have been the first large Indian party to die,' says Aakar Patel.
'Yogi Adityanath will prove to be the most popular and effective chief minister, overseeing a regime of peace and justice, harsh on wrongdoers and rabble rousers, encouraging those who work for India,' says Tarun Vijay.
Mudra Bank will be a Rs 20,000-crore institution, which would "primarily be responsible for refinancing all micro-finance institutions.
'Both Nehru and Patel were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other.' 'Neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi has much in them to claim such legacies.' 'They are symptomatic of the sad days that have befallen the nation midwifed and contemplated by Nehru and Patel,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
Joining hands with his arch rival, Lalu Prasad Yadav, paid off for the Bihar chief minister
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
Most Indians have an Ambassador story. Avishek Rakshit chronicles what made this car such an indispensable part of India's cultural psyche.
Pro-growth economist Arvind Panagariya has been appointed as first vice-chairman of the newly announced NITI Aayog, which has replaced the Planning Commission.
The Congress kept sheltering Quattrochi, and the BJP was more intent on shielding the Hinduja brothers. The fact is that the two roads crisscrossed, and neither the truth prevailed nor did the law take its course, says Mohan Guruswamy.
While naysayers say the economy is on a downward spiral, optimists point out that India has experienced a shift of gears in the realm of policies, thanks to several initiatives of the Narendra Modi government, says Ashok K Lahiri.
Even as Barack Obama administration officials believe that the India-US relationship has now "emerged at the world stage" and is no longer a "restricted to narrow" South Asia or subcontinental set of issues, they also concede that America's security partnership with Pakistan over the years still poses challenge to India-US relationship.
The government's decision to award the Bharat Ratna to Sachin Tendulkar was drawn to a court in Bihar on Tuesday, with a petitioner challenging the Centre's decision to bestow the honour on the just-retired cricketer, alleging a 'conspiracy' to ignore hockey legend Dhyanchand.
Bharatiya Janata Party led by its prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on senior Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal after he mocked Modi's credentials for leading the country saying a tea-seller cannot make a good prime minister.
For a country with a huge atheist vote bank, relatively few claim to be irreligious, says Devangshu Datta
An estimated 47 per cent voters exercised their franchise on Sunday in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation polls
''We have a very difficult period ahead of us.' 'Fortunately we have a popular government and a popular leader who is ideally placed to take us into confidence,' says Aakar Patel.
'My heart weeps for Vajpayee, the prince among poets, the king among politicians and the emperor among statesmen,' says Sudhir Bisht.
Rediff.com gives you a lowdown on the NSCN-K.
'In the first elections, Hindutva forces got only 6% of the votes and won only 10 seats.' 'It was a great defeat for them.' 'They have held that grouse against Nehru since then.'
Although India has sought inputs from the Myanmar army since most of those involved in Thursday's ambush would have sneaked across into Myanmar, the fresh operations would smoke out insurgents based in hideouts on the Indian side along the border.
The passage of this major legislation comes ahead of the general election due early next year.
Mohammad Sajjad salutes the memory of Mushirul Hasan -- historian, thinker, academic, institution builder, -- who passed into the ages this week.
Kumar's comments at the party's national executive meeting came amid a strain in his ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and appears to be a message to his ally, some of whose leaders have been linked to alleged communal tensions and violence in the state.
'Antonio Guterres takes over as the UN secretary-general with tremendous goodwill as the process of his election was without the usual horse trading and compromises.' 'We have every reason to believe that he will be sensitive to Indian positions,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The Modi government has been taking credit for improvement in respect of the ease of doing business in India.' 'But when I look at the scams I cannot help feeling that it is too easy to do business with banks in India, if one is a Harshad Mehta, Vijay Mallya or Nirav Modi and their tribe,' says former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole.
Since 2004, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, one of the commission's longest serving deputy chairmen, has been trying to mould it to fit into the new economic order, without much to show for his efforts.
Illegal weapons proliferation through the porous India-Myanmar border in the north-east has been a boon for the Maoists operating in the rest of the country. It has been disclosed by the Bharatiya Janata Party's national security cell convenor P Chandrasekhar following his situation review meeting with convenors of state BJP security cells in the north-east.
The Congress sent in Rahul Gandhi to play Aamir Khan at the FTII, but it turned out that he played Imran Khan instead, says Malavika Sangghvi.
In the Inner Manipur constituency, which goes to the polls on Thursday, the Communist Party of India candidate is backed by the Bahujan Samaj Party, Shiv Sena, et al. Nitin Sethi reports
'Freebies are yet be proven a 'pucca' vote-catcher. But don't say that to KCR because he takes pride in two things: His record of delivery and imagination,' says Shekhar Gupta.
For the region to realise its full potential, New Delhi needs to start looking at the land-locked northeast as an important starting point in India's 'Act East' policy, says Nitin Gokhale
