Opposition leaders slam Karnataka Budget

Bengaluru, Apr 19: A recent government order prohibiting congregations, Ramadan prayers is discriminatory and needs to be withdrawn, JD(S) MLC B M Farookh has demanded.

In a letter to the chief secretary, Farookh pointed out that the order contained certain conditions such as restriction of the use of public address system and delivering Azan in low decibels, which had nothing to do with the prevention of Covid-19 disease.

“These days, Azan includes a call for the community to pray at home and does not offer namaz at mosque. The order also prohibits preparation and distribution of porridge, which has always been taken up in the interest of the poor. The High Court has noted that the relief distribution by NGOs or individuals should not be prevented and the state machinery has to coordinate the same by ensuring social distancing. The ban on distribution of porridge by mosques amounts to discrimination. The order needs to be withdrawn or revisited,” he wrote in his letter.

Further, observing that a religious fair was conducted in Kalaburagi recently, in violation of the government’s social distancing norms, Farookh sought the government to ensure that social distancing norms are enforced with regard to festivals of all communities without discrimination.

Mysuru, Mar 18: Even though the migration season is coming to end and the winged visitors are set to fly back, the water bodies where most birds nest and breed are under close surveillance with the report about spread of bird flu in Mysuru as unusual death of birds can be a cause for worry and hence the authorities are on high alert.

At Karanji Lake, the birds are watched in detail twice – morning and evening. If any sick bird or dead bird is noticed, the Zoo Vets are alerted. So far, no such birds had been sighted. The surveillance data is maintained every day. Intensive surveillance and passive surveillance is done.

Zoo Authority of Karnataka (ZAK) Member Secretary B P Ravi said the birds are doing well and there is no cause for worry with their health monitored constantly along with tests on the bird droppings done every month at the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal.

New Delhi, Jan 14: The Kerala government has challenged the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) before the Supreme Court, becoming the first state to do so amid nationwide protests against the religion-based citizenship law. The Supreme Court is already hearing over 60 petitions against the law.

Kerala's Left-led government in its petition calls the CAA a violation of several articles of the constitution including the right to equality and says the law goes against the basic principle of secularism in the constitution.

The Kerala government has also challenged the validity of changes made in 2015 to the Passport law and the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, regularising the stay of non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India before 2015.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), eases the path for non-Muslims in the neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to become Indian citizens. Critics fear that the CAA, along with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), will discriminate against Muslims.

The Kerala petition says the CAA violates Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the constitution.

While Article 14 is about the right to equality, Article 21 says "no person will be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law". Under Article 25, "all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience."

Several non-BJP governments have refused to carry out the NRC in an attempt to stave off the enforcement of the citizenship law.

Over 60 writ petitions have been filed in Supreme Court so far against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Various political parties, NGOs and also MPs have challenged the law.

The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on January 22.

During the last hearing, petitioners didn't ask that the law be put on hold as the CAA was not in force. The Act has, however, come into force from January 10 through a home ministry notification.