'Counter-insurgency operations cannot be conducted by following inflexible SOPs.' 'It is unwise to enter jungles with a large body of troops without precise intelligence,' asserts counter-insurgency expert Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
'If anything, he is a fiscal hawk.' 'He has avoided fiscal profligacy completely for the past four years.' 'The fiscal deficits since 2014 are clear proof of this.' 'The point is not that it is not 3 per cent yet; it is that it is not 6, 7 or 8 per cent, which it could easily have been.' 'For this he needs to be congratulated.' 'He has recognised it no longer pays to spend other people's money to win elections,' points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
CONCACAF's congress witnessed an outburst of support for incumbent Sepp Blatter.
The answer has two components: as a leader with a vision who can carry the masses and his ability to realise his vision through his decision-making and executive skills, says Col R Hariharan.
'There is no senior bureaucracy functioning now; these people only obey.' 'This is only a command and control kind of governance.'
'Hitchens asked which State Israel had most in common with -- and then answered his own question, saying "Pakistan".' 'They were both, he explained "confessional States": Founded to succour the followers of a particular faith,' remembers Mihir S Sharma.
Most slang words don't exactly mean what you think they do; some are too literal in their meaning.
'One hopes that in his second term, Modi spends more time reading serious material even if it bores him or is against his nature,' says Aakar Patel.
The navy wants to spend Rs 40,000 crore on INS Vishal, a choice the army and air force oppose. This is as much about turf as about funding. explains Ajai Shukla.
The UK became the first country to exit the economic bloc after 47 years of membership following the vote in favour of Brexit in June 2016.
'The interesting point about the choice of the area for the surgical strikes is that it is the most sensitive part of the Line of Control,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
According to official details unveiled by Downing Street on Friday, Trump will arrive for the two-day "working visit" next Thursday afternoon straight from a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium.
Garm Hava is a product of like-minded artistry and resourceful acumen that hasn't spared any effort to reserve its special place in movie history, says Sukanya Verma.
Sukanya Verma makes her predictions for the top awards at the 90th Academy Awards.
And then we are in our mid-60s and a time of reckoning with one's life - if one believes in Erikson.
Here's a look at some candid photographs of Her Majesty during her record-breaking 63 years on the throne.
'He can say justice has not been done in accordance with the free will of the MLAs without a secret ballot and also by the issuing of a whip.' 'He can ask for a fresh show of strength.'
'The debate, by being mostly in Hindi, lost much of its educative relevance to the southern states.' 'All the prime minister's debating skills and oratorical prowess went over the heads of the South Indian audience,' points out B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
The US president's four-day tour will feature talks with British PM Theresa May, tea with the Queen, and mass protests including a giant Trump baby blimp being flown over Westminster.
Do the students who chanted pro-separatist slogans and their teachers/supporters want the army to withdraw from Kashmir or not fight the terrorists?
'Manmohan Singh was blamed for administrative paralysis, but if you speak to any senior bureaucrat today, they are very bitter and say that files do not move. I am told that more than a thousand files are awaiting clearance.'
2017 is full of long weekends! You won't regret planning your next trip to these wonderful cities.
If anyone thinks that the Golden Globes are insignificant, the Hollywood studios are out to prove them wrong.
There are many firsts in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha speech which constitute the cardinal elements of a strategy which has all the potential to serve as the mainspring of the polity for the rest of the century, says B S Raghavan.
Modi needs to get his act straight and get it straight soon. Five years down the line, Modi may continue to have support from his ardent supporters, but for the masses he would lose the plot on his sudden inability to tell a good story. After all in the end, all that matters is a good story. Even if the man is remarkable and the story simple, it is always a good story that leaves a lasting impression.
Unless the world of soccer shifts on its axis at the end of this month, Sepp Blatter will be re-elected as FIFA president.
'An opportunity is at hand to think big and recast the India-China relationship on a new template, which would help the pursuit of our country's dream of major power status,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
When Rediff.com's Archana Masih and Rajesh Karkera set course from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, they could not think of a better place to begin their journey than the stately campus that has given India some of its greatest military heroes.
As the 16th Indian parliamentary elections get underway, Vikas Lather profiles Sukumar Sen, India's first chief election commissioner.
He said Brexit was an "incredible opportunity" and "whatever" the UK did after it left the European Union was "OK with me".
After a series of defeats since 2012, the results of the recent panchayat polls are being seen by her as a tide changer for the upcoming UP assembly elections
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
Raag Desh is one of the best films of the year, Sreehari Nair raves.
Historian Stanley Wolpert, author of several books on India, passed into the ages recently. We remember Professor Wolpert with Rajeev Srinivasan's March 1997 interview published on the occasion of his controversial book on Jawaharlal Nehru.
'It is strange that a country like India, which had gone through crisis after crisis resulting from militancy, insurgency and terrorist attacks, should still be practising ad hocism in managing its security imperatives,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and former member of the Joint Intelligence Council.
'I have seen in action six prime ministers and ten chief ministers, considered stalwarts in their days, and it is the first time, in all my experience, that a prime minister has gone into such great detail, laying down even the standards of cleanliness that should be maintained in all offices,' says B S Raghavan, former chief secretary, West Bengal.
Pictures from the starry night.
'He has been RCB's leader since 2013 and RCB's best performance under him has been runners up in 2016.' 'In 2013 and 2014, RCB didn't reach the Playoffs stage.' 'In 2015 it reached that stage.' 'In 2017, RCB didn't go beyond the league stage.' 'Sometimes, a change at the top leads to a change in a team's fortunes,' says Sudhir Bisht.
The 1965 war teaches us that war by escalation is a real possibility. Despite clear threats, Pakistan never believed that India will ever cross the international border. In the age of nuclear deterrence, this failure to deter Pakistan is the central lesson of 1965, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
A seven-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said the secular ethos of the Constitution had to be maintained by keeping elections a secular exercise.
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