'Narendra Modi has had very good luck. Firstly, the fall of oil prices. You don't get that very often in your life and you certainly don't get that often when you are in government.' 'Secondly, the fantasy of Indian reforms has led to very strong capital inflows to have made his job much, much easier.' 'You ride the winds in times of fortune and he hasn't done that. At least, not yet.' 'Those winds of fortune which are blowing your way can certainly turn around easily. There are quite a few headwinds coming up. He may well, history will show, have missed the opportunities that existed.'
The Supreme Court has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India to follow the recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha Committee and "save trouble".
Here are some reactions from the world of sport on of widespread state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Medvedeva sets world record, Canada lead team event
The full transcript of the exclusive interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'That has always been my ambition -- to take the reader behind the scenes, to the places he was not allowed to visit, but which I had the privilege of entering.' Haresh Pandya remembers Ted Corbett, sports journalist extraordinaire, who passed into the ages on August 9.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's hot saffronite swami is yoga teacher Ramdev.
Unruffled by the Supreme Court order prohibiting him from taking charge and braving scathing criticism he has encountered on issues of propriety, a defiant N Srinivasan is certain to be elected unopposed as the president of the BCCI during its AGM in Chennai on Sunday.
Just two actors on stage capturing love, jealousy, possessiveness, class issues and guilt in 90 minutes... a highly entertaining musical set in 19th century Paris. Arthur J Pais/Rediff.com reports from New York on Love Letters and Can-Can.
'Azhar has been very honest and has revealed a lot. Did he accept the (match-fixing) money? Did the match-fixing happen? Did he betray his team? We have tackled all that.' Director Tony D'Souza gets candid about his new film, Azhar.
Communist China's biggest political trial in decades involving disgraced top politician Bo Xilai ended on Monday on an acrimonious note, with prosecutors demanding "severe" punishment for the defiant pro-Maoist leader who accused a key official witness of having illicit relations with his wife.
'This man has aged, but does not know the difference between words spoken on the streets from those of spoken in Parliament.' 'He does not allow his hair to turn gray, so he hasn't learned or matured.' Rashme Sehgal reports on how Subramanian Swamy has riled the Congress yet again.
Companies use journalists as conduits.
'Win or lose, the BJP's Delhi unit is clearly in a mess. Its behaviour offers a textbook example in how not to approach an election.'
Chaitanya Tamhane's National Award-winning film seems more relevant today than when it released, says Sreehari Nair.
'Some in the Congress believe the party should, somewhat brazenly, claim the cause of fighting corruption as its own. But the Congress's idea of fighting corruption is nothing but tinkering with laws, it lacks the stomach to take on the corrupt,' feels T V R Shenoy.
Harvard, age and experience have changed Ekta Kapoor in ways that will stand her in good stead as she attempts the biggest transformation Balaji Telefilms has seen.
'In the merry-go-round of Indian cricket, amid abhorrent match-fixing scandals and incessant politicking, Ravi Shastri is a multifaceted personality who, when called upon, can don any hat with ease.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently completed one year in office, has, in an exclusive interview with Smita Prakash, editor, ANI, said the opposition alleging that his government is a "suit boot ki sarkar" is definitely better and more acceptable than being labelled a "suitcase" (ki sarkar), and satirically added, that after ruling for sixty years, the Congress has suddenly remembered the poor.
Investors can take heart from the first Cabinet meeting in the second innings.
Why is the government ignoring the advice of its own Economic Survey?
While the Congress leadership will undertake the mandatory introspection exercise to pinpoint the reasons for the debacle, Anita Katyal offers five factors which led to the humiliating rout.
While even the Opposition doesn't believe that Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is personally involved in the solar scam, the Congress leaders reputation has been tainted. And while he tells Indulekha Aravind that it is only a conspiracy, it may have a bearing on the coming general elections
Dissident Aam Aadmi Party leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan on Monday hit back at the party leadership, claiming that it indulged in "gross violation" of the constitution and accusing national disciplinary committee members Pankaj Gupta and Ashish Khetan of accepting donations from dubious companies and doing a 'paid news' story favouring a company.
Lawyer and scholar Vinay Sitapati says the 'Get Modi' strategy largely misses the efforts to prosecute people evidently guilty of violence and murders in the Gujarat riots in favour of "a narrow quest to stop one man from becoming prime minister."
Indian cricket, it seems, pays overwhelming obeisance to a vapid, old adage: The more it changes, the more it remains the same.
Narendra Modi is squandering a mandate for change on feeble, unimaginative incrementalism.
'If 17-year-old Modi wanted to get out of the marriage, which was imposed on him by a socially backward society and his family, it's not only ethical but his right to walk out of the forced marriage...' 'Jashodaben, a highly conservative woman who understandably, by the social standards of India of the 1960s, opted to remain confined to the marriage instead of kicking Modi out from her life for not starting the marriage in the real sense...''In spite of media pressure, if she does not speak against Modi, it suggests that Modi has not ill-treated her or exploited her after parting ways.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt speaks to people in the know about the controversy over Narendra Modi's marriage.
'If Modi arrived like a juggernaut, he left like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces were being dismantled bit by bit. It was as if India had seceded quietly from him.' Shiv Viswanathan's social science fiction about what India would be like in 2020.
Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer.
'Hinduism is not a religion, but a way of life, a philosophy.'
From the economy to foreign policy issues, to addressing the serious challenge posed by communal forces which are out to viciously polarise and divide Indian society, the UPA II government has shown a certain pronounced weakness and lack of vision and commitment that could seriously harm India in the long run, notes Sanjay Kapoor.
The 67-year-old hasn't only received a clear-cut mandate for an unprecedented fourth term but also done it on his own. From distributing tickets to planning party campaigns to chalking out strategies for the present and the future, the chief minister had played a stellar role throughout, and emerged successful in his endeavour. Bikash Mohapatra reports
'I couldn't think of a more visible strategic form of cooperation than both of our armed serves using a similar weaponry jointly developed together.' Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from Washington, DC on what is expected in the India-US defence relationship during Prime Minister Modi's visit.
'Antony and I have been friends for over half a century, and I know the man does not tell lies. The problem is that what he believes to be the truth might not actually be true. He may believe that India needs the Congress, and that the Congress in turn needs the Nehru-Gandhi family, but that does not mean that India shares those articles of faith,' says T V R Shenoy.
'I like to see myself as a troll-slayer and I have realised the best way to do that is to ignore them. Nothing bothers them more,' Barkha Dutt tells Rashme Sehgal.
Does Pranab Mukherjee want to be 'PM' by office, not just by initials? The very prospect, with memories of the Narasimha Rao years scarred into their memories, scares the Nehru-Gandhis, says T V R Shenoy.
Aseem Chhabra gives us the top films that enriched his year.
Sunday's results may be a bitter pill that the Congress has to swallow -- that its future cannot be hitched to Rahul unless he can resonate with the people, feels Saroj Nagi.
On the 30th anniversary of the football tragedy, Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra, in an exclusive interaction with Italian author Francesco Caremani, discusses the incident that affected so many people, including himself.