Month: March 2022

The Indian embassy on Thursday launched a collaborative project with the Argentine Federal Police to promote Yoga for the physical and mental well-being of the forces.

The project was inaugurated by the Indian Ambassador to Argentina Dinesh Bhatia, jointly with Juan C Hernandez, Chief of Argentine Federal Police and the dean of the Institute of the Argentine Federal Police, the Indian embassy informed in a tweet.

“Amb @dineshbhatia jointly with Juan C Hernandez, Chief of @PFAOficial & Dean of @iupfanoticias inaugurated Yoga Capacitation Project for physical & mental well-being of officials of Argentine Federal Police,” the Indian embassy said in a tweet.

Notably, the Indian government has been popularizing Yoga at several international forums highlighting the associated health benefits of the activity.

On Tuesday, the second inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the celebration of International Day of Yoga (IDY)- 2022 was held in New Delhi.

Several Union Ministers attended the meeting and gave information about the activities being carried out by their ministries to create awareness about IDY-2022 and also gave suggestions to enhance the outreach.

The International Day of Yoga is celebrated on 21st June every year since 2015, following the adoption of a United Nations (UN) resolution on the same. (ANI)

Sri Lankan Navy has apprehended 16 fishermen from Rameswaram and Mandapam in Tamil Nadu and their two boats, according to Q branch police.

Earlier on February 12, the Sri Lankan Navy has apprehended 12 Rameswaram-based fishermen and two fishing boats after they had gone fishing across the border in the Palk Bay.

Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs V Muraleedharan, in a written reply in Lok Sabha on February 4, 2022, said Indian fishermen are arrested from time to time by the Sri Lankan authorities for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

“As per the available information, 74 and 159 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2020 and 2021 respectively,” he stated.

Muraleedharan further informed that following the 2+2 initiative in November 2016, when the Foreign and Fisheries Ministers of the two countries met in New Delhi, a bilateral Joint Working Group (JWG) mechanism and meeting of the Ministers for Fisheries of the two countries was institutionalized to address the fishermen issues with Sri Lanka. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that exams have nothing to do with Hijab while hearing the mentioning of a plea seeking urgent hearing on a petition challenging the ban on sporting Hijab in educational institutes.

Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the petitioner mentioned his plea seeking urgent hearing on petitions challenging Karnataka High Court’s order that dismissed petitions against the ban on Hijab in educational institutions.

Senior counsel Devadatt Kamat said that exams are starting on March 28 and students would lose a year as authorities are not allowing their entry in educational institutions with hijab.

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said, “Exams have nothing to do with the hijab issue.” The Court also asked the counsel not to sensationalise the issue.

Last week the Supreme Court had said that the appeal challenging the Karnataka High Court’s order to uphold ban on Hijab in educational institutions would be listed for hearing after Holi break.

Some of the petitioners had approached the apex court challenging the order upholding the Karnataka government’s decision which directs strict enforcement of schools and colleges uniform rules.

One of the appeals in the top court has alleged “step-motherly behaviour of government authorities which has prevented students from practising their faith and resulted in an unwanted law and order situation”.

The appeal said the High Court in its impugned order “had vehemently failed to apply its mind and was unable to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the core aspect of the essential religious practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India”.

“Wearing of Hijab or headscarf is a practice that is essential to the practice of Islam,” it added.

A bench of Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit, and Justice JM Khazi on Tuesday held that the prescription of uniform is a reasonable restriction that students could not object to and dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions, saying they are without merit.

The Hijab row had erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly barred six girls wearing the Hijab from entering. Following this, the girls sat in protest outside college over being denied entry.

After this, boys of several colleges in Udupi started attending classes wearing saffron scarves. This protest spread to other parts of the state as well leading to protests and agitations in several places in Karnataka.

As a result, the Karnataka government said that all students must adhere to the uniform and banned both Hijab and saffron scarves till an expert committee decided on the issue.

On February 5, the pre-University education board released a circular stating that the students could only wear the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious attire would be allowed in colleges.

The order stated that in case a uniform is not prescribed by management committees, then students should wear dresses that go well with the idea of equality and unity, and do not disturb the social order.

A batch of petitions was filed against the government’s rule in the Karnataka High Court by some girls seeking permission to wear the Hijab in educational institutions.

On February 10, the High Court had issued an interim order stating that students should not wear any religious attire to classes till the court issued the final order. The hearings related to the Hijab case were concluded on February 25 and the court had reserved its judgement. (ANI)

The UK government will allocate more than 4 million pounds sterling (USD 5.4 million) to the BBC World Service for the information war against Russia, the UK Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

“The UK will also provide an additional GBP 4.1 million for the BBC World Service as part of a cross-government effort to tackle disinformation in Russia and Ukraine, as well as new financial and policing support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes,” the statement said.

“[The] emergency funding to support its Ukrainian and Russian language services in the region… has been provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and FCDO,” it said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said “the BBC… corporation in Russia is far from playing the last role in undermining domestic political stability and security in our country.”

On March 4, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked the websites of a number of publications, including the BBC Russian service. The reason for the restriction was “the purposeful placement on a systematic basis of information materials containing false information about the essence of the special military operation in Ukraine.” (ANI/Sputnik)

With the recent release of the ‘Dasvi’ trailer, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan has been garnering immense praise for his performance in it and seems like his father Amitabh Bachchan is his newest admirer.

The megastar, on Thursday, shared an appreciation tweet for Abhishek in which he expressed that his son has proved to be a fitting ‘uttaradhikaari’.

Sharing the link for the trailer of ‘Dasvi’, Amitabh quoted his father, writer-poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and wrote, “Mere bete, bete hone se tum mere uttradhikari nahi hoge. Jo mere uttradhikari honge, wo mere bete honge – Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Abhishek, tum mere uttradhikari hoge, bus keh diya to keh diya.”

Responding to his father’s appreciation of him on Twitter, Abhishek wrote, “Love you Pa, always and eternally.”

Helmed by Tushar Jalota, ‘Dasvi’ tells the story of Ganga Ram Chaudhary, an “anpadh, corrupt and dil se desi” politician who finds a “nayi chunauti” in prison: education. Apart from Abhishek, the social comedy also stars Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur.

Nimrat will play the role of Bimla Devi, Chaudhary’s wife who has now taken over his chief minister seat while he is in jail. Yami will mark her presence as IPS officer Jyoti Deswal.

Produced by Dinesh Vijan under his banner Maddock Films, Jio Studios, and Bake My Cake Films, ‘Dasvi’ will release on Netflix India and Jio Cinema on April 7. (ANI)

Amid controversy over banning Muslims from setting up stalls at temple fairs in Karnataka, vendors at the historic ‘Kote Marikamba Jatra’ in Shivamogga have put up saffron flags at their stalls.

A Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Deen Dayal defended the practice, saying that it is not wrong to put up saffron flags at the stalls. “The flag is a symbol of Hindu religion. We have accommodated only Hindu vendors to open shops,” he said.

The VHP leader said, “Buyers and sellers should be Hindus. That is the reason, we banned Muslim shops here, as those who are worshipping Hindu deities should do business on our premises.”

The five-day festival of ‘Kote Marikamba Jatra’, where devotees offer prayers to Goddess Marikamba, commenced on March 23 with only Hindus being permitted to set up stalls.

At several other fairs across the state as well, some temple authorities and organizing committees of fairs have barred Muslims from doing business, after the hijab row in Karnataka. For years, Muslims have been setting up stalls at such annual fairs at temples.

In the backdrop of protest against wearing hijab at educational institutions, some of the temple authorities and organising committees have barred Muslim traders from participating in the festival, the first such incident in the state.

Several organisations objected to the participation of Muslim traders after many of them had closed their shops to protest the Karnataka High Court verdict upholding the state’s ban on hijabs at educational institutions. (ANI)

In a swiftly coordinated medical evacuation undertaken by Indian Coast Guards (Kerala and Mahe), an ailing mariner was rescued on Wednesday off Kochi.

According to the Naval press release, a 61-year-old mariner John A Jimenez of the ro-ro motor vessel Grand Neptune off Kochi coast was evacuated at 3.30 pm on Wednesday after a vessel raised medical distress at 8.30 am.

The patient was critical, requiring immediate hospitalisation, the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) in Kochi was informed.

“Considering the gravity of the situation and fulfilling the Coast Guard mandate of providing assistance to distressed mariner at Sea, MRSC (Kochi) initiated the evacuation operation. Meanwhile, MV Grand Neptune was directed to approach Kochi harbour to reduce response time,” the release added.

MRSC (Kochi) liaised with agencies such as Customs, Immigration, Health Department and port control for necessary clearance.

The note further read, “At 4.30 pm the vessel reached off Kochi harbour anchorage and adhering to all COVID-19 Protocol and safety standards, the patient was safely transferred to vessel Tug Ocean Pioneer.”

The patient was later shifted to Renai Medicity Hospital in Kochi. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded Government-e-Marketplace (GeM) for achieving annual procurement of Rs 1 lakh crore in Financial Year 2021-22, stating that the platform is empowering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) with 57 per cent of order value coming from the sector.

The GeM is the national public procurement portal for the procurement of goods and services for Central and State government organisations.

“Happy to know that Government e Marketplace (GeM) has achieved order value of Rs 1 lakh crore in a single year! This is a significant increase from previous years. The GeM platform is especially empowering MSMEs, with 57 per cent of order value coming from the MSME sector,” PM Modi said in a tweet.

As per the data, the annual procurement was Rs 38580 crore in the FY 20-21, in FY 19-20 it was Rs 22991 crore, in FY 18-19 the procurement was Rs 17462 crore, FY 17-18 it was Rs 6188 crore and in the year 2016-17 the annual procurement was Rs 422 crore.

It is further empowering the “Aatmanirbhar Narishakti” with the launch of “Womaniya for Women entrepreneurs and Women-led Self-Help Groups (SHG)”, direct selling of handicrafts, handlooms, accessories, etc. directly to ministries and departments. It is also providing training for women entrepreneurs by various national and state women organisations. (ANI)

Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli shared a throwback picture relishing his stylish knock in the cash-rich league ahead of the start of the much-awaited season of the Indian Premier League.

IPL 2022 will begin with the Chennai Super Kings taking on the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

The 2016 finalist RCB will lock horns with Punjab Kings in their first match of the tournament on Sunday. Kohli shared a picture on micro-blogging app Koo expressing his excitement ahead of the opening match.

“Not too long to go now,” Virat Kohli captioned the post on Koo.

Meanwhile, RCB has named former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis as the new skipper of the franchise. Kohli is happy and excited to pass on the baton to the former Protea captain.

“First and foremost the most important news is that Faf is going to be the captain of RCB and I couldn’t be happier to pass on the baton to a good friend. Someone that I have known well over the years. We have been in touch for many years now and he is one of the few guys I have known apart from cricket and we get along really well. So, absolutely excited for him to lead RCB. To lead this amazing franchise and to play under him,” Kohli had said on Twitter earlier this month.

Coming to IPL matches, the games will be played across stadiums in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune with an audience occupancy rate of 25 per cent as per COVID-19 protocols.

In all, 20 matches each will be held at Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium, 15 matches each at Brabourne and MCA International Stadium in Pune. (ANI)

Following the direction of the Calcutta High Court, CCTV cameras are being installed in the violence-affected area of Rampurhat in West Bengal where eight people died after their houses were set ablaze.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the Rampurhat incident, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to install CCTV cameras for round-the-clock surveillance. The Court has also directed the state government to submit a status report on the incident in 24 hours (by around 2 pm on Thursday).

A total of eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal’s Birbhum on Tuesday after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh.

Ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Rampurhat on Thursday, Superintendent of Police of Birbhum, Nagendra Nath Tripathi inspected the village along with a large contingent of the police personnel.

A special investigation team has been formed to probe the matter. (ANI)