With the political class coming under severe attack for undue interference in the functioning of the bureaucracy, the United Progressive Alliance government has decided to amend the Model Code of Conduct for ministers to include a reference to the need for upholding the impartiality of the civil service.
Anil Swarup, who conceived the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana -- a scheme the United Nations Development Programme and the International Labour Organisation recognised as among the finest -- speaks to Anjuli Bhargava.
Nitin Gadkari has seven portfolios, but does not seem weighed down at all by the many things on his plate. The minister is brimming with ideas...
'Modi's more than dozen interviews are helping him fine-tune the rough edges of his campaign. He is trying to influence floating voters, undecided voters, non-committal and caste-neutral voters into deciding whether to go for the Lotus or not. These could have been Congress voters, but its divided house, torn between the old guard and Rahul Gandhi, seems to have got completely confused.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt lists what the Congress did wrong to find itself in such a sorry mess today.
The government does not seem inclined, at least in the petroleum sector, to effect sudden and steep upward price revisions to tame its huge subsidy burden and rein in fiscal deficit.
From President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit to Rahul and Varun Gandhi, at least 50 parliamentary constituencies will be contested by 'sons and daughters' of politicians of various parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's organ, has alleged that prestigious institutes like Indian Institute of Technology were being turned into places for "anti-India and anti-Hindu" activities.
'It is the government's most important duty to ensure that when war breaks out, the armed forces are absolutely ready to face the adversary -- well equipped, well trained and in high spirits,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Sharply attacking the Congress and the BJP for being in collusion to defeat the Jan Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal, who resigned as the Delhi chief minister, on Friday evening said that people will teach both the parties a lesson in future.
'Lending to Mr Mallya was the bankers' season ticket to corridors of power and glamour. Borrowing from them was like a favour Mallya did to them,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi could be in double trouble with Congress moving the Election Commission over his alleged "wrong" affidavits in the past on his marital status and government saying that a judge for the snoopgate probe will be named soon.
Doing some plain speaking, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday conceded that lack of discipline and unity were among the reasons for the party's debacle in Assembly polls and asked the cadre not to despair and be ready for the "battle ahead" in 2014 general elections.
Ramdev's Patanjali is a low-cost, low-margin business that gets away with pretty much what it wants because wily old Ramdev knows how to get around all politicians, says Vir Sanghvi.
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.
'Let us not say that Modi has not delivered on anything; he has delivered something and in parts substantially, but he has to also deliver on a large number of his electoral promises.'
The integration of the Rafale jets will allow the IAF to hit targets inside both Pakistan and across the northern and eastern borders while still staying within India's territory.
'It is obvious within these two months that in many ways Narendra Modi has a great degree of resemblance with Indira Gandhi.' 'The same style of management of power. The same kind of attempt to reduce a large section of the political leadership into, if not spectators, bureaucrats. His leaders are taking orders from him and executing those orders.' 'This is the model that has worked in Gujarat. And he is hoping that it will work in India.'
One cannot but infer that this brouhaha is a crafty ploy to create an issue out of a non-issue. An overview of post-independent India's history reveals that it is not the BJP or the Sangh Parivar but Marxist historians who have been guilty of debasing history to suit their vested interests, says Vivek Gumaste.
Rahul Bedi explains how 'miscellaneous' factors have posed a major hurdle in negotiating the Rafale deal.
The minister tells Subhomoy Bhattacharjee that he wants to set up a financing corporation for the road and shipping sectors, which will throw up a business opportunity of Rs 25 lakh crore!
Congress gets into the opposition groove but still has miles to go, says Saroj Nagi.
Rahul Gandhi's blunt denouncement of the ordinance on lawmakers was rubbished by the opposition with the Bharatiya Janata Party calling it a "desperate and belated" damage control exercise and saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should quit if he had any self-respect.
Taking a cue from the prevailing public mood against the political class, the Congress leadership -- Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi -- are said to have clinched the argument in favour of deferring the amendment to the Right to Information Act which seeks to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law.
Anirban Lahiri battled tough weather conditions and somewhat inconsistent breaks in the second round as he made the cut for the weekend at the prestigious Augusta Masters.
The government must justify why we need to buy foreign reactors when we have developed up to 700 MWe unit-size pressurised heavy water reactors, a design which can be easily extended to 900 to 1000 MWe unit size. Why can't the 'Make in India' philosophy apply to indigenous nuclear reactors, more than 18 of which have been designed, built, and being operated by Indian engineers, asks Dr A Gopalakrishnan.
As the debate on possible ruling dispensation at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh feels that extending outside support in a coalition set up is "impractical, utopian and unworkable".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the vote of thanks to the President's speech on the opening day of the Budget session.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a frontal attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, charging it with pursuing "politics of strife" and questioning its alliance with Shiv Sena even as he rubbished Narendra Modi's claims of development in Gujarat.
While the Congress leadership will undertake the mandatory introspection exercise to pinpoint the reasons for the debacle, Anita Katyal offers five factors which led to the humiliating rout.
The government has taken a number of steps to address the situation faced by farmers.
The Modi-Shah definition of secularism is, India is a confident, resurgent Hindu, and therefore secular, country.
The new economic affairs secretary believes that doing more of the same cannot help; you must do things differently.
Modi's visit to some developed countries such as the US, Japan, China and Australia were sprinkled with humongous investment figures. But do we have the wherewithal to absorb such big investments?
'The Opposition has no option but to make it an 'All versus One' fight to even think about winning.'
Years of wait before DTC, GST are rolled out
Dr Raghuram Rajan's departure holds lessons for all, be it sections of the media, politicians or the people themselves. We need to learn how to value and retain talent. At the same time the talented must realise that talent alone does not ensure the top job, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
And in the midst of it all, Jayalalithaa keeps the guessing game going, on her returning as chief minister and on calling for early assembly polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'For the last 10 years the Congress made the RSS an idea of intolerance, anti-minority, especially anti-Muslim, and an idea of fascism.' 'That has been demolished now by Pranab Mukherjee.'
In a fresh twist to the 'snoopgate' episode, the woman who was tailed by Gujarat police allegedly on the orders of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court along with her father for restraining the Centre and state government from going ahead with their Commissions of inquiry.
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