'Since Modi is walking a tightrope between two worlds -- one of the saffron brotherhood and the other of the proposed smart cities and bullet trains -- it is understandable why he is averse to scrutiny lest he loses his balance by tilting too heavily on one side or the other. But, why has Sonia Gandhi acquired the reputation of a sphinx,' asks Amulya Ganguli.
The next general election is more than three years away. Yet, the Centre appears to be reluctant to take any bold move that might annoy influential sections of the electorate.
Home to several Yadav family bastions, Phase III of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections is especially crucial for the Samajwadi Party.
The 'secularists'are more adept at the politics of intense and alarmingly exaggerated fear-mongering, as this kind of politics provides easy votes of Muslims without making them answerable for the concrete issues of poverty, unemployment, lawlessness, and of basic needs like roads, electricity, etc, which is exactly how Nitish Kumar was defeated in the elections, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The Association for Democratic Reforms came out with the figures in a report after analysing affidavits of the candidates of 12 Lok Sabha seats that are going to polls. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Hillary Clinton has ended her Democratic presidential primary campaign on a winning note as she defeated her party rival Senator Bernie Sanders in the US capital, setting the stage for a fierce showdown with Republican opponent Donald Trump in November.
Muslims need to get out of their Isolation Syndrome, argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Since 2000-01, the Indian economy has shown the tendency of being unable to absorb all domestic savings as investments.
He has left no one in any doubt about his ability to take bold, even out-of-the-box, decisions, to gauge the feelings and aspirations of the common people at the grassroots and to ensure that polices and schemes do not remain on paper, but are implemented, says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
The crisis remains acute with the country's banks already closed.
'Curiously, Pinarayi's approach, stressing the imperatives of development, is robustly backed by Nitin Gadkari.'
'I stand next only to Gadkari, one of the few outstanding ministers in the Modi government, in applauding Pinarayi's political courage and vision,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
EPF is the major vehicle for the long-term savings of organised private sector employees.
The best message the Prime Minister could bring to London is that he will return to India to focus on economic matters. Britain, on its part, should ensure that it addresses matters that concern India, instead of engaging in pomp during his visit, says Adam Roberts.
'The voter thinks that the State is not going to impartially deliver services, provide justice, basic law and order, social insurance -- so as a voter it's very rational that I may choose a criminal who will help me navigate the State.' 'A weak State allows a criminal politician to be the person who provides that guarantee to mediate whatever problem the citizen has with the State.'
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
The Delhi and District Cricket Association on Wednesday refused to implement the Justice Lodha Committee's recommendations which could have direct ramifications on the functioning of BCCI's state units. The managing committee of DDCA met here to review and deliberate on various observations of the Lodha Committee, and was not quite convinced about most of the major recommendations calling for sweeping reforms in the BCCI's governing structure. The DDCA is not on the same page with Lodha panel on major issues like elections and terms of office bearers, DDCA office bearers simultaneously holding a post in BCCI, proxy voting and conflict of interest among others. On the issue of one person holding one post, the DDCA, in a statement signed by vice-presidents Chetan Chauhan and CK Khanna, said: "We the managing committee of DDCA feel that it is the freedom of concerned state associations, to decide (whether) the appointment of office bearers would affect/restrict administrative function of DDCA or not. "So long members of the executive committee (directors) do not feel that the functioning of DDCA is being jeopardized, there cannot be any justified reason in imposing this clause." The controversial cricket body is in favour of continuation of proxy voting.
The prime minister highlighted the gains made during his last four years vis-a-vis the previous governments to suggest that he has lived up to the promise of hope he had offered to the electorate in 2014.
This, the Congress said in its political resolution, was necessary as there were misgivings on the 'misuse' of EVMs to 'manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict.' The resolution called for reverting to the old practice of paper ballot as adopted by other major democracies to help restore the credibility of the electoral process.
'Modi didn't face such belligerence in his home state. Moreover, as the prime minister, he can no longer resort to his earlier ploy of describing every attack on himself as an attack on Gujarat. Instead, he has to rebut the charges with calm logic,' says Amulya Ganguli.
India Inc is encouraged by a determined Budget.
Oil marketing cos rightly passed on the burden to buyers.
India's rising GDP may have propelled the middle class to become richer, buy new cars, travel around the world and build assets, but it further pushed the economically disadvantaged and poor into poverty and drudgery, says Devanik Saha.
As the BJP snaps at its heels, can the Communists stay relevant in the electoral game?
Voted to power with an absolute majority for the first time in nearly three decades, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, considered as an able administrator, promises "a fresh engagement" with the United States, a latest Congressional report has said.
'We must begin dialogue with openness and goodwill, but we will not proceed very far without trust and good faith. The alternative is the violence of 'might is right,' which settles very little and destroys so much of real value,' says Dr Rudolf C Heredia, author of Religious Disarmament -- Rethinking Conversion in India.
'What are the circumstances at that time? Had you thought Modi will come after Vajpayee?'
Over 20 political parties, except the Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front, took part in the massive rally.
The two countries want to broaden and deepen their economic and commercial ties as well as strengthen bilateral national security partnership.
India Inc has high hopes from the upcoming Budget.
The record of other prime ministers too shows how much can change when a prime minister is faced with the two-year challenge, says T N Ninan.
The BJP's defeat in Delhi could turn into a larger national swing, but Prime Minister Modi and his party have enough time to tweak the party's policy agenda and project a more humble, secular, and inclusive image, say Ravi Agrawal and Harmeet Shah Singh
Both the Greek and Iranian deals are extremely imperfect and fraught with uncertainty, says Claude Smadja.
Modi hit out at the UPA government for allegedly 'blocking' surgical strikes post 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008.
The idea is to make unexceptionable broad promises so as to have the maximum freedom to devise policies if and when the opportunity arises, says Subir Roy.
'A fierce crusader against communalism, George joined hands with majoritarian forces, never to revisit or re-assess his saffron association.' 'He was a Union minister in 1998-2004, a time when people like Graham Staines were lynched in Orissa.' 'On the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, George went on to kind of justify the slashing of pregnant women, by saying in the Lok Sabha that this was nothing new for India.' 'Thus, he was in sharp contrast to what he had himself stood for in the heyday of his political career in the 1970s and 1980s, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The idea is to boost household savings and turn more of them into growth capital. If the plan succeeds, sustained eight per cent-plus rates of gross domestic product growth should be within reach in a few years.
Nitish Kumar is on the brink of taking another wrong turn. It is hard to fathom why he would tie up with the Congress, which has little political capital left in Bihar. Aditi Phadnis reports
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
There are many collateral advantages of taking the tough decision.
