A group of retired civil servants also called upon the PM to reach out to the families of the victims in Unnao and Kathua and "seek their forgiveness on behalf of all of us".
Modi accuses Congress of spreading 'lies, confusion and pessimism'
Russia on Tuesday promised to look into India's request to share any information it has on the seven-decade-old mystery surrounding Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
'This novel format of diplomacy -- the informal summit -- will not only facilitate bilateral communication and reduce miscalculations at the very top level of the two governments, but possibly open the space for China and India to speak in one voice on various issues of mutual concern,' note Feng Renjie and Ding Kun Lei
'All-India alliances are not the priority today.' 'Therefore, the CPI-M's political line dovetails with the emergent political reality in the country,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
Senior Congress member P C Chacko was on Friday made the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum issue, setting in motion the probe into what the opposition is alleging as the biggest scam in independent India.
'The controversy created by a Gujarat minister was totally unnecessary and unwanted.' 'It is a disgrace that a person who happened to be Gujarat's finance minister, spoke this kind of rubbish.'
'It would have been much more appropriate if a law such as this, which all of the civilised world has given up, was struck down through democratic politics rather than five individuals sitting in judgement,' says Aakar Patel.
These illicit financial flows were generally the product of: tax evasion, corruption, bribery and kickbacks, and criminal activities.
The Indian armed forces, especially the Navy, are building partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region for peace and security, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, he said.
Hollande was welcomed by Governor of Punjab and Haryana Kaptan Singh Solanki and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, among others.
A red carpet will be rolled out to facilitate Shyam Saran Negi to cast his vote in the Himachal assembly elections without any hassle.
India has handled the West Asia crisis with finesse so far and it should not be abandoned for a false sense of having to stand up to the West. We should strive for gradual and peaceful change with the necessary flexibility in our approach, says T P Sreenivasan.
The government has announced the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rs 176,000 crore 2G scam. The JPC will comprise 20 members from Lok Sabha and ten members from Rajya Sabha.
It was a tumultuous year for Parliament rocked as it was by disruptions on scams that led to the longest shutdown of an entire session for the first time in independent India.
'The Godse controversy may have helped Kamal Haasan reach out to a larger audience, both inside the state and outside, coming as it does when the main campaign for elections 19 is over and only those in the four assembly bypoll constituencies are drudging along,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Rajya Sabha is slated to take up impeachment motion against Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen on March 14. Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has admitted a motion for Sen's impeachment after a three-member committee headed by sitting Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudarshan Reddy, found him guilty of misconduct.
Rajya Sabha is slated to take up the Impeachment Motion against Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen on March 14.Sen will be the second judge in independent India to face such a motion for allegedly misappropriating Rs 42 lakh when he, as a lawyer, had been appointed a receiver by a court of law.There are ten senior advocates in the Rajya Sabha from various political parties who are keen to speak on this motion. The motion may turn out to be embarassing for the UPA.
J Gopikrishnan, who works for the Pioneer newspaper, is the one who exposed this scam. The senior journalist answered many queries on the 2G scam on Rediff Chat on December 7. Here's the transcript:
The veteran actor passed away at 93.
Chandigarh remains the only new independent city of any consequence built in independent India.
If he expects the states to take steps for controlling inflation, he should also respect the country's federal structure and not assume a veto power at the GST Council.
Aseem Chhabra lists the movies that taught him about the Idea of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 14 had announced that government will start unveiling the secret files related to Netaji from January 23 next year.
A Ganesh Nadar finds out if the 2G scam will play an important role during the assembly poll among the rural voters of Tamil Nadu.
Effective action to tackle systemic and other problems should be taken when the country has a stable government rather than when it is in the midst of a crisis, says Bimal Jalan.
'Even today, Emergency excesses are being benchmarked and have become reference points for gross violation of human rights by fascist-minded "leaders". Corruption and criminality are the outcome and India has been drifting towards "State kleptocracy", feels M G Devasahayam.
Shah said the Modi government has in the last three years shown the political will to take decisions.
The latest row -- termed as independent India's largest financial scam -- is centered on the allocation of scare 2G spectrum at throwaway prices.
'Here was a man who played a major part in helping the Bengalis of East Pakistan create a new nation, secured the merger of Sikkim into the Indian dominion and built R&AW into a formidable outfit, comparable to the best in the world.' Rameshwar Nath Kao shunned the limelight, hated to be photographed and preferred to work behind the scenes. A revealing excerpt from Nitin A Gokhale's much awaited book, R N Kao: Gentleman Spymaster.
In the crazily complex cauldron that is India, where caste, community, class and cash are just the primary ingredients, no one has yet come up with a fool-proof method to ascertain how voters make up their minds, on which button to press, in the privacy of their 'confessional' booths, notes Krishna Prasad.
"I don't call it a debate. I call it an introspection," said Gurudas Dasgupta, Member of Parliament of the Communist party of India from West Bengal while kick starting the rarest of the rare debate in Lok Sabha on Monday -- on perhaps the most politically sensitive issue of independent India.
Take a look at government subsidies and their growth as a percentage of GDP over this period.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said that the allotment of 2G spectrum licences by the Union ministry of telecommunications to private companies was 'the largest scam in Independent India' and it had cost the government Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion).
'No, the liberals haven't lost because there weren't any liberals in the fray to begin with.' 'What has happened is that left-wing orthodoxy has lost to right-wing orthodoxy.' 'That is at best a Pyrrhic victory for India,' argue Sonali Ranade and Sheilja Sharma.
'The autonomy of essential institutions is clearly under question as the Modi government seeks to influence them politically.' 'The credibility of institutions such as the EC, the CBI, the CVC, the UPSC, the RBI, media, and universities, has been compromised,' notes Zoya Hasan, the distinguished political thinker.
'I assume Ramachandra Guha's neglect of this aspect of Gandhi grows out of the belief that Gandhi's life had no central text,' says Rudrangshu Mukherjee, professor of history, Ashoka University.
The Delhi high court called the anti-Sikh riots case "communal frenzy" after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards.
Why did Kamal Haasan name the leaders he did?
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday chose former India batsman Mohinder Amarnath as the recipient of the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award. Amarnath scored 4,378 runs from 69 Test matches, in a Test career that stretched from 1969 to 1988. He also played 85 One-Day Internationals, in which he scored 1,924 runs.