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Following Karnataka High Court’s judgment over the hijab row, the primary and secondary education ministry, released a circular asking students of government and government-aided schools to attend the SSLC exams in uniform. In the case of private (aided and unaided) schools, the students will have to wear the uniform prescribed by the respective school management. Following Karnataka HC judgment over hijab row, Primary & Secondary Education Ministry, Karnataka releases circular asking students of govt & govt aided schools to attend SSLC (10th) exams wearing a uniform. Pvt school students to wear uniforms as decided by school dev committee. — ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2022 The circular also cites the state government’s order on uniform issued on 5 February, adding that the Karnataka High Court’s order on a writ petition ratified the government’s order. Not only is hijab not allowed, the government has said that wearing a mask is not mandatory. The Karnataka High Court earl

Some may find it difficult to believe that Jagadish Vasudev, better known as Sadhguru, a 64-year-old environmentalist, spiritual leader and yoga instructor, has prepared his motorbike for a 100-day journey from the United Kingdom to India. He has planned the 30,000-kilometer motorcycle trip across Europe and the Middle East on his way to India as part of his quest to save soil. During the course of this week, Sadhguru aboard on BMW K1600 GT sports bike, will visit Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague. After a series of events in key cities along the road, he plans to return to New Delhi in 75 days to commemorate India's 75th anniversary of independence. Sadhguru spoke to reporters at the Indian High Commission in Washington before embarking on his bike tour. He said although it is still snowing in many parts of Europe, he will ride through it on the two-wheeler. Despite the fact that it will be a difficult ride for him at his age, the spiritual leader said that he will do it as over

We are now more than two months into the escalating Karnataka hijab ban row, and with the Supreme Court saying no to urgent hearing, the issue is likely to drag on while tensions are rising fuelled by a politically charged public discourse. In recent weeks, much has been written on the issue with the usual suspects on both sides of the aisle making familiar arguments to defend or oppose the ban. These are then regurgitated by their respective student groups. The whole debate has turned on the politics of the ban with little attention being paid to the damaging impact of the standoff on the future of the schoolgirls at the centre of the controversy. For liberals, both Hindus and Muslims, it's proving to be a tricky issue. Their normal instinct is to oppose religious or cultural practices they regard as symbols of oppression, especially in relation to women. They have been opposed to burqa, for example. But they also strongly believe that in a liberal democracy people should have t

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the government of India signed an agreement on 25 March, 2022, to establish a WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The centre, supported by a $250 million investment from the Indian government, aims to build a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medical practices and products. This would be the first and only global outposted Centre (office) for traditional medicine across the globe. On Friday night, the WHO issued a statement announcing the development. The Centre will be officially opened on 21 April, 2022. This global knowledge centre for traditional medicine aims to harness the potential of traditional medicine from around the world through modern science and technology to improve people's and the planet's health, WHO said. WHO & the Government of #India 🇮🇳 today agreed to establish the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, to maximize the potential of traditional

The unabated political violence in the state of West Bengal brings back the horrific memories of many such gory incidents spread over almost a century, one of the most prominent among them being 'The Great Calcutta Killings'. This is also a relatively lesser talked about chapter of Indian history which needs to be remembered so that we do not repeat our earlier mistakes. Thousands of Hindus were killed in different parts of Bengal during August 1946 when violence broke out after Muslim League targeted its political opponents. The Muslim League had demanded, since its 1940 Lahore Resolution, that the Muslim-majority areas of India in the northwest and the east, should be constituted as 'independent states'. The resolution passed on 23 March 1940 said, “…it is the considered view of this session of the All-India Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on the following basic principle, nam

The recruitment for Excise Constable positions under the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission has been ongoing for some time, and today, 26 March was the last day to apply. However, the Commission announced that the closing date for applying online for the Jharkhand Excise Constable Competitive Examination 2022 has been extended. Those who wanted to apply but were unable to do so can now breathe a sigh of relief. They can now apply for the exam at jssc.nic.in until 2 April and pay the application fee by 5 April. To have a look at the notice released by the commission click here . The JSSC is holding the recruitment drive to fill 583 Excise Constable positions. To be eligible for the position, applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 25 as of 1 August, 2022. According to government regulations, there is a relaxation of upper age limits for some. Furthermore, the applicants' educational qualifications are not particularly demanding; they should have completed Class 10th fro

In a recent landmark order, Karnataka High Court allowed framing of charge against a husband for raping his wife. It has categorically observed, “…institution of marriage does not confer, cannot confer and in my considered view, should not be construed to confer any special male privilege or a licence for unleashing of a brutal beast. If it is punishable to a man, it should be punishable to a man albeit, the man being a husband.” This marks a welcome and strong departure against the exception of marital rape granting immunity to the husband despite raping his wife. Notably, the Karnataka HC has maintained that it has not ruled on the constitutionality of the exception of marital rape in the IPC. Be that as it may, allowing trial courts to frame charges itself opens the possibility of emancipation of the wife in a marital relationship. Historical background The Indian version of rape law is frequently alleged to be archaic, inhumane, and unable to keep pace with the changing socio-le

Amid the unprecedented fallout of the crisis between Russia and the US-led Nato, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has arrived in India and will be meeting Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. This is the first high-level meeting between the two nations since the bloody clash between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in Galwan, during the summer of 2020. Sources say that this very unpublicised meeting was requested by the Chinese and could set the stage for informal talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has not left the country in over two years and is in desperate need of refurbishing international clout after the widely boycotted Beijing Winter Olympics and ahead of the BRICS and RIC summits to be hosted by China this year, and Jinping cannot afford to have PM Modi give the two meetings a miss. China is also exploring an opportunity to break up the United States and India and

Pushkar Singh Dhami is a man of his words. On Thursday, a day after he was sworn-in, the Uttarakhand chief minister announced the formation of a committee of experts on the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. "The state cabinet unanimously approved that a committee (of experts) will be constituted at the earliest and it will implemented in the state. This will be the first state to do so," Dhami indicated. We have decided to implement Uniform Civil Code in the state. The state cabinet unanimously approved that a committee (of experts) will be constituted at the earliest & it will implemented in the state. This will be the first state to do so: Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami pic.twitter.com/GJNAdk1XbF — ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 24, 2022 During the campaigning for the Assembly polls, Pushkar Singh Dhami promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state. Dhami had then said that the UCC would provide for equal laws

Under ‘normal’ circumstances,  The Kashmir Files that made more money at the box office on the first weekday of its release after the weekend, a rarity in most industries worldwide, would have been celebrated by the struggling Hindi film industry. However, considering that it puts forth a perspective that hasn’t been the standard for popular Hindi films as far as the narrative goes, Bollywood’s silence and dismissive attitude towards it is hardly surprising. Filmmakers have often displayed their preferences and political title both on and off the screen. A few months after Mrs Indira Gandhi’s return as prime minister in 1980, the late Feroz Khan dedicated his film  Qurbani  to the living memory of the ‘prince’ Sanjay Gandhi and bowed before the ‘mother’ of the nation, Indira Gandhi. Intriguingly, the dedication that has Feroz Khan’s voice-over reveals that the filmmaker had never met Sanjay Gandhi. What is more interesting is that Khan, or for that matter many in the film industry, n

Chinese foreign minister and state councillor Wang Yi landed in Delhi on Thursday, the first high-profile visit by senior officials of any of the two nations, post the Ladakh standoff. Though there has been no comment by the Indian foreign office spokesperson on the agenda for the visit, Wang Yi is likely to meet National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday. Post the two foreign ministers meeting in Moscow in September 2020 and November 2021, there has been no other interaction. These two meetings as also 15 rounds of border talks have failed to resolve the standoff, though there is tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Indian deployment and display of aggressiveness in the capture of the Kailash Ridge have conveyed the message that India is capable of thwarting Chinese misadventures. India being nuclear powered has limits to which it can be pushed. Between 2020 and now, there have been multiple changes in the global scenari

Prices of petrol and diesel became expensive on Friday, 25 March after rates remained unchanged for a day. In Delhi, petrol costs Rs 97.81 higher than the previous price of Rs 97.01 a litre while the rate of diesel is Rs 89.07, more expensive than yesterday's cost of Rs 88.27 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol can be bought at Rs 112.51, up from the previous price of Rs 111.67 per litre and diesel costs Rs Rs 96.70, costlier than the earlier rate of Rs 95.85 a litre. In Chennai, a litre of petrol is priced at Rs 103.67, more than Thursday's price of Rs 102.91. On Friday, the price of a litre of diesel is Rs 93.71 per litre, costlier than the earlier price of Rs 92.95. Also Read: Click here for Petrol Price Petrol in Kolkata costs Rs 107.18, up from the earlier price of Rs 106.34 a litre while diesel costs Rs 92.22, higher than the previous rate of Rs 91.42 a litre. While petrol can be bought at Rs 109.85, more expensive than the earlier rate of Rs 108.98 per litre in Bhopal, di

Ten children and two women — by conservative estimates — were bombed and burnt alive in retributive political violence in West Bengal’s Rampurhat, situated in the district of Birbhum. The dead belonged to a family whose men were local leaders of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the attackers too belonged to the TMC. Vendetta politics and politics dominance and of control leading to violent clashes between increasingly belligerent and armed factions of the TMC is plaguing the whole of West Bengal. The state administration, the police, the administration at the grassroots have all been compromised or co-opted in this zero-sum game of violence and revenge. That West Bengal is being increasingly Talibanised is becoming evident with each passing. It is turning into a lawless hinterland which is run by a bunch of blood-baying political gang-men through fear and the barrel of the gun and the bomb. In the last week, West Bengal has seen 26 political murders. Newly elected councill

A decision by a Palakkad district judge to stop a Mohiniyattam performance has snowballed into a political controversy in Kerala. Noted danseuse Neena Prasad's Mohiniyattam recital at the auditorium of Government Moyan Lower Primary School on 19 March was interrupted by the police, who demanded that it be stopped as the loudspeaker sound was disturbing district judge Kalam Pasha. We take a look at what went wrong and how it has ballooned into a larger issue with some calling it the ‘Talibanisation of Kerala’. Dance interrupted Neena Prasad, a well-renowned danseuse, took to Facebook recently to share of her embarrassment when her show was stopped midway. In her post, she wrote that her performance, which was part of the launch of author Sreechitran MJ's book titled Ithihasangale Thedi (In search of history), was scheduled at 8:30 pm on Saturday in the state-run Moyan lower primary school in Palakkad town. However, minutes into her recital, the police arrived asking the c

Former Chief Justice of India Ramesh Chandra Lahoti died at a hospital here on Wednesday evening, family sources said. He was 81 years old. Justice Lahoti was appointed as the 35th chief justice of India on June 1, 2004. He retired on November 1, 2005. He was a former independent director on the board of directors of the Press Trust of India (PTI). He was appointed as arbitrator by the Government of India in the Rs 20,000 crore high-profile tax dispute case with telecom major Vodafone. Born on November 1, 1940, he joined the Bar in Guna district in 1960 and enrolled as an advocate in 1962. He was recruited directly to the bench in April 1977, from the Bar to the State Higher Judicial Service and was appointed as a district and sessions judge. After serving in the post for a year, Justice Lahoti resigned in May 1978 and returned to the Bar to practice mainly in the High Court. He was appointed an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on May 3, 1988, and made a permanent