Karnataka HC orders DCs to appear in court for false info on burial grounds
Bengaluru, Mar 9: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the presence of the Deputy Commissioners of districts, who provided false information regarding provision of land for burial grounds in all villages.
The court is hearing a civil contempt petition filed by one Mohammed Iqbal, whos plea has claimed that the state government failed to act upon the 2019 order of the HC directing it to provide land for graveyards in all villages of Karnataka within six weeks.
The division bench of Justices B Veerappa and T Venkatesh Naik ordered the presence of the DCs before it on March 17.
In an earlier hearing of the petition in January, the government counsel had submitted before the court that out of the 29,616 villages in the state, 27,903 were already provided with land for burial grounds and only 319 villages were to be given land for the same. The court was also told that encroachment of burial grounds in 56 villages was being removed and 1,394 were uninhabited.
However, the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority verified these submissions and informed the court that the government has provided false information.
As per the KSLSA, a total of 2,041 villages were yet to be provided land for burial grounds. The government advocate, however, told the court that the information was provided by the DC of each districts.
The court observed that it had no option but to initiate contempt proceedings against the DCs who have provided false information.
Providing false information to the court amounted to contempt and cheating, the division bench observed.
The hearing of the petition was adjourned to March 17.
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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.
