Hindu side announces schedule of five ‘aartis’ in Gyanvapi complex Friday, 02 February, 2024
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VOL: 01 • ISSUE: 13
02 FEBRUARY 2024
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Six Indian students dead in US: Angry netizens call for travel advisory IndoUS Tribune Newsdesk
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ven as the legal battle over the Hindu religious ceremonies being performed at the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex after a Varanasi court allowed worship at the disputed site intensifies, the Hindu side has announced a schedule of five ‘aartis’ that will be held on a daily basis in the basement. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who represents the Hindu side, has said that aarti will be performed five times daily inside the ‘Vyas Ka Tekhana’ inside the complex. On Wednesday, a Varanasi court allowed the Hindu devotees to worship inside the sealed basement of the Gyanvapi mosque. As per the court order, Hindu devotees can now offer prayers at ‘Vyas Ka Tekhana’, a restricted area inside Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque. The court, during its hearing earlier on Thursday, also directed the district administration to make the necessary arrangements for the ‘puja’ to be performed by the devotees and asked the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust to nominate a pujari for the puja.
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IndoUS Tribune Newsdesk
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our Indian students have died in quick succession in the US, sparking fears regarding the safety and security of those studying abroad, and angry netizens calling for a travel advisory. The most recent reported case was of Shreyas Reddy Benigeri, a student of Lindner School of Business in Cincinnati, on Thursday after the deaths of Purdue University’s Neel Acharya, MBA student Vivek Saini in Georgia, and University of Illinois’ Akul B Dhawan. Announcing Benigeri’s death, the Indian Consulate in New York said that a police investigation is underway even as calls for an advisory for Indian students grew louder among netizens. “Deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of Shreyas Reddy Benigeri, a student of Indian origin in Ohio. Police investigation is underway. At this stage, foul play is not suspected,” the Consulate said in a post on X. The Consulate further said it is in touch with the Benigeri family and is extending all possible assistance to them. “MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) needs to issue an advisory for Indian students on keeping them safe in the US. Just shipping their remains to India is not their sole job,” Debashish Sarkar, a user on X, wrote in response to the Consulate’s post.
Earlier last month, two Indian students were found dead under suspicious conditions at their Connecticut accommodation on 15 January, reported PTI. G Dinesh (22) was from Wanaparthy in Telangana and Nikesh (21) was from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. The duo had gone to the US for higher education nearly a month ago. Their families do not know how the students, who were roommates, died. Dinesh’s kin was reportedly trying to seek help from the Union government to begin an inquiry into the matter. Calling the US an “increasingly becoming an unsafe place for Indians”, X user Sonam Mahajan wrote: “It’s high time India issued a travel advisory against the US for Indians looking to move to the country for both higher education and work opportunities”. “India should perhaps issue travel advisory for Indian students wanting to study in the US,” another user Rakesh Bakshi wrote, while
‘We work closely with India on our most vital priorities’: US By Yashwant Raj
many others urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to take swift action. India last issued a travel advisory for its students and nationals in Canada in September 2023, given growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in the country. The tragic incidents come with Indian students constituting more than 25 per cent of the over one million foreign students studying in the United States, according to a November 2023 Open Doors report. The number of Indians who travelled to the US for higher education increased by 35 per cent and resulted in an all-time high of 2,68,923 students in the academic year 202223, the report said. Last year, the US consular team in India issued over 140,000 student visas -- more than in any other country in the world, setting a record for the third year in a row.
India gets a place on UN ‘honor roll’, pays up $32 mn in annual dues
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eiterating that its partnership with India is one of the most consequential relationships, the US has said it is working closely with the country on “most vital priorities”. The remarks by State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller came hours after the Biden administration notified the US Congress on Thursday of its decision to sell 31 armed drones to India.
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“I would say that our partnership with India is one of our most consequential relationships. We work closely with India on our most vital priorities,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news briefing on Thursday. Wishing outgoing Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu on his future endeavors, Miller said that the US looks forward to welcoming his replacement. “We have had a close working relationship with the ambassador, have been able to work with him on a number of those shared priorities, including the crucial role India plays in ensuring a free, open Indo-Pacific
that is connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient. We wish him well in his future endeavors and look forward to welcoming his replacement,” Miller said. The spokesperson also informed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar share a “close working relationship”. “They have a close working relationship,
where they are able to engage on some of our most urgent and important priorities. Obviously, the Secretary has traveled to India to meet with the foreign minister on a number of occasions. He’s welcomed him here, he’s met with him in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly, and we look forward to continuing to work with him,” Miller told reporters.
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ndia has paid its annual dues of $32.895 million to the UN’s general budget, according to Stephane Dujarric, the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. At his daily briefing on Thursday, he thanked New Delhi for the contribution which earned it a place on the UN’s “honor roll”. India is one of the only 36 countries among the UN’s 193 members to have paid its annual assessment for the UN’s general budget by the deadline on Wednesday, according to the UN General Assembly’s Committee on Contributions.
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