Four years after his political debut, Aditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is coming of age. Back in 2010, the Thackeray scion’s coming out party was thrown by grandfather, the late Bal Thackeray at a Dussehra rally, who introduced him as the chief of the Yuva Sena. From political bargaining with the BJP over the past few days, to strategising on seat-sharing arrangement, in four years Aditya […]

India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, celebrated his 64th birthday on Wednesday by hosting President Xi Jinping of China in his home state of Gujarat, as the leaders of Asia’s two giants lay the foundation for a long-term relationship that carries huge stakes for both. It is the first visit of a Chinese president to India in eight years – only the third in history – and the reasons for […]

Desis in Amreeka are going all out to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the United States of America a very memorable one, according to the Economic Times. The Indian American Community Foundation (IACF) — a newly-floated body comprising 300 US-based organisations with nationalist and Sangh roots — has booked the Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan for a whopping $700,000. ET reports that 20,000 tickets for Modi’s […]

KATHMANDU: Narendra Modi first Indian PM to visit Nepal in 17 years.  Narendra Modi embarked on a visit to Nepal on Sunday to help speed up negotiations on a power trade pact that is at the centre of a new effort to improve ties with a neighbour that serves as a buffer with China. Since becoming prime minister in May, Modi has sought to shore up support among smaller countries […]

Notwithstanding the tall development and financial management claims of the state, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)’s five audit reports by auditors, who are experts in accounts payable certification, on the last leg of Narendra Modi’s rule as the Gujarat Chief Minister have fished out disputed transactions worth Rs 25,000 crore, which point to fiscal profligacy and a rising debt burden. Among several other things, the CAG has […]

 Early into his tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has listed a 17-point plan to take India forward.  As per a report in a leading English daily, the 17-point agenda is people-oriented and envisages among other things coastal expressways, labour reforms and health knowledge institutes.  The agenda was finalised on July 10 and forwarded to all the ministries. The ministries had time till July 20 to reply back with a detailed […]

Narendra Modi is clearly not the man when he speaks to Indian audiences and when he speaks to foreign ones in English. His BRICS summit speech simply failed to impress due to a flawed body language. It was somewhat disconcerting to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lacklustre performance in the first speech he gave to an international audience during the recent BRICS summit. While one can understand his nervousness on […]

Fortaleza, Brazil:  The new development bank of the group of BRICS countries will be headquartered in Shanghai, China, with the presidency held by India for the first five years.  In hard negotiations, India won on some key points HERE ARE TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW BRICS BANK: The $100 billion development bank launched at the sixth  BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – summit in Brazil […]

Behind the smoke of paltry figures, seemingly intended to hide the big-ticket donors’ details, political parties in India have unwittingly revealed a lot. About 90 per cent of the donations received by these parties across the political spectrum are from sources whose identities are not in the public domain. (Be open: Should India’s President Mukherjee insist on more openness with the country’s ruling bodies?) The news puts all those donations […]

India has said it is writing to the Swiss authorities, seeking details of Indians who have parked untaxed wealth in Swiss banks. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s comments came after reports that Switzerland was sharing with Delhi a list of Indians holding “black money”. The Swiss said there had been no meeting with Delhi since February, but it was committed to fight tax evasion. Indians are estimated to hold $500bn (£297bn) […]