'How many Indian parents, still alive, really have documents of, their parents's date and place of birth? Not more than 27% of still alive Indians have got birth certificates,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
'The Chinese have been moving in step by step; inch by inch for the last 40 years.'
'KCR's plan for the future is three-pronged. He wants to see a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre in 2019 so that he can become the Union minister for home or defence,' says R Rajagopalan.
If the Congress can simply go from 110 million to 130 million votes, it will yield a very different kind of NDA.
National team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu became the first Indian player to be signed by an Indian club from an European club in a move involving a transfer fee.
Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary veteran of the Second World War, was a natural choice to raise, train and command the Special Frontier Force and mould them into a well oiled fighting machine, recalls his son Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd), who led SFF troops during the Kargil War.
China has not limited the 'battle' to the diplomatic field alone; the People's Liberation Army has become aggressive on the ground too. The recent 'fights' in Northern Sikkim and Ladakh are part of the pattern, asserts Claude Arpi.
Unlike football, which offends the sensibilities of some very conservative Muslims because it is normally played in shorts, cricket is played in long sleeves and trousers, in line with traditional dress codes. It also bears some resemblance to traditional Afghan children's games involving throwing and using sticks to hit smaller sticks or balls.
The 17th Asian Games came to a close on Saturday, bringing an end to two weeks of intense competition, drama and controversy that shone a light on the best and worst of a region that will host the world's biggest events for the next decade.
Former India hockey Olympian Joseph Antic's condition has improved since being hospitalised in Mumbai on Friday morning.
'There is no audience anymore for my graphic novels. Few people seem interested in what I find interesting,' Sarnath Banerjee tells Uttaran Das Gupta.
A photo symbolising "love and compassion" of an 85-year-old Brazilian woman getting her first embrace in five months from a nurse through a transparent "hug curtain" has been named the World Press Photo of the Year. This year, according to organisers, 74,470 images were submitted for judging, made by 4,315 photographers from 130 different countries. World Press Photo has been kind enough to allow to share some of this year's winning photos here with you.
Attlee said Great Britain had concluded that the Indian element of the army was no longer reliable and that Netaji's Indian National Army had demonstrated that. That had shaken the foundation on which Britain's Indian empire rested, argues Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd).
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu aligns priorities, funding and organisation to shape a transformation agenda.
The mohalla committee movement in Mumbai celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The movement, which was born in the wake of the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-1993, has played an important role in ensuring that Hindu-Muslim riots do not recur in the Maximum City.
David Beckham, one of the so-called "Class of 92", went on to win six Premier League titles under Alex Ferguson at United alongside youth-team buddies Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, and Gary and Phil Neville. Beckham also won two FA Cups and, memorably, the Champions League in 1999. He topped up his trophy collection with a La Liga winners' medal for Real Madrid and added two MLS Cups during a north American adventure with LA Galaxy.
Asked if Ganguly would be cornered at the meeting, he laughed and cited an example.
'For the first couple of years, it is about building the league.' 'We are positive that the quality of matches will attract eyeballs.'
A few proven, but currently out-of-form, cricketers are likely to get the nod when the national selectors draw up a list of 30 Indian probables for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in Mumbai on Thursday.
'The social distancing vaccine.' 'And the mask vaccine.' 'If you adhere to these two vaccines and go and meet people in a well-ventilated room -- not in an enclosed, non-ventilated, room -- you are probably going to be okay.'
'The World Cup is being played in the football crazy country after 64 years and nothing excites the Brazilians more than the sacred game,' says B S Prakash, India's former ambassador to Brazil.
While China is bigger and feels mightier at the moment, Beijing's rulers would be well advised not to be tempted to provoke India, for that would only trigger a chain reaction around the world that would not serve anyone's interests, says Sanjaya Baru.
'The BJP will get the lion's share of the Opposition vote. I would give the Congress-Left around 15 per cent.'
'In difficult times as now, the call of the village is all that these migrants can hear,' observes Vijaya Pushkarna.
The news of the week gone by that shaped the world
'In the first meeting of this new year, we took a joint new year resolution that we will complete it this year. At the time things were not very clear, but the mood was clear that yes, we must resolve it.' 'Yes, details have to come out, but there are some sensitivities, there are some stake-holders not yet on board, especially other Naga undergrounds etc, we would like them to come on board... So at a proper time it has to be revealed to the country, and to the legislature. Perhaps, we may have to wait for some more time.' 'With better understanding of the Indian system, many of them have learnt, realised, appreciated that Naga nationalist aspirations can be accommodated in the Indian system. The Indian system is pretty comprehensive and flexible.' 'A Naga has as much stake, claim over India as any other Indian. There is no distinction. This, Nagas have realised, that yes, Naga nationalist aspirations and Indian nationalism are not mutually exclusive.' Ravindra Narayan Ravi, the Government of India's Special Interlocutor for the Naga talks, explains how the Naga Peace Accord was reached in an exclusive interview to Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
'When you saw him, you immediately knew that he was something special.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'It will take me a while to process the meaning of the loss of a man who meant so much to me through my entire life,' says Aseem Chhabra.
'We should expect a cold-blooded, transactional relation that requires a lot of engagement and mutual trust to sustain,' says Constantino Xavier, Fellow, foreign policy, Brookings India.
'There is a deep sense of satisfaction in knowing that you know how to do your job and can go on to the next film with confidence.' Irudhi Suttru director Sudha Kongara chats about her film's success.
Russia and Ukraine will be put into different groups at the 2018 World Cup finals if the Ukrainians qualify and relations between the two countries do not improve, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Tuesday.
Experts say poor city planning and inefficient administration turned an unusually high rainfall into a disaster.
'Even if someone other than Trump had become president, the US distancing from Pakistan and coming closer to India was already set in motion.' 'With Trump openly declaring his intent to take on Islamic extremism, the days of US political correctness are over,' says Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale (retd).
The 'sleeping giant' woke up to a new dawn with the Indian Super League putting Indian football on the global map, but the national team continued to paint a grim picture, plummeting to its worst-ever rankings in an eventful year for the sport.
News of all that's transpired on and off the cricket field.
Karnataka's in-form young opener K L Rahul has staked a strong claim for his inclusion in India's Test squad to Australia.
'Besides electoral opportunism, a sustained vilification of AMU on one or the other pretext helps them sustain their 'everyday communalism', the new strategy of the BJP of the Narendra Damodardas Modi-Amit Anilchandra Shah era,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Having stepped down as president of the embattled Indian Cricket Board that is facing the heat from the Supreme Court, Shashank Manohar said he quit as he was not capable of implementing the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee and see BCCI's structure collapsing.
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