Most Indians have an Ambassador story. Avishek Rakshit chronicles what made this car such an indispensable part of India's cultural psyche.
'What will be achieved by the prime minister's condemnation of each and every unfortunate incident? Will just the PM's condemnation bring about closure to these cases,' asks Sudhir Bisht.
'The sad truth is our news managers know much more about Houston and Boston than Kohima and Kokrajhar...' 'Many worthies will travel to the US and Europe to report on Prime Minister Modi's foreign sojourns, but will cite the difficulties of logistics when asked why they don't cover Modi's forays into Arunachal Pradesh, a state China lays claim to.'
Making no effort to conceal his prime ministerial ambitions, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections were "a matter of honour" for him.
'The BJP has no presence where the regional parties are strong.' 'And we should think of the Congress and support the Congress in those places where it is the dominant regional party.' 'The leaders of the other parties (have to) get together on this simple principle of one candidate against the BJP candidate.'
'You have to respect nature. You won't respect nature unless you see nature's fury.'
With exit polls forecasting the National Democratic Alliance staging a comeback to power, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said his party could not be written off and it would fight for "politics of secularism" whether it forms the government or sits in the opposition.
Communist China has recently developed a great expertise in 'soul reincarnation', feels Claude Arpi
CBI not to need prior approval to probe corrupt govt officials.
The Cuban government has announced nine days of mourning and has set Castro's funeral for December 4.
'During his stint as MoS in the Narasimha Rao PMO, Matang Sinh developed contacts in the bureaucracy which stood him in good stead even when out of power.'
Aseem Chhabra lists the movies that taught him about the Idea of India.
For a country with a huge atheist vote bank, relatively few claim to be irreligious, says Devangshu Datta
'The BJP should realise that a very large number of people -- from the 'perfumed liberals' to the 'illiterate' masses of Bihar -- is trying to tell them that this is not the 'development' they wanted.' 'Stop telling people what to eat, what to wear, what to read, who to love and how not to show dissent.'
Fencing the border between Myanmar and Nagaland is expected to adversely affect the Naga tribals. Gautam Sen, an expert on Nagaland, explains why the Indian government needs a more comprehensive and long-term perspective on this issue and why it must take local tribal sensitivities and customs into account.
The EC, which reserved its order on the dispute over 'cycle' symbol, has kept both sides guessing with leaders of warring camps exploring various scenarios as little time is left for process of filing nominations to start for the first phase of the staggered polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Naga rebel groups remain divided over the pact. Moreover, secrecy on accord creates apprehension in the society. K Anurag reports
'Benares has always encouraged healthy debate where disagreement and dissent was never frowned upon. Today, the people are faced with a situation where a political opponent is not being allowed to give election speeches and is being physically attacked.' 'We are going to hand over power to a person who has a reputation of being dictatorial, who does not brook dissent and is known to be vindictive to his opponents,' author Kashinath Singh tells Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
'If the dimensions of the strategic partnership worked out by India and the US seem like a grand alliance targeted at you-know-who, China had better realise that it has fathered it,' says B S Raghavan, a long time observer of China.
'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.
'It doesn't really matter ultimately what individual commentators say or write about Modi. So long as he continues the BJP's march towards greater vote share, a bigger geographic spread and a crushing of the Congress, he is a success,' says Aakar Patel.
The main opposition party alleged "trampling" of democracy by the BJP-led government which hit back by reminding that Congress had "butchered" democracy by misusing Article 356 about 100 times.
The Opposition is putting up a symbolic fight for the presidential polls as it knows that the BJP has the numbers to get its candidate elected to the top post.
It is the last place where the dinosaurs who once dreamt of ruling the Earth can still be seen in their natural habitat, says T V R Shenoy.
From the Syrian civil war to the Ukrainian crisis to the terror unleashed by the dreaded Islamic State, there was no lack of news in 2014. Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
The Centre should focus on achieving peace either through long-term ceasefire agreements or sustained military operations. Military operations which are just intermittent responses to particular incidents won't lead anywhere, says Devanik Saha.
'You can ascribe any ideology to him, and it will be equally right - or equally wrong.' 'Even though the comrades on the Left will never admit it, he seems as much Stalinist as capitalist.'
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
Voters are disillusioned with the two rival fronts in the state and there are no effective alternatives either. G Sreedathan explains
'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.
Parth J Shah is the man behind the The 100 Laws Project, a listing of the country's ludicrous but extant legislations.
'Clarifying that modernisation of national defence and armed forces should be completed by 2035, Xi Jinping asserted the goal is to make the People's Liberation Army a "world class force" that "can fight and win" by 2050,' points out former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
President Pranab Mukherjee, PM Narendra Modi, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Left parties, among others, condoled the demise of former Cuban president.
There have been significant changes in Gujarat, says Uttam Ghosh, as he captures the state in his camera.
Under fierce attack for his DNA jibe against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, which has been turned into a major electoral weapon against him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought to make amends, calling Biharis the "most intelligent" people.
Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi talks about the Bihar polls with M I Khan/Rediff.com
Cutting across party lines, all MPs slammed Pakistan for awarding death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav.
Headline-grabbing is part of Terry Gou's business plan.
'India cannot expect to be insulated from the crisis. Europe is India's biggest trading partner with two-way trade of E72.5 billion or Rs 530,000 crore last year,' says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances