His celebratory gesture on Thursday night marks a first for Downing Street, which annually sees the UK prime minister host a Diwali gathering and an Annakut, or spread of festive food, from London's Swaminarayan Mandir next door at No 10.
The 182-metre 'Statue of Unity', being built at Sadhu Bet in Narmada district, is slated to be inaugurated by Modi on Patel's birth anniversary on October 31.
With all its ups and downs, 2015 is now concluding. And the New Year will bring new expectations to all of us. So tell us your expectations from 2016:
With India poised to become the largest economy in the world by 2030, it cannot afford to leave half of its workforce behind.
'As an aspirational district, one of the main challenges is health and nutrition of the tribal community.' 'They are 1.5 lakhs to 1.6 lakhs tribals in this district.' 'The major issue among tribals is malnutrition and anaemia.'
The Republican presidential candidate urged the African-American community, which had steadfastly backed Clinton in the primaries, to join his campaign for a "better future".
Bhaichung Bhutia, India's iconic former football captain, is set to try his political luck again, this time in his native state of Sikkim, as he plans to contest the assembly elections due this year.
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the 'world's biggest conman' who was duping people with false promises, the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Thursday launched a 'halla bol' movement against him.
This was the one Budget that required radical departures on all these fronts, when it had none, asserts, Shreekant Sambrani.
There is nothing to suggest that the DMK stands to gain from the AIADMK split nor is there anything indicative of an extraordinary advantage for the BJP, independently or in the company of the AIADMK, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Even if the government does not implement an all-India NRC before 2024, it will be part of the party's long-term project.'
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive time, heading a 42-member ministry.
The entire leadership of the party is expected to participate in the rally, being organised to highlight issues like economy, unemployment, and agrarian crisis.
Naidu said that efforts are on to bring together all non-BJP parties and that he had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi to discuss measures on protecting democracy.
'Consider this image of today's youth in Bihar -- armed with a bike, a smartphone and possibly some illegal arms too, imbibing incessant stream of images from the Internet and television.' 'Some of them would turn into gau bhakts, some would listen with interest the exploits of Salafism, dig deep into the Internet to come out with images which cry vociferously that their respective religions are in danger.'
The Congress, desperate to make a comeback in Gujarat, which has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party for over 20 years, has tried to reach out to various sections of society in its blueprint unveiled.
In Madhya Pradesh, the C-Voter poll projections gave the BJP 107 seats with a vote share of 41.5 per cent, against Congress' vote share of 42.3 per cent and a simple majority of 116 seats.
He stressed that there was no need to bring the legislation as it was "anti-democratic" and "divided people on the basis of religion". "There is a constitutional crisis. You cannot ignore state governments. You have to take them into confidence," Sinha said when asked about resolutions passed by states against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The Congress president said the PM should apologise for the note ban decision.
'The ideal thing that should be done in Kashmir is call for an election -- before the end of the year.'
Comparing a state like Kerala with a nation like Somalia shows disconnect unbecoming of a prime minister, says Uttaresh Venkateshwaran.
Ajay Kumar Lallu said the party has emerged as the main challenger to the "oppressive" UP government and the 'winds of change' were blowing in the state.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, a conservative challenger, made history in Croatia.
Keeping an eye on the upcoming assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday promised the people of Assam that if his party comes to power it will put an end to unabated infiltration in the state from Bangladesh.
There is a need for tax reforms in the country in a bolder way, Singh said.
'Have you met anyone who said "I will not boycott Chinese products"?'
Only 2.3 per cent of the Indian workforce has undergone skills training, compared to 68 per cent in the UK.
The Kerala chief minister's four years in office may well be remembered for the way he handled Cyclone Ockhi, two floods, Nipah, and now COVID-19, reports Shine Jacob.
Rahul Gandhi aslos asked the JD-S to clarify whether it was with the BJP and the Sangh Pariwar.
Ramping up his attack against the prime minister, the Congress chief questioned the prime minister's silence on rising fuel prices, the Rafale jet deal and issues such as farmer suicides, atrocities against women and unemployment.
The aim was to skill 1 crore by 2020.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam kindly answered rediff.com's questions for an exclusive interview.
It is not money but belief that thrusts many educated youths into terrorism today, police officers say.
'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private investment, anaemic exports and vulnerable external imbalances, a stressed financial system, mounting fiscal pressures (including high government debt-to-GDP ratios) and an exceptionally bad employment situation,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress government in the state saying that the women in Bengal were the worst sufferers despite having a lady chief minister.
The youth of the country feel they are not getting opportunity to work for the nation, Rahul said.
'Their brave resistance keep our hopes alive that this youth upsurge is strengthening India's democracy and pluralism,' states Mohammad Sajjad.
