'He is just a 22 year old who has no knowledge of India's laws or Constitution. How will such a man handle a discussion on reservations in an intelligent, lawful manner?' 'Let me alert everybody that he is using the 1985 formula. Back then they opposed reservations based on caste for OBCs and now they want to be included in the same category. This clearly tells us what their intention is. They don't want reservations; they want reservations to be cancelled altogether.'
There were certainly two kinds of violence at India Gate: one avoidable, another reprehensible, notes Mahesh Vijapurkar.
The movie evokes a few laughs but otherwise it decides to shift tracks from droll comedy to dreadful drama.
Rahul Bhattacharya recounts the anxiety of being in the labour room and the joy that follows.
The United States has condemned the Syrian government's use of violence, saying a security crackdown will not restore stability in the Arab country, as top US lawmakers introduced a Congressional resolution criticising human rights abuses there.
The Samajwadi Party's anti-Mayawati stir turned violent on Thursday as activists went on a rampage across Uttar Pradesh burning hundreds of effigies of the chief minister.
Rediff.com takes a look at Middle East countries where 'dissent' has become a way of life. Click on NEXT to read further...
'No private citizen can be prevented from holding or propagating in India or abroad, a view contrary to that of the government of the day. The government, it seems is misreading the mandate in the Lok Sabha as being a mandate to crush dissent. In times when ruling parties have brute majorities in Parliament, the true test of safeguarding democracy is its ability to allow dissenting voices to be heard,' says Indira Jaising, the former additional solicitor general.
Samajwadi Party activists staged demonstrations across Uttar Pradesh on Monday against the arrest of independent member of Legislative Assembly Raghuraj Pratap Singh, popularly known as Raja Bhaiya, for his alleged involvement in an attempt to kidnap and murder a candidate in the local bodies election. More than 500 party activists were detained for resorting to violence, said a SP spokesperson.
Once again an Indian prime minister has realised that with Pakistan and China, things will not move as he wishes.
Claiming that Maoists were 'patriots of a kind', controversial writer Arundhati Roy on Sunday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home minister P Chidambaram of 'violating the Constitution and PESA (Panchayat Extention of Scheduled Areas) act by allowing corporates to use tribal land'. "Patriots of a kind, they (Maoists) are. But here patriotism is very complicated. So at the moment what people are fighting for is to keep this country from falling apart," Roy said.
'J&K continues to have the highest concentration of military personnel anywhere in the world and the alienation of the Kashmiri has increased in the last ten years than ever before.'
A day after an all party delegation reached out to separatists in Kashmir, moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday accused the Centre of not making a serious effort to address the Kashmir issue saying talks were not possible in a coercive atmosphere.
Trust is no more, and no less, than the faith that rule of law works equally for everybody and that the State exists to enforce such laws without fear or favour. It is trust in old-fashioned government. Trust is rule of law, says Sonali Ranade
The court passed the order while dismissing the stand of Delhi government which had refused to give employment to a youth, accused of a minor offence, as a sub-inspector in Delhi police.
Ron Bowes, a security consultant, used a piece of code to scan Facebook profiles, collecting data not hidden by the user's privacy settings.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it will hold peaceful protests across the country against the crackdown on Baba Ramdev's agitation and meet President Pratibha Patil to demand convening of a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue.
From Boyhood to The Grand Budapest Hotel, we've seen some brilliant cinema this year.
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Ansari believes a national debate on a Uniform Civil Code is a must. 'The need of the hour is to debate this issue at length in order to create a consensus,' Ansari tells Rediff.com, adding, 'Such a debate must take place at the grassroot level. We must understand all the divergent viewpoints before any draft can be prepared.'
A belligerent half-century by Kevin Pietersen, his second consecutive of the tournament, helped England beat South Africa by 39 runs.
David Warner was the one of the players to look out when the tournament started. The Australian had taken the storm with his big hitting abilities and was a force to reckon with.
National Socialist Council of Nagaland -- Isak-Muivah leader T Muivah, camping at a border village since Wednesday, is understood to have put on hold his visit to his native village in Manipur after the Centre asked him to defer it and plan his tour in a more congenial atmosphere.
Two people can be reasonably happy if they tried sincerely, says Love Guru.
Here's a contender designed to fill the void left by the boy wizard and those chaste vampires.
Two legislators were marshalled out of Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Wednesday after an uproar over inter-district recruitments, which they alleged were against the people of backward districts of the state.
Images from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The world may browbeat, the United Nations may interfere, the US may keep quiet forever, the Arab world may seeth in anger, Israel is unfazed. The pounding at the Gaza Strip continues, taking the toll to over 1000.
'Arvind Kejriwal displayed crass male chauvinism and gender illiteracy in saying that "rape tendencies arise out of sex, prostitution and drug rackets." This shows a failure to grasp that rape has little to with sex, and even less with drugs. Such remarks are far worse than the deplorable comments of policemen and politicians who attribute rapes to women's "provocative" attire or their outdoor presence at night!' says Praful Bidwai.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outgunned Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3 to win the Japan Open with a dazzling mix of guile and brute force on Sunday.
What is going on?! How can an amazing country like India face such highs and lows? Where do these brutes come from? Who are these people who are hijacking the goodness of this country? Who create them? Did we? Can someone please tell me what went wrong with India.
A clueless India were heading towards another humiliating series defeat with their struggling top order batsmen surrendering meekly in the third Test against Australia in Perth on Saturday. Trailing by 208 runs in the first innings, India were reeling at 88 for four in their second innings at stumps on the second day on a bouncy WACA pitch.
Even after turning entire Telangana region into an open jail, detaining more than a lakh people amd the police virtually laying siege to Hyderabad, the Andhra government could not stop the inevitable. Though a million people could not converge, at the end of day the Million March in support of Telangana state proved to be a big success.
"Our team on the ground in Dantewada informed the Director General A S Gill that more than 30 Naxals were killed in the encounter that took place on Friday. Though only three bodies were recovered, the rest were dragged back into the forests by the Naxals," CRPF spokesperson Ajay Chaturvedi said in New Delhi.
Major subsidies must be knifed before unwinding excise cuts
'A defeat in the Hisar by-election would not make any difference to the numbers in the Lok Sabha for the simple reason that the Congress had not won that seat in 2009 anyhow. But alienating the Trinamool Congress (19 Lok Sabha MPs), the DMK (18 Lok Sabha MPs), and the Nationalist Congress Party (nine Lok Sabha MPs in addition to all the MLAs in Maharashtra) is another story. Those 46 MPs are crucial to the survival of the Manmohan Singh ministry.'
The lone captured Pakistani gunman, Ajmal Kasab, today looked flustered and confused while trying to prove his innocence in front of judge M L Tahaliyani.
'Hazare is not the issue, and the government should not make him into one. Rather, it should focus on the issue he has voiced: Corruption that is depriving people of the mind-boggling welfare funds but for which India would already be a member of the Comity of Nations the prime minister often speaks about.'
The presence of security forces in the Sonwar area, housing residences of almost all mainstream politicians and top civil and police officers is marked by heavy deployment to foil any untoward incident.
As for the Kargil martyrs, the lives of their kith and kin were dashed to pieces for ever. The nation cannot repay the debt we owe to them, but the least we can do is to salute these valiant men for their personal sacrifice to preserve our territorial integrity, says MP Anil Kumar on the occasion of Vijay Divas
Do you think the 100-hour training and certificate course made mandatory by RBI for debt recovery agents sensitise them to the rights of borrowers? Will they stop using intimidating tactics to recover dues from defaulters? Will it lead to better debt collection practices? Tell us.