Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had last week announced the scheme, and said many priests were reeling under financial crisis and her government was doling out sops to support them. "The Cabinet has given its nod to the 'Rajya Purohit Kalyan Prokolpo' which the chief minister had announced a few days ago," state home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said at the secretariat.
A priest in Ireland's County Offaly has joined the long Irish Catholic tradition of priests engaging in pugilism.
This is probably the first time a Hindu priest has been called for services at the national prayer service of the presidential inauguration.
Samajwadi Party MP R K Chaudhary's demand to replace the Sengol installed next to the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair with a copy of the Constitution triggered a war of words on Thursday, with opposition leaders backing him, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party castigating him for 'disrespecting' Indian and Tamil culture.
The report comes a day after Human Resource Minister S Subramaniam said the Cabinet had decided on allowing and renewing visas and permits for Hindu priests, musicians and artisans from India.
A 47-year-old Indian priest has been arrested in the United States state of Florida on charges of possessing child pornography, with authorities saying he asked a 14-year old boy to help him delete about 40 pornographic images of young boys from his phone.
The call of the Nair Service Society to appoint priests from its community in temples managed by the organisation has triggered a debate whether the worshippers would accept non-Brahmin priests.
Earlier, there was a debate if Modi is entitled to adopt the role which usually goes to a "householder".
Asked about the challenges of an interfaith marriage, she said, 'There are a lot of things that we just agree on, I think, especially when it comes to family life, how to raise our kids. And so I think the answer really is, we just talk a lot.'
Hindu priest Prakashanand Saraswati, 79, has been charged with 20 counts of indecency with a child and released on a whopping $1 million bail bond by a United States court. Known to his followers as Shree Swamiji, the priest is accused of groping two underage girls on several occasions in the 1990s. The case stems from an investigation that started in May 2007, sealed indictments were issued in April after which an arrest warrant was issued against Saraswati.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented gifts from Sri Ranganath Swamy temple in Tiruchirapalli to the newly constructed Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Ram Janmabhoomi trust head Nritya Gopal Das tested positive for novel coronavirus infection. He shared stage with PM Modi.
The Allahabad high court on Wednesday adjourned to February 12 the hearing on a plea challenging the Varanasi district court order allowing Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
The defence minister said "last year in Galwan Valley, our soldiers displayed exemplary courage and valour in line of duty. I salute all brave soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for the nation."
Father Tom is safe and efforts are on for his release as early as possible.
In a major victory for the Hindu side, a Varanasi court on Wednesday allowed Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the 'Vyas ka Tekhana' area inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
Vedic rituals for the pran pratistha will begin in Ayodhya on January 16, a week before the main ceremony. A priest from Varanasi, Lakshmi Kant Dixit, will perform the main rituals of the consecration ceremony on January 22.
The bench observed that enrolment of priests and nuns would bring 'lustre' to the profession.
The Madras high court has upheld the arrest of a Catholic priest from Tamil Nadu, charged with abusing a minor girl in the United States, facilitating his extradition to face justice in that country.
Uzhunnalil had gone missing in Yemen after the Islamic State militant group attacked a care home run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.
The first time I saw the idol, I was thrilled and tears started rolling down my face. I cannot explain the feeling I experienced then
The prime minister prostrated before the Sengol and sought blessings from high priests of various 'adheenams' in Tamil Nadu with the holy sceptre in hand.
Guru Nanak Devji's 554th birth anniversary will be celebrated on Monday, November 27, 2023.
An elderly Italian priest was shot at on Wednesday by unidentified motorbike-borne assailants in Bangladesh, wounding him in the neck and skull.
Bowing to intense pressure from Hindu groups and political parties both at home and abroad, Nepal's Maoist government on Wednesday reversed its decision to replace the Indian priests at the Himalayan country's most revered Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu with the local Brahmins. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Prachanda during a special address to Parliament telecast live by the state-run television.
Using the same methodology as the EAC-PM study, the fastest-growing religious population is, in fact, the Buddhists. The Buddhist population increased by over 1,600 per cent between 1950 and 2015.
'I don't feel any animosity towards the attacker. I only feel sorry for him. He did it out of ignorance, and needs help,' Ramesh Maharaj, the priest at the Hindu temple in New York, which was attacked by a firebomb on Sunday, tells Rediff.com
'I don't feel any animosity towards the attacker. I only feel sorry for him. He did it out of ignorance, and needs help,' Ramesh Maharaj, the priest at the Hindu temple in New York, which was attacked by a firebomb on Sunday, tells Rediff.com
The priest of a Swaminarayn temple in Junagadh in Gujarat and his three associates arrested on Tuesday in connection with a sex scandal will be dismissed from the sect.
Samy Vellu, the President of the Malaysian Indian Congress, met Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar and urged him to end the ban on the recruitment of priests from India. Vellu told the minister that the temples and gurdwaras in Malaysia urgently needed approximately 500 and 300 priests respectively.The minister told Vellu that the matter had to be brought up at Cabinet level for the decision to be revoked.
Prayers were performed in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on Wednesday night following court orders allowing the resumption of a practice said to have been discontinued three decades back, Kashi Vishwanath temple trust president said.
While the Congress top brass has declined an invitation to the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit stuck to its plan to offer prayers in the holy city on Makar Sankranti.
A beam of sunlight fell directly on Ram Lalla's idol at the new temple in Ayodhya on noon Wednesday, marking the 'Surya Tilak' of the idol on the first Ram Navami since its consecration.
In his complaint, Rev Paul Williamson of the Church of England described the marriage as "gross and offensive".
Five people, including an Indian priest, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the death of a six-year-old boy in an ashram in Kathmandu, the police said on Wednesday. Indian national Swami Atma Suddhananda, in-charge of the Pranavananda Ashram, was arrested along with four Nepalese men after Rupesh Giri was found dead in mysterious circumstances on Tuesday, said a police officer at the Bouddha police station.
As anti-Sri Lankan protests raged in several parts of Tamil Nadu, a Buddhist priest from the island, currently pursuing archaeological studies in Delhi University, was roughed up by some activists of pro-Tamil outfits at the famous Big Temple in Thanjavur on Saturday, police said.
The raids were conducted a day after a special court in Mohali declared Dala a proclaimed offender in a case of conspiracy to kill a priest in Punjab, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
Saji Abraham, clergyman of St Thomas Orthodox Church in Rajasthan's Banswara district, suffered head injuries in the attack, which took place when he was preparing for Christmas celebrations.
January 22, 2024 has passed into history. Scenes from a day of religious fervour in many parts of India.
Traditional Hindu priests of the Vishnupad Temple in Bihar's Gaya town -- known as Gaywal Pandas -- are busy trying to find out if Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, his son Uddhav Thackeray and his nephew and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray were originally from Bihar.
