The American had expressed a desire to meet the Sentinelese tribe, which is known to resist all contact with outsiders, often firing arrows at anyone who comes near.
Siva Sankar looks at S P Balasubrahmanyam's fantastic repertoire.
'You've got to be a doer to be re-elected.' 'You don't have to be a great communicator or an orator any more because voters want to see action and development on the ground.' 'And they want a doer rather than just an orator.'
Government employees in 13 districts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema launched an indefinite strike on Tuesday protesting the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Can we make high speed 4G Internet available at 10 cents per GB, and make all voice calls free of cost -- that too in a large and diverse country like India? Can we make high-quality but simple breast cancer screening available to every woman, that too at the extremely affordable cost of $1 per scan? Can we make a portable, high-tech ECG machine which can provide reports immediately and that too at the cost of 8 cents a test? Can we make an eye imaging device that is portable, non-invasive and costs 3 times less that conventional devices? Can we make a robust test for mosquito-borne dengue, which can detect the disease on day 1, and that too at the cost of $2 per test? Amazingly, says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, all this has been achieved in India, not only by using technological innovation but also non-technological innovation.
'The prime minister has merely paid lip service condemning these crimes instead of launching a massive crackdown against such brutalities,' argues Professor Mohammad Sajjad.
'Even though the film focuses on caste discriminations in rural India, it is first of all a riveting police procedural, and one of the best made in India,' says Aseem Chhabra.
Aligarh mayor from BJP strongly backed an official ban on the movie Aligarh, claiming the movie is a "conspiracy" to defame the city.
Women behind the wheel, movie theatres and now snowmen! Everyday things in the outside world are prohibited in Saudi Arabia's incredibly conservative society. Rediff.com compiles a list
The new government has to make conscious efforts to rebuild social equality and bring the people together.
'India's reputation is not and cannot be dependent on the whimsical opinions of some obscure foreign advisory committee packed with Hindu-phobic acolytes,' declares Vivek Gumaste.
The middle class's long push to force the state to retreat from the economy may be reversing, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
'Learning by doing is in our genes.' 'We are applying the wrong method by making our children sit in a classroom for eight hours, listening to someone talk.'
'The only positive I see are the youth of India who were earlier just after money. The young now want to do something for society.'
'The rise of IS and intolerant Wahabism are the real dangers to Indian democracy and pluralism, not the RSS,' says Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay.
A key UN climate change summit that will be attended by nearly 150 world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicks off on Monday under the shadow of the deadly Paris terror attack to try to craft a long-term deal to limit carbon emissions.
For the first time the Ford Foundation is placed under a watch.
Members of all parties condemned the killings in the name of cow.
'The government has said it has kept its powder dry to fight the true battle against the debilitating influence of the pandemic.' 'The release of the shocking economic data this week should act as the fuse for using that powder now.' 'Further delays will make the battle that much harder,' notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Tillerson said China's behaviour and action is "posing a challenge to the rules-based international order".
In his suicide letter, Rohith chose not to chronicle the events that led him to make his decision to kill himself but instead wanted human beings to be treated as minds, "as glorious things made up of star dust, in every field, in studies, in streets, in life and in death".
'It is not going to be a fight between the AIADMK and the DMK; that fight is over.' 'The fight is going to be between the BJP's attempt to finish the Dravidian era and the DMK and the others trying to prevent the BJP from doing so.'
Angus Deaton's Nobel Prize should spark off more research on the measurement and usefulness of poverty percentages.
Do the students who chanted pro-separatist slogans and their teachers/supporters want the army to withdraw from Kashmir or not fight the terrorists?
Hamid Anasari's was not talking of reservation for the whole religious community to which he too happens to belong. Yet, sections of media chose to put words into his mouth and then subject him to the criticism he never deserved. This does not augur well for our media or democracy, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal unveiled the party's manifesto for the youth. The party, which is aiming to capture power in the state, will come out with separate manifestos for different sections of society.
'In UP, the CM actually announced that his administration would 'take revenge' against rioters.' 'That must have been music to his police force's ears for it substantiated what the police always do: Take revenge on an entire community for the violence of a few,' points out Jyoti Punwani.
It is said that Vajpayee, who was also fluent in English, was the force behind uplifting Hindi to the international platform by using the language at the UN each time he delivered a speech.
'The question of survival depends on several factors because this country is divided vertically and horizontally.' 'There will always be demands and ups and downs.'
Gamers are losing sleep because of the craze of catching Pokemons.
In a society where corruption is endemic and you want to get something done then it is all too tempting to offer a bribe, Swraj Paul said.
'Sonia's term as Congress president -- which was 20 years -- was the longest in the party's history.' 'It will also go down as the period in which the Congress transformed in the way Indians viewed it,' says Aakar Patel.
Perhaps one aspect of the way modern media particularly print and news television works need some soul-searching: Their tendency to "frame" news stories as a conflict between two personalities, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
'Burhan Wani's killing served as a spark for the anti-establishment fire that has been raging in the minds of Kashmiris ever since the Centre stopped engaging them for their political future,' says Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak in an interview with Rediff.com
'Why is the government in such a hurry?' 'The answer is the December assembly elections and the 2019 general election.'
Sukanya Verma pays tribute to Robin Williams, who passed into the ages on August 11.
'No country can ever be free to make its choices and remain independent if it continues to wear borrowed plumes,' warn Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'A dangerous and false binary is now surfacing in Indian political discourse, which must be firmly rejected.' 'It is that we have to choose between freedom and development.' 'For us freedom is neither merely an instrument for development nor to be subordinated to development.' 'It is, as our founding fathers proclaimed early in our freedom struggle, 'our birthright' on which we shall never compromise.' 'Growth, wealth and development are fruits of democracy, not substitutes.' Dr Manmohan Singh's thoughts on democracy: A Must Read!
Private schools are of two types: those that are aided by the government and those that are not.
'The attack on Kanhaiya was an attempt to silence his voice and send a warning to all those who are supporting him.'
