Sheela Bhatt meets Bharti Patel, a truly exceptional mother of our times whose son Dr Vikram Patel was recently ranked among Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2015, to find out her recipe for a remarkable upbringing.
'How can the BJP give Muslim candidates tickets if they don't have any good Muslim candidates?'
Projects about to be completed include the first rail connectivity projects in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, along with crucial gauge conversion between Rangpara and North Lakhimpur, which would connect Arunachal Pradesh to the rest of the country.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday addressed the first joint sitting of Parliament as mandatorily required under the Constitution after the general elections. The address is the political, economic and foreign policy road map of the Narendra Modi government and covers virtually all crucial areas.
'Those who follow the workings of the establishment believe that Indian diplomacy has managed more by the individual flair and brilliance of a few individuals than its systemic strength or organisational excellence.'
'The Chinese mindset and approach to India is far different from that in Pakistan.' 'This reality makes it possible for us to follow an engagement policy with one, while militating against engagement with the other.'
Though Muslims have been trusted allies of Jats since the days of former Prime Minister Charan Singh, experts feel the alliance has had its share of strains following his death in 1987
Shuvajit was confident of making a huge difference in the lives of people in rural India.
Most juvenile remand homes are in appalling condition and need a massive overhaul. But whether redrafting the law will bring down juvenile crime is the moot question. What is required better remand homes, more specialised care rather than to expose young people to the trauma and stigma of adult jails, says Rashme Sehgal.
The 36-year-old desi speaks impeccable Arabic and quotes freely from the Quran during his speeches, reports Aziz Haniffa.
'They are acquiring agricultural land almost free of cost promising an illusory rise which is worse than a chit fund scheme.' 'When I went there on a fact-finding mission, we found that one third of the land they plan to acquire is the best agricultural land in the country.'
Spruce up your CV and seek professional advise, says Prof RSS Mani of ITM Group of Institutions.
Why are Dalits protesting against hangings in Hyderabad? Why is the focus on Muslims in JNU? Why are the students insisting on representation from marginalised communities when they are being judged by a committee? The fact is that India reserves the death penalty mostly for Dalits and Muslims, says Aakar Patel.
Indian carmakers will have no option but to manufacture safer cars from October 2017.
It is rare for communal riots to spread to rural areas. The UP riot is the first time after the September 1969 Gujarat riots that a rural area have been affected. Electoral politics which divide society in majority/minority, going on since the early 1990s, is a major contributing factor to this heightened tension between communities, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale in the first of a two part series.
'By resorting to divisive issues, the BJP is giving the impression that even if it is voted to power it won't do anything new to give Bihar a facelift. It will repel voters with the belief that the BJP can't do anything without communal polarisation as its core ideology. This is sad and unfortunate,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on range of issues -- from Rafale deal to Ram temple and triple talaq.
'If, as appears to be the case, India is on way to 'mending fences' with China, and China is equally desirous to 'reset' the relationship, this could be a self-reflexive moment in India's positioning vis-a-vis not just the Dalai Lama, but also the Tibetan issue and China as a whole,' points out China expert Alka Acharya.
Seeking a peaceful and secure neighbourhood amidst threat of terrorism and extremism, India and Kyrgyzstan on Sunday signed four agreements including one on bolstering defence cooperation and holding annual joint military exercises.
'Most likely scenario is Modi comes back with either a much smaller majority and no majority at all and a coalition.' 'Very hard to imagine him doing better than he did last time.' 'He will then be a weaker prime minister,' the author of The Billionaire Raj tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'Obama's visit to Hiroshima must generate a fresh debate in the international community about how to reduce the salience of nuclear weapons in international politics and how to disarm the world from these monstrous weapons forever,' says Sanjeev Shrivastav..
'Pakistan will try to escalate covert operations through terrorism,' says Dr Shalini Chawla.
'We ought to do something now because even the bacteria we have treatments for now we don't use wisely... We have reached a point where there aren't any new antibiotics coming out... Patients must get the right antibiotic at the right dose for the right amount of time,' says Dr Arjun Srinivasan, the acclaimed scientist who is an expert on bacterial resistance.
Were river experts excluded from IIT consortium on the Ganga River Basin Management Plan? Rashme Sehgal reports.
Bengaluru dominates Karnataka's economy and its infrastructure mess compounds the problems, with policies lagging need and expectations.
The man behind Aligarh Muslim University 200 years on.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Myanmar is aimed at transforming the arch of Bay of Bengal into the Circle of Southeast Asia, says Anirban Ganguly.
If the drop in sales over the past two years is anything to go by, India's dream of putting seven million electric vehicles on road by the end of this decade has come a cropper.
'Children should be brought up connected to our culture and should be introduced to characters from our mythologies. What is this Baa Baa Black Sheep?'
Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru wants to be the youngest person to scale the seven summits of the world.
Three businessmen disclose their success mantras: One belongs to an old Marwari family, another is a second generation industrialist whose father scripted an amazing rags-to-riches story and the third was a professional till one day he succumbed to the charms of entrepreneurship.
Sherna Gandhy hopes Malala Yousafzai can convince the powers-that-be in New Delhi that it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that our children get a decent education.
'That is what Gauri was, in her essence -- the principle of free, open, forthright words, made flesh.' 'And that is what was gunned down -- her words, and with them our freedom to fashion our own opinions, to frame our own thoughts, to articulate them without fear of reprisal.'
'Given that 95 per cent of rapes are committed by adults and only 5 per cent by juveniles, these 95 per cent of rapes will continue to take place, so what women's safety are we talking about?'
It's a mandate of young India, for young India, by young India, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com in her 43rd and concluding column on Indian Elections 2014.
Apple is loathe to use customer data to deliver targeted advertising.
Tista Sengupta/Rediff.com speaks to aspiring plus size models who, for the first time, will walk at Lakme Fashion Week.
'The Cauvery river has become excessively politicised by all political parties.' 'They see a vote bank in an emotive issue of this kind.'
'My parents have taught me that there is nothing more valuable than humanity.' 'I have seen poor and deserving people striving to get ahead in life and how reservation helps them.' 'At the same time I have seen rich kids with well to do parents still taking advantage of reservation.' 'I cannot be an opportunist. I cannot be a hypocrite.' 'I cannot say I believe in humanity and equality and do exactly the opposite.'
Roland Folger has told the ministries concerned that they are cutting India off from the rest of the world by making it a highly protected market, the Mercedes Benz India CEO & MD tells Ajay Modi.
