Bihar's ruling JD-U and Lalu Prasad's RJD on Sunday decided to contest the state assembly elections in alliance and constitute a six member committee to finalize seat-sharing.
An important document was found lying on a photo-copier machine.
Nirmala Sitharaman has a God given opportunity to orchestrate a transformation in India's defence capabilities. One hopes she has her own counsel and does not overly let the PMO run her ship, says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive time, heading a 42-member ministry.
Presenting a report card of two years of the Modi government, BJP chief Amit Shah credited the party for giving a "decisive" government.
The calculated playing up of confidence by Amit Shah and his team obviously means that the BJP has a strong counter-strategy in place to turn the tables on the Congress before the monsoon session is over, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Attacking the note ban move, Yechury said the PM's assertion that it will impact terror funding has not yielded any result.
One couldn't help feeling a certain melancholy viewing these now vagrant documents and photographs that would never be rightfully cherished. The pictures spoke to you. They offered slices of extinguished lives. They breathed sadness too, for what could have been and will never be. The sweet promises that Life made and insolently, arrogantly never kept.
The former finance minister also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the words he chose to attack his predecessor Manmohan Singh, saying he should remember that the Chair he sat on was used by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee and hence he should use right language.
Mukund Rajan, who worked closely with Ratan Tata, recalls the unique experience of working with the corporate titan.
'Who would have thought that Brexit would take place or Donald Trump would become US president or Kim Jong-un's madness could bring the prospect of nuclear war over Asia?' 'It is the time of the unexpected; the French elections should perhaps be seen in this perspective,' says Claude Arpi.
The decision to pursue further education in a particular university requires careful considerations.
The strategies that the gurus adopted to build their successful business empires over the past two decades could hardly be adopted by businesses that openly claim to be businesses, points out Somasekhar Sundaresan.
'The BJP has latched on to the idea of nationalism, but the nationalism they advocate is not nationalism as we have understood it since the time of the freedom movement.' 'This is not secular nationalism, it is Hindu nationalism.' 'It is a form of nationalism that is exclusionary and it tends to conflate national interest with the government.' 'So, if you disagree with the government, for example, on surgical strikes or demonetisation, you are anti-national or holder of black money.'
'In the last one year, it looks like there were bad things that didn't take place, and there were good things that didn't take place,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday urged the Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath to issue clear guidelines to organisations conducting opinion polls as well as the media for ensuring their authenticity so that those indulging in "frivolous activities" do not get away easily.
Rallying behind the government, the BJP decided to launch a counter-offensive against the opposition "disinformation campaign" on the controversial land bill with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that his growth model was pro-poor.
'NiMo having skipped, the next best bet is a high-profile banker.' 'Ms Usha happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.' 'Ms Usha's crime? That's as thin as it gets.'
Shyamvar Pinturam Rai and Pradeep Waghmare. Both erstwhile employees of Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. In the witness stand on Monday, Waghmare came across as a cheerful, straightforward man who is attempting to clamber his way towards prosperity. In the witness stand on Friday, Rai shed his customary jauntiness and broke down weeping, begging forgiveness from CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt analyses the three takeaways from Dr Singh's interaction
It is significant that Modi who speaks of introducing a new kind of governance, decided to amend the law to accommodate one person, when the law was made to ensure that bureaucrats do not use their connections to seek out lucrative postings.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday asked the CAG not to sensationalise its findings to get into headlines, a view the Congress party had voiced in the past after huge notional losses were projected in reports on 2G and coal allocation scams.
Trying to guess Subramanian Swamy's motives or next step has been a rather difficult exercise for decades, says Archis Mohan
Indian cricket, it seems, pays overwhelming obeisance to a vapid, old adage: The more it changes, the more it remains the same.
There are conflicting signs on India's investment cycle.
'Younger children don't really distinguish based on class, gender, income and so on.'
How has Raj Thackeray, who is as much a businessman as politician, been able to pull it off, when most Opposition politicians live in fear of IT and ED and CBI, asks Krishna Prasad after attending a Raj rally in Nashik.
As they kickstarted campaigning for the October 15 Assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi on Saturday traded fire with the former attacking the Congress regime for having done "little" in the last 60 years and she likening him to "empty vessels" making noise.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday claimed that the centre imposed President's rule in the state even after the governor had asked him to continue as caretaker chief minister.
'West Bengal is an industry-friendly state.'
Differing from the views expressed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly, his predecessor Mohammed Azharuddin today said Mahendra Singh Dhoni has achieved so much in his career as a cricketer and he should be allowed to take a call on his future. "It's Ganguly's personal decision (opinion) and I respect it. At the same time it all depends on Dhoni, on what he thinks about his future. I respect Ganguly's opinion, but I feel Dhoni should be given the chance to decide when to retire," said Azhar on the sidelines of a function to announce the joining of racer Nayan Chatterjee with Meco Motor Sports. "He (Dhoni) deserves that chance. He has been one of the finest captains ever. He has won all major tournaments, got India to the no.1 position in all formats of the game. I think we should not forget his performances," said Azhar in support of the current ODI and T20 captain, who has retired from Test cricket. "It's very hard for me to say. It totally depends on Dhoni, how he feels mentally or how demanding the sport is going to become. We have to give that chance to Dhoni to take the decision on his retirement," the former wristy batsman said.
Manmohan Singh's reign as prime minister has been severely criticised by his former ministerial colleague Natwar Singh, who says he leaves no legacy after being in power for 10 years.
'Shakti Samanta was a very honest man. I have done four films with him. He was very sick before he died; nobody was allowed to see him in the hospital. I went but I could not bear to see him like that. Iftekar and I would go to see Ashok Kumar often. He would ask me to bring some kheema, as he loved my wife's preparation. I would have attended kavi sammelans with Jan Nisar Akhtar (Javed Akhtar's father), Sahir Ludhianvi and Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan was a child then, and would often accompany his father.' Veteran actor Chandrashekhar Vaidya goes back in time.
'Somebody will need to blow the whistle, call the play to a halt, and convince all players that they belong on the same side of the goal,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The top two in the government and in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah, respectively, spent the day trying to hard sell not just the contentious land Bill but also how the Modi government stood for the welfare of farmers.
'One thing is sure: After this Budget, no Ambani-Adani tag will be attached to the government.'
RJD chief Lalu Prasad and other leaders claimed the countdown for the ouster of the BJP and its allies from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had begun.
The loss in Bihar has forced a change in NDA's market positioning, says Shekhar Gupta.
'We have to work for our victories.' 'We have to offer a better alternative governance model.' 'Not just criticise the current government.' 'You have to build bridges, learn from what has gone wrong and create a party for all people.'
'This coming general election is not going to be about manifestoes.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances