12 members of Dalit family convert to Buddhism in Rajasthan
Kota (Rajasthan), (PTI): Twelve members of a Dalit family in Rajasthan's Baran district have converted to Buddhism, allegedly upset over the assault of a family member by a man and the police's refusal to book the husband of the village sarpanch in the matter.
Police officer Puja Nagar said that 12 members of the family of Rajendra of Bhulon village in the Bapcha police station area of Baran district embraced Buddhism on Friday. They took the oath of conversion and floated the idols and pictures of Hindu deities into River Baithli of the village.
“Everyone is free to choose any religion in the country,” the police officer said, adding that no other person in the village changed his religion.
The Dalit family reportedly took the step of conversion after they failed to get the name of the sarpanch's husband incorporated as an accused in an assault case in spite of submission of a memorandum to the superintendent of police.
The police, however, said that they found no evidence against the sarpanch's husband and added that action would be taken against him if he was found involved in the matter.
Rajendra, 32, lodged a case of assault against Lalchand Lodha of the same village on October 5, following which, the police lodged a case under relevant sections of the IPC and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the accused and arrested him, Puja Nagar said on Saturday.
A few days later, Rajendra approached the police and demanded that Rahul Sharma, the husband of the sarpanch, be made an accused in the case.
The police said their investigation revealed that Rajendra, accompanied by his two brothers, had reached Lalchand Lodha's house on the night of October 5 to avenge his assault earlier in the day. It was also found that Rahul Sharma, the sarpanch's husband, had reached the spot to meditate and returned home after pacifying both sides.
“The accused, named as Lalchand, was arrested and now the family is levelling allegation against local sarpanch's husband," Baran Superintendent of Police Kalyanmal Meena said, adding, "Investigation in the matter is open and if evidence against the sarpanch's husband is found, action would be taken against him.”
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India is the place for large-scale organic production, says Commerce Secretary
Nuremberg (PTI): India is the place for large-scale organic production and the country is keen to collaborate with the EU to strengthen this ecosystem to cater to rising demands, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said here on Tuesday.
Agrawal also said that India's organic products exports have grown threefold over the last 10 years, and the government now aims to triple them again over the next five years.
"India is the place" to serve the world as a good organic food basket, he said, adding that India has 150.3 million hectares of agricultural land under cultivation.
He said that the organic ecosystem is growing very fast in the country, as today, 3 per cent of India's cultivation is organic.
In India, 4.7 million hectares of land is under organic cultivation, with 2.4 million farmers practising it, and it is only increasing by the day, he said.
The Secretary was speaking at the inauguration of Biofach 2026. About 100 exhibitors from 20 Indian states, including Assam, Meghalaya, and Kerala, are here to showcase their organic food products at the world's leading trade fair Biofach show (February 10-13).
He informed that India is emerging as a credible supplier of organic food, both within India and outside.
"I see this happening in a much faster manner. So if world needs the state for organic production, I think India is the place, and we like to work with all of you to see how we can improve the Indian organic food ecosystem to serve both the Indian rising demand within India and also the rising demand in two of our biggest markets," he said.
He called for creating credibility around organic foods. There is a need to ensure trust and credibility around the certification of these products.
India started with the national programme for organic production way back in 2001 and that was designed to adopt the international standards of organic goods.
"And now we are bringing in cooperatives in a big way," he said, adding that cooperatives can bring in and aggregate farmers to create good, viable organic ecosystem in various villages across the country.
