Ministers in the Narendra Modi government have been busy making presentations on their 100 days of work. But what these presentations do not mention is that decisions by ministers have been few, with plenty of papers and files moving to the Prime Minister's Office, which is increasingly emerging as a centralised clearance point, even for routine and ordinary issues. Though policy paralysis was a term used freely for the United Progressive Alliance regime, questions are now being raised about pending decisions across ministries and whether at least some ministers have turned redundant.
The kind of people Narendra Modi has chosen, the decisions he has taken and the rail and central budgets suggests that he is treading carefully in New Delhi. There is less of innovation and more of continuity, so far. He is not ready to rock the boat and start from scratch, says Sheela Bhatt.
'General Bajwa is believed to consider the internal threats to Pakistan's security as far more serious than the bogey of the Indian threat.' 'This doesn't mean that he is soft on India, only that he is more rational and sensible than his predecessor who had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about India,' points out Pakistan expert Sushant Sareen.
K Chandrasekhara Rao is using politics to highlight an administrative and judicial issue, says B Dasarath Reddy.
'Shivaji was among a handful of Indian rulers to realise the importance of sea power... Not much attention is paid to his remarkable achievement: Building a modern navy and the revival of Indian maritime power.'
We can learn much from China with regards to making civil service recruitment more efficient, says former diplomat Kishan S Rana.
'The Indian government has accepted and is a party to international agreements, standards and conventions on religious freedom.' 'We did not force it on them. We are not trying to impose something on them that they haven't already agreed to...' 'India has never allowed us to visit, which is very disappointing for such a wonderful country with such a rich democratic tradition. They seem to be afraid to let us in.'
If Modi and Shah did not project Adityanath as CM, it was out of expediency, says Radhika Ramaseshan.
'Maybe what the lady in Sex and the City said was right-- that maybe our girlfriends are indeed our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with.'
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's probe panel on spot-fixing and betting charges in the Indian Premier League struck down as "illegal" as it was set up in violation of its own rules, the Bombay high court said on Wednesday. It went on to add that a prima facie case is made out that BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan was involved in its formation.
The more competent junior or the outsider with experience in the field should get the higher post.
If the Modi government is to keep its promise of change, it must bring in fresh faces.
The National Democratic Alliance government's parliamentary managers have a busy weekend ahead, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
Aditi Phadnis and Archis Mohan take a state by state takedown of the party's chances in the poll-bound states.
The prime minister is checking in with baggage of the kind that will make history, any which way things take a turn, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
What gets forgotten in the German vs Sanskrit debate is the poor standard of teaching in India.
With an aggressive Opposition and unyielding government, important legislation could be the biggest casualty, as details of the helicopter contract surface.
'Anandiben is a strict taskmaster. She is accepted much less among the party cadres, but the bureaucrats in Gujarat bow to her dictates. In charisma, she is not a patch on Modi, and her acceptance among the masses will never become a reality.' Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reveals what Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel is really like.
The index had risen over 585 points in the previous three sessions.
Voters are disillusioned with the two rival fronts in the state and there are no effective alternatives either. G Sreedathan explains
India pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals team mate Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were on Sunday cleared of charges by a Delhi court in the spot-fixing and betting scandal in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League in 2013. A flashback of the events that unfolded in the episode.
UrbanClap's business model is still a work in progress.
Despite the BJP's displeasure over Sasikala's elevation as AIADMK general secretary, the Dravidian party has sent a message to the Modi government that it will not be cowed down, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The success of the government will depend substantially on the quality of its team of key ministers, officials and advisors
A G Padmanabhan's dream is to make India a 'no food waste economy' and promote sustainable ideas.
A reformed Planning Commission should reflect the diversity of Indian debate.
The Telangana Group of Ministers on Friday reviewed the progress made by the Andhra Pradesh government with regards to the bifurcation of the state on various fronts.
The decision marks first successful policy intervention.
When an accused gets attacked on the way to court, and again within the court premises, with no intervention by a judicial officer, which space is safe, asks Jyoti Punwani.
In private, AIADMK spokespersons say that the raid on Chief Secretary P Ramamohana Rao might be aimed at weakening the AIADMK, and demotivating the party from selecting/electing Jayalalithaa's confidante, Sasikala Natarajan, as her successor -- first as party head then possibly in the government, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With what joyous expectations I welcomed you! You have tumbled me into a cauldron of gloomy forebodings, says B S Raghavan.
Eleven things we learnt about Rahul Gandhi's style of functioning from former Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan's November 214 letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
'The US-India relationship is in a different league altogether,' Obama administration officials tell Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in Washington, DC.
On her last day as India's envoy to the United States, Ambassador Nirupama Rao was felicitated by the Barck Obama administration at the State Department on Monday, with US Secretary of State John F Kerry thanking her for her service toward furthering the strategic partnership between the two nations.
The NCP chief says, "Self-styled' loyalists of 10, Janpath, convinced Gandhi that it would be better to back Narsimha Rao in 1991 as prime minister over him as the "Gandhi family was not about to let someone with independent mind" to get the top post, Sharad Pawar has claimed.
A will is important not only to divide the assets but to close the succession loop.
'The BJP has latched on to the idea of nationalism, but the nationalism they advocate is not nationalism as we have understood it since the time of the freedom movement.' 'This is not secular nationalism, it is Hindu nationalism.' 'It is a form of nationalism that is exclusionary and it tends to conflate national interest with the government.' 'So, if you disagree with the government, for example, on surgical strikes or demonetisation, you are anti-national or holder of black money.'
What is Change really like in Bihar? Once seen as India's basket-case, what is its turnaround story like?
'The question now is how long the exercise in perfection he created will last once his influence isn't there any longer,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Indrani Roy/Rediff.com visits Ranaghat in West Bengal's Nadia district, the scene of the horrific rape of a 72-year-old nun, and encounters a clueless police and a frightened Christian community.
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