'India's reputation is not and cannot be dependent on the whimsical opinions of some obscure foreign advisory committee packed with Hindu-phobic acolytes,' declares Vivek Gumaste.
'The new Waqf bill sows the seed for conflict in every town and village of India.'
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move, saying he was carrying out President Donald Trump's orders. "Today, I am announcing visa restrictions on current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong," Pompeo said.
The court had warned a "very difficult situation" will emerge if proselytisation through deception, allurement and intimidation is not stopped.
The government has to specify what it intends to do with caste census data. It will be closely tracked if the government would simultaneously move towards removing the present 50% bar on reservations using means which are permitted in law. If this is not done, the entire exercise will become meaningless and could boomerang on the BJP, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Over 6,000 loudspeakers were removed from religious places and the volume of another 30,000 was set to permissible limits across Uttar Pradesh following a government order, a senior police official said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Pfaff also noted that the countries Netaji had approached were the only ones willing to support the fight against a common adversary.
Warning that Christians currently suffer more persecution because of their faith than any other religious group, the Vatican on Tuesday told the United Nations that the denial of religious freedom threatened peace and security and precluded integral human development.
Observing that the final NRC list, which validates bona fide Indian citizens of Assam, has excluded 19 lakh residents, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom on Friday said that a number of domestic and international organisations have expressed concern that the NRC is a "targeted mechanism to disenfranchise Assam's Bengali Muslim community, implicitly establishing a religious requirement for citizenship and potentially rendering large numbers of Muslims stateless."
In more than one way, it's a setback for the DMK and Chief Minister Stalin in political terms. The electoral fall-out, if any, will have to wait until the next summer, only when assembly elections are due in the state, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Biden administration's failure in stopping two major wars and several minor ones was seen as a major disaster by many Americans and the world at large, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea challenging a Bombay high court verdict upholding a Mumbai college's decision to ban hijabs, burqas and naqabs inside the campus.
The matter is being investigated, they said and added that so far, there is no evidence that the "Khalistani" slur was used.
"There are people who get converted and do not disclose that they have converted. They take double benefits," RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said at a press conference."
The Kerala high court has observed that no religious belief stands above the Constitution.
The resolution condemns the extremist violence, lack of religious freedom, and human rights violations committed against Kashmiri Pandits, which they have endured for more than two decades.
The Uttar Pradesh government has said that over 65 crore people visited the sacred site in Prayagraj since the Maha Kumbh began on January 13.
Prayagraj is a must-visit place in 2025, but in January and February you can't miss the Maha Kumbh, a spectacular event like no other.
This Women's Day Week, we pay tribute to the extraordinary courage, resilience, and leadership of three iconic Indian queens -- Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Rani Chennamma of Kittur, and Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Malwa.
If peace and stability is to come to South Asia, links between Pakistan's military, Inter-Services Intelligence and the violent extremist jihadi groups the ISI created, must be severed, said Steve Coll, president and CEO of The New America Foundation and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars.
An eminent American lawmaker has introduced a resolution in the United States House of Representatives condemning the 'extremist violence, lack of religious freedom, and human rights violations committed against Kashmiri Pandits for more than two decades now.'
United States President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill which calls for appointing a special envoy near East and South Central Asia to promote freedom of religious minorities.
Responding to USCIRF's statement on the bill, the MEA said it was guided by 'prejudices and biases'.
"USCIRF's decision to club India in with a dozen or so of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world, while overlooking others, again raises questions of bias and flawed methodology," Prof Ramesh Rao of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) alleged.
'Whatever you do will spark controversies, so it is best do what your heart tells you to do. Simple.'
The judge made the remarks while sentencing 25-year-old Mohammad Alim to life imprisonment, convicting him for raping and threatening a student after falsifying his identity.
Obviously incensed after being denied visas to visit India, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom -- a US Congress-mandated body that monitors religious freedoms and rights worldwide and then provides independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State and the Congress -- has released it 2009 country report on India, which it had earlier held back and placed India on its "Watch List".
The Bombay high court on Wednesday refused to interfere in a decision taken by a Mumbai-based college to impose a ban on hijab, burka and naqab in its premises.
While the Trump campaign promises that re-electing President Donald Trump will "reduce obstacles to religious freedoms" for Hindus in America, the rival Biden campaign on Tuesday said former vice president Joe Biden has made outreach to the Hindu faith community a priority.
Three Indians have joined a Sikh rights group in filing an amended lawsuit appealing a US court to designate the RSS as a "terror group".
Indulging in religious conversion with inducement or under pressure is an "unpardonable offence", the state home minister Araga Jnanendra said adding, it may also lead to disturbance of peace in the society.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed petitions challenging the 1976 amendment to the Constitution that added the terms "socialist", "secular", and "integrity" to the Preamble. The court ruled that the inclusion of these terms, made through amendments, is valid and does not affect the original adoption of the Constitution in 1949.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the Opposition is pretty well united and a lot of good work is happening on the ground as he asserted that there is a hidden undercurrent building and it will 'surprise' the people in the next general elections.
Congressional caucuses are groups of members of the US Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives. Caucuses are formed as Congressional Member Organisations through the US House of Representatives and governed under the chamber's rules.
Dhankhar said every Indian outside the country has to be an ambassador of the nation.
Death is a reality of life and yet we shy away from talking about it openly, observes Aarti David.
The State Department in its report listed more than a dozen significant human rights issues for India. Prominent among them are unlawful and arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings perpetrated by police; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by some police and prison officials; arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political and prisoners or detainees in certain states.
The film has nothing objectionable or derogatory, the court said after watching it, and allowed its release on streaming platform Netflix.
'I do hope the Patel family sues the hell out of the state of Alabama, and I hope the Hindu American Foundation and other community organisations are helping with legal aid and monetary support. For, there is reason to believe that it is religious and racial bias that led to the incident: In other words, a hate crime. There is no reason to suffer that silently.'
"I travelled to Dharamshala, India to speak to the Tibetan community that were assembled there in exile and to tell them that the US is opposed to China picking the next Dalai Lama," Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel D Brownback told reporters on Tuesday during a conference call, recalling his visit to India in October.
