Rediff.com gives you a look at newbies in the Council of Ministers
The NITI Aayog will now assimilate the views of states and then present a report to the PM.
Without reforms to boost returns for multinational capital, Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign will face testing times.
Mufti's political graph shows his fondness for courting unpopular, politically hazardous ventures in pursuit of his ultimate objective to vindicate his leadership. Towards the end of his life, Mufti's public profile had come to assume the dimensions of statesmanship. One reason being his willingness to learn from his experience, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Any investment proposal in India has to be cleared by the Cabinet which leads to a vicious cycle of approvals and rejections, says
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad believes governance finally on track. An exclusive chat with Rashme Sehgal.
'Xi Jinping got a dose of Modi's medicine inside the tent where he was being hosted on the banks of the Sabarmati river.' 'Modi reportedly told him, looking deep into his eyes: "This was not expected of your country. Can you tell me when the troops are withdrawing?".'
This Budget plans for an increase to 10.3% of GDP from 9.9%.
The third and final part of BJP president Amit Shah's interview to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Contentious issues such as the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Art 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of Uniform Civil Code have been included in the Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto with the party making promises on them.
'The problem in Kashmir is not about pellets, bullets or tear gas.' 'It is the government's policy and intention to criminalise the protest.'
For more than 23 years, Bhanwari Devi, who was gang-raped for speaking out against the marriage of two babies, has been fighting a lonely battle for justice. Rashme Sehgal traveled to Dausa in Rajasthan to meet the courageous woman, a winner of the Neerja Bhanot Award for bravery, a symbol of Indian women's struggle.
Twenty-eight years ago almost to the day, 37 unarmed Muslims were killed in cold blood, an act of wanton violence for which no one has so far been held guilty. Jyoti Punwani and photographer Uttam Ghosh visited the Meerut locality after the trial court recently acquitted the security personnel charged with the killings, and found a town untouched by its grim past.
It would be a chance lost if India cannot learn from and lean more on China to kick-start trade, infrastructure programmes, and increased ties, says Ravi Agrawal
Aditya Puri thinks the government is on track.
Instead, increases in foreign-direct-investment levels; and reforms to make labour, land and capital more mobile.
'It is difficult to imagine the BJP becoming the legatee of Ambedkar. Whichever way one looks at it, Ambedkar's thought and Hindu nationalism are not easy to reconcile.'
'India is no longer the India of the '70s and the '80s.' 'It's a large country with the fastest growing economy.' 'In working with India, you just can't go and humiliate the nation publicly.' USIBC President Mukesh Aghi tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com about how he advises American companies to do business with India, what he thinks of Modi's government and the way forward for the India-US relationship.
'You may show at the end of December how much money has come into the system, but none would be the wiser because most of see only what we want to see and believe.' 'Some of us will see through it and you will make your proxies call us enemies of the State.' 'I was somewhat with you till here. But we diverge from here on until you can do something which will veer through my cynicism brought about by your policy,' says Harsh N Gokhale.
By removing Avinash Chander last week, the government has chosen to sacrifice the organisation's most potent symbol of success
Two former senior United States diplomats, with more than 60 years experience in South Asia between them, have exhorted Washington to establish communication with Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi sooner than later.
'The Modi-Xi and Modi-Obama meetings, with an interval of just 12 days, are juxtaposed superbly at a crucial point in the prime minister's life. Can Modi carve out a win-win situation with the superpower and the emerging superpower at the same time?'
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday addressed the first joint sitting of Parliament as mandatorily required under the Constitution after the general elections. The address is the political, economic and foreign policy road map of the Narendra Modi government and covers virtually all crucial areas.
