'He has a gift none of his eight predecessors, from Manmohan Singh to Rajiv Gandhi, had: Being able to speak directly and convincingly to a large enough section of Indians who will take his word for gospel,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The bill seeks to ensure health-care, treatment and rehabilitation of persons with mental illness "in a manner that does not intrude on their rights and dignity."
'I've answered all those people who are tweeting nonsense about Varnika Kundu and trying to shame her.' 'Shame her for what? For being a young girl at a party with friends? For enjoying herself?' 'I think it is ridiculous for somebody to say that she should not be out at night.' 'Why should a girl not step out at night?' 'What does that mean?' 'Does it mean that something happens to the boys at night and they change into monsters?' 'If so, then the problem lies with the boys, not with the girls.' 'Please keep your sons at home at night.' 'Why are you telling girls where to go and what to do?'
The Central Bureau of Investigation has found no evidence of murder or sexual assault in its probe into the death of 2 teenage cousins, whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district last May, according to agency sources.
Australian photographer Warren Richardson has won the Photo of the Year 2015 award at the 59th annual World Press Photo Contest, results of which were announced on Thursday.
An Indian man, left partially paralysed when he was slammed to the ground by an American police officer, recounted his ordeal as he took the witness stand in a US court.
Two of the four death row convicts in the December 16 gangrape case have told the Delhi high court that they were wrongly convicted by the trial court as they were not inside the moving bus in which the girl was allegedly raped by six persons.
Sports Awards could to be delayed: Ministry official
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
The mohalla committee movement in Mumbai celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The movement, which was born in the wake of the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-1993, has played an important role in ensuring that Hindu-Muslim riots do not recur in the Maximum City.
Communalising law and order situations is fraught with danger; we need to tread cautiously. Interjecting a communal angle into what is purely a law and order issue does nobody good; it muddies the picture, fuels unrequited passion and distracts us from the core issue, says Vivek Gumaste.
'Passive euthanasia is actually more important in the sense that the need to administer it arises every day in some hospital or the other. And it can be administered without a living will,' Vipul Mudgal, director of the NGO Common Cause -- which had filed a plea to declare 'right to die with dignity' as a Fundamental Right flowing from Article 21 or the Right to Life, -- tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
A record number of 35 million people have already voted under the early voting provision of American democratic system ahead of Tuesday's presidential election, surpassing the 2012 record when 32.3 million people exercised their franchise in advance.
'If the court realises, within a couple of years, that women are making all kinds of allegations for other ulterior motives, then it will become difficult for women,' well-known Supreme Court lawyer Mukul Rohatgi tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Nelli Praveen Kumar, aged about 25, a first semester student of Master of Fine Arts course of Department of Fine Arts, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, was found hanging from ceiling in the room at about 4.15 am
'Embedded with the divisive regime, they administer heavy doses of the opium of religion and nationalism day in and day out,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
The activities at the shelter home came to the fore when a girl managed to flee from there.
'I have to fight to ensure something like this doesn't happen to any other child, that no other parent faces what we are going through.' 'That is how I will find strength.'
SC said to establish a clear link between the convicts and the incident, the police has adduced scientific evidence like DNA, fingerprint and bite mark analysis.
'The BJP has no presence where the regional parties are strong.' 'And we should think of the Congress and support the Congress in those places where it is the dominant regional party.' 'The leaders of the other parties (have to) get together on this simple principle of one candidate against the BJP candidate.'
Before the situation in the Naxal-affected areas got out of hand, the Raman Singh government intervened to calm tempers between the police and human rights activists.
There are two national political parties in India, but only one of them seems to be any good at politics, says Mihir S Sharma.
The police are yet nab the man who brutally attacked a lady 12 hours ago in an unguarded ATM kiosk in Bengaluru. The assault was captured on CCTV camera.
The year threw up quite a few shockers, some rather rude one. Below are Rediff.com's 12 picks that made us sit back and think, 'Did that really happen?'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
The murders of journalists in 2015 underscore the rising power of regional language media, especially local-language newspapers, says Nilanjana S Roy
It is time to take the sainthood away from Dr Manmohan Singh, says Sudhir Bisht.
'He has not done any harm to anyone. Yet you give him life imprisonment.' 'We were told to respect the Constitution. That is what Sai is doing; he is not doing anything beyond the Constitution.'
Duvvuri Subbarao recounts how his tensions with P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee, then finance ministers, over monetary policy spilled over into other issues in the central bank in this excerpt from Who Moved My Interest Rate?, his memoir of his term as Reserve Bank of India governor.
'Because of the impact the movement has had, people will think twice before misbehaving because you don't know who will turn out to be another Tanushree Dutta.'
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday targeted Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya over the suicide by a Dalit scholar saying the ministers and the vice chancellor have "not acted fairly" that forced him to take the extreme step.
'The BJP has failed to protect cows.' Why doesn't the government say it is a government for cows, mandir and the Ganga?' 'Why don't they declare the cow as a national animal?
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.
So concluded a day in court that saw a woman accused of murder don a fresh role of heroine of the moment. Even Bollywood couldn't have come up with such a curious twist.
'When you come to Delhi, you see that there are many Kashmirs here -- the Dalits, Muslims, women, bonded labourers.'
