Malayalam actor Thilakan talks about the controversies that surround his life, in an interview published in January 2008.
Lalitha Prasad (49kg) and Sandeep Sharma (75kg) had to settle for a bronze medal after losing in the penultimate round of the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Armenia on Thursday. While Prasad was outdone by Bin LV of China, Sandeep went down to Magomed Madyiev of Russia in the semi-finals.
The Prime Minister's Office has replied to the allegations of corruption made by Team Anna in the allotment of coal blocks during 2006-2009 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in charge of the ministry. However, Team Anna finds most of the PMO clarifications unsubstantial. In a press communique released on Friday, Team Anna rebuts PMO's clarifications point-by-point. We reproduce the press release verbatim:
'Modi has to lead the BJP. There is no alternative,' a senior BJP leader tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Pakistan's premier all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been cleared by the International Cricket Council to resume bowling in international matches after remedial works and retests on his remodeled action.
Photographer Gopal Shetty sent us these exclusive vintage photographs of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, which we reproduce along with quotes from the leader who passed into the ages on Saturday.
Photographer Gopal Shetty sent us these exclusive photographs of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, which we reproduce along with quotes from the ailing leader.
Homai Vyrawalla is 97 and shares her rich treasure trove of anecdotes about India's tallest leaders with Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya.
Events in America have strengthened the hand of those leaders there who wish India well, but think of India as being a collection of Indians.
If Indians are mistreated, they will object, asserts Aakar Patel.
The raging controversy over author Salman Rushdie's visit to the Jaipur literary festival and the abrupt cancellation of a video link with the writer at the last minute on Tuesday evening refuses to die down. We reproduce an interview with Rushdie, when he visited India in 2000.
The Union Cabinet is slated to discuss three major policy issues on Thursday -- from enactment of new legislation of benami transaction bill 2011, a Memorandum of Understranding with Pakistan on Drug Demand Reduction, and prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs.
Ravi was arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru and brought to Delhi. She was currently in police custody.
Till now, apart from a few statements issued by his office, the young Karmapa Lama has refused to come out of his reserve and comment on the accusations levelled against him, particularly the cash donations received by his monastery but not deposited in a bank, and his relations with India. For the first time, he agrees to speak to Rediff.com, in an exclusive interview to Claude Arpi
Non-resident Indian Anshuman Mishra, who was recently in the news over the controversy surrounding the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for Rajya Sabha polls from Jharkhand, writes an open letter to party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani in which he advices the latter to make a dignified exit and hand over the reins to the party's second generation leaders.
Gautam Gambhir on Sunday alleged former India captain Bishan Bedi of indulging in nepotism while trying to push his son Angad in Delhi's age-group teams.
'Reservations are anathema to many of the core supporters of Anna Hazare.'
'You can identify an Indian in any group, anywhere in the world by just talking to him. His reflexes, his reactions to problems, his value system are the same, whatever region or religion he may belong to.' Dr P C Alexander in an eloquent interview to Rediff.com on the 50th anniversary of India's Independence.
Expressing his resentment at the recent smear campaign against civil society members by certain elements, including some within the Congress and the government, to derail the fight against corruption, social activist Anna Hazare shot off a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
'Why did your generals try to grab a few square kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh?' 'And what happened to the hard work that you and Prime Minister Modi put into the Wuhan and Mamallapuram meets?' Claude Arpi writes a letter to Xi Jinping, China's self-styled supreme leader, who turns 68 today, June 15.
'The advocate tells me not to worry as truth will prevail one day.' 'I don't know... I am losing all hope...'
'The crossing of lines has dangerous implications for the credibility of the media -- its greatest asset. Already, many journalists have strayed from the profession's proper boundaries. It would be even worse, and ethically more repugnant, if journalists become political fixers or take instructions from corporate lobbyists.'
In June 2008, journalist Sadanand Menon parsed the Delhi high court ruling on MF Husain's art, and said, 'No modern judgment pertaining to artistic freedom has ever quoted an artist or has been so categorical.' On Husain's passing away, we reproduce the article
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who died in a helicopter crash on April 30, had spoken to rediff.com in 2007 on the Chinese claims over parts of the state and news of incursion by the Chinese army. We reproduce that interview.
Claude Arpi travelled to Dharamsala to record the newly elected Tibetan prime minister's views on the election campaign, his objectives, his government's relation with China and the changes he would like to bring about in Tibetan society. Dr Lobsang Sangay candidly answered all the questions put forth to him
Samuels underwent testing on January 29 at Loughborough University in Britain. His elbow extension in his remodelled action was within the allowed 15 degrees
Former ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed has kicked up a controversy by claiming in his memoirs that the New Zealand judge who heard the Sydney Test racial row appeal had accused Indian and Australian cricket boards of colluding behind the scenes in a way that was "disastrous for cricket".
'Several concerns were raised with respect to the veracity of the data and analyses conducted by Surgisphere Corporation and its founder'
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has issued a letter inviting all Members of Parliament to attend United States President Barack Obama's address at the central hall on November 8.In a circular letter, Bansal also sought the cooperation of all the MPs to ensure the smooth functioning of both Houses of Parliament.The routine circular assumes significance as it specifically urges the Parliamentarians to attend Obama's address.
Apple unveiled the latest high-end ultra-thin MacBook Air laptop on Wednesday.
Real Madrid's Brazil playmaker Kaka believes he retains the full confidence of club coach Jose Mourinho despite a spate of injuries and loss of form since his move to La Liga.
Stunning hat-tricks from Dimitar Berbatov and Robin van Persie moved Manchester United and Arsenal ahead in the Premier League title race as strikers took the spotlight on Saturday.
Stunning hat-tricks from Dimitar Berbatov and Robin van Persie moved Manchester United and Arsenal ahead in the Premier League title race as strikers took the spotlight on Saturday.
Whadya gonna do? Some more options for you, folks!
'It's useless trying to make a leader out of a man who goes to the toilet 20 times before a game'
Maqbool Fida Husain, India's best known artist, passed away in London in the wee hours of Thursday. Back in November 1997, the world renowned painter, had appeared on rediff chat. In an owerflowing chat room, Husain bared his heart. We reproduce the transcript.
Journalist Shakti Bhatt located former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson's luxury home in New York, declared unknown by the American and Indian governments, in India Abroad, the newspaper owned by Rediff.com, back in September 2002. As a Bhopal court convicted eight people on Monday, June 7, for the worst-ever industrial disaster, we reproduce the global scoop
Nitish Kumar had a week's time to prove his majority, but Laloo Yadav made full use of Siwan don Mohammad Shahabuddin. A revealing excerpt from Rajesh Singh's Baahubalis Of Indian Politics: From Bullet To Ballot.
Eminent Muslim scholar and author Omar Khalidi, whose controversial book Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India had created a furore in Parliament in 2006, died in a road mishap in Boston, United States on Monday.
'Even today, Emergency excesses are being benchmarked and have become reference points for gross violation of human rights by fascist-minded "leaders". Corruption and criminality are the outcome and India has been drifting towards "State kleptocracy", feels M G Devasahayam.
The Emergency greatly influenced the RSS' makeover from a fringe force in the Indian political imagination to one that could have its own man sworn in as prime minister in two decades' time. A riveting excerpt from Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil's India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977.