1. Allahabad HC Gives Adityanath Govt 10 Days For Slaughterhouse Plan
Choice of food and trade in foodstuff were part of right to life, the Allahabad High Court has said, giving the UP government 10 days to draw up a plan so that its crackdown on illegal abattoirs and meat shops didn’t deprive people of their livelihood or food.
The court’s Lucknow bench also said various food habits had flourished in Uttar Pradesh and these were an essential part of the state’s secular culture. It was responding to a petition of a trader who sought directions for the government to renew his meat shop licence because the delay was preventing him from carrying on his trade.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Won't Let Go of PoK, Gilgit-Baltistan, Says Government
India reiterated its claims on Wednesday over Jammu and Kashmir territories under Pakistani occupation amid reports that Islamabad was planning to declare Gilgit-Baltistan a new province.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asserted in the Lok Sabha that it was incorrect to assume that India would let go of any part of its territory as the government was bound by a resolution in Parliament.
She also said that BJP's inspiration stemmed from the party's ideologue and Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee's sacrifice for the cause to establish Kashmir as an integral part of the country.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Sword-Wielding Marchers Power Saffron Shows of Strength, Mamata Issues Warning
Bengal on Wednesday gaped at the unfamiliar sight of sword-brandishing, saffron-clad men, women and children marching down the streets to celebrate Ram Navami, prompting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to warn against the appropriation of religious festivals and symbols.
The RSS claimed "peaceful" participation of at least six lakh people in 200 processions - a display of might without saffron precedent in the state.
From processions with swords, spears and bows and arrows to bike rallies festooned with saffron flags, the shows of strength ruled the roads in numerous pockets of Birbhum, Burdwan, Nadia, East and West Midnapore, Darjeeling and Malda.
(Source: The Telehraph)
4. Wrong to Link Attacks on African Nationals With Racism: Government
In the wake of repeated attacks on African nationals in Greater Noida, UP recently, following which African nations reacted strongly and alleged that the attacks are racist and xenophobic, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday told Parliament that it was wrong to link the case with racism before the "impartial probe" being conducted into the case gets over.
In fact she said, these were criminal offences and had nothing to do with racial violence.
“It is not right to link this with racism before the probe ends. I said this in context of attacks in the United States too,” Swaraj said, while speaking on the issue in Lok Sabha, during zero hour when the issue was taken up.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Triple Talaq Back in Focus After Hyderabad Man’s Arrest
The arrest of 38-year-old Mohammad Haneef of Hyderabad, who divorced his wife a day after his marriage through a postcard pronouncing triple talaq, has once again brought back the focus on the practice.
The Hyderabad Police added Section 376 (rape) of the IPC in the case after the victim charged that the accused married her for sexual exploitation.
“The accused got bail in the case. We’re now probing the sexual exploitation angle,” South Zone DCP V. Satyanarayana told The Hindu.
Police decided to re-arrest Haneef on the sexual assault charge after seeking cancellation of the bail granted to him.
(Source: The Hindu)
6. China Says Dalai Lama’s Arunachal Visit Won’t Benefit ‘Obstinate’ India, Lodges Protest
China launched a diplomatic attack on India on Wednesday for “obstinately” arranging the 14th Dalai Lama’s visit to the “disputed region” of Arunachal Pradesh, demanding an immediate stop to his ongoing tour and summoning Indian ambassador VK Gokhale to lodge a protest.
The visit will for sure trigger China’s dissatisfaction. This will not bring any benefit to India. The Chinese side will take necessary means to defend its territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests.Hua Chunying, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson
Former ambassador AK Kantha had been summoned by the foreign affairs ministry after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh in February 2015.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. 50 Radicalised Indian Youths Have Crossed Over to the 'Other Side': Sushma Swaraj
Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that a conference India was hosting with Asean nations would focus on the need to deradicalise youth being drawn to extremism.
She also said around 50 radicalised Indian youth have crossed over to the "other side", but added Indian ethos and culture that stressed on the role of family has contained the effects of radicalisation.
The issue of radicalisation is not limited to Jammu and Kashmir, but other states as well and the entire world too, she said during question hour.
Responding to MIM leader Asaduddin Owaissi's suggestion that clerics should be involved in the effort as they might have more standing than political leaders, she said the view will be considered.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. Now, the Reality Bites of Liquor Ban
As trouble brews and livelihoods suffer over the Supreme Court’s ban on retail liquor outlets and bars along the National and the State highways, practical issues raised in the courtroom by the Attorney-General, the States and liquor traders about the adverse impact of a blanket ban have come alive, challenging the rationale of the court’s decision.
The 31 March order, which largely confirmed the 15 December 2016 judgement with certain modifications, said the ban was sourced from the court’s “overarching concern for public health”.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Justices DY Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao dismissed warnings by lawyers that a “one-size-fits-all” approach would spell more harm than good.
(Source: The Hindu)
9. Ban Cow Slaughter, Says Congress MLA
A senior Congress lawmaker in Gujarat, Gyasuddin Shaikh, has demanded that the cow should be declared the “national animal” and has requested all slaughterhouse owners and operators in Ahmedabad and Gujarat to ensure that the cow or its progeny is not slaughtered anywhere in the State.
Mr Shaikh, along with a group of Muslim community leaders, appealed to those engaged in running slaughter houses after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat amended the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act on 31 March to make cow slaughter punishable with life imprisonment, a first in the country.
“Muslims, and particularly those involved in the meat business, must respect religious sentiments in order to maintain communal harmony in the State,” said Mr Shaikh, a legislator representing the Dariapur Assembly segment in Ahmedabad city.
(Source: The Hindu)
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