President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the nation on the eve of India's 75th Independence Day. Here's the text of what he said:
Singh also said that Indian troops are standing firm braving extreme weather and hostile forces to defend the country's territorial integrity.
Singh said the nation and the society as a whole are gradually getting conditioned to look at things in the eye instead of getting confused by duplicities.
Leaders hope the Ayodhya temple ceremony would pave way for harmony.
'Communalism was the biggest enemy of a free society and Bhagat Singh imagined a future without it. Did we succeed in bringing alive such a future?'
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day.
All you have to do is answer a simple question!
Jaya is a woman of steel in the truest sense of the word. Despite being the first lady of filmdom, she's as real and rooted to the ground as anyone can get, notes Subhash K Jha on the actor-politician's 74th birthday.
'The more you love yourself, the prettier you feel inside and the prettier you will be.'
'The Indian Army is there to give a second chance to any youth who accepts his mistakes and wants to surrender and come back to the mainstream. We, the uniformed forces, are here to save lives and not to take lives. The system, the entire administration, will facilitate not only their surrender but also ensure that they are well integrated back into the mainstream,' Lt Gen Y K Joshi said.
Bibhu Prasad Routray explains why the US is supporting Japan's resolve to release 'treated' radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean. And what role China plays in the US decision.
Reason must triumph over blind faith, says Praful Bidwai in this tribute to murdered rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.
'By calling names and using unparliamentary language, they are trying to divert people's attention from the issues of electricity, water, and income.'
The 130 crore people of the country, all the states and every individual fought this battle against COVID-19 as one nation, he said.
'Modi looks to be an effective, result-oriented, purposeful leader, focused on bringing greatness and glory to the nation.'
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So it is best for his critics to give up their sniping and supplement his efforts,' asserts B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant who served three prime ministers.
'You could see the purity of Wajid's soul when he talked to kids on reality shows.'
Though the list of superstitious beliefs is long, often dissolving distinctions of class, caste, religion and education, Karnataka's anti-superstition bill is seen as a big step ahead.
What we have in the Congress is a useful glue to hold a non-cultural, unified Opposition together. That is the sacrifice the Congress must be willing to live with if showing the BJP the door is what the collective Opposition wants, observes Shyam G Menon.
Colleges and universities across India have been asked to observe September 29 as Surgical Strike Day. Tell us what your college is doing to remember this memorable day in India's military history. Please share your stories and pictures with us.
The government is undertaking a comprehensive modernisation programme to prepare the police and paramilitary forces of the country for newer challenges of terrorism, cyber crime and border security, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Where the human aspect of Godzilla fails, technology more than does its bit. The glee it evokes, no matter how meaningless or momentary, is worth the price of admission, feels Sukanya Verma.
'Tibetans don't have jobs, and the military provides a job offer.' 'But the issue is whether China really trusts Tibetans.'
Ferrari have said they remain committed to Formula One after reports on Thursday that the sport's oldest and most successful team could walk away if a proposed budget cap for 2021 was set too low. Britain's Guardian newspaper suggested Ferrari were prepared to quit in a headline, later replaced, over an interview with team boss Mattia Binotto.
Varsha Bhosle salutes that effervescent icon of Indian cinema, Dev Anand.
"Defence officials should adopt a humane approach towards the requirements of ex-servicemen to highlight the fact that while the country acknowledges the sacrifices being made by the jawans when they are in active service, it does not forget them after their retirement," Antony advised.
'I want to keep experimenting.' 'That's what I have done all my life, in my entire career.'
"Though we reiterate our commitment to peace, our defence forces -- the army, the air force and the navy -- are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine our security. Our national interest will be protected at all costs. We have also ensured a widespread understanding in the international community of India's firm and principled stand," the President said. India and China are locked in a nearly nine-month long military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
'The Olympic Spirit has been thrown to the wind in Xi Jinping's China.' 'The International Olympic Committee is ready to kowtow to totalitarian China,' notes Claude Arpi.
In the past, India strongly rejected references made to Jammu and Kashmir in a previous joint statement by Pakistan and China.
Modi said even a few years ago, when India talked about the threats of terrorism, not many in the world were ready to take it seriously.
He asserted that India has never been an aggressor and the Indian Armed Forces are perceived as defenders of humanity and peace across the world.
He also said that although India got independence much before Goa became free, people of the country could not enjoy at that time as they felt uneasy thinking that one part was the country was still under foreign rule.
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Army chief General Bikram Singh on Thursday said the Army fully supports the parents of Kargil hero Capt Saurabh Kalia, who was captured by the Pakistan Army in 1999 and subjected to brutal torture, in pursuing their son's case at International Court of Justice at Hague.
Addressing a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, Biden said that the country deserved a president who understood what people were going through.
Calculative risks is what differentiates the successful businesses from the rest, points out Bhargav Varma, co-founder and COO of CiS App, a social networking venture.
The people on the front lines of fighting the Ebola epidemic are Time Magazine's Person of the Year.
Beginning his speech with 'Jai Siya Ram', the prime minister told the gathering that a grand temple will now be built for 'Ram Lalla', the infant Ram, who had been living in a temporary tent for years.
A handwritten note in Punjabi, purportedly left behind by the deceased, says he was unable to bear the "pain of farmers".
If Irrfan could have been our finest professor of empirical philosophy, and Nawaz is our foremost poet of that space halfway between the gutter and the stars, then Jaideep Ahlawat has to be our greatest artist-scientist, asserts Sreehari Nair.
