'This time, even the professedly secular parties have maintained a conscious distance from being identified with Muslims.' 'This could be interpreted as a success of the BJP campaign of what it has been calling 'minority appeasement', says Mohammad Sajjad.
Domestic cricket will only happen when travelling is safe: Ganguly
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and other top leaders paid rich tributes to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who died on Saturday.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
'What the long term repercussions of the Ayodhya judgment are will unfold in time.' 'And I hope the consequences are not going to be as damaging to us as they were to Pakistan,' says Aakar Patel.
'Yoga is magic!' 'Other than keeping me physically fit, it helps me be calm and emotionally balanced. It gives me a lot of energy that keeps me productive throughout the day.'
On July 16, 1991, the world's first hospital on a train chugged out of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on its maiden journey. Twenty-six years later, the Lifeline Express (also called Jeevan Rekha Express) continues to take a multitude of medical services, from major surgeries to dedicated cancer treatment, to the people of India.
Amid rising coronavirus cases in India, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present.
It was a many splendoured political career, which ended at the presidential palace. But the prime minister's post eluded him, even though it was a position he openly aspired for.
Sujatha Singh stands for the right values and quite simply, she's a "good person" who understands complex economic issues thoroughly, say her friends.
People were being honoured without a recommendation, he stressed in his monthly radio programme.
'Two have already sacrificed their lives.' 'How many more shall need to sacrifice before the government listens?' 'Four, five or six? They are ready, waiting.' After Ganga campaigner G D Agrawal's death, a Haridwar ashram's sadhus are on a relay fast unto death.
'For a Dalit boy to reach the PhD stage, it requires a lot of pain and hard work. He was a scholar, an intelligent student.' 'This is not about the loss of just an individual, but the loss of this nation.'
The year threw up quite a few shockers, some rather rude one. Below are Rediff.com's 12 picks that made us sit back and think, 'Did that really happen?'
The suave actor of the world, sometimes called the last of the Mohicans and familiar to students of cinema anywhere in the globe, acted in 14 Ray films and over 300 others, gracefully transitioning into commercial cinema in a variety of roles.
He said the militant was killed in a pre-dawn encounter in Dhaka and was named in a police list as Shariful or Sharif, but he previously used several other names like Sakib alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi-1.
The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other United States schools, Tim Cook, India's Indira Jaising and Mukesh Ambani. The names mentioned above have nothing in common... until now. They have all been named as Fortune's World's 50 Greatest Leaders. Here are some of the prominent names mentioned in the list.
'He has a splendid opportunity to capitalise on the CPEC and turn the economy around decisively, putting Pakistan firmly on a higher growth trajectory.' 'Indeed, under the Imran-Bajwa dispensation, there has been a noticeable whittling down of support to militant groups,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Delhi high court on Monday refused to give urgent hearing to a PIL seeking lifting of the ban on telecast
Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists 10 ways in his life has improved under the first Modi Sarkar.
At the event, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh denied that the attack on the Congolese Masonda Ketada Oliver was a racial one and hoped that such incidents will not ecur.
She lived for two-thirds of her life in India, adopted its national cause and customs, and took an Indian passport. She served a prison sentence in Lahore as part of Gandhi's protests against an Imperial power which happened to be her motherland. Freda Bedi delighted in confounding accepted definitions of identity.
"Collective conscience of the society shaken. In our society, minor girls are worshipped as goddess," the POCSO court said.
He may be only 28, but the now-chosen candidate for Bengaluru South has handled the party's IT cell and campaigned for several party candidates during the state polls last year.
"You can't meddle with patriotism. Everything is alright but patriotism can never be compromised," says retired Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde.
'The BJP should avoid escalating every local issue and minor provocation into a national crisis and claiming a 'holier than thou' monopoly on patriotism.' 'And the Opposition should avoid paying the government back in the same coin by crying wolf about intolerance at the slightest provocation.'
Ashok Gehlot can never be a challenger to the first son of the Congress party. The Scindias and Pilots will be Rahul's rivals should the party's fortunes revive, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'Especially at a time when truth is being twisted and a new narrative is being manufactured.'
The prayer, Sarvejana Sukhinobhavantu, or let the whole universe of living beings be well, helps. So do profound and relevant Ancient Wise Words and aphorisms: Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, or the whole world is one big family, interconnected, interdependent. And a sense of humour, jokes, pranks, writing, conversations. And, last but definitely not least, the rippling waves of inner realisation on the background mind-track -- about the insignificance of ego, the importance of humility, the wasted opportunities in life, the wrong moves, the strokes of luck, the past 'sins', the what-ifs.
'Once Attenborough had locked the shot, Jaffrey turned to Amitabh and told him in a very controlled but stern voice that he should never talk to an actor in between takes.'
Rescue teams on Wednesday fished out the body of a student from the Beas River and intensified the hunt for 19 others missing even as a case of negligence has been registered against authorities of the Larji Hydropower project in connection with the incident.
'When Rajkummar Rao plays Bose with his tummy jutting out, Buddha Ears, his mouth puffed, and his talk straight, it feels more like an echo piece than a real person,' feels Sreehari Nair.
Zainub Priya Dala was hit in the face with a brick last week after she praised Rushdie's writing at a school in Durban, a city on the country's east coast.
'The emphasis is on nationalism, which the party apparently feels will have greater resonance than one on religious identity which may have lost some of its appeal in recent years.'
'Why don't they suggest artificial intelligence training for SC/STs?' 'Why can't they be trained in computer programming?'
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 1 crore each to the kin of those killed in the incident.
