Category: National

New Delhi, May 16: India on Monday slammed the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for its “unwarranted” comments on the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir and asked the grouping to refrain from carrying out its “communal agenda” at the behest of one country, in an oblique reference to Pakistan.

India’s strong reaction came after the OIC criticised New Delhi over the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are dismayed that the OIC secretariat has once again made unwarranted comments on the internal affairs of India,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

“As in the past, the Government of India categorically rejects the assertions made by the OIC secretariat on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.

Bagchi was responding to media queries on the OIC statement on the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The OIC should refrain from carrying out its communal agenda vis-a-vis India at the behest of one country,” Bagchi said.

The delimitation commission, tasked with redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, notified its final report earlier this month.–(PTI)

In a strange incident, a man was duped of Rs 45 lakh by another man who posed as a woman on social media and became his ‘girlfriend’.

According to reports, Mothe Ashok, an unemployed gamer from Nuzvid, Andhra Pradesh, created a Facebook account of a fake woman named ‘Indhusha Thummala’ to meet his financial needs and decided to con people by posing as a woman looking for marriage suitors.

The victim from Jubilee Hills fell for Ashok’s lies and in the span of two years sent money worth Rs 45 lakhs to the accused at different junctures. Ashok posing as ‘Indhusha’ at one point also roped in money from the victim claiming that both her mother and herself are suffering from COVID-19.

Interestingly, the victim never once doubted the fake ‘Indhusha’ as Ashok used to send him voice notes with the use of a voice changer application that turned his voice into that of a woman.

According to the cyber crime police, only 2 lakhs could be recovered from the accused as the rest of the amount was spent by him in online gaming.

The Supreme Court eventually asked the central government whether it can issue a direction to the States to keep the pending sedition cases in abeyance.

The Supreme Court eventually asked the central government whether it can issue a direction to the States to keep the pending sedition cases in abeyance.

Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who is often named by the BJP for his policies to target the Congress, found a mention during a hearing in the Supreme Court on pleas challenging the sedition law. The matter was heard by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was representing the petitioners arguing about the misuse of sedition law, said: “We are in post-constitution era. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said that this provision is obnoxious and the sooner we get rid of sedition the better.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Centre, responded by saying, “What Nehru couldn’t do, the current government is doing. We are trying to do, what Pandit Nehru could not do then.”

The Solicitor General was referring to the fact that the Centre had decided to “re-examine and re-consider” the sedition law by an “appropriate forum”, in light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision on human rights and the country celebrating 75 years of Independence.

Rejecting the SG’s argument, Sibal retorted: “No, not at all. You are not doing that. You are supporting the law. You are saying that all is good Mr Mehta.”

Sibal then proceeded to quote Mahatma Gandhi: “Affection cannot be manufactured. One should be free to express disaffection, so long as there is no incitement to violence. I hold it to be a virtue to be disaffected to the Government.”

The Supreme Court eventually asked the central government whether it can issue a direction to the States to keep the pending sedition cases in abeyance to protect the interests of citizens already booked and not registering fresh cases till the government’s re-examination of the colonial-era penal law is over.

Asking the Centre to take a clear stand after it posed the two specific queries, the top court agreed that a re-look of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) be left to the government, a day after it had filed an affidavit deciding to reconsider the contentious provision.

MP (India): Two sisters were getting married in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain and things got mixed up a little due to a power failure. In the dark, the brides performed the wedding ceremony with the wrong groom.

On Sunday, Rameshlal’s two daughters, Nikita and Karishma were getting married to Dangwara Bhola and Ganesh, two youths from different families. Since the brides were in veils and the dress of both were the same, no one came to know about the mix-up during the time of the wedding rituals.

The wedding pandit also got the grooms to do rounds with the ‘changed’ brides. The mix-up was realised when the grooms took their brides home. Following a brief dispute, a settlement was reached.

The bride and groom were asked to perform the ceremony once again the next day.

A bride called off her marriage on the mandap after she came to know that the groom is illiterate.

A video of a bride refusing to garland the groom during the Jaimala ceremony has now gone viral. However, it is not known whether the video is scripted or real.

In the video, the bride and groom are standing on the stage for the jaimala ceremony to begin.

Suddenly, the bride throws out garland on the stage saying that she won’t marry the man. When someone from the crowd asks her the reason, she said she doesn’t want to marry an illiterate. “I had already informed you that I am an educated person and have done B. Ed. He is angutha chaap,” she said.

Netizens have hailed the girl for displaying courage. “Appreciate and salute this girl..wish her all the good luck to her,” said a user.

“And then…..Groom be like :-Thukrake mera pyaar mera intekam dekhegi,” said another

“What a great step,” said third.

Some users dubbed the video fake. “I went to their page. They make these kinds of fake videos only,” said a user.

A person’s wedding day is the most important day in his or her life. Some start preparing for this day months ahead. There are people who spend lavishly to make this day memorable. And it is normal for working people to take a break and go on a long leave to get married and enjoy their honeymoon period.

However, exceptions are always there and in this case, a teacher has become one. The popular teacher of Current Affairs and a world-record holder added up to his popularity by refusing to take a leave on his wedding and deciding to continue to take up lecture on Monday in Rajasthan’s Alwar.
He took the lecture via a ‘Shiksha rath’ and on May 2, this teacher named Priye Kumar Gaurav of Alwar taught his students by coming live on his wedding day.

One of the authorities of the coaching institute, Nirmal, said, “He had informed about his wedding date around five months ago. Usually, a holiday for 4-5 days is granted, but he said he did not wish to miss any single class and would take lectures on the wedding day as well.”

Soon after the programme of Ladies Sangeet, he had started preparing for the class on Current Affairs in the morning.

In 2020, nearly 200 Indian students, majority of them from Jammu and Kashmir

India’s higher education regulators – University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) – issued a joint advisory Friday urging Indian students not to enrol in any college or educational institution in Pakistan, failing which they won’t be eligible to find a job or pursue higher education in the country.

After warning students against studying in China, this is the second such advisory the two bodies have released since last month. While the warning against China came in the backdrop of the country not issuing visas to students already enrolled in Chinese universities, there seems to be no immediate trigger for the advisory against Pakistan, except for the already strained ties between the two neighbours.

Experts believe the exit of Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif taking over as Pakistan’s prime minister is not likely to change things.

Friday’s joint advisory, issued by AICTE Member Secretary and UGC Secretary, read, “All concerned are advised not to travel to Pakistan for pursuing Higher Education.”

“Any Indian national/Overseas Citizen of India who intends to take admission in any degree college/educational institution of Pakistan shall not be eligible for seeking employment or higher studies in India on the basis of such educational qualifications (in any subject) acquired in Pakistan,” the advisory read.

It further said that “migrants and their children who have acquired higher education degrees in Pakistan and have been awarded citizenship by India would be eligible for seeking employment in India after obtaining Security Clearance from MHA.”

In 2019, UGC issued an advisory against studying in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) institutes. While the number of Indian students studying in Pakistan is already miniscule, the latest advisory is likely to act as a further deterrent.

According to a media report in 2020, nearly 200 Indian students, majority of them from Jammu and Kashmir, were enrolled in Pakistani universities at that time. No latest data on the number of students is currently available.

With inputs from The Print

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi- Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has written a letter to his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, pitching for “meaningful” engagement between the two countries, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.

Sharif’s communication on Saturday came in response to a letter sent by Modi to the Pakistani leader congratulating him on becoming the prime minister, they said.

In his letter a few days ago, Modi conveyed to Sharif that India desired constructive ties with Pakistan.

On April 11, the Pakistan parliament selected Sharif as the 23rd prime minister of the country, a day after Imran Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote.

In a Twitter post, Modi congratulated Sharif on becoming the prime minister of Pakistan and said India desires peace and stability in a region “free of terrorism”.

“Congratulations to H. E. Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on his election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. India desires peace and stability in a region free of terror, so that we can focus on our development challenges and ensure the well-being and prosperity of our people,” he tweeted on April 11.

In his response, Sharif said Pakistan desires peaceful and cooperative ties with India.

“Thank you Premier Narendra Modi for felicitations. Pakistan desires peaceful & cooperative ties with India. Peaceful settlement of outstanding disputes including Jammu & Kashmir is indispensable. Pakistan’s sacrifices in fighting terrorism are well-known. Let’s secure peace and focus on socio-economic development of our people,” the Pakistan prime minister tweeted.

It is learnt that Sharif, in his reply to Modi’s letter, also sought resolution of the outstanding issues, including that of Kashmir, while maintaining that Pakistan favours peaceful and cooperative ties with India.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment “free of terror and hostility” for such an engagement.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India in August 2019 announced withdrawing special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state into two union territories.

“The government’s consistent position has been that India desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan and is committed to addressing issues, if any, bilaterally and peacefully in an atmosphere free of terror, hostility and violence,” Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in Parliament on April 7 while replying to a question.

“The onus is on Pakistan to create such a conducive atmosphere,” he added.

India expressed concern over one religion being elevated to the level of an international day.

NDTV

As the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday to proclaim March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia, India expressed concern over phobia against one religion being elevated to the level of an international day, saying there are growing contemporary forms of religiophobia, especially anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist and anti-Sikh phobias.

The 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, introduced by Pakistan’s ambassador Munir Akram under agenda item Culture of peace, to proclaim March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

The resolution, introduced by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), was co-sponsored by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

Reacting to the adoption of the resolution, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said in the UN General Assembly that India hopes the resolution adopted “does not set a precedent” which will lead to multiple resolutions on phobias based on selective religions and divide the United Nations into religious camps.

“Hinduism has more than 1.2 billion followers, Buddhism more than 535 million and Sikhism more than 30 million spread out around the world. It is time that we acknowledged the prevalence of religiophobia, rather than single out just one,” he said.

“It is important that the United Nations remains above such religious matters which may seek to divide us rather than bring us together on one platform of peace and harmony and treat the World as One Family,” he said.

Following the adoption of the draft resolution, Mr Tirumurti said that while India condemns all acts motivated by antisemitism, Christianophobia or Islamophobia, such phobias are not restricted to Abrahamic religions only.

“In fact, there is clear evidence that over decades such religiophobias have, in fact, affected the followers of non-Abrahamic religions as well. This have contributed to the emergence of contemporary forms of religiophobia, especially anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist and anti-Sikh phobias,” he said.

He noted that the Member States should not forget that in 2019, August 22 has already been proclaimed as the International Day commemorating the victims of acts of violence based on religion or belief, which is fully inclusive in nature.

“We even have an International Day of Tolerance observed on 16 November. We are not convinced that we need to elevate phobia against one religion to the level of an international day,” he said.

Mr Tirumurti asserted that these contemporary forms of religiophobia can be witnessed in the increase in attacks on religious places of worship like gurudwaras, monasteries and temples or in the spreading of hatred and disinformation against non-Abrahamic religions in many countries.

He cited that several examples of these abound, including the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban, violation of gurudwara premises, massacre of Sikh pilgrims in gurudwara, attack on temples, glorification of breaking of idols in temples.

He said these contribute to the rise of contemporary forms of religiophobia against non-Abrahamic religions.

“It is in this context that we are concerned about elevating the phobia against one religion to the level of an international day, to the exclusion of all the others.

Celebration of a religion is one thing but to commemorate the combatting of hatred against one religion is quite another. In fact, this resolution may well end up downplaying the seriousness of phobias against all other religions,” Mr Tirumurti said in his statement after the adoption of the resolution.

He said India is proud that pluralism is at the core of its existence.

“We firmly believe in equal protection and promotion of all religions and faith. It is, therefore, unfortunate that the word ‘pluralism’ finds no mention in the resolution and the sponsors have not found it fit to take on board our amendments to include the word ‘pluralism’ in the text for reasons best known to them.”

Mr Tirumurti said that as a pluralistic and democratic country that is home to almost all religions of the world, India has always welcomed, over the centuries, those persecuted around the world for their faith or belief.

“They have always found in India a safe haven shorn of persecution or discrimination. This is true whether they were Zoroastrians or Buddhists or Jews or people of any other faith,” he said.

Mr Tirumurti expressed deep concern over the rise in instances of discrimination, intolerance and violence directed against members of many religious communities in various parts of the world.

He emphasised that it is with deep concern that India views the growing manifestation of intolerance, discrimination or violence against followers of religions, including rising sectarian violence in some countries.

France’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere, speaking after Mr Tirumurti, said that by creating an international day to combat Islamophobia, the resolution does not respond to the concern that “we all share to fight against all forms of discrimination”.

“Because they create division within the fight against religious intolerance by only selecting one religion to the exclusion of others without reference to the freedom to believe or to not believe,” he said.

He said society is made up of diversity, with individuals practising a variety of religions or not practising any at all.

“Must we expect the creation of days dedicated to each religion, to each degree of belief or non-belief. There may not be enough days in the year to satisfy all these demands,” de Riviere said.

The French envoy said the text of the resolution that is submitted on Tuesday did raise a number of difficulties with regard to the determination to fight against discrimination based on religion or belief.

“The term Islamophobia does not have any agreed definition in international law, contrary to the freedom of religion or belief,” he said, adding that the resolution is very “unsatisfactory” as it currently stands and none of the proposals mooted by France were taken into consideration.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

With inputs from NDTV India

Over 91.5% of adults in the state have received at least one dose and 70.4% of adults are fully vaccinated with both doses

Mumbai With widespread hybrid immunity due to natural infections and high vaccination coverage, the possibility of a fourth wave hitting Maharashtra is bleak, according to experts. The virus will, however, continue to circulate in low numbers, they predict.
Daily new cases in Maharashtra have been below 1,000 since February 25. Amidst the waning third wave, the state has also announced the opening of schools and colleges and is likely to introduce complete relaxations soon. Over 91.5% of adults in the state have received at least one dose and 70.4% of adults are fully vaccinated with both doses. As many as 15,27,551 people have received the third dose.
“The large exposure to the virus, the coverage of double vaccinations and booster doses in states like Maharashtra will keep the fourth wave at bay,” said Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the state’s Covid-19 task force. “We are unlikely to see a fourth wave unless a new, virulent, more contagious variant of concern evolves. In any case, we will have to learn to live with Covid as the virus will remain in circulation,” he said.
According to Joshi, pandemics, that the world has seen so far, have lasted for around three years. “We are already in the third year of Covid-19,” he said and added that there should not be any room for complacency. “The emphasis on indoor masking and vaccinations should continue,” he said.
Given the high population density of cities like Mumbai, the risk of cluster transmission always remains high. As schools, colleges and offices open fully, experts say that authorities must watch out for such cluster transmissions and deploy well-planned, targetted genome sequencing to remain alert about emerging variants.
“My hunch is that the pandemic has ended with the Omicron-driven third wave,” said Vellore-based virologist Dr T Jacob John. “We will now likely be in the endemic phase wherein there will be slow spread, steady but low number of cases. Even if we look at the virology and epidemiology point of view, a fourth wave is most unlikely now,” he said.
John highlighted the importance of being vigilant, continuing genome sequencing and masking. “The masking mandate is not just going to help limit the spread of Covid, but also other respiratory illnesses and infections like tuberculosis,” he said.
A statistical forecasting study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, published on a pre-print server MedRxiv, has predicted that the fourth wave in India will set around June 22, peak on August 23 and end by October. The study, yet to be peer-reviewed, also states that the occurrence of a new variant, the effect of vaccination- first, second and booster dose- may affect the arrival of the fourth wave.
But such predictions in the past have failed and it’s best to not consider them as speculations, according to task force member Joshi.
Infectious disease expert Dr Om Srivastava, who is also of the state’s Covid-19 task force, said that it’s best not to predict, but be prepared for any situation. “It’s time for us to bring back some sense of normalcy, with stringent masking norms in public places. If we are likely to see the fourth surge, a lot of factors like temperature, humidity, crowding and overall immunity within the population will come into play. Thus, predicting the fourth wave is difficult,” he said.