'Over the last two decades, the India-French relationship has grown steadily, no major political difference having darkened the sky between Paris and Delhi,' says Claude Arpi.
Irrespective of your age and how good your health has been, the right time to get a health insurance is NOW, says Mukesh Kumar, Executive Director, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company
The Narendra Modi-led government has issued around 50 fresh guidelines easing conditions for industry in about six months, beside launching an online system for applying environment clearances.
'The D K Adikesavulu clan is so wealthy, owns so many houses, and has so much jewellery,' notes T V R Shenoy, 'that it did not notice a servant stealing at the rate of Rs 66 lakh every year!'
A glance back at some important events that occurred in 2018.
Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar speaks to Prasanna Zore/Rediff.com.
the connection between the sunflower mystery and the 'rotatable solar trees' India plans to develop.
'There is an insistence that the government bring about reforms if India is to succeed. The fact is that many nations have done reforms, but are not Great Powers,' says Aakar Patel.
It emerges that not only does the CIDR project fails the test of fairness, justness and reasonableness besides the test of not being fanciful, oppressive or arbitrary; it also fails the test of Arthashastra, Hadith and the Bible.
'I say Modi was India's last chance.' 'Because the kind of work this government has done -- I'm talking about physical delivery -- is fantastic, like no time in our history.'
The United States House of Representatives has voted to sue President Barack Obama for overstepping his authority in making unilateral changes to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
There are unprecedented political implications of identification based on 'biological attributes of an individual', such as employed by Aadhaar, warns Gopal Krishna.
The level of preparedness of Daesh sleeper cells is evident from the fact that it took just four days after Salah Abdelslam's arrest to execute the Brussels attacks, says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
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.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for a relook at the entire ambit of Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle explains their side of the story which saw the IIT-Madras student body being de-recognized for violation of code of conduct and misuse of privileges.
Smart cities can provide more safety, better management of traffic congestion, a low-carbon environment and better services.
'Indira Gandhi, it appears, did not to consult her Cabinet colleagues, or diplomats, or civil servants when she decided to sign the agreement in Shimla.' 'We ruefully recall Bhutto's perfidy and the Indian prime minister's gullibility,' says Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd).
India annually spends Rs 4.5 lakh crore on importing petroleum products, and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari feels methane is a cost-effective import substitution. But is it? Pallava Bagla examines the pros and cons.
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The eternal question remains unanswered, what price security and what cost liberty, says Vikram Sood.
India loses 333 acres of prime forest every day. Instead of working to conserve India's forests and water resources, the environment minister has set up a committee to 'dismantle' the five key laws that provide environmental protection.
'The danger today is that out of sheer fatigue and exasperation, the US might cut loose and exit from Afghanistan leaving it to the region to cope with the debris, which it is ill-equipped to handle,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
All this is happening at a time when aluminium prices in the world market are firming up.
Six months after Nepal was devastated by a massive earthquake, relief efforts are literally running out of steam as weeks of protests against a new constitution have led to a critical shortage of fuel. Naomi Mihara reports on how NGOs are racing against time to reach aid to the people before winter sets in.
Agricultural incomes can be taxed without hurting farmers, as a substantial section - the small and marginal ones - will remain outside the tax net simply because their incomes are likely to be below the basic exemption limit of Rs 250,000 per annum that is extended to all taxpayers in India, finds out Ishan Bakshi.
A glance back at some of the important ups and down Indian Inc faced in 2018.
'Without doubt, Narasimha Rao confronted huge challenges. Yet, in the very brief period I saw him at the closest of quarters, I have to say that he was simply magnificent. A lifetime of circumspection gave way to courage.'
Shrikant Gajbhiye is inspiring change by offering free bee-keeping training to farmers and tribals.
Paris attacks took the centre stage at the G20 Summit on Sunday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for a united global effort to combat terrorism as world leaders joined a clarion call to eliminate ISIS network.
'It used to sound very strange.' 'That the same child who used to sing Jana Gana Mana the loudest in class, who celebrated August 15 and 26th January with such fervour and who has always nurtured the desire to make India a better nation being called desh drohi.' 'It was very painful.'
'Both reflect prejudice and short-sightedness peculiar to Mr Modi's way of thinking.'
'With increasing numbers of juveniles committing heinous crimes, we believe such juveniles must go into the adult system and be punished,' Minister Maneka Gandhi tells Rashme Sehgal.
Let Bihar be damned under its contradictions of having gone 'dry' and then having been submerged under flood, which is a recurrent phenomena? After all it is a godforsaken land, having lost its promises of overcoming its problems, says Mohammad Sajjad.
L K Advani's observation on Narendra Modi, an attempt to cut the BJP's prime ministerial nominee down to size, billing him a mere event manager like Vijay Raaz in Mira Nair's film Monsoon Wedding, speaks volumes about their differences... In the coming days, the Congress and BJP may lock horns over the AgustaWestland chopper deal. In an Italian court, Guido Haschke, one of the accused middlemen who allegedly bribed the Indian side, has sought a plea bargain to reduce his jail term if convicted. On or around April 11, we will know how much Haschke is ready to reveal. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt detects which way the political wind is blowing these days.
Muzzling NGOs is unbecoming of a democracy. Self-confident democracies encourage, indeed applaud, the involvement of citizens' associations, including NGOs, in social and political decision-making and development planning. Instead, our paranoid government bullies and terrorises them, says Praful Bidwai.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party can hold elections any time in Delhi but it is afraid to do so, says Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal
'Think about this: A widow of a jawan is drawing only Rs 3,500. If OROP is implemented, she will get additional Rs 1,500. These poor girls are young and have no source of income; they are trying their best to just make ends meet. It is the pain of these situations that has driven me to this.' 'We don't want to put pressure on the government -- that's not our intention. We have full faith in our prime minister. We are asking for a meeting with him, and when we get that, we are sure he will not only give us what we are asking for, but 10 per cent extra.' Major General Satbir Singh, who headed the OROP agitation at Jantar Mantar, speaks out.
'How come with Nehru at the helm, India missed so many buses? He had such unchallenged power that he could have taken the country in any direction he wanted. The sad conclusion is inescapable that Nehru let things drift in true Hamletian ambivalence,' says B S Raghavan.
'India should think big: About how in a multi-polar world, India can indeed be one of the poles, rather than being a secondary power that has to worry about 'alignment' with one of the poles. A G3 in other words, India should look to getting others to align with itself rather than the US or China,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
