Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for deeper ties in key areas of counter-terrorism, climate change and UN reforms.
The UK prime minister stressed that a complete lockdown was the only answer to prevent the overrunning of the country's state-funded National Health Service, which would be a "medical and moral disaster" beyond the raw loss of life.
For the current woes of the state to end, in city after city, town after town, village after village, unauthorised constructions have to be removed, no questions asked, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Many chief executives said they were talking to people at the top level in their organisations to find how their companies can help the flood victims.
With the Railways blaming the Bihar government for the train disaster at Dhamara Ghat in Khagaria district which claimed 28 lives, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday dubbed Railway minister of state Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury's remarks in this regard as "highly irresponsible."
'Whatever else may or may not happen, China and its people are likely to pay a very heavy price for the lack of transparency of its Communist regime,' predicts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
More than 1,25,000 people have been rescued from the flood-ravaged parts of Jammu and Kashmir so far as the relief operations launched by the Armed forces entered the 11th day on Friday.
The Opposition on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying his note ban decision was "reckless".
Four decades of federal evolution made India more secure, but coronavirus is reversing that. Modi's central government has tasted power again and is unlikely to give it up, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Jammu and Kashmir was bracing for a fresh spell of rains as predicted by Met department, leading to nervousness among the people who were heaving a sigh of relief as flood situation was showing improvement on Tuesday after causing the death of 17 people.
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
'Other countries go out on a limb to save even a single life.' 'What to talk of civilian accidents and disasters, even our military does not have a priority for Combat Search and Rescue,' says Group Captain P I Muralidharan (retd).
'It is perplexing to see the leader of the First World with a first rate medical infrastructure come up short on its foresight to handle the pandemic,' notes Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
The government has set up a control room to coordinate the cleaning process across the state and the civic bodies have been entrusted with the task of managing the work, official sources said on Thursday.
A cyclonic circulation over Haryana was the trigger for the deadly dust storm that swept parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, weather experts said.
The independent institute advising the PM on jobs seems to have missed the point that the challenge is to create net additional jobs, says Mahesh Vyas.
Read the full transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday at the US Capitol in Washington.
More than 3,000 squads under health and local self-government departments have started the process of cleaning houses and public places, official sources said.
'I sat down and asked them what they would want in their new school. One student said a football field, another one asked for computers. One little girl came and sat next to me and said, "A separate toilet for the girls." I think these small things make a huge difference in the future of education in India,' Nita Ambani tells Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com
She accused the Narendra Modi government of engaging in a "dangerous duplicitous game.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
'I am only asking about his travel bills and expenditure.'
The temples committee has already posted a request to devotees on its website to contribute towards the rebuilding.
The report by WaterAid states that 663 million people globally are without clean water and the vast majority of them -- 522 million -- live in rural areas.
'Their dharma propels them to pay their workers; otherwise, they know the boys would starve.' 'At the same time they will not allow their business to suffer,' observes Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'Everybody fears them and rightly so. Who in his right senses wouldn't fear these agencies?' 'They can take away everything in seconds with near zero recourse to law.'
'It is not simply demonetisation or GST, it is this government's failure to manage the financial sector crisis.'
The result of the opinion polls would allow the government to move ahead quickly to reach a deal with creditors
The fight over FYUP is between a highly controversial decision taken during the United Progressive Alliance rule and how the National Democratic Alliance government perceives it and how it is determined to resolve it in its own way, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
'The focus on countering terrorism brings to the issue Beijing's non-serious approach in this regard. India's permanent representative at the UN has raised in vain the issue of funding and the release of 26/11 suspect Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. But China has blocked these objections since December 2014 at the UN even after 'highest levels' in India intervened,' notes Srikanth Kondapalli, reviewing the India-China military exercises in Kunming.
'He should bring in a working president from outside the family.'
The negotiations started on Sunday, a day ahead of schedule.
'Hundreds of engineers have complained that they are being threatened by criminals for allotment of contracts and extortion.'
Public sector banks are inefficient, poorly governed and beset by largescale corruption.
In the long run, the decision could bring clearer rules to a sector that has failed to provide India with enough power because it has been so hamstrung by confusion and scandals over concessions allegedly handed to government cronies.
'I am not a friend of anyone who wants to defend, justify and glorify any businessman, power drunk person or religious fanatics, fake activists, apologists of terrorists, appeasers of some, oppressors of others, pretending to be political leaders,' says Amit Mehra.
Some of the World Bank's suggestions to hold back the predicted tide of fresh poverty appear to run counter to the economic policies of Narendra Modi's government
For the past, blame the Congress. For the present, blame the Congress. For everything, blame the Congress. But for your future, vote BJP.
'I can assure you the Ganga will be more polluted in 2030 than it is now.' 'What they are trying to do now is clean the Ganga without understanding how to do so.'
