'Rahul is misguided by a handful of family retainers who don't want him to show unrestrained initiative in forming allies.' says Sudhir Bisht.
The India Meteorological Department said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 140 to 150 kmph and gusting to 165 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
International travel guide Lonely Planet has just released its list of top ten cities to visit next year. And Chennai made the cut!
'The choice of Dhoka La for the intrusion by Chinese troops is significant and suggests a twin objective of pressuring Thimpu to allow Beijing to establish an embassy there and reinforcing Chinese claims on Arunachal Pradesh,' warns former RA&W officer Jayadev Ranade.
'The accusation that Pakistan risks losing sovereignty to China is emotive and has the potential to spread.' 'China will, however, remain intent on achieving its strategic ambitions of acquiring Gwadar port and securing a large chunk of Pakistan occupied Kashmir,' says former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
The Rafale will surely be flying in Indian skies next year. But the way the BJP government has botched this will cast a shadow on defence acquisitions in the years to come.
Unprecedented violence... Mobs determined to teach Delhi a lesson... An incompetent chief minister... Losses of over Rs 200 billion. Haryana's Jat agitation has a somber message for the nation.
'Though not religious in everyday life, his Hindu-Indian identity was an irrevocable influence on his writings,' observes Vivek Gumaste.
Pragya Singh Thakur remained at the back of the courtroom during Tuesday's framing of the charges, her face serene, quite different from the fiery person one read about or saw on television. But once the day's proceedings were over and she was wheeled out, the sadhvi decided she actually was very keen to meet the media and headed right out into the melee, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com.
About 200 people from various interfaith groups joined the memorial and candle light vigil held in honour of Parminder Singh Shergill, an Iraq war veteran, who was shot dead by local police on January 25 at Lodi, California.
Rediff.com lists a few other dramatic and frightful hostage situations that sent governments and security agencies into a tizzy.
How the two South Asian neighbours will interact with each other in the coming months will be decided by the two prime ministers in Washington.
Annabel Mehta, Sachin Tendulkar's mother-in-law, has dedicated her life to working with the Beautiful People of the other half of Mumbai without whom the city would neither exist nor thrive. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel met the amazing lady who was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to underprivileged communities.
At least 10 people, including some students of a Sunni seminary, were killed and over 80 others injured in sectarian violence that erupted in Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday after a clash during a Muharram procession, following which a curfew was imposed.
We get tangled up in our own crooked web on purchases, and the murky arms bazaar knows it, says Shekhar Gupta.
'We rarely choose to fight when the threat is still a nascent threat. When we do fight, we fight when the invaders reach Panipat and are preparing to knock on the gates of Delhi.'
'Nothing differentiated us, neither religion nor money.' 'We were all in a crisis together and we survived together.' 'We plan to assemble on the bridge every year on the same day, to thank for giving us a second life.'
'Patel was more in tune with the popular mood than Jawaharlal Nehru. While the principle that Hindus and Muslims should be able to live together remained central to Nehru's vision for India, the Sardar was less sentimental.' 'Nehru would angrily face down mobs himself, rushing from trouble spot to trouble spot. A veritable tent city, filled with Muslim refugees, sprouted on the lawns of his bungalow... Mountbatten feared Nehru's impulsiveness would get him killed, and assigned soldiers to watch over him.' Nisid Hajari's Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition casts fresh light on the events and personalities behind the horrific division of the subcontinent which haunts the India and Pakistan to this day.
'When the first Islamic State flags appeared, it was called an aberration.' 'When videos appeared, they were termed exceptions!' 'It is high time we accepted that the global jihad is here.'
Separatists and their wide network must be neutralized for peace in the Valley
'I like to see myself as a troll-slayer and I have realised the best way to do that is to ignore them. Nothing bothers them more,' Barkha Dutt tells Rashme Sehgal.
'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.'
'She must first change the Rules of Business 1961 that makes the defence secretary and not the defence minister responsible for the defence of the country!' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd.)
Once a boxing champion, life has dealt Krishna Routh a severe blow.
State govt said it is not averse to seeking Army's help to maintain law and order.
'We should not flatter ourselves that China is fixated on encircling India. She has greater goals, becoming the pre-eminent power in the world, and India as a major power is dealt with as part of that strategy.'
Accused No 1 announced that there had been a change in the circumstances of her health condition. She produced a thick 19-page document, written in her neat, very feminine handwriting, detailing her condition, its symptoms and the consequences it could have on her health and well-being.
'The incidents have remained confined to the paramilitary forces on both sides with both the armies scrupulously avoiding getting involved. While this incident has been going on, the LOC has been reasonably quiet. Cross border firing achieves no tactical or strategic aims and is more a symptom of hostility. Unfortunately, India has to learn to live with this. Like Israel, we must construct shelters for the border populations and be ready to retaliate in kind,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Diplomatic engagement will continue even as India keeps all its options open with respect to discretely targeting the Pakistani military and its terrorist proxies.'
'We should not have waited for the political crisis in Nepal to erupt before being galvanised into action,' says Shyam Saran. 'We should have seen what was coming and not accepted assurances from the leaders of the political parties at their face value.'
Sheela Bhatt, who is accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his trips to Russia and China, speaks to a senior source in the government who says that New Delhi is keenly following the developments along the Line of Control.
In a precarious mission, Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan and crew rescued a woman in labour from atop a water tank in Chennai. She delivered twins! Archana Masih/Rediff.com spoke to the pilots about that dramatic day.
Why did the district magistrate take over an hour to order retaliatory firing on the murderous SBVS mob?
The NIA says the Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Fund Trust has in the last10 years collected huge sums of money which has been diverted to Pakistan based militant groups. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Stepping in to pacify agitating ex-servicemen over the 'One Rank One Pension' issue, Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday held talks with representatives of the protesters who have agreed not to escalate their agitation for next 10 days.
After weighing all the costs and benefits, the next administration is likely to reduce and restructure assistance to Pakistan but not to end it altogether, says Daniel S Markey.
A top leader of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party and Bangladeshi media doyen Mir Quasem Ali was sentenced to death on Sunday by a special tribunal for war crimes he committed during the independence war against Pakistan in 1971, days after the party's chief was given capital punishment on identical charges.
Twenty-eight years ago almost to the day, 37 unarmed Muslims were killed in cold blood, an act of wanton violence for which no one has so far been held guilty. Jyoti Punwani and photographer Uttam Ghosh visited the Meerut locality after the trial court recently acquitted the security personnel charged with the killings, and found a town untouched by its grim past.
The babas' vote banks and the politicians' greed for en bloc votes, is the curse of Punjab and Haryana.