'The first and most basic responsibility of any government is to protect its people from external threats and internal harm.' 'Budget 2025-2026 has to focus on meeting this responsibility,' asserts R Jagannathan.
Among the many performances at the IIFA awards, Rekha's was certainly among the highlights.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
Prime Minister Narendra D Modi on Saturday blessed the newly wed couple Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant after their wedding that was attended by global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians.
Former MP Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday took a swipe at the Congress leadership over his expulsion, claiming it was done after he sent his resignation letter to the party.
Suryavanshi said the personal mobile phone of one Dinesh Gurav, the data entry operator of Jogeshwari assembly constituency, was found in the hands of an unauthorised person and action is being taken in this regard.
He had taken charge as the 25th director general of the Indian Coast Guard on July 19 last year.
Hemant V Shivsaran/Rediff.com does a deep dive and lists the winners with the highest and lowest margins in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
It will be interesting to see what shifts have been recorded in the last decade-and-a-half -- from the effects of demonetisation and Covid's second wave to the drop in fertility and increase in farm workers -- but we will only know this if and when the Census is conducted, points out Aakar Patel.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have ignited political debate in West Bengal, with the ruling TMC and opposition BJP utilizing the issue to advance their respective agendas. While the TMC emphasizes communal harmony and calls for international intervention, the BJP criticizes the TMC's inaction and links the situation to its push for the Citizenship Amendment Act. The issue has also brought other opposition parties into the fray, with all sides highlighting the interconnectedness of the region's socio-political fabric.
Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt spent Saturday morning listening to Prime Minister Narendra D Modi when the PM traveled to Mumbai to address the 141st International Olympic Committee session at the Jio World Centre in north west Mumbai.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
'When the girls said they want to play football, the mothers were encouraging.' 'It was the fathers who were against the idea.'
While speaking at the programme at the EZCC, Chakraborty said, "In 2026, the masnad will be ours, and we will do everything to achieve the goal."
India supports dialogue and diplomacy and not war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday, in an unambiguous message calling for resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through peaceful negotiations.
Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee has said the current situation in Bangladesh is unlikely to trigger a fresh round of exodus of minority Hindus into India. He believes that migration is primarily driven by social networks and economic opportunities rather than persecution. Banerjee, known for his work in poverty alleviation, further emphasized that India's overt preference for Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in the past has been a significant factor in their migration, rather than attacks on the community.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India was committed to respond to any act of terrorism perpetrated from across the borders, and asserted that since terrorists do not play by rules, there cannot be any rules in the country's answer to them.
Temperatures in March will be critical to determining the impact of any unusual heatwave conditions on this year's wheat crop in North India. It is that time of the year when the crop enters its vital grain-filling stage, say meteorologists and crop experts. So far, the high day temperatures in the North are not believed to have any significant impact on the final yields since the crop hasn't entered a stage where heat affects yields.
The Maha Kumbh, billed as the world's largest gathering, concluded on Wednesday after 45 days, with lakhs of devotees taking a dip in the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers. Despite a stampede that killed at least 30 people, millions continued to visit the Kumbh, seeking salvation through the ritual bath. The event saw a mix of faith, tradition, and technology, drawing pilgrims and tourists from across the globe.
When I asked Krishna Gopal Sengupta, who had travelled through Bangladesh from Chittagong to Petrapole if the interim government had made any impact at ground level, he said, "it's been only a couple of days. They will need some time." Shyam G Menon reports from Petrapole, India's entry point with Bangladesh.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations Security Council that 'we have to prepare' the second peace summit to end the Russia-Ukraine war 'altogether' and he has invited India and other countries to join the peace process.
Scores of people die every year due to cold waves that sweep across the north Indian plains.
Trump's sweeping tariffs and penalties on China-built ships have turned global shipping into the front line of economic war, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Duleep Trophy is set to return to its traditional zonal from next year after the state units gave a thumbs down to the four-team concept introduced this season.
The North East is a sizeable success story for the Modi government politically and for the BJP electorally. It will be an unpleasant surprise if they choose to blow it, bowing to their basic, polarising instinct at any point, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The southwest monsoon might finally start withdrawing from parts of North-West India over the next three days, signaling the end of its four-month journey over the country that started in June, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. However, though the retreat might begin from next week, the rains might not descend quickly, as the met department predicted fresh spells of rains in Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and east MP on September 21-22 and over Odisha, Coastal areas north Andhra Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal on September 19-21. "Due to anti-cyclonic flows over northwest India at lower tropospheric levels, dry weather is very likely over west Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi during the next five days. "Hence conditions are becoming favourable for the withdrawal of Southwest Monsoon from parts of northwest India during next three days," the IMD said.
'With continued focus on votes, upcoming by-polls and purchasing politicians, the political hierarchy has little time for national defence.' 'They would do well to heed a veteran scholar, who says, "There will be war with China in the next few years. The next full scale war will have the involvement of Pakistan and terror elements, insurgents and intelligence assets operating inside India",' warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Villpuram district in north Tamil Nadu continued to reel under unprecedented flooding on Monday following extremely heavy rainfall, virtually blocking access to villages and residential colonies as bridges and roads overflowed, inundating huge acreage of standing crops and leaving passengers stranded as rail and road traffic was hit.
'Justice may or may not happen, but who are those people who did this to her?' 'If the hospital authorities had helped us that day, or the police, then the real culprits would have been caught.' 'Getting justice for my daughter is my goal now and I want the CM to remember that.'
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
More than 150 express/passenger trains running through South Eastern Railway jurisdiction have been cancelled in view of the severe cyclonic storm, an SER official said.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
The Election Commission refuses to tell how many people have voted in each phase.
'We can't sit back clutching our memories of the riots. The country, the future of our children are more important.' Jyoti Punwani reports on an unusual election meeting in Mumbai.
Officials said the personnel of the force stopped about 120-140 Bangladeshi citizens who were attempting to cross over to the Indian side from multiple locations in the eastern state.
West Zone won the Deodhar Trophy in style, thrashing North Zone by 113 runs in a one-sided final in Dharamsala on Monday. It was a run-feast at the HPCA Stadium as West amassed a staggering 355 for four in 50 overs and then bowled out North for 242 in 42.2 overs to win the zonal one-day championship.
15 to 25 per cent of property registrations in Mumbai come from redevelopment, with over 3,500 projects approved by May 2024.
India are placed with Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh in Group 1 of the Super 8.
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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