‘1st time in Independent India': US on 'affecting status' of Muslims with CAA, NRC

News Network
December 27, 2019

Washington, Dec 27: The amended Citizenship law along with a National Register of Citizens (NRC) being planned by the Narendra Modi government "may affect the status" of Muslim minority in India, a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has said.

The December 18 report also said that for the first time in independent India's history, a religious criterion has been added to the country's naturalization process.

The CRS is an independent research wing of the US Congress which prepares reports periodically on issues of domestic and global importance for the lawmakers to take informed decision. These are not considered as official reports of the US Congress.

"In tandem with a National Register of Citizens (NRC) planned by the federal government, the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) may affect the status of India's large Muslim minority of roughly 200 million," said the CRS in its first ever report on the amended Citizenship law.

According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, non-Muslim refugees who came to India till December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given Indian citizenship.

Since both houses of Parliament approved amendments to the citizenship law earlier this month, protests - sometimes violent - have taken place across the country during which many protesters have died, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

"India's Citizenship Act of 1955 prohibited illegal immigrants from becoming citizens. Among numerous amendments to the act since 1955, none contained a religious aspect," the CRS said in its two-page report.

The changes sparked significant controversy, including large-scale and sometimes violent protests. Opponents of the CAA warn that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are pursuing a Hindu majoritarian, anti-Muslim agenda that threatens India's status as an officially secular republic and violates international human rights norms, it said.

The CRS claims that the amendment's key provisions allowing immigrants of six religions from three countries a path to citizenship while excluding Muslims may violate certain Articles of the Indian Constitution, in particular Articles 14 and 15.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act was immediately challenged in the Supreme Court by scores of petitioners, but the court has refused to issue a stay on implementation and is deferring hearing petitions until January 22, it notes, adding that the government argues that the three specified countries have a state religion -- Islam -- resulting in persecution of religious minorities.

"Proponents say that Muslims do not face persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Afghanistan, and that the CAA is constitutional because it addresses migrants rather than Indian citizens," it said.

"Yet it is not clear why migrants from other neighbouring countries with state (or favoured) religions, such as Sri Lanka (where Buddhism is the official religion and Tamil Hindus face persecution) and Burma (where Buddhism enjoys primacy and Rohingya Muslims are persecuted), are excluded from a path to citizenship. In addition, oppressed Muslim minority communities such as Pakistan's Ahmadis and Shias enjoy no protection under the CAA," the CRS said.

"The New Delhi government maintains that the NRC update is a fair and non-discriminatory process driven by the Supreme Court that does not impose a religious test or render any persons 'stateless'," it said adding that the United Nations, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom, and independent human rights groups have expressed concerns about NRC.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 30,2020

Wayanad, Jan 30: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday compared Mahatma Gandhi assassin Nathuram Godse with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying both believed in the same ideology.

Gandhi, at an anti-CAA rally here, launched a scathing attack on Modi and said he was making Indians to prove that they are Indians.

Addressing participants at "Save the Constitution" march at Kalpetta in Wayanad, his Lok Sabha constituency on Martyr's Day, Gandhi said there was no difference between Godse and Modi.

"Today, an ignorant man is trying to challenge Gandhi's ideology. He is creating an atmosphere of hatred. The ideology is same. Nathuram Godse and Narendra Modi, they believe in the same ideology. There is no difference except that Modi does not have the guts to say he believes in the ideology of Godse," the Wayanad MP said.

Attacking the Prime Minister on the new Citizenship Law, Gandhi questioned Modi and asked who was he to ask Indians to prove that they were Indians.

"Indians are being made to prove that they are Indians. Who is Narendra Modi to decide who is an Indian. Who gave Modi the licence to ask for my Indianness? I know I am an Indian and I don't have to prove it to anyone. Likewise, 1.4 billion Indians do not have to prove that they are Indians," he said.

The Congress leader led the march here as part of efforts to intensify the party's protests against CAA in the state.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 4,2020

Beijing/Zurich, Mar 4: China has approved the use of Swiss drugmaker Roche's anti-inflammation drug Actemra for patients who develop severe complications from the coronavirus as it urgently hunts for new ways to combat the deadly infection that is spreading worldwide.

China is hoping that some older drugs could stop severe cytokine release syndrome (CRS), or cytokine storms, an overreaction of the immune system which is considered a major factor behind catastrophic organ failure and death in some coronavirus patients.

Actemra, a biologic drug approved in 2010 in the United States for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inhibits high Interleukin 6 (IL-6) protein levels that drive some inflammatory diseases.

China's National Health Commission said in treatment guidelines published online on Wednesday that Actemra can now be used to treat coronavirus patients with serious lung damage and high IL-6 levels.

Separately, researchers in the country are testing Actemra, known generically as tocilizumab, in a clinical trial expected to include 188 coronavirus patients and running until May 10.

Roche, which donated 14 million yuan ($2.02 million) worth of Actemra during February, said the trial was initiated independently by a third party with the aim of exploring the efficacy and safety of the drug in coronavirus patients with CRS.

It added that there was currently no published clinical trial data on the drug's safety or efficacy against the virus.

More than 3,000 people have died and 93,000 have been infected by the novel coronavirus thought to have originated in Wuhan, China, before spreading to around 90 countries including the United States, Italy, Switzerland, France and Germany.

The Swiss company, for which China is its No. 2 market behind the United States, also makes diagnostic gear to detect the coronavirus.

Since Actemra's approval a decade ago, it has become a go-to drug against other inflammatory conditions, including cytokine storms in cancer patients receiving cell therapies from Novartis and Gilead Sciences.

In 2012 it helped save the life of a young U.S. girl, the first child to be treated for leukaemia with Novatis' Kymriah, from a post-treatment rush of IL-6.

Priced at between $20-30,000 annually for RA according to SSR Health, Roche's medicine is also used for rare juvenile arthritis and giant cell arteritis, or inflammation of the blood vessels.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 3,2020

Daman, Mar 3: A BJP councillor was shot dead on Monday in the Union Territory of Daman, police said.

Salim Memon was sitting in his motorcycle showroom when three to four unidentified persons shot four to five bullets after asking a visitor there to move out, an official said quoting eye-witnesses.

While fleeing, they also shot two rounds close to this visitor who was standing outside, he said.

"Memon was rushed to a hospital in Marwad area but was declared dead on arrival. CCTV footage is being scanned to nab the culprits," said Daman Superintendent of Police Vikramjit Singh.

Memon was elected to Daman municipality as a Congress candidate but then switched over to the BJP.

Sources said Memon, who also has a land brokerage business, had come out of jail a few months back in connection with a case of rivalry.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.