'As soon as the BJP feels they are going to lose power, they will publish the caste census data of 2011 and conduct the caste census of 2021.'
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 'Mission Karmayogi', dubbed as the biggest bureaucratic reform initiative, aimed at capacity building of government employees to make them more "creative, proactive, professional and technology-enabled". The core guiding principles of the competency-driven programme will be to support a transition from "rules based to roles based" HR management to prepare the Indian civil servant for the future, according to a government statement.
Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family.
The Supreme Court Thursday ordered that the report of a high-level committee on the role of erring police officials in the 1994 espionage case relating to Indian Space Research Organisation scientist Nambi Narayanan be given to the Central Bureau of Investigation and directed the agency to conduct further investigation on the issue.
While those who attended 'Livelihoods in Lockdown' learnt a lot, was anyone from the government listening?
It claimed the officials were involved in 'espionage, subversion and supporting terrorist activities in Balochistan and Sindh'.
'There is no discipline here -- only autocracy. The state is not governed by any democratic ideology. Democracy has ceased to exist here.'
The court left it to the CBI to take a call on whether those chargesheeted need to be arrested or not.
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
'The Kashmir issue has become internationalised after nearly half a century.' 'India, not Pakistan, has done so pro-actively,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'I criticise the interference of the army in politics.' 'But the people know I am not anti-Pakistan.' 'Public support is my biggest strength.'
The 70-year-old is so unassuming that it is reported that he has not removed the name plate in his ancestral home in Jodhpur that reads, 'Judge, Supreme Court'.
Award-winning lawyer, Claire Montgomery, the Queen's Counsel, is likely to fight the Indian government's attempt to extradite him to India.
'Adivasis are a critical national treasure, so we need to protect them.' 'The fight for the tribals of Chhattisgarh needs people from all political parties. It cannot be about any single political group.'
A genuine attempt was made to reset relations in a positive way, signalling a stepping back from the brink of conflict, much to the relief of the world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Justices Dilip B Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi have been appointed as judicial members in the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Justice Ghose, who retired from the Supreme Court in May 2017, is a member of the National Human Rights Commission.
Indians will forever remember Akram as the scary phenomenon with the soft smile, the man who rattled through the Indian batting order, but was rarely as hated as Waqar or Shoaib Akhtar, observes Vaibhav Raghunandan.
In Gujarat's political circles, the appeal was seen as an indirect call to vote against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Mahatma's descendants differ over Modi and the BJP victory... US-based Coalition Against Genocide vows to oppose Modi... Only Hindu US Congresswoman congratulates Modi... George Joseph/Rediff.com reports from New York.
Opposing a dialogue with Pakistan till it stops 'exporting' terror into Jammu and Kashmir, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina at an all-party meet in New Delhi on Thursday said those seeking engagement with the neighbouring country should meet the victims of violence to understand their pain.
'The humanity displayed by ordinary, lower middle class residents of north east Delhi -- Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs -- will be remembered perhaps even more than the evil wrought in the riots,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Professor of Economics at Harvard University Raj Chetty have been named by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as '2020 Great Immigrants' honourees, the Corporation said in a statement on Wednesday.
India witnessed religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions and the police in some cases failed to respond effectively to communal violence, according to the US State Department report on International Religious Freedom.
'The National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, as recent events suggest, are quite content as New Delhi's collaborators rather than trying to be true representatives of the Kashmiri people,' says Athar Parvaiz.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'The forces of good are on the run.' 'But dark times also challenge people to fight.' 'I believe Indians will rise against these dark times.'
India boycotted Pak National Day event over invitation to Hurriyat leaders.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO have expressed concern on the new law and warned of retaliatory measures.
'What this incident must do is provide a renewed impetus to urgently bring in police reforms; changes that will ensure that political patronage and extraneous pressure are reduced to a minimum and allow the police to function independently and honestly,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
Sandeep Pandey salutes women who have contributed to social transformation in India after 1980.
The West has always preferred a timid, half intelligent and a dependent India rather than a decisively independent and self-reliant one. A pliable Indian leadership suits the West best, says Tarun Vijay.
His action after the Godhra train violence doesn't support the picture of an effective and no-nonsense deliverer of good governance, says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud acknowledged that the Madras high court's remarks were 'harsh', but did not expunge them, saying they do not form part of the judicial order.
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
"For us, combating the COVID-19 situation will be the topmost priority... This is victory of Bengal and only Bengal can do it ," she said in her brief message to party workers.
National security, consolidation of border defences and border security highlights China's Tibet policy, points out Jayadeva Ranade, the former senior RA&W officer and China expert.
Dr Bhabha and Dr Sarabhai didn't feel guilty for their ambitions; it was for those 'mad scientists' that India is a powerhouse -- both at the atomic level and in the vastness of space, observes Kumar Abishek.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa on Sunday squarely blamed the Centre and the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam for the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and also the fishermen from the state.
'The CBI should be bifurcated and the CBI's charter should be restricted to anti-corruption cases.'
'The investigation of major criminal cases having national and international implications, and national crimes spread over more than one state may be entrusted to a new national crime bureau,' recommends Dr Madhav Godbole, the former home secretary.