Page 202 - Social Issues
Three debt-ridden farmers commit suicide in Maharashtra
Three farmers allegedly committed suicide in separate incidents here apparently due to crop failure and mounting loan burden, police said Friday. The cultivators hailed from Malegaon taluka of Nashik district in North Maharashtra. One of them, Dnyaneshwar Shivnakar, consumed poison while sitting on a heap of his perished onions at around 9.30 am Friday, they said. The 35-year-old, who hailed from village Kandhane, was frustrated due to crop failure caused by inadequate rains since the past three years, the police said, adding he had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh. In the second incident at village Nandgaon-budruk, 23- year-old farmer Chetan Keda Bachhav hanged himself in his farm house Friday, the police said. He had taken loans of Rs 5.65 lakh from private finance companies, the police added. In the third incident,cultivator Vasant Sonawane consumed some poisonous substance Thursday and died in a hosptial Friday, they said. The 45-year-old agriculturist had a debt of Rs 1 ...
NIT scholars stage dharna & candle march
Research scholars of the National Institute of Technology here boycotted their classes on Friday in protest against the detention of their counterparts in Delhi during a dharna outside the Human Resource Development ministry office two days ago. The NIT Hamirpur students also staged dharna in the campus demanding an increase in their scholarships. The scholars said they also held a candle march in the institute on Thursday night and said they would continue with the agitation till all of their demands were met with.
Women's bicycle rally in Pak postponed after protest threat by religious parties
Pakistan's first women's bicycle rally, scheduled to take place here on Saturday, has been postponed after religious parties threatened to protest against the event, which they said, will spread obscenity. Zama Jawandoon, an organisation working for women's rights, had organised the 'peace rally' that was scheduled to begin from Peshawar's Hayatabad neighbourhood on Saturday, the Dawn reported. At least 35 women were slated to participate in the rally and people from the transgender community were also invited, said the event's lead organiser, Wafa Wazir. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-i-Islami, and other religious parties on Friday announced they would stage a protest against the rally in Hayatabad. "The women's bicycle rally is spreading obscenity," JUI-F's Maulana Rafiullah Qasmi said at a meeting held on Friday. He announced that they would contact the relevant departments to have the event cancelled and if that is not done, a demonstration will be held against the
UN health agency: Rising misconduct reports are 'positive'
The World Health Organization said Friday that it's seeing increasing reports of misconduct reported by staffers within the UN health agency, describing the trend as "a positive thing." WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said at a press briefing in Geneva the agency has been investigating misbehavior for "years and decades" and would continue to do so. The comments came after an Associated Press story Thursday which reported that WHO's director-general had ordered an internal probe into claims the agency is rife with racism, sexism and corruption. The AP obtained three anonymous emails addressed to senior WHO managers charging that there were numerous problems at the agency, including "systematic" racism against African staffers and allegations that some money intended to fight Ebola in Congo was misspent. Last month, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus instructed the agency's internal office of oversight to investigate the allegations, announcing his decision at a staff meeting in ...
CVS, Walmart reach agreement on pharmacy contract after impasse
(Reuters) - CVS Health Corp and Walmart Inc said on Friday the world's largest retailer would remain part of CVS's network for commercial and Medicaid pharmacy customers, breaking a contract impasse CVS disclosed earlier this week.
We've long endured a culture of silence, says Dia Mirza
Actress Dia Mirza says women have long endured a culture of silence, and because of that, sexual predators have got encouragement.
Mizo civil societies not in favour of voters list revision of
A conglomerate of major civil societies and student bodies Friday demanded that revision of voters' list among the Bru refugees living in Tripura be conducted only after they return to Mizoram, the state they originally belong to. Leaders of the NGO Coordination Committee placed the demand at a meeting with the Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ashish Kundra here. "Our stance is clear. Revision of voters' list for Mizoram should be conducted only inside the state, and for the Brus, only after their return to Mizoram," NGO Coordination Committee Chairman Vanlalruata said after the meeting. He said the CEO informed them about instructions from the Election Commission (EC) to conduct revision of electoral rolls in the Bru relief camps in North Tripura district. Vanlalruata said the Committee would hold a meeting about the the EC's instruction. "We discussed the modalities of Bru voters for parliamentary elections," the CEO said, adding that the meeting was held in a ...
Son of dismissed BSF trooper found dead in Haryana
The son of Border Security Force (BSF) trooper Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was dismissed from the force in 2017 for indiscipline, was found dead in Haryana, police said on Friday.
Jharkhand legislators demand formation of Displacement Commission
Jharkhand legislators on Friday demanded the formation of a Displacement Commission so that the grievances of the displaced people could be heard and resolved.
Quota meant to reduce backwardness of Marathas: Govt to HC
Standing by its decision to grant 16 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in education and government jobs, the Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that it was meant to alleviate the community from its social and economic backwardness. The government filed its affidavit in the high court on Wednesday in response to a bunch of petitions challenging the reservation granted to the community. In the affidavit, the government also asserted that the ceiling of 50 per cent reservation imposed by the Supreme Court cannot be made applicable to all the states. On November 30, 2018, the Maharashtra legislature passed a bill proposing 16 per cent reservation in education and government jobs for the Marathas, declared as socially and educationally backward class by the government. The affidavit claimed that the creation of Socially and Educationally Backward Class and the inclusion of Maratha community in the said class and provision of 16 per cent reservation for ..
Mizo CM against dilution of existing Citizenship Act
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga Friday said there should not be any dilution of the 64-year old Citizenship Act. The controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, which has triggered large scale protests in the northeastern states including Mizoram was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8. "It (amendments) should not be there. Let it be as it is. Let is not be amended as it is proposed. That's what we want," Zoramthanga told reporters here. All northeastern states are opposing the bill and the matter has been discussed in detail with Meghalaya chief minister and Union Home Ministry officials, he added. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, provides for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of the current requirement of 12 years, even if they do not possess any documents. Zoramthanga was in the national capital to discuss
Citizenship Bill: Bandhs affect several districts in Assam
Two bandhs, called by tribal and student organisations separately against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, affected normal life in several districts of lower Assam and in Golaghat district of upper Assam on Friday, police said. However, no incident of violence was reported from the bandh-hit areas, they added. Markets, shops, educational institutions, banks and private offices remained closed, while the attendance in government offices was thin in the contiguous Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang, besides the adjoining Bongaigaon district. Private and public vehicles stayed off the roads and highways in the affected districts due to the 12-hour bandhs that began from 5 am. While the bandh was total in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts, it partially affected Bongaigaon district, the police said. In lower Assam, the bandh was called by the Adivasi Convention Committee, an umbrella organisation of different tribal groups, demanding immediate
51 women of menstruating age entered Sabarimala after SC verdict: Kerala govt
Kerala government in a note to the Supreme Court on Friday said that 51 women between 10 and 50 years of age entered the Sabarimala Temple following the verdict of the top court."Over 16 lakh devotees have done the online registration for 'darshan' in the Sabarimala Temple and out of these 8.2 lakhs have visited the shrine. A total of 7564 women between the age of 10 and 50 have registered for darshan, and as per the digitally scanned records around 51 women in this group have already visited the shrine and had darshan, without any issue. This doesn't include many others who have come as normal pilgrims and not availed the online facility. A total number of 44 lakh pilgrims visited the temple from November 16, 2018 till date," a note of Kerala Police chief stated.Hearing the plea of two women who entered the Ayappa shrine on January 2 amidst ensuing protest against the entry of women of menstruating age, the Supreme Court directed the Kerala Police to provide adequate security to two .
Urban Affairs Ministry to organise fortnight-long programme for poorest of poor
The Housing and Urban Affairs ministry will extend outreach of its flagship project Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana among the poorest of poor in the country through a series of events in the coming month. The 'Shehri Samridhi Utsav', focusing on urban livelihoods, will be held from February 1 to 15, showcasing initiatives of the Deen Dayal Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM), Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at a press conference here. The Mission has made "significant progress" in the last five years, organising 34 lakh urban poor women into self-help groups, besides providing subsidised loans to over 8.5 lakh individuals and groups, the minister said. "Over 8.9 lakh candidates have been skill trained and certified. Over 4.6 lakh have been placed," Puri said. Among other achievements under the mission, 16 lakh street vendors have been identified through a survey and half of them have been given identity cards. More than ..
MTF of Tripura Police detects 2,245 illegal immigrants in 2018
The Mobile Task Force (MTF) of Tripura police has detected 2,245 illegal immigrants in the state last year, a senior police officer said Friday. "We have detected 2,245 illegal immigrants in Tripura last year among them 2,058 are male and 187 are female. Most of the illegal migrants are from neighbouring Bangladesh," the officer said. He said there are seven detention camps of MTF in the state and illegal migrants are put in the camps before deportation. "Altogether 2,127 Bangladeshis were deported last year," the officer said. Tripura shares a 856-km long border with Bangladesh. "Many Bangladeshis enter into Indian territory for treatment, to attend marriage ceremony or other programmes without passports. In case any immigrant carries contraband or arms, we register cases against them and move courts for legal actions. Those who are found not involved in any crime are deported," the officer said. He said the major achievement of the MTF last year was the arrest 25 ...
Urbanisation may hold key to survival of tigers
A new study led by WCS, published in the journal Biological Conservation says the future of tigers in Asia is linked the path of demographic transition, for humans.The study marks the first-of-its-kind analysis that overlays human population scenarios with the fate of endangered big cats.Prior to the 20th century, experts estimate there were more than 100, 000 tigers living in the wild. Today, the numbers have dwindled to a number between 3,000 and 4,000. At the same time, over the last 150 years, the human population of Asia has grown from 790 million to over 4 billion. This in turn has had disastrous effects on tigers and other wildlife.However, these trends are changing. The demographic transition is the process by which human populations peak and then go down.The researchers looked at different scenarios of economic, education, migration, and urbanisation policy. In 2010, 57 million people lived in areas defined as "tiger conservation landscapes" that contained all of the world's .
NGO sets up 100-bed hospital at Kumbh Mela site
NGO Narayan Seva Sansthan (NSS) has set up a spiritual and surgical camp at the ongoing Kumbh Mela, along with an artificial limb development unit. Prashant Agarwal, President of Narayan Seva Sansthan, speaking to reporters here Thursday said senior surgeon Amar Singh Chundawat's team will be measuring differently-abled individuals for making customised limbs for them, which will then be installed and donated to the beneficiaries. "We will conduct surgeries free of cost," he said. The NGO has set up a 100-bed hospital at the fair site at the sacred confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Agarwal said the NGO has invited volunteers from all across the country and divided them in three groups -- for cleanliness, operation of wheelchairs, and foot massage of devotees. "The 'Swachh Army' deals with cleanliness in the mela. The 'Wheelchair Army' will help the elderly, who are unable to walk, or disabled. They provide wheelchair and help them to enjoy the Kumbh Mela.
Duterte's drug war 'example to the world': Sirisena
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has praised his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Dutertes brutal war on drugs, which has taken thousands of lives, calling it an "example to the world".
Claims of 25,600 patients cleared under Ayushman Bharat health
Claims of 25,600 patients have been cleared so far under the Ayushman Bharat health scheme in Jharkhand, Health minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi said Friday. Replying to a question by ruling BJP MLA Phoolchand Mandal during Question Hour in the Assembly, Chandravanshi said Rs 35.27 crore has been cleared for the treatment of these patients under the scheme. The state government has sanctioned Rs 60 crore under the scheme and would earmark more funds in the budget, the minister said.
Bihar boy's jaw broken for plucking plums
A seven-year-old boy was beaten, his jaw was broken and six of his teeth were knocked out as punishment for plucking some plums from a tree in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, police said on Friday.
