India Archive

As per the 2001 census, the scheduled tribes form 31.8 per cent of the total population in the state of Chhattisgarh. How many of these remain in the Hindu fold is unknown. 

“I was told by a doctor at Dhamtari Christian Hospital that I have cancer from head to toe. They said I might not survive. Then a nurse advised me to come here for healing prayer sessions and surrender myself to Christ. I took her advice and came here and I am all fine now,” narrated a woman from a village in Dhamtari district, Chhattisgarh.

The eviction drive has been going on since September 20 in Dholpur 1 and Dholpur 3 villages in Sipajhar area. While the status of the injured person could not be ascertained, the police reported two casualties and maintained that 11 police personnel, including a DSP, were injured in the eviction drive at Dholpur.

One of the BJP government’s major poll promises before assembly elections in 2016 and 2021 was to free government land and land belonging to temples and monasteries from “encroachers” and allot them to “indigenous landless people” of the state. Similar drives evicted 70 families in Hojai’s Lanka town and 25 families in Sonitpur’s Jamugurihat town this June.

In Sipajhar, the government plans to implement a multi-crore ‘Garukhuti Project’—announced in the state budget 2021-22—which aims to use the land freed up for afforestation and agriculture activities involving indigenous youth. Such drives have often drawn criticism from opposition parties and human rights activists over the eviction of people without a proper rehabilitation plan.

ttacking Hindu rituals in the garb of making a feminist point has become a trend these days and multiple brands have been hopping on the bash-Hindu-rituals bandwagon. Taking no notes from Tanishq’s ad fiascos, clothing brand Manyavar took to hurting Hindu religious sentiments through their latest commercial.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes on Saturday issued a statement over the ongoing Income Tax raids against actor Sonu Sood. After conducting searches for three days in a row, the IT department said Sood had evaded taxes to the tune of over Rs 20 crores. 

Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday (18 September) resigned as the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Singh reached the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh at around 4.30 pm and submitted his resignation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Government has decided to impose a ban on firecrackers for a third consecutive year. In a tweet, Chief Minister Kejriwal said, “In view of the dangerous condition of Delhi’s Pollution during Diwali for the last three years, like last year, a complete ban is being imposed on the storage, sale and use of all types of firecrackers. So that people’s lives can be saved.”

A week after the death of Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, his close aide Masarat Alam Bhat has been named the chairman of the hardliner group All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). Shabir Ahmad Shah and Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar, both, elected as vice-chairmen of the group. Bhat and Shah are both currently lodged in jail.

Geelani had formed the hardliner organisation and was his lifetime chairman but they had not announced a new head until after his death on 1st September, 2021.

On July 7, veteran actor Mohammed Yusuf Khan fondly known by his screen name Dilip Kumar passes away at Hinduja Hospital in Khar, Mumbai. As per reports, he was admitted to the hospital on June 30 after complaining of breathlessness. Two brothers of the actor Aslam Khan (88) and Ehsan Khan (90) passed away last year due to complications associated with Covid-19.

After two issues in a row surfaced, the once-receding ‘India Out’ campaign has started gaining new traction in Maldives, to the embarrassment of President Mohamed Solih, the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and others in the country who wanted further momentum in the bilateral ties between India and Maldives. The ‘Lakshadweep row’, which is considered to be a domestic issue in India, and New Delhi’s premature media alert on the opening of a consulate at Addu City in the sensitive south, have both pushed the targeted bomb-attack on Speaker Mohammed Nasheed out from the limelight.

In May 2020, when the Maldives called out Pakistan's attempt to target India at a virtual meet of the Organisation of Islamic Countries and deafened New Delhi against the allegations of Islamaphobia, Maldivian journalist Ahmed Azaan was visibly upset.