'An opportunity is at hand to think big and recast the India-China relationship on a new template, which would help the pursuit of our country's dream of major power status,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'China's growing nexus with Pakistan and the two countries' unresolved territorial disputes with India continue to pose a formidable national security threat to India,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
That's how our politics is with no inner-party democracy. That's why we should listen to British MP Hilary Benn's speech, says Shekhar Gupta.
'The Reserve Bank's independence has remained a work in progress, an enduring challenge that the nation has been grappling with on an ongoing basis,' says RBI Deputy Governor Dr Viral Acharya.
'For a long time Pakistan dreamt that India would break up and that it would be the predominant power in the region,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das tells Anup Roy, Raghu Mohan and Niraj Bhatt that it is time for banks to lower interest rates and start lending to cash-starved finance companies after due credit appraisal and proper risk assessment.
The Rs 3-trillion West Coast or Nanar refinery has all the potential to become India's flagship petrochemicals project, with the planet's largest oil producer Saudi Aramco as its biggest shareholder. Yet the locals don't see the plant as a harbinger of better times.
'Kim has once again shown astuteness and statesmanship by securing China's support precisely just when it matters most to him,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Modi, with his sharply honed political savvy and undoubted grasp of international affairs, is a past master at taking the measure of world leaders.' 'He would be the last person to think of the unpredictable and not too well-regarded Trump as the mediator,' says B S Raghavan.
Prashant Bhushan on Monday said he wanted to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to put an end to the row
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Colombo has once again put the focus on alleged cases of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
'Kofi Annan will be remembered more for his Nobel Prize and related glory rather than Rwanda and Volcker,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan with whom he worked in the UN.
The pre-dawn operation, described as "non-military" and "preemptive" struck a five-star resort style camp on a hilltop forest and caught the terrorists in their sleep.
Voters in Sri Lanka's Tamil majority Northern Province on Saturday began voting in the first local elections in 25 years to elect a council to govern the former war zone, four years after the military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after decades of bloody civil war.
Market breadth depicted gains with 1,476 advances over 1,403 declines on the BSE. 140 stocks remained unchanged.
By deeming October 31, Sardar Vallabhai Patel's birthday as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the BJP has rightly made amends for the short shrift that the great leader received at the hands of the Congress. By the same token, the BJP cannot be seen as being petty towards Indira, a leader who despite her flaws, did render yeoman service to the nation, says Vivek Gumaste.
'The macro-economic stresses -- high interest rates, rupee depreciation and capital flows -- have receded now.' 'Interest rates have come down, inflation is down and the rupee has bounced back.' 'If oil prices continue at this level, there will be no vulnerability.' 'Growth is a different story.'
From being on the verge of war and violence, West Asia has actually got a sudden reprieve. Seema Mustafa explains
Deployment of THAAD in South Korea could unfold a new cataclysm in the Korean Peninsula with unwelcome prospects.
The clichd path of conducting 'uninterrupted and uninterruptable' bilateral dialogue with Pakistan to improve ties remains unimplemented and un-implementable under prevailing circumstances that are unlikely to alter in the near future, says Rahul Bedi.
One has to wonder what is so wrong with the European Union.
'I wear heels. It's not for a fashion statement.' 'It's because if I see something wrong, we're going to kick them every single time.' 'If you challenge us, be prepared for what you're challenging us for, because we will respond.'
Thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands more displaced in the violence in South Sudan. The United Nations mission and humanitarian agencies are under strain to protect camps and to provide internally displaced persons with water, food and other emergency relief. What flared up as a political conflict in South Sudan is now assuming an ethnic character.
'Indian diplomacy is once again being saddled with the heavy burden of a Pakistan-centric foreign policy. It is something grossly unfair at a crucial juncture in India's trajectory as an emerging power on the global stage,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Sanctions against North Korea following its H-bomb test could have serious repercussions and may prove disastrous for all the players involved, says Debalina Ghoshal.
With no announcement on One Rank One Pension coming from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his nearly 90-minute speech at the Red Fort on the 69th Independence Day, ex-servicemen who have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi say they have been betrayed by the BJP-led government.
Bihar's ruling JD-U and Lalu Prasad's RJD on Sunday decided to contest the state assembly elections in alliance and constitute a six member committee to finalize seat-sharing.
'It is not simply demonetisation or GST, it is this government's failure to manage the financial sector crisis.'
In the midst of the ongoing stand-off between the Delhi Lt Governor and the Aam Aadmi Party government, the Centre on Friday said it has no intention to run the city government through anyone but is conscious of its constitutional responsibility and committed to uphold it.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members of the previous Cabinet could be retained.
After all, unlike the barriers between Nitish and Lalu, the forge between Mulayam and Mayawati has not been limited to just political differences, it has been a personal war, says Sharat Pradhan/Rediff.com
'India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan's journey to make,' says Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the government's geo-political flagship initiative "Raisina Dialogue-II".
As India celebrates its 70th Independence day, Rediff.com pays homage to millions who laid their lives for the country's freedom.
Terming corruption as a "major stumbling block" in the country's progress, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday asked the central vigilance commission to lead the way in cleansing the government.
India strongly believes that its economic growth must bring benefits to its neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today as a stadium in Jaffna renovated by India was jointly inaugurated by him along with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
To imagine that no one contributed to global peace to deserve the prize in 2017 is to be extremely cynical about peacemakers around the globe.
'A plausible American tactic,' Rajeev Srinivasan suspects, 'would be to try and prevent the BJP and Modi from coming to power by splitting the anti-Congress vote using the AAP, and in case that fails, to follow up with a Plan B to make India ungovernable, to create mass conflict through their agents.'
'If Indian armed forces entered Pakistan and succeeded in inflicting major damage on the Pakistani army and occupied territory in the Pakistani heartland, there is reason to think the Pakistani military would use some nuclear weapons against the incoming Indian forces to compel India to stop.'
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
