Several organisations oppose proposal of changing Mount Abu's name
Jaipur, May 6 (PTI): Protests against a proposal to change the name of Mount Abu to 'Aburaj Teerth' and banning non-vegetarian food and alcohol in Rajasthan’s only hill station are mounting with locals saying it will severely impact the town's economy.
A letter from the department of local self government to the nagar parishad commissioner on April 25 had sought a "factual comment" of the commissioner regarding renaming Mount Abu as 'Aburaj Teerth' and prohibiting meat and liquor consumption in the open.
Looking at the religious significance of Mount Abu, a proposal to change the name to 'Aburaj Teerth' was passed in the board meeting of the Nagar Parishad in October last year. The proposal was sent to the state government, where it is pending.
After this, several MLAs of the ruling party wrote letters to Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma to change Mount Abu's name due to its religious significance and ban liquor and meat consumption in the open.
Local businessmen argue that Mount Abu is known worldwide by this name and changing the name will create confusion. Moreover, prohibiting non-veg food and liquor consumption will drastically reduce the number of tourists, they argued.
Twenty-three organisations, including Mount Abu Hotel Association, Laghu Vyapar Sangh, Sindhi Seva Samaj, Valmiki Samaj, Muslim Auquaf Committee, and Nakki Lake Vyapar Sansthan, handed over a memorandum, addressed to the chief minister to Sub Divisional Officer Dr Anshu Priya on Monday.
The SDM said that the proposal is pending at the state government level.
Saurabh Gangadia, secretary of Mount Abu Hotel Association, said that nearly five to six thousand tourists visit Mount Abu daily, and most of them come from neighbouring Gujarat, which is a dry state.
"The entire economy of Mount Abu is run on tourism activities and such a move to declare Mount Abu a 'Teerth' and prohibiting liquor and meat will destroy the economy," he said.
He claimed that nearly 15000 people were directly or indirectly associated with tourism-related activities in Mount Abu and if the number of tourists drops, it will have a negative impact on their livelihood.
"With a sharp decline in tourists, there will be an increase in unemployment and migration and business units will shut down," Dinesh Mali, secretary of Street Vendors Committee, said.
"There is absolutely no need to change the name and take such steps which have the potential of causing great harm to the economy and its people," he added.
The local business stakeholders said that the name 'Mount Abu' is internationally established and it features in global travel books, Google Maps, Wikipedia, tourism portals, travel advisories, foreign tour packages, international directories and academic texts.
According to the tourism department, the history of Mount Abu can be traced back to the Puranas. Known as "Arbudaranya" or "the forest of Arbhuda" in the Puranic Age, Mount Abu is described to have served as a retreat for sage Vashistha.
A popular mythological story associated with Mount Abu mentions a serpent named Arbhuda, who had saved the life of Nandi, Lord Shiva's mount, here.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
