'If the prime minister wants to be seen as a global statesman, then is it not embarrassing to be so closely associated with a gang of foul-mouthed bullies?' asks Vir Sanghvi.
German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner has issues an impassioned plea to seek the support of Kashmiris for 'Ehsaas-e-Kashmir', a music concert featuring world renowned music conductor Zubin Mehta in Srinagar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party claims it has over six lakh committed workers in Bihar, a team of 10 deployed for each of the 62,200 polling booths.
'Even if the media is partisan, the BJP, governing at the Centre, has the most to lose if India descends into widespread communal violence.' 'Fanning the flames either by vested political interests or by partisan reports only plays into the hands of those seek a conflagration.'
The average land given to the rural landless is small and falling, from 0.95 acres in 2002 to 0.88 acres in 2015 - a 7.4 per cent drop over 13 years-and a slowdown is evident in the process of taking land away from rich landlords, the RTI data reveal.
This is not the first time Trai has been accused of bias; and, in my memory, never have such charges of bias been leveled against any other regulatory body, says Rahul Khullar.
'Why has the rhetoric gone down on the Indian side, Durrani wondered aloud.' 'I said because almost total normalcy and peace had returned on the ground in Kashmir,' recalls Shekhar Gupta. 'The general gave me that career spook's laser look. And he said: "That situation on the ground can change in no time".' 'This was precisely when the Pakistanis began their first incursions into Kargil.' 'Durrani had been retired for five years.' 'But once the ISI boss, you are always in the know.'
'Rahul is only making a pathetic public spectacle of his lack of judgment and good sense by hallucinating that somehow, the Congress, or whatever political combine is cobbled together, will displace the BJP at the coming Lok Sabha election by constantly harping on the Rafale deal,' argues retired civil servant B S Raghavan.
Here's a collection of images of the past week.
Former external affairs minister, K Natwar Singh, shares his critique of the Narendra Modi government's foreign policy in this e-mailed interview with Aditi Phadnis. Edited excerpts
An estimated 47 per cent voters exercised their franchise on Sunday in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation polls
'We have to make doing business in India easier.'
Former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar is one of the few Indian police officers to speak to Dawood Ibrahim at length after the fugitive gangster fled India. A gripping excerpt from his new book, Dial D For Don: Inside Stories Of CBI Missions.
Five months after he was assaulted by a mob and forced to chant 'Jai Bhawani, Jai Shivaji,' Assistant Sub Inspector of Police Yunus Shaikh will return to the police force on July 21. Shaikh relives the assault and its aftermath in this interview with Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
The Korean summit, laden with symbolism in everything from the choice of location to the mango mousse for dessert, could just be the first round in a continuing dialogue, says Dr Rajaram Panda.
In this series, Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
'Gandhi turned his life into a counter-intuitive experiment in old ideas like non-violence and swadeshi.' 'He offered numerous universal ideas that talk to the human condition.' 'His ability to take risks was outstanding,' says Sopan Joshi, explaining why the Mahatma's ideas are as relevant as ever.
The court held that Salman was driving under the influence of alcohol and also did not have a driving license.
'Xi Jinping is keen that the second Trump-Kim summit happens soonest.' 'Kim is reported to have told Xi that he expects to achieve a result from a second summit that the international community would welcome,' points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
While Sahara maintains it has already repaid more than 93 per cent of the outstanding dues directly to the concerned bondholders and the remaining amount was just about Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion), it deposited Rs 5,120 crore (Rs 51.2 billion) to Sebi in December 2012 towards the investor refunds as per Supreme Court orders.
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
Amarinder, who is also former Punjab Chief Minister, has sent his resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker, copy of which was released to the media here, and has also sought a personal meeting with the Speaker next week.
'Independence Day has been India's annual general meeting. For the most part, it has been a forgettable experience of ritual observances. Not so this year... Mr Modi instead presented what I call a moral balance sheet of India,' says Shreekant Sambrani.
'This is the first time that the Americans have agreed to refer to "cross-border terrorist attacks" in a joint statement.' 'No wonder Pakistan has called the joint statement "singularly unhelpful" and has blasted it, and its all-weather friend China has applauded Pakistan's frontline role in combating terrorism,' points out former foreign secretary Ambassador Kanwal Sibal.
The 'love jihad" controversy, an issue the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to exploit during the assembly by-elections in western Uttar Pradesh last month, took a new turn with a 22-year-old local woman going back on her statement that she was gang-raped and forcibly converted to Islam.
'Jaitley should get the GST and multi- brand retail bills passed to achieve 9%+ growth.'
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad believes governance finally on track. An exclusive chat with Rashme Sehgal.
'The issue of the larger homeland of Nagalim, the dream of the Nagas to hold sway over swathes of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, is just that, a dream.' 'The NSCN has been told categorically that the government is not going to concede on this issue.'
The British administration ignored the mounting evidence of violence between Hindus and Muslims... Military historian Barney White-Spunner traces the countdown to the tragedy in his book, Partition.
'The ISI is bound to exploit narcoterrorism.'
Although a fiery speaker and mass leader in her own right, Bharti has to necessarily fall back on what is being repeatedly described as a 'Modi lehar' to wrest this seat from the Congress, observes Anita Katyal
The definition of affected family includes farm labourers, tenants, sharecroppers and workers in the area for three years prior to acquisition.
The Samajwadi Party government went overboard in deploying nearly 10,000 policemen to patrol the streets of Ayodhya to prevent the VHP from carrying out its 84-kosi parikrama, reports Sharat Pradhan
'If you question the police you become an anti-national and that is ridiculous.' 'Either you say we live by the Constitution or you say the State will not follow the Constitution.'
In an exclusive interview with rediff at his New Delhi residence this week, former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai categorically stated, "Smaller states have the advantage of effective administration as well as speedy development."
India will require new technical solutions and approaches to solve environmental problems.
The Sheena Bora murder mystery has seen more twists in a day than a television sitcom. As skeletons tumble out, a mighty media baron and his glamorous wife have become the centre of a media storm.
'This is the only country where success seems to be viewed as a bad thing.' 'Other governments and countries go out of their way to protect a successful organisation. Here we find ways of destroying it.'
Claude Arpi gives a fascinating firsthand account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959 and explains why he will once again receive a grand welcome, whether Beijing likes it or not.
Today, with the 'Cauvery row' in full flow, the DMK has managed to wrest the 'pan-Tamil initiative' for the Dravidian polity as a whole. What more, the DMK has also stolen much of the 'Tamil thunder' that had belonged to peripheral pan-Tamil groups over the Jallikattu protests in January 2017, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
