'Modi is a master of convergence. By his ability to converge and add new features to a non-star idea, he is able to sell it. Like how he has turned Kutch into a tourist destination by selling the salt desert of the Rann as a flat snow desert of the night and roping in Amitabh Bachchan to sell it. In one stroke this has ensured economic returns to the people and on the other hand it has taken care of the national security angle in the sense that the border population in the Rann, which is almost entirely Muslim, is feeling better as now they are much more connected with the mainstream.' Ahead of the launch of his book on the much-debated Modi model of governance, journalist Uday Mahurkar speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.

The polarisation politics seems to have succeeded in western UP much to the delight of the BJP. However the non-BJP parties are hoping that the polarisation will not be as intense and they will be able to hold on to majority of their vote banks, says Girish Nikam.

The polarisation politics seems to have succeeded in western UP much to the delight of the BJP. However the non-BJP parties are hoping that the polarisation will not be as intense and they will be able to hold on to majority of their vote banks, says Girish Nikam.

Here is the full transcript of Congress vice president and Lok Sabha poll campaign chief Rahul Gandhi's first formal TV interview with Times Now Editor-In-Chief Arnab Goswami.

Dinesh Patel, Utah's most high profile and influential Indian American, was conferred the Willem J Kolff Lifetime Achievement Award at BioUtah's 2013 Utah Life Science Award, the state's top science award ceremony.

New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg appointed Sonia Das as her chief of staff. She will take charge on January 1.

Ishani Chowdhury deftly straddles the diverse worlds of activism and the arts.

Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan will be inaugurating the new cricket pitches laid in a stadium in the former LTTE stronghold of Kilinochchi.

Bunker Roy, founder of the Barefoot College at Tilonia in Rajasthan, was awarded the Clinton Global Citizen Award at a ceremony in New York on September 25.

A 25-year quest by nearly 1,000 scholars to document and present one of the world's oldest living traditions came to fruition when the 'Encyclopedia of Hinduism' was unveiled in Columbia.

Besides a keen desire to make a difference, one needs concrete skills and understanding of the sector to excel in this field.

Indian American education expert and journalist Sreenath Sreenivasan has been appointed as the first chief digital officer of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, musuem's director and CEO Thomas P Campbell announced Thursday.

Eight prisoners, including a death row convict and two women, have successfully completed their post-graduation from Indira Gandhi National Open University after it established two special Study centres for inmates at Nagpur and Amravati Central jails in 2010.

Mentors with domain knowledge are helping young entrepreneurs

Sam Pitroda, who holds close to 100 worldwide patents and has published and lectured widely in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia, answered our readers' questions on the Union Budget on February 28.

In a four-part series commencing today, Arthur J Pais profiles the winners of the 2012 George Marshall Scholarships, a prestigious programme which finances up to forty young Americans annually to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. First up in this series is Aditya Ashok, who aims to make the US healthcare system work for the largest number of Americans.

As India faces increasing dissonance and even hostility from its neighbours, there is increasing recognition that only government efforts are far from adequate. Assertive people-to-people contacts are essential to supplement and even supplant government efforts to normalise some inter-state relations, says Nilova Roy Chaudhury.

An India-born conservative scholar, who made a high-grossing documentary condemning United States President Barack Obama, has resigned as head of an evangelical college here after a scandal broke out over him taking a woman other than his wife to an event on Christian values.

Dr Kiran C Patel and Dr Pallavi Patel, both physicians and longtime residents of Tampa, Florida, have donated $12 million to the University of South Florida in a new endowment aimed at creating the Patel College of Global Sustainability, expanding on nearly a decade of world-leading applied research to advance sustainability around the globe and improve the lives of the world's most vulnerable people.

With finalisation of 12th Plan outlay, Health Ministry is aiming to roll out its ambitious project for provision of free medicines to all at public health facilities across the country from November 1.

Various northeastern student organizations are helping the applicants in filling up forms, choosing colleges, finding accommodation and completing other basic formalities.

In an online chat with Get Ahead readers on May 16, Siddhartha Dubey and Sharon Moshavi (details below) discussed how they make a career in digital journalism.

An Indian-origin student who was found guilty of bias intimidation for spying on his gay roommate's sexual encounter has asked a judge to grant him probation instead of a prison sentence, even as letters of support from his friends and family were submitted in court.

Before he came to the US, he also held senior positions internationally for Levi-Strauss & Co, Unilever and the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in opening the first-ever US-India Higher Education Summit at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, -- which she co-chaired with Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal -- declared that while collaboration in this sphere is a driving force in the strategic dialogue between Washington and New Delhi, whether it will ultimately succeed or not depends on those outside government -- academia, researchers, and business

With seats fast filling up, the Delhi University's second cut off list leaves a large number of students disappointed who are now considering to apply to alternate universities as a measure of safety.

Two key Indian American physicians from the Obama administration, who worked on implementing healthcare reforms, are stepping down from their posts to return to clinical practice. Dr Sachin H Jain, 30, and Amol S Navathe, 32, worked for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

In an online chat on April 19, Ashish N of EducationAisle gave tips to Get Ahead readers on how they can get a high score in GMAT. Here's the unedited chat transcript.

Mumbai-born Jamshed Bharucha will take charge as president of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, one of the topmost educational institutions in the United States.

Hundreds of Indian students face an uncertain future as a California 'university' faces immigration fraud charges.

Hundreds of Indian students may have been victims in an elaborate fraud scheme, according to a complaint filed against a university in California by the United States attorney's office.

United States President Barack Obama, during his historic address to the Parliament on Monday evening, made some vital comments about the changing relationship between the two largest democracies of the world: India and US. Rediff.com takes a look at some of those:

The transcript of the speech President Barack Obama delivered in Parliament on Monday evening

Obama said he strongly disagrees with the economic plan that was released last week by the Republican leaders in Congress, which would actually cut education spendings by 20 per cent as well as affect the healthcare sector budget. Republicans' two-point plan is aimed at creating jobs which would freeze tax rates at current rates and cut spending.

India Abroad's Ajit Jain finds out how the Sheridan College computer science professor became passionate about teaching Sanskrit.

Teenager Niti Dua chats with fans about her web diary launched by Ekta Kapoor.

Over 100 people in the Washington, DC metropolitan area gathered to hear Indian Muslim leader Syed Shahabuddin at a dinner hosted in his honour by the Association of Indian Muslims of America.

An Indian student was racially assaulted in a jam-packed bus in Melbourne by a group of three youngsters, who repeatedly hit him and also threw chicken pieces at him, recently in yet another attack on the youths from the community in Australia.

India is at a critical juncture, with 30 percent of its young population getting ready to make a transition into adulthood. Jayalakshmi Sengupta looks into some of the remarkable initiatives of civil society institutions to harness this volatile resource pool.

On May 11 we launched our campaign against caste in census 2011 and responses from readers have been pouring in. While some merely clicked the 'I am against the caste census' button, others were more vocal. We present what our readers had to say.