UNI
 
Washington, Sep 16: Hindutva continued to influence governmental policies and societal attitudes in some regions at the state and local levels in India, despite the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's rejection of the ideology, a US government report has said.

The US State Department's annual report on religious freedom worldwide, released here on Friday, however, said, Hindutva-based policies could not be implemented without passing court review to determine whether they were consistent with the principles enshrined in the country's secular constitution.''

In March 2006, it recalled, the Rajasthan government passed an anti-conversion bill. However, by the end of the period covered by this report, it had not taken effect, since it was not approved by the Governor and continued to await Presidential review.

Despite the government's 2005 action to withdraw controversial textbooks espousing a Hindu nationalist agenda, the report says, continuing problems with biased textbooks in some states led the government to take further action by recommending the formation of a National Textbook Council to ensure such books no longer appear in the curriculum.

The US report notes that Indian constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice.

It, however, says the government sometimes did not act swiftly enough to counter effectively societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by some leaders of state and local governments to limit religious freedom.

''This resulted in part from legal constraints on government action inherent in the country's federal structure and from shortcomings in its law enforcement and justice systems, although courts regularly upheld the constitutional provision of religious freedom,'' it said.

Despite government efforts to foster communal harmony, it points out, some extremists continued to view ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities, particularly at the state and local level, as a signal that they could commit such violence with impunity, although numerous cases were in the courts at the end of the reporting period.

The State Department's eighth annual report made available to Congress, examines 197 countries' commitment to advancing religious freedom.

It is sharply critical of the record on that issue of Uzbekistan, Iran and China among others. But it credits several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam with improvements.