To believe that the key job of his senior ministers is to ensure that his image be kept intact whatever be the outcome of his policies is to expect too much even of someone as ambitious as Narendra Modi, asserts Rashme Sehgal.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry, heading a high-powered delegation of his cabinet colleagues and top military commanders, today left for India as part of his 10-day seven nation Asia trip.
Swedish Prime Minister Lofven lauded India as 'global power' and said the two countries are a 'perfect match'.
The cascade of cordiality on both sides after the Modi-Sharif handshake in Paris was preceded by much planning and even goading from UK, US and Germany.
CAATSA was aimed at Moscow and not intended to damage the military capabilities of its 'allies and partners', US said.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd started hacking trees from Friday night to make way for a car shed, hours after the Bombay high court dismissed four petitions filed by NGOs and activists challenging the decision to allow felling of trees in the prime green lung of the city.
'In May 2014, India got its Donald Trump equivalent as prime minister in the form of Narendra Modi. Come 2016, we will know if America too gets its own version of Modi by electing Trump,' says Shehzad Poonawalla.
Canada will supply uranium to energy-starved India beginning this year over a period of five years, a decision which was termed as a launch of a new era of bilateral cooperation and mutual trust by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Borrowing from BRICS bank will help India avoid other kinds of politics emanating from the West. Overall, the BRICS institutions will necessarily adopt alternative ways of doing things based on their own cultural and socio economic needs, says M K Venu.
'By the time he came out after nearly five hours, he had a one-to-one conversation with the President, a delegation-level meeting, a reception, a dinner, a tour of the White House and a joint statement of a kind none of his predecessors ever had,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Will Prime Minister Modi start a conversation on the need for people to limit the size of their families, asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) on the occasion of World Population Day, July 11.
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
Modi also made a call for European Union unity and said India would play a positive role in enhancing that through Germany.
Talking about his reception in the US, the prime minister said, "Whenever I have come here, I have had opportunities to meet senators, Congressmen, and they always received me with a lot of affection and spoken to me very openly."
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is a fraud, a liar and a hypocrite, top Democratic leaders and speakers at the party's national convention said as they lashed out at the billionaire from New York.
'China might soon have to seriously consider whether it prefers an Indo-US hyphenation to a Sino-Indian one.'
'Trump's desecration of all that Obama represented can be seen at different levels: Personal, political, systemic and structural,' explains Ambassador B S Prakash.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Tanzania where he held talks with Tanzanian President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
This is the joint statement issued by the ministry of external affairs on the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
Text of PM Narendra Modi's press statement after delegation level talks with US President Obama at the Hyderabad House in Delhi.
Talking about the threat of terrorism, he said "As diverse and pluralistic societies, we both face threats from fundamentalist terrorism. Yet, we do not seem to be able to cooperate as effectively we should in some critical international forums dealing with this subject."
Dr Manmohan Singh would be faced with very few choices in Beijing given the Chinese conceived notions of the world today and India's low place in their calculus, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
'Big countries do not agree on every set of issues.' 'Look, one of the differences in the relationship is that when we do not agree, we are sitting down and talking to each other.'
The year is coming to an end and overall, it's been one hell of a year! We have had our share of ups and downs and we look forward to a better 2020. While we count down the days to the new year, let's also reflect on those who gave us strength to stand up in what we believe, the courageous who didn't bow down and the ones with gumption who inspired us to be better. We, Rediff.com, have selected 26 personalities, who we think are worthy of the title -- HERO OF THE YEAR -- and we want you, dear readers, to choose your hero!
The MPs voted in favour of the Queen's Speech by 323 votes to 309 with a majority of 14.
'The past year has yielded extraordinary results in the strategic, commercial, and people-to-people components of the India-United States partnership, US Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
Biden said, "One of the reasons why President Obama called our relations with India, quote, "a defining partnership of the century ahead" is that India is increasingly looking east as a force for security and growth in Southeast Asia and beyond."
The foreign secretary said almost all major initiatives of India in SAARC did not fructify due to hurdles posed by Islamabad.
The differences between the US and China over rival free trade agreements being floated by them threatened to derail the APEC Summit which got off to a colourful start in Beijing China on Monday.
'Defaulters like Mallya can't be offloaded, but activists like me are. And that too for raising questions.' 'Today, what is the meaning of development?' 'Take over land, water and forest from the Adivasis and hand it over to corporates.' 'I am surprised how a minister who is supposed to protect the forests and the environment is happy reaching out to investors for more and more clearances.'
Incoming US President Donald Trump has assembled a core team that is -- not surprisingly -- overwhelmingly white and male.
As India rises, creating niche areas for itself in the Asian landscape, China and India are bound to step on each other's vital areas of importance, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was taking action against an unspecified number of Chinese officials, including from the ruling Communist Party, under a US law that calls on China to let Americans visit Tibet.
Beijing's growing assertiveness as kingmaker in Kabul has suffered a setback with Washington quietly moving in, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks. He will never change, just words!" Trump tweeted his first reaction to Biden's acceptance speech on Thursday.
Aziz Haniffa, who has covered every Indian Prime Minister's visit to the US since Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, gives us a peek into what's happening in Washington, DC on the eve of the Modi-Trump summit.
'Even in this age of self-willed and authoritarian leaders and spontaneous gestures, a script is still written,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash, imagining the 'talking points' are for the India-US summit on June 26.
Full transcript of President Obama's speech at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.
Seeking to woo Muslims as well as upper castes, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday promised quota in police and other government jobs for minority community, release of "innocent" youths jailed on terror charges and constitution of an upper caste commission in its manifesto brimming with sops.
