Not long ago – to be precise, just before the 2007 Gujarat assembly elections – Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad described Narendra Modi in a highly innovative figure of speech in Hindi: “Kaunsi nali mein peda hua hai, pa
Manmohan Singh had a soft corner for Japan. It had bailed out India before and during the 1991 crisis. Soon after he became finance minister, he flew to Tokyo, to thank the Japanese prime minister. I was with him. It was nice to have an entire Air
Demanding early revision of the wages for the bank staff “which is due from November 2012”, public sector bank employees continued their strike on the third day on Thursday. This is their second strike in less than a month. The l
The supreme court of India (SC) has announced setting up a special ‘Social Justice Bench’ to hold speedy hearings over cases concerning social issues. According to a press statement, issued on Wednesday, the exclusive b
Lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s ‘termite tales’ brought much needed attention on the volumes of money involved in legal representation. His failure to produce proof of expenses in the filing of his income tax (IT) returns, he clai
You have taken over a ministry full of challenges. It has just been a few months but how much progress has it seen? For me, individually, it has been a learning experience, because my experience as a layman with aviation wa
Thousands of farmers, pensioners, anganwadi workers and MNREGA beneficiaries held a mass rally and public meeting in Delhi on Tuesday to protest the NDA government`s proposed changes in legal entitlements to labour rights, employment under MNREGA,
Radio Mirchi, an FM radio channel from the Times of India group, will air a show in which Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal will answer questions from the audience. This, however, will arguably be in violation of the rules for private ra
Terming any change in the monetary policy stance at present as “premature”, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the key rates unchanged in its bimonthly policy review announced on Tuesday. As widely expected, the centra
Sajjad Ghani Lone’s first brush with fame was through his marriage. Then a 33-year-old wannabe businessman, he was marrying a Pakistani woman named Asma Khan in Islamabad in November 2000. No wonder, he immediately became the cynosure of the
Minister of urban development M Venkaiah Naidu said children need to be made the focus in urban planning and development. Speaking at the national conference on building smart child-friendly cities for 21st century India in New Del
Twenty-four-year-old Bhavesh Patel moves around giving a demonstration of the screen reader Dolphin Supernova in such a sure-footed manner that no one can imagine he is totally blind. The device has a voiceover function that can be used on iPhone.
Wednesday, July 2 was the last day of Peraboyina Sampath’s life. That day, in the evening, he walked into his dusty field, gulped down some pesticide and waited for all his miseries to get over. The 32-year-old farmer worked
At the Chhattisgarh secretariat the administrative staff may not have much work by 2017. A mammoth exercise is underway to digitise the records of all 49 departments, centrally store them and send them from one office to another in few seconds at
I am not aware of the reason that prompted her to paint in oil a desolate looking temple at an almost unheard-of settlement of Bhimtal in the far off Central Himalayan region. Splashed by the waters of a virgin lake, the largest water-body in this
Special economic zones (SEZs), symbolising India’s drive for economic growth in the post-liberalisation era, have failed to perform their stated purpose of job creation, and have been reduced in many instances to fraudulent land deals, revea
When we were taught English in school we were told that a pun was no fun if it went overboard or overstayed its presence in an essay. Once in a while if it was clever and subtle enough, it could add a little flavor to the writing but generally it
Ranjit Sinha is not the first director of the central bureau of investigation (CBI) to sully the organisation’s name. He will not be the last. He has several illustrious predecessors who contributed substantially to take India’s premie
In India’s realty sector, black money is a well-known reality. In its latest expose, investigative website cobrapost.com has claimed to have pinned 35 realtors across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hydera
With the target of opening 7.5 crore bank accounts by January 26 already met, finance minister Arun Jaitley revised the target for opening of accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) from 7.5 crore to10 crore by January 26, 2015
