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December 24, 2010
'India has gained added leverage in Afghanistan'
Senior journalist Haroon Siddiqui says that his main contention since 2006 has been that the American mission in Afghanistan has failed..
December 10, 2010
'If anyone tries to bring pressure on me, they will face the music'
'Pressures come to those on whom pressure can be brought upon. I have had no such instance in the past. So these pressures do not matter to me,' says retired Supreme Court judge Shivraj Patil.
December 02, 2010
'Nobody fears Sonia Gandhi'
'Till now, she was the supreme court. The way Congressman feared her, they don't fear her now. That is why you see how she took time to take action in Andhra, Maharashtra and corruption in the Commonwealth Games,' says Arun Shourie.

Why the ISI will not take on Lashkar
'Lashkar clearly poses the greatest danger to India,' says Stephen Tankel, author of a book on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

December 01, 2010
'BJP and Congress are one party'
'They are jointly ruling. It is a dinner party. They meet at dinners. They meet socially. They decide on what has to be done about issues. It is all very cooperative behaviour,' says former Union minister Arun Shourie.

November 26, 2010
'Terrorists had military precision'
'The manner in which the terrorists moved around the targets it looked as though they had visited the places earlier.' Former NSG chief J K Dutt discusses the 26/11 operation.

November 16, 2010
'Nitish Kumar doesn't have a team and is singlehanded'
'Nitish doesn't have the advantage of good people in the second-third level of leadership. He has to to do everything himself,' says Prabhat Ghosh, director, Asian Development Research Institute in Patna.

3 reasons why India is smiling after Obama visit
It took six months' hard work and more than a dozen visits to-and-from both sides for Washington and New Delhi to make President Barack Obama's visit successful.

November 12, 2010
'Obama is not going to mollycoddle Pakistan'
'He has sternly warned Pakistan to perform. He has sent a very calculated message to Pakistan from India, says Naresh Chandra, head of the National Security Advisory Board.

November 10, 2010
'Obama indicated his faith in India's democracy'
'This trip will solidify India's understanding of the new kind of worldleadership Obama wishes to achieve, one very different from that of George W Bush,' says Professor William Chafe.

November 04, 2010
'Just the fact of Obama's stay at Taj matters'
'In the struggle that India is going through, the US must be seen very clearly as being in India's corner. Pakistani-based terrorism not a problem India faces alone. It's part of a common problem that the US faces as well,' says Dr Ashley Tellis.

The issues India needs to take up with Obama
'Both India and the US must be alive to the possibility that China's assertiveness could turn into aggressiveness,' feels Satish Chandra, the former deputy national security advisor. .

Why America is frustrated with India
'A lot of people in India are not ready to move on. You are still concerned that any defence deal with the US will constrain your strategic autonomy, as if the US had the power to do that,' says Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L Stimson Centre, a Washington, DC think-tank.

'Obama won't change the world'
'He is not as starry eyed about India as George Bush was. But within some limits he would like to do good to India,' says political thinker Ashis Nandy.

'Obama's visit is very unfortunately timed'
'Bush was too committed towards Indo-US relations. I don't know if Obama is as committed.' Former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh in an exclusive interview.

November 03, 2010
Temple to English Devi runs into hurdle
Chandrabhan Prasad is persistent in the belief that by revering Goddess English, uneducated Dalit mothers will make sure that their children learn English.

November 01, 2010
India, US: What the future may look like
'We want to see a balance of power be preserved in Asia and as China grows in influence, a stronger India and a stronger India working together with an America that has a presence in Asia is to the good in maintaining that balance,' says Richard Fontaine.

October 28, 2010
'I don't think Obama's visit will be a success'
'If India does not succeed in making the US recognise the combined threat of the China-Pakistan alliance, there is nothing left in the visit,' says Brajesh Mishra, the former National Security Adviser..

October 20, 2010
How an Indian doctor beat the scourge of leprosy
'If 5 people die of H1N1 in the USA, it's an emergency. Every day millions of children die of diarrhoea in Africa, but it's not high priority. Every day 100,000 children die of TB in Africa, but it's not a priority. So many children die before they are a year old, but nobody is bothered. Unfortunately, money, which should go to the poor is diverted for the rich man's disease,' says Dr Vijaykumar Pannikar.

'Caste will always remain Lalu's hidden agenda'
Bihar expert Dr Shaibal Gupta tells Sheela Bhatt why the upcoming assembly election is a benchmark in the state.

October 19, 2010
'We are putting India on a different plane'
For the first time in 20 years, the World Congress of the World Society of Cardio Thoracic Surgeons will be held in India. An exclusive interview with the man who received the honour of hosting the event: Eminent cardiac surgeon, Dr K M Cherian.

'Nitish govt has given Bihar its lost identify'
Dr Shaibal Gupta, who has studied Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar from a vantage position in Patna's corridors of power speaks to Sheela Bhatt about the upcoming Bihar assembly election.

October 15, 2010
Exclusive: 'No doubt Pakistan voted for us'
Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the architect of India's stunning diplomatic victory this week, speaks to Aziz Haniffa.

October 01, 2010
'I don't believe India has moved on'
'India has moved on in other ways, but the common man in the streets still has a lot of links attached to religion. And till such a time there is a separation of religion from politics we will not be able to move on,' feels former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole.

September 21, 2010
'Delhi attack unfortunately isn't a surprise'
'We must plan for attacks that are more unpredictable, have little if any warning of occurring and are less targeted,' says Australian security expert Justine Bowden.

September 20, 2010
'Omar is unable to connect with Kashmiris'
Although Omar Abdullah has survived as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister he has been unable to govern, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti tells Sheela Bhatt in an exclusive interview.

September 15, 2010
'The UPA is all at sea in dealing with J&K'
BJP leader Arun Jaitley on why it is important for the government not to bow to those propagating violence and offers possible solutions to the problems plaguing the valley.

September 13, 2010
'India's past is very contested terrain'
'The British conquered India by Indian money'... 'Indian masses have always resisted, always fought'... Mahmood Farooqui, historian and co-director of Peepli [Live]!, in a fascinating interview.

September 08, 2010
Why Tamil Nadu suspended this IAS officer
Did IAS officer C Umashankar's suspension have anything to do with his proposal that Sumangali CableVision, owned by the politically powerful Maran family, be nationalised?

September 03, 2010
Why this MP rejected the salary hike
'I could not get myself to accept a 300 per cent salary hike when armed forces veterans are forced to take to streets demanding equitable treatment for their pension,' says Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar.

August 18, 2010
'The illiterate farmer becoming thing of the past'
Professor Anirudh Krishna explains the many changes he has discovered in India after meeting 175 families in the nation's villages.

August 17, 2010
'There's no saying what Kashmir's youth will do'
Asiya Andrabi, the woman separatist leader who is on the Kashmir police's most wanted list, speaks to Rediff.com's Krishnakumar Padmanabhan in an exclusive interview.

August 13, 2010
'A dialogue with the Maoists is the only solution'
'Operation Green Hunt has been a total failure. What have the joint forces achieved? Nothing!' says former Union revenue secretary and Trinamool adviser Debabrata Bandyopadhyay.

July 29, 2010
'Who says Sohrabuddin's wife has been killed?'
'Amit Shah is a fighter. He should be alright,' BJP spokesman Devang Nanavati tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.

July 28, 2010
'Why is Gujarat being targeted?'
'When it comes to Gujarat, when it comes to Mr Modi, you want a different set of laws to be applied,' declares BJP leader Devang Nanavati.

July 27, 2010
'Rosaiah has poisoned high command against Jagan'
'Jagan is not in favour of floating a new party. He has decided to wait patiently and see how things will unfold in the days to come., says suspended Congress leader Ambati Rambabu, one of Jagan's closest aides.

'I don't see pure milk-and-honey goodness in the poor'
'I remember bitter people in the chawl. I can imagine some NRI writers observing the chawl boys laughing or playing cricket and saying, 'the spirit of Bombay' or some shit like that. That is all rubbish,' says novelist Manu Joseph.

'We politicians have given the Naxals a walkover'
'The cities are not safe, Naxals will reach them very soon,' feels Mahendra Karma, the tribal leader who championed the controversial Salwa Judum against the Naxalites.

July 19, 2010
'Only tit for tat can deter anti-Dalit atrocities'
'There is no other method to correct such a deep-seated cultural prejudice against Dalits than shock treatment,' feels Dalit intellectual-activist, Dr Anand Teltumbde, author of Khairlanji: A Strange And Bitter Crop.

July 16, 2010
Reddys don't own mining lease in Karnataka: Lawyer
'Let anyone in Karnataka come forward and show that we have the licences to even a single square foot of land in the state,' challenges C V Nagesh, the Reddy brothers's lawyer.

July 13, 2010
'Policemen need a HR manager before fighting Naxals'
The Centre and states need to synchronise their forces to tackle the surge in Maoist violence, believes former IPS officer Kiran Bedi.

July 09, 2010
Chidambaram rejects probe into Azad's death
'He said there was no question of ordering a probe at the Centre's level. This comes within the jurisdiction of the Andhra Pradesh government,' Swami Agnivesh tells Rediff.com.

July 06, 2010
'I am a son of India'
'My thoughts come from the Nalanda Buddhist tradition and this body has lived on Indian dal, rice and chapattis during the last 51 years.' The Dalai Lama, who is 75 today, in an exclusive interview.

July 05, 2010
Chinese are eager to exploit Tibet's natural resources'
Exclusive: A fascinating interview with the Dalai Lama on his 75th birthday.

July 02, 2010
'Difficult to say if Lashkar's behind J&K violence'
People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti reacted sharply when asked if there was any truth in the allegation that her party has been providing money to some Kashmiris to stage-manage the ongoing violence in the valley.

June 29, 2010
'Caste inclusion in census will be a disaster'
Professor P Radhakrishnan is a social scientist talks about the dangers of including caste in the census.

June 23, 2010
Where it all began for Nikki Haley
'My goal is to show people that I am going to be there to represent everyone. I appreciate and will take all the support that comes my way, but at the end of the day, I am going to work hard to represent all people of South Carolina.' Nikki Haley spells out her priorities.

June 21, 2010
'Hinduism and terrorism cannot go together'
Ram Madhav, the media savvy member of the RSS national executive, vehemently denies the organisation's direct or indirect involvement with terrorism and claims it is not infected by such radical elements.

June 18, 2010
'Safe passage to Anderson was in India's interest'
Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra, was India's foreign secretary at the time of the Bhopal gas disaster in 1984. speaks on whether Union Carbide Corporation chief Warren Anderson asked for and received safe passage, and did Anderson meet senior officials of the government of India while he was in the country.

June 17, 2010
'Use minimum adequate force against Naxals'
'We are dealing with a very difficult social situation. It needs a lot of maturity, patience and self control,' says Lt Gen V G Patankar (retd).

June 16, 2010
'The Centre has been sleeping for so long'
'Manipur is a peripheral state. Had it been in Haryana or somewhere, it would have been cleared in two days. The Centre was too insensitive.' Pradip Phanjoubam, editor, Imphal Free Press, on the Manipur blockade.

June 14, 2010
'Obama's visit may lead to new era'
In an exclusive interview to Rediff.com, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake speaks about President Obama's trip to India, the recent US-India Strategic Dialogue and the fate of the nuclear liability bill.

June 11, 2010
'The Naxalite is not 10 feet tall'
'There are no quick fixes... The security forces can kill terrorists, but terrorism will be killed only by the people,' says Lieutenant General V G Patankar (retd).

Interview: Man who warned of the Bhopal gas leak
Just months before the deadly gas leak in Bhopal killed 15,000 people, journalist Rajkumar Keswani had warned that the 'city stood on the edge of a volcano'. He speaks of his 26-year battle to get justice for the victims.

June 08, 2010
Bhopal: 'It was homicide not amounting to murder'
M R Sivarman, a retired IAS officer was the finance and planning secretary of the Madhya Pradesh government when the Bhopal gas tragedy occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984. He recounts what happened on that fateful night.

'Judiciary will not save this country...'
'There was a time when people would go to the Supreme Court because they sincerely believed that the Supreme Court would do justice to them,' says retired high court Justice Hosbet Suresh.

June 07, 2010
'Deploying Army against Naxals would be wrong'
'If the Indian Army is deployed aganist Naxals it would mean that the whole political system has failed,' says Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd).

May 21, 2010
Does Mr Chidambaram believe in democracy?
'He may be good on a corporate board but he certainly does not make a good home minister in this situation,' says Professor Nandini Sundar, a leading thinker on the Maoist debate.

May 19, 2010
'Silence can become eerie in Kashmir'
Former R&AW chief A S Dulat, India's foremost expert on the Kashmir issue, argues that the central government should offer Kashmiri separatists a solution in line with the accord signed by Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah in 1975.

May 17, 2010
The Maoists want to destroy the State'
'Revolution is the target. They will organise the people and ask them to revolt against the State,' says Satnam who has interacted with the Maoists.

May 12, 2010
'People on their deathbeds indulge in politics'
'It is so invigorating, nobody gets tired of it,' says Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilisers Srikant Jena.

April 28, 2010
'Dantewada is a symptom of a greater malaise'
Congress's Rajya Sabha MP and chief interlocutor of the Andhra Pradesh government who talked to the then PWG in 2004-05 speaks about his experience of tackling Maoism in the state and what could be done to curb the growing menace in India's central heartland

April 27, 2010
'Stop treating eunuchs as second-class citizens'
Intelligent, well educated and bold, a trait common among the transgender community, when Laxmi is not courting controversies, she is busy working for the welfare of the sexual minorities through her non governmental organisation Astitva. Laxmi speaks to rediff.com's N Ganesh on the discriminations faced by her and the members of her eunuch community in today's world.

April 21, 2010
Uma Thurman's dad and the Dalai Lama
Professor Robert Thurman, senior scholar at Columbia University and one of the Dalai Lama's oldest supporters, speaks to Claude Arpi about his relations with the Tibetan spiritual leader, the present state of 'capitalist' China, the Buddhist wave in the West, his idea of a Second Renaissance and his work for preserving Indian shastras.

April 13, 2010
'We may get some access to Headley, no extradition'
A S Dulat, former Indian spy chief, speak about the implications of the Devid Headley case in an in-depth interview.

April 09, 2010
'Kasab has realised the inevitability of his fate'
26/11 attacks prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam speaks about the unique trial of Ajmal Kasab and two other accused in the case.

April 08, 2010
'2 nuclear nations entangled in this love story'
'We are sort of like cousins who should really get along, but sometimes don't.' Fatima Bhutto on India, Pakistan and the uncle she does not get along with, Asif Ali Zardari.

'5,000 Maoists in Chhattisgarh'
'Naxalites have armed platoons and companies. Now they are planning to constitute a battalion in the Bastar area,' says Inspector General of Police R K Vij.

April 07, 2010
'There could have been a couple of Maoists'
'I have been working in those jungles for 18 years. I know their (the Maoists) complete formation, how many make up for Maoists and how many are ordinary tribals,' says Gandhian Himanshu Kumar.

'Road mines and ambushes cause us most casualties'
'Because of the paucity of force, we have to be extremely creative in your ops. You can't go for an all out war,' says Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan.

April 06, 2010
'Maoists have totally militarised themselves'
'When Maoists say that a protracted, violent, armed way is the only way to capture power then what is the way out except confronting them as a state,' asks Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan.

April 01, 2010
'Despite US funds, things have got worse in Pak'
Alan Kronstadt, a specialist in South Asian affairs for the US Congressional Research Service, on how more US oversight on funding to fight terror in Pakistan could help both countries and even India.

March 31, 2010
'As a democratic country we cannot fire on our own people'
'Just because we haven't reached out, the Naxalites have come and taken over these places. A vacuum cannot exist, someone comes and fills it up and they have done that.' Vijay Raman, Special Director General, Anti Naxal Task Force, in an exclusive interview.

'Absenteeism, corruption have weakened India'
'The capability of the Indian State to implement programmes and policies is weak -- and in many domains it is obviously not improving. In police, tax collection, education, health, power, water supply -- in nearly every routine service -- there is rampant absenteeism, indifference, incompetence, and corruption,' says Professor Lant Pritchett.

March 30, 2010
'I should not have entered politics'
'Belonging to a party is painful.' Rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman on why he is a misfit in politics.

March 26, 2010
'US had two separate policies for Pak'
Shuja Nawaz, arguably the most authoritative expert on the Pakistani military, assesses the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue.

February 24, 2010
'The Gulbarg case judge used to browbeat witnesses'
The 74-year-old R K Shah speaks about why he quit as a special public prosecutor, the problems he faced in trying to get the accused convicted and whether there is eveidence against Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the case.

'China showing a tendency to project unreasonableness'
'We think we are ready to have a practical, rational, logical kind of discussion whereas on the other side there is this kind of defensiveness,' says a senior Indian diplomat.

February 24, 2010
'Changes within Pak are not visible from India'
>"They argue that talking is a sign of weakness by India in view of what happened in Mumbai. I would argue that talking at this point is significant not for its goals but for the process itself, which needs to be started again," says noted British journalist Adrian Levy.

February 08, 2010
We are facing Congress's terrorism: SIMI chief
'Congress toh BJP ki naani hai (The Congress is the grandmother of the BJP). The BJP made the wrong allegation first and the Congress has now given it wings,' says SIMI's Dr. Shahid Badr Falahi in an interview with Vicky Nanjappa.

January 27, 2010
Culture has to accompany development: UNESCO chief
On October 15, 2009, Irina Bokova of Bulgaria was elected as the tenth director-general of UNESCO.During her recent visit to India, Bokova spoke to Claude Arpi about her vision and aspirations for UNESCO in a changing world.

January 20, 2010
There is a lot of sex starvation in Kerala
Noted Malayalam writer Paul Zacharia, who was attacked for criticising moral policing in Kerala, speaks out.

January 04, 2010
'Why should we be afraid of the Congress?'
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh defends against charges that the party slipped badly during his tenure.

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