India's Muslims need to assert their educational and economic upliftment and political empowerment rather than be provoked by communal remarks, says Mohammad Sajjad, reflecting on the Malda riot.
'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
Tax Guru Anil Rego answers your personal income tax queries.
These exist in a unique world of by-invitation-only properties -- those that are never advertised and which money alone cannot buy. One cannot simply walk in for a tour of these apartments. A buyer must first meet the developer's targeted social criteria to get invited for a walkthrough of the property.
There is indeed a Bengal Model but it is one which negates generational aspiration, generates animus, thrives on bloodletting and political vendetta, reiterates outdated ideas of vote bank politics, is shorn of any vision or roadmap for reconstruction and is fast depleting the levels of a legitimate tolerance, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
'.. if the cost is its own survival,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In an online chat with readers on July 8, Anil Rego answered their tax queries. Here's the chat transcript in case you missed the chat
'The current government must act sooner rather than later,' asserts Vivek Gumaste.
A snowy fishing village in Greenland, a vulture soaring through the sky in Spain, and a trio of actors gearing up for an opera performance in China all make up the award winners in the 2019 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year awards. Chosen from thousands of entries, the winning snap is called Winter in Greenland and was taken by Weimin Chu. It depicts the fishing village of Upernavik in northwestern Greenland. Chu will receive $7,500 (Rs 5.21 lakh) and a post on National Geographic Travel's Instagram account, @natgeotravel. Here we present the winners in each of the three categories.
The first woman chief justice of a state in India Leila Seth talks about her career and how she went on to fight male bias and discrimination.
Armed forces and the police can only ensure that violence is kept under control but for any kind of lasting peace, politicians will have to find an answer to the perception that the Indian State is anti-Islam. Therein lies the biggest challenge to the Modi government, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retired).
The film is slow and unexciting and does little to keep the audience entertained.
The Tamil Nadu state unit of the BJP has been alleging that its leaders have been systematically being attacked/murdered in the state. A Ganesh Nadar bring to light five cases where workers of the BJP or its affiliate organisations were attacked to find out if there is any truth in the charges.
At the Facebook townhall, Modi again showed a side of him that is at odds with his tough-as-nails public persona.
The Sindhis are a lesson in perseverance. Once uprooted, they've started all over, often reinventing themselves
Princess Shivranjani of Jodhpur is breathing new life into dead forts and quietly changing the house of Marwar.
'In one mansion we visited, I was told the doors in the back courtyard had to be kept closed because to have the front and back doors open at the same time would result in Chettiar wealth flowing away,' notes Rahul Jacob after a memorable visit to Karaikudi.
Shubham Kumar Gautam, son of a farmer and a Super 30 student, recounts how, in a journey laced with perseverance, grit and determination, he achieved what seemed impossible.
The time is nigh for India to ensure that investment by its former citizens is encouraged by protecting their rights, says C B Patel.
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by
Most incidents of triple talaq are eloquent examples of the failure of Muslim society to instil in its men the teachings of the Quran; instead, they end up relying on the Quran's interpretation by local maulanas, says Ziya US Salam.
To be at Kakkathuruthu when the sun sets, according to National Geographic, is a surreal experience. Ambassador T P Sreenivasan tells us how the tiny island gradually charmed him.
Modi is as divorced from reality as Manmohan Singh. He might want to sound expansive and visionary, but to be credible he must have his feet on the ground and know the reality around him. Instead of delivering irrelevant homilies to small and hence poor farmers, the prime minister should be thinking in terms of creating a huge demand for alternative employment, mainly in the construction sector, and his promised hundred new cities is a capital idea, says Mohan Guruswamy.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani has ruffled quite a few feathers among the descendants of the Peshwa and his Muslim wife.
'Imagine how secure are our seaports and airports that 10,000 objects can leave every decade and our custodians are not even aware?' 'This kind of targeted looting when thieves pick and choose the best of Indian art and steal on an industrial basis will eventually impoverish our great land.'
Nehru's sentimental attachment to the Mountbattens deeply vitiated the Kashmir issue. It was certainly the most important factor for the failure to find a solution in the first years of the conflict.
'Even if Akhilesh Yadav opens up the entire state treasury for us we will not vote for the Samajwadi Party... ''...I don't want to return to my village, my head will be chopped off. They want me to press the button on the lotus.' Caught between an aggressive BSP cornering Dalit votes and the BJP cornering other Hindu votes, the Muslims of Muzaffarnagar have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt presents the grim situation on the ground in western Uttar Pradesh.
