INDIA

On Monday night, in Ranchi, Jharkhand, a Muslim youth named Obaidullah Hasnain was violently assaulted and coerced into chanting the Hindutva slogan "Jai Shri Ram" by a group of individuals. Hasnain, a resident of the Hindpidhi area, was attacked by 4-5 people armed with sticks, resulting in him losing consciousness. Hasnain recounted that while he was out on an errand near Hindi School, he was verbally abused by a group. When he objected, they surrounded him, demanded he chant the slogan, and physically assaulted him. The violence escalated as individuals from nearby temples joined in the attack. "I sustained a severe fracture in my hand and managed to escape. My family later took me to the Hindpuri police station to file a complaint, but no action has been taken yet," he said. ...

The Yogi Adityanth-led government has introduced the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Assembly, which proposes harsher punishment, leading up to life imprisonment in ‘love jihad’ cases. The proposed amendments have been welcomed by the BJP while the Samajwadi Party has termed it a ‘divisive’ move, aimed at creating ‘animosity’ in society. BJP leader Mohsin Raza said that the law, when amended, will help greatly in tackling illegal religious conversions. “If any impersonator plays with the life of your daughter, why shouldn’t the culprit be held accountable? If an imposter marries any girl by hiding his identity and with malicious intent, why can’t such people be brought to book,” asked the BJP leader. Samajwadi Party, on...

Jammu and Kashmir has recorded 1,014 drug cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 over the past three years, according to information provided by the Centre. In a written statement to the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai highlighted the impact of the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ (NMBA) in improving drug addiction case detection. Recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2022 shows a progressive increase in drug-related cases: 289 cases in 2020, 357 cases in 2021, and 394 cases in 2022 in Jammu and Kashmir. The government has implemented the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) to address substance abuse among youth, including launching NMBA across all districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Over...

The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has invalidated JK Bank’s promotion policy for Banking Associates (BAs), specifically the mandatory screening test for IBPS Banking Associates. Justice Rahul Bharti has ordered the bank to promote IBPS Banking Associates to the next position without requiring the screening test. This ruling followed a petition from approximately 50 Banking Associates challenging JK Bank’s communication dated September 21, 2023, which announced a screening test and interview for promotion to the Assistant Manager Cadre. The petitioners argued that this policy was discriminatory. Justice Bharti found that the policy violated Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. The court highlighted that subjecting non-IBPS Ban...

Amid a surge in militant attacks in Jammu Kashmir, particularly in Jammu, the former police chief Shesh Paul Ved has claimed that a large number of SSG Commandos from Pakistan Army have already infiltrated into this part of Jammu and Kashmir and others are trying to infiltrate as well. SP Vaid as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust claimed that over 600 SSG Commandos from the Pakistan Army have been earmarked and a large number of them have already sneaked in Jammu Kashmir. He said that the motive behind this act was to engage 15 and 16 corps of Indian Army fully in the coveted war. “It’s an act of war and we have to remain alert. We can’t tolerate this,” he said adding that efforts are on to disrupt the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir. SP Vaid disclosed that one Adil Reh...

Schools in Rajasthan will commemorate Savarkar Jayanti on May 28 and mark the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu Kashmir as ‘Swarn Mukut Mastak Diwas’ on August 5, according to the 2024-25 calendar issued by the state’s Education Department. According to a report by IANS, the calendar also introduces ‘No Bag Day’ on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, during which schools will organize various activities for students to engage in. Additionally, the Education Department has announced On-Job training for Class 11 and 12 students during the winter holidays. As per the new calendar released by Director of Education Ashish Modi, schools will operate for 213 days out of the 365 days in a year, with 152 days allocated for holidays, including Sundays. Diwali holidays are sche...

A woman from Delhi has claimed that the land earmarked for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court order in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case belongs to her family, and she will move the apex court to get its possession. However, Rani Punjabi’s claims were denied by Zufar Farooqui, who is the head of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust which has been formed for the construction of the mosque, saying her claims were already rejected by the Allahabad High Court in 2021. Farooqui, who is also the chairperson of the Sunni Central Waqf Board, said work on the entire project, including the construction of the mosque, will start from October this year. Rani Punjabi, a resident of Delhi, claims that the five acres of land given by the administration to t...

In the Union Budget 2024, the allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been set at just Rs. 3,183.24 crore, which constitutes approximately 0.0660% of the total budget. This represents a decrease from previous years. In 2021-22, the budget for the Ministry was Rs. 4,810.77 crore, rising to Rs. 5,020.50 crore in 2022-23. Last year's budget for the Ministry was Rs. 3,097.60 crore. Mujahid Nafees, convener of the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), has expressed disappointment with the reduced allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs in the 2024-25 budget. The budget cuts include a Rs. 106.84 crore reduction in the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, while the Post-Matric Scheme has received an increase of Rs. 80.38 crore. Additionally, funding for the Merit-cum-Means...

On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the right of state governments to impose royalties on mineral-bearing lands, affirming their competence and authority to do so. This ruling benefits mineral-rich states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, enabling them to charge additional levies on mining companies within their territories. The landmark 8:1 verdict, delivered by a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, distinguished 'royalty' from 'tax'. Justice BV Nagarathna provided the dissenting opinion. Chief Justice Chandrachud, reading the majority verdict, clarified that "royalty is a contractual consideration paid by lessee to lessor" and emphasized that Parliament "does not have the power to tax mineral rights under Entry 50, List I." ...

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the complete removal of customs duties on three cancer medications. The Centre proposed reducing the customs duty on Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib, and Durvalumab from 10 percent to zero, interestingly all the three drugs are manufactured by the same company. All three cancer related drugs are produced by UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which also developed a COVID-19 vaccine. Recently, AstraZeneca was in the news after it admitted in a UK court that their vaccine could cause the rare side effect TTS, leading to blood clots and increasing the risk of heart attack and brain hemorrhage. Shashi Tharoor mentioned the decision to remove import duties on these drugs during his speech in the Indian Parliament on Tues...