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Bengaluru: The BJP's Karnataka state executive on Saturday adopted resolutions for the passage and implementation of legislation against inter-faith marriages and cow slaughter in the state. State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel said the government would take necessary decisions in this regard, a release said. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, BJP national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi were among those present at the meeting held on Saturday at Belagavi. Karnataka Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan has already indicated that the anti-cow slaughter bill will be introduced during the state legislative session starting from 7 December. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said the state will have a law against "love jihad", and officials have been directed to gather information regarding an ordinance promulgated in Uttar Pradesh in this regard. Uttar Pradesh had recently promulgated an ordinance against forcible or f

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 96.44 lakh, while the total number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 91 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 94.37 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The COVID-19 active caseload plunged to almost 4 lakh after 138 days. The total coronavirus cases mounted to 96,44,222 with 36,011 new infections being reported in a day, while the death toll crossed to 1.40 lakh with 482 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 91,00,792 pushing the national recovery rate to 94.37 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent. There are 4,03,248 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 4.18 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August and 40 lakh on 5 September. It went pa

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tributes to B R Ambedkar on his death anniversary, saying his thoughts and ideals continue to give strength to millions. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution and a Dalit icon, passed away in 1956. Remembering the great Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on Mahaparinirvan Diwas. His thoughts and ideals continue to give strength to millions. We are committed to fulfilling the dreams he had for our nation. pic.twitter.com/dJUwGjv3Z5 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 6, 2020 "Remembering the great Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on Mahaparinirvan Diwas. His thoughts and ideals continue to give strength to millions. We are committed to fulfilling the dreams he had for our nation," Modi tweeted. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3ow953p Press Trust of India

Bhopal:  Conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means will attract a prison term of up to ten years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh under the proposed Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act, an official said on Saturday. A marriage solemnized only for the purpose of converting a person will be held as null and valid, he said. If a person wants to undergo conversion, he or she would need to make a declaration before a district magistrate at least a month in advance under the proposed law. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the proposed law, said an official of the state Public Relations Department. Under the proposed law, no person in the state will be able to convert anyone directly or otherwise through marriage or by any other fraudulent means by luring or intimidating anyone, the official said, quoting the chief minister. A person involved in converting another person by misleading, luring, threatening, or throug

Kolkata: The Eastern Command of the Indian Army will pay homage to the valiant heroes of India and Bangladesh who took part in the Liberation War of 1971, which led to the birth of a new nation, on December 16 here, Major General General Service (MGGS) V Sreehari said on Saturday. 16 December is celebrated as Vijay Diwas to commemorate the victory of the Indian Armed Forces and the Mukti Bahini over Pakistan. The historic military victory resulted in Pakistan ceding control of then East Pakistan, thus paving the way for the birth of the sovereign nation of Bangladesh. "Vijay Diwas is a historical event for the Eastern Command in particular. It is a very good example of people''s aspirations being ably supported by decisive military action that led to the birth of a new nation in 1971," he said. The credit of this victory over Pakistan is equally shared by the people of Bangladesh and the Indian Armed Forces, MGGS Sreehari said. The Eastern Command will host 30 M

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will not participate in the next meeting of the Canada-led group of foreign ministers amid a fresh row between the two nations over remarks made by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on the ongoing farmers' protest in India. The meeting has been convened by the Canadian foreign minister François-Philippe Champagne. ThePrint quoted sources as saying that   Jaishankar is extremely upset with Trudeau’s comments and has decided to show his displeasure by refusing to attend the meeting. The Indian administration is said to be unhappy with the "ill-informed" and "unwarranted" comments being made in Ottawa that could impact bilateral relations between India and Canada. However, officially, the Indian side has conveyed to the Australian side that Jaishankar will not be able to attend due to "scheduling issues", as per The Indian Express. Jaishankar had participated in a virtual meet last month of the Ministeria

New Delhi: Pfizer India has become the first pharmaceutical firm to seek from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) an emergency use authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine in the country after its parent company secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain. The firm, in its application submitted to the drug regulator, has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country, besides waiver of clinical trials on the Indian population in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, official sources said. "Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine in India," a source said. "The firm has submitted the EUA application in Form CT-18 for grant of permission to import and market Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in the country," the source said, citing the application. The UK o

Mumbai:  A Maharashtra Congress leader on Saturday said constituents of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation should stop commenting on the Congress leadership if they want a "stable" government in the state. State Congress working president and Women and Child Minister Yashomati Thakur's remarks came a day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar's reported comments on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. "Everybody should follow the basic rules of coalition. Being a working president of MPCC, I must appeal to colleagues of MVA that if you want stable government in Maharashtra then stop commenting on leadership of Congress (sic)," Thakur tweeted. "Our leadership is very strong and stable. Formation of MVA is a result of our strong belief in democratic values," she added. The Sena, NCP and Congress are partners in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. They had joined hands after the Assembly elections held last year. In an interview given to

Mumbai:  A court on Saturday granted bail to Republic TV's western region distribution head Ghanshyam Singh, arrested last month in the alleged TRP (Television Rating Points) rigging scam. Singh, who is also assistant vice president at Republic Media Network, had been arrested on 10 November. The sessions court also granted bail to Vishal Bhandari, a former employee of Hansa Research Agency, who had been arrested on 8 October in the case. The order was passed by judge DS Deshmukh. The police began to probe the alleged scam after ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa about rigging of TRP by some channels. BARC has engaged Hansa to install and maintain barometers which record TV viewership data at sample households on which TRP is based. Advertising revenue of channels depends of the TRP numbers. It was alleged that some of these families were being bribed to tune into certain channels to ramp up their TRP. In a chargesheet f

Haryana health minister Anil Vij tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday, days after receiving the first dose of an experimental vaccine candidate. Though Vij had not received the required dosage needed to build immunity to the coronavirus, and his case is not suitable to judge the efficacy of the vaccine, the report came on a day the WHO warned countries that a vaccine is no magic bullet to the virus that has killed over 15 lakh people and infected over 6.6 crore people across the world. The WHO remark was directed at Russia — which Saturday began inoculating thousands of doctors, teachers, and others in high-risk groups with its Sputnik-V jab even as phase III trials are still not complete. The comments were also directed at other countries, including Bahrain which recently became the second country after the UK to allow emergency usage of the mRNA vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. Meanwhile, India, which is the world's second worst-hit country by the v

The deadlock over the farmers' demand to repeal Centre's farm laws continued as farmers' union leaders and the Centre failed to reach an agreement on Saturday, reports said. The farmers' representatives said that they will intensify their demonstrations against the laws and continue blocking key highways on the outskirts of Delhi. The representatives also said that their call for a 'Bharat Bandh' on 8 December that has also been supported by trade unions and various other organisations — a day before the sixth round of talks — would be observed with full force. According to  PTI , farmers' leaders rejected the governments offer to amend some contentious provisions of the new farm laws, which deregulate crop pricing, stocking of essential items by buyers and sale of produce outside APMC-regulated  mandi s, and stuck to the demand for total repeal. Saturday's was the fifth round of talks between the government and 40 farmer leaders since the law was

Mumbai: The chargesheet filed against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and two others in a 2018 abetment of suicide case says that the accused did not pay heed to victim Anvay Naik's threat that he would end his life if his dues were not cleared by the trio. The chargesheet also said that Naik, who was under mental stress due to non-payment of dues by the accused, first strangled his mother Kumud, a partner in his business, before hanging himself to death. The police on Friday filed the chargesheet before a court in Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district, where the case for alleged abetment of suicide of interior designer Naik and his mother has been registered. Besides Goswami, the other two accused named in the chargesheet are Firoze Sheikh and Nitish Sarda. "The victim (Naik) had told them (accused) that he would commit suicide if they don't pay his dues. However, the accused ignored his threat and told him to do whatever he wants," the chargesheet

New Delhi: Seeking to break the deadlock over protests against new farm laws, the government on Saturday told representatives of agitating farmers that their concerns are being looked into but the union leaders stuck to their demand for the repeal of the legislations and threatened to walk out of the talks. The government side, however, managed to convince the farmer leaders to continue the talks, which began at 2.30 pm earlier in the day. This is the fifth round of talks between the government and representatives of farmers, thousands of whom are protesting at various borders of the National Capital against what they claim are the laws meant to end the mandi system and minimum support price procurement system to give for benefits of corporates. As the meeting resumed after a tea break in the evening, during which the farmer leaders had their own food and tea, they threatened to walk out if the government was not willing to scrap the three laws enacted in September. While the gov

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone on 10 December for a new Parliament building and the construction is expected to be completed by 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs 971 crore, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Saturday. "The existing temple of democracy is completing 100 years... It is a matter of pride for our countrymen that the new one will be built by our own people as a prime example of Aatmanirbhar Bharat," Birla said, announcing details of the new proposed building. "The new building will showcase the cultural diversity of the country. Hopefully, in the 75th year of independence (2022), Parliament session will be held in the new building," he said. Birla said the new building will be earthquake resistant and 2000 people will be directly involved in the construction of the new building and 9,000 indirectly. He said as many as 1,224 MPs can sit together in the building, while a new office complex for all MPs of both the h

New Delhi: A joint platform of ten central trade unions has extended its support to a call of 'Bharat Bandh' by farmer organisations on 8 December. The unions had called a nationwide strike on 26 November to protest against recently passed labour codes as well as farm laws, among other issues. The joint forum is of ten central trade unions — Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Trade Union Co-ordination Centre (TUCC), Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) and United Trade Union Congress (UTUC). The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and Independent Sectoral Federations/Associations reiterate their "wholehearted support to the ongoing united struggles of the farmers demanding scrapping of draconian agri laws",

The Times Group on Saturday announced that its daily tabloid Mumbai Mirror will be relaunched as a weekly paper and that the Pune-based branch version of the paper, Pune Mirror , will cease publication. Both, however, will continue to have a strong digital presence, the group said, adding that the decision has been taken as the Indian economy is "officially in recession" due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Sadly, just as the pandemic, lockdown, and unprecedented economic crisis have laid low many great ideas and initiatives before they could fully take root, they came as a body blow for the still-young brand. Not only has the newspaper industry been among the hardest-hit in terms of revenues, it has been weighed down by an import duty that has added to newsprint costs," the statement said. Saying the lack of a stimulus to sustain the publications of the papers has brought about the decision, the statement added that Mumbai Mirror and Pune Mirror will

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and the European Union were stuck for the last six years due to reluctance of the grouping. The talks for the FTA have been stalled since May 2013 when both sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including on data security status for the IT sector. Asked during an online interactive session whether the talks were stalled due to India's reservations against FTAs, Jaishankar vehemently dispelled it and said: "It is not a question of principle. India has nothing in principle against free trade agreements or preferential trade agreements." Launched in June 2007, negotiations for the proposed agreement have witnessed many hurdles as both sides have major differences on crucial issues. Giving a rundown of the developments relating to the proposed FTA, Jaishankar said at the 6th Edition of MED dialogue that India was negotiating on it wi

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was remembered on Saturday on her fourth death anniversary, with top AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami leading supporters in paying tributes to her. The party pledged to fulfill the late chief minister''s dreams by scoring a hat trick of electoral victories in next year's Assembly elections. Palaniswami, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, is AIADMK co- ccordinator while his deputy Panneerselvam is the party coordinator. Clad in black shirts, Palaiswami and Panneerselvam paid floral tributes at the Jayalalithaa memorial in the Marina with their cabinet colleagues and senior leaders in company. MPs, MLAs and hundreds of party functionaries too paid their tributes at Jayalalithaa's memorial, which was decorated with flowers. Later, Panneerselvam administered a pledge to the members to fulfill the dream of Jayalalithaa, saying she had dedicated 34 years of her life to the party and the people.

Mumbai: With Mumbai recording the season's lowest minimum temperature at 18.4 degree Celsius on Saturday, and most other parts of Maharashtra also witnessing an overall drop in the mercury levels, it could be an onset of winter, an IMD official said. Cyclones and severe depressions in the Bay of Bengal had delayed the arrival of winter in the state, the official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai said. "With their weakening, several regions in the state have recorded a drop in the minimum temperature. This could be the beginning of the winter season in the state," he said. According to the IMD, the Santacruz observatory in Mumbai on Saturday morning recorded a minimum temperature of 18.4 degree Celsius, which is the lowest so far this season. The departure from normal temperature was by 1.4 degree Celsius. The same observatory had on Friday recorded a minimum temperature of 19 degree Celsius, a drop by one degree Celsius from the normal, the offi

More than a month ago, in response to the initial protests by farmers against the new Central farm laws, three state assemblies — Chhattisgarh, Punjab, and Rajasthan — had passed Bills to address farmers’ concerns. While these Bills await the state Governors’ assent, protests against the Central farm laws have again gained momentum. In this post, we discuss the key amendments proposed by these states in response to the central farm laws. Agricultural marketing in most states is regulated by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs), set up under the state APMC Acts. The Central farm laws seek to facilitate multiple channels of marketing outside the existing APMC markets. Many of these existing markets face issues such as a limited number of buyers restricting the entry of new players and undue deductions in the form of commission charges and market fees. The Central laws introduced a liberalised agricultural marketing system with the aim of increasing the availability of

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was remembered on Saturday on her fourth death anniversary, with top AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami leading supporters in paying tributes to her. The party pledged to fulfill the late chief minister''s dreams by scoring a hat trick of electoral victories in next year's Assembly elections. Palaniswami, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, is AIADMK co- ccordinator while his deputy Panneerselvam is the party coordinator. Clad in black shirts, Palaiswami and Panneerselvam paid floral tributes at the Jayalalithaa memorial in the Marina with their cabinet colleagues and senior leaders in company. MPs, MLAs and hundreds of party functionaries too paid their tributes at Jayalalithaa's memorial, which was decorated with flowers. Later, Panneerselvam administered a pledge to the members to fulfill the dream of Jayalalithaa, saying she had dedicated 34 years of her life to the party and the people. "Le

Kolkata: Ahead of the farmers scheduled meeting with the Union ministers on new farm laws, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said the BJP-led government at the centre only understands language of street protests. He said the party had sought more consultation and scrutiny of the legislations through Parliament Standing Committee, but the plea was turned down and instead Congress MPs were suspended from Parliament when they opposed it. "When Congress opposed the anti-farmers Bills, the ruling party accused us of undermining the interest of farmers, and even suspended our members in Parliament when division was sought before clearance of the legislations," Chowdhury, leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, said in a series of tweets. "Now the same government has been forced to bow down and concede to demands of the farmers in a very reluctant manner," he said. The Congress leader said the present central government only understands

New Delhi: India's total COVID-19 active caseload dropped to 4,09,689 on Saturday, the lowest in 136 days, according to the Union health ministry. Currently, active cases comprise 4.26 percent of the total positive cases, and new recoveries have led to a net decline of 6,393 in the total active cases, the ministry said in a statement. "India's total active caseload has dropped below 4.10 lakh (4,09,689) today. This is the lowest after 136 days. The total active cases were 4,11,133 on 22 July," it said. The ministry said that for the past eight days, the daily new recoveries recorded in the country have been more than the daily cases. "The number of daily new cases in the last 24 hours is 36,652. 42,533 cases recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours," it said. "The rising recoveries have also improved the recovery rate to 94.28 percent today. The total recovered cases stand at 9,058,822. The gap between recovered cases and active cases is near

Haryana health minister Anil Vij, who took part in coronavirus vaccine trials a little over two weeks ago, said on Saturday that he has tested positive for the virus. The minister also urged all those who had come in close contact with him to get themselves tested. "I have been tested corona positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital Ambala Cantt. All those who have come in close contact to me are advised to get themselves tested for corona," he tweeted . Vij had participated in the third phase trial of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin on 20 November. He had earlier announced on Twitter that he will be the first volunteer in his state for the anti-COVID vaccine. "The antibodies against the infection build up in a human being only after a specific number of days pass after the second dose of the vaccine is taken, since this is a two-dose vaccine. The minister in question has taken only one dose of the vaccine," the Union Health Ministry said after Vij's announcem

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance and its clones which are coming up in other states, popularly known as 'love-jihad' laws , have generated a lot of controversy of late. In Uttar Pradesh, the law has been quickly deployed against marrying couples who come from different religious backgrounds, particularly in cases where the groom is Muslim and the bride is Hindu. The context of the legislation cannot be missed. It comes on the back of propaganda which has been going on for years, which alleges a conspiracy by Muslims to lure Hindu (and as alleged in Kerala, Christian) women into the Muslim fold by pretending to be in love with them. However, various investigating agencies and high courts have said that there is no evidence of any such conspiracy. The legislation itself doesn’t mention the term “love jihad”, nor is countering any such phenomenon among its stated objectives. Instead, it purports to be against conversions by force, dece

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday slammed Canada's stand on farmers' protests in India as "nothing but hypocrisy", saying it is a strident critic of minimum support price and other agricultural policies at the WTO, and often questions India's domestic agricultural measures, including food and livelihood security. "It (Canada) also opposes import restrictions to protect India's farmers. The questions posed by Canada to India regarding India's agri policies in WTO are evidence of the fact that Canada has scarce interest in the genuine well-being of Indian farmers and agriculture producers," BJP's foreign affairs department in-charge Vijay Chauthaiwale tweeted. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently backed the agitating farmers in India, saying his country will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests. He had expressed concern over the situation. Reacting strongly, India on Friday summoned Canadian High Commissione

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 caseload climbed to 96.08 lakh on Saturday after 36,652 fresh infections were registered in a day, said the health ministry. With more than 90.58 lakh patients being cured, the national recovery rate was pushed to 94.28 percent. The total number of confirmed cases mounted to 96,08,211 and the toll reached 1,39,700 with the novel coronavirus claiming 512 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.45 percent. There are currently 4,09,689 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country, which comprise 4.26 percent of the total caseload, the health ministry said. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 14,58,85,512 samples have been tested up to 4 December. At least 11,57,763 samples were tested on Friday alone. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August and 40 lakh on 5 September. It went p

Bengaluru: The state-wide bandh called by pro-Kannada groups in Karnataka on Saturday, opposing the government's decision to create a corporation for Maratha community here has had no major impact on normal life so far, other than sporadic protests and demonstrations by burning effigies. Auto rickshaws, cabs, public transport buses and metro services are available as of now, also hotels and provision stores aare open. Though scarce, there is movement of vehicles on roads in various parts of the city and similar reports have come other parts of the state. Activists of several Kannada organisations who are gathering near the city's Town Hall for staging demonstrations were detained and taken away by the police. Protests have also been reported in Chamarajanagara, Bengaluru Rural, Gadag, Koppa, Hassan, Ramanagara, Chitradurga, Davangere, Bagalkote, Chikkamagaluru, Mandya among other districts so far. A coalition of Kannada organisations led by Vatal Nagaraj, have also planned

This is the first in a three-part series that chronicles the history of lesser-known regional Indian ingredients and dishes, and highlights their importance in micro cuisines — #ForgottenFood. *** “Back in the day we never had machines to pulverise or powder things, so when we did make eenthu pidi , it was a perevaadi .” Ummi Abdulla uses the Malayalam term — ‘perevaadi’ — meaning elaborate programme to describe the act of making a dish that teeters on the brink of an almost-forgotten culinary landscape. “My maternal grandfather used to bring the eenthu home during some aarattu or festival…” In an abrupt, stream-of-conscious style, she shifts focus to her sister, whose marital home was in Nandi. “She had an eenthu tree there — she is no more, but the tree remains. Her daughter, however, still makes eenthu powder for me.” The ensuing narrative, of the 84-year-old gatekeeping matriarch of Kerala’s Mappila cuisine and author of several pioneering cookbooks, is replete with vivid im