New Delhi, April 12: The Cabinet has approved compulsory registration of all marriages, irrespective of the religion.
The move has been prompted by the consideration to help those opting for inter-faith marriages, along with the need to make the registration of marriages a simpler affair.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Last month, the Union Cabinet had also approved proposals seeking amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 and Special Marriage Act of 1954.
Expressing concern over the ban imposed on TikTok by the government of India, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly called the development in the south Asian country “worrisome”.
TikTok was amongst the 59 Chinese apps that were banned in India but why it hogs the maximum limelight because TikTok had the second-largest user base in India with over 200 million users.
As per The Verge writer Casey Newton, Zuckerberg was worried about TikTok’s India ban. Although it soon cashed into the opportunity and released a TikTok clone “Reels”, the government’s reason behind banning the app in India wasn’t received well by Mark Zuckerberg.
He had said that if India can ban a platform with over 200 million users in India without citing concrete reasons, it can also ban Facebook if something goes amiss on the security and privacy front.
Why Mark finds it particularly worrisome because Facebook is already involved in a lot tussle with the governments across the world involving national security concerns.
“Facebook already faces fights around the world from governments on both the left and the right related to issues that fit under the broad umbrella of national security: election interference, influence campaigns, hate speech, and even just plain-old democratic speech. Zuckerberg knows that the leap from banning TikTok on national security grounds to banning Facebook on national security grounds is more of a short hop,” the report by Casey read.
Facebook till now has not faced any kind of issue in India but considering the debacle with the other governments, it is not entirely wrong to worry about its future in India if any national security issue arises. Back in 2016, Facebook’s Free Basics service, which means a free but restricted internet service, was banned in India by the telecom regulators.
The TRAI had said that the Free Basic services were banned in India because it violated the principles of net neutrality. With Free Basics services, Facebook had planned to bring more unconnected users online. But since 2016, there has been no major tussle between the Indian government and Zuckerberg due to national security issues.
New Delhi, Jun 11: India on Thursday rejected a US government report that voiced concerns over alleged attacks and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities in the country.
"Our principled position remains that we see no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said.
He was replying to a question on the report at an online media briefing.
Mandated by the US Congress, the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report' that documents major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday.
"India's vibrant democratic traditions and practices are evident to the world. The people and government of India are proud of our country's democratic traditions," the spokesperson said.
"We have a robust public discourse in India and constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee protection of religious freedom and rule of law," he added.
The India section of the report said that US government officials underscored the importance of respecting religious freedom and promoting tolerance and mutual respect throughout the year with the ruling and opposition parties, civil society and religious freedom activists, and religious leaders belonging to various faith communities.
The report referred to the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last August and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament in December as major highlights for India last year.
New Delhi, Apr 11: Calling upon chief ministers to popularise Aarogya Setu app, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said it will an essential tool in India's fight against coronavirus and referred to the possibility of the app being an "e-pass which could subsequently facilitate travel from one place to other".
Interacting with chief ministers through video conference, the Prime Minister mentioned how South Korea and Singapore had got success in contact tracing and said India has made its own effort through the app amid efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus.
A PMO release said that the Prime Minister spoke about popularizing the Aarogya Setu app to ensure downloads in greater numbers.
"He referred to how South Korea and Singapore got success in contact tracing. Based on those experiences, India has made its own effort through the app which will be an essential tool in India's fight against the pandemic, he said. He also referred to the possibility of the app being an e-pass which could subsequently facilitate travel from one place to another," the release said.
The Prime Minister had earlier this week urged people to download the app saying it is an important step in the fight against COVID-19 and its effectiveness will increase as more people use it.
"Aarogya Setu is an important step in our fight against COVID-19. By leveraging technology, it provides important information. As more and more people use it, it's effectiveness will increase. I urge you all to download it," he had said in a tweet.
The app launched earlier this month in public-private partnership enables people to themselves assess the risk for their catching the coronavirus infection.
The app makes its calculations based on a person's interaction with others, using Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.
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