NEW DELHI: Cooking gas LPG price was on Thursday hiked by Rs 3.50 per cylinder, the second increase in rate this month following the firming of international energy rates.

Non-subsidised LPG now costs Rs 1,003 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital, up from Rs 999.50 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

This is the second increase in LPG rate this month and the third in less than two months. The price was hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder on March 22 and again by the same quantum on May 7. Since April 2021, prices have risen by Rs 193.5 per cylinder.

Petrol and diesel prices however continue to be on freeze for the 43rd day in a row. The pause followed rates being hiked by a record Rs 10 per litre in a matter of 16 days beginning March 22.

Non-subsidised cooking gas is the one that consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised or below-market rates.

However, the government pays no subsidy on LPG in most cities and the price of the refill that consumers, including the poor women who got free connection under the much-talked Ujjwala scheme, is the same as that for non-subsidised or market price LPG.

Non-subsidised LPG costs Rs 1,002.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Mumbai while it is priced at Rs 1,018.50 a bottle in Chennai and Rs 1,029 in Kolkata. Rates differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT.

Prices are higher in states with higher taxes. Alongside, oil firms also hiked the price of commercial LPG cylinders – the ones used by establishments like hotels and restaurants – by Rs 8 per cylinder to Rs 2,354 per 19-kg bottle.

On May 1, the price of a commercial LPG cylinder was increased by Rs 102.50 to Rs 2,355.50 but on May 7 it was reduced to Rs 2,346. International oil prices have been on the rise this year.

They jumped to a 13-year high of USD 140 per barrel in March before shedding some of the gains. Brent was trading at USD 110.13 per barrel on Thursday.

To compound things, the Indian rupee tumbled to Rs 77.74 to a dollar, making imports costlier. India relies on overseas purchases to meet about 85 per cent of its oil requirement, making it one of the most vulnerable in Asia to higher oil prices.

While India has surplus oil refining capacity, it does not manufacture enough LPG to meet domestic demand and imports significant quantities from nations such as Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday, an oil ministry official stated that the Saudi LPG prices have gone up by 33 per cent while domestic rates have increased by only 11 per cent.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Tuesday gave his assent to the Ordinance that gave effect to the Karnataka Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, commonly known as the anti-conversion bill.

The bill was passed in the Assembly in December last year but was pending before the Council where the ruling BJP is one short of a majority. The Karnataka government promulgated the Karnataka Protection of Right To Freedom of Religion Ordinance on May 12.

The Governor’s nod came a day after the Bengaluru Archbishop, Peter Machado along with a Christian delegation called on him requesting him to hold back the ordinance and not to give his approval.

According to the government note, the ordinance is for protection of right to freedom of religion and prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means.

“Whereas the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and the Karnataka Legislative Council are not in session and the Honourable Governor of Karnataka is satisfied that the circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action to promulgate the Ordinance for the purposes hereinafter appearing, the gazzette notification read.

The ordinance says that any converted person, his parents, brother, sister or any other person who is related to him by blood, marriage or adoption or in any form associated or colleague may lodge a complaint of such conversion.

The violators will be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term of three years but which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine of Rs 25,000.

With regard to mass conversion, the punishment stretches up to the imprisonment of either description for a term of three years but which may extend to ten years and “shall also be liable to fine of Rs one lakh”.

“The court shall also grant appropriate compensation payable by the accused to the victim of said conversion which may extend to maximum of Rs five lakh and shall be in addition to fine,” the ordinance read.

Further, whoever having been previously convicted of an offence under this ordinance is again convicted of an offence punishable under this ordinance will be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term of not less than five years and will also be liable to a fine of Rs two lakh.

The offences committed under the ordinance are cognisable and non-bailable.

Whoever desires to convert his religion, will have to give a declaration in Form-I at least thirty days in advance to the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate specially authorised by the District Magistrate of his residing district or place of birth within the state.

The religious converter who performs conversion ceremony for converting any person of one religion to another religion, should give thirty days advance notice in Form-2 of such intended conversion, to the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate, specially authorised by the District Magistrate of the district from where the proposed converter hails, the ordinance said.

The District Magistrate, after receiving the information will notify proposed religious conversion on the notice board of the office of the District Magistrate and in the office of the Tahsildar calling for objections.

If any objections are received within 30 days, he will get an inquiry conducted through officials of Revenue or Social Welfare Department with regard to genuine intention, purpose and cause of the proposed conversion.

“If the District Magistrate comes to a conclusion based on the said inquiry of the commission of an offence under this Ordinance, he shall cause the concerned police authorities to initiate criminal action for contravention of the provisions of section 3,” the ordinance said.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted three months of interim bail to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi on medical grounds in connection with the Haridwar Dharma Sansad case involving alleged inflammatory speeches made against Muslims.

A bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath directed Tyagi, formerly known as Wasim Rizvi, to give an undertaking that he would not indulge in hate speech and not give any statement on electronic or digital, or social media.

Tyagi had approached the top court after the Uttarakhand High Court dismissed his bail plea in March this year.

The case against him and others had been lodged on the complaint of Nadeem Ali, a resident of Jwalapur Haridwar at Haridwar Kotwali on January 2, 2022.

He had alleged in his complaint that Dharma Sansad or religious Parliament was organised in Haridwar by Hindu sages from December 17 to 19 last year and in the garb of this event, the participants were instigated to wage a war against Muslims.

Objectionable words were used against the holy Quran and Prophet Mohammad, Ali had said in his complaint, adding these provocative statements had later gone viral on social media.

These videos were circulated by Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, Yati Narsinghanand, and others, he had alleged.

The FIR also alleged that an attempt was made by Prabodhanand Giri to spread violence against the people living in Haridwar’s mosques.

On Nadeem Ali’s complaint, Narsindhanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Dharamdas Maharaj, Parmanand Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapurna, Swami Anand Swaroop, Aswani Upadhyay, Suresh Chavan along with Swami Prabodhanand Giri, Jitendra Narayan were booked under Sections 153A, 295 and other relevant sections of the IPC for allegedly delivering hate speeches in the name of religion at the conclave.

Bengaluru: A promising young TV actor died after undergoing plastic surgery at a city facility here, police said on Tuesday, with the victim’s family alleging medical negligence over the ‘fat-free’ procedure she underwent at the cosmetic centre.

Chethana Raj (21), who is said to have had a promising career, had made a mark in daily soap operas such as ‘Doresani’ and ‘Geetha.’ She was admitted to Dr Shetty’s Cosmetic Centre on Monday for a plastic surgery.

While undergoing the ‘fat-free surgery’ in the hospital, things went wrong during operation after anesthesia, police said. As she suffered a cardiac arrest, anesthetist Dr Melvin rushed her to the Kaade Hospital.

According to a complaint lodged by Dr Sandeep V, the ICU intensivist at the Kaade Hospital, Dr Melvin rushed her to the hospital and ‘threatened’ everyone to treat her the way he was directing.

He also stated there was no pulse on the victim and tried CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) for 45 minutes to revive her but there was no response. He suspected she was brought dead.

“We strongly object to this kind of behaviour by these doctors and if necessary we may decide to file a report against them. This report is sent to you to bring to your notice that this incident does not appear normal,” Dr Sandeep said in his complaint.

There was no immediate response from Dr Shetty’s Cosmetic Centre despite repeated calls and messages.

Chethana’s father K Varadaraj said the hospital authorities told him his daughter died of a cardiac arrest. He has lodged a complaint at the Basaveshwara Nagar police station alleging medical negligence against them, he added.

A television actor who worked with Chethana, on conditions of anonymity said the latter was a promising and ambitious actor who wanted quick success.

Bengaluru, May 17: Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Tuesday warned a Hindu group not to challenge law and order following their claim that the Masjid-e-Ala at Srirangapatna in Mandya district was a Hanuman temple and they should be allowed to worship there.

A fringe group called ‘Narendra Modi Vichar Manch’ (NMVM) recently approached the Mandya deputy commissioner on May 13 claiming that the Masjid-e-Ala was ‘Moodala Bagilu Anjaneya Swami temple’, which the 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan had destroyed and built a mosque over it.

The group led by C T Manjunath, secretary, demanded that Hindus should be allowed to perform prayers to Hanuman inside the mosque.

Reacting to the incident, Jnanendra said he was aware of the development. And called upon people not to challenge law and order to resolve the dispute on their own.

“If anyone challenges law and order then they will be dealt with accordingly. Hence, everyone should live harmoniously. We will go by the court order,” he added.

In his petition to the deputy commissioner of Mandya, Manjunath said many historians have documented the existence of Moodala Bagilu Anjaneya Swami Temple, which Tipu Sultan had allegedly destroyed during his regime and converted into a mosque.

“The Mysuru Gazzettier by Luis Rice, the proceedings of the royal court, the life of Maharaja, Tareekh-e-Tipu and Hyder-e-Nishani and the letter written by Tipu to the Khalifa of Persia to prove our point.”

“Hence, we request you to please review the documents of the archeology department and make provisions for Hindus to legally offer their prayers to Moodalabagilu Anjaneya Swami Temple (the existing mosque), Manjunath wrote in his petition to the deputy commissioner.

Later, in a video message sent to the media houses, a member of the NMVM demanded that a survey on the lines of Gyanvapi Masjid should be conducted at Masjid-e-Ala to find out the truth.

Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered to protect Shiv Ling in the Gyanvapi Mosque survey case.

The Apex Court also held that no restrictions in any manner can be held to Muslims for their entry into the mosque.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Tuesday appointed senior BJP MLC Raghunath Rao Malkapure to perform the duties as the Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council until a new person is elected to the post.

The appointment was necessitated as Basavaraj Horatti resigned as Chairman on Monday, and also the post of Deputy Chairman is lying vacant.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 184 of the Constitution of India, I, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Governor of Karnataka, do hereby appoint Raghunath Rao Malkapure, Member of the Legislative Council to perform the duties of the Office of the Chairman of the Legislative Council with effect from 17.05.2022 until a Chairman is duly elected by the House,” the official notification said.

Malkapure, who hails from Bidar district, is a two time MLC. He had also served in various party positions.

“This is for the first time such an appointment has happened, as the post of both Chairman and Deputy Chairman were vacant,” Horatti said.

Horatti, who resigned as Chairman and MLC on Monday, will be joining BJP soon, and is expected to be the party’s candidate for the upcoming MLC polls from West Teachers’ constituency.

Kunal Kamra

New Delhi: The country’s apex child rights body NCPCR has summoned Twitter India’s communications director on Wednesday for not submitting an action taken report against comedian Kunal Kamra for posting a “doctored” video of a boy singing a patriotic song for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Germany visit earlier this month.

On May 5, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had sought action against Kamra for tweeting the “doctored” video.

The Commission has now asked Director, Twitter Communications India, to appear on Wednesday with the details of the action taken report.

“A letter in this regard was sent to your good offices dated 05.05.2022 calling for an ATR (action taken report) in the instant complaint within 7 days or receipt of the letter.

“However, no such ATR has been yet received by the Commission,” the NCPCR said in the letter sent on Tuesday.

Kamra had shared the purported video of Modi’s interaction in Germany with the child but he replaced the song that the boy sang — ‘Janmabhoomi Bharat’ — with “Mehengayi daayan khaaye jaat hain”, a Bollywood song about price rise.