Live! Nathu La opens for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to open on Monday

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Sun, 21 June 2015

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23:56 Nathu La opens for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to open on Monday

Over half-a-century after it was closed following the 1962 Sino-India war, Chinese Ambassador to India Le Yucheng will receive the first batch of Indian pilgrims on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra on Monday in Tibet, marking the opening of the new route through the Nathu La pass.

Yucheng, who arrived in Gangtok, Sikkim's capital, last evening, today crossed over to Tibet where he will be staying overnight before receiving the pilgrims tomorrow, official sources said.

Earlier in the day, Yucheng called on Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and briefed him about the arrangements made for receiving the Yatris in the Tibet Autonomous Region, they said.

During the meeting, the Chinese Ambassador recalled the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China this year which was preceeded by Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to India in September last year, they said.

Yucheng, who crossed over to Tibet through Nathu La pass with four other Chinese officials, would be staying overnight in a tourist hut and will receive 39 Indian pilgrims, besides BJP MP Tarun Vijay and his wife in the morning. One pilgrim will not make it as he forgot to carry his passport.

The new route through the Himalayan pass will facilitate more comfortable travel for the Indian pilgrims, especially the elderly, by buses compared to the existing route via Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand. This batch will complete Manasarovar Parikrama (circumambulation) on June 27 and 'Kailash Parikrama', 16,600 feet above sea level, on June 28 before returning to the Indian side on July three.

The journey will be mainly covered through bus with only a little of trekking.

Kailash Mansarovar is believed to be the seat of Hindu god Shiva. Pilgrims have to travel to high altitudes through inhospitable and rugged terrain. Hundreds go on the pilgrimage every year, with a part of the journey overseen by Chinese authorities.

Nathu La, which means "Mountain pass with listening ears", was closed after 1962 Sino-Indian war. The area had witnessed week-long skirmishes between the Indian and Chinese Army. After remaining closed for all activities, the pass was opened as a trading junction in 2006. Traders from both sides gathered in the No-Man's Land and sold their items. However, due to limited number of items including goat and sheep skin, raw silk, china clay, butter, common salt, cycles, tea, cigarette, the trading point has been receiving a lukewarm response from traders of the two countries.

A 40-year-old Dubai-based man today stood on his head for 61 minutes in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record to mark the first International Yoga Day.

Ivan Stanley, a Dubai-based advertising professional, broke his own previous record of 34 minutes of Shirsasana.

"It feels nice but a little disorienting. Those last five minutes were impossible, perhaps the longest of my life," Stanley was quoted as saying by the Emirates 247 News.

Shirsasana or the headstand, is often called the king of asanas or postures in yoga. A few minutes of standing upside down, balancing on your head, can send the blood rushing.

"In yoga, there is a concept we learn called 'swadhyay' or self-study. It is the moment when you go beyond your comfort zone when you start discovering who you really are; your true strength.

"I believe in pushing myself beyond my comfort zone and thought why not take the International Yoga Day as my stepping stone," Stanley, who is fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam, said.

Stanley said he had full faith in himself to to headstand for 61 minutes.

20:49 Yoga Day sets Guinness record

International Yoga day celebrations at Rajpath sets 2 Guinness World Records.

Largest number of participants at 35,985; 84 nationalities attend.

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated today with over 19,000 people reeling under the waters in more than 60 villages across the state.

Assam State Disaster Management Authority said in its daily flood report that more than 19,100 people were affected as of now in 62 villages across Barpeta, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Morigaon and Lakhimpur districts.

Till yesterday, around 15,300 people were affected in 72 villages under five districts across the state.

The highest number of people were hit in Lakhimpur district with over 9,200 persons still suffering due to the floods, followed by Barpeta with around 6,100 people being affected at present, the ASDMA said.

Authorities were running three relief camps in Tinsukia, where a total of 198 persons were taking shelter at present, it said.

Over 1,600 hectares of crop areas were under water currently, the report mentioned.

The death toll in the first wave of floods in Assam remained at three - one each in Bongaigaon, Lakhimpur and Baksa districts.

At present, the Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger mark at Nematighat in Jorhat, while its tributary Jia Bharali at NT Road crossing in Sonitpur, the ASDMA added.

The Dalai Lama marked his official 80th birthday on Sunday, with prayers and celebrations at his hometown in exile but little to show for decades of lobbying seeking greater Tibetan autonomy.

The Nobel laureate will be in the United States when he turns 80 on July 6, but Sunday is his official birthday according to the Tibetan lunar calendar, and he celebrated with his family, fans and followers in Dharamsala.

The jovial Tibetan spiritual leader told fellow exiles and Indian and foreign dignitaries that he expected to live another 20 years and would continue to work for the promotion of compassion and religious harmony.

"I hope you will join me again to celebrate my 90th birthday," he said in a speech at the Tsuglakhang Temple in Dharamsala, the north Indian hill town where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Read full story HERE.

Islamic State has reportedly planted mines and bombs in the ruins of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, according to a monitoring organisation.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not immediately clear whether the group was preparing to destroy the ancient ruins, or if they were simply attempting to prevent government forces from advancing towards the city in the centre of the war-torn country, also known as Tadmur.

Read full story HERE.

Thousands of people converged at the UK's iconic Stonehenge today to witness the sun rise above the horizon through the timeless stones for its longest day on earth or the summer solstice as Yoga reached the popular neolithic site.

Around 23,000 revellers, including hippies and pagans, turned up before dawn at the prehistoric stone circle southwest England, some 130 kilometres from here.

One of the wonders of the world, the 17 or so other rock types standing for about 4,600 years in Wiltshire provided a spectacular view at sunrise to the crowd waiting for a glimpse of the sun despite cloud in the area.

Others also visited the nearby Avebury stone circle amid apprehension that cloud and rain would spoil the view.

However, some visitors to the World Heritage Site said this year's solstice sunrise was one of the best they had seen.

The party for the revellers, some with flowers in hair and playing drums and accordions, was shorter than during the past years as the sun was visible only briefly.

Free-form celebrations witnessed visitors kissing the stones believed to have been erected in around 2500 BC, couples renewing their commitments, dancers swirling on the grass and drummers pounding even as a small group of yoga enthusiasts held a short class.

Taliban insurgents have taken control of the Chardara district in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province.

Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, head of provincial council in Kunduz, said Taliban fighters established control of the district after two days of attacks on local security forces.

Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, spokesman for the provincial police chief, said that reinforcements are being dispatched and an operation to retake the district is imminent.

Ayubi said local residents have fled their homes seeking safety.

Read full story HERE.

17:35 Charleston shooter's racist manifesto revealed

Investigators are looking at a website featuring a racist manifesto that mentions Charleston as the "historic" target of an attack and displays images of Roof.

The 2,000-word text explains the writer's philosophy of white superiority, saying the Trayvon Martin case "truly awakened me" and that "I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country."

Motive has become the biggest question as state and federal investigators work on the case -- and statements and photos on the website match what investigators have determined so far.

Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, addressed the gunman's assertion. Their son was killed by in 2012 by a neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted.

"The Trayvon Martin movement was not created to incite hate or further racial divide, but rather birthed to raise awareness to the social injustices that exist across America with regards to senseless gun violence against our young black and brown boys; the movement also focuses on the growing disparities in the lack of prosecution of the actual perpetrators," they said in a statement.

Read full story HERE.

Large crowds are expected at Sunday's service at the black church in Charleston where nine African Americans were gunned down, as a chilling website apparently created by the suspected white supremacist shooter emerged.

The service will be the first since the bloodbath on Wednesday at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southern state of South Carolina, which has fuelled simmering racial tensions in the United States and reignited impassioned calls for stronger gun-control laws.

The historic church reopened on Saturday after police said it was no longer considered a crime scene, with some members visiting the room where fellow worshippers were shot dead, according to the local Post and Courier newspaper.

Read full story HERE.

Batting for yoga, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said the state government is planning to include it in the school and college curriculum.

"In these days, people are experiencing pressure and doing yoga is a better way to tackle stress and pressure. We have to address it (stress), otherwise it will affect our health," he said.

"Government is planning to include yoga in school and college curriculum. I asked the Higher Education ministry to do it," he said, addressing 10,000 participants, including Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on the occasion of International Yoga day celebrations here.

16:39 NDFB(S) joins hands with UNLFW

In bad news for security forces, Bodo insurgent group NDFB(S) is believed to have aligned with UNLFW, an umbrella organisation of terror groups in the north-east, responsible for the recent ambush in Manipur that killed 18 soldiers.

Intelligence inputs suggest that Army's continued operations in difficult and inaccessible jungles of Chirang District in Assam have forced the The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) terrorists to flee from their hideouts.

The operation was intensified after over 70 people were killed in various attacks by NDFB(S) last year.

The Army has apprehended or neutralised several members of the insurgent group.

"Due to this fact, the NDFB(S) has aligned itself with UNLFW, an umbrella organisation of North East terrorist groups, which is likely to boost the group's sustenance," Army sources said.

The Army had this week arrested a top member of NDFB(S) Central Council from Tukrajhar, Chirang District, in a joint operation with Assam police.

The individual, who was identified as Sumanta Basumatary was the Joint Secretary (Home) of newly-formed Central Council of NDFB(S) and a Bhutan-trained terrorist.

The Central Council has 23 members. His responsibility included coordination of terrorist activities, internal discipline, media interaction and propaganda, the sources said.

Rebel shelling of residential areas in Yemen's Aden killed at least three civilians on Sunday, as air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition also hit the southern city, medics and witnesses said.

Rebels fired Katyusha rockets and mortars at residential areas destroying four homes, residents and military sources said.

Medics at Aden's Al-Naqib hospital told AFP that three civilians were killed and four wounded in the shelling.

Coalition air strikes hit rebel positions at entrances to the city as well as at the strategic Al-Anad air base in the nearby city of Lahj, military sources said.

Late on Saturday clashes between rebels and pro-government forces killed 12 fighters from both sides near the base, the sources said.

In the town of Daleh to the north, 15 rebels were killed in an overnight ambush by pro-government fighters, local military sources said, adding that two of the attackers had also died.

AFP could not confirm the tolls from the clashes from independent sources and the rebels rarely acknowledge their losses.

Read full story HERE.

An Al-Jazeera journalist detained in Germany at Egypt's request has rejected charges against him as "false" and urged Berlin against colluding with Cairo, in a video aired by the broadcaster on Sunday.

"This case is false," Ahmed Mansour said in the video message he recorded in police detention in the German capital.

"The coup regime in Egypt is too weak to drag a state like Germany and the EU into its dirty game against Egyptians," said Mansour, referring to the Egyptian military's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.

Read full story HERE.

15:38

Eminent journalist and Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson M J Akbar is the party's Rajya Sabha candidate from Jharkhand.

15:33 Yoga has amazing curative powers, says Pranab

Yoga has amazing curative and preventive powers for well-being of humanity and modern lifestyle related disorders, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.

Mukherjee inaugurated a mass yoga event at Rashtrapati Bhavan to commemorate the first International Yoga Day today. Speaking on the occasion, the president conveyed his best wishes to all on International Yoga Day. He said that India is the home of Yoga where it was practiced over centuries.

"It has amazing curative as well as preventive powers for the well-being of humanity and for the management of many modern lifestyle related disorders," the president said. He said one of the most important teachers of yoga was Guru Patanjali.

Mukherjee said yoga is both an art as well as a science. He expressed his happiness that many residents of Rashtrapati Bhavan have been practicing Yoga for a long period of time.

Filmmaker Mahmood Farooqui has been arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly raping a 35-year-old American woman.

Farooqui, best known for co-directing the 2010 film Peepli Live, has been sent to judicial custody for six days. The woman, a 35-year-old American student, had come to India for some research in March.

She had lodged a complaint with the Delhi police on Friday following which Farooqui was called in for questioning and arrested yesterday.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has been asked to provide "information" on his statement regarding his meeting with tainted ex-IPL boss Lalit Modi in London.

"We have asked Rakesh Maria to give information officially to the government on what he has said in the media.Based on his information, we will decide further course of action," he told PTI.

Asked if a time frame has been laid down for Maria to give the information, the CM said he has been given a day's time. On whether Maria will be asked to step down temporarily until the inquiry against him is conducted, Fadnavis said,"First let the information come to us."

A fresh controversy had broken out yesterday in the Lalit Modi episode after Maria admitted that he had met the tainted ex-IPL boss in London in 2014 on the insistence of the latter's lawyer. Maria came out with a statement on the issue after news channels flashed a photo of the former IPL commissioner and the Mumbai police chief.

During the meeting that lasted 15 to 20 minutes, Lalit Modi sought the help of Mumbai police in view of "threat" to his life by the underworld in London, Maria said, adding that he apprised the then home minister about the meeting soon after returning from London.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today joined the Yoga Day event at Rajpath here performing various asanas, albeit on different sides of the road.

The chief minister, who was accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia, and Jung kept their distance at the event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the International Yoga Day celebrations. Their presence generated much interest as the Kejriwal government and Jung are engaged in a bitter power tussle in Delhi.

Kejriwal, who had undergone naturopathy treatment in the recent past, was seen actively performing the asanas with Sisodia by side. Jung was seated in an enclosure on the other side of the boulevard and the two did not exchange pleasantries.

"There should not be politics over Yoga. It is for physical well-being and mental concentration," Kejriwal told reporters.

Image: File photo

In a first major admission of being an "attractive location" for laundering of assets amassed illegally abroad, Switzerland has said it needs to further strengthen systems for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

The admission comes at a time when Switzerland has been facing immense pressure from India and many other nations to share details of Swiss bank customers suspected to have used the famed secrecy walls of banking institutions in the European country to hide their illicit funds.

Without disclosing the names of the countries from where the financial crime proceeds could be coming in, a high-level government panel of the Alpine nation said that Switzerland is not immune to the financial crime and the banks are the most exposed financial entities to such risks.

While some Swiss banks have individually settled cases of alleged tax evasion by American citizens and by persons of other countries, this is the first time that Switzerland has admitted to the country being an "attractive" place for foreigners to keep their ill-gotten money.

The 'first national report on money laundering and terrorist financing risks' was discussed by Switzerland's apex decision making body, the Federal Council, in its last meeting held in Berne this Friday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,on a nine-day visit to the US, chose to largely stay mum on the controversy surrounding Lalit Modi raging back home but said the tainted former IPL chief's Rs 11 crore transaction with BJP leader Dushyant Singh was a "commercial" one.

"I do not want to comment on him (Lalit Modi), but it's a commercial transaction between two individuals," Jaitley saidat a press conference in Washington.

The minister was asked, "What is the government doing on the transaction of Rs 11 crore between Lalit Modi and Dushyant Singh?"

Jaitley responded: "How the government could be concerned with a several year old loan transaction between... which is a commercial loan transaction by check with all banking approvals in a declared loan transaction."

Singh, son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, has been under attack over media reports that his company received Rs 11.63 crore in investments from Modi in 2008.

Tainted former Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi invoked the names of British royalty, including Prince Charles and his brother Andrew, while seeking his travel papers from the UK Home Office, according to a media report today.

According to the report in The Sunday Times, Andrew -- the Duke of York and second son of Queen Elizabeth II -- has known Modi for several years and met Modi at his London home last July, just days before his travel papers were granted.

Buckingham Palace refused to say what the two men had discussed but denied "categorically" that the duke had lobbied the UK government on Modi's behalf.

Modi's immigration status in the UK has provoked a storm in India after the UK-based newspaper disclosed that he rang up External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to help him acquire his British travel papers. Although she says she acted on "humanitarian" grounds, Swaraj has faced calls for her resignation over an apparent conflict of interest.

Modi, 49, travelled to London in 2010 after the IPL became embroiled in allegations of match-fixing and illegal betting. He denies any wrongdoings and says he came to Britain because he faced death threats from criminals in India.

In March 2014, Modi was granted leave to remain in the UK after a court battle with the Home Office. He later applied for British travel papers, known as a certificate of travel.

At the International Yoga Day being held at the Vigwan Bhavan in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "As I stand here today, International Yoga Day is being celebrated across the world. In India, this morning millions of people participated in a simple yoga demonstration at Rajpath, state and district capitals."

"This coming together with our brothers of sisters in other countries, brings our hearts and minds together. When I spoke at the UN General Assembly, little did I know about the kind of unprecedented response our proposal would receive," he added.

"Im grateful to international community for support, this support is not just for India, its for the great tradition of Yoga. The solidarity shown by the neighboring countries for today has brought us closer."

"The reach and spread of yoga spans continents, cuts across differences of colour, cast and creed. In order to benefit fully from yoga, we must understand who is yogi. Yoga is a vision for harmonious future," he said.

"Yoga jeevan ko jee bhar kar jeene ki jadi-booti hai. (Yoga helps to live life to the fullest)," he added.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said yoga was India's biggest gift to the world and it cannot be tied to a particular religion, caste or sect.

"Today not only in India, but in the entire world yoga and Ayurveda are being practiced which are integral parts of the country's culture," Rajnath said while addressing a mass yoga session on the first International Yoga Day at K D Singh Babu stadium.

"It connects the society and cannot be bound down to a particular religion, caste or sect," he said. "It is the biggest gift from India to the world. Either it was Buddhism, which spread in the entire world or its yoga which has been accepted by 191 countries in the world," he said.

Despite objections by several Muslim organisations, including All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a large umber of Muslims participated in the celebrations today, which witnessed participation of more than 15,000 people.

Though due to protests, Suryanamaskar was not a part of the session, 'Om' was still chanted in the beginning and end.

The Uttar Pradesh government did not observe the day officially and had made it voluntary but a sizeable number of government officers and employees were present at the stadium. Rajnath said that India is advancing towards becoming the"world guru".

It's yoga, yoga everywhere and it could be a little overwhelming, but Bharatiya Janata Party's Kiran Bedi went a bit too far.

She tweeted this morning that the mass outdoor yoga session had delivered a break for heat in New Delhi.

"Miracle of collective chant of Shanti,Shanti,Shanti, by millions brings pre-monsoon showers in Delhi.Reduces heat and cools even the trees," she tweeted.

Didn't she see the flak coming? We wonder.

@sunishahuja tweets: @thekiranbedi the met department had already forecasted this light shower. please do not make such unscientific statements.

@basstranquility tweets: @thekiranbedi Frm now on Indian farmers only need to do #Yoga and chant 'Shanti' many times for instant rain! No need for monsoon! #YogaDay

Photograph: Kiran Bedi posts a selfie from Rajpath.

10:20 Yoga reaches the world's highest battlefield

From ice-capped Siachen, the highest battlefield in the world, to the warships in the contentious South China Sea, Indian armed forces today joined the International Yoga Day celebrations.

Top defence officers led by Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Navy's Admiral R K Dhowan were present at the Rajpath doing yoga where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a mega event to mark the day.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was in Meerut for the yoga day celebrations. But perhaps the show-stealer were the soldiers doing yoga in full gear on the Siachen Glacier at aheight of 18,800 feet above sea level.   Dressed in their special weather clothing, the soldiers practised yoga while sitting on mats placed over the snow.

At 7 am, the temperature at Siachen was -4 degree Celsius. Yoga sessions were also carried out by the army in various units across the country including Kargil, Ladakh.

10:20 Shilpa Shetty does the yoga

Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty led the Yoga Day sessions this morning in Bengaluru. Here's the pic

08:39 Yoga Day: India attempts World Record

Nearly 40000 people performed yoga on the first International Yoga Day as India attempted a world record.

The organisers have applied for a Guinness record for the largest simultaneous assembly of people at a yoga event.

The Guinness record is currently held by Vivekananda Kendra which organised a yoga event in which 29,973 people participated in Gwalior on November 19, 2005.

Photograph: ANI/Twitter

On Yoga Day, PM Narendra Modi, who regularly practises Yoga, performed the Vajrasan and Padmasan at Rajpath.

"There will be no part of the world that will be untouched by Yoga today. Yoga is an everyday part of life," said Modi, with yoga guru Ramdev by his side, before joining the yoga session.

08:00 MEA tweets pix of Modi doing yoga on Rajpath

Vikas Swaroop, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson, has tweeted the first photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Rajpath, doing yoga with the people, here is one.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his excitement at the first International Day of Yoga during his meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying the day has garnered "unprecedented" enthusiasm from people around the world.

Ban called on Swaraj in the evening yesterday at the Manhattan hotel where the Indian leader is staying. He warmly greeted her with a "Namaste, kya haal chaal hain" as he shook her hands.

Ban, accompanied by senior UN officials, congratulated Swaraj on the commemoration of the first International Day of Yoga. "I am also very much excited," he said.

The UN chief told her that the world body had been observing many international days on various themes but the excitement and enthusiasm for the yoga day is unprecedented. "(There is) a lot of enthusiasm. We have been observing many international days on something but this one (yoga day) is unprecedented, most exciting," he said.

Ban said he had been told that nearly two billion people would have participated in the yoga day across the world by the end of June 21.

07:48

Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves after doing yoga on Rajpath, but not before being mobbed by the children doing yoga. And Doordarshan promptly decides that there is no need to telecast yoga day any further.

07:27 Fiji among the world's first to celebrate yoga day

Vikas Swarup, the ministry of external affairs' spokesperson, has tweeted images of International Yoga Day being celebrated in Fiji, with the comment: 'Its a Yoga Dawn in Fiji, one of the first to celebrate the First International #YogaDay today!

We like! And have used one of the images alongside.

07:09 Delhi's Rajpath is an ocean of yoga mats

New Delhi's Rajpath, whree thousands are gathered in a wet, dark morning to heed the call of International Yoga Day, is an ocean of yoga mats, with yoga practitioners doing neck rolls and other warm-up practices before actually getting to doing the asanas.

By all, it is an impressive sight, with people across age groups gathered to mark India's finest exposition of its soft power.

The prime minister himself is present among the crowds, doing yoga, while on stage is a bevy of celebrities, from Shripad Naik, popularly known as the the minister for yoga, to Baba Ramdev.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today greeted people on International Yoga Day, asking for a pledge to make it an integral part of life.

Minutes before the mega event commenced at Rajpath, the prime minister tweeted, 'Greetings to people around the world on first International Day of Yoga! Let's pledge to make yoga an integral part of our daily lives.'

In another tweet, he said in some parts of the world, the first rays of the sun have already been welcomed by people practising yoga. 'This will continue across the world.'

Modi said. India is set to lead 191 countries to mark the day with over 35,000 participants expected to perform various yoga 'asanas' at a mega event on Rajpath. Diplomats from 152 foreign missions have been invited to take part in the event which will start at 7 am to 7.35 am.

Image alongside is an archival one.

The Madras high court today held that a Hindu backward class person who embraces Islam shall be considered as a BC Muslim.

Justice D Hariparanthaman passed the order and directed the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission to accept the application of R Ayesha, who embraced Islam in 2005 and applied for a typist's post in 2014 as a BC Muslim candidate.

Ayesha, who was born into a Hindu family, embraced Islam on November 28, 2005, and in August 2014 she obtained the community certificate stating that she belonged to the Muslim Labbai community.

As per a July 19, 1994, government order, Muslim Labbais are a recognised BC community.

She wrote the examination for junior assistant/typist group-IV in December 2014 and scored 153 marks. Though she was called for certificate verification, her application was rejected at the verification stage on the ground that she was not eligible for the post as she was not a Muslim by birth.

Since no order was passed on her representation explaining her position, she filed a petition in the Madras high court which has ruled in her favour.

Image alongside has been used for representational purposes only.

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