Karnataka IAS body urges Siddaramaiah to act against BJP MLC's vulgar remarks
In response, a delegation of senior IAS officers, including Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary (Energy and Water Resources), Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Managing Director of KPTCL, Khushboo Goel Chowdhary, MD of KSSIDC, and Cauvery BB, Secretary to Government, met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and handed over a letter of condemnation on behalf of the association.They described the remarks as not only vulgar and defamatory but also damaging to the credibility of public institutions and demoralising to the civil service.The association also expressed concern over what it called a disturbing pattern of behaviour by Ravi Kumar, recalling that just weeks ago he had made similar disparaging comments about Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner Fouzia Taranum. At a public event in Gulbarga, he questioned her nationality, saying: 'I don't know whether the Kalaburagi DC has come from Pakistan or is an IAS officer here.' That comment had already led to a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and drew sharp criticism from the Karnataka High Court, which asked him to apologise.In their statement, the IAS Officers' Association reiterated its solidarity with both officers targeted by the MLC and stressed the need to protect civil servants from political intimidation. 'Upholding respect in civil service is crucial, and any statement that promotes a culture of disrespect sends the wrong message to officers serving the state,' they said, urging the government to take corrective measures and ensure accountability.- EndsMust Watch
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The Hindu
13 minutes ago
- The Hindu
A deliberate strategy to usher in a communal order
On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Indian Constitution, the Supreme Court of India reaffirmed the foundational character of the Indian Republic by upholding the inclusion of the words 'secular' and 'socialist' in the Constitution's Preamble. These words, introduced through the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, by the Indira Gandhi-led government during the Emergency, have been the target of repeated political and legal attacks by right-wing forces. Dismissing a batch of petitions challenging these additions, a Bench of the Supreme Court recently upheld the addition of these words, arguing that the mere absence of these terms in the original Preamble adopted on November 26, 1949, cannot invalidate their inclusion. This legal reaffirmation was a powerful signal from the judiciary. But the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological backbone of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), chose to launch a fresh offensive on the very idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution. RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale made a brazen demand: the removal of 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Preamble, which, according to him, were alien to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's constitutional vision. The Vice-President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, went a step further, terming the insertion of these words as 'sacrilege to the spirit of Sanatan'. It is no coincidence that these statements are being made from some of the highest offices of the land. This is not an intellectual debate. This is a deliberate political strategy to delegitimise the modern, plural, democratic republic of India and to usher in a communal and hierarchical order. An agenda, from fringe to mainstream When the Constitution was being framed, the Constituent Assembly, emphatically and unanimously, supported the idea of a secular state. Not a single member argued for a theocratic state. The idea of India was built on the foundations of unity in diversity — a rejection of colonial divide-and-rule, of communal politics, and of caste and religious supremacy. Today, the RSS-BJP establishment is working relentlessly to dismantle that consensus and impose the idea of a Hindu Rashtra. This agenda has moved from fringe rhetoric to the political mainstream. On the day of the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a provocative statement equating 'Ram with Rashtra and Dev with Desh'. This kind of fusion of religion and state is exactly what the framers of the Constitution warned against. 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He warned that if India became a theocracy, it could only be a Hindu state, raising questions about the status and security of those who would be excluded from such a polity. Jaspat Roy Kapoor, on November 21, 1949, noted that Gandhi had made it clear: religion should be a personal matter. On November 22, 1949, Begum Aizaz Rasul called secularism 'the most outstanding feature' of the Constitution and expressed hope that it would remain 'guarded and unsullied'. On October 14, 1949, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel reassured the nation that the Constitution of free India would not be 'disfigured by any provision on a communal basis.' And on November 23, T.J.M. Wilson warned that the clouds threatening India's secular character were already forming. These warnings were not alarmist but were deeply perceptive, and speak with urgency to our times. The present RSS-led campaign is also aimed at discrediting and eliminating the socialist orientation of the Constitution. 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The RSS's demand to remove the terms 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution is part of a long-term project to dismantle the very edifice of the modern Indian Republic and to institutionalise a new order built on religious supremacy, caste hierarchy, market fundamentalism, and political authoritarianism. The need for resistance This must be resisted — through public awareness, legal challenge, political mobilisation, and mass democratic struggle. The Constitution is not just a legal document. It is a political, social, and moral covenant forged in the crucible of our freedom struggle. It embodies the dreams of countless martyrs, revolutionaries, and constitutionalists who envisioned an India that belonged to all its people. To defend secularism and socialism today is to defend democracy itself. It is to defend the right of every citizen — regardless of faith, caste, class, or gender — to live with dignity, equality, and freedom. The Republic must be protected, nourished, and, if necessary, defended against those who seek to destroy it from within. Let us rise to that responsibility, with courage, with clarity, and with collective resolve. D. Raja is General Secretary, Communist Party of India
India Gazette
16 minutes ago
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PM Modi-led BJP govt provided vaccine to 130 crore Indians: Amit Shah
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Business Standard
18 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Centre notifies rules on portal, database, audit of Waqf properties
The Centre has notified the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Rules, 2025 that deal with issues such as the portal and database of Waqf properties, the manner of their registration, conduct of audit and maintenance of accounts. The rules were notified on Thursday in exercise of powers under Section 108B of the 1995 Act, which was inserted through the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, which came into effect from April 8, 2025. According to the rules, a portal and database is set up for the purposes of filing of details of Waqf, uploading the list of auqaf, registration of new Waqf, maintenance of register of auqaf and maintenance and submission of accounts of mutawalli of a Waqf, publication of audit report and proceedings and order board under Section 48 of the Act. The joint secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Minority Affairs in-charge of the Waqf division shall be responsible for the supervision and control of the portal and database, the rules notified said. The portal and database shall contain the details and fields referred to in the Act, monitoring and management of Waqf properties and related data, court cases, resolution of disputes and such other details and fields as are necessary for the filing of details of the Waqf and the property dedicated to it on the portal and database. Every state government shall appoint an officer not below the rank of a joint secretary to that government as the nodal officer and shall establish a centralised support unit, in consultation with the central government for providing assistance in streamlining uploading of details of Waqf and properties thereof, registration, maintenance of accounts, audit and other related activities of the Waqf and the board, the rules stated. The portal and database shall include features for real-time monitoring of registration of new Waqf and filing details of the Waqf and properties dedicated to the Waqf, institutional governance, court cases and dispute resolution, financial oversight and resource management, and for surveys and development thereof, the rules stated. Every mutawalli shall enrol on the portal and database by using his mobile number and e-mail address through authentication by one-time password (OTP) received from the portal and database and thereafter be able to access the portal and database and file details of his Waqf and property dedicated to the Waqf. After enrolment, the mutawalli shall be able to login the portal and database by using his mobile number and e-mail ID with OTP for future use of the portal and database in respect of his Waqf. A mutawalli is the manager or administrator of a Waqf property, which is an Islamic charitable endowment. Every user of the portal and database, including board, collector, designated officer under Section 3C of the Act, and other officers of the central government and state government dealing with Waqf shall also have access to the portal and database under this rule. Central Waqf Council shall have access to the information uploaded on the portal and database.
