'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.
Here's your weekly digest of the most weird, true and funny news from the across the world.
When Correa was hailed as India's greatest architect in 2013, he said, 'Greatest is so...so definite. Most innovative might have been better'
'The Godse controversy may have helped Kamal Haasan reach out to a larger audience, both inside the state and outside, coming as it does when the main campaign for elections 19 is over and only those in the four assembly bypoll constituencies are drudging along,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Broader markers outperformed their larger peers.
Outside Rampur, Azam Khan's name may be an alias for controversy. But Rampur's voters believe that all the improvements in their constituency has been accomplished only by the man they have elected 8 times to the state assembly.
'As a nation we came up short, but that did not deter Kalam. He made it his life mission to exhort the young to greatness.'
The Bombay high court on Friday set aside the sanction granted to the Central Bureau of Investigation by Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to prosecute senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing society scam.
There is no denying that the Deepa identity has overnight caught the people's imagination across the state. But converting that into an imagery and from there as support and vote-base is a different matter altogether, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
E-governance roll-out needs better infrastructure, privacy protection.
When size matters. Just as scotch bottles have become bigger, novels have also become fatter.
Every house in the Achota village of Dhamtari district in Chhattisgarh has children who roll bidis but are outside the scope of child labour laws.
Manish Sisodia's elevation as Delhi CM would set Arvind Kejriwal free to take up a significant role in national politics, or he could return to activism, says Sudhir Bisht.
Can you imagine a show made in India beating both The Voice and The X-Factor on ratings? Vanita Kohli-Khandekar profiles Greymatter, the Indian content firm that made it possible.
The demand for OROP has been projected as an unambiguous issue but a good policy argument must have a sound economic element.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has decided to buy a 15 per cent stake in Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) for Rs 459 crore from Financial Technologies India (FTIL).
'The domestic scenario is much better than earlier, demonstrated in the March quarter earnings.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has positioned himself as a credible partner for Bangladesh. He has scored by getting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to travel with him to Dhaka, says Srinath Raghavan
'How do we explain that on the economic, internal security and strategic fronts, India's unstable coalitions have acted more decisively and boldly than all our full-majority governments yet?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'So what if the enemies take us as prisoners of war? So what of they kill us? I would feel proud that I could sacrifice my life for the country,' say these proud lady officers of the Indian Navy.
The abolition of wealth tax is again a welcome step.
Will China's new military reforms endanger Xi Jinping's rule?
'This generation has seen no communication.' 'You have not given them any stake.' 'They don't have a feeling of belonging.' 'They have only seen a man in uniform with a gun.' 'That is why it is taking a more vicious form today -- the attacks on the security forces and the retaliation is causing heavy loss of lives.'
Former India cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi said the appointment "defies all logic".
Ajit Doval is now India's all-powerful security boss. This concentration of power disrupts our layered security system. Will it not weaken whatever remains of the power and authority of the home, defence and finance ministers? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'Like it or not, the Congress is still the only party with the potential to challenge the BJP at a pan-Indian level,' says T V R Shenoy.
'Notwithstanding the realisation among the Indian leadership to build up its navy for the force's expanding role, the Indian Navy was allocated only 15% of the interim defence budget presented in Parliament in February 2019.' 'The outlay for the navy's capital acquisition is not even adequate to meet its committed liabilities,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Challenges abound but innovation is key for new banks inorder to survive.
'Culture is our asset. Culture is our identity.' 'Wherever you go in India, every millimetre can be measured with culture.' 'There is so much to see that even one life is not enough.'
I think we are just too complacent about our electoral system. There's a lot that is very wrong with it. But we continue to parrot the boring mantra of this being the greatest electoral exercise in the world. Things are not going to change. Next election let's just boycott the whole process en masse, says Sherna Gandhy.
Government to pay disproportionately high interest for borrowings from savings, overturning a nearly two-decade-long process of reforms in the management of public debt.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley has delivered a Arun Jaitley delivered a bold, far sighted budget
'This letter is not a complaint, it's more indignation, because we do not like being used as political tools by people of various parties.'
Investors will maintain a cautious stance.
'Unless we change and we see a change in the direction we are taking, times can only get worse.'
'Whoever whispered in his ears that go for demonetisation, misled him completely' and the PM lacked the sagacity to know that it would not work, Yashwant Sinha tells Archis Mohan.
The economic slowdown has made it difficult for companies to record financial closure of a few awarded projects.
US India Business Council has urged New Delhi and America to take steps to strengthen bilateral trade relationship to realise their 'true business potential'.
The Indian Institute of Science topped the HRD ministry's 2017 national rankings. In 2016, the IISc was ranked among the world's top 15 universities in the Times Higher Education University Rankings. In his book The Creation of Wealth: The Tatas from the 19th to the 21st Century, R M Lala recounted how Jamsetji Tata's grand vision and immense personal contribution laid the edifice of arguably India's finest educational institution.
Here's a look at the events that shaped the world last week.