P B Chandra reports from Kabul on the Afghan presidential election, that has entered a run-off stage for the first time. The battle now is between the two frontrunners Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, with Abdullah holding the edge.
Indonesia, Turkey and Afghanistan also see important polls in the seven short weeks between end-March and mid-May, says Shankar Acharya
It is a fight for survival for the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, which has been its citadel. In an interview party President Sharad Pawar speaks on the NCP's prospects and how the Bharatiya Janata Party is exploiting Narendra Modi's popularity in the state assembly elections.
PM extended some old schemes and finally said yes to one that was legally mandated for past 2 years.
Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who as Gujarat chief minister was considered close to certain business groups and industrialists, has hardly been seen with any Indian business head.
The shops became a subject of a political controversy last week.
'One lesson to emerge out of the Modi-Putin summit is that India can be more self-confident that it possesses inherent strengths to leverage its interlocutors to influence Pakistani policies,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Why not agree that, yes, India is a Hindu country though not all Indians are Hindus? And that for those who are not, our Constitution is sturdily secular and always will be, says Karti Sandilya.
'Where they lose, you never ask why they failed there, like in Bihar and Punjab.' 'You are stuck on the UP victory, thinking they have the mandate to rule for all times to come.' 'The BJP has 282 MPs, but can I honestly say that the BJP is the party for everyone?'
With Jaitley preferring continuity over change, good days might take a little longer to arrive, says Shankar Acharya.
'Is Ansari flagging a genuine concern? Is a rectification called for?' 'And finally: Do minorities matter?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
If the people of Tamil Nadu stop deifying their leaders and start evaluating them more objectively, the political masters too may change their wayward behaviour, argues Sudhir Bisht.
'India and China are at new inflection points, domestically and internationally. India needs to throw up a new leader whose vision is clear, experience laden with wisdom and articulation brimming with restraint and tolerance,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
By addressing the Indo-American audience with such visionary jargons, Modi has created an inclusive environment for people who are living outside India to contribute back home, says Sriram Balasubramanian
As investors try to second-guess the US Fed, corporate and election results could have a bearing on market direction
The next big destination for IS in South Asia could be India. In India, the SIMI-IM network can provide the logistics for an IS staging area, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Not only is Modi's India not the shining land of dynamism and prosperity that he promised -- though it may be that, for some people, in a few years from now -- but socially it has the positively regressive tendencies that were entirely predictable.
The Union government acquired land for widening of an under-construction highway, overruling farmers objections in Rohtak, Haryana.
More than predicting the nature of elections, a closer scrutiny of seat and vote share difference yields an important tool to assess the value of our democratic process, say economists Yugank Goyal and Arun Kumar Kaushik
It is ironic that Raja Mahendra Pratap's Jat connection is being used for vote bank politics. He could not have cared less for his caste.' 'He was aware of the hold caste had on people's lives, and always rose above this kind of narrow thinking.' 'He mentions that once when he landed at Dwarka the priests asked him about his caste. He replied that he was a sweeper. The priests denied him entry. "I did not care to visit it," he writes, "when it was surrounded by people who had no regard for humanity".'
'The provisions of the AFSPA must remain on the statute books given the increasingly violent and uncertain times.'
The e-visa authority project, allowing entry without a physical visa, has overshot the October 2 deadline
The contraction in M&A activity in India contrasts sharply with the upbeat global picture, much of it led by a reviving US economy.
India must present its demands of America confidently, instead of fearing that its pocket will somehow be picked, says Ajai Shukla.
'Sonia is trying to become a politician again. Will she succeed?'
'If India and China come together, 40 per cent of the world's people are going to be prosperous'
The success of the government will depend substantially on the quality of its team of key ministers, officials and advisors
The year 2014 has been an eventful one for India. The country got a new government and a new state, broke new frontiers in various fields and of course its share of controversies.
'There is a communication gap between the Modi government and the allies. During the last one year, the NDA has met only once and that was two hours before the land bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha.' 'When Vajpayee was prime minister if any NDA chief minister asked for time , he was given it the next day. Modi is not doing it.' 'If there is tension on the streets, if there is insecurity amongst the minorities, then Make in India will remain a pipe dream.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday told a rapturous crowd of NRIs that Persons of Indian Origin cardholders will get a lifetime Indian visa and that American tourists will be given visa on arrival.
PM Modi seems to be gradually ending India's strategic ambiguity
Sonia Gandhi was on Saturday re-elected chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party and asked party men not to bicker in public amid a fierce blame game in the party over its worst electoral defeat which has seen Team Rahul Gandhi coming under attack from a number of leaders.
The city is waging a war against garbage, says Anjuli Bhargava.
The ordinance has returned near absolute power of discretion in land acquisition, except in tribal areas, into the hands of the bureaucracy yet again
The government is following a path where it will not be irresponsible or profligate with public money but will intervene in the interest of the poor
'Chidambaram, lots of people argue not without justification, is all about bluff and bluster without any concrete achievement on the ground. His record in the finance ministry fully endorses that view,' argues Virendra Kapoor.
'There are major implications for India. Though there was a transparently thin attempt to project the troop reduction as intended to promote peace, the downsizing is actually part of plans to streamline and strengthen the PLA, capable of defending China's national interests at home and abroad,' says Jayadev Ranade.
'Rahul Gandhi was not wrong in invoking the 2002 Gujarat riots but when Arnab Goswami threw the curve ball of judicial clean chit to Modi, he did not know what to say. A better-prepared man would have come back that it was not a question of judicial clean chits but about owing up moral responsibility, would have even cited AB Vajpayee's own rajdharma plea,' argues Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
From early indications, the Modi government's foreign policy seems to be pragmatic and reciprocal, says K G Suresh.
Hers is a rags-to-riches story for the ages, peppered with risks, determination and strokes of luck.
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