It, however, lags other states on crucial parameters such as health care and rural poverty.
A Ganesh Nadar and Saisuresh Sivaswamy, on the campaign trail with H Vasanthakumar, the Congress's businessman candidate in Tamil Nadu.
Now that Tamil Nadu's tallest politician is no more, it remains to be seen how new political re-alignments could shape up, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rediff readers share their Cash Crisis experiences.
Sri Srinivasan, the first Indian-origin federal judge in the United States, is India Abroad Person of the Year 2013
At India's Ground Zero where another body was recovered on Tuesday Republic Day was observed solemnly. Yes, it was short of the customary pageantry but not of its glory.
The hit Harry Potter series actress's speech touched on many issues, including the confusion over the word feminism.
It will now take at least two more years to get a clarity on the priorities and policies of the leadership of the new state of Telangana.
To mark his 50th death anniversary, rediff.com has launched a special series to evaluate Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy.
The average land given to the rural landless is small and falling, from 0.95 acres in 2002 to 0.88 acres in 2015 - a 7.4 per cent drop over 13 years-and a slowdown is evident in the process of taking land away from rich landlords, the RTI data reveal.
Single mother Gauri Sawant hopes to change the way people view transgenders in India.
One can understand that all MPs are equal in that sense and are endowed with varied talents but that does not automatically qualify them to run ministries. Some are adept at meeting challenges and some simply are not, and remain ornaments. By seeking pro-rata quotas, the very purpose of a forming a ministry of talent is lost, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
'If fame, money and comfort are the only factors that drive us, then we are playing cricket for entirely the wrong reasons.'
Kalyani Khona is helping the disabled find love.
U R Ananthamurthy's assertion of leaving the country if Modi is voted to power is an affront to the deep sense of the Indian voters who have time and again shown a certain sagacity and wisdom of judgement. It certainly shows a 'corruption of the mind' on his part and not on the one he chooses to irrationally oppose, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
ITC is one of those few enterprises in the world that has traversed a 100 year journey and has yet managed to remain contemporary, relevant and competitive.
The families of the Muslim youth from Hashimpura who were shot dead 28 years ago had some committed supporters in their long struggle for justice.
'The standing ovation in Cannes was a rare moment where I felt patriotic. I realised that the audience was not clapping for an individual but for the team that came from India with such a beautiful film.' Masaan's leading man Vicky Kaushal takes us through its making.
'A P Venkateswaran left an indelible impression on Indian diplomacy and made an incredible number of friends, who kept remembering him, more than other Indian diplomats, who served at those posts.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan salutes a legend of the Indian Foreign Service who passed into the ages.
'Shashi Tharoor has publicised whatever little he has done, far more than what he has actually done. Some of the bigger promises he made could never be implemented.' Ajit Joy, a former police officer and Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier that he is a more attractive candidate in his constituency than sitting MP Tharoor.
This week, after years of denying it, octogenarian politician N D Tiwari publicly accepted that Rohit Shekhar is indeed his son. For Shekhar, the change of heart must also come with a legal guarantee.
Disappointed and angry Congress members are likely to train their guns on Rahul Gandhi's team of advisors for inept handling of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal
'In today's India very few would, of course, stand Basavanna's test. This led Professor Kalburgi to not only take on casteist and conservative forces in general, but also some powerful conservatives among Lingayats.' 'Conservatives found him polarising and some researchers disagreed with his speculations while admiring his scholarship, but he posited that culture studies and historians have to perforce join the dots, speculate, interpret, interpolate, extrapolate and take leaps to make progress even if some of them later turn out to be wrong.' Shivanand Kanavi salutes Professor M M Kalburgi, the scholar who was assassinated in Dharwad on Sunday, August 30.
'The clique that runs that country is treating us like suckers. We are very foolish, giving people money who involve themselves in activity that's harmful to America.' 'When you look at the cold hard facts, Pakistan is not an ally to the United States. They have facilitated, they have encouraged, they have been a protector of enemies.'
Nargis Fakhri is really fun to be around, discovers Patcy N/Rediff.com.
Dr Pinakin Shah visited the Land of the Thunder Dragon and returned mesmerized.
'It was only relatively recently that Subhash Kapoor was able to secure the sources in India, Afghanistan and Cambodia, that allowed him to get the really highest level objects, and that helped propel him in recent years up the ranks.'
'People residing in the enclaves have led completely isolated lives. They are stateless, have no official identity proof.' 'It is significant that Modi, Banerjee, Sarkar and Gogoi, despite having different political ideologies, are walking in tandem for the cause of the people residing in the enclaves.' 'If the LBA betters the economy of India and Bangladesh, there will be less turmoil in both these countries.'
Arvind Subramanian talks about US and China's power play and where India figures in these dynamics.
T P Sreenivasan was India's high commissioner in Fiji in 1987, when Sitiveni Rabuka toppled the Indian-dominated government there. Ambassador Sreenivasan stayed on for two years after the coup, fighting for the rights of the people of Indian origin before he was expelled by Rabuka. 'Meeting Sitiveni Rabuka, who had overthrown a democratically elected government, discriminated against the Fiji Indians, brought untold humiliation and suffering to them, tried to disenfranchise them, ordered me out of Fiji and closed down the Indian high commission was a difficult decision to take even after 25 years,' notes Ambassador Sreenivasan who eventually caught up with Rabuka over a game of golf.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the United States Congress.
Arthur J Pais interviews John Madden, director of the Marigold Hotel films, on the difficult task of creating an equally hilarious and as feeling a sequel.
'They must bow their head before the people's might and start their work immediately. Now nothing can help them, but a show of sincerity and a life without cosmetic frills.' 'They don't have any option, but to succeed and prove themselves worthy of this massive victory,' says BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
'The present government's greatest weakness is its intolerance. Tolerance is the key tenet of democracy. How can any government stop someone from speaking one's mind?'
The first woman chief justice of a state in India Leila Seth talks about her career and how she went on to fight male bias and discrimination.
Read the full transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday at the US Capitol in Washington.
'Small bands of terrorists believe they can destabilise superpowers if they are ready to become martyrs.' 'Since the road to paradise is under the shade of swords, it is a win-win situation for those ready to die for the cause of Allah.'
The jury of the 58th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected an image by Danish photographer Mads Nissen as the World Press Photo of the Year 2014.
As the year 2014 draws to an end, we at Rediff.com take to look at some of the ridiculous remarks made by some blundering politicos.
In his penultimate State of the Union address, Barack Obama said that the economy is improving.
