A 'soft' approach must be nurtured to complement the hard-line of spending billions in physical conflict; that is the only way to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS.
Curses, folklore and family feuds swirl around Tughlaqabad Fort
'The people of the state can be won over by love, and not by swords.'
With Tibet to the east and home to three stunning Himalayan ranges, Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh boasts of a colourful culture and beautiful people, says Geetanjali Krishna.
The magical land of Changthang in Ladakh is the stuff of dreams, though it might be losing its pristine beauty to the onslaught of tourists and campers.
Don't be afraid to put your happiness first.
'She was just a little girl. She didn't understand religion. Who is Hindu, who is Muslim.' 'She was just 8! Why punish her?' The family of the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu's Kathua district say everything has changed since that horrific crime.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Ahmedabad on Wednesday on a three-day visit, which is expected to define the relationship between the two neighbours who have had a troubled past.
India should enhance its economic, cultural and defence ties with Mongolia. It is high time Modi should focus on gaining clout in smaller Asian countries such as Mongolia. It is in this context, India's engagement with Mongolia would give much-needed impetus to India's foreign policy, says Sana Hashmi.
As Kerala Blasters kick-off their ISL campaign against NorthEast United FC in their opener in Kochi on Tuesday, October 6, Spaniard Josue Currais-Preito is looking forward to wow Indian crowds with his technical acumen.
'The forces of good are on the run.' 'But dark times also challenge people to fight.' 'I believe Indians will rise against these dark times.'
The world must hang its head in shame for being a mute spectator to the 'cultural holocaust' in Tibet, says Major General Mrinal Suman (retd).
Dr Preeti Adil Chandrakar and her engineer brother Praveen Adil travel in a mobile dentist lab to reach unusual patients.
Nupur was able to successfully build a prototype of a biomass briquette, an alternative fuel from waste materials.
Saudi Arabia's Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died on Friday and his half-brother Salman took over reigns of the world's top oil exporting nation in a smooth transition of power, calling for "unity and solidarity" among Muslims.
It is about discovery and enjoying the journey instead of focusing on the destination, says Gauri Jayaram, founder, Active Holiday Company.
'The whats app messages came as a tsunami on to dry, sparse, corroded, forgotten parts of the brain. Thoughts, memories, faces and long erased episodes were irrigated once again and with that came a turmoil not felt in a long while.' 'In the stark difference of time zones, how does one work in a work day and when checking messages cope with the instantaneous transport to a time that was different in every possible way?'
Inside Llewyn Davis is a fantastic film, feels Raja Sen.
Another sobering number is that the total Chinese investment in India in the past 10 years amounts to $400 million.
The tenth annual iPhone Photography Awards received thousands of entries -- all submitted by amateur photographers from more than 140 countries around the world.
Ever heard of 'gosht ka halwa' or 'dal ki dulhan'? Avantika Bhuyan profiles a battery of food enthusiasts who are out to make sure that you do.
'I want to leave behind the bank stronger and better than when I took over.'
Subramanium, a feisty character, is not going to let anyone sully his reputation. He is ready to answer any question, any change which is more than what the Modi regime might be ready for. One man's integrity and toughness can crack a regime's carefully-built faade. Suddenly its backstage looks murky, says Shiv Visvanathan.
'In 2009 we had 741 new cases of polio. This was the highest in the world. We ran the most apolitical crusade ever. We had the support of every government. We were never short of funds. The central government gave us Rs 11,000 crore a year. In 2011 we had 42 new cases. From 42 to 0 was our most difficult phase,' Mission Director Anuradha Gupta tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar in an exclusive interview about India's monumental campaign to eradicate polio.
Payal Mohanka travelled to Morocco, that magical place where the past and the present don't jostle but instead coexist rather beautifully.
'I see you as a man who has split the nation into two. Vajpayee or even Advani would hold it together. One senses you cannot do this. To heal, to apologise, and to glue together a nation seems beyond you,' Shiv Visvanathan tells the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
'Defaulters like Mallya can't be offloaded, but activists like me are. And that too for raising questions.' 'Today, what is the meaning of development?' 'Take over land, water and forest from the Adivasis and hand it over to corporates.' 'I am surprised how a minister who is supposed to protect the forests and the environment is happy reaching out to investors for more and more clearances.'
Nidhi Tiwari speaks about her road trip from Delhi to London.
Goli is a special child, born on 26/11 at the Cama hospital in Mumbai while the terrorists were raining bullets outside. Six years later, Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com finds a family determined to give their children the best life they can afford.
'Earlier India as part of the Third World fought for the rights of the Palestinians. But oddly the defeat of the Congress and the decline of the Nehruvian imagination has altered such perceptions. The new middle class expresses an open sympathy for Israel, contending that Jews like many Hindus has been misunderstood,' says Shiv Visvanathan.
'Only the smoke is coming out now. Let us prevent the lava from coming out by taking proper measures.' 'I have told every leader that you cannot have a stable government without winning the confidence of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the most backward castes.' 'Leaders feel that by giving a sop here and there and by symbolic actions, they can win votes. That's all they want. Votes.'
Today when we see the man behaving in a controlled, almost genteel fashion, creating a government with Prussian efficiency, colonising Delhi with a strange silence of expectation, one must ask is this Modi? Or is Modi all the trails he has left behind?'
The Big Chill is an upmarket cafe in New Delhi's tony Khan Market and that's where Deora wanted to meet. He introduces me to his favourite cake: tiramisu with a generous infusion of Bailey's, the Irish creme liquor. I take a spoonful, recall the reading on the bathroom scales earlier that morning, and resolutely push it aside, writes Aditi Phadnis.
Dr Pinakin Shah visited the Land of the Thunder Dragon and returned mesmerized.
'You don't control who you love. Love happens. You don't decide you're going to love this person.' Love talk from Priyanka Chopra.
'If Modi arrived like a juggernaut, he left like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces were being dismantled bit by bit. It was as if India had seceded quietly from him.' Shiv Viswanathan's social science fiction about what India would be like in 2020.
India's fear of small states derives from memories of Partition and the paranoid view that it will break up under 'too many' states. It's time to shed such fears and bite the 'states' reorganisation' bullet. India won't crumble under a few more Telanganas, Vidarbhas or Gorkhalands, says Praful Bidwai.
'Corruption is rampant in every office in the state from the villages right up to Gandhinagar. I have witnessed all these issues first hand... Before Narendra Modi became chief minister Gujarat had a debt of Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore. Today it is Rs 180,000 crore. There has been six-fold jump in public debt in Gujarat in the last ten years... Every child born in Gujarat owes a debt of Rs 30,000 today. How can you call this development? Look at how high taxes are in Gujarat. Look at the condition of our public health system. There are not enough doctors or nursing staff in government hospitals; not enough teachers in schools and colleges.' Three-time BJP MLA Dr Kanubhai Kalsaria rips apart Narendra Modi's policies.
The journey of Abhijit Avasthi, the former national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather, is as amazing as it is unbelievable. Read on!