The Odisha government on Monday began the process of tranquillising Sundari, the tigress which supposedly killed a man in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR). The death had triggered a massive uproar in forest-side villages, with an irate mob resorting to large-scale violence on Sunday. Of the eight forest staff detained …
Read More »Monthly Archives: October 2018
Guj: 3 lion cubs found dead near Gir, infighting suspected
The carcasses of three lion cubs were on Monday found on the outskirts of a village in Amreli district near the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, Forest Department officials said. Primary investigation has revealed that the cubs, in the age group of 4 to 5 months, were killed by male lions during …
Read More »Three injured in attack by wild elephants in Assam
Three persons were injured when wild elephants attacked them at Neamatighat in upper Assam’s Jorhat district on Sunday. The elephants had entered the area in search of food and attacked three persons and damaged seven huts and five shops, said forest officials on Monday. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/three-injured-in-attack-by-wild-elephants-in-assam/article25292278.ece
Read More »Supreme Court to list review petitions today
The Bench had said “treating women as the children of a lesser God is to blink at the Constitution.” It was a “form of untouchability” abolished decades ago. The ban on women was derogatory to equal citizenship. The right to practise religion should yield to the right of dignity of …
Read More »‘Why are regulators soft with scribes?’
“This is like a velvet fist inside a velvet glove. It is of no use… If there is criminal liability involved, there should be prosecution launched under a penal statute,” Justice Lokur said categorically. Though the oral observations from the Bench came during the hearing of a petition filed by …
Read More »SC dismisses plea to lower marriageable age of men
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL petition seeking a judicial order to lower the legal marriageable age of men from 21 to 18 years. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi imposed Rs. 25,000 costs on petitioner-lawyer Asok Pande, and said there was no public …
Read More »Experts’ group to cut school bag weight formed, court told
Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) informed the Madras High Court on Monday that an Experts’ Group has been constituted to formulate a draft policy on reducing the weight of school bags in proportion to the age and average weight of children. Justice N. Kirubakaran was told that the …
Read More »Lower judiciary vacancies unacceptable: SC
The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of over 5,000 vacancies in the lower judiciary across the country, saying the situation is “wholly unacceptable”. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi found that even the official statistics provided by various High Courts on the recruitment …
Read More »‘In urban U.P., 87% of waste from toilets goes to rivers, farmlands’
While urban Uttar Pradesh has an 80% coverage of toilets, inefficient sanitation systems ensure that almost 87% of the excreta being generated by these toilets is being dumped in waterbodies or agricultural lands, according to a new analysis of 30 cities by the Centre for Science and Environment. “With 2019 …
Read More »SC to list review petitions today
The Supreme Court decided to consider on Tuesday when it will hear multiple review petitions filed against its September 28 majority judgment allowing women of all ages entry into the famed Sabarimala temple in Kerala. Responding to an oral mentioning to urgently list the petitions, Chief Justice of India Ranjan …
Read More »Why are media regulators soft with scribes, asks SC
The Supreme Court on Monday said media regulators tend to wear a “velvet fist inside a velvet glove” when it comes to dealing with journalists and media organisations whose actions, like revealing the identity of a rape survivor, make them criminally liable. It is a crime under the Protection of …
Read More »Modi steps in as CBI begins to probe its own leadership
As the Central Bureau of Investigation’s second-in-command Rakesh Asthana was embroiled in a bribery case, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval swung into damage control, asking CBI Director Alok Verma to ensure the government’s image was not tarnished. Mr. Verma briefed the Prime Minister on Sunday …
Read More »Ladies’ Conference, Mysore.
The first Ladies’ Conference in Mysore was held on the 18th afternoon in the Maharani’s College Hall, Mysore, under the Presidency of Mrs. Chandrasekhara Iyer. About 200 ladies attended. The proceedings began with an invocation song tastefully rendered by four young ladies of the High School classes. Mrs. Chandrasekhara Iyer …
Read More »Burma Rice Trade.
On Friday [October 18], the “Rangoon Times” extracted an article from the “Bombay Chronicle” of the 12th October setting forth a scheme for the handling of the rice trade in Bombay. The rice market was closed on Saturday, but to-day [October 21] the matter was widely discussed and a largely …
Read More »The comeback ‘kid’
The by-election victory of Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto leader of Malaysia’s ruling coalition, marks another milestone in his dramatic comeback, putting him within touching distance of the prime ministership. During a chequered career, as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s deputy in the 1990s and later as leader of the People’s …
Read More »Avoidable tragedy
The ghastly Dasara disaster at Amritsar that has left 59 people dead is a harsh reminder, if any were needed, that government departments have not yet taken official protocols for safety at mass gatherings seriously. In the aftermath of the entirely preventable carnage, in which spectators crowding a railway track …
Read More »Time to hew a new antiquities law
The construct around a civilisational history frequently emerges from untouched archaeological sites. Consequently, the premium has long been on archaeologists guiding a nation on what constitutes its history, memory and culture. This ingrained notion has foundationally resulted in the framing of India’s laws based on a singular view of what …
Read More »Don’t blame the messenger
On October 17, a front-page report, “Sri Lankan President Sirisena alleges that RAW is plotting his assassination”, in this newspaper became the subject of wild speculation on social media. Some commenters wondered how such a story could find a place in a respected newspaper. There was a striking element that …
Read More »The pilgrimage’s progress
The rules of worship are made, unmade, and remade over time and Sabarimala is no exception I remember seeing the ‘birth’ of Ayyappa on stage during a Kathakali performance. Following the drama of Bhasmasura’s destruction by Vishnu as Mohini, Shiva’s fear turning to gratitude, the two ‘male’ gods retreated behind …
Read More »Lip service to labour rights
Gujarat is one of the top States in India that receive migrant workers, largely temporary and seasonal, on a large scale. In Gujarat, they work in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs in a wide range of activities such as in agriculture, brick kilns and construction work, salt pans and domestic work, …
Read More »