When delegates of the World Punjabi Organisation held their deliberations in Dubai in 2008 and were feted and hosted by Gurdeep Singh Chadha aka Ponty, at his palatial home&mdash;a party that was attended by everyone, who was anyone in the UAE&mdash;they couldn&rsquo;t have known their host might land into trouble with the Indian Income Tax department, four years later.

Newsmaker: Gurdeep Singh Chadha

Business Standard

Although the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh is due next week, reports from the field suggest the Assembly election is all but wrapped up.

Aditi Phadnis: Samajwadi Party's soft spot

Leisure is life here. The city is, by and large, laid back. A typical day begins with an extended contemplative ritual: Cleaning one&rsquo;s teeth and gums with sunghani (snuff), the tobacco-based powder that does less for the teeth than it does for the senses, introducing just the right degree of intoxication through the gums as you sit on the steps of the ghats, watching the sun come up; a dip in the river, amid the cacophany of bells, aartis and mantras all around&hellip;But rage and violence lie just below the surface of the 3,000-plus-year-old city.

Development the issue in Varanasi

A few months ago, when asked if he had given unofficial legal advice to Chief of Army Staff, General VK Singh on his date of birth, top lawyer Ram Jethmalani replied in the affirmative. When asked what his advice had been, he said: &ldquo;I told him that the legal date is the first one&rdquo;.

Newsmaker: VK Singh

At 85, Prakash Singh Badal, chief minister of Punjab, believes in keeping things in the family: three of his nephews are senior Cabinet ministers in the government he heads. In January 2009, his son Sukhbir became deputy chief minister. It is succession planning without parallel.

Aditi Phadnis: The grand old leader and his politics

Likely to attract investments of $90 billion over the next decade.

India's first special investment region to come up in Gujarat

They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel wrote Baroness Emma Orczy about Sir Percy Blakeney aka the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Newsmaker: Salman Rushdie

While the attention of the rest of the country is riveted on the states going for Assembly elections later this year, the only state in south India with a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is facing quiet upheavals.

Aditi Phadnis: Karnataka's caste of characters

To whittle the veto power wielded by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over investment proposals, the government will frame rules and guidelines and rewrite several laws in the next two months.

Home ministry to have limited say in investments

Despite a party leader who doesn&rsquo;t seem to put much faith in him and barbs on his first-time ministership, Trivedi is determined to revamp the Indian railways.

Aditi Phadnis