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Essential HuffPost
Read the full text of President Pranab Mukherjee's address to the nation on the eve of the Republic Day.
The government announced the 2016 Padma Awardees ahead of the Republic Day. The awards are conferred in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. Check out the list that includes Sania Mirza, Priyanka Chopra and Rajinikanth, among others.
Vote for me or forget beef; that’s how AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has been asking Hyderabadis to vote for him. He claimed, the minority communities would have to stop eating beef if his party was defeated in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election.
The 100 files released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Netaji's birthday has created a new mystery: Did Jawaharlal Nehru write a letter to British PM Clement Atlee calling Bose “a war criminal”? That has been seized triumphantly by the enemies of the Congress as proof of Nehru’s perfidy.
In a proposal to the government, the RSS recommended that schools in big cities work for 12 hours to teach children more languages, and to make life easier for their working parents. It also pointed out that in such a case, co-education will have to be discontinued.
Main News
India and France deepened their strategic partnership, concluding deals worth an estimated $15 billion over two days. The deals span sectors including aviation, urban development and railways. French firms will invest $10 billion in India over the next five years.
A day after the Cabinet recommended imposition of President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh, President Pranab Mukherjee sought clarifications on it from Home Minister Rajnath Singh while the Congress challenged the Centre’s move in the Supreme Court and sought the President’s intervention.
Unconfirmed reports stated that a drone strike was conducted on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah's house in Afghanistan in which he was killed. However, there have been several reports in the past of Fazlullah being killed, all of which have turned out to be false.
President Pranab Mukherjee advocated the need for dialogues between India and Pakistan but qualified his remarks with a caution that peace cannot be discussed under a shower of bullets.
A former researcher with The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) filed a police complaint alleging that some of his seniors had pressured him to persuade a 29-year-old woman to settle out of court her sexual harassment case against RK Pachauri, the institute’s executive vice-chairman.
Off The Front Page
India will set up a satellite tracking and imaging centre in southern Vietnam that will give Hanoi access to pictures from Indian earth observation satellites that cover the region, including China and the South China Sea, Indian officials said.
The CBI officers who probed the Saradha scam, the high-profile Sheena Bora murder, and corruption case involving a Noida engineer, are among 26 chosen for President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
IIT-Guwahati and Savitribai Phule Pune University are among the top 20 places in Times Higher Education's World's Best Small Universities Ranking 2016 released in London. The best small university in the overall rankings is the California Institute of Technology.
Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor said Parliamentary system was “ill-suited" to Indian national character but the country was "stuck" with it as it was conditioned to look at the British as "embodiment of everything". He said it was difficult for the Parliamentary system to work in a country as populous and as diverse as India.
The terror suspects linked to the Islamic State, arrested in a countrywide raid over the past few days, had planned to target Goa a few months ago, but Intelligence agencies did not arrest them then as they had not acquired the capability to carry out any terrorist act, said a senior official.
Opinion
All those who are mute spectators of the processes under way to restore supremacist Brahmanic rule are responsible for the death Rohith Vemula, writes Anand Teltumbde in The Indian Express. The BJP’s aggressive drive to saffronise institutions, particularly higher education institutions, portends that many more Rohiths will follow in the coming years, he says.
The Government’s Start-up India, Stand Up India plan is strong in spirit, but its success will depend on how well it is implemented over time, writes Preeti Balwani in The Pioneer. In order to gauge the effectiveness of this plan, we need to assess the needs and concerns of start-ups and evaluate if the plan will deliver on those requirements.
A Vinod Kumar writes about the Pathankot blame game and what really ails our security apparatus. Despite many efforts for "sweeping reforms", the national security establishment, like many arms of the State, continues to thrive on mediocrity and complacency, which, in turn, points to a corrupted national ethos and systemic decay that has the potential to subvert the country's progress and governance initiatives.
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