Category: India

Senior UP cop caught on camera pledging to build Ram temple

Editor

A controversy erupted after UP director general (home guard) Surya Kumar was caught on camera taking a pledge at a public event to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Kumar is the second-most senior IPS officer in the state and was in the race for the state police chief ‘s post till last month. The 1982-batch IPS officer took the pledge, along with several others, at an event titled “Ram Mandir Nirman Samasya Evam Samadhan” at Lucknow University. The event was organised by Akhil Bharatiya Samgra Vichar Manch some days…

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India slips to 42nd place on EIU Democracy Index

Editor

India has slipped to 42nd place on an annual Global Democracy Index amid rise of conservative religious ideologies and increase in vigilantism and violence against minorities as well as other dissenting voices. While Norway has again topped the list, followed by Iceland and Sweden, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India has moved down from 32nd place last year and remains classified among “flawed democracies”. The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of…

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Education gets a visibly saffron curriculum in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh

Editor

The UP govt has asked universities to set up a chair named after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Last year, in a quiz contest in Uttar Pradesh schools, students were asked questions about the state govt’s schemes on Upadhyaya’s birth centenary. Saffron appears to be the colour of choice in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh’s schools, colleges and universities — be it curriculum or competition for students. Identified as the colour of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar as a whole, a hint of the shade being stirred to paint the party’s ideologies in…

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Padmaavat protests expose the political vulnerability of the BJP

Editor

To see a strong government, which is ideologically committed to the idea of a strong State, unable to control the worst impulses of society reveals the sheer hollowness of its beliefs and incompetence The protests over Padmaavat and the open vandalism on the streets across north and west Indian states exposes a peculiarly Indian political paradox. A hallmark of the ideological platform of conservative — or Right of centre — parties is their deep belief in the need to strengthen State authority and an uncompromising stance on its monopoly over…

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For ‘Ram Vs Allah’ comment, case against Karnataka BJP MLA Sunil Kumar

Editor

A case has been registered against a Karnataka BJP MLA for saying that an upcoming district poll in the state is a contest between a Hindu god and a Muslim god, or more specifically, between Ram and Allah. The case filed against him is under Sections 153 (a) and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code. The former Section is “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion,” and the latter deals with instances of “promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between communities”. The MLA, Sunil Kumar from the…

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Shiv Sena dumps BJP for 2019 polls; Aaditya Thackeray elevated

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The Sena national executive passed a resolution on Tuesday that the party would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls on its own The Shiv Sena on Tuesday announced it will contest the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, to be held in 2019, without its current ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The resolution to go solo in the polls was passed on Tuesday in the party’s national executive meeting held in the city. The decision came amid increasingly choppy relations between the saffron alliance. However, the…

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Darwin’s theory wrong, nobody saw ape turning into man: Satyapal Singh

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Union minister Satyapal Singh said Darwin’s theory needs to change in school and college curriculum. Union minister Satyapal Singh has claimed that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of man was “scientifically wrong” and it needs to be changed in school and college curriculum. Singh, minister of state for human resource development, said our ancestors have nowhere mentioned that they saw an ape turning into a man. “Darwin’s theory (of evolution of humans) is scientifically wrong. It needs to change in school and college curriculum. Since the man is seen on…

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Petrol prices breach Rs 71 mark in Delhi, highest in three years

Editor

According to data from Indian Oil Corp, the previous high for petrol prices in the national capital was Rs 73.60 reported on July 1, 2014. The rise in Indian basket of imported crude oils pushed the petrol price in the national capital to Rs 71.56 a litre on Thursday, its highest level in over three years. According to data from Indian Oil Corp, the previous high for petrol prices in the national capital was Rs 73.60 reported on July 1, 2014. As per the daily revision of fuel prices, the…

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Delhi and Punjab richest states, Jain wealthiest community: Survey

Editor

People in Delhi and Punjab are the richest, with more than 60% of their households in the top wealth quintile. Why is Gujarat like Christians and Delhi like Jains? The analogy has nothing to do with religious beliefs of these two states. However, the comparison holds if one were to compare wealth levels of the population in these two states with that of the two religious groups, on the basis of data from fourth round of the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4). The survey was conducted among more than…

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Operation Bluestar: 33 yrs on, Golden Temple’s fight for justice still on

Editor

The Teja Singh Samundari Hall in the Golden Temple complex may have been refurbished, but the scars remain. Quite literally. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has preserved 147 bullet marks on the walls of its HQ, just so they can serve as evidence in a Rs 1,000-crore suit related to a military attack on the Golden Temple during Operation Blue Star. One fallout of Operation Blue Star was the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in October 1984. Sikh leaders say that while money can’t…

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