'Happily,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, 'BRICS displayed new-found energy and built something real, a bank. Between needless nihilism and as yet unjustified euphoria, there are many stations for the BRICS train and we can watch its progress with renewed interest.'
He said India would continue to actively pursue and promote its geo-political, strategic and economic interests on the seas, in particular the Indian Ocean.
The prime minister also pitched for respecting freedom of navigation against the backdrop of South China sea dispute.
Activist and journalist Madhu Kishwar on Smriti Irani and the controversy over the four-year course offered by the Delhi University.
Enormous debt isn't the only thing afflicting Air India. Its work culture is an equal culprit in its downfall.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday addressed the first joint sitting of Parliament as mandatorily required under the Constitution after the general elections. The address is the political, economic and foreign policy road map of the Narendra Modi government and covers virtually all crucial areas.
2.3 million people are opioid-dependent. 860,000 people are opioid users. 123,000 people are heroin-dependent.
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the Central Party School in Beijing on Thursday:
Putin, 62, who holds an 8th dan black belt in Karate, said, "I do not know how to do yoga. When you people do it, it looks difficult. That is why I have not tried it."
Kamil's elder sister Samina Vaziralli has taken on an expanded role
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 euphoria of Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar will fade quickly if the Modi government does not raise its game, and focus significant monetary resources and managerial skills on making India's infrastructure truly world-class, says Ram Kelkar.
The ecosystems of India and China today jostle against one another across Asia and much of the world.
'A vote for Hillary means a vote for endless wars of trying to overthrow governments and rebuilding foreign countries.' 'A vote for Bernie Sanders means an end to these interventionist wars, and instead spending our money and precious resources rebuilding our own country,' Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the only Hindu-American in the United States Congress, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com
'Are moving towards a political culture that provides more space for violence and a paranoid political rhetoric,' asks Nitin Desai.
Most mainstream researchers agree that good governance is a necessary condition for growth.
'Pakistan is paying the price for ignoring secularism. In seeking to be ever more Muslim to define its nationhood, it has become a terrorist haven.'
Scientist, humanist, icon, Albert Einstein offered a lot more to the world than E=MC2, which is probably just one of the reasons why he remains one of the most enduring figures in human history. So what lessons can we learn from a life less ordinary? Virender Kapoor tells us just that.
India's beloved President -- there has been no other who has influenced the nation as much -- never stepped back from inspiring people to be the very best that they could be.
Michael Knights, a Boston-based Lafer Fellow of The Washington Institute who specialised in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf, spoke to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa about power of the ISIS and the reasons behind its growth
Expenditure on health in India is at a global low of 1.2% of GDP.
'We are by no means anywhere nearing having external financing difficulties or internal financing difficulties. The government's credit is solid, there is absolutely no difficulty for the government in borrowing and it is borrowing effectively from the public today in a fairly free public debt market,' the RBI governor tells a meeting in Washington, DC
Any attempt to defang Islamic State must first cut off its main sources of funding, especially its revenue from oil sales, extortion and crime, ransom payments, and support from foreign donors. This will also be need to be backed up by efficient forces on the ground.
Thirty one outstanding teachers were invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a first-ever in-residence programme.
'The combination of the LeT and the ISI is the most dangerous terrorist challenge in the world because it carries a real and present danger of provoking nuclear war.'
Modi government needs to focus more.
'Nature does not send us a bill, so we ignore them in decision making until we hit a moment of crisis, such as the current shortage of water.'
In dramatic scenes, Umar Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who had been untraceable after being accused of sedition, returned to the campus late on Sunday evening. Khalid turned up at JNU's administration block, where hundreds of students began to gather, and gave a rousing speech just shy of 14 minutes, insisting that he would stand his ground and asked that all students unite against the attacks on our country. This is what he had to say.
Amit Bansal discusses the emerging trends in the engineering sector.
When it came to dealing with the media and academia, it has been a roller coaster ride for the National Democratic Alliance, observes Nitin Sethi.
For all the blame-game over the flood preparedness in Chennai and elsewhere in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, this is not the first of its kind. Nor would it be the last, given the nature of the north-east monsoon, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
About one-third of the world's poor live in India but there are countries where 88 per cent of population is extremely poor.
Anjuli Pandit wants to use her skills to educate more and more Indians, says Chaya Babu
The president outlined the government's agenda in the coming financial year in his customary address to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament.
'Through a translator, I was able to speak with several of the detainees from India who are seeking asylum.' 'I was saddened to hear the detainees tell us that they are being confined in their cells for up to 22 to 23 hours a day.' 52 Indian are among the 121 asylum-seekers held in an Oregon prison. Rediff.com Senior Contributor Pottayil Rajendran reports from New York on the case that is making headlines in America, India, indeed around the world.
Maya Vishwakarma gave up her job as a scientist in California to make 'No Tension' sanitary pads for tribal women who have never used one before.
To be competitive, you need to focus on building products very rapidly, says Werner Vogels.
Chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian discusses the Budget, goods and services tax, Centre-state relationship and larger issues facing the economy
The processes that create a seven per cent-plus GDP growth rate without a similar growth in jobs are far from fully understood, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
'Let me talk about young Indian startups with their hearts in the right place and how they are proving that innovations that represent 'affordable excellence' -- breaking the myth that 'affordability' and 'excellence' cannot go together -- is indeed possible!' says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, in this fascinating feature.
