News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'Revelations about his assaults on young women mean that his reputation and all that he has stood for is in tatters for all time,' says Aakar Patel.
'We have unleashed a nastiness and viciousness in ourselves that had been bottled up before.' 'This government has helped uncork it, possible forever, and to my mind that is its most significant achievement.'
Activist Mazdak Dilshad Baloch expressed satisfaction with the Indian response to the "Baloch appeal", saying Modi's Independence Day speech had played "a major role in spreading awareness" about the "atrocities" of the Pakistani State on Balochistan.
'If Rahul Gandhi's authority was absolute, he could have picked his man.' 'Compare this with the ease with which outsiders like Adityanath, Khattar and Fadnavis were picked.'
'Two powerful men shaking hands with two powerful women as equals. This photograph made me very happy,' says Aakar Patel.
'The fact that a rural Kashmiri boy was brainwashed into killing himself and others means there is an active programme that exists which does such recruiting and there will potentially be other such individuals out there,' warns Aakar Patel.
'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.
Qatar's efforts to prevent the abuse of migrant workers have been "woefully inadequate" since the Gulf state pledged to confront exploitation following an outcry over the 2022 World Cup, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
'What is the problem in getting the UK to extradite our citizens?' asks Aakar Patel.
Qatar, host nation of the 2022 World Cup, is still doing little to improve conditions for migrant workers despite promising reform last year, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
She said she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the 'draconian' AFSPA but she will continue the fight.
'There is no shortage of material for the Opposition to develop and deploy a campaign against the government.' 'Are we seeing signs that it exists? I confess that I do not see it,' says Aakar Patel.
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
Rights group vowed to continue the struggle for human rights in the Communist nation.
The United States has carried out "unlawful killings" in Pakistan through drone attacks, some of which could even amount to war crimes, a human rights group said on Tuesday.
'We should not use and confuse the word Right to define Hindutva.' 'Doing so blurs the issue because it gives the BJP attributes that it does not have and does not even want,' says Aakar Patel.
'It is only when those who are oppressed stand for themselves that society is forced to create space for them,' says Aakar Patel.
'A nation can take a quick decision in a fit of passion or excitement that can be damaging to itself in the long term,' says Aakar Patel.
'It would have been much more appropriate if a law such as this, which all of the civilised world has given up, was struck down through democratic politics rather than five individuals sitting in judgement,' says Aakar Patel.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter acknowledged on Friday that he failed to reform the scandal-ridden world soccer organisation but asserted he was not responsible for corruption in its regional organisations.
FIFA is not responsible for the working conditions of labourers helping to build stadiums for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, the president of world soccer's governing body Sepp Blatter said.
Pune police on Tuesday raided homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.
'To deny our people help in the time of their greatest need is cruelty,' says Aakar Patel, winner of the 2018 Prem Bhatia Award for Political Reporting.
The deported Rohingyas would face persecution in Myanmar but also, possibly, elimination.
'What is required is to make Pakistan less war-like and more modest in its ambitions. To normalise with India and to reduce the State's fondness for religion.' 'It is pragmatism and not charisma that it required and it is by being boring and not heroic that this can be achieved.' 'This is the moment of realisation which brings the Pakistani leader into conflict with the army.' 'Imran Khan will learn the lesson in time,' says Aakar Patel.
'Police brutality and lock-up deaths have been relevant forever. I believe this is why the film has appealed to everybody. We can all relate to the subject. We read about it every day. It is this harsh truth, this reality in society that has struck a chord with the people.' Filmmaker Vetrimaaran gets ready for the big Oscar race.
'Except for the Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, the BJP has not found any permanent friends.' 'This is because most parties are genuinely concerned about what Hindutva politics does to Indian society,' argues Aakar Patel.
She said that Defence Minister Manohar Parikar was wrong in comparing Pakistan with 'hell'. She said, "It is nothing like that. People there are just like us and there is no difference. They treated us very well."
'The bullet train is not modernity itself. It is the product of modernity.' 'It is this modernity that we would be fortunate to be able to import from Japan.' 'It occurs to me that we seem to believe that by acquiring the toys we will become a modern nation,' says Aakar Patel.
Handing the verdict, the General Court Martial also suspended the service benefits of Col DK Pathania of the 4 Rajput regiment (the unit which was involved in the encounter), Captain Upendra Singh, Subedar Satbir Singh, Havildar Bir Singh, Sepoy Chadraban, Sepoy Nagendra Singh and Sepoy Narinder Singh.
'I do not think that we are showing Hindu humanity and humaneness in the process of the National Register of Citizens.'
'Modi's health scheme has changed the national conversation. For that reason it must be supported.'
'How will one day's crackers change pollution levels?' 'And why limit such genius solutions to just the capital when air pollution and pollution affects all of India?' asks Aakar Patel.
Gao Yu was found her guilty of leaking an internal Communist Party document to a foreign website.
'It is unclear whether there will again be such a confrontational moment in our politics before we all go to vote in 2019,' says Aakar Patel.
'The problem of a Hindu rashtra is that it has no text which can be adapted to the modern world.' 'The most prominent element of the Hindu way of organising society and the State is through caste.' 'This is not acceptable to most Hindus.' 'Because a Hindu rashtra also erodes the power and the rights of the majority of Hindus, we can be assured that this is not something that the BJP, or any other force can do,' argues Aakar Patel.
Modi wants a 'change in the Indian citizen's character.' 'An internal transformation.' 'This is reformation of the sort that is usually done by spiritual and religious leaders.' 'It is not in the domain of popular politics,' points out Aakar Patel.
'Arguments about politics and religion do not end in name calling and abuse when they happen face to face.' 'In person we are more balanced because we are aware we are being observed.'
The vanity project, of absolutely no use to most Indians, will suck money that could be used for health and education, says Aakar Patel.