Page 153 - Social Issues
Goa government scheme promotes goat-breeding for meat
A new scheme promoted by the BJP-led coalition government in Goa wants to promote goat breeding in the coastal state because goat-meat or mutton, does not have religious taboo.
SC dismisses PIL seeking quashing of Feb 1 interim Budget
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking quashing of the February 1 interim Budget on the alleged ground that there was no constitutional provision for an interim Budget. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said it was not inclined to entertain the petition by lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma, filed in his personal capacity. Sharma in his PIL said there was provision for only a full annual Budget and a vote-on-account under the Constitution. A vote-on-account is an approval taken in an election year for a limited period for government spending; a full-fledged budget is presented later by the newly elected government. The interim Budget was presented in the Lok Sabha on February 1, proposing an array of incentives for both middle class and farmers. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to take place within a few months. In December last year, the top court imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on Sharma for filing a public interest litigation against .
TMC MP Santanu Sen claims getting death threats
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen Monday claimed that he has been receiving death threats from unknown persons for the past several days. Sen, however, did not specify the reason for the threats. He said that the number of calls threatening to put an end to his life has escalated in the past few weeks which prompted him to lodge a police complaint. It may be recalled that the party's Krishnaganj MLA Satyajit Biswas was shot from point blank range by unidentified assailants in full public view on February 9 inside a Saraswati puja marquee at Phoolbari village in Nadia district. "I have been receiving life threats from unknown numbers for the last one-and-a-half month. Initially, I had ignored those threats since I am a politician," Sen told PTI. However, in the last few weeks, the number of such calls have increased sharply, he said. "My family members and well-wishers suggested me to intimate the police. So I had lodged a complaint at the local police ...
Youth Congress calls for bandh over death of party workers in Kerala, Rahul condemns killings
As a mark of protest against the murder of two of its workers in Kasargod district, the Youth Congress has called for a statewide dawn to dusk bandh on Monday.The two Youth Congress workers- Kripesh and Sarath Lal- were hacked to death in Kasargod on Sunday by unidentified assailants while they were on a motorcycle.Congress president Rahul Gandhi condemned the killings and extended condolences to the families of the deceased."The brutal murder of two members of our Youth Congress family in Kasargod, Kerala is shocking. The Congress Party stands in solidarity with the families of these two young men & I send them my deepest condolences. We will not rest till the murderers are brought to justice" he tweeted on Monday.Soon after the death of Kripesh and Sarath, the Congress alleged that Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists were behind the attack that took place in Peria."The CPM government is attempting to destroy Congress using party goons. The young Congress activists ...
Tripura BJP government to continue with Left's pension schemes: Minister
The BJP-led government in Tripura will continue with all 30 of the pension schemes introduced by the previous Left Front government that is benefiting 4,05,175 people, a Minister said here on Monday.
Comprehensive plan prepared for BSNL's revival: Government
The government is making all efforts to make state-run BSNL robust and financially viable again and has prepared a comprehensive plan for its revival, an official said on Sunday, on the eve of a nationwide strike called by the employees unions over their demands.
Woman kills minor daughter, then commits suicide
A 28-year-old woman allegedly strangled her minor daughter to death before committing suicide Sunday evening here in Maharashtra, police said. The incident took place in the Chawal gate locality under the Begumpura police area, an official said. The woman, Amruta Kishor Mule, first strangled her three-year-old daughter to death and then hanged herself in her residence, said Rajeshri Ade, inspector, Begumpura Police station. The reason for the woman's acts is yet to be ascertained, she said. The bodies were sent for an autopsy at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital, the inspector said.
Farmer suicides: 90k farmers counselled in 14 Maha districts
The Maharashtra government has said more than 90,000 farmers in 14 "suicide-prone" districts of the state have been provided "counselling" under its project 'Prerna'. Prerna, which has been underway since 2015 to stop farm suicides, comprises social workers, psychiatrists and ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist Scheme) workers among others who counsel farmers suffering depression. An official release from the government identified these districts as Aurangabad, Beed, Jalna, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad, Parbhani in Marathwada and Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Washim, Yavatmal and Wardha in Vidarbha. It informed that, in the last three years, 2,000 medical officers, 10,000 semi-health staff and 20,000 ASHA workers have been trained on mental health as part of the project. These personnel, post training, have surveyed the 14 districts for counselling, the statement quoted state Health Minister Eknath Shinde as saying. The release said 12,700 personnel have been ...
Law needed for data providers to curb online porn: Satyarthi
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi Sunday sought a law for data providers to prevent online pornography and claimed it was "morally ruining" the new generation. He said he was in touch with influential personalities from across the world to create consensus on the subject. Talking to PTI, he said, "The new generation is getting morally ruined by pornographic content flooding online media. At present, there is no law binding on data providers to completely stop the flow of pornographic content." He said the government had banned several sites uploading pornographic content but it has been mostly futile as people with state-of-art technology have managed to create detours to circulate such content. On several instances, these banned websites have resumed operations under new domain names, the acclaimed children's rights activist said. "By enacting a concrete law, these companies (data providers) should be directed to ensure enough technical measures so that their users are ..
CSC begins registration for informal workers' Rs 3,000 monthly pension scheme
Informal sector workers will now be able to subscribe to the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) scheme and get an assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000 at 3.13 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) across the country.
Saudi defends app allowing men to monitor women relatives
Saudi Arabia has defended a mobile app that allows men in the kingdom to track female relatives after rights groups and a US lawmaker criticised tech giants for offering it. The Absher app provides services for "all members of the society... including women, the elderly, and people with special needs", the interior ministry said. The free app is available on Android and Apple smartphones and allows users to renew passports, visas and eases a variety of other electronic services. But critics have said the app enables abuse against women and girls by allowing men to track their movements. Apple CEO Tim Cook told US National Public Radio earlier this week he had not heard of the app, but would "take a look at it". US Senator Ron Wyden has called on both Apple and Google to remove the app, arguing on Twitter that it promotes "abusive practises against women". Under Saudi law, women must have consent from a husband or immediate male relative to renew passports or leave the country. The ...
Unorganised workers can now subscribe to Rs 3,000 monthly pension scheme at common service centres
Informal workers can now subscribe to the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PMSYM) scheme, which provides an assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000, at 3.13 lakh common service centres (CSCs) across the country. "CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, has begun the registration process for the PMSYM scheme, covering unorganised sector workers of age between 18 and 40 years, making them eligible for a minimum monthly pension of Rs 3,000 after the age of 60 in lieu of contributions made under the scheme," an official said. Being implemented by the labour ministry, the ambitious social security scheme was announced by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Interim Budget 2019-20 and is targeted at unorganised sector workers with monthly income of up to Rs 15,000. The target is to cover 10 crore informal sector workers in five years. The government has roped in CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd for mobilising and ...
Plea in HC seeks accessibility compliance for govt websites
A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to ensure all government websites were made Guidelines for Indian Government Websites compliant, incorporating website quality certification content (WQS) accessibility within a time-frame. As many as 63 websites of various Union ministries and departments have already been issued with WQC and the remaining 14 ministries and departments are still awaiting it, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) G Rajagopalan told the Second Bench of the High Court recently. The ASG made the submission before the bench of justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan when the Public Interest Litigation petition from A Syed Ansari, a visually-impaired lawyer, came up for hearing. The petitioner, among other things, contended the authorities ought to have seen that Chapter VIII of the Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act mandated the non-discrimination and the ...
Bill to make Sanskrit Himachal Pradesh's second official language passed
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Saturday passed a Bill to make Sanskrit the second official language of the state. The Himachal Pradesh Official Language Bill, 2019 (Amendment) was introduced by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahender Singh Thakur in the absence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur during the ongoing budget session and was passed without any discussion.
Drug 'godfathers' surrender to Bangladesh police
Some 102 Bangladeshi meth dealers have surrendered to authorities at a pre-scheduled ceremony in a coastal town, officials said Saturday, as a Philippines-style anti-narcotics crackdown sows fear among kingpins. Bangladesh last year launched a "war" on drugs following a proliferation of illegal substances in the South Asian nation of 165 million people, mostly of cheap methamphetamine pills known as "yaba". Police said 24 yaba "godfathers", as well as lieutenants and peddlers, surrendered to the country's home minister in Teknaf town -- the key gateway for smuggling yaba into the country from Myanmar, where the pills are manufactured by the millions. The dealers also surrendered 350,000 vanilla-scented, small red yaba pills - whose name comes from a Thai word meaning "crazy medicine" -- and 30 illegal firearms. The country's police chief Mohammad Javed Patwary said authorities would advocate for lesser prison sentences for those who had surrendered, and would "assist" them in ...
Traders shut shops in Srinagar's Lal Chowk
Traders at the Lal Chowk here shut their establishments on Saturday to protest against reported harassment of Kashmiri students outside the state.
POCSO court orders CBI to probe Nitish in shelter home case
A court in Bihar's Muzaffarpur has directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the involvement of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and two senior officials in the infamous shelter home sexual exploitation case, officials said on Saturday.
German cars pose no security risk to United States, Merkel says
MUNICH (Reuters) - German cars do not pose a security threat to the United States, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday as she appealed for global cooperation on a range of issues from dealing with Iran to preventing another migrant crisis.
5 killed in US factory shooting
A man who was terminated from his job fatally shot five people at a factory in the suburbs of the US metropolis of Chicago before being killed by the police, authorities said.
UN, partners appeal for USD 920 million to meet dire needs of 900,000 Rohingyas
The United Nations aid agencies and partners have appealed for USD 920 million to help meet the "dire needs" of more than 900,000 Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh to escape the violence in Myanmar's restive Rakhine State, triggering one of the world's worst refugee crises. According to the UN estimates, over 700,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh, where they joined roughly 200,000 others already sheltering there, since August 25 last year when the army launched a military crackdown. The 2019 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis seeks to raise USD 920 million to assist more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and the more than 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis hosting them. "Our humanitarian imperative today is to stabilise the situation of stateless Rohingya refugees and their Bangladesh hosts. We are hoping for timely, predictable and flexible contributions in order to meet the goals of this year's appeal," said Filippo Grandi, UN High ...