'The Kashmir issue has become internationalised after nearly half a century.' 'India, not Pakistan, has done so pro-actively,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'While high-level interventions may help smoothen inter-State relationships, they cannot fundamentally change the alchemy of such relationships, which are firmly rooted in mutual benefits and mutual interests,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Raju Bist from Thane tells us how he spent the last two months of lockdown.
Shah also said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's unfulfilled dream of integrating Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country was accomplished on August 5 when Article 370 and 35A were repealed.
From the Syrian civil war to the Ukrainian crisis to the terror unleashed by the dreaded Islamic State, there was no lack of news in 2014. In this five-part series, rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
With a decelerating economy that weakens India's hands on geopolitical issues, it will be interesting to know which way this trip will go.
'Given the disdain Trump has shown for our community's values and experiences, it is disappointing that a handful of wealthy, conservative donors invited him to address their friends last weekend,' say Mira Patel and Gautam Raghavan.
So strong and caustic was the PM's reprimand, sources say that Singh broke down as the former looked on. But Singh denied it.
From Sri Lanka's most popular political family to its most despised -- going by the voices on the streets calling for the Rajapaksas' ouster -- what went wrong for the clan? Veteran Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy offers an insight.
'And he was really trying just to do the best by the shareholders, and by the laws of India.'
Trump said it would be tremendous for the world if the meeting went well.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Parinda, 1942: A LOve Story, Devdas, Kareeb, Mission Kashmir, Munnabhai MBBS, Rang De Basanti, Delhi 6, Bhag Milkha Bhag, Kalank... all bear the visual stamp of Binod Pradhan's genius.
'The Indian and Israeli rabbis were singing a small departure song for brave little Moshe, who had spent many, likely, heartbreaking but bittersweet hours at this home of his babyhood, looking at the drawings his mother had made for him, that were still up in his room.'
How a chilling 911 call from a bartender led to the arrest of Adam Purinton, the man who killed Srinivas Kuchibhotla and injured Alok Madasani and Ian Grillot.
Narendra Modi would have done well to take a few more months before he agreed to receive or call on heads of countries like Japan, China, and the US. The prime minister is to settle down in his job and it was too soon for him to have full awareness of the nuances of intricate international issues, says B S Raghavan.
Parliament's monsoon session began amid sloganeering and protests from opposition of different issues.
'One must remember that a dragon has a forked tongue,' warns Vivek Gumaste.
The Congress president inaugurated a photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life at the historic Swaraj Bhavan where the former prime minister was born.
The South Carolina governor has become the first woman and minority to join Trump's administration.
As Melania Trump arrives in Ahmedabad, Sheela Bhatt offers the First Lady Of The United States a primer on one of India's oldest, and historic, cities.
The underwater world has never looked so magical, mysterious and mesmerising. These photographs are some of the stunning medal winners in the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021 contest.
This is to counter allegations by the Opposition that the BJP had tipped off some of its own leaders about note ban.
'The Trump administration is on the same page as India that Pakistan is not the solution, but the problem itself,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Behold the breathtaking winning and shortlisted images from one of the world's most prestigious photography contests. The amazing shots are from the open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2020, which received 193,000 entries from photographers in over 200 territories. Scroll down and feast your eyes on our pick of the shortlisted and category-winning entries.
"Our government does not delay decisions. We neither nurse problems nor keep them pending," Modi said.
'Nobody in AMU supports Jinnah's two-nation theory.' 'It is shameful we are debating Jinnah and not education or employment.'
Vajpayee's ashes will be immersed in rivers in all the districts in Uttar Pradesh -- his karmabhoomi.
A white powder was found wrapped in a paper close to the seat of the Leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Choudhry.
Amendment to the Act, sovereign guarantees, investment portfolio, realty holdings, and governance issues to shape valuation.
Had he been alive today, the Mahatma would likely travel by metro, as hundreds of women and men do each day. Insiyah Vahanvaty reports for Rediff.com on an unusual exhibition on the Mahatma at Delhi metro stations.
'We are two countries that, as Swami Vivekananda said in Chicago more than a century ago, have sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations on Earth.' 'People are watching to wait and see if this Modi moment is going to be the moment when the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy finally capitalise on the full, inherent potential of this relationship.' Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from the State Department's lunch for Prime Minister Modi.
'The scope of social networking as a form of journalism is limited. Yes, you can tweet a photo or write about, say, a policemen beating a protestor somewhere. But a real news story is complicated and analytical and it needs to be worked on... Journalism is not that simple,' Jonathan Franzen, arguably the greatest American novelist of his generation, tells Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya in a fascinating interview.
The Emergency greatly influenced the RSS' makeover from a fringe force in the Indian political imagination to one that could have its own man sworn in as prime minister in two decades' time. A riveting excerpt from Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil's India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
Rajat Gupta, 70, the first Indian managing director of McKinsey and who of 17 months in US prison for insider trading, gets ready to tell his side of the story. And he is less than complimentary about Preet Bharara, then the famous crusading US attorney for the Southern District of New York. "The jury, the press and the public saw only... a 'cropped picture', he says. For someone whose life story was a model of the Great American Dream - an Indian of modest means who rose to the highest circles of politics and business, mingling with the White House and Davos crowd - his indictment in 2012 marked a stunning fall from grace. Many ascribed it to the hubris of the rich and powerful, says Kanika Datta.
The two new Pixel phones are finally available in India.
'Our only child. A Communist.' 'There was an encounter by the police inside this room, five years ago. He was shot in one arm, but managed to escape.' 'Missing since then. May Jesus keep him alive.' A revealing excerpt from Asim Mukhopadhyay's Half Man: A Novel On The Naxal Movement.
'I do not think that we are showing Hindu humanity and humaneness in the process of the National Register of Citizens.'
Anyone with such experiences could have been expected to turn fundamentalist. But Shaheen Kadri is anything but that.
