'India's economic fundamentals are much too strong to be affected by his resignation,' says B S Raghavan.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan says government experience is viewed as important in some quarters, but he does not know if Rahul Gandhi joining the government after 2009 elections would have been better for Congress' prospects in the Lok Sabha polls.
'If development, investment, employment, implementation, credibility and commitment are ensured, security will automatically improve and subversive and militant elements will lose ground and be neutralised by the people themselves,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'Even though he knew full well that the manipulation went against the facts as he knew them, Pillai nonchalantly contented himself with stating that since the file came from the minister himself, he just passed it on as it was,' says B S Raghavan.
Fifty-six days after she was summarily suspended by the Akhilesh Yadav government, Durga Shakti Nagpal, the young upright IAS sub-divisional magistrate of Greater Noida, was finally reinstated on Sunday.
Facing the threat of censure motion in Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee on Wednesday expressed regrets over his objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over which BJP had strongly protested.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh's supporters on Thursday clashed with the police over the move to evict him from the government residence in Delhi even as the Centre rejected his demand that the house be converted into a memorial to his father, former Prime Minister Charan Singh.
'She was once asked what the secret to political leadership was and she said it was the ability to like all kinds of people.' 'I don't think Rahul fundamentally likes people -- that's probably why he can't deal with them and it shows.' 'Sonia is a more talented political mobiliser than her son, but I think the decline of the Congress set in in 1969...'
'Modi, with his sharply honed political savvy and undoubted grasp of international affairs, is a past master at taking the measure of world leaders.' 'He would be the last person to think of the unpredictable and not too well-regarded Trump as the mediator,' says B S Raghavan.
'The downslide has been rapid leading up to the number one and number two of the organisation flinging against each other horrendous accusations of bribery and tampering with investigations for personal gain, and the latest petition to the Supreme Court by the joint director of the CBI, M K Sinha, opening a veritable Pandora's Box of repulsive skeletons,' notes B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant who witnessed the CBI's birth.
'There are enough funds to solve this problem.'
Accusing the Congress of failing the country's farmers and soldiers, Narendra Modi on Monday said the ruling party should be given such a "farewell" that India does not see it in power "for seven generations".
Nothing spawns the creation and perpetration of conspiracy theories more effectively than an official obsession with secrecy.
Vajpayee's ashes will be immersed in rivers in all the districts in Uttar Pradesh -- his karmabhoomi.
The PM will spend much of Friday outside Delhi; will devote day attending official events in Jharkhand and a political rally in Banka, Bihar
The prime minister said he had kept this three-year-old programme away from politics and had tried to connect with the people without getting swayed by the (political) "heat" and "anger" that may prevail at any particular time.
'It seemed it was more than an anti-incumbency vote; it was an outright rejection of the BJP by the people after due deliberation and an expression of their disillusionment with Modi's leadership,' says B S Raghavan.
Braving attacks by pro-Telangana elements, nearly one lakh employees from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions congregated in Hyderabad on Saturday for a rally, which gave the call to keep the state united.
Thousands of people may have gathered at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday to attend a rally by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi but it remains to be seen whether the mammoth turnout will actually translate into votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh.
'All the political parties, should in order to deal with China, come together and formulate strategies to safeguard every single inch of Bharat.' RSS leader Indresh Kumar tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com why the Sangh wants the Modi government to convene an all-party meeting on the Chinese incursions into Indian territory.
'What Trump and Kim have demonstrated is that leaders need not remain prisoners of the status quo and they can, by showing the necessary will and courage, break out of the hang-ups and constrictions of the past and carve out a new pathway for themselves,' says B S Raghavan.
'When it vanishes as a national force (meaning when it can no longer get sufficient votes to hold onto its symbol, the hand) it will not have been the first large Indian party to die,' says Aakar Patel.
The Congress campaign is muted in Varanasi, but the party is hoping that anti-Modi votes and caste combinations will help Ajai Rai, the only local candidate in the fray. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com reports from the Congress campaign headquarters.
Bharatiya Janata Party is making hectic preparations ahead of the visit by BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who will undertake a "grand road show" before filing his nomination on Thursday for the mega battle in this holy city where he is challenged by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and others.
Violence erupted after some students, protesting against the alleged eve-teasing incident, wanted to meet the vice chancellor at his residence, according to police and university sources.
Asserting that Aligarh Muslim University is not a minority institution, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday said the varsity is committing a "big crime" by not implementing the policy of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.
'Modi should not feel shy of proclaiming as the meaning of secularism regard for all religions in proportion to their numbers in tune with the spirit of democracy and adopting it as State policy,' says B S Raghavan.
Addressing the Lok Sabha on the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement, the prime minister said from 2017 to 2022, when India turns 75, there is a need to create the same spirit that existed between 1942 and 1947.
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.
Shastri took the first big step to transform India's agriculture, the benefits of which his successors reaped in plenty, says A K Bhattacharya.
Lieutenant Colonel Desmond Hayde was awarded the Mahavir Chakra, the second highest honour in battle, for winning an epic battle in Pakistan. In a brilliant and gruesome assault, what he and his men achieved that September 50 years ago had never been seen before.
'It stands to reason that if a CM is hospitalised for long durations, and is perceived to be not fully functional, that it is the governor's Constitutional duty to ascertain by diligent efforts and arrive at a dispassionate conclusion about the CM being physically fit and mentally alert to discharge his/her Constitutional obligations,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
An article published by the party's Mumbai unit has caused a stir as it blames Jawaharlal Nehru for the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet.
Modi asked bureaucrats to imagine whether or not their life has become "robotic". "If it has happened than this impacts the whole government and system. We can't be robotic. That can't be our life," the prime minister said during an hour-long interaction with civil servants at the 9th Civil Services Day function at Vigyan Bhawan.
Rohini Bhajibhakare won't waste a moment on this statistic because she has far more important things to do.
Why is a Katra-Chennai train known as Andaman Express? Since no capitals are involved, why should a Katihar-New Jalpaiguri train be called Capital Express? What about Matysagandha Express, Padmavati Express or Sanghamitra Express?
'Rahul is only making a pathetic public spectacle of his lack of judgment and good sense by hallucinating that somehow, the Congress, or whatever political combine is cobbled together, will displace the BJP at the coming Lok Sabha election by constantly harping on the Rafale deal,' argues retired civil servant B S Raghavan.
'If we can award Madan Mohan Malaviya who died in 1946, then why not the Mahatma who died in 1948?' 'Why not go a little further back in time and give the award to Rabindranath Tagore who died in 1941?' 'And should we mark Lokmanya Tilak's 100th death anniversary in 2020 by giving him a Bharat Ratna,' asks Amberish K Diwanji.
Remembering Verghese Kurien, a visionary who singlehandedly built world's biggest agricultural development programme.
'Underestimating its potential implications, in the event of an 'adverse' verdict, could turn out to be a huge political blunder,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir.
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