'Even apart from the Bengal famine, there was a great deal more bloodshed and deceit than I was prepared for.' 'Almost every one of the acquisitions was won by extreme extortionate methods and what came out was that these relatively honest officers found themselves doing very dishonest things.'
The West has always preferred a timid, half intelligent and a dependent India rather than a decisively independent and self-reliant one. A pliable Indian leadership suits the West best, says Tarun Vijay.
'It is important to note that American officials were trying their best to use the Taliban for their oil games till December 1997 when Mullah Ghous was invited to America. State Department officials did not show any interest in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden even at that time.'
Apple Inc unveiled a new TV set top box that responds to voice commands and fresh iPhones that sense the pressure of a finger tap, changes which underwhelmed many social media commenters and investors.
Rahul attacked Modi and BJP, alleging that 'politics of divide and polarisation is radicalising people in India'.
How much money the Modi government has already spent and is going to spend on all those foreign trips, muses Sunita Iyer
'The year in pictures' treks across the globe, looking back on the moments that shaped 2016. From the United States presidential race, to demonetisation in India to the refugee crisis, the news has kept pouring in. Here are our top 50 moments from the world.
Asaduddin Owaisi opens up to T S Sudhir on his party's plans for the elections in Uttar Pradesh next year and why he thinks both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party have vitiated the secular atmosphere in the state.
'If you are in Punjab, Modi is omnipresent as if he is going to be chief minister of Punjab.'
'If he is in Uttarakhand, he presents himself to be the chief minister of Uttarakhand.'
'When he is in UP, he is touted as the chief minister of UP.' 'There is a personality cult which is being built around a person... that he is the panacea of every democratic exercise in India, from panchayat to Parliament.' 'Modi at some point will pay the price for trying to build a very ambitious personality cult.'
The recent breach of ceasefire by Pakistan was aimed at infiltrating Lashkar-e-Tayiba cadres into Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the polls and to bring Kashmir issue back into limelight, as the neighbouring country was feeling isolated with the growing clout of India in the international forum, according to security experts.
After one year in power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pretty much on the back foot, even if he continues to display bravado in his public pronouncements. He knows within his heart that he has wasted a lot of his political capital without getting much in return, says M K Venu.
By agreeing to form the government in New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has taken a gamble where his reputation has been put on mortgage. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt looks at the road ahead for Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the United States Congress.
'Today if you look at the way India is growing many people are saying the sleeping elephant has finally woken up, is dancing!' 'I have travelled extensively, in about 60 countries. In all these the moment you say India, the first thing they mention is either an actor's name. Or they start humming a song.' 'I wanted to be in Bollywood. It is the most powerful medium we have in this country. That's soft power.' Listening in on Shobhaa De, Kabir Khan, Vikas Swarop and Saffron Art CEO Hugo Weihe speak on India's Soft Power, Hard Influence.
Sudha Murty has various roles -- philanthropist, author, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt -- and she revels in each one of them, discovers Savera R Someshwar.
'We are going to see relatively soon an executive order that deals with H-1B and other temporary visas.' 'We are also going to see an executive order on undocumented people.' 'Undocumented Indians comprise the largest population growth of all undocumented people in this country.' 'Just because India is not named in this executive order doesn't mean it won't be in the future.'
As his party girds its loins for the battle to lead India, Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh appears to have the maths worked out in his mind on every possible electoral scenario. But about one thing he is certain: in no circumstances will the party stake claim to form the next government if it doesn't have a clear mandate. Edited excerpts from an interview with Aditi Phadnis
In the next few weeks, the Bombay High Court will hear the institute's petition to review its 2011 directive to vacate the land it occupies in Film City.
Sherna Gandhy hopes Malala Yousafzai can convince the powers-that-be in New Delhi that it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that our children get a decent education.
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Can the leaky public distribution system, or PDS, deliver the subsidised grain to two-thirds of the population?
Raja Sen lists his favourite moments.
Beautiful glimpses into Dilip Kumar's life with Saira Banu.
'When the world was refining itself, India was going backwards culturally with so many rape cases and other atrocities against women, children and the elderly. The growth of evil forces was very bad in the last 10 years,' says Malayalam movie star Suresh Gopi, who met Narendra Modi recently tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier in this exclusive interview.
Meet the US Attorney who took on Donald Trump.
If you are more than your rhetoric about a strong and united country, give us our due -- treat us as countrymen, says an ordinary Muslim in this open letter.
Our generation got independence too easy, we take our freedom too lightly, we treat our country and environment like toilet paper and take the easy way out because we have no sense of pride or self worth except when it is an India-Pakistan match. We need to be broken more so that we may rise, says film director Suparn Verma.
Designer Runa Ray, whose edgy line inspired by an ancient discipline made it to the February New York Fashion Week, discussed the showing with Tista Sengupta/Rediff.com
The three-time World champion talks about the challenges of being the first black driver in F1, why he credits his family for his success, what was his first car, what he says to his critics who say that he's not focussed on racing, how many more years does he think he has in F1 racing.
India's nuclear establishment is continuing its march of folly at the expense of safety in the false belief that atomic power is the energy of the future. It's not. Nuclear power is in relentless global decline, says Praful Bidwai.
'Now that there is an election in the offing, she is repeating the same old promises. Does she think the people of Bengal are fools to fall for her lies?'
Anti-conversion laws are needed since thrusting the idea of a competitive battlefield of religion onto India's pluralistic traditions can only lead to greater communal conflict, says Sankrant Sanu
It's difficult to say who suffered more these 28 years: The men who survived the PAC shooting and the assaults in jail; or the women who lost their men in these custodial killings.
'I have never seen anybody disliked more as prime minister than Modi.' 'What is interesting is in his prime ministership, no matter whatever happens in any corner of India, Modi is blamed for it.' 'Modi has not suspended any Constitutional liberties. No Opposition leader has been put in jail... Modi is not Hitler.'
'The diplomat's arrest has led to a major diplomatic spat, the likes of which I have not seen in my nearly three decades of covering the US-India relationship, says Aziz Haniffa. 'The knee-jerk reaction by the powers-that-be in Delhi was myopic to say the least.'
Born in poverty and subjected to inhuman abuse, Kalpana Saroj overcame all hurdles to emerge a success story.
Sri Srinivasan, the first Indian-origin federal judge in the United States, is India Abroad Person of the Year 2013
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar masterfully weaves a compelling human story, says Sukanya Verma.
'I can tell you the case that hurts me the most is the one in which the little boy is forced to sign the Kohinoor over.' 'You take a mother away from a child, you surround him with grown ups speaking a different language, you tell him he must sign this over or else...'
'Understand one thing, if you want immediately and magically that things should become cheap, it's not possible. It's a long-term policy.' 'Inflation is linked to the storage system and with the production system. Whenever production rises, prices go lower. So if we store when the prices are low and release them when prices rise, prices can be maintained.' 'The problem is that in our country fruits and vegetables worth Rs 110,000 crore go to waste as they rot. And grains worth Rs 85,000 crore rot. So the storage system is another big reason for inflation.' Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in an exclusive interaction with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
'It is a pattern of behaviour of the Chinese that whenever a Chinese leader visits India or an Indian leader visits China, some incidents take place.' 'When Modi visits China, we should look out for some similar demonstration by the Chinese.'
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