BJP mocks CM, ‘confers best actor’ award on him

Bengaluru, Jan 10: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday launched 'Sapthapadi', a mass marriage program in Bengaluru.

The state authorities will provide a mangalsutra worth Rs 40,000 and Rs 5,000 to the groom. They will also give Rs 10,000 to the bride after marriage.

The state government has also informed that the department has shortlisted some temples where the mass marriages will be held.

Yediyurappa also confirmed that the government will help communities like Muslim and Christians also to organise mass marriage as per their respective rituals.

According to the state government guidelines, issued last year in November, both parents of the couple should attend the ceremony if the duo wants to avail benefits of this offer but those who want to marry without their parent's permission do not stand a chance here.

Also, those wanting a love marriage will not be able to reap the benefits of the scheme. The plan is to conduct about 1,000 marriages in 90-100 temples.

The couples wanting to tie the knot are expected to register themselves 30 days before the scheduled date in the temple. Following which a list will be prepared.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 20: One more person tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total number of cases to 25, as the Left government announced a Rs 20,000 crore financial package to tide over the present crisis being faced by the southern state in the wake of the virus outbreak.

The multi-crore special package includes Rs 500 crore health package, Rs 2,000 crore loans and free ration.

The man who tested positive had returned from Dubai and hailed from the northern Kasaragod district, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters after a COVID-19 review meeting.

He said 65 people were hospitalised on Thursday.

"At least 31,173 people are under surveillance, of whom 237 are in observation in hospitals across the state" he said.

Detailing the financial package, Vijayan said loans worth Rs 2,000 crore would be made available to needy families through all-women network 'Kudumbashree' during April-May.

Rural employment guarantee programmes worth Rs 1,000 crore each will be implemented in April-May, he said.

Social security pension of Rs 1,320 crore, to be given in April, would be distributed this month, he said, adding that 50 lakh people are benefited through the pension scheme.

Those belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) and Anthyodaya, who are not receiving social security pension, would be given Rs 1,000 each, for which Rs 100 crore would be earmarked.

Cutting across APL and BPL families, 10 kg free ration would be given and Rs 100 crore would be set apart for the purpose, he said.

A string of 1,000 low-cost hotels, providing food at Rs 20, would be opened across the state next month, the chief minister added.

The 'fitness' charges of autorickshaws and taxis and one month tax of stage and contract carriages would be waived, Vijayan said.

Washington, Apr 29: A US government panel on Tuesday called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a "drastic" downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy, and there is virtually no chance the State Department will follow its lead on India, an increasingly close US ally.

In an annual report, the bipartisan panel narrowly agreed that India should join the ranks of "countries of particular concern" that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.

"In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault," the report said.

It called on the United States to impose punitive measures, including visa bans, on Indian officials believed responsible and grant funding to civil society groups that monitor hate speech.

The commission said that Modi's Hindu nationalist government, which won a convincing election victory last year, "allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity, and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence."

It pointed to comments by Home Minister Amit Shah, who notoriously referred to mostly Muslim migrants as "termites," and to a citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests.

It also highlighted the revocation of the autonomy of Kashmir, which was India's only Muslim-majority state, and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.

Coronavirus state-wise India update: Total number of confirmed cases, deaths on April 29

The Indian government, long irritated by the commission's comments, quickly rejected the report.

"Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels," foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.

"We regard it as an organization of particular concern and will treat it accordingly," he said in a statement.

The State Department designates nine "countries of particular concern" on religious freedom -- China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The commission asked that all nine countries remain on the list. In addition to India, it sought the inclusion of four more -- Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.

Pakistan, India's historic rival, was added by the State Department in 2018 after years of appeals by the commission.

In its latest report, the commission said that Pakistan "continued to trend negatively," voicing alarm at forced conversions of Hindus and other minorities, abuse of blasphemy prosecutions and a ban on the Ahmadi sect calling itself Muslim.

India's citizenship law fast-tracks naturalization for minorities from neighbouring countries -- but not if they are Muslim.

Modi's government says it is not targeting Muslims but rather providing refuge to persecuted people and should be commended.

But critics consider it a watershed move by Modi to define the world's largest democracy as a Hindu nation and chip away at independent India's founding principle of secularism.

Tony Perkins, the commission's chair, called the law a "tipping point" and voiced concern about a registry in the northeastern state of Assam, under which 1.9 million people failed to produce documentation to prove that they were Indian citizens before 1971 when mostly Muslim migrants flowed in during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence.

"The intentions of the national leaders are to bring this about throughout the entire country," Perkins told an online news conference.

"You could potentially have 100 million people, mostly Muslims, left stateless because of their religion. That would be, obviously, an international issue," said Perkins, a Christian activist known for his opposition to gay rights who is close to President Donald Trump's administration.

Three of the nine commissioners dissented -- including another prominent Christian conservative, Gary Bauer, who voiced alarm about India's direction but said the ally could not be likened to non-democracies such as China.

"I am deeply concerned that this public denunciation risks exactly the opposite outcome than the one we all desire," Bauer said.

Trump, who called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the US when he ran for president, hailed Modi on a February visit to New Delhi.