Coastal Plus

A list of “Hindu victims” prepared by firebrand BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje has triggered a controversy as she has deliberately avoided the names of several innocent Hindus murdered by saffron extremists and granted ‘martyrdom’ to a poor man, who is (fortunately) still alive. In the wake of the murder of RSS activist Sharath Madivala in Bantwal taluk earlier this month, the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru...

The ‘Sauhaarda Iftar Koota’ recently hosted by Sri Vishwesha Teertha Swamiji, the chief pontiff of Paryaya Pejawar Mutt in Udupi’s historic Krishna Temple/Mutt has triggered a widespread controversy as several hate-mongers have accused him of hurting the sentiments of Hindus. The seer has taken to social media to counter the continuous onslaught of the communal forces and uploaded a video wherein...

It was her love for singing that encouraged Munaz Mariam, a 19-year-old from Mangaluru, to participate in an online initiative aimed towards creating bonds among youth from different backgrounds through music. SAMAA - a band based in Chicago, USA - invited people to send cover versions of two popular Bollywood songs, in an effort to bring them together. When the initiative #singwithSAMAA was...

Air pollution has emerged as one of the deadliest environmental health risks ever. Millions of people die every year because of the constant exposure to polluted air. Out of the 6-7 million premature deaths each year due to air pollution, more than 50% of those occur in China and India alone. Air quality has a strong influence on India's capability to sustain high economic growth, but the national...

A majority of people in Karnataka weren't even aware of the existence of apower centre' called B L Santhosh until the former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa recently broke his long silence and unhesitatingly held the former responsible for the dissidence currently plaguing the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, among the BJP circles this RSS stalwart has been regarded as akingmaker'...

Mangaluru: The road from Vamanjoor to Pacchanady in Mangaluru taluk is infamous for its pathetic stink released from the garbage landfill of the Mangaluru city corporation. This road not only holds a landfill but very next to it is a slum colony housing about 16 families who belong to the most backward sections of the society. These people belong to the so called lower caste that does manual...

Mangaluru: Political killings! The phrase naturally draws your attention towards the politically motivated murders of neighbouring Kerala. The reason is that no political party in Dakshina Kannada so far considered the gruesome killings of several budding Congress leaders in the district seriously. Not to mention all the five murdered Congress leaders in this coastal district of Karnataka belonged...

When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi happened to break his otherwise long silence on various issues in our country and chose to raise his voice against oppressed Muslim women, I was compelled to ponder over his concerns. A quick comparative study made me feel that being a Muslim woman, I am the most pampered of all. I am a pampered daughter, an endeared sister, an adored wife and an honored...

Haj is the culminating tenet of Islam. The word Haj means, literally, repairing to a place for the sake of visit (al-qasd liziyarah), and in the terminology of the Islamic Shariah, it implies repairing to Bait­Allah (the House of Allah) to observe the necessary devotions (iqamat­an li-nusuk) in the sacred places in the Holy Makkah. Haj is such a worship by which one exhibits one's servitude and...

Dalit activist and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of parliament in the Lok Sabha, Udit Raj, in his recent article in the Indian Express titled"Where is The Indian Lincoln" highlights some pertinent questions and brings forth the issue of the caste related atrocities. But he goes on to hide things which are more crucial to the process of caste annihilation. Women members of Dalit...