Latest news with #Prohibition
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Karnataka Cabinet approves Devadasi, Greater Bengaluru Bills
BENGALURU: Ahead of the joint session of the legislature commencing on Monday, the Siddaramaiah cabinet on Thursday approved several bills, including the Greater Bengaluru (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to enable the State Election Commission to prepare the voter's list to conduct corporation polls. 'We will present the Bill in the session which is aimed at enabling the EC for early completion of the electoral roll in each city corporation limits and hold elections. The amendment has been made to fix the jurisdiction of the corporations as well,' Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters. The Karnataka Devadasi (Prevention, Prohibition, Relief And Rehabilitation) Bill, 2025, aims to liberate oppressed devadasi women from all forms of exploitation and their children from social taboo through empowerment. The children will get the right to not to mention their father's name in their documents, if any, Patil said. 'They can write their name, surname or mother's name, and will exempted from writing their father's name,' he added. The Karnataka Ground Water (Regulation for Protection of Sources of Drinking Water) Amendment) Bill, 2025, (revised Bill) to adopt Central government guidelines was also approved. OTHER BILLS
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Cabinet clears Karnataka Devadasi Bill for rehabilitation, 17 other legislations
The State Cabinet on Thursday approved 18 Bills, including the Karnataka Devadasi (Prevention, Prohibition, Relief and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2025, and Greater Bengaluru (Amendment) Bill, 2025. The Bill envisages strengthening the fight against the century-old Devadasi system and seeks to replace the older Karnataka Devadasi (Prohibition and Dedication) Act, 1982. Terming it as a welfare Bill, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, H.K. Patil, said it would ensure that the children of Devadasis are treated with respect. The proposed legislation also provides the option for children of a Devadasi not to be compelled to declare the name of their father while applying for government identity cards such as passport, PAN, Aadhaar, and driving licence. The proposed Bill runs into 20 pages and includes provisions for recognising the right of Devadasi children to identify their father, potentially through DNA testing, and removing the requirement of a father's name on official documents. It would liberate the oppressed Devadasis from all sorts of exploitation, Mr. Patil said. The Bill is intended to be a more comprehensive approach for addressing the Devadasi system, moving beyond the previous focus on prohibition to include relief and rehabilitation measures, Mr. Patil said. Devadasis and their children have long been seeking comprehensive legislation that could end the evil system and provide proper relief and rehabilitation.
News18
6 days ago
- Business
- News18
Bill to liberate devadasi women from exploitation, children from social taboos
Agency: PTI Bengaluru, Aug 7 (PTI) Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to 17 bills, including a bill aimed at liberating oppressed devadasi women from all forms of exploitation and their children from social taboos through empowerment. All these bills are likely to be tabled in the legislature and passed during the upcoming session from August 11. 'The Karnataka Devadasi (Prevention, Prohibition, Relief And Rehabilitation) Bill, 2025 was approved by the cabinet and it aims to conscientise society about the practice of dedicating women as devasasis, liberate oppressed devadasi women from all forms of exploitation, their children from social taboos through empowerment," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said. Briefing reporters about the cabinet decisions, he said, it intends to do away with the need for the father's name in application forms and official documents for children of devadasis. 'If devadasi has a son, he can write his name and his surname or his mother's name, instead of father's name," he added. The cabinet has also cleared the Karnataka Compliance Decriminalisation Amendment of Provisions Bill aimed at decriminalising and rationalising offences to further enhance trust based governance for ease of living and doing business; the Karnataka Ports (Landing and Shipping Fees) (Amendment) Bill to revise the fees once in three year, and if fees are not revised once in three year, then, to give the power to Government to issue a notification to revise (increase or decrease) fees at such percentage, keeping the inflation and other conditions. 'Greater Bengaluru (Amendment) Bill, which has something to do with the State Election Commission to prepare voter list, was also approved," Patil said. A bill that aims to amend certain sections of the Land Revenue Act and Land Reforms Act was also cleared by the cabinet. The cabinet also approved the Registration (A) Bill to ensure due diligence in public interest is undertaken by the Sub-Registrar at the time of registration of property, to integrate property software to prevent illegal registration of properties in urban areas and to simplify property registration. The other bills cleared are: Karnataka Town and Country Planning and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, Karnataka Ground Water (Regulation for Protection of Sources of Drinking Water) Amendment) Bill, The Gadag-Betageri Business, Culture and Exhibition Authority (Amendment) Bill, The Karnataka Co-operative (A) Bill. The Karnataka Souhardha (A) Bill, The Karnataka Essential Services Maintenance (Amendment) Bill, The Karnataka Conduct Of Government Litigation (Amendment) Bill, The Karnataka Municipalities And Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, The Karnataka Tourism Trade (Facilitation and Regulation) (A) Bill, and The Municipal Corporation (A) Bill, 2025 are the other bills cleard. However, the cabinet deferred a decision on the Karnataka Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Exclusion or Injustice) (Right to Education and Dignity) Bill. 'We are yet to have one consultation meeting, that's why we have deferred it to the next meeting," the minister said. The draft of the Rohith Vemula Bill, reportedly proposes compensation of up to Rs 1 lakh for students who face caste-based discrimination in higher education institutions, and a jail term of one year and a fine of Rs 10,000 for guilty. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in April, urging the Karnataka government to enact 'Rohith Vemula Act" to ensure that no one faces caste-based discrimination in the education system. Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student, allegedly died by suicide due to caste-based discrimination in Hyderabad, in 2016. The Cabinet has also agreed to remove the rule that non-Muslim minority educational institutions must have 50 per cent of students from the respective minority category, through an amendment to the Karnataka Educational Institutions (recognition of Minority Education Institution Terms and Conditions) (Technical Education) Rules, Patil said. Administrative approval was given to purchase a total of 1,103 electric four-wheeled vehicles of the same model through Shri Devaraj Urs Development Corporation at an estimated cost of Rs 33.09 crores and distribute them through 11 corporations to enable unemployed people belonging to backward classes to start food kiosks. Administrative approval was given for the revised estimate of Rs 87.60 crores for the construction of 15 women's college buildings for the education of minority girls in 15 districts of the state. PTI KSU ADB (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Rye grain from 1878 shipwreck opens door to rare whiskey revival efforts
Long before bourbon dominated the liquor market, rye whiskey reigned supreme. Now, a Midwestern distiller is teaming up with scientists to bring back a long-gone type of grain and turn it into spicy, bold whiskey. The source is a wooden schooner named the James R. Bentley that's been sitting in Lake Huron for nearly 150 years. The ship sank in Nov. 1878 after striking a shoal. Remarkably, all the crew members on the ship were rescued – and even more remarkably, the ship still contains the remnants of the rye it was shipping. Chad Munger, founder and CEO of Mammoth Distilling, talked to Fox News Digital about his efforts to revive the grain, which he calls "Bentley rye." "The shipwreck itself is a rarity in the Great Lakes," Munger said. "It's privately owned by a gentleman [who] lives in Illinois who won a lawsuit ... which resulted in some new laws in the state of Michigan that preclude individuals from owning shipwrecks." That legal quirk made the recovery possible. After Munger contacted the owner and obtained permission for a dive, his team retrieved samples of the 140-year-old rye from the ship's hold. "It was a really rare set of circumstances that brought that all together in this particular case," Munger said. Mammoth Distilling is no stranger to this type of effort. It has helped revive another old type of grain, called Rosen rye. Thanks to a U.S. Department of Agriculture seed bank in Idaho, the company obtained the seeds and germinated them back into existence. Bentley rye, however, has been trickier to germinate. Eric Olson, a wheat breeding and genetics professor at Michigan State University, has been working to sequence the genome of the DNA. Speaking to Fox News Digital on July 30, Olson called the Bentley rye variety a "historical treasure." "It gives us a snapshot of the exact variety of rye being grown in the Great Lakes region in the late 1800s," he said. "It's a tip of the spear in terms of a very, very large project to make rye better in the world." Olson reported that the project has made some "foundational progress" over the past several months, including growing 269 varieties of rye. "In the coming weeks, we will be extracting DNA and sequencing pieces of the chromosomes of the 269 rye varieties and then [comparing] them with the chromosomes of the Bentley rye variety," Olson detailed. "Once we find the existing varieties with chromosomes matching those from the Bentley rye, we start the process of hybridizing these existing varieties (using classical plant-breeding methods) to bring all of the Bentley rye chromosomes back together." Olson said the process will take between four and five years. Of the effort, Munger said, "They're essentially Frankenstein-ing the thing back into existence." "It's a tip of the spear in terms of a very, very large project to make rye better in the world." Munger explained that the majority of whiskey made before Prohibition was rye whiskey, which must contain at least 51% rye grain. "That's what everybody in the United States used to make whiskey," Munger said. "It was not bourbon." He added, "Bourbon took over because it's cheaper to make." "It's a much bigger story than just a cool shipwreck." But, Munger said, good grain is like good wine grapes – and it makes a huge difference in the final product. "The varieties of grain you use make a big difference in terms of the flavor character," he said. "You can get a lot of grassy notes and clove spice notes and base spice notes, depending on what variety of grain you're using." The project may also help the Great Lakes State become the top producer of rye again. "One hundred and fifty years ago, Michigan was the rye-growing capital of North America," Munger said. "The state of Michigan is where you came to buy rye for whatever reason you were buying rye. As soon as Prohibition happened, it wiped out the whole industry." He hopes that his project has the potential to help "reinvigorate a segment of the Michigan agricultural economy that's gone dormant and that really needs to be revived." "It's a much bigger story than just a cool shipwreck," Munger emphasized. "It's really the first step in what we hope is a reinvigoration of a whole segment of the Michigan economy."
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Jeremy Busby: Gov. JB Pritzker should take a page out of Donald Trump's book by freeing Larry Hoover
As a Black man, I completely disagree with the 'Make America Great Again' agenda. However, as a political journalist, I completely recognize President Donald Trump's successful blueprint toward recruiting the Black male vote. As a result of assertive actions to correct long-standing injustices within the criminal justice system, Trump has increased his support from Black male voters from 13% in 2016 to 21% in the 2024 election. Trump's blueprint was on full display when he issued a commutation to Chicago native Larry Hoover in May. But Hoover remains locked up on state charges in Illinois — handing Trump an opportunity to one-up his Democratic rivals. Hoover grew up in the impoverished Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. He's always been controversial in the view of government officials, but he's been a staple in the struggle to improve the plight of those in the Black community. During the early 1970s when Black people were plagued with the perilous impacts of unchecked racial injustices, Hoover organized his neighbors to create better living conditions, personal wealth and political power. Forced to navigate America's unfair and corrupt socioeconomic order, he decided to operate outside of society's norms. Hoover formed an organization called the Gangster Disciples, or GDs, to serve as a mechanism for community empowerment. Some of the country's most powerful families today accumulated their wealth by peddling illegal alcohol during the Prohibition era. Similarly, Hoover's GDs got involved in drug distribution. Hoover's dedication to increasing political awareness in the Black community made him a target for government officials, and his participation in drug trafficking justified his incarceration. According to government records, the GDs amassed more than 30,000 members in over 28 states and were responsible for more than $100 million worth of drugs a year in Illinois alone. Like other influential Black leaders such as Malcolm X, Hoover abandoned criminal activity during his incarceration and committed to transforming the GDs into a pure civic improvement group. In addition to changing the name of the organization to Growth and Development, Hoover published a book called 'A Blueprint of a New Concept' that outlined a holistic vision for cleaning up Black communities across the nation. From his prison cell, Hoover started 21st Century V.O.T.E., a legitimate vehicle to incorporate young Black adults into politics, and Save the Children, a community outreach program for Black children. These initiatives, combined with Hoover's repeated disavowal of all criminal activities, have rendered his continued incarceration, after four decades, an unjust continuance of America's history of ostracizing Black leaders from the Black community. By issuing his commutation to Hoover, Trump gained political capital with Black men who have grown tired of the failed policies and broken promises of the Democratic Party to address criminal justice issues. Most Black males I have spoken with understand that Trump's infamous clemency toward people such as Hoover and hip-hop artists Lil Wayne, NBA YoungBoy and Kodak Black is mere political gamesmanship and does little to address the overall problems of mass incarceration of Black people. But sincere or not, these acts of clemency represent more than what the Democrats have offered. The commutation of Hoover's federal sentence and Trump's blueprint are a rare gift to Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who has presidential aspirations for 2028. Pritzker could take executive action and grant Hoover his much awaited and deserved freedom. With the bold stroke of his pen, Pritzker could separate his presidential candidacy from the damaged Democratic Party brand and provide the Black male voting bloc with a viable option during the next election. By taking corrective action to free Hoover, Pritzker could offer clear evidence that he is courageous enough to take measured steps to right a wrong. Millions of Black men in this country have had a negative experience with the criminal justice system. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, Black people make up about 41% of the country's incarceration rate, despite being only 14% of the U.S. population. In my home state of Texas, I have watched the positive efforts of Hoover and his Growth and Development organization improve the conditions of numerous Black communities throughout the state. Additionally, I have witnessed the unjust incarceration of countless Black men, like Hoover, who make significant positive contributions to their environment on a daily basis and no longer pose a threat to society. Instead of spending millions searching for a way to counter Trump's appeal to the Black male voting bloc, all members of the Democratic Party have to do is transform their talk into action. Pritzker can begin a new trend by following Trump's blueprint and freeing Hoover. Jeremy Busby is an incarcerated journalist based in Texas. His nonprofit organization, JoinJeremy, is dedicated to advancing the works of incarcerated journalists and writers across the country.
