Ramesh Vinayak
A journalist with 30 years standing, Ramesh is a Senior Resident Editor at Chandigarh. He specialises in covering the north Indian states including Punjab and J & K,besides the Punjabi diaspora.
Articles by Ramesh Vinayak
‘Non-conventional energy, tourism to boost economy’: Ladakh L-G
PUBLISHED ON APR 11, 2021 03:33 AM IST
In his first sit-down interview at a makeshift Raj Bhawan in Leh, Ladakh’s first lieutenant governor, Radha Krishna Mathur, speaks to Hindustan Times about his road map and priorities, and the challenges he faces in helming the region.
Interview: Illegal intrusions in state not acceptable, says Anil Vij
By Ramesh Vinayak and Hitender Rao
UPDATED ON APR 03, 2021 11:19 AM IST
Haryana home minister says there are about 1,500 Rohingya Muslim migrants putting up in Nuh who are being financially supported by Delhi-based NGOs
‘Ceasefire need of the hour... desirable for both India, Pak’: Lt-Gen BS Raju
UPDATED ON MAR 04, 2021 08:43 AM IST
- Lt-Gen BS Raju said a quiet LoC will allow us to address the challenge of terrorism in a focused manner.
Interview| ‘Did not block any welfare scheme, ensured transparency’: Kiran Bedi
UPDATED ON FEB 21, 2021 01:09 PM IST
"The perception is that you have been eased out ahead of the assembly elections to blunt the Congress government tirade that you didn’t let it perform at the behest of the BJP," said Bedi.
Farmer leaders ready for talks with Centre but without any condition
UPDATED ON FEB 06, 2021 10:40 AM IST
In an exclusive interview, Rakesh Tikait and Balbir Singh Rajewal have dropped a conciliatory signal for the resumption of talks with the Centre as the farm agitation gathered pace over the last week
HT interview: Tikait, Rajewal say Centre should give up insistence on no-repeal
UPDATED ON FEB 06, 2021 12:00 PM IST
Tikait, 52, a former cop-turned-farmer leader, and Rajewal, 73, a veteran Bharatiya Kisan Union leader from Punjab, have emerged as the pre-eminent faces of the protest that has laid siege to Delhi’s key entry points and garnered international attention.
Farm union leaders backtracked under pressure of radicals: Central minister
UPDATED ON JAN 31, 2021 11:53 AM IST
Union minister of state for commerce Som Parkash says farm union leaders should have taken moral responsibility for whatever happened at Red Fort on Republic Day and suspended their agitation
‘Did not let the pandemic delay or derail our government’s initiatives’: Jai Ram Thakur
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON DEC 22, 2020 05:23 AM IST
Jai Ram Thakur, 55, faces the uphill task of keeping a bevy of poll promises, made tougher by an unrelenting Covid-19 rampage that has battered the state’s economy, already weighed down by a surging debt burden of ₹55,000 crore.
Didn’t let development derail despite economic stress, virus under control: Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur
Hindustan Times, Shimla | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON DEC 21, 2020 10:50 PM IST
In an exclusive in-person interview with Executive Editor Ramesh Vinayak in Shimla, Thakur exuded an air of quiet confidence on dealing with the challenges ahead while answering a range of questions.
‘Gupkar can canvass freely’: J&K Governor Manoj Sinha
Hindustan Times, Jammu | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON NOV 26, 2020 01:12 AM IST
In an exclusive interview, Manoj Sinha, 61, laid out the political road map for the UT and detailed security arrangements for the district development council (DDC) elections, which begins on Saturday where six million electors across 20 districts will choose 280 representatives — 140 each in Jammu and Kashmir.
Freedom for politics, not anti-national activities: J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha
Hindustan Times | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON NOV 26, 2020 07:31 AM IST
In an exclusive interview at the Raj Bhawan in Jammu, Sinha spoke on a range of issues, including the security dynamics, the Gupkar alliance, the Roshni land scam, and a road map on economic revival
Farm laws violate federalism, will fight them out legally: Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON OCT 04, 2020 08:08 AM IST
Speaking of the farmers’ protests, the Punjab Chief Minister says he doesn’t have to tell people to go out and agitate. When somebody doesn’t have food to feed his children, he will be protesting on his own.
Amarinder okay with Sidhu back as power minister, not Punjab Congress chief
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON OCT 03, 2020 10:23 AM IST
Responding to the party high command’s fresh overtures to mollify a sulking Navjot Singh Sidhu and speculation of his appointment as state Congress chief in place of Sunil Jakhar, he said: “Why should somebody who joined the Congress three years ago become the president in place of Jakhar who has spent his life in the party?”
Akalis quit NDA over farm bills
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Ramesh Vinayak and Smriti Kak Ramachandran
UPDATED ON SEP 27, 2020 01:50 AM IST
All leaders at the SAD’s emergency core committee meet late on Saturday were unanimous in deciding that the party can no longer be part of the NDA, its president Sukhbir Singh Badal said.
Snapping over two-decades-long ties, SAD pulls out of NDA over farm bills
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak | Edited by Sparshita Saxena
UPDATED ON SEP 27, 2020 12:10 AM IST
The decision was taken at a late-night emergency meeting of the party core committee, the apex decision-making body of the SAD, presided over by party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Kashmir poised for a saffron surge
Hindustan Times, Pampore | By Mir Ehsan and Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON SEP 10, 2020 02:20 PM IST
The state-of-the-art Spice Park at Dusoo in the saffron hub of Pulwama will put the flowers through a cold chain for scientific drying, processing and grading before helping farmers e-trade their GI-tagged produce this season
Ultra-nationalists call us separatists; treated as nationalists in J-K: Omar Abdullah
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON AUG 31, 2020 08:14 AM IST
The father-son duo, both former chief ministers and the second and third generations of Kashmir’s formidable Abdullah dynasty, is actively galvanising dormant cadres.
‘Will contest Article 370 move legally, democratically’: Farooq and Omar Abdullah
Hindustan Times, Srinagar | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON AUG 31, 2020 07:24 AM IST
The two leaders, in perhaps their first joint interview, said they rejected the Union government’s constituency delimitation exercise and domicile laws as efforts to change the demography of the Valley.
Jammu and Kashmir’s elected legislature will happen at the right time: Lt Guv GC Murmu
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON AUG 05, 2020 03:48 PM IST
GC Murmu’s next challenges are daunting as he wades into deeper waters to steady the volatile security situation in Jammu and Kashmir
Elected legislature will happen at the right time: Murmu
Hindustan Times | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON AUG 05, 2020 04:14 PM IST
There is President’s Rule and the legislative assembly is dissolved, obviously there is some pause…some disruption. The parties’ activity as elected representatives is not there. But it is not true that there is complete absence of political activity, he said.
‘Intrusion can’t be compared to Kargil, unless it escalates’: General VP Malik
UPDATED ON JUN 19, 2020 06:38 AM IST
Former chief of army staff General Ved Prakash Malik says Xi want to retake territories China believes it had controlled earlier.
‘LAC holds no sanctity for Chinese army’, says General Ved Prakash Malik
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON JUN 18, 2020 10:11 AM IST
As New Delhi weighs its response, a defining marker of the Ladakh face-off, according to General Ved Prakash Malik, former chief of the Indian army, is that the military-level engagement on the long-contested Line of Actual Control, premised on a series of bilateral agreements and protocols, has ceased to be a dispute resolution mechanism.
Security situation in Kashmir stable but fragile: Lt Gen B S Raju
PUBLISHED ON MAY 13, 2020 11:56 PM IST
Militant leadership void in Kashmir, Pak desperate, says Lt-Gen BS Raju
Hindustan Times/Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON MAY 13, 2020 06:02 PM IST
In an exclusive interview , Lt-Gen BS Raju, General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15th Corps, dwelt on the current situation and security challenges in the Valley.
Post-Covid, India set to emerge as world food factory, says Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Hindustan Times/Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON APR 28, 2020 11:08 AM IST
Responding to a set of questions from Executive Editor Ramesh Vinayak, Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda on Monday outlined her priorities, sounded optimistic on India’s post-Covid-19 potential in global food exports and sharply criticised the Capt Amarinder Singh government’s handling of the crisis in Punjab.
‘Don’t agree with PM that Article 370 caused all problems in J&K,’ says Altaf Bukhari
Hindustan Times | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON MAR 08, 2020 06:34 AM IST
The latest straw in the wind is an effort by Altaf Bukhari, Kashmir’s leading business tycoon, to revive the political process in the erstwhile state, which on October 31 was split into two Union territories — J&K and Ladakh .
‘I’m sowing the seeds of service, hope they will bear fruit’: Altaf Bukhari
Hindustan Times, Jammu | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON MAR 07, 2020 04:55 PM IST
SEASON OF CHANGE: Restoration of statehood and domicile rights for land, jobs and education will be prime agenda of J&K Apni Party that he launches on March 8
Delhi verdict buoys AAP in Punjab but can it bounce back? Opinion
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON FEB 12, 2020 02:37 PM IST
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP will need to sort out its Punjab leadership mess, revitalise cadres and amplify public issues to be in the reckoning as a potent third alternative when the border state goes to the polls two years from now.
Not for rethink on CAA... Including Muslims will help earn goodwill: Sukhbir Singh Badal
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON JAN 17, 2020 09:17 AM IST
Sukhbir Singh Badal said in Punjab, there may not be a case of a Pakistani Muslim seeking Indian citizenship due to persecution, but we are for considering that on a case-to-case basis.
Exit of Dhindsas from Shiromani Akali Dal is a blessing in disguise, says Sukhbir Singh Badal
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By Ramesh Vinayak
UPDATED ON JAN 16, 2020 11:27 AM IST
In an interview to HT, the Akali Dal chief says including Muslims on list of communities eligible under CAA will only earn goodwill. Terms ties with ally BJP perfect as the partners have nothing to do with politics of give or take, which is why there’s no crisis like the one with Shiv Sena