'Faith, and the notion that it has been 'outraged', is used to justify the most outrageous, illiberal and regressive acts,' notes Shuma Raha.
'These atheist people wanted to finish the progress of Sabrimala temple devotees and now they are using this (the Supreme Court verdict) as a weapon to destroy the believers.'
'It is time again for Durga Puja.' 'Time again to be struck by India's astonishing cultural irony, one where the female form is worshipped as divinity while millions of real women are forced to lead restricted lives,' notes Shuma Raha.
The Kerala chief minister's four years in office may well be remembered for the way he handled Cyclone Ockhi, two floods, Nipah, and now COVID-19, reports Shine Jacob.
Born in a Hindu family as Akhila Asokan, the woman converted to Islam and adopted the name 'Hadiya' after entering into wedlock with a Muslim man Shefin Jahan in 2016.
CMO confirmed that Kerala had not figured in the list of states which would be presenting their tableaux on the R-day, but was yet to get an official communication in this regard.
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These measures are in addition to other proposals made earlier, including regulation of sale and consumption of liquor, free trips to certain religious places like Sabarimala and distribution of one lakh cows every year.
The apex court had asked the activist to file his response to the allegations by Delhi Police he made hate speeches including certain objectionable remarks against the court during the protests against CAA.
'The RSS guides us, never dictates.'
So long as no females were allowed to pray there, the strength of emotion kept the issue burning. As more and more women do this, the matter will fade.
The SC is dealing with legal and constitutional issues relating to discrimination against women in various religions and at religious places including Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.
'The Congress's arrogance and unrealistic claims have weakened the anti-BJP movement at the national level.'
Flurry of economic reform suggests Modi realises his muscular nationalism script is getting jaded. Chances are he'll try for economic recovery but stick to what's worked so far, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Ahead of CJI Dipak Misra's final day as the head of the judiciary of India, here's a look at the key judgments that he was a part of.
The government on Wednesday named nine out of 15 members of the 'Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra' trust constituted for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya as mandated by the Supreme Court. Here's all you need to know about the members of the trust who have been named so far.
During the hearing, the 92-year-old senior lawyer had told the apex court that it must do 'full and complete justice' in all matters before it and that his last wish before he died was to finish the case.
Apart from high-profile cases like the validity of Aadhaar Act in light of the right to privacy judgment and Ayodhya land dispute, the CJI is also heading various benches that are expected to decide cases related reservations to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotion in government jobs, the alleged dilution of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code -- which stipulates punishment against harassment of women by husband and in-laws -- and framing of guidelines to check violence and vandalism by a protesting mob.
Some speakers also blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.
The Congress accused the Centre of making a serious assault on the basic structure of the Constitution, saying the action subsumes the independence of the judiciary.
Moved by the plight of a poor student, Dr M S Sunil reached out and provided him with a roof above his head. But this was just the beginning for the zoology professor from Pathanamthitta, a town in Kerala. Today, she has constructed 15 houses for the needy, transformed the lives of tribes from Sabarimala and started her own literacy campaign for the orphans, all by herself. Rediff.com's Arun Lakshman catches up with Pathanamthitta 'home maker'.
The Kerala government on Thursday informed the state high court that it does not propose to conduct any kind of probe into the controversy related to Makara Jyothi and Makara Vilakku, in the backdrop of the Sabarimala tragedy on January 14, which claimed 102 lives.The submission in this regard was made by the government pleader before the division bench comprising Justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice P S Gopinath when three petitions.
In the backdrop of the Pulmedu tragedy, which claimed lives of 102 Sabarimala pilgrims, the Kerala high court on Thursday asked the Tranvacore Devaswom Board that manages the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa, if 'Makara Jyoti' (celestial light) was man-made.
Stampedes at temples and other religious places in India have claimed nearly 900 lives in the past nine years, including those who died in Friday night's melee at Sabarimala shrine.
A local court has returned the chargesheet filed by police against Kannada actress Jayamala and two others on the ground that it was lacking required documents in the case relating to her claim that she once visited the Sabarimala temple and touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa, defying the custom of the hill temple.
The court noted that several devotees visiting the Jagannath temple in Puri were being harassed.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Monday said the issue of lack of coordination among government departments, raised by the Kerala high court in context of the Sabarimala stampede, will be brought within the ambit of the judicial probe into the tragedy."All these issues will be included in the ambit of judicial probe and the guilty will not be spared," he said when reporters sought his reaction to the strong observations made by the division bench of the high court.
According to custom, only believers of Hinduism are permitted entry at the temple, a major pilgrim centre and tourist attraction in the southern part of the country.
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Banks in talks with temple trusts to push gold scheme
Interim president of the Congress party in Kerala M M Hassan has courted a controversy with his remarks that menstruation was impure and women should not enter temples during that period.
Seeking to downplay the debate over the Makara Jyothi of the Sabarimala temple, Travancore Devaswom Board said it was known to most believers that it was a man lit-fire, but there was a Hindu belief behind it. "It is known to everybody that Makara Jyothi is a fire lit up by men at Ponnabalamedu and TDB also recognises this',TDB president M Rajagoplan Nair said.
"People are committing sins and to get rid of them they are going to temples and offering money," the chief minister remarked, during his inaugural address at the two-day conference of district collectors in Vijayawada on Wednesday.
'The judicial procedure was influenced which led to no convictions in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984'
Rajasekharan resigned from the post as he is keen on contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket from Kerala.
In Jaipur, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, both second-line HIV drugs, was administered was administered on an elderly Italian couple undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the SMS Hospital.
Taking note of the higher turnout of 2.5 million for the ritual in March 2009, Guinness upgraded the record recently as a religious event that draws the largest gathering of women, temple sources said.
Pongala falls on the penultimate day of the 10-day festival at Attukal temple. Boiling earthen pots spread around 6 km around the city premises headlined the festive spirit. All roads in Thiruvananthapuram led to the Attukal temple on Tuesday with celebrities conducting the rituals shoulder to shoulder with the common women.
The BJP had replaced Raj from the North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency with Punjabi Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans.
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