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Scores of people, including parents and environmental activists, staged a protest at the India Gate on Sunday against the worsening air quality in the national capital. The protesters, many of them mothers accompanied by children, said they had gathered to demand urgent government action to ensure clean air. "We want to meet our elected officials. We had sought an appointment with the chief minister but were refused. So many parents are here because their children are suffering," environmentalist Bhavreen Khandari said. "Every third child already has damaged lungs; they will live nearly 10 years less than those growing up in cleaner air," she said. Another protester, Abhishek, said the government had failed to provide even the basic right, to breathe clean air. "During (former chief minister) Sheila Dikshit's term, Delhi was known as a green capital. Today, it ranks among the most polluted cities in the world. Politicians keep blaming each other instead of taking responsibility,"
Observing incestuous sexual violence by a parent "tears through" the foundational fabric of familial trust, the Supreme Court has upheld a man's punishment for raping his minor daughter. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Kumar called the dignity of women "non-negotiable" while asking the legal system not to permit repeated intrusion into that dignity under the "guise of misplaced sympathy" or purported "procedural fairness". Justice, the August 4 order said, must not be limited to conviction and must include restitution. The top court further directed Rs 10.50 lakh to be paid to the survivor as compensation under the state of Himachal Pradesh. "Incestuous sexual violence committed by a parent is a distinct category of offence that tears through the foundational fabric of familial trust and must invite the severest condemnation in both language and sentence. The home, which should be a sanctuary, cannot be permitted to become a site of unspeakable trauma, and the courts
Daughter has an indefeasible, legally enforceable and legitimate right to secure educational expenses from her parents, who can be compelled to provide necessary funds within their means, the Supreme Court recently said. The remarks of a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan came in a matrimonial dispute in which the daughter of the estranged couple, who was studying in Ireland, refused to accept Rs 43 lakh given by her father towards her studies as a part of the total alimony being paid to her mother. "She, being the daughter, has an indefeasible, legally enforceable, lawful, and legitimate right to secure educational expenses from her parents. All that we observe is that the daughter has a fundamental right to pursue her education, for which the parents could be compelled to provide necessary funds within the limit of their financial resources," said the bench's January 2 order. The daughter of the parties, it said, to maintain her own dignity had declined to retai
The government has released the long-awaited draft of Digital Personal Data Protection Rules which proposes to make parent's verifiable consent and identification mandatory for creation of child's user account on online or social media platforms, and also moots possible data localisation requirements for specified personal data. Notably, the draft rules - which are key to operationalisation of the data protection Act - seek to make parental nod essential for processing of personal data of children. Further, parents' identity and age will also have to be validated and verified through voluntarily provided identity proof "issued by an entity entrusted by law or the government", say the draft rules. A major - and a surprise - takeaway from the draft rules, according to industry experts, is the aspect of localisation and additional oversight on cross-border data sharing in specified cases. On processing of personal data of child, the draft rules state: "A Data Fiduciary shall adopt ...
Panic and fear gripped parents across Delhi on Monday morning after 40 schools reportedly received bomb threats via email, prompting immediate evacuations and emergency responses. As the alarming news spread, parents rushed to the schools, their faces etched with anxiety, to ensure the safety of their children. Vipin Bhatra, a parent, shared his distress, and said "I rushed to the school as soon as I received the message about the bomb threat. If situations like this persist, how can we send our children to school with peace of mind?" Another parent, Anuradha echoed similar fears saying that she took her child home but she is still tense. Education is important but incidents like these are terrifying to all parents. Schools should be safe, not a place of constant threats, she said. Scenes of chaos were witnessed at several schools as parents anxious parents led their children away from the school premises. Meanwhile, teachers and staff managed the crisis by gathering students to
Amid concerns of a possible third wave of COVID-19 in coming months, parents are divided over the plan to reopen schools in the national capital. An expert committee set up by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has recommended a phase-wise reopening of schools in the national capital beginning September. While few believe its high time the schools are reopened as the learning loss is huge, others feel there is no harm in waiting for few more weeks or a month as experts have been warning of a possible third wave. "The risk is not over yet. Reopening schools right before October-November during which the third wave has been predicted by experts, is not a wise decision. A system for online learning is already in place and extending it for few weeks or a month more will not cause any major harm when schools have been closed for so long already," said Aparajita Gautam, President, Delhi Parents' Association. Deeksha Verma, mother of a nine-year-old, said, "A flexible plan is