'There is no Buddha or Gandhi among countries, existing for the service of others; they all exist for the good of themselves.' 'For each country, its own interests should be paramount, and it is futile and churlish to expect China to be an exception to this rule,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and long-time China-watcher.
India's freedom, its rambling but working Constitution, its parliamentary democracy, its lumbering administrative machinery all have many a father, but its greatest claim to fame, especially today, that of being a modern state, is due to but one person: Its first and longest-serving prime minister, Nehru, says Shreekant Sambrani.
'Laluji is resting for some time, but he will surely act on his commitment and tour the entire nation to unite all the secular forces.' 'The Mahagatbandhan will work together to make the women of Bihar safe and secure.'
'The feeling in Telangana is that without her a separate state cannot be created... All the MPs and MLAs from Seema-Andhra have a business background. Their interest is to save their business,' Congress MP K Raj Gopal Reddy, who played a key role in Thursday's turbulent events, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
The rejig may take place before the assembly election results for Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Kejriwal, who had joined International Yoga Day participants last year along with Lt Governor Anil Baijal and the then Union minister and now Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, was found having high blood sugar following his nine-day, arduous sit-in at the Lieutenant Governor's office.
The Raksha Mantri was unable to address media queries about how much the Modi government was paying for 36 Rafales compared to what the UPA government had negotiated.
The decision to not attend the forum attended by 28 heads of state and 130 national delegations is a clear break from its usual policy of going along with the crowd.
'The origins of the model of planned economic development adopted by independent India was a direct consequence of the war.' 'The war provided an opportunity for groups at the margins of Indian society to find new avenues for mobility.' 'The war also led to the emergence of India as a major Asian power and set the stage for it to play a wider role in international politics.'
'Serious crimes of this sort cannot be excused merely because he has a family.' P Rajendran/Rediff.com was in the courtroom last week when Mathew Martoma was sentenced to nine years in prison for insider trading.
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
Senior officers admit the BJP's revival, and the mainstreaming of the Hindutva narrative that has accompanied this political shift, have complicated communal relations within the army.
The humble Rs 100 bill had several takers on an otherwise normal weekday evening across the country on Tuesday night, even as police had to be deployed outside ATMs to control the crowd waiting eagerly to get their hands on the banknote.
The UK has had a complex relationship and checkered history with the EU.
"Judge Gorsuch has a superb intellect, an unparalleled legal education, and a commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its text. He will make an incredible Justice as soon as the Senate confirms him," said the US president.
Sparks flew in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy dragged Sonia Gandhi's name in the AgustaWestland helicopter bribery case
The plan hinged on two critical assumptions: India would not be able to replenish supplies quickly to launch a counter-attack. India could not respond in enough strength to dislodge the Pakistanis. Both assumptions would be proved wrong due to the ferocity of the Indian response, reveals former RAW officer Tilak Devasher in his new book, Pakistan At The Helm.
'... to Imran Khan, that there's not going to be any mediation of any meaningful sort given his (Modi's) special relationship with Trump.'
'Shastri told General Chaudhuri, 'I want to reach Lahore before they enter Kashmir'.' 'Today, many regard this initiative of Shastri as the first surgical strike.' A revealing excerpt from Dr Sandeep Shastri's Lal Bahadur Shastri: Politics And Beyond.
Even as the polity find ways and means to address the genuine concerns and fears of the society, the Sri Lankan State apparatus would have to unravel these mystery-questions with convincing answers, and a road-map to the future, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
We mourn the passing of Admiral J G Nadkarni, who passed into the ages on Monday. The admiral -- one of the finest officers to head the Indian Navy and a most remarkable human being -- was one of Rediff.com's earliest columnists. His assessment of why India won the 1971 War is a classic and we republish the column today to celebrate his brilliant mind and salute an office and gentleman, the likes of who we will not see again.
The cancellation of the project has far-reaching implications for the IAF, for which this was once its high-tech future fighter.
A war hero looks back at the men and the moments that forged India's greatest military victory.
With the tide of public disillusionment rising against his government, Arvind Kejriwal is trying at least publicly to extend the olive branch to both Narendra Modi and Najeeb Jung. Privately, he has confided to his confidantes that much as he dislikes it, he must do his best to soften these two reigning deities.
ISB professor Tarun Jain talks to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com about what the government must do to achieve 8 pc growth.
'New Delhi feels that given the internal dynamics in Pakistan and the overwhelming powers wielded by the army, one will have to wait for better times to see any meaningful progress in the India-Pakistan relationship,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy.
The first women pilots in the fighter stream of IAF will be selected from the current batch at Air Force Academy.
There is no chance of the case against Devyani Khobaragade being dropped, but a plea deal is possible, which could avoid a jail term for the Indian diplomat, sources in the US government tell Rediff.com's George Joseph in New York.
Recent statistics show that the situation is no different across the country with several hospitals lacking the infrastructure to manage a breakout of a blaze.
'The Congress-JD-S alliance will be intact for the next three years, for sure.'
The final deal may be clinched by May-end.
Dr Kishore Murthy the chilling day a brave young air hostess, Neerja Bhanot, saved over 300 lives at the cost of her own.
'Given the present force levels, India cannot fight and win.' 'India can't hope to terminate the conflict on India's terms and impose the nation's will upon the adversaries,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'Our biggest problem has been keeping this country together.' 'Nation building is never easy. It is a very difficult task.' 'Even 70 years is not too long a time.'
A summary of Wednesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
'It appears that Prime Minister Modi has to undo 50 years of State monopoly in the defence sector during which public undertakings like HAL or DRDO monopolised defence production and development with disastrous consequences.'
Congress demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting high court judge.
'The US-India relationship is in a different league altogether,' Obama administration officials tell Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in Washington, DC.
'I give Modi full credit, for brilliantly using his personal diplomacy, his personal stature, to accomplish his goals...'
'The Congress has become two distinct parties, one of the durbar, the other of the field and if they keep drifting apart, death is a certainty,' says Shekhar Gupta.
