The finance minister said he said, "The judgement has upheld the primacy of one basic structure -- independence of judiciary -- but diminished five other basic structures of the Constitution, namely, Parliamentary democracy, an elected government, the Council of Ministers, an elected prime minister and the elected leader of the opposition."
'Kader Khan could be horribly intimidating, impossibly silly, achingly human and, sometimes, all at once.' 'I was drawn to his magic and magnetism even when I didn't know he was behind it,' recalls Sukanya Verma.
Lekar Hum Deewana Dil struggles to find its own voice, according to Nishi Tiwari.
'Where is the analysis that we need to spend at least Rs 4 trillion to keep India safe?'
Time said Merkel was chosen as the 'Person of the Year' because she is the 'de facto leader' of a continent, 'steward' of the world's fourth biggest economy, a 'principled manager and a resolute diplomat'.
Whiplash is a film that captivates right from the start and reels in the viewer in that seductive way only the finest jazz can, assures Raja Sen.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
India needs to have a re-look of whole gamut of its relations with major powers and also prepare for a more turbulent neighbourhood. But such is the tyranny of Indian status quo mindset that any talk of re-look at nuclear doctrine or foreign relations is treated as blasphemy, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
'The viral video from Una aroused something that Hindu chauvinists and cow-botherers never take into account: Numbers.'
The United States on Wednesday expressed concern over punitive action taken by the National Democratic Alliance government against scores of non government organisation, asserting that a vibrant civil society was important for democratic traditions and that those who act peacefully to seek change are not anti-government.
An exchange which preaches others on governance must start practising it first, says Shyamal Majumdar.
Rumours about a spike in taxes for equity investors are flying thick and fast.
Darryl D' Monte, the distinguished enviromental journalist, discusses how the media covers floods in Mumbai or Texas, but ignores Assam or Bangladesh.
A war hero looks back at the men and the moments that forged India's greatest military victory.
Remembering how Azzedine Alaia, the son of farmers changed the world of fashion.
Classically, the Japanese - who are not guided by short-termism - added capacity during slumps to be ready to reap their good fortune when the business cycle turned upwards again and shortages emerged, says Subir Roy.
India's rising GDP may have propelled the middle class to become richer, buy new cars, travel around the world and build assets, but it further pushed the economically disadvantaged and poor into poverty and drudgery, says Devanik Saha.
President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Israel is a final and critical step in the normalisation of relations between the two countries.
What 32-year-old star Mandy Moore's actions tell us about anti-ageing regimes...
When making a buy or sell decision on a fund, it is essential to look beyond profits, says Kavitha Krishnan
'The summer of 1857 saw violence, perpetrated by the Indians and the Britons, on an unprecedented scale.' 'Never before and never after in the history of British rule in India was there violence at the level that 1857 witnessed.'
'The top level will be development and then sab ka saath, sab ka vikas.' 'But at the street level, the tongue will be vicious.'
'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 sad truth is our news managers know much more about Houston and Boston than Kohima and Kokrajhar...' 'Many worthies will travel to the US and Europe to report on Prime Minister Modi's foreign sojourns, but will cite the difficulties of logistics when asked why they don't cover Modi's forays into Arunachal Pradesh, a state China lays claim to.'
'Why has cows eating plastic become so important only before the Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh elections?'
'The foundation of the 2014 triumph was Narendra Modi's appeal to voters in the Hindi belt. The Bihar Vidhan Sabha polls will demonstrate if he continues to appeal to them,' says T V R Shenoy.
On the 20th anniversary of her tragic death, the actress remains strikingly relevant.
The Bharatiya Janata Party might have a majority in the Lok Sabha but sarcasm and public humiliation of rivals may not be the way to assert this. In fact, it is a waste of time
'There is a joke that is cracked in hushed tones sometimes in Manipur, what would many of the insurgent outfits do if AFSPA is indeed taken away? What would they fight against?'
Before the Supreme Court struck down Sec 66A of the IT Act, it was used with devastating effect against anyone posting critical comments online.
'Like Robespierre,' argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf, 'Kejriwal too talks of virtue, and the ones who speak out against him will encounter the terror of Kejriwal's wrath in the Aam Aadmi Party.'
'I am very sure that Rajnikanth, a patriot and a spiritual person, will not do this movie which is about a tyrant, killer and murderer,' BJP leader H Raja tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com
It is quite likely that the Parliament itself could now attract people's scorn. That would be terrible, and not the people but the politicians would be responsible, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
If the aim is to become a player with some strategic space of its own, not just in the Indian Ocean region but also in the adjoining region, then greater interaction with China is desirable, even necessary.
'It would be a folly on our part to believe that the KKK or its Indian version exists only as some dedicated organisation. Rather, the Indian KKK, much like the American counterpart, exists as a fragmented and amorphous collection of independent groups and individuals,' says Shehzad Poonawalla.
Two years after a midday meal took the lives of 23 children in Gandaman, Archana Masih sits down to have lunch at the same government school and discovers that much has changed and much remains the same.
Israel is no longer the valiant and beleaguered underdog, but increasingly seen as an increasingly arrogant oppressor seeking to crush another old nation under its jackboots, says Mohan Guruswamy.
At Sabarmati Ashram that very hot summer evening, some had come to see and feel the place where Bapu lived. Some had come to be alone on the lawns after a disappointing Class 12 result...
'I see you as a man who has split the nation into two. Vajpayee or even Advani would hold it together. One senses you cannot do this. To heal, to apologise, and to glue together a nation seems beyond you,' Shiv Visvanathan tells the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
A Narendra Modi administration would believe more in decentralisation than would a Rahul Gandhi administration, says Arvind Panagariya.
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