'There appears to be greater convergence of interests between China and the US in the Afghan-Pakistan theatre than between India and the US. This is hardly a recipe for a super-alliance,' says former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
Modi said sometimes the government has to take certain decisions and hence it took some strong steps.
The Indian-American was one of the real sheroes at the awards.
According to an insider, "Winning is all that matters to the BJP. The leaders were warned that he was an undesirable character but they said look at his victory margin."
'Incompetent dynasts can lead to national ruin,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day.
Rasheed Kidwai unearths little-known stories from the Dadasaheb Phalke awardee's past as Amitabh Bachchan celebrates 50 years in the movies this month.
For now, Edappadi K Palaniswami is in the saddle in Tamil Nadu, and firmly so. Both inside the party and the government, he has made OPS a yes-man, as the latter used to be under Jayalalithaa, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
India Inc enables the US' frostiness to India.
'Having dealt with security and insurgency for 15 years, I am fully convinced that the steps taken by the government in regard to J&K and the measures in force there are essential,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Mehbooba met the prime minister amid reports that she was seeking help against attempts to alter constitutional provisions that give Jammu and Kashmir its special status.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday said the central bank will continue its focus on taming inflation, speeding up resolution of distressed projects and ensuring enough capital for banks through balance sheet clean-up.
Ahead of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation polls, BJP is reminding Shiv Sena it is not the sole claimant of intellectual property rights for Marathi Manoos and Hindutva.
The interim order was passed on petitions by Stalin and Dinakaran loyalist MLA P Vetrivel.
'It is time the Sena realises that voters can see through its divisive actions. It needs to have a wider vision before the party is reduced to a slapstick political comedy.'
'India, which climbed the escalation ladder first, has climbed down.'
'It remains unclear what Indian objectives have been realised in precipitating the crisis in the first instance last Tuesday,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
There are constituencies in the remote, far-flung corners of certain parts of Gujarat with only a handful of registered voters. Why, there is just one voter, who lives amid the lions and leopards in the Gir forest. But the Election Commission of India ensures that every eligible citizen gets to participate in the country's five-yearly democratic rite.
'I would say it is not going to be days and weeks. It is going to be months and years, over which we would make an assessment on the decisions taken by the Parliament at this point of time. 'We are in for a long haul is what I would say.' It was a very diverse India, which was coming together, politically, in a very cohesive, democratically-resilient way." Professor Navnita Behera examines the wisdom of the exit of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Voters deserve one. Democracy requires one. We need an alternative that people want, not just an anti-vote, says Mitali Saran.
Who is the judge next in line to be Chief Justice of India? M J Antony tells us about Justice Gogoi who has put 'discharging a debt to the nation' above the prospect of being the next CJI.
President Xi Jinping was on Thursday elevated as the "core leader" of China's ruling Communist Party, conferring on him a status similar to that of party founder 'Chairman' Mao Zedong that dilutes the three-decade-old collective leadership principle to avoid personality cult.
Two leading journalists' bodies on Thursday expressed shock and concern over Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's remarks threatening to "bury the media 10-km under the earth if it insults" his state.
The president also said that there should be no room in the country for the "intolerant Indian" as this nation has been a bastion of free though, speech and expression since ancient times.
'As he has no executive track record, so far, he is all talk and hence essentially a braggart and a bigot.' 'That he is described as the 'Trump of the tropics' should give a shorthand summary to what he stands for on issues in general,' points out Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former envoy to Brazil.
By asking that braces and struts be provided from all sides, will the Supreme Court be able to buttress the civil service spine so that it stands straight instead of bending over backwards, forward and sideways? Somehow, I doubt it.
Mahendra Raj is a towering figure of 20th century Indian architecture.
'The height of irony is that Bobby Jindal will always be known as the first Indian-American Governor, the second Indian-American Congressman and the first Indian-American Presidential candidate, regardless of his claim to be just American. Given the situation in the US, no one will be able to erase his identity in relation to his origin.'
In its essence, GST is a national level system of value added taxation of goods and services, says Shankar Acharya.
Given the twin embarrassments of a TTV win and party nominee Karu Nagarajan losing his deposit, polling fewer votes than NOTA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP boss Amit Shah would be pushed to rethink their strategy. Tamil Nadu would thus become a part of the BJP's grander strategy for 2019 rather than a stand-alone affair, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Can we make high speed 4G Internet available at 10 cents per GB, and make all voice calls free of cost -- that too in a large and diverse country like India? Can we make high-quality but simple breast cancer screening available to every woman, that too at the extremely affordable cost of $1 per scan? Can we make a portable, high-tech ECG machine which can provide reports immediately and that too at the cost of 8 cents a test? Can we make an eye imaging device that is portable, non-invasive and costs 3 times less that conventional devices? Can we make a robust test for mosquito-borne dengue, which can detect the disease on day 1, and that too at the cost of $2 per test? Amazingly, says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, all this has been achieved in India, not only by using technological innovation but also non-technological innovation.
Amid opposition charge of political vendetta in the sacking of Mizoram Governor Kamla Beniwal, the government on Thursday said the decision was prompted by "serious allegations" against her and insisted there was no politics behind it.
Seeking to blunt Bharatiya Janata Party's efforts to 'appropriate' legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, "Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution."
No country has grown without educating its people. India's shameful lag in primary and secondary education has persisted for several decades, and the crisis in higher education is now threatening a social and political calamity, says Ashoka Mody.
'For some South Asians, it may be tempting to think "I'm not Muslim, this doesn't really affect me".' 'But please know, it affects all of us,' says Arun Venugopal, a reporter at WNYC in New York.
But not for too long, as TTV Dinakaran can still play spoilsport, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Delhi Cabinet on Monday cleared the draft of the much talked-about Jan Lokpal bill which provides for covering all public servants -- from chief minister to Group D employees -- and seeks life term as maximum punishment for those found guilty of corruption.
The New Delhi-born Krishnamoorthi, a lifelong progressive, was always the front-runner in the race against Republican Peter DiCianni. They were vying for the seat vacated by Tammy Duckworth, who won Illinois's US Senate seat.
The President talked about demonetisation, electoral reforms and disruptions in Parliament.
The hype surrounding the Budget gives it undue importance.
Richard Rahul Verma, the first Indian American to serve as US Ambassador to New delhi, quips that surviving the first month in India is his first goal.
