A police officer in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, has sparked outrage after suggesting that those uncomfortable with Holi colors should remain indoors, drawing criticism from opposition parties who accused him of bias and demanded action. The officer's remarks came during a peace committee meeting ahead of Holi, which coincides with Friday prayers during Ramzan. Opposition leaders condemned the statements, calling them "condemnable" and accusing the officer of acting as a "BJP agent." They demanded action against him for his "political statement." The incident comes after violence erupted in Sambhal last year during protests against a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque.
A pack of stray dogs in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, has killed a 12-year-old girl and injured 14 people in the past 10 days. The situation has escalated to the point where the administration is advising residents to carry sticks when venturing out in the evening and urging parents not to allow children to go outside alone. The administration is conducting awareness campaigns and a sterilization drive to control the stray dog population. Authorities have also emphasized proper waste management to prevent strays from scavenging for food.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the ASI not to take recourse to any invasive act during the survey.
Owaisi criticized the court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, saying it weakens India and distracts from real issues like inflation and unemployment.
The Karnataka high court on Monday stayed the notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi B M and the state Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh to appear for questioning in connection with the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land allotment scam.
A water quality survey held around Nanded village, the epicentre of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in Pune city, has found there was lack of chlorine in the drinking water supplied to households of 26 patients of this nerve disorder, officials said.
The avalanche hit the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath between 5:30 am and 6 am on Friday, burying the workers inside eight containers and a shed, according to the Army.
Before the violence and rioting that erupted in Nagpur on Monday, March 17, over Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb came provocative statements from various political leaders.
The toll in the clashes between police and protesters opposing a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, rose to four following the death of one more injured person, officials said on Monday.
'If you really love your work and are good at it, it does not matter what is work and life.'
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has sought control and management of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, citing its status as a protected heritage structure. The request comes after violence erupted during a court-ordered survey of the mosque, which was linked to a petition claiming that a Harihar temple once stood at the site. The ASI has argued that unauthorized changes to the mosque's structure by the management committee are unlawful and should be restricted. A three-member judicial commission has been formed to probe the violence and is expected to visit Sambhal on Sunday.
The President will address both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha chamber on Friday and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the General Budget on Saturday.
The Allahabad high court on Thursday allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a scientific survey at the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi to determine whether the 17th-century mosque has been constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
Five members of the Muslim side also participated in the survey. Its advocate Tauheed Khan said advocates of the Intezamia Masjid Committee Akhlaq and Mumtaz accompanied the survey team.
The trigger for international gold prices rising to $3,000 per ounce was Germany's upcoming heavy government borrowing.
The Karnataka High Court has quashed the Enforcement Directorate's summons to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi B M and Urban Development Minister B S Suresh in connection with the MUDA site allotment case. The court ruled that the ED was conducting a parallel investigation despite the case already being probed by the Lokayukta police and a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The ED had alleged that Siddaramaiah and other accused were involved in attempted money laundering in the MUDA site allotment case and that the fourteen sites (plots) allotted to Parvathi in Mysuru upmarket were illegally allotted.
The Mathura Shahi Masjid Eidgah Committee has approached the Supreme Court, requesting the court to prevent the central government from filing a response to a petition challenging the Places of Worship Act's constitutional validity. The committee accuses the BJP-led government of intentionally delaying its response. The court had previously issued a notice to the government in March 2021, but the government has yet to submit its reply despite numerous opportunities. The committee argues that the government's delay is intended to obstruct those opposing the challenge to the Places of Worship Act from filing their own responses. The petition also states that the pleas challenging the law's validity are scheduled for hearing on February 17, and closing the government's right to respond would serve justice. The Supreme Court previously issued a ruling in December 2022 that stopped courts from entertaining new lawsuits or issuing interim or final orders regarding the reclaiming of religious places, particularly mosques and dargahs. The ruling halted proceedings in 18 lawsuits filed by Hindu groups seeking surveys to confirm the original religious character of 10 mosques, including the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi, the Shahi Idgah Masjid in Mathura, and the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal. This decision was made in response to six petitions, including one filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, challenging various provisions of the Places of Worship Act. The 1991 law prohibits the conversion of places of worship and guarantees the preservation of their existing religious character as it stood on August 15, 1947. Notably, the dispute regarding the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was excluded from this law. There are also several cross-petitions advocating for a strict enforcement of the 1991 law to uphold communal harmony and maintain the current status of mosques that Hindu groups seek to reclaim, claiming they were temples before being destroyed by invaders.
The ASI told the court on November 2 that it might take some more time to compile the report, along with the details of the equipment used in the survey work, following which additional time till November 17 was granted for the submission of the document.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to impose property tax on commercial establishments operating in slum areas and is also considering the levy of a Solid Waste Management (SWM) user charge in the future. The civic body is expecting to collect a total of Rs 5,200 crore in property tax during the next financial year. The BMC intends to levy an SWM charge on Mumbaikars in a phased manner though it would not be levied in FY 2025-26.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that forcibly seizing someone's faith and trampling over their beliefs is "unacceptable," especially "when we know the truth about Sambhal" which predates Islam, with the Vishnu temple there being destroyed in 1526. He said that Sambhal has been mentioned in scriptures that are 5,000 years old, which contain references to Lord Vishnu's future incarnation. He also mentioned that a temple of Lord Vishnu in Sambhal was demolished in 1526, and two years later, in 1528, the Ram temple in Ayodhya was destroyed, both acts carried out by the same person.
The Bihar government has formed a state-level task force to monitor actions taken by authorities to prevent and eradicate child marriages in the state. Bihar has the second-highest rate of child marriage in India, with 40.8% of women getting married before turning 18. The government is implementing a multipronged strategy to combat child marriage, including stricter enforcement of the law, empowering girls through education, and raising awareness.
Seven FIRs have been lodged in connection with the violence over a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, naming Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq and local SP MLA Iqbal Mehmood's son Sohail Iqbal as accused. Three people were killed and scores of others injured on Sunday as protesters opposing the survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid clashed with police. The district administration has imposed prohibitory orders and barred the entry of outsiders into Sambhal till November 30.
The meeting was attended by Congress in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Randhawa, CM Gehlot, RPCC president Govind Singh Dotasra and other leaders.
A local court in Ajmer has ordered notices to be issued to three parties in a civil suit claiming the existence of a Shiva temple within the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti. The suit, filed in September, seeks directions to resume worship at the alleged temple. The court has issued notices to the Ajmer Dargah Committee, Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India. The next hearing is scheduled for December 20.
In a letter, State Council of Educational Research and Training director Sajjan R urged competent authorities to immediately suspend all such teachers' training programmes.
From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Asian Paints were among the laggards. Reliance Industries fell the most by 2.38 per cent to close at Rs 1,171.10 apiece.
We celebrate the pioneering achievements of Captain Durba Banerjee and Avani Chaturvedi, leaders in Indian aviation.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday alleged a 'well-planned' conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal, where a team of Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit on December 4 amid restrictions imposed by the district administration.
India's manufacturing sector growth fell to a joint 11-month low of 56.5 in November, restricted by competitive conditions and inflationary pressures amid a softer increase in factory orders, a monthly survey said on Monday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell from 57.5 in October to 56.5 in November, signalling a softer improvement in the health of the sector. However, the pace of growth remained above its long-run average.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began working on a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi on Friday to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
The Sambhal administration in Uttar Pradesh, India, has announced plans to put up posters of individuals involved in violence that occurred on November 24. Over 400 people have been identified and 32 arrested in connection with the violence, which stemmed from a local mosque survey. The administration is currently designing the posters and will finalize them today. Posters will be displayed after excluding those who have been arrested.
The unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above in urban areas dipped to 6.4 per cent in the July-September quarter, according to the National Sample Survey Survey (NSSO). Joblessness, or unemployment rate, is defined as the percentage of unemployed people in the labour force. The unemployment rate in the September quarter of FY24 was 6.6 per cent.
Families of the four men killed in the Sunday violence in Sambhal are now forced to contend with the double tragedy of death and poverty, reliant as they were on the frugal income the four once brought.
Days after violence erupted over a survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, an imam of another mosque was fined Rs 2 lakh for allegedly using a loudspeaker at high volume. The incident occurred in the Anar Wali Masjid, prompting authorities to take action. The imam, identified as Tahzeeb, was fined and granted bail, with orders to refrain from similar conduct for six months. The incident comes amid ongoing tensions in Sambhal following the November 24 violence during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid, which resulted in four deaths and several injuries. The incident has become a major political controversy, with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra raising the issue in Parliament.
The Lokayukta police probing the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case on Wednesday said that the charges against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his wife Parvathi could not be proved for want of evidence.
The jan man survey seeks the people's response on various aspects of governance and leadership and its questions include both central-level development and specifics related to the user's constituency.
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
Recent documents by NITI Aayog and periodic labour force surveys on employment show that the importance of agriculture is rising in the Indian economy.
India's services PMI marginally dipped to 58.4 in November while employment in the segment recorded robust growth, a monthly survey said on Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services Business Activity Index was down marginally to 58.4 from 58.5 in October as sales increased at a softer pace. Last month, the country's services PMI recovered from its 10-month low.
There are nearly 80 lakh graduates in Bihar, which is around 6.11 per cent of the total population, says the caste survey report tabled in Bihar assembly.
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