THE walk-out of the Opposition Members of Lok Sabha during the speech of Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah once again points to the fact that the Opposition is a timid grouping with no courage to face facts on any matter. This habit of the Opposition came to the fore once again -- demonstrating clearly that its main interest is only to disturb the House rather than seek correct answers. Even as Mr. Shah assured the House that he would respond to each of the 3-4 issues raised by Leader of Opposition Mr. ..

THERE is a serious need of an in-depth probe to bring out the truth in the assertion by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha that the then Congress President Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1937), pushed by Barrister Mohammad Ali Jinnah, agreed to withdraw some stanzas from the national song Vande Mataram since those parts might hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims. Therefore, for decades, those later stanzas were never recited whenever Vande Mataram was sung anywhere in the country...

AS SOCCER took the spotlight with the draw of lots for the FIFA World Cup 2026 grabbing headlines, two seasoned campaigners on the cricket field kicked-off a new debate about the beauty of old wine amid a plethora of new cocktails. On different parts of the globe, Joe Root and Virat Kohli came into their own and dished out stuff that was pure treat for real connoisseurs of cricket. Their formats were different but their intent and tenacity remained the same. Their hunger for runs transcended the narrow ..

THAT India-Russia association has travelled far beyond mere protocol was superbly demonstrated by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi when he broke protocol and personally welcomed Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin in New Delhi. Then came another ‘first’ when the Prime Minister hosted an informal dinner for his honoured guest at his official residence -- obviously to launch the bilateral discourse that may achieve many mutual interests for the future. And to the Prime Minister’s residence, the two ..

THE change of the name of the new Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in New Delhi to ‘Seva Teerth’ and of Maharashtra Governor’s residence ‘Raj Bhavan’ to ‘Lok Bhavan’ as part of the Government’s effort to erase the vestiges of the British Raj is welcome. It also demonstrates the Government’s desire to fight back the Macaulay mindset that has been dominating Indian psyche for long. Yet, if the common people wonder if the change is going to stay restricted to only names of places, then they will have a ..

PRIME Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is rightly concerned about the public perception of Police in India. He expects the leadership of the Police force in the country to think of ways and means to transform people’s perception about how policing is done. In the process, he expects the Police force to make suitable alterations in the policing style so as to glean maximum positive benefit for the larger society. There is no doubt that Mr. Modi is fully conscious of what the common people think of Police ..

EVEN as the nation celebrated the Constitution Day with luminaries such as President Mrs. Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi highlighting rights and duties of the people guaranteed by the Constitution, the Opposition leaders indulge..

QUIETLY, he slipped into death’s arms. True, he struggled for life and his fans prayed for his well-being. But in those last days, as one can imagine, superstar Dharmendra must have told himself and others that his time had come. True, appropriate medical handling had to happen. Yet, those who knew Dharmendra also knew that he had the courage to face reality as it was, and equanimity to stay calm. However, the He-Man of Hindi cinema has left behind a void that belonged only to him and none else. That ..

THE global outcry against the death sentence to former Bangladesh Prime Minister Ms. Sheikh Hasina by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal is only natural. Given the method, mode and manner in which the Bangladesh judiciary is being dominated by the ruling crowd in the country makes it clear that transparent justice is never possible to anybody, let alone the political opponents. The United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, has opposed the death penalty to Ms. Sheikh Hasina ..

INVESTIGATIONS into the car blast near the Red Fort in New Delhi is peeling off a multiple-layered strategy used by terror outfits in the changing security paradigm in the country. The ‘white collar’ terror module has posed a new challenge to the Intelligence and security agencies as they have diverted from the conventional methods and are preferring handlers with no criminal past or separatist links. It is a new model of terror threatening peace in the world. India has acted really fast in this direction ..

India is witnessing a changing face of terror -- which would need a special consideration from the Government, security agencies, and the people, so that an effective counter could evolve. The car-bomb blast near Red Fort in Delhi and other developments in the past some days point to the new face of terrorism in the country. Highly educated persons are getting radicalised and are accepting to become parts of different terror modules to create disturbance and disruption in the larger Indian society. ..

WITH real stories bordering almost on mythical standards, with tales of mesmerising quality, with a legacy worth its weight in truck-load of gold, Indian hockey has kicked off centenary celebrations across the country. The celebration is full of a sense of gratefulness for the fighters of yesteryear who carried Indian hockey on the dint of remarkable grit. Despite meagre facilities, despite poor recognition, they kept the Indian flag high in the globe, dominating the hockey turf like emperors of the ..

EVEN while propaganda is an integral part of electoral politcs, falsehood has no takers, so to say. A few may get swayed by a continuous barrage of propaganda, all right. But if falsehood is heaped upon people’s mind all along, then its acceptance wanes faster than one can imagine. This is what has been happening with Opposition propaganda against Special Intensive Review (SIR) of Electoral Rolls undertaken by the Election Commission of India. When the SIR was being conducted in Bihar, the Opposition ..

THAT was one of the most electric moments of Indian sports ever -- Indian women winning the ODI World Cup in the most authentic -- even sublime -- manner. There were prayers all over before the match -- for success in the final encounter. Yet, internally, every Indian somehow felt almost sure that the girls would bring that great glory home. Twice in the past, that glory had eluded them, all right. But this time, everybody felt almost sure that the fruition of the national dream was just around the ..

THE assertion of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi that (the then Prime Minister) Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru prevented (the then) Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from fully integrating Kashmir into the Indian Union (in 1947-48), makes a strong case of a very serious exercise of reinvestigation of the details of the history of those tumultuous years when the British rule ended the reigns of the country came into Indian hands. Such an exercise may ruffle quite many feathers, ..

EVEN as the nation celebrates the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the great unifier of post-Independence India, the details of his contribution to nation-building well up in public memory. That he was India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister following the exit of the British, actually, come up only as incidental details of his biography. What really matters most to the nation’s history of those tumultuous moments is the manner in which he convinced more than 600 princely ..

 HOW an issue of crucial importance is viewed by the bureaucracy in India can be comprehended by the apathetic response of the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories to a Supreme Court order mandating details of steps taken to tackle t..

THE world has seen two ceasefires coming into effect in different parts in the last few days with brittleness written in bold letters on its future. In the Middle-East, the United States and a band of other countries have managed to bring Israel and Hamas for a peace deal, ending a long-stretched bloody conflict. In Asia, Qatar has made Pakistan and Afghanistan sit across the negotiations table and agree for a truce after heightened hostilities in the last few days snuffed out many civilian lives. ..

PACER Mohammad Shami has sent a reminder to the selectors about abilities after a fantastic outing in the Ranji Trophy helping his team to victory in the first round. While the other pacers with whom he formed a potent bowling attack for the Indian team are in Australia engaged in a One-Day International series, Shami has used the domestic cricket platform to make a statement of intent. His availability was doubted by many players and also selectors but now with the sterling showing for Bengal, Shami ..

F IRECRACKERS have started to dazzle in the legal and administrative corridors ahead of the Diwali festival with the Supreme Court allowing the sale and bursting of green crackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) with certain conditions. The conditional relaxation has made it sure that crackers will remain part of the Festival of Lights in Delhi which remains the epicentre of all debates about air quality in the country. Though there has been no scientific or material evidence of firecrackers ..

THE current attack of Pakistani armed forces on a few posts on Afghanistan and the strong Afghani retaliation point to a historical reality that the two countries are natural foes, so to say, no matter their earlier hobnobbing with each other over long stretches of time. Unable to contain the attacks on its forces and inland installations by Taliban militants over the past some years, Pakistani forces appear to have lost their patience and have attacked Afghani border posts claiming success in taking ..

THOUGH India’s record in home-Test series is truly amazing in the last 12 years, registering wins in as many as 18 series against different visitors, the one-sided win in the first Test against West Indies at Ahmedabad cannot be taken as a measure of the team’s virtuosity. For, such matches takes place only occasionally -- with team just refusing to offer even a semblance of fight. So, the Indian win by an innings and 140 runs over the visitors needs to be taken as a rare feat that does happen once ..

THE customary annual address by Dr. Mohan Bhagwat, Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), at the centenary Vijaya Dashami celebrations of the RSS, offered to the Indian nation in particular and the humanity in general many points to ponder over and decide a line of action. Those points covered wide-ranging areas including civilisational issues, cultural dimensions, social structure and people’s conduct through time, political and ideological discourse, and what the humanity needs ..

WHAT the world always knew now stands endorsed with authentic reports streaming in to state that Pakistan Army has undertaken a project of training terrorists in various skills that they require to run their outfits -- such as Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). The project aimed at giving a new life to the terror outfits, Pakistan Army is reported to have begun preparing terrorists as trainers, operatives, and even commanders. It has decided to deploy its own ..

FOR record, United States President Mr. Donald Trump imposed 100% tariff on imported branded pharmaceutical drugs in order to promote his ‘Make America Great Again (MAGA)’ concept. On ground of reality, however, it would be American consumer to be hit hard by the increase in prices of pharma products. Called the pharmacy of the world, India will be one of the countries to take a beating in this regard. But experts insist that Indian pharma industry manufacturing generic medicines would not be hit ..