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Media @ USCIRF Published By: Anonymous WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is deeply troubled by the  passage  of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), originally introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah, in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) given the religion criterion in the bill. The CAB will now move to the Rajya Sabha (Indian Parliament’s Upper House). If the CAB passes in both houses of parliament, the United States government should consider sanctions against the Home Minister and other principal leadership. The  CAB  enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion. The CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith. In conjunction with t...

The Hindu October 08, 2019 By: Sriram Lakshman It’s time for India to lift these restrictions and afford Kashmiris the same rights and privileges as any other Indian citizen, it says Weeks ahead of its Asia Subcommittee hearing on human rights in South Asia, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) said the communications shutdown is having a “devastating impact“ on Kashmiris and called for restrictions to be lifted. “India’s communication blackout in Kashmir is having a devastating impact on the lives and welfare of everyday Kashmiris. It’s time for India to lift these restrictions and afford Kashmiris the same rights and privileges as any other Indian citizen,” the HFAC tweeted. The HFAC account had posted a report by the New York Times that described the death of 22-year-old Amir Farooq Dar. Dar had died 16 hours after being bitten by a snake, because his family could not get him anti-venom in time because of severe communications and movement restrictions ...

Business Standard July 17, 2019 An influential Hindu nationalist group close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party has demanded his government review its plan to raise money by selling foreign currency  bonds . They say it is anti-patriotic as it could create long-term risks for the economy, potentially allowing rich foreign nations and their financial institutions to dictate the country's policies. "We can't allow this to happen," declared Ashwani Mahajan, the co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS was the key founder of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and has people it nurtured in top positions in the government, including Modi himself. Declaring that the SJM will campaign against the plan by convening meetings of influential economists, Mahajan said: "We are confident that government will withdraw its decision on these  bonds . ...

The Indian Express April 17, 2019 Citing lack of transparency, the ADR later challenged the electoral bond scheme in the Supreme Court, which last week asked parties to submit to the EC details of contributions through electoral bonds. DURING 2017-18, the  BJP   earned Rs 200 crore from electoral bonds and the Congress Rs 15 crore, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had said last January based on an analysis of the parties’ tax returns and contribution statements submitted with the Election Commission. No other national party declared any contributions through electoral bonds, according to details released by ADR. Citing lack of transparency, the ADR later challenged the electoral bond scheme in the Supreme Court, which last week asked parties to submit to the EC details of contributions through electoral bonds. Incidentally, the CPM, also a petitioner, had not submitted its returns at the time the ADR released its report. he Rs 200 crore that t...

The Firstpost April 08, 2019 Those who though that the BJP’s 'Sankalp Patra' for 2019 parliamentary polls would carry something in terms of offering a greater dole for greater mass of Indian population to counter Congress’ Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) or Minimum Basic Income Scheme (MBIS) would be disappointed that it didn’t contain anything of that sort. The party did promise pension for senior citizens from the farming community, removal of ceiling of five acres to compensate farmers' input to the tune of Rs 6,000 per year, overhaul of GST and some benefits for small businessmen and traders but that was short of details to qualify for what are called populist promises. There is no ready data available, but given the fact that population boom in India led to fragmentation of land holdings, the number of individual farmers owning two hectares or five acres of land would be small. The quiet inclusion of this section in PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PMKSNY) has bigger...

The Wire July 04,2018 The Wire Staff The Supreme Court delivered its verdict on who among the Delhi government and the lieutenant-governor has supremacy when it comes to making administrative decisions for the national capital. All five judges of the apex court constitution bench held that the LG must respect the decisions made by the elected government, and act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. Celebrating the court’s verdict, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was a “big victory for the people of Delhi” and a “big victory for democracy”. The court produced three separate judgments but concurrent – one authored by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.K. Sikri and A.M. Khanwilar, one by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and one by Justice Ashok Bhushan,  Bar and Bench  reported. The court said that the constitution mandates a federal balance between the state and the Centre, and the Centre cannot usurp powers on areas within the domin...

Financial Express February 16, 2018 The AAP government has spent an average of Rs 70.5 crore annually in the past three years on advertisements -- four times more than the previous government's expenditure on print, electronic and outdoor advertising, according to an RTI reply. The AAP government has spent an average of Rs 70.5 crore annually in the past three years on advertisements — four times more than the previous government’s expenditure on print, electronic and outdoor advertising, according to an RTI reply. In the first year after assuming office in February 2015, the current government spent Rs 59.9 crore on advertisements, Rs 66.3 crore the next year and Rs 85.3 crore up to December 31, 2017, the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) said in reply to an RTI application by IANS. The average annual expenditure of the AAP government on advertisements from April 2015 to December 2017 was Rs 70.5 crore. The Congress’ average was Rs 17.4 crore in the la...

The Indian Express Express News Service February 13, 2018  New Delhi,  Eight declared serious cases, 5 CMs are aged below 50, only 3 women among 31.  Eleven of the country’s 31 incumbent chief ministers, or one-third, declared criminal cases against themselves in their last election affidavits, according to an analysis compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms. Eight of these CMs declared serious criminal cases, such as murder, cheating and criminal intimidation registered against them. The Maharashtra chief minister declared the highest number of cases at 22, including three serious ones, followed by the Kerala CM at 11 cases (1 serious) and the Delhi CM at 10 (4 serious ), the ADR stated in a statement of its findings. In terms of assets declared, N Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh and Amarinder Singh of Punjab are the top three richest chief ministers. At the other end of the scale, Tripura CM Manik Sa...

The Indian Express, Written by Coomi Kapoor |  Published: January 28, 2018 Post-Modi diplomacy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not meet Rahul or Sonia Gandhi during his recent trip to India although it is customary in diplomacy for visiting heads of states to also speak to the leader of Opposition. This was the accepted practice until Narendra Modi came to power. As PM, Modi decreed that a meeting with the Opposition leader should not be included in the official protocol by the Ministry of External Affairs. When the Congress protested that this was against accepted democratic tradition, the government took shelter under the fig leaf that the Congress did not have 10 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha to be officially recognised as the main opposition party. In the past, many important foreign dignitaries, including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, have requested, through their diplomatic channels, for ...

The Economic Times, By AFP | Updated: Dec 10, 2017  An alliance of Nepal's former Maoist rebels and the main Communist party have won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections and are expected to form the next government, according to preliminary results from the election commission late Sunday.  The Communist CPN-UML and the Maoist Party look set for a landslide victory in the landmark polls that mark the end of the Himalayan nation's drawn-out transition to federal democracy 11 years after the end of a brutal civil war.  The leftist alliance has won 84 seats in the national parliament and leads in a further 31, securing a majority.  The incumbent Nepali Congress has so far won just 13 seats, performing worse than expected. The lower house of parliament comprises 165 seats that are directly elected and a further 110 that are allocated to parties based on proportional representation votes. Early tallies show that the Communist allian...

The Economic Times Dec 07, 2017 Political developments within Pakistan and the deepening China-Pakistan nexus are blighting the prospects of stability that our region sorely needs. China’s own highly authoritarian political system that its leadership believes is superior to western democracy, its suppression of dissent and repression of minorities countenance the worst political trends visible in Pakistan’s polity. If the US’ preferential policies towards the military over decades resulted in the stunting of the democratic  institutions in Pakistan, China’s relationship with Pakistan, anchored deeply in the country’s military establishment, is having the same consequence today. The all-weather China-Pakistan relationship can never be good for Pakistan’s democracy because China has no stakes in it, ideological or otherwise.  China is planning to invest billions of dollars in Pakistan, and as we have seen in the case of Zimbabwe where, to protect its heavy investment...

Oct 07, 2017, 07.01 AM IST  Soumya Swaminathan, the newly appointed deputy director general of World Health Organisation, would have to think globally once she assumes office at the UN agency, but she also looks forward to working closely with India, particularly in innovation and affordable technologies.  No Indian has held such a high position in WHO before, but Swaminathan, daughter of MS Swaminathan who changed the face of Indian agriculture with green revolution, considers her appointment a recognition of India's importance.  "I don't take it as a personal recognition, but really a recognition (that)...an Indian voice should be there in the WHO," she told ET in her office at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).  It's a busy day for her, going through stacks of papers and documents, many of which she may want to take a decision on before she steps down as director general of ICMR and secretary at the Indian Department of Health Research...

August 19, 2017 ET Bureau-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday alleged that a directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) probe concluded in 2014 has named the Adani Group in its report charging that the group utilised a network of offshore companies to purchase electrical equipment and then sell it to its Indian counterpart at over 86% above the original value.  Addressing a press conference, AICC spokesperson Ajay Maken claimed that the “entire scam could be estimated at a sum of Rs 50,000 crore, across multiple companies, and affecting various components of power sector including purchase of coal, setting up of plant for generation of electricity and equipment for transmission of power”.  Denying the allegation, Adani Group said the statements and reports were brought out with ulterior motives to create sensationalism.  “As a responsible corporate citizen, all our transactions are always conducted within the framework of extant reg...