Why has Mumbai's cyber police taken no action against these WhatsApp groups who everyday, commit offences under the Indian Penal Code? The police cannot be unaware of their existence, observes Shruthi Marathe.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Washington must retain control over any peace process until the Taliban gets worn out,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'I always gave my best, even to what people considered to be trashy content.'
'The muscularity of the last three years didn't bring any dividends and if anything, Chinese attitudes only hardened,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Hyper-nationalism and closing of mind is also a manifestation of insecurity about one's place in the world, the vice-president said.
'The government may backpedal for now to stave off bad international press and diplomatic demarches, but that it will go ahead with putting religion at the centre of citizenship rules is certain.' 'For it is convinced that this is the magic bullet that will ensure its return to power in 2024,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Singaporeans waved flags and cheered for swimmer Joseph Schooling on his return to the island city state on Monday after winning the country's first Olympic gold medal.
'Any 'de-escalation' that brings down tensions will deprive the BJP of a plank with seamless possibilities to project PM Modi as the 'Iron prime minister' and hype up jingoism in the upcoming election campaign,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A year has passed since Shashi Kapoor passed into the ages. His movies live on on television, but Shashiji's greatest legacy must remain Mumbai's Prithvi Theatre, where people came to be entertained, informed and, perhaps, also enlightened.
'Significantly, Foreign Secretary Gokhale was received at very high level in Beijing.' 'It only shows China's keenness to move forward and put the relationship on a 'win-win' footing,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday the plea of farmers' organisations challenging legality of the fresh promulgation of the land acquisition ordinance by the Narendra Modi-led government.
'The nine judges with all their convictions, wisdom, intellectual girth and enlightened debate have not just stood up to the government but disempowered the State in favour of the people,' says Maheshwar Peri.
'Is the application the Press Council's voice or the government's? 'It has been reported that other members of the PCI were taken aback at the Press Council's application. 'These members need to publicly question the chairman to redeem their own positions,' says Jyoti Punwani.
September 12 marked the 122th anniversary of one of the most incredible battles in Indian history.
'By crudely dragging the topic into the bazaar to flog it for momentary pleasure, we turned it into a dead carcass by the time Modi even got back from Xiamen,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
There are many reasons why one joins a terrorist outfit. But to point at one factor as the single most crucial one to the formation and actions of the Indian Mujahideen is a political explanation, not strategic, says Bibhu Prasad Routray
It is a sight that both warms and breaks the heart. The women of Shaheen Bagh seem oblivious of the cold, these women and their children, the latter ranging in age from 19 days to early teens, who have been occupying the road for over two weeks now. Some of them have not gone home for days, but their faces are clear, unlined by fatigue, their eyes bright and fierce as those of the falcon, shaheen, the area is named for.
'Every single American act to weaken Syrian forces would only tilt the military balance in favour of ISIS whom Trump pledges to vanquish from the face of the earth,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Let us hope that with Nandan, like Cincinnatus back on his farm, taking over the reins, Infosys will not only regain its vigour and momentum, but vastly improve upon its achievements as a global player,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
''There is the perennial worry in the Indian mind regarding the US 'hyphenating' India and Pakistan. Frankly, this is a completely nonsensical hypothesis. The US has always 'hyphenated' India and Pakistan and it couldn't have been otherwise,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Arvind Kejriwal's challenge is unlikely to even cause Narendra Modi to change his schedule. The only person it will embarrass, likely, is Kejriwal, says Mihir S Sharma
Raja Sen reviews Birdman in three sentences, as a tribute to the film's brilliant one-take technique. We space out the review for easy reading.
Arvind Kejriwal's every posture and mudra is carefully choreographed to resemble those of the original Mahatma, but the vision is stunted, the hidden agendas often leak out, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
While the Rafale deal seems to be the main order of business during French President Francois Hollande's visit, other aspects could help sweeten the deal, says Claude Arpi.
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India should stop claiming that a united Pakistan is in India's interests.' 'Pakistan's break-up is a necessity for peace and progress in the region,' says Major General Mrinal Suman (retd).
Modi government has taken some interesting policy decisions in the 100 days since the time he met President Pranab Mukherjee to present his claim as Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy, says Tanmaya Nanda.
Rediff.com's Love Guru has answers to all your relationship problems.
The US foreign and security policy establishment, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, apprehends that Trump may compel them to exorcise the 'unipolar predicament', and bring foreign and security policies to reflect the desires and priorities of the American public.
The India-Afghanistan relationship does not have to be a template of each country's relations with Pakistan, and Delhi will do well to leave it to Ghani to redefine the parameters of Afghanistan's security cooperation with India. A zero-sum mindset can only exacerbate regional tensions, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
'When it comes to India-Pakistan relations, seminal moments of progress invariably bring out saboteurs of peace -- whether we're talking about fresh provocations along the LoC, or even a terror attack in India.'
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The entrepreneur reveals interesting nuggets about her life and career.