Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Independence Day, focusing on economic growth, self-reliance, and national security. He emphasized manufacturing quality products at affordable prices, supporting farmers, and combating terrorism and infiltration.
'For 40 years, India valued only technical skills. IITs, coding -- that became everything.' 'Soft skills were sidelined. But those are the skills that will keep you employable now, not technical skills.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accusing them of "speaking the language of urban naxals" and being "AAP-da" for the youth. He also took a swipe at former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying those who entertain themselves by getting photo sessions done in huts of the poor will find the talk about the poor in Parliament boring. Modi also hailed his government's decisions in the Budget and said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which his government started for the poor, has been stalled by some states, leaving poor people in hardship.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that the date of Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya should be celebrated as "Pratishtha Dwadashi" as it marks the "true independence" of India, which faced "parachakra" (enemy attack) for several centuries. Bhagwat said that the Ram temple movement was not started to oppose anyone, but to awaken the "self" (swa) of Bharat so that the country could stand on its own feet and show the path to the world. He also said that the invaders destroyed temples of the country so that the "self" of India also perishes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday mocked Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for "handing over the remote control" of the party to the Congress as he took poll battle to Mumbai with less than a week left for voting in Maharashtra.
The question is how to genuinely assess the felt needs of citizens who are below a decent way of living, based on their consumption of food and arrangement for housing.
The real risk is that the core assumption -- that the votes for a candidate sponsored by an alliance will at least equal the sum total of its parts -- proves to be facile, observes T N Ninan.
She said that earlier governments used to sell dreams to people while the present regime is fulfilling the dreams.
'The opposition parties didn't want voting as it would have exposed the cracks in their alliance. They ran away from the House'
Gadkari recalled the advice once given by late Congress leader Shrikant Jichkar.
Various experts have opined that the Planning Commission has reduced the calorie intake from 2,100 per day in urban areas (2,400 in rural areas) to about 1,800 per adult Indian.
If the state were to move from being a generally inefficient service provider to an agent for fiscal transfers, it would be helping the common man much more with much less.
Voters can be relied on to punish a party which makes reckless promises without actually implementing them, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
Modi said that for nearly one and a half years he has been putting in place details of new schemes to give new pace to the country's development and curb poverty.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
Addressing a rally in Suratgarh town of Ganganagar district, a day after declaring his party would roll out the scheme if voted to power, Gandhi alleged that Prime Minster Narendra Modi gave money to the rich and top industrialists of the country, but the Congress would serve the poor.
It should announce its candidates 45 days before the elections; trust rooted leaders; start its campaign focused on five guarantees six months before elections.
Agricultural exports to date have to be undertaken under a quota system. Thus the government till recently was the final and only authority on what the farmer could get for his labours.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Taxing the rich will fetch nothing; only votes, argues Debashis Basu.
Congress on Monday announced a slew of populist measures including sops to farmers, students, unemployed youths, minorities, raising subsidised LPG cylinders from 9 to 12 and constitution of Vidhan Parishad in its manifesto for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
Here are some top quotes from Prime Minister Modi's speech in the Lok Sabha.
Our political history tells us this has never worked. A united Opposition does work in some specific, limited situations, especially in the states. But never as some brilliant pan-national collection of diverse interests with no ideological or political core, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The chapters were dropped by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) for the 2020-21 session, as part of the 30 per cent reduction of the syllabus, keeping in mind the loss of academic schedule that the students had to face because of the pandemic.
My aim will be to get the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, recently cleared by the cabinet, tabled and passed in Parliament, says Girija Vyas.
K C Venugopal (Congress) charged the Modi government with providing little funds for the MGNREGA.
Gandhi added the minimum income guarantee would be implemented across the country.
The Congress hit back saying the PM could not mislead the people by 'lying' as he had been 'exposed'.
If not now, when, asks Virendra Kapoor.
Jaitley said the Congress has given to the people many slogans but very little resources to implement its election promises.
Taking a dig at the construction of a wall on a plot having several slum structures in Ahmedabad ahead of Trump's visit there, the Sena said the US president's trip would neither stop the fall of rupee's value in forex market nor offer betterment to those (slum dwellers) behind the wall.
'The problem with such ill-considered remarks is that they give the BJP an opportunity to push ahead with its nationalist agenda which includes depicting its opponents as seditionists,' observes Amulya Ganguli.
The prime minister, on his first trip to his Lok Sabha constituency in over eight months, claimed poverty alleviation measures have lacked a proper direction and they are spoken about during election time as a "tradition".
'So you wonder, couldn't he have combined these two qualities: His love of his own voice, and his acting talents, to voice concern about the Kathua and Unnao rapes?' asks Jyoti Punwani. 'His supporters are siding with the accused in the first case, and are the accused in the second.'
Modi also attacked the Congress for charging him with corruption in the Rafale deal.
Priyanka Gandhi will strike a deal with Mayawati and not Akhilesh, says Nazarwala.
'Should you give a man fish, or teach him how to fish?' 'Lurking hidden in the new bout of welfarism seems to be an admission that the State can't deliver for the poor anything other than cash,' notes T N Ninan.
Will a time come when people will look beyond what they see as Modi'S strengths and begin to wonder why they have got poorer or sicker under his rule, asks Vir Sanghvi.
'Some in the Congress believe the party should, somewhat brazenly, claim the cause of fighting corruption as its own. But the Congress's idea of fighting corruption is nothing but tinkering with laws, it lacks the stomach to take on the corrupt,' feels T V R Shenoy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances