Don't hit the buy button as soon as you hear of the next BIG online sale this Diwali. Here are some very important lessons -- in the light of how some online shoppers felt cheated after Flipkart's 'Billion Day Sale' -- that could save you time, money and peace of mind, says Rajiv Raj!
According to party insiders, the revamp will be aimed at serving the dual purposes of fixing accountability for the loss and bringing in a new leadership in the run-up to 2014 polls. The demoralised Congress unit desperately needs a new lease of life, if it has to give any competition to the reenergised Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi.
"Not a single step has been taken by this government to empower small businesses in India," says Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders and former treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit.
B S Gnanadesikan, who resigned as Tamil Nadu state Congress chief, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com what is wrong with the party in the state.
'Otherwise, how is the government going to make more revenue?' 'The most important thing the GST does is to transfer money from the household consumers who are the most productive users of capital to the most unproductive users of capital, namely the government.'
No one's quite sure on the retail FDI issue in this regard, after the new Rajasthan and Delhi governments cancelled the approvals given by their predecessors
After ending its wholesale partnership with Walmart, Bharti Retail has decided to merge with the Future group
'Live a healthy lifestyle. Like what our parents taught us. Like our parents' parents taught them.' 'We become obese. In obesity the chance of cancer increases.' 'Any new symptom? Please talk to your doctor. Some screening test might need to be done.'
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on opposition BJP over its "double-standard" attitude towards corruption and attempt to "divide the society on communal lines".
This Budget signals a shift from a hand-out to a hand-up economy.
'In the long term, the party that is going to be irrelevant is the Left.' 'It seems absurd that the people of Kerala are the last ones to wake up to the reality that this kind of discredited dogmatic ideological politics has no place in the modern world.'
The 30-share Sensex closed up 34 points at 27,831 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 15 points at 8,356.
Rahul Gandhi-led Congress is undoubtedly making all efforts to correct the public perception about the party and the ruling alliance but it is proving to be an uphill task. Rediff.com's Anita Katyal reports
'The CBI and its independence was discussed in great detail. We invited and sought the views of the CBI director as well as several government officials. But the ingenious solution to the problem came from within the committee. The effort was to somehow find a solution. It would not have been possible to draft this Bill if members had not been liberal in their views and if they had not been prepared to rid themselves of their political bias.' Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who headed the Parliamentary committee which proposed the recommendations for the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Anita Katyal in an exclusive interview.
'Through the use of technology, the GSTN will tip the balance in favour of compliance rather than tax evasion, lowering the barriers for entry into the tax payment system while making it much harder to cheat on payments,' says Nandan Nilekani.
In a path-breaking verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday said bureaucrats should not act on verbal orders given by political bosses as it sought an end to frequent transfers and suggested a fixed tenure to insulate them from political interference.
A large number of rich farmers, who earn more than salaried employees in the cities, get away with paying no tax at all in view of the government's lack of will to consider an agricultural income tax
Younger party leaders are livid with the Murli Manohar Joshi-headed manifesto drafting committee for not taking their suggestions, reports Archis Mohan.
Interference from politicians in terror cases creates added confusion, giving operatives enough time to give investigators the slip. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Congress is planning a high-pitch media blitzkrieg in the run up to the assembly and general elections on the twin agenda of governance and development as opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to push for Hindutva.
With all exit polls predicting a clean sweep for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently-concluded assembly polls, several leaders have started working overtime to deny the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from walking away with credit for this victory, says Anita Katyal
Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the proposed Food Security Bill, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the bill, in its current form, will push the country toward "malnutrition".
Tamil Nadu has the most efficient and effective cadaver transplant programme in India.
Sharad Yadav, President of the Janata Dal (United), is one of the architects of the proposed merger of six political parties who trace their roots to the erstwhile Janata Dal. Yadav tells Archis Mohan how the grand alliance with Left parties and even the Congress is the need of the hour.
The civil services seem to have gone sour under the NDA government. Ministers exercise executive power in a partisan manner. Consequently, a regime of favouritism holds sway over the corridors of power, feels Ram Ugrah.
India loses 333 acres of prime forest every day. Instead of working to conserve India's forests and water resources, the environment minister has set up a committee to 'dismantle' the five key laws that provide environmental protection.
'In 1981 when I had a project in Qatar, those in charge told me they would not like Indians in high positions; they felt Indians could work only as drivers, cleaners and labourers.' 'I challenged them and showed that Indians could do great work in all areas.' 'Today, in the Middle East, they insist on having Indians in all fields. Everybody believes Indians are capable, hard working and trustworthy,' Ravi Pillai, one of the most influential businessmen in the Middle East, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
Atul Bhatnagar, COO, National Skills Development Corporation tells us how we can effectively tackle the issue of unemployability and make our youth more employable.
Though there is a full-throated clamour in the Congress that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi be formally named as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Nehru-Gandhi scion is personally not convinced that his projection will yield electoral dividends.
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.
While Congress-ruled states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Assam expressed fears about the sudden demise of the planning process and wondered what it would be replaced with, also worrying about the immediate implications on annual Plan outlays, Andhra Pradesh said it was considering setting up its own NITI Aayog.
'He should have at least offered to step down. He should have shown some grace as head of the government in whom the party leadership reposed so much faith.' 'Sonia Gandhi is essentially a democrat. She does not like to disturb chief ministers. It is a reflection on the person's style of functioning when they mistake this trust as their personal power.' Former Union minister Kumari Selja lashes out.
Modi government has to come up with a robust economic agenda to impress the masses.
Rediff.com digs into its archives, tracking down Dr M R Rajagopal's sincere efforts of changing lives and changing the way India looks at palliative care.
'Though federal, the Constitution is unitary in nature. All matters relating to revenue are centralised. It is necessary that matters related to finance have to be decentralised... States need more freedom in designing schemes with their interest in mind. There has to be a Constitutional amendment to give more powers to the states. A special session of Parliament should amend the Constitution, especially the 7th Schedule,' Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
Taxpayer satisfaction is a part of the matrix of key performance indicators of the administration.
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh feels that Sonia Gandhi should retain the leadership of the party for now, as Rahul Gandhi still has things to learn.
On the title page of the Top Secret Report, Henderson-Brooks quotes the Chinese tactician Sun Tzu: 'Know yourself, know your enemy: A hundred battles, a hundred victories', says Claude Arpi, highlighting where the Indian Army and government failed to counter the Chinese attack in 1962.
'A change of government will bring about a lot of changes because everything is frozen for the last two years. So, the frozen energies of India will be released.' Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor Swaminathan Gurumurthy discusses the Modi phenomenon with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
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