'I will need a few more pictures, sir, can I get some time from you for a more extended photo shoot?' asked Singh. Modi, ever-obliging before the camera, laughed. 'Sure, but let us plan to do it after my swearing-in is over in May!' The Balakot effect was evident. A fascinating excerpt from Rajdeep Sardesai's 2019: How Modi Won India.
Somewhat weird, these offbeat villages will assuredly put to rest the notion that village life is uninteresting.
It is far from clear that this GST will have the silver bullet effect that the "pure" GST would have provided, says Mihir S Sharma.
The Union Health ministry put the number of positive cases at 82, eight more since Thursday night, which includes the woman and a 76-year-old man from Karnataka who became the country's first coronavirus fatality besides 17 foreign nationals, Health Ministry officials said.
'The rate of transmission of COVID-19 in Hong Kong was 0.7 -- anything below 1 suggests the epidemic is receding.' 'The city-State achieved this without the de facto police-State curfew that India has resorted to,' says Rahul Jacob.
'Xi Jinping got a dose of Modi's medicine inside the tent where he was being hosted on the banks of the Sabarmati river.' 'Modi reportedly told him, looking deep into his eyes: "This was not expected of your country. Can you tell me when the troops are withdrawing?".'
'Stumbling blocks teach a lot and should be taken as stepping stones.'
'He could indeed survive [the no confidence vote] even as he faces his biggest political test.'
'India should be able to weather the storm, given its enhanced standing among the major powers. However, India's international clout is partly from its rapidly growing emerging economy and a large and expanding commercial market. 'If the Indian economy continues to slow and protectionist barriers advance, then our international clout will also diminish. The international fallout from bringing the Valley to heel may be more difficult to handle,' says Shyam Saran.
The replacement hired for women dropping out is invariably a man
'The Pakistan army feels it can inflict a similar defeat on India in Kashmir and make it "India's Bangladesh".' 'But comparing Bangladesh of 1971 with the Kashmir valley of 2017 is like equating chalk and cheese!'
As Preet Bharara told Rediff India Abroad, "When is the last time you had two Indian Americans doing a law enforcement press conference" dealing with violations of civil rights and taking the city of New York to court?
Aurobindo Pharma, Cadila Healthcare and Serum Institute are readying their vaccine candidates.
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
The two sides, sources said, also agreed to stop ceasefire violations along the International Border "through enhanced communication via multiple modes at all possible levels".
India had 14 out of the world's 20 most polluted cities, the World Health Organization reveals.
Tax demands and regulatory hassles, coupled with low internet density and sundry other problems, would have kept Mr Ma awfully busy - and small.
'If the government does not take any action soon, 21 cities of India will become like Cape Town, with no water.' 'Four cities -- Delhi, Gurgaon, Meerut and Faridabad -- will suffer the worst.'
Don't worry about volatile, erratic cash flows, freelancers. Vishal Dhawan explains how you can invest and achieve your financial goals despite irregular income.
'Hopefully, people will understand that, beyond medical vaccination plans, in the future we will also need to implement some 'social inoculation' plans.'
'Jinnah developed a belief that Gandhi had stolen the tag of the leader of the Indian people from him and that he later used religion to reduce Gandhi's idea of a united India to naught was his revenge.'
'You bust one module and another one comes up.'
'The government has given up its focus on economic growth because it it not something Modi has been able to fully understand.' 'This explains the extraordinary focus on divisive politics by the BJP even at a time when the world's most important man in visiting India,' notes Aakar Patel.
It is betting on enterprise services and new launches to revive demand. But are the measures enough to steal a march on established players like Samsung and Micromax?
'Above 2,000 metres the gradient of the Himalayas is very steep and if you build any infrastructure (roads, dams, hydro power projects) in these regions, it will not be able to sustain these events (the onslaught of debris that comes down with great speeds).'
'You can still acquire the COVID-19 virus even if you are vaccinated.' 'But if you develop the disease, (after being vaccinated) the likelihood is that it will be mild.' 'It just makes sense to continue to take precautions, because you may be around a lot of unvaccinated people.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will soon get around to reworking their organisational set-up and administrative priorities to regain lost ground in the wake of the Delhi electoral debacle, but there's third course available to them as well. That is to introduce the presidential form of government, which prime ministers Indira Gandhi and A B Vajpayee flirted with before abandoning it. Will Modi go further than them? N Sathiya Moorthy analyses the scenario.
"In India, the sector will grow to $10 billion by 2018," predicts Vishal Bali, co-founder, Medwell Ventures, in an interview with Apurva Venkat.
Fresh guidelines were issued by the government on Wednesday for enforcing the second phase of the coronavirus lockdown, with the Union home ministry barring all kinds of public transport and prohibiting opening of public places during this period.
'It is vital we should form an international coalition against ISIS, because their brutality and the use of the Internet for jihadist activities is a reminder that the entire world community has to be in this together,' US Congressman Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview ahead of Prime Minister Modi's visit.
Giving economic aid to Kashmir is like giving TB medicine to a patient suffering from cancer and expecting it to work, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Flowing from an inadequate understanding of Tamil history and politics is an urban elitist mindset that does not seem to be able to touch and feel the real angst of the larger Tamil-speaking masses, cutting across the social and economic status of the individual, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'You can't get emotional about it. The plan has to be deliberated, debated and options need to be looked at.' 'I am not saying sooner or later, but it can't be too late.'
'In the last 4, 5 years, ever since online companies started online shopping in a big way with heavy discounts, our sales are affected badly.' 'As there is no control over the way the online companies operate, they were able to destroy the domestic retail market to a great extent.'
'To re-establish the writ of the State and resume governance, frayed tempers in the streets and in the media need to be calmed.'
Prices of perishable items could spike in the near term.
'What needs to be pursued as the operations progress is a degree of reconciliation amongst the other parties, less the more orthodox Al Qaeda affiliates.'
Former Indian team captain Bishan Singh Bedi and ex-cricketer Kirti Azad on Thursday batted in the Supreme Court for implementation of Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha committee's recommendation on structural reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
'There has to be strikes on the ISI headquarters to raze it to the ground figuratively and otherwise,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
'Given the nature of our jobs, getting infected is a constant fear we all face.' 'The most we do is follow all the rules strictly and pray that we don't get infected.'
