It is rare for communal riots to spread to rural areas. The UP riot is the first time after the September 1969 Gujarat riots that a rural area have been affected. Electoral politics which divide society in majority/minority, going on since the early 1990s, is a major contributing factor to this heightened tension between communities, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale in the first of a two part series.
An international television series is on the anvil says Anand Neelkantan as he shares the challenges of penning The Rise Of Sivagami.
The solution to the Kashmir problem does not lie in India speaking to Pakistan; it does not lie in the Indian government speaking to the separatists; it lies in the Kashmiris talking to their inner selves. They need to trace their history to include their rich cultural heritage of Hindu Saivism and Sufi mysticism. Only then will Kashmiris be at peace with themselves, says Vivek Gumaste.
The court case in India against Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus was in a way initiated in Atlanta, Georgia, by a group of Indian-American businessmen including Dhiru Shah, who have been fighting against several controversial books on Hinduism by Western thinkers and professors in recent years.
With Tibet to the east and home to three stunning Himalayan ranges, Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh boasts of a colourful culture and beautiful people, says Geetanjali Krishna.
'A person should not be caught in the pursuit of enjoyment alone, he should experience enlightenment too. I mean, there should be action and motion. We must enjoy the action, not the motion,' BKS Iyengar told Rediff.com in September 2000.
The Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle explains their side of the story which saw the IIT-Madras student body being de-recognized for violation of code of conduct and misuse of privileges.
Tarun Vijay visits 20 Durga Puja pandals in five towns in Bangladesh and comes back impressed.
Maran's penchant for taking risks was visible last year again when he acquired Indian Premier League's Hyderabad cricket franchisee and named it Sun Risers.
Economists expect Modi to announce big-bang reforms.
Sangopan started with a single maid and one nursemaid in 2011 and has now grown to a 12-member team.
Hunterrr is a deeply problematic film, and fails rather miserably, warns Raja Sen.
'If Michael Jackson is called the King of Pop, would he mind it? It's a great thing. I don't mind being called excellent in what I do. I don't mind being typecast. I am very good at what I do, nobody can do what I do. I am the best action hero.' There's no stopping Vidyut Jammwal.
The man behind Aligarh Muslim University 200 years on.
Devanik Saha wonders if saffronisation of India is on the rise
From Aurangzeb to Sangh Parivar, the year 2016 offers plenty of hope in historical and modern literature.
The BJP's panicky return to basic-instinct majoritarianism in Bihar has pushed Muslims back into the 'secular' basement, says Shekhar Gupta.
You won't regret planning your next trip to this hilly north-eastern state.
The city is becoming more democratic as the past embraces the future says Rahul Jacob.
Rahul is fascinated by history and ancient texts
'We haven't touched child prodigies. This will be the first film to do so. What if there is a special talent like him, do we have the infrastructure to deal with it? That is the larger question the film is trying to ask.' Budhia Singh: Born To Run director Soumendra Padhi discusses his new film.
Simple breathing exercises to help you reduce stress
The verdict in the right to privacy case is historic and of global significance because it establishes dharma, righteousness and destroys adharma.
The verdict in the right to privacy case is historic and of global significance because it establishes dharma, righteousness and destroys adharma.
Since 1950 successive governments have tried various options but failed to reduce alienation amongst the people, for different reasons, of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh. It is best to accept this reality and let each region charter its own path, within the framework of the Indian Constitution, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
'It is not impossible that there will be some arrangement with the Congress in West Bengal after the ongoing local body polls.'
Contrary to the bragging that marked its two-year anniversary, the government's timidity on reform is simply astounding.
Secretary general of CBCI Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas on what he doesn't like about the new education policy.
Sudha Murty worries that India has still not learnt its lessons from history.
All those of us who care about books should welcome the appointment, as head of the Indian Council of Historical Research, of Yellapragada Sudarshan Rao. This is not because Rao has so far distinguished himself as a writer about "history and tourism management", which is the department of Kakatiya University in Warangal he headed before retiring to head an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed project to "write history from a nationalist perspective and popularise Sanskrit", two aims which naturally go together for the RSS.
What happened within the last 40 years that turned this society from secular democratic to Hindu right-wing that clench their collective fists of spiritual nobility against the fictional enemy that never was? The internet happened, says Vinay Menon.
Rediff.com takes a look at some cases from the recent past where the courts awarded the capital punishment for horrific crimes that fall under the rarest of rare category.
On the first anniversary of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Sangh Parivar affiliates say they are annoyed with the ruling dispensation but can't live without it either
'The BJP politics of appropriating icons from its ideological adversaries could only be a desperate attempt to extend the Jat-Muslim divide in Uttar Pradesh. Why this desperation when it can comfortably get votes on the plank of economic development?'
'In today's India very few would, of course, stand Basavanna's test. This led Professor Kalburgi to not only take on casteist and conservative forces in general, but also some powerful conservatives among Lingayats.' 'Conservatives found him polarising and some researchers disagreed with his speculations while admiring his scholarship, but he posited that culture studies and historians have to perforce join the dots, speculate, interpret, interpolate, extrapolate and take leaps to make progress even if some of them later turn out to be wrong.' Shivanand Kanavi salutes Professor M M Kalburgi, the scholar who was assassinated in Dharwad on Sunday, August 30.
'A P Venkateswaran left an indelible impression on Indian diplomacy and made an incredible number of friends, who kept remembering him, more than other Indian diplomats, who served at those posts.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan salutes a legend of the Indian Foreign Service who passed into the ages.
The man who led this journey is 50-year-old Kalanithi Maran, chairman and managing director of the Sun Group.
