Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore reports from Bhopal and Manikhedi Kot, Etkhedi Kot and Kejra Dev, about the October 30-31 escape and encounter in which 8 prisoners were killed, a case that has many questions and few answers.
'She was once asked what the secret to political leadership was and she said it was the ability to like all kinds of people.' 'I don't think Rahul fundamentally likes people -- that's probably why he can't deal with them and it shows.' 'Sonia is a more talented political mobiliser than her son, but I think the decline of the Congress set in in 1969...'
Pavan K Varma, diplomat, writer and politician, embarks on a quest about Hinduism's great thinker's stay in Varanasi.
The year 2014 is coming to an end. It was the year of conflict, the year of strife. Year 2014 will be remembered for several reasons -- the rise and threat of the Islamic State, the downing of two Malayasia Airlines aircraft and the sudden and effective way of using hastags on social media to generate a buzz about the event. After all, who can forget #theicebucket challenge and the phenomenon it grew into. Read on as we bring you an overview of international news and events of 2014.
Rajiv Gandhi would have turned 72 on August 20. Had he lived. On a humid night 25 years ago, the former prime minister of India was murdered in cold blood by an LTTE suicide bomber. Neena Gopal was an eyewitness to the assassination, and in this exclusive extract from her new book, The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, she reveals for the first time what she saw in Sriperumbudur that night.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he makes a strong objection to the latter's comment about his "DNA" at a recent election rally in the state.
Businesses that either take local communities for granted or see them as an obstacle to be 'managed' are skating on thin ice.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan wanted to improve training for staff, through initiatives such as sending them to other central banks for short stints.
At these 'relief camps' people had nothing to sleep on except for a piece of cloth and men and women, boys and girls all cramped together. Factor in the fact that Kakching in the 2011 census had a population of 28,746 people and that about 90 per cent of that population has been affected by the floods now, and one can work the math of the crisis at hand.
Surat houses more than 650,000 powerlooms. Of this, at least 60 per cent have been shut since a month, a loss of Rs 900 crore, finds out Vinay Umarji.
'If the Kasturirangan Committee report is implemented, the mining and quarrying lobbies will flourish... It will be disastrous for the environment... There will be water shortage, there will be pollution. Finally, farmers will have to quit the area.' Dr V S Vijayan, a member of the Gadgil Committee, points out how the Kasturirangan Committee report will hit both people living in the Western Ghats as well as the plains.
'Despite much hype of optimism, everyone went home empty-handed without a clear picture where they are heading in the future,' notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
SP-Congress alliance is likely to consolidate Muslim vote in their favour.
As the Congress and United Progressive Alliance government appear to be veering towards formation of a separate Telangana state, ministers and MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday opposing any division of Andhra Pradesh.
The ordinance has returned near absolute power of discretion in land acquisition, except in tribal areas, into the hands of the bureaucracy yet again
The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will attain criticality by mid-night on Saturday, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman S K Sinha announced in Tirunelveli.
The car so far known by the code name 'Kite' will be a hatchback.
Sudha Murty has various roles -- philanthropist, author, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt -- and she revels in each one of them, discovers Savera R Someshwar.
Top 20 images of all the events of the week that was.
'The category of crime and criminals called Maoist or Naxal or #UrbanNaxals is an illegitimate creation of right-wing propaganda media frenzy.' 'It is a fiction repugnant to the Constitution and the law of the land,' argue Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
'The accusation that Pakistan risks losing sovereignty to China is emotive and has the potential to spread.' 'China will, however, remain intent on achieving its strategic ambitions of acquiring Gwadar port and securing a large chunk of Pakistan occupied Kashmir,' says former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'When all the facts are known, if they ever are, it will likely turn out that both Ms Khobragade and Ms Richard might have been at fault and so too might both governments be faulted, the US for a needlessly aggressive approach in the first place and India for its ham-handed response in the early stages of the affair,' says Rupa Subramanya.
In a study conducted in four countries, number of Indian teens who bullied someone or were bullied by someone online was the highest.
Raag Desh is one of the best films of the year, Sreehari Nair raves.
'I would rather have an HRD minister who concentrates on her job rather than bicker on Twitter.'
North Korea is unlikely to strike first, but its response in retaliation, if attacked, could be massive even at the expense of its own destruction, says Rajaram Panda.
In his address, Modi stressed on conserving water and remembered his days as Gujarat chief minister when people did not understood his vision to bring transformation in agriculture sector.
The JNU student leader said, "There is an atmosphere of fear in the country and anybody who speaks against the government is threatened."
"Talks are the only option," Mehbooba said. "How long can you have a confrontation?"
Five persons, including founder of local terror group Tehreek-Ghalba-e-Islam Viqaruddin Ahmed, were on Tuesday killed in an encounter with the police in Telangana's Warangal district.
'So when they come for you tomorrow morning, papa, make a dash for freedom.' 'Please, please, don't let anything hold you back.' 'Run, run, run, run, run, run, run.'
Several former colleagues say Kejriwal is undemocratic. But his loyalists stand stoutly behind him
In commercial real estate, leasing of office space was higher although the activities were subdued in retail segment.
'The strategy has to be restoring order in one part and countering the very effective propaganda through a very nimble monitoring and response system,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain, who retired as the General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps.
'There were tears in my eyes when I parted with my medals. I thought was it for this moment did I become a soldier?' In 2008, Captain H Balakrishnan (retd) of the Indian Navy returned all his medals to the President of India to protest the government's failure to implement the One Rank One Pension scheme.
'He needs to control his foot soldiers by taking either stern action against the over enthusiastic members of his group or convince them to stop causing him this embarrassment.' 'We know that most of these leaders are not going to be prosecuted by Indian authorities. So we are seeking alternate means to bring them to justice,' FIACONA President John Prabhudoss tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com
'The scope of cordon and search operations has changed drastically.' 'Operations are now more focused, intelligence driven and involve very small cordons with minimum inconvenience to the people.' 'This has been the humanisation of conflict.' 'It has come to be institutionalised in the army's concept.' 'General Rawat has been schooled in this thinking and when he makes a statement it is with full consciousness of the institutionalised concept,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), the former GOC 15 Corps in Srinagar and the officer acclaimed as the 'People's General'.
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.
Modi today needs BJP CMs and non-party regional leaders to win votes and build alliances, but he will over-rule them and treat them like dirt once they have served their electoral purpose. Make no mistake: Modi is incurably authoritarian and will brook no dissent -- so long as the RSS is on board, says Praful Bidwai.
