Manipur: Hearing for suicide attempt case against Irom Sharmila postponed
The court hearing in the suicide attempt case against Irom Sharmila on Friday was postponed to December 1 by the judicial magistrate of Imphal East. Sharmila has been on a 14-year hunger strike to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The defence counsel pleaded with the magistrate to postpone the hearing to give Sharmila more time to review the charge-sheet. When exiting the court, Sharmila condemned the racially motivated attacks against people from North East India in other parts of India. She was seen cradling a fully-grown rabbit in her arms as she exited the court.
New Delhi: Teaching Sanskrit should be made compulsory in schools: VHS leader
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal said on Friday that teaching Sanskrit in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan schools should be made compulsory. In Delhi to attend the World Hindu Conference, Singhal added that teaching one foreign language (English) was enough, and that eliminating Sanskrit from school curricula was tantamount to eliminating India. The Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani had earlier stated that the Memorandum of Understanding between KVS and the Goethe Institute-Max Mueller Bhavan to teach German in schools was in violation of Schedule 21 of the Constitution, which marks out the languages with official status.
Uttar Pradesh: Azam Khan wants Sunny Waqf Board to manage Taj Mahal
The Uttar Pradesh minority affairs minister Azam Khan has demanded that the Taj Mahal be handed over to the state’s Sunni Waqf Board, which manages Muslim places of worship and burial grounds. According to Khan, the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum where the bodies of Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal are buried. “Every mausoleum is a waqf so Taj is also waqf property,” he said on Friday. He added that namaz must be allowed five times a day in the complex premises. Currently, prayers are held on Fridays in a mosque just outside the monument. He also said that and income from tourist visits be spent on the education of Muslim children. Khan’s demand has been seen as an attempt to escalate tensions with the Centre in the build-up to the 2017 UP Assembly elections.
Assam: Zoo decides to become first in the world to host pygmy hogs
Last week, the Assam State Zoo decided to house a pygmy hog, becoming the first zoo in the world to do so. According to a statement, the decision has been made to protect critically endangered animals. At present, the pygmy hog numbers only around 200. It measures about 65 cm in length and 25 cm in height. Its original habitat was a strip of wet grassland plains stretching from Uttar Pradesh to Assam, south of the Himalayas. The Basistha Pygmy Hog Research and Breeding Centre in Assam will provide the animals to the zoo, which has installed a simulated habitat by growing Barenga grass collected from the Orang National Park.
Tamil Nadu: AIADMK, BJP fight for credit for release of Tamil fishermen
Since the plane carrying the five fishermen released from death row in Sri Lanka landed in Chennai, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party have clamoured to claim credit for their release. The Sri Lankan navy arrested the fishermen in November 2011 on charges of smuggling drugs into the island nation. After strong reactions in Tamil Nadu, the Centre pursued diplomatic negotiations, resulting in Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa commuting the death penalty. Tamil Nadu BJP party chief Tamilisai Soundarrajan said at a press meet on Thursday that the release would not have been possible without Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said on the same day that the negotiations ensued only because AIADMK party chief J Jayalalithaa urged the Centre to “discharge its moral responsibility”.
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The court hearing in the suicide attempt case against Irom Sharmila on Friday was postponed to December 1 by the judicial magistrate of Imphal East. Sharmila has been on a 14-year hunger strike to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The defence counsel pleaded with the magistrate to postpone the hearing to give Sharmila more time to review the charge-sheet. When exiting the court, Sharmila condemned the racially motivated attacks against people from North East India in other parts of India. She was seen cradling a fully-grown rabbit in her arms as she exited the court.
New Delhi: Teaching Sanskrit should be made compulsory in schools: VHS leader
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal said on Friday that teaching Sanskrit in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan schools should be made compulsory. In Delhi to attend the World Hindu Conference, Singhal added that teaching one foreign language (English) was enough, and that eliminating Sanskrit from school curricula was tantamount to eliminating India. The Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani had earlier stated that the Memorandum of Understanding between KVS and the Goethe Institute-Max Mueller Bhavan to teach German in schools was in violation of Schedule 21 of the Constitution, which marks out the languages with official status.
Uttar Pradesh: Azam Khan wants Sunny Waqf Board to manage Taj Mahal
The Uttar Pradesh minority affairs minister Azam Khan has demanded that the Taj Mahal be handed over to the state’s Sunni Waqf Board, which manages Muslim places of worship and burial grounds. According to Khan, the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum where the bodies of Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal are buried. “Every mausoleum is a waqf so Taj is also waqf property,” he said on Friday. He added that namaz must be allowed five times a day in the complex premises. Currently, prayers are held on Fridays in a mosque just outside the monument. He also said that and income from tourist visits be spent on the education of Muslim children. Khan’s demand has been seen as an attempt to escalate tensions with the Centre in the build-up to the 2017 UP Assembly elections.
Assam: Zoo decides to become first in the world to host pygmy hogs
Last week, the Assam State Zoo decided to house a pygmy hog, becoming the first zoo in the world to do so. According to a statement, the decision has been made to protect critically endangered animals. At present, the pygmy hog numbers only around 200. It measures about 65 cm in length and 25 cm in height. Its original habitat was a strip of wet grassland plains stretching from Uttar Pradesh to Assam, south of the Himalayas. The Basistha Pygmy Hog Research and Breeding Centre in Assam will provide the animals to the zoo, which has installed a simulated habitat by growing Barenga grass collected from the Orang National Park.
Tamil Nadu: AIADMK, BJP fight for credit for release of Tamil fishermen
Since the plane carrying the five fishermen released from death row in Sri Lanka landed in Chennai, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party have clamoured to claim credit for their release. The Sri Lankan navy arrested the fishermen in November 2011 on charges of smuggling drugs into the island nation. After strong reactions in Tamil Nadu, the Centre pursued diplomatic negotiations, resulting in Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa commuting the death penalty. Tamil Nadu BJP party chief Tamilisai Soundarrajan said at a press meet on Thursday that the release would not have been possible without Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said on the same day that the negotiations ensued only because AIADMK party chief J Jayalalithaa urged the Centre to “discharge its moral responsibility”.
