RIVANCH

A recent Pew Research Center study on ‘Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation’ has dropped like a 7-tonne Daisy Cutter on western and domestic “secular, liberal” narrative. It challenges the very premise of propaganda against India, especially the one raging since Narendra Modi assumed power seven years ago. That Pew is the world’s foremost credible survey organisation makes India’s virulent critics even more uncomfortable. It also demolishes many aspects of the negative, divisive narrative against the nation. The report on the findings sets the context right very early on, talking about India’s staggering scale of diversity and cohabitation of religions. “Not only do most of the world’s Hindus, Jains and Sikhs live in India, but it also is home to one of the world’s largest Muslim populations and to millions of Christians and Buddhists,” it says. The Pew survey is based on nearly 30,000 face-to-face interviews of adults conducted in 17 languages between late 2019 and early

The BJP and Samajwadi Party are at loggerheads over the results of the Uttar Pradesh zila panchayat chief polls , which comes months ahead of the crucial Assembly election in the state. The Samajwadi Party lashed out at the BJP after the saffron party claimed that it had swept the polls on Saturday. The BJP, which is ruling the state, claimed that candidates backed by it had won 67 of 75 posts. However, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party alleged that the ruling party "kidnapped" voters and used "force" to stop them from voting. Yadav accused the BJP of making a "mockery" of the elections, and noted that it was "strange that while most results in the polls for the district panchayat members were in favour of his outfit, the BJP gained in the contest for the district panchayat chief". "To convert its defeat into victory, the BJP got the voters kidnapped, used force with the help of police and administration to stop them from voting,&q

Of the two non-office buildings marked for demolition on the Central Vista, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has attracted less love from the protesters than the National Museum. Perhaps because it is harder to defend. At least Rs 100 crore of public money was put into a corpus for a magnificent ode to Indira Gandhi’s love for the arts and yet after 35 years, it has hardly anything to show for all its ambitious plans to be a national hub of culture. The only one of the original eight buildings planned for the IGNCA by the late American architect Ralph Lerner actually came up on those 25 acres. Even the original ‘temporary’ barracks that once housed the kitchens of the armed forces’ ‘Central Vista Mess’ on that plot beside Rajpath—is still there, besides another Lutyens-era bungalow. That one new IGNCA building has not only had limited footfall but its very concept has been challenged from Day One. In a scathing analysis in January 1987, days after the winning en

India has been witnessing a steady fall in single-day COVID-19 cases reporting 44,111 infections on Saturday, while 738 died of the virus in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry.while With this, the overall count of COVID-19 increased to 3.05 crore cases and toll rose to 4,01,050. According to ministry data, the active caseload stood at 4.95 lakh as of Saturday, dipping below 5 lakh after 97 days. This marks a net decline of 14,104 in active cases in the past 24 hours. The recovery rate has improved to 97.06 percent. No weekend curfew in Karnataka from Monday: BS Yediyurappa Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa Saturday announced further relaxations in COVID-19 induced lockdown in the state. While the night curfew will continue to be in place from 9 pm to 5 am, there will be no weekend curfew starting next week. The relaxations would be in place for the next 15 days from 6 July, Yediyurappa said after chairing a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and senio

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Rafale deal, alleging corruption in the purchase of the fighter jets, and said such an investigation is the only way forward to find the truth. The Congress said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should order the investigation and come clean on the deal. The Opposition party is also set to rake up the issue in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. The Congress' demand came after French investigative website Mediapart reported that a French judge has been appointed to lead a "highly sensitive" judicial investigation into alleged "corruption and favouritism" in the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal with India. "Corruption in the Rafale deal has come out clearly now. The stand of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi has been vindicated today after the French government ordered a probe," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told a press confere

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted searches at six locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in a money laundering case linked to alleged conversion of some deaf students and poor people to Islam in UP with purported funding from abroad, official sources said. The raids are being conducted at the office of Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC), house of main accused in the case Mohd Umar Gautam and his associate Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi, in south Delhi's Jamia Nagar area. In UP, the raids are being conducted at the offices of Al Hassan education and welfare foundation and guidance education and welfare society located in state capital Lucknow. ED officials said these organisations are run by Umar Gautam and have been playing an "instrumental role" in carrying out the alleged illegal conversions. The central probe agency had late last month filed a criminal case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to probe this ca

The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) has released a memorandum of marks (memos) for second-year intermediate students. The online memorandum of marks has been released on the official website tsbie.cgg.gov.in. Students who appeared for the exam can use their hall tickets number to download the memorandum of marks. Below are steps to download marks memo for TS Inter Results 2021: Step 1: Visit the official website of TSBIE https://tsbie.cgg.gov.in/home.do Step 2: Go to the result section which appears on the homepage Step 3: After clicking, a new page will open where students will have to enter their hall ticket number Step 4: After submitting the hall ticket details, then click on get memo. Step 5: Within a few seconds, the memo will appear on the screen. Candidates can check the details properly and download the TS Inter marks memo Here's the direct link to check TS Inter Results 20221. According to NDTV , the TSBIE had recently announced the

As many as 1.12 crore Central government employees and pensioners are going to receive added benefits from the 7th pay commission. The Central government has restored the DA (Dearness Allowance) and 7th CPC DR (Dearness Relief) benefit of the pay commission. The last three installments will come by the end of September along with the salary . Here are some key announcements from the 7th pay commission: Submission of Travelling Allowance: Effective from 15 June, 2021. The time limit for submitting the travelling allowance has been increased to 120 days now which was previously 60 days. It is expected to help the retiring employees because submission of the allowance claims within the 60-day time limit was difficult for them. Pension Benefit: The Central government has simplified the pension rules for its former employees. The provisional family pension will now be granted immediately when the eligible family members present receipt of claim for Family Pension and Death Certifica

Multinational restaurant aggregator Zomato has increased its primary fund raise by 20 percent to $1.2 billion and is eyeing a listing valuation of $8.7 billion. The offer size is likely to have increased to $1.25 billion from the initial $1.1 billion. This has come after demands for the same have been raised by EM fund and global tech specialist funds. Quoting sources, CNBC TV18 reported that the company is currently planning to launch the IPO by mid-July. The offer for sale (OFS) has been reduced by 50 percent to $50 million. According to the publication, the owner of an 18.5 percent stake in Zomato, Info Edge is going to present the OFS. Previously, Info Edge had declared in the upcoming IPO, shares worth Rs 750 crore would be sold by the company. Other shareholders of the company are Uber BV holding which has 9.13 percent. Alipay Singapore Holding Pte Ltd holds 8.33 percent while Antfin Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd has around an 8.22 percent stake in the company. The Livemint

Paris: A French judge has been tasked with investigating a controversial 2016 multi-billion-dollar sale of Rafale fighter jets to India on "corruption" suspicions, the national financial prosecutors' office (PNF) said Friday. The 7.8-billion-euro ($9.3-billion) deal for 36 planes between the Indian government and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault has long been mired in corruption allegations. The PNF had intially refused to investigate the sale, prompting French investigative website Mediapart to accuse it and the French Anti-corruption Agency of "burying" suspicions surrounding the September 2016 deal. In April, Mediapart claimed "millions of euros of hidden commissions" were given to a go-between who helped Dassault conclude the sale, of which "some... could have been given as bribes" to Indian officials. Dassault retorted that no wrong-doing was flagged in the group's audits. After the reports, France's Sherpa NGO, whic

The Congress on Saturday hit out at the BJP leadership, saying instead of ushering in development, it has thrown Uttarakhand into political instability and betrayed its people by repeatedly changing chief ministers. BJP leader Tirath Singh Rawat resigned as the state's chief minister on Friday after holding the post for less than four months. He had replaced Trivendra Singh Rawat in March. The BJP has insulted the 'devbhoomi' of Uttarakhand, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president JP Nadda are responsible for the current situation, the Congress alleged. Starting with Nityananad Swami, the BJP will have eight chief ministers in the state, senior Congress leader Harish Rawat said and added that in the latest four and a half years of the BJP's rule in Uttarakhand, there will be three chief ministers. The Congress condemns the BJP for insulting the state and its people by not doing anything to solve its problems, he said. "The BJP's high drama in De

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has announced the policy for allotment of marks to the state board students of Class 12, as its exams were canceled this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic. State school education minister Varsha Gaikwad made the announcement. To assess the performance of a student, his/her scores in college-based assessments in Class 12 and 11 internal exams, and the average of best three performing subjects in Class 10 of the board exams will be considered, she said. 📢Imp announcement: After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, we have finalised the assessment mode & the policy for tabulation of marks for Std.12th HSC board students. Given the pandemic situation, state board is permitted to pass all students #HSCExam pic.twitter.com/zt45CodRKy — Varsha Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) July 2, 2021 "After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, we have finalised the assessment mode and the policy for tabulati

New Delhi : Saying it would not intervene in things where fundamental rights are involved, a Delhi court on Saturday extended the interim protection given to alleged gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana in connection with the violence in Red Fort on Republic Day. Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau directed Delhi Police to not arrest Sidhana till 20 July. The court also said it does not want a " Jail Bharo Andolan " to start. Sidhana, who was earlier granted protection till 3 July, has been directed to join the probe. "We do not want Jail Bharo Andolan to start. These are political issues. If they (protesters) wanted to highlight the issue, are they wrong? I will not intervene in things where fundamental rights are involved," the judge said while granting him relief. On 26 January, protesting farmers had clashed with police during the tractor rally against three farm laws and stormed into the Red Fort, hoisting religious flags on its domes and injuring police

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and IAF chief RKS Bhadauria disagreed with each other on Friday about the individual roles that the defence forces — IAF, army, navy — play in the security framework of the country. While Rawat labelled the IAF as a "support arm", Bhadauria said that it has a "huge role to play in integrated battle". Rawat, speaking at an event organised by think tank Global Counter Terrorism Council, said that the air force provides support to the ground forces. "Do not forget that the Air Force continues to remain a supporting arm of the armed forces, just as the artillery or engineers support the combatants within the Army. They have an air defence charter and support the ground forces in time of operations," Rawat said , adding the force has to understand its basic charter. Rawat's comments about the IAF's role were in reply to a question about a growing perception that the Indian Air Force was not keen on se

CLAT 2021 Exam:  The conducting body of Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), which is the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLU), is likely to release CLAT 2021 admit cards soon. Candidates who have earlier applied for the exam can download the CLAT admit cards when they are released by visiting the official website  — consortiumofnlus.ac.in . This year, the Common Law Admission Test will be conducted on 23 July between 2 pm and 4 pm for both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses. Once the admit card is released on the official website, candidates can follow these steps and download it: Step 1: Visit the official website — consortiumofnlus.ac.in . Step 2: Candidates who are appearing for the exam, need to enter their registered mobile number and passwords to login. Step 3: After logging in, a new page will open where candidates can check the details and download the CLAT 2021 admit card. The CLAT 2021 admit card will have the candidate's application number

A political chain reaction, that was set off in Uttarakhand due to the pandemic and political rivalries over the past few months, is likely to culminate Saturday afternoon as the state BJP legislature party will meet at 3 pm to elect its new leader. The exercise was warranted by Tirath Singh Rawat's late-night resignation  on Friday, ending his extremely brief stint as chief minister. What? Ending days of speculation about a change of guard in the state, Rawat on Friday handed over his resignation letter to Governor Baby Rani Maurya past 11 pm, hours after returning from Delhi where he was summoned by the top BJP leadership on Wednesday. This has warranted the legislature party meeting to choose a new leader less than a year before the state elections are due. When? The meeting will begin at the BJP headquarters at 3 pm in the presence of central observer Narendra Tomar and BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Kumar Gautam. All the BJP MLAs have been asked

Osmania University in Hyderabad has released the exam schedule for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses. Candidates appearing for the Osmania University 2021 exam can check the timetable on the official website at osmania.ac.in.  This new exam schedule also includes backlog and main examinations that were listed to take place in March and April 2021 but had to be rescheduled due to the second wave of the pandemic across the country. As per the official notice, the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth semester (regular) examinations for the five-year integrated Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) course will be held in July and August 2021. Following this, the MBA Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) fourth semester under regular, backlog and improvement will be conducted from 27 July to 6 August. The second semester under backlog and improvement examinations will be conducted between 11 August and 23 August while the third

The Centre on Friday issued guidelines for the vaccination of pregnant women  against coronavirus, and instructed healthcare professionals to ensure that the women are informed about benefits, risks, and the likely side-effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. In the guideline titled 'Operational Guidance for COVID-19 Vaccination of Pregnant Women', the Union Health Ministry referred to advice from experts that the COVID-19 vaccine may be offered to pregnant women if no contraindications exist. The intent is to weigh risk versus benefit on an individualised basis so that a pregnant woman can take an informed decision, it added. "The full impact of COVID-19 disease on pregnancy outcomes for mother and fetus as well as for newborn is still unclear. Therefore, pregnant women require special considerations and systematic reporting of adverse events following immunization (AEFI)," the document said. What are the Centre's instructions? The ministry said that an obstetricia

New Delhi: India is vaccinating on an average 50 lakh individuals daily since 21 June, equivalent to inoculating the entire population of Norway every day, the Centre said on Friday and asserted that the process is like a marathon and not a 100-metre race. Addressing a press briefing, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, health ministry, said till date, 34 crore people--equivalent to the entire population of the US--have been vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine since the nationwide inoculation drive began on January 16. "We are in a marathon and not a 100-metre sprint," Agarwal said responding to a question on why the rate of vaccination had come down after India administered over 86 lakh doses on 21 June. The government had on May 13 shared a roadmap of vaccine manufacturing in the country from August to December. It said there should be 75 crore doses of Covishield and 55 crore jabs of Covaxin. These are two main vaccine suppliers to the government. Beside

Covaxin  coronavirus vaccine has overall efficacy of 77.8 percent against symptomatic cases, while the indigenously developed jab showed an efficacy of 65.2 percent against the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19, vaccine maker Bharat Biotech said citing the Phase 3 clinical trial data. "Phase 3 clinical trials of Covaxin were an event-driven analysis of 130 symptomatic COVID-19 cases, reported at least two weeks after the 2nd dose, conducted at 25 sites across India," the company's statement said. The data, however, is yet to be peer-reviewed. Labeling its research as "India's largest-ever COVID-19 vaccine trial", the company added that the overall efficacy figure was arrived at after 24 volunteers who were given the vaccine tested positive for COVID-19 out of a group of 130 confirmed cases. The efficacy analysis of Covaxin also demonstrated the effectiveness of 93.4 percent against severely symptomatic COVID-19 infections, the company said.

The Government of India does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts in identifying more victims and investigating and prosecuting more trafficking cases, a report by the US State Department said. While retaining India in the Tier 2 category, the Trafficking in Persons Report June 2021  said that the Government of India has demonstrated "overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity", but the country's response remains "inadequate compared to the scale of the problem". What are the positives for India? Given the heightened vulnerabilities to trafficking as a result of the pandemic, the report lauded the government for allocating funding for the strengthening of existing and establishment of new Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) around the country, including establishing “women help desks

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday refused to stay further proceedings in the sedition case registered against Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana. Considering a plea filed by Sultana seeking to quash the FIR registered against her by the Kavaratti Police, the High Court said the investigation in the case was in a preliminary stage and more time may be required for completing the probe. Refusing to stay further proceedings in the case, the court directed the Lakshadweep administration to provide details of the investigation. When the matter was taken up, the counsel for the administration opposed the plea, submitting that the investigation in the case was in a preliminary stage. A case was registered on 9 June under Section 124-A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of IPC on the basis of a petition lodged by a political leader hailing from Kavaratti. Last week, the High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Sultana in the sedition case. Granting bail, Justice Ashok Menon had