Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has a long-term commitment to India and is focussing on bringing more users to its platform by meeting language needs of communities and introducing tools to ease access, a top Wikimedia Foundation executive said. Wikipedia, which is operated by non-profit organisation Wikimedia Foundation, already counts India as its fifth largest market. It gets about 750 million page views a month from the Indian audience.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day.
'It makes complete sense to me now that nothing was said or done to make our sport more diverse or to address the racial abuse I received throughout my career'
Over the past few months, the overall interest in chess is reported to have doubled, with more players than ever coming together to participate in chess events that are being increasingly held through online platforms
Infosys chief Vishal Sikka also said that demonetisation has shown to the world that Indians are ready to adopt new technology disruptions.
It is clear that the world desperately needs a globalisation model that will work for all and not just some, says Sunita Narain.
The Planning Commission said on Tuesday that emphasis on inclusiveness by the government should not be misconstrued as dilution of the overall growth agenda and the benefits should percolate to all strata of the society.
Over 300 eminent personalities from the creative and scholarly community of India, including actor Naseeruddin Shah, filmmaker Mira Nair, vocalist TM Krishna, author Amitav Ghosh and historian Romila Thapar have expressed solidarity with the students and others protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens. Writers Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, actors Ratna Patak Shah, Jaaved Jafferi, Nandita Das, Lillete Dubey, sociologist Ashis Nandy, activists Sohail Hashmi and Shabnam Hashmi were also among the signatories.
The Central Bureau of India on Thursday gave a clean chit to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
'The propagation of an absolutist narrative that shuts down any dissent is dangerous, irresponsible, and unbecoming of India's proud democracy.' 'The government must do better.'
'In its history, the RSS has never seen success as it is seeing now. And it wants to extend their base.'
The Congress had won over 400 seats in the 1984 Lok Sabha election after which Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister.
Salil Shetty, secretary-general of the Amnesty International, created quite a buzz at the United Nations on Friday with his hard-hitting speech during the Sustainable Development Summit 2015.
It was widely expected that this time around, the government would be less likely to initiate fresh reforms and rather loosen its belt a little to give various segments of the economy, especially the multitudes that truly constitute India, something to smile about, says Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
'We take allegations of bias incredibly seriously, and want to make it clear that we denounce hate and bigotry in any form'
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday unveiled a plaque at Ra'anana in northern Israel in the memory of Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the battle of Tabsor during World War I.
Despite dependence on the ISI for years of sustenance, Taliban leaders may harbour resentment over the ISI's excessive control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
The Lokpal Bill, which seeks to curb corruption, has run into rough weather after the government objected strongly to certain clauses in the much-anticipated bill.The prime bone of contention during Monday's meeting between representatives of the civil society and the Centre was the proposed inclusion of both the prime minister and the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal bill.
Rediff.com presents the gist of the speech delivered by Mr. Kailash Satyarthi on the Foundation Day of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh.
"Voting is our Dharma, and it's at the heart of our society," said Amit Jani, Biden Campaign National AAPI director.
In an inclusive democracy, every section of civil society, and every individual, has a participatory role in governance, including policy-making, says former chief justice of India J S Verma
Where does one find a man who shows no bitterness or animosity towards Hindus, even after a frenzied Hindu mob burnt his house down?, Jyoti Punwani asks in this tribute to a truly extraordinary Indian.
Asserting that it was for Parliament to take a final view on inclusion of Prime Minister under the ambit of Lokpal, Parliamentary Standing Committee chairman Abhishek Singhvi on Wednesday said the panel was not meant to reach out to or please Team Anna or any other group.
In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
In his nearly 80-minute long speech on the first day of the three-day conclave, Bhagwat also asserted that RSS is "most democratic" and not dictatorial, insisting that it neither imposes its ideology nor remote-controls its various affiliates, apparently rejecting criticism that the Bharatiya Janata Party is controlled by it.
'Those leading the current political dispensation, whether at the central or the state level, must recognise the enormous risks that their divisive policies are creating for the national security and wellbeing of the country,' cautions former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
He rued that people who work hard and honestly are put through enormous difficulties and Indians excel in making an ordinary task into an extraordinary one.
Right now there are about 30 lakh (3 million) subscribers under the Swavalamban scheme.
Team Anna must show some humility instead of imposing its will on society. It doesn't hold a monopoly on understanding how to make governance more inclusive, clean and people-responsive. It must recognise that finally, it is Parliament that prevailed on the Lokpal legislative process, and that's how things should be, says Praful Bidwai.
"What was even more shocking that even someone like Anna Hazare, who was spearheading the movement against rising corruption in the country, did not care to ensure inclusion of a Dalit on the committee. After all he hails from Maharastra which gave birth to the greatest Dalit icon Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, who led several movements for the upliftment of the downtrodden dalits," Mayawati said.
In this interview with rediff.com's Sahim Salim, Advocate M L Sharma says that he is not against an effective Lokpal bill, but that he is against the inclusion of five members, who by "no stretch of imagination represent the public."
They will enable the people to access and enjoy the same rights, same privileges and same facilities as their fellow citizens in the rest of the country, he said.
The Blinken visit indicated that the Biden administration is still somewhat tentative about the specifics of its relations with India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who has served multiple stints at India's embassy in Washington, DC.
The company said the dress code issue involving Thorp at its central London office was "not a PwC policy".
India and the US also made a strong push for the intra-Afghan peace process to end violence in Afghanistan and ensure that it does not become home to terrorism, and vowed to deepen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and on COVID-19 response and economic recovery.
Unfazed by the resistance from the government and some quarters to the civil society's demand for inclusion of prime minister in the ambit of the proposed Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Tuesday asserted he would not hesitate to fight against Opposition parties that did not support a strong anti-corruption ombudsman.
United Nations General Assembly on Friday appointed Antonio Guterres as the UN Secretary General for a second term beginning January 1, 2022, days after the powerful Security Council unanimously recommended his name to the 193-member body for re-election.
Having failed to wear down the protesters, the government has now resorted to a bare-knuckle campaign to discredit them by portraying them as pawns in a wider plot bankrolled by shadowy 'anti-national' and 'Islamist' forces, notes Hasan Suroor.
The food security Bill is likely to adopt a three-pronged strategy to ensure food for all, particularly for the most vulnerable sections of the society. The National Advisory Council (NAC) in its initial discussions on the Bill had talked about a universalised scheme.
As Nepal undergoes a political transition, India on Friday pitched for implementing the country's Constitution by accommodating aspirations of all sections and assured it of all possible support amid China's efforts to gain ground in the Himalayan nation.
