A joint statement said Vajpayee had reiterated the priority given by the new government to having beneficial bilateral relations with all of India’s neighbours “and more particularly with Nepal with whom there are ties in tradition, culture, religion, history trade and commerce.”

India has more formal non-farm jobs than we think. Creating millions more needs labour, education reforms

Stand-off between workers and residents in Noida highlights the urgent need for legislation that governs domestic work

The Kashmir tragedy has been so routinised and so predictable that nothing ever surprises any longer.

An unusual trip, which went unnoticed, was that of Zhaohui’s wife, counsellor Dr Jiang Yili, who flew to Bhutan and called on the royalty there, including the Queen Mother.

Just as the militants have taken a maximalist position that has to be rejected out of hand, the Central government has taken a maximalist position that has aggravated the problem. The people of the Kashmir Valley are caught between the two maximalist positions.

If the Prime Minister meant what he said about government not having any business to be in business, then we should by now have at least seen government hotels sold.

SC upholds the sanctity of due process, asks CBI to probe alleged extra-judicial killings by security forces in Manipur

Chinese government’s efforts to erase Liu Xiaobo have only ensured that he will not be forgotten

The US spy was set free by Pakistan, and thereby hangs a tale

Liu Xiaobo showed that a politics that rises above resentment, that is without enemies, is possible

The government must rethink the wisdom of its notification on the sale of cattle

CBFC culls in a documentary on Amartya Sen reflect a sobering pattern — of the curbing of argument, intolerance of dissent.

There is clear evidence of an economic slowdown. The case for a sharp rate cut by the RBI is strong.

Her journey and achievements mirror the evolution of women’s cricket.

Singh was forthright in his condemnation of the Congress regime and Mrs Gandhi during the Emergency. He referred to Hitler and said he had brought in his dictatorship for realising his grandiose plans for boosting his country’s prestige and influence.

India must learn from Sri Lanka’s ban on bottom-trawling.

A Dalit will be president. But decline of BSP, rise of cow politics, has made Dalits more angry, less hopeful.

A young man who proposed to a woman magistrate found himself in jail in Alwar district of Rajasthan during the Emergency. The young man had proposed to the woman magistrate in a “perfectly honourable fashion”.

Cricket gets a winning combination of coaches. But the selection process points to an unreformed system

Criticism of Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Chinese envoy, and Congress defence of it, suffers from same narrowness of view

Road fatalities are not caused by drinking, but by drunk driving. Supreme Court has acknowledged the difference

Communal and gender violence in India points to the same backlash.

Malabar exercise has far-reaching geo-political impact. India-Japan-US triad must be elevated to strategic status