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Security has been tightened in Uttar Pradesh, India on the eve of Thursday’s 26th anniversary of the demolition of a 16th-century mosque.
A senior official in the Uttar Pradesh government told Anadolu Agency that sufficient security arrangements have been made and security has been deployed in all sensitive places, to prevent any untoward incidents in the northern town of Ayodhya.
“We’re keeping a close eye of the sensitive places, and additional security personnel have been deployed as well,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Indian authorities are pumping water out of a sprawling southern lake to assuage villagers' fears it was contaminated after the discovery of the body of a woman infected with HIV, a regional official said on Wednesday.The virus is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse, infected blood and from an infected mother to the baby in her womb or through breastfeeding, but the villagers' alarm at the discovery a week ago drove the demand for the lake to be drained, the official added."We tried our best to assure the villagers that we would get the water tested, but they did not budge and even refused to come near the lake," said Naveen Hullur, who is in charge of the area.China, India and US to drive global power transmissionThe lake near the village of Morab in Karnataka, about 440 km (273 miles) from the state's capital of Bengaluru, covers 32 acres (13 hectares).It is a key source of drinking water for more than 1,000 people who live in the drought-affected region and earn their livelihoods by farming.The drainage operation has run for the last four days and fresh water from a nearby canal is to be used to replenish the lake over the next four to five days, Hullur added. He did not provide additional details.It was not immediately clear what the cost of the drainage operation is. Public health officials in the region did not immediately respond to telephone calls and email messages from Reuters to seek comment.The HIV virus which causes AIDS is not spread in air, water or in food, or by sharing cups, bowls, cutlery, clothing, or toilet seats. It cannot survive in the body after the infected person dies. Indian police probe if violence over dead cow was result of conspiracy
India drains lake after discovery of HIV-infected body
This time, officials say, they are taking more measures keeping in view fresh tensions in the town from Nov. 25, when thousands of Hindus nationalists descended on Ayodhya to demand the construction of a temple at a site where the historic Babri Mosque once stood.
There have recently been renewed efforts by Hindus in India to promote building a temple in Ayodhya.
In December 1992, Hindus gathered at the disputed site and destroyed the 16th-century mosque named after Mughal Emperor Babur. The destruction sparked nationwide riots that left around 2,000 people dead. Muslims have demanded a new mosque at the site. Hindus claim that this was where their god Ram was born, demanding instead a temple be erected there. The Indian Supreme Court is set to hear the case in January.
China, India and the U.S. will be the driving forces for the global power transmission and distribution conductors markets over the next four years, according to leading data and analytics company Global Data on Wednesday."The aggregated market values of the three nations [China, India and U.S.] are estimated to account for 63.7 percent and 41 percent, respectively of the global transmission and distribution conductors' markets values in 2022," the company said.The global market value of power transmission and distribution conductor markets are estimated to be valued at $29.58 billion and $114.38 billion in the forecast period 2018–2022, Global Data shows.The markets were valued at $25.99 billion and $103.50 billion, respectively during the period from 2013 to 2017.Britain's BT to strip China's Huawei from core networks, limit 5G accessEnvironmental factors, fuel resource constraints, geo-political risks and evolving technologies are transforming the global power sector, Global Data said.Developed nations with established power networks are expected to focus on transitioning their power systems to reduce environmental impacts or on gradual replacement of aging assets.According to the report, connecting remote power generation with far-off load centers in countries such as China, Germany, and South Africa, and the push for an interconnected grid in the EU and Japan, present the need for new transmission infrastructure to facilitate power supply to consumers and to maintain grid flexibility.Putin says Russia will be forced to respond if US exits arms treaty
China, India and US to drive global power transmission
Impatience and nationalist votes
Right-wing Hindu leaders, however, are saying the time has come when governments should build the temple.
“We can’t wait so long. We’re demanding that an ordinance should be come up in Parliament so that temple can come up soon,” Vinod Bansal, national spokesperson for the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), told Anadolu Agency.
He said saints and VHP leaders are meeting on Dec. 9, in New Delhi, to again demand that the government introduce a measure to build a temple.
Police in India are investigating whether a deadly protest over the alleged slaughter of a cow, an animal many Hindus consider sacred, was aimed at sparking religious tension during a Muslim gathering.Monday's violence in the country's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which killed two people, brings back to the national spotlight a trend of cow vigilantism by hardline Hindu groups ahead of a general election due in less than six months.Police have arrested four of 27 men named in a complaint after a police officer and a man were killed in the northern state's district of Bulandshahr as tens of thousands of Muslims gathered for a religious event.Police would try to determine the age of the cow carcass, police official Anand Kumar said when asked if there had been a conspiracy to vitiate the atmosphere by using a dead cow brought in from elsewhere.Policeman and one other dead after violence over cow slaughter in north India"If there was anything like that, then the details will come out," Kumar, the state's second highest police official, told a news conference. "There's an intelligence investigation and all these aspects will be looked into."The Muslim religious event ended peacefully and the situation had returned to normal, Kumar added.Police have yet to arrest the main suspect, who belongs to the hardline Hindu group Bajrang Dal, said Bholendra, a leader of the group, who goes by one name.Only an investigation would reveal if members of the group were guilty, he added. "Every action has a reaction," he said, however, while adding that the group did not believe in unprovoked violence.Kashmiri leader asks PM Modi to open Hindu temple routeLast year, a Reuters investigation https://www.reuters.com/invest... showed that cow vigilantism flourished during the first three years of the term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, run by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Bhola Singh, the BJP lawmaker from the district, told reporters the protests escalated because people were agitated over two recent incidents of cow slaughter.The dead police officer, Subodh Kumar Singh, had helped lead an investigation into the 2015 murder by a Hindu mob of a Muslim man rumoured to have slaughtered a cow in a village that is about an hour's travel away by road from the district.The family of the man, a blacksmith, denied the accusation that they secretly ate beef, which is banned in many Indian states including Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by a Hindu priest from the BJP.Police officer Kumar declined to say why Singh was transferred from the area and the murder case handed to another officer. 
Indian police probe if violence over dead cow was result of conspiracy
The Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Sharad Sharma, another VHP spokesperson, saying that on Thursday the VHP and various Hindu groups in Ayodhya are likely to organize “a number of religious programs, including a hawan, so that a grand temple of Lord Ram is built."
Muslim leaders, however, say that only the top court will resolve the issue.
Tasleem Rahmani, head of the New Delhi-based Muslim Political Council, told Anadolu Agency: “It is the duty of everyone to wait for the final verdict of the Supreme Court. The matter is sub judice. Any attempt to build the temple will actually amount to contempt of court and insult to our judicial institution.”
Zafaryab Jilani, senior advocate at the High Court, Lucknow and convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), told Anadolu Agency the judgment of the Indian Supreme Court is the only solution to the dispute, and fresh attempts by some Hindu parties are aimed at "polarizing Hindu votes” ahead of spring 2019 general elections.
Leaders from the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) say they will wait till January, when the case comes up at the Supreme Court.
“As far as the BJP is concerned we have made clear in the manifesto and it is known to everyone that a grand temple, will come up … however, the current situation suggests the case is pending in the Supreme Court and we need to wait till January,” Syed Zafar Islam, a BJP spokesperson, told Anadolu Agency.
“The party will explore all the options” in the case, he said.