It is time for India to open a dialogue track with the Quetta Shoora of the Taliban, which increasingly chafes at restraints and controls imposed upon it by Pakistan, write Ajai Shukla
'People who pooh-pooh privacy are like those kids who are so busy getting the right selfie that they back all the way off the edge off the cliff, and then look all surprised on the way down,' says Mitali Saran.
A former Pakistani army chief and senior intelligence official, who was a close aide and confidant to Pervez Musharraf, has completely dismissed the much hyped proposals on Kashmir by the erstwhile President and military dictator that were widely reported as having been the closest India and Pakistan had come to a resolution of this historic imbroglio.
While analysts and investigative agencies are busy finding reasons, those who are not too friendly with the Trinamool Congress chief think Railways' security has become defunct of late and that Mamata is paying more attention to politics in Bengal than to her duties in New Delhi.
The recent helicopter incident in which President Pratibha Patil had a narrow escape was enough for the Supreme Court to pooh-pooh government's suggestion for airlifting victims of disasters to safety.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Vanquished Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist on Thursday night criticised the Delhi Daredevils for their pacer Mohammad Asif's off-and-on presence on the field during the IPL match even though his opposite number Virender Sehwag pooh-poohed the allegation. Gilchrist said it baffled him to see Asif bowling two overs and then going out before returning again to bowl his final two overs.
Riding against all odds, Narendra Modi has won convincingly. In one line, the victory shows that it is a people's mandate for his personality. It's the clear vote for a person and leader called Narendra Modi.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Hyderabadi batsman says he is full fit and was expecting a call-up to the ODI team for the tour of South Africa.
Top BJP leaders, including its president Amit Shah, reached out to their allies as well as other parties with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar expressing confidence that the government will get support from 'new' parties.
A widower for the last three years, 55-year-old Singh claims he married 36-year-old Ranjit in front of 150 people in India after courtship and applied for her to join him in Canada as soon as he returned.\n\n
As Dilip Kumar passes away in the ages, Sukanya Verma feels a deep gratitude for the enormous legacy he's left behind.
The red brigade's call for forming trade unions for BPO employees was cold-shouldered by the $5.2 billion outsourcing industry, even as a research firm welcomed it.
He is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party to head the northern state. Before Adityanath, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of the BJP had served as Uttar Pradesh chief ministers.
Is anyone in the BJP listening -- to what Nitin Gadkari had to say, but possibly left unsaid? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
As the Aam Aadmi Party heads for a resounding win in Delhi, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists the reasons behind Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's triumph.
Congress members don't want Rahul Gandhi back as party chief. But the problem is that Sonia Gandhi won't have anyone other than her son to take over the Family Firm, notes Virendra Kapoor.
Discover a hidden gem in Mumbai where you'll find the city's best brownies.
In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
Over 300 persons were airlifted by the IAF and state choppers from various places in Himachal Pradesh's rain ravaged Kinnaur tribal district cut off by road due to landslides.
Over 200 people remained stranded in rain-ravaged Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh for the past ten days as rescue operations were on Wednesday hampered and Indian Air Force and state choppers could not take off due to bad weather.
'The childhood urge to amass wealth may account for one's inexplicable urge to stockpile change, for there is nothing more gratifying than to lift a box heavy with one's treasure, more satisfying somehow than all the zeroes the Kochhars, Modis and Mallyas appear to have allegedly scammed our banks over,' says Kishore Singh.
What will a split in the AIADMK mean for Tamil Nadu?
'The Republic is currently captained and crewed by people who seem interested in the safety and well being of only a select kind of passenger, advising the rest to swim for Pakistan,' points out Mitali Saran.
John Bogle figured that cheap mutual funds, which just mirrored indices with little tracking error, would be a useful vehicle for wealth creation, recalls Devangshu Datta.
Amit Shah said simultaneous polls would curb expenditure.
'The Left brands any criticism of Islam -- its history, its dogmas -- 'Islamophobic', conflating criticism of an ideology with criticism of a people,' notes Vikram Johri.
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
A young woman said to be a follower of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect immolated herself at her house in a village near Bathinda on Friday, allegedly as she was upset due to the Dera-Sikh row.
Top women in business prove that being a good parent can help you be a better manager--and vice versa.
'We must all commit to sharing less nonsense and quarrelling less on social media.' 'We could use that time instead to meeting and speaking to our friends and family instead of 'liking' their posts.' 'Zuckerberg will be the poorer for that, but our lives will be so much richer,' says Rahul Jacob.
The plant can withstand extreme temperatures ranging between minus 60 degrees celsius and 40 degrees celsius and grow in dry arid zones with 300 millimeters rainfall.
The RSS does not bring any pressure, nor does it give any direction to the Modi government
Byju's acquires licences of hundreds of characters from Disney; to use cartoon characters to teach math, science.
Though EPS has sworn peace for now, or so it seems, his camp is said to be considering the possibility of calling an early meeting of the party's general council, to get a mandate in his favour before things went out of control. Ground-level indications are that OPS had lost his limited base, which alone had forced him to patch up with the other, reportedly at the instance of the BJP ally at the Centre, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad today dared the Bharatiya Janata Partyto declare its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
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