'Some say I do it for publicity, while others call it a gimmick. But these questions don't trouble me,' says Arjun Ram Meghwal, a two-time Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Bikaner. Upasna Pandey reports
Over 100 Opposition members of Parliament led by Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday marched from Parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhawan
The event was attended by senior Congress leaders such as former prime minister Manmohan Singh
The highway was closed on Saturday due to heavy snowfall and landslides.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said awareness about it should be spread across the country so that at least 50 per cent of the farmers join it within two years.
The changes in the ordinance have been made after taking inputs from states suggesting changes to the Act which would make it more industry-friendly
The Centre on Wednesday deployed multi-disciplinary teams in bird flu-affected areas of Kerala and Haryana, while Madhya Pradesh, where crows have died due to the influenza, banned the entry of chicken consignments from southern states for 10 days as a precautionary measure.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar journeys through villages and towns, districts and cities for a reality check.
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Aam Aadmi Party government's first 100 days in power in Delhi have been a mixed bag
The notion that the BJP gained its increased tally by wiping out the Left parties and the Congress is completely misleading. Equally misleading is the belief that the TMC held its ground in all its existing seats. A little more than a fifth of the seats Mamata Banerjee's party had won in 2016 was lost to the BJP this time.
Relishing mangoes this summer will cost a lot more as prices of the fruit have shot up by 50-65 per cent as supplies have been hit following unseasonal rain.
The bill was tabled after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected the contention of parties.
'By 2020 around 34% of India's population will be in the 15-34 age group.' 'More than 70% of them live in rural areas.' 'Their energy and enthusiasm need to be tapped in order to meet their aspirations and transform agriculture and the rural economy,' says P K Joshi.
Rahul said the poor, the labourers and the middle class are being sacrificed in the demonetisation 'yajna' for the benefit of the "super-rich families" of the nation.
For many of the bereaved families the agonising wait started on Tuesday evening when they were informed by senior Army officials about the sacrifice of the 20 soldiers in the clashes with the Chinese Army along the Line of Actual Control a day earlier.
Rahul Gandhi will be back "soon", Congress President Sonia Gandhi said in Amethi on Saturday while answering questions about her son's mysterious "leave" which has extended to over a month so far.
In the first part of an exclusive interview with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com on the eve of the first year of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, BJP President Amit Shah talks about the government's achievements and the controversy over the land ordinance.
The toll in the deadly blast and fire, apparently caused by leakage from a Gas Authority of India Limited gas pipeline, on Saturday rose to 17, even as Andhra Pradesh police registered a case of negligence against the state-run firm.
Just one year after taking office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a challenge that could come to haunt him.
Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa said the "unprecedented" northeast monsoon killed 470 people and nearly a lakh livestock besides damaging crops in over 3.83 lakh hectares.
The agrarian crisis must be met with similarly speedy responses.
Ahead of the Parliament session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reached out to parties appealing them not to come in the way of prosperity of farmers, saying the deadlock over the land acquisition bill is seriously impacting rural development.
'These people are living on the edge of starvation and governments need to show much greater compassion towards them.'
The government will announce minimum support prices for kharif.
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.
If the fishermen were not allowed to fish in their traditional areas (Katchatheevu), they would be left with no other alternative except to commit suicide like distressed farmers, they said.
A wise politician would disarm his critics, try to take them along, co-opt them, or, at least, take the criticism in his stride. Developing a thick skin ought to be an essential part of any politician's toolkit, notes Virendra Kapoor.
'The so-called economic reforms are for the rich.' 'The government should not facilitate and entertain this kind of lust for land by the capitalists.'
Those from the longest ruling family are criticising (the PM) on suit. I ask you, haven't your father and grand father worn suits," he said.
The Telugu Desam Party has confirmed that its chief Chandrababu Naidu will be sworn in as the chief minister of Seemandhra on June 8. The swearing-in will take place six days after Telangana Rashtra Samithi supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao is sworn in as the chief minister of Telangana.
The incident, which came months after the lynching of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan by suspected cow vigilantes in Alwar, has triggered an outrage.
'The government has failed to understand the seriousness of the situation, and that's why they are underestimating the problem.' 'They think some tinkering here and there will fix the economy automatically.'
The ravines, which are sharp, steep mud hillocks, stretch over three states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, once home to several dreaded dacoits have long been the subject of several projects and government schemes to make them agriculturally viable.
India's development plans, requiring 11 million hectares of land over the next 15 years, is likely to stoke tensions
'Obviously, MSP hike raises chances of a reduction in exports. Even without an MSP hike, India's exports of a number of agri-commodities, like sugar, were unviable in the overseas markets.'
Is the Budget sufficiently prudent? It probably is but at the cost of substantial under-provisioning for the many grand sounding schemes announced in it, says Nitin Desai.
'It is a national shame that the only country that enacted a food security act is now better known as the land of farmer suicides. Indian farming can change only if national irrigation policy is implemented in totality,' Dr M S Swaminathan tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
In heart-wrenching scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, coffins of soldiers arrived in several states for the last rites with full military honours.
