Karnataka’s new cultural policy to curb immoral policing, communal intolerance

coastaldigest.com news network
August 8, 2017

Bengaluru: Aug 8: The Karnataka Cabinet on Monday gave its approval for implementation of a ‘cultural policy’ in the state which among others restricts ‘immoral policing’, decries ‘intolerance’ and promotes communal amity.

Karnataka is perhaps the first in India to have such a comprehensive policy, aimed at promoting Kannada culture and language.

The approval of the policy comes at a time when the state government has been portraying itself as a staunch advocate of the Kannada cause.

Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra said the cultural policy was drafted based on the recommendations of a six-member committee headed by writer Baragur Ramachandrappa.

The committee submitted a 68-page report with 44 recommendations as early as in June 2014. Interestingly, the Cabinet has cleared the policy in the backdrop of the State government’s strong stand on issues such as a separate State flag.

Amongst other things, the recommendations include measures such as setting up of committees on harmony to deal with communal tension in parts of the State and also makes it mandatory for a committee to be formed to consider a ban on any literary work.

Mr. Jayachandra said a grant of ₹59.68 crore would be given for implementing the policy in 2017-18.

The policy would also aim at formulating measures to curb the tendency of banning Kannada books for trivial reasons, decentralisation of the Department of Kannada and Culture, formation of search committees to select chairpersons to various academies and authorities to de-politicise appointments, establishment of art galleries in every district, formulation of separate programmes to help artistes in distress, establishment of separate Bayalata, Sugama Sangeeta and Nritya academies, and giving priority to local cinema culture.

Scholarships

The policy prescribes guidelines for appointments of various heads of academies, selecting personalities for awards, providing scholarships/fellowships, holding programmes at tourist places, construction of Kannada bhavans, and holding exhibitions.

The policy has been approved at a time when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been sparing no opportunity to project himself as a staunch advocate of the Kannada cause.

He has been in the news over the last couple of weeks for his vocal support to issues related to Kannada and culture such as having a separate State flag and removal of Hindi words from Namma Metro signage.

The plan to have a cultural policy was first envisaged during the Janata Dal government in 1996. A Cabinet sub-committee headed by H.K. Patil, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, studied the recommendations, including the financial implications of implementing it. After the sub-committee showed the green signal, the Cabinet approved it.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Law and Parliamentray Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said a one-time grant of Rs 20 crore had been approved to implement the recommendations of the committee. The annual expenditure will be Rs 36.68 crore, he said.

Besides steps to curb moral policing, the policy provides for setting up of art galleries in each district, measures to curb the tendency of banning books for trivial reasons, paying honorarium to help artistes in distress and inclusion of Tulu in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.

The committee had also asked the government not to ban a literary work unilaterally and suggested the formation of search committees to select chairpersons to various academies and authorities.

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News Network
January 23,2025

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President Donald Trump’s pick for the United States ambassador to the United Nations has become the latest administration nominee to voice the belief that Israel has “biblical” dominion over the occupied West Bank.

Elise Stefanik’s comment came during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. 

At the hearing, Elise Stefanik pledged to continue the US’s defense of Israel and advance Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.

Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, further said that she supports the claims made by the far right in Israel that Jews have the “biblical right” to take land from Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Stefanik was definitive when asked if she shared the view of far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and former hawkish minister Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel has a “biblical right to the entire West Bank”.

She responded with one word, “Yes.”

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen further asked Stefanik whether she supported Palestinians' right to self-determination.

Stefanik refused to answer the question directly, saying, “I think they deserve more than the failures that they have suffered under the leadership of terrorists.”

Representative Stefanik was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2014, the youngest woman elected to Congress at the time, at just 30 years old, and represented New York's 21st Congressional District.

She is known to be a staunch advocate of Israel supports its decision to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), 

Stefanik is an advocate of claims by Zionists that that Israeli regime is justified in killing and ethnically cleansing Palestinian Christians and Muslims from their lands and homes.

She made headlines in 2024 by questioning the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about what she claimed was antisemitism on college campuses.

At the time, US students at university campuses all across the country were protesting Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

After positioning herself as a champion in the fight against the alleged rise in antisemitism, Rep. Stefanik began receiving large donations from Republican Jewish donors.

Stefanik has long been one of most ardent defenders Israeli occupation and annexation policy. 

In June 2024, US-Israeli billionaire Miriam Adelson reportedly donated $100 million to Trump for his presidential campaign in exchange for a promise to allow Israel to annex the West Bank. 

Israel's occupation and Jewish settlement of the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 have brought the Palestinian Christian community to the brink of extinction.

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News Network
January 24,2025

Bengaluru, Jan 24: Following several reported suicides allegedly caused by harassment from Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Friday acknowledged that the current laws are insufficient in dealing with the highhandedness of these institutions in the state.

Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, Parameshwara confirmed widespread complaints of MFI-related harassment, stating that existing laws were ineffective in curbing the issue. The Congress government plans to amend the law to ensure stricter regulations for MFIs.

"The reports from our department indicate that current laws are inadequate, and they lack the necessary strength to curb this menace," Parameshwara said. He added that new, stringent laws would be framed to regulate the MFIs, with the Congress government taking steps in that direction. In the meantime, officials have been instructed to take immediate action regarding ongoing harassment cases.

Explaining the situation, Parameshwara highlighted that MFIs often demand multiple signatures from loan recipients, which they might not fully understand. "This leads to forced raids, seizures of properties, and other actions," he noted, adding that such practices need to be addressed under law.

Law Minister H.K. Patil and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have also taken note of the issue. Siddaramaiah has called for a meeting on January 25 to discuss the alarming rise in cases and the ineffectiveness of current laws.

The issue has sparked public outcry, with victims’ families, including the wife of a suicide victim, sending symbolic protests such as mangalsutras to Parameshwara, demanding action against the MFI staff involved. Numerous petitions have been filed in Deputy Commissioners' offices across the state, urging government intervention to stop MFI harassment.

In response, opposition leaders, including Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, BJP’s R. Ashoka, and Basavaraj Bommai, have accused the Congress government of losing control over MFIs, enabling the widespread exploitation of vulnerable citizens.

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News Network
January 22,2025

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Israeli forces have killed at least eight Palestinians and injured 35 others in an attack on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, prompting Hamas to call for full mobilization of Palestinian youths against the occupation forces.

Palestinian media reported that the regime’s forces, backed by helicopters, raided Jenin and its refugee camp on Tuesday morning following several drone strikes.

The spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, Anwar Rajab, said in a statement that Israeli forces had "opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in injuries to several civilians and a number of security personnel, one of whom is in critical condition".

Israel’s military also confirmed that its soldiers, police and intelligence services had begun an operation, which Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, described as a "large and significant" operation to "eradicate terrorism.”

The attack on Jenin, where the regime’s forces have carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over the past year, comes only two days after the start of a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

Hamas said in a statement that people in Gaza “mourn the martyrs of Jenin who fell to the fire and bombardment of the occupation.”

The resistance group also urged Jenin’s “rebellious youth to mobilize and escalate confrontations with the Israeli army.”

Hamas said that the offensive “launched by the occupation in Jenin will fail, just like all its previous military operations against our people,” in Gaza.

The resistance group, which fought Israeli forces for 741 days in the besieged Gaza Strip, said its unprecedented operation against the occupied territories in October 2023, was “the final nail in the coffin of the collapsing Israeli regime.”

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