The demand for removal of Justice A K Ganguly, accused of harassing a law intern, from the post of Chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission, along with Telangana issue paralysed the functioning of Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
'NSCN-IM leader Muivah warns that the NSCN-IM has come very close to an honourable solution to the peace process with the Government of India, but if it does not materialise, then the Nagas will go away so far that it would be difficult to bring them back to the negotiating table easily,' note Sandeep Pandey and Meera Sanghamitra.
'The Himmatsinghji Report is still 'missing'.' 'It is a great loss for the knowledge of India's borders.' 'It would have an immense value at a time China is bound to shift its attention to other border fronts in the Himalayas,' notes Claude Arpi.
Bodo tribals influence as many as 30 seats. No wonder, national parties are keen to forge alliances with Bodo groups.
'Many tourists are keen to break the law and see the tribals. But what difference would it make? They are humans like us. We do not like intruders, neither do they. Very little of their homes is left, so we might as well let them be,' says Chintan Purohit.
'The travesty of recent Indian strategic thought is it emerges not from our brains, but from whatever part of the anatomy that secretes the prickliest hormones,' says Shekhar Gupta.
"We did not vote for the BPF (Bodoland People's Front) candidate in Lok Sabha polls, that's why we were attacked," alleged 75-year-old Iman Ali.
Over ten Gorkha Janmukti supporters were arrested when they burnt a motorcycle and a car at Rambi on the National Highway near, as a three-day bandh demanding Gorkhaland began in the Darjeeling hills in West Bengal on Monday.
A 'soft' approach must be nurtured to complement the hard-line of spending billions in physical conflict; that is the only way to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS.
Al-Qaeda's reclusive chief Ayman al-Zawahiri is cut off from his top commanders and keeping the outfit afloat only through loyalty as the once world's most feared terror group is steadily losing recruits and funding sources to its splinter faction -- the Islamic State.
Arvind Kejriwal's strategy to take the pollution bull by the horns needs to be applauded. And I am sure that all the imaginary problems and grievances will be addressed before the restrictions are actually implemented, says Sudhir Bisht.
'The Nagas want a flag of their own, to share the Kohima skyline with the national tricolour.' 'The the government says you can have a flag for cultural and ethnic occasions.' 'The Nagas say that will be a bit like an NGO having its own flag,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
In heart-wrenching scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, coffins of soldiers arrived in several states for the last rites with full military honours.
'The BJP is taking a risk in Assam, but it may face a tough time in coming times,' says Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty.
Obama also said he had emphasised the need for religious tolerance and the right to practise one's own faith during closed door talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last trip to India in 2015.
'The BJP's tie-ups with the Bodoland People's Front and the Asom Gana Parishad have incurred the wrath of local party leaders and workers ahead of next month's assembly elections.'
The Assam government had received prior intelligence report of an attack by terrorists of National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Songbijit but it did not know about the target and spots, said a senior official on Saturday.
Sreehari Nair reviews Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
'When those who took oath in the name of the Indian Constitution are not acceptable, where do the other Kashmiris stand?'
In a shocking incident, Mumbai's Aarey Colony has lost one of its most beloved residents -- Chandni, a six-year-old female leopard, who was found dead on Saturday afternoon with a wire snare setup by poachers.
'This is the only place on earth where Elephas maximus climbs to these heights.'
The prime minister came down heavily on the Congress government in Assam and the previous UPA government at the Centre for "failing" to fulfil dreams and aspiration of the people.
Even as the BJP makes inroads into previously unfamiliar territories in eastern India, the party will have to be wary of losing out elsewhere, says Amulya Ganguli.
India on Wednesday extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan, saying it was time the two countries display "maturity and self-confidence" to do business with each other.
Indian intelligence agencies have often claimed that left-wing extremists are trying to make inroads in the militancy-hit regions of north-east to foment further unrest. But Jaideep Saikia, noted terrorism and conflict analyst, claims, "People who speak of Maoism taking roots in the north-east have not read history".
If things go as planned, the Centre will develop 12 new Lakshadweep islands under its island development programme. But they will limit their access to 'high-end' serious adventure and fun tourists -- those who won't mind spending more than Rs 15,000 for a one-night stay in some of the world's most exotic and unexplored places.
With a massive final push, which began mid-November, Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad took over the last remaining rebel strongholds in the historic city of Aleppo on the night of December 12. They only won a ruined city and ruined lives.
'I would say it is not going to be days and weeks. It is going to be months and years, over which we would make an assessment on the decisions taken by the Parliament at this point of time. 'We are in for a long haul is what I would say.' It was a very diverse India, which was coming together, politically, in a very cohesive, democratically-resilient way." Professor Navnita Behera examines the wisdom of the exit of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is a dark legacy bequeathed by Nehru to India. In its DNA lies the subconscious fount of India's schizophrenic geopolitics that forsook in one sweep all its historically-entrenched strategic interests in Tibet in favour of China, says R N Ravi, on the 60th anniversary of the Panchsheel Agreement.
Thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands more displaced in the violence in South Sudan. The United Nations mission and humanitarian agencies are under strain to protect camps and to provide internally displaced persons with water, food and other emergency relief. What flared up as a political conflict in South Sudan is now assuming an ethnic character.
'A Russia-Iran-China-Pakistan geopolitical grouping is evolving at this point of time.' 'Given that the grouping is in its nascent stages, will this week's terrorist attack in Mirjaveh affect it?' asks Aveek Sen.
The 1995 judgment in the Union of India vs Cricket Association of Bengal case emphasised that free speech is essential for a successful democracy and citizens must have a plurality of views and a range of opinions on all public issues, says M J Antony.
'Notwithstanding the realisation among the Indian leadership to build up its navy for the force's expanding role, the Indian Navy was allocated only 15% of the interim defence budget presented in Parliament in February 2019.' 'The outlay for the navy's capital acquisition is not even adequate to meet its committed liabilities,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Public interest centres on whether the two leaders might make headway in resolving the Sino-Indian boundary dispute.
Days after he attacked Bharatiya Janata Party's PM candidate Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots issue, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that BJP's "divisive" policy was responsible for spoiling the country's secular fabric and incidents of hate crime.
'The issue of the larger homeland of Nagalim, the dream of the Nagas to hold sway over swathes of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, is just that, a dream.' 'The NSCN has been told categorically that the government is not going to concede on this issue.'
It was between 2010 and 2014 that wildlife biologists began to realise the heavy proliferation of tigers in the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka. The fiercely-territorial beasts are today locked in battle for dominance with man and his cattle.
In the year since Modi cast the spotlight on Pakistan's human rights violations in Balochistan, India has not done much more than raise the issue at the UN a few times.
On that day, Sheikh Abdullah, political anchor of J&K's accession with the Indian Union, was unceremoniously removed from power and put behind bars; causing a tectonic emotional breach and setting off disastrous fault lines between Srinagar and New Delhi and its effects continue to this day, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Its promise has fallen short before the onslaught of the votaries of the old order and ruthless extremist forces, notes Talmiz Ahmad.
