Page 186 - Social Issues

Centre must care for sentiments of northeast: Meghalaya CM on Citizenship Amendment Bill

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma appealed to the central government to look into the issue of Citizenship Amendment Bill keeping in mind the sentiments of the people of northeast India.He also said that parties have come together purely on the basis of issues and for the central government to realise these. "We are here to come together to appeal to the government that this issue must be looked at from point of view of sentiments of northeast and country as a whole. We will see future course of action as the time comes," said Sangma.Under the leadership of Sangma, who is also the president of the National People's Party (NPP), the meeting was attended by 11 regional political parties from the North East including NEDA allies AGP, NPP, NDPP, UDP, JD(U), IPFT opposed the Bill today.The NPP, which convened the meeting, is BJP's partner in the ruling alliance in Meghalaya.While Sangma was the convener of the meeting, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) was the co-convener of the meeting. ..

Five dead, 130 missing as 2 migrant boats sink off Djibouti: IOM

Five people are dead and about 130 missing off the coast of Djibouti after two boats carrying migrants capsized, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday. The incident occurred about 30 minutes after the overloaded boats set off in heavy seas from Godoria on the Horn of Africa nation's northeast coastline, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). "After being alerted by local residents, a team of gendarmerie gathered this afternoon near the reported site of the disaster and discovered two survivors as well as the remains of three women and two men," IOM said in a statement. One survivor estimated there were 130 people on his boat, but wasn't able to say the number of passengers on the other vessel. "The coast guard was also alerted and launched search and rescue operations. Those operations are still underway with two patrol boats," said the statement. Located across the Bab el-Mandeb strait from war-torn Yemen and next to volatile Somalia and Ethiopia, Djibouti

TN CM appeals to striking govt employees to resume work

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Tuesday made a fervent appeal to government teachers and employees who are on strike over various issues, including payment of arrears, to resume work immediately in public interest. Citing factors like drought, drinking water scarcity and the adverse effects of cyclone Gaja that struck Tamil Nadu in November, he said under such circumstances, rather than being "self-centric" it is "our duty to do people's work with a sense of sacrifice and by relinquishing our rights sometimes". The strike, under the aegis of the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers' Organisation Government Employees Organisations, entered its eighth day Tuesday despite appeals by the government to end the stir. Scrapping of the contributory pension scheme and reverting to the old pension plan, payment of arrears and addressing anomalies in pay are among their key demands. A lot of employees have been arrested across the state in connection with the stir and many of ...

Video of security personnel taking a child's jacket in Assam goes viral; CM orders inquiry

The video of a mother removing a black jacket of her crying three-year-old child on the instructions of security personnel before entering Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's function in Biswanath district on Tuesday morning has drawn sharp criticism from the public, prompting the CM to order a police inquiry into the episode. The video has gone viral on social media and has also been aired by local TV news channels in Assam. The Citizenship Amendment Bill has triggered widespread protests in Assam. Sonowal is witnessing hostile reactions from citizens over the controversial legislation piloted by the BJP at the Centre. "My three-year-old child was wearing a black coloured jacket. The security personnel didn't allow him to enter the meeting venue in it. The security personnel asked me to remove the black jacket", the mother of the child is heard saying in the video to journalists, who asked her the cause for removing the jacket of her child, leaving him with a cotton shirt in the ...

10-day stir for better med facilities in hospital withdrawn

The Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum (SPYF) spearheaded 10-day-long agitation seeking better medical infrastructure at the district hospital in West Sikkim was withdrawn on Tuesday. The stir, under which the youths were staging dharna at the East Sikkim District Collectorate premises since Thursday, was called off after some volunteers fell sick, SPYF Chief Convenor Prakash Sharma said. The SPYF have been demanding more manpower, appointment of radiologist at the hospital, among others. Over 100 volunteers of SPYF had called 'Gangtok Chalo' and trekked 110 km from Geyzing, the district headquarters of West Sikkim, to the state capital demanding better medical infrastructure at Gyalshing district hospital. The protesters had staged dharna initially at Titanic Park near the busy Mahatma Gandhi Marg before they were shifted by the local authorities to an area outside the district collectorate premises last week. Health Minister A K Ghatani, Secretary (Health) Vishal Chauhan ..

UN agency eyes USD1.2 bn budget for Palestinians despite US cuts

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Tuesday appealed to nations to help it maintain a USD1.2-billion budget in 2019 after it was hit last year by the withdrawal of US funding. The organisation, known as UNRWA, was able to fully fund a budget of the same amount in 2018, despite a dramatic initial shortfall when the administration of US President Donald Trump announced it was withdrawing nearly all support. "The campaign last year was successful," agency chief Pierre Kraehenbuehl told reporters in Geneva. "We closed the entirety of the shortfall, which was an almost existential shortfall of USD446 million, ... thanks to the remarkable and generous mobilisation of member states" and others, he said. The US, which was previously UNRWA's largest contributor, last year cut a full USD300 million in funding to UNRWA, and has said it will not repeat the $60 million it did provide. In the void, the European Union, followed by Germany and Saudi Arabia were the biggest donors, with a total .

Over 100 organisations denounce Philip Morris' attempt to "infiltrate WHO policymaking"

Public health experts from over 100 organisations around the world Tuesday urged the World Health Organisation Executive Board (WHO-EB) to reject a Philip Morris International-funded foundation's appeal to the global health body to collaborate on tobacco control policies. To do so would depart from WHO's strict longstanding policy of not working with the tobacco industry, whose business practices have been proven to be contradictory with and detrimental to public health, they said. Giving any consideration to an organisation that is entirely funded by the tobacco industry would fundamentally undermine the significant health and policy gains made to date on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It would specifically undermine WHO FCTC Article 5.3 which seeks to protect public health policies from the vested interests of the ...

Congress, Left spreading misinformation on Citizenship Amendment Bill: Sonowal

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday slammed the Congress and the Left Front for spreading misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Bill and said that they are creating confusion among people.

BJP will drive out infiltrators from Bengal: Amit Shah

Coming down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee government on the refugee crisis, BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday said if elected to power, the BJP will ensure citizenship to all refugees and drive away all the infiltrators from Bengal.

Marathas, Kunbis not separate castes: Maharashtra Backward Class panel

The Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission in its report has said that Marathas and Kunbis are one and the same community. As the Kunbis are already included in the Other Backward Class (OBC), the Marathas too should have been categorised as a Backward Class long ago, it said. The nine-member commission headed by retired Justice M G Gaikwad had submitted its report on November 2018. On the basis of it, the state legislature on November 30, 2018, passed a bill giving 16 per cent quota in government jobs and education to the Marathas, declared as a "socially and educationally backward class". The report was on Tuesday given to the petitioners who have moved the Bombay High Court challenging the decision to grant the reservation. In April 1942, a government resolution (GR) was issued by the then government of Bombay with a list of Backward Classes which included the Maratha community, the report said. "The GR included the Maratha caste as intermediate class for the purpose of ...

Rohingya crisis: Unicef head visits Rakhine, backs Annan's recommendations

The head of the UN children's fund on Tuesday visited Myanmar's volatile Rakhine state, a day after she urged the authorities to implement the recommendations of the panel headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resolve Rohingya crisis.

Married couple commits suicide in Rajasthan's Barmer

A married couple Tuesday allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a water tank in the Dhorimanna area here, police said. "Tejaram Meghwal, 22 and his wife Shanti Devi jumped into the water tank in their house. Preliminary investigation indicates a dispute between the couple over some issue," they said. The bodies were handed over to their family members after post-mortem, police said. The matter is being further investigated, they said. The couple married two years ago, police said.

Assam BJP unit alleges Congress' involvement in attack on AASU

Refuting AASU's claims that the BJP had orchestrated the attacks on its members at Nalbari two days back, the saffron party's state unit on Tuesday accused the opposition Congress to be behind the incident. Several All Assam Students' Union (AASU) activists were attacked while they were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill during Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's visit to Nalbari on January 27. Addressing a press conference here, Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass showed pictures of Congress personnel being present among the AASU protestors on that day. "The Congress was involved in the Ghograpara incident in Nalbari district. We have evidence of Congress being involved in it," he said. Dass claimed that the Congress is engaging in such incidents with a malafide intention to spoil AASU's name and ruin its image. "They want to create a rift between the BJP and AASU. The Congress wants to ruin the image of AASU," Dass claimed. Showing pictures to prove .

Maha starts distributing baby-care kits to curb infant deaths

The Maharashtra government Tuesday started distributing baby-care kits to the children born in primary health centres and government hospitals, as part of its efforts to reduce the infant mortality rate. The scheme is applicable only for the first child and will benefit around four lakh women across the state, Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde said here after launching the scheme. "The baby-care kits will be given to the women, who are admitted to a state-run hospital, after their first delivery. The government has allocated Rs 20 crore for the scheme. But in case more money is required, we will get more funds," she said. "The government-run hospitals and primary health centres in the state report around 10 lakh deliveries every year, of which around four lakh are first-time deliveries (first-time mothers). All these four lakh women will get the baby-care kits," she said. Each kit contains a blanket, a small mattress, a towel, a thermometer, baby oil, ..

30,000 fled Nigerian town in two days amid Boko Haram threat: UN

Over 30,000 people fled the Nigerian town of Rann and across the border to Cameroon over the weekend amid fears of renewed attacks by Boko Haram jihadists, the UN said Tuesday. "All the population seems to be panicking and they are on the run as a preemptive measure to save their lives," UN refugee agency spokesman Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva. Rann, near the border with Cameroon in northern Borno state, already saw an exodus of some 9,000 people earlier this month after a Boko Haram attack on January 14 left 14 people dead. Baloch said that Cameroon had sent back the 9,000 refugees and had initially sent in troops that are part of a multinational taskforce to protect the town. "It was a bit peaceful, but as far as we understand now, that multinational taskforce has left," he said. Refugees had told aid workers that Boko Haram militants had "promised to return to Rann," he said, explaining the panic. He said UNHCR was reiterating its call to Cameroonian authorities "to keep ..

Cabinet recommends Delhi Budget session from February 22

The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday recommended convening of the Assembly Budget session from February 22-28.

Indian man charged with possessing child pornography in Australia

A 32-year-old Indian man in Australia has been charged with possessing child pornography after he was held at Perth airport with two mobile phones containing videos of child abuse and other "objectionable" material, a media report said Tuesday. The unidentified man, who arrived arrived on a flight from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, was held by the Australian Border Force officers. The man was charged with one offence related to possessing child pornography and one of importing "objectionable" goods, Perth-based newspaper 'The West Australian' reported. He appeared in Perth Magistrate's Court on Sunday and was remanded in custody to re-appear in the same court Tuesday, it said. "Visitors need to be aware that possession of objectionable material is viewed very seriously under Australian law," Australian Border Force (ABF) Regional Commander for Western Australia Rod O'Donnell said. "The maximum penalty for the importation of child exploitation material is 10 years imprisonment and/or a ...

MoSPI, NCAER ink pact to improve statistical system in India

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) Tuesday said it has signed a pact with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to improve the official statistical system in the country. MoSPI and NCAER have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to use new data technologies, knowledge generation and knowledge sharing, and capacity building, in official statistics, a ministry statement said. According to the statement, the MoU was signed here on Tuesday in the presence of MoSPI Secretary Pravin Srivastava, who is also the chief statistician of India; Central Statistics Office Director-General Jyotirmoy Poddar; NCAER Director-General Shekhar Shah; and other senior officers of both the organisations. The MoU would lead to strengthening and better monitoring of data quality and timeliness of various statistical products and services generated by the ministry including, gross domestic product, economic census, price statistics, Index of Industrial ...

Indian charged with possessing child porn in Australia

A 32-year-old Indian national has been charged in the Australian city of Perth after he was allegedly caught at an airport with two phones containing child pornography videos and other objectionable material, the media reported.

Plea seeking CBI probe into 'clergy abuse' rejected

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged sexual abuse complaints against Catholic priests.