Centre plans NRC exercise all over the country: Amit Shah
- The process of creating a National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be undertaken across India, Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and whenever it is done, the exercise will be repeated in Assam, he added
- He was replying to a question by Congress MP from Karnataka Syed Nasir Hussain. “The Home Minister while speaking in Kolkata recently had said that all those names which didn’t figure in the NRC, belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Christian community need not worry.
Draw up special law to run Sabarimala, says SC
- The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Kerala government to draft a law exclusively covering the administration of the Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa Swami Temple by the third week of January.
- A three-judge Bench, led by Justice N.V. Ramana, expressed dissatisfaction when the State chose to produce a draft Bill — The Travancore-Cochin Religious Institutions (Amendment) Bill of 2019 — containing certain proposed amendments to the Travancore-Cochin Religious Institutions Act of 1950.
- The Bench reminded the Kerala government about its assurance on August 27 that “the State is considering enacting a separate legislation with regard to the administration of the Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa Swami Temple.” Now, instead of the new law, the State had turned up in court with some amendments in the old Act.
A Mughal-era technique to restore Humayun Mahal in Chennai’s Chepauk Palace
- Nearly 249 years ago, the iconic Chepauk Palace, located close to the Marina, was built using construction techniques that were considered the best. Now, while restoring one of its constituent buildings, the Public Works Department has decided to go back to those traditional methods.
- A couple of Kangeyam bulls have been deployed by the PWD as part of this, to grind the lime mortar that will be used to plaster Humayun Mahal’s walls. As a Department official explains, this ‘slow’ process yields plaster that is authentic and free from contamination.
- The Kangeyam bulls working at Chepauk are from Saptur in Madurai district. They were yoked on Tuesday by Kannan, a farmer, to draw a limestone grinding roller that mixes the lime mortar.
After drawing flak, 18 of 29 members attend pollution meet
- Eighteen of the 29 members of the Parliamentary Panel on urban development, including BJP’s Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, attended a meeting on Delhi pollution on Wednesday. The absence of several members during a similar meeting on November 15 had create a brouhaha.
- The Aam Aadmi Party, which is in power in Delhi, ran a campaign against Mr. Gambhir, who was away on a cricket commentary assignment in Indore, for skipping the November 15 meeting. Only four MPs had attended the meeting and most of the senior officials, who were summoned, had given it a miss. The attendees included panel Chairman and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, BJP’s Gujarat MP C.R. Patil and National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi.