Page 29 - Social Issues
Mary Kom among panelists to pick candidates for scholarship programme
Six-time world boxing champion Mary Kom will be among the panelists who will pick the most deserving candidates for Colgate Palmolive India's Foundational Scholarship programme which aims to offer financial support and mentorship to people.
India-Marshall Islands tax data pact notified
The government has notified an agreement with Marshall Islands, a country comprising a chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, for the exchange of banking and company information for tax purposes. It will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance.
One more TN girl ends life after failing NEET 2019
An 18-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself in her house near here on Thursday after failing to clear the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, a day after two girls ended their lives in Tamil Nadu for the same reason. A total of three girls have committed suicide within two days in the state after the NEET results were declared. M Monisha took her life after she could not crack the exam for the second time this year. "She could not succeed in her previous attempt last year and the girl this year has got a very low score in NEET," a district police official told PTI. The student, belonging to Koonimedu Kuppam near Marakkanam in this district, had completed her Class 12 from a reputed school at Tiruchengode in Erode district. Belonging to the fishermen community, she studied hard for the exam for a year and was dejected due to her failure, the official said. Preliminary enquiries revealed that the girl's mother had died recently. She was close to her father and may have .
Make Sanskrit India's official language: NCST chairman
Amid a controversy over Hindi being part of a three-language formula, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes Chairman Nand Kumar Sai Thursday demanded that the government make Sanskrit the official language, as many Indian languages originate from it. He also said that southern states would not object to Sanskrit, unlike Hindi. "It's good that you want to learn English. But you should also learn and respect your own language which is Sanskrit. Sanskrit is a complete language, while English lacks logic," he said. Sai said India would have done better had Sanskrit been made its official language. "Sanskrit is close to Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malyalam and even Hindi. Therefore, it should be made compulsory for everyone. Also, people in other regions won't oppose it," he claimed. The three-language formula under the draft National Education Policy (NEP), which has since been modified, had recommended Hindi teaching in all government schools. After facing an intense backlash from Tamil ..
Trinamool protests Meghalaya Governor remarks on Bengali women
Trinamool Congress' new women outfit Banga Janani Vahini on Thursday held a protest here against Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy's shocking comment that Bengali boys are working as sweepers and the girls as bar dancers in other states.
HC seeks govt's response on pleas of two death row convicts
The Bombay High Court Thursday sought responses from the Centre and the Maharashtra government on petitions filed by two convicts on death row to halt their execution scheduled on June 24. The petitions filed last week by Purushottam Borate and Pradeep Kokate, convicted in the 2007 gangrape and murder of a woman Wipro BPO employee, have claimed that the "inordinate delay" in their execution has violated their fundamental rights. In their pleas, the duo, currently lodged at the Yerawada prison in Pune, have urged the high court to commute their death sentence to life imprisonment. A division bench headed by Justice B P Dharmadhikari Thursday issued notices to the Union and the state government and sought their responses to the petitions. The matter has been posted for hearing on June 14. The two convicts have exhausted their appeals, and their mercy petitions were turned down by the President in 2017. A sessions court in Pune had on April 10 issued warrants setting June 24 as the date .
Serbia police detain 1 migrant in stabbing death of another
Serbian police have detained a 17-year-old migrant from Afghanistan suspected of stabbing to death another Afghan national in central Belgrade. Police said on Thursday they are still searching for another 17-yar-old migrant also suspected of taking part in the attack late on Wednesday in the Serbian capital. Clashes often happen among thousands of migrants who have been stuck in the Balkans while looking for ways to move toward Western Europe. Police in northwestern Bosnia say tensions persist there among migrants who clashed early on Wednesday in an asylum center in the town of Velika Kladusa. About 100 migrants were involved in the fight that left scores injured, including three policemen. Spokesman Ale Siljdedic says police are on standby because "the situation among them could escalate at any moment.
'Not here for decoration': Thai transgender MPs make history in parliament
Smiling broadly, Tanwarin triumphantly cast her vote for prime minister as the first transgender MPs enter parliament in Thailand, where tolerance for the LGBT community is not matched by understanding or opportunity in public life. In a sign of that enduring gap, the elderly speaker called for "Mr Tanwarin" to come forward in a vote late Wednesday that saw former junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha elected as premier with the help of a bank of 250 appointed senators. Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, a lawmaker for the progressive anti-junta Future Forward Party (FFP), is one of four transgender MPs in the house -- pioneers in a society where discrimination in education, employment and at home persists. "I am not here for decoration," she told AFP. "I want to write a new political history for Thailand." Thailand's transgender community enjoys a high profile, but still faces major hurdles in the conservative Buddhist-majority kingdom. Transgender people in Thailand appear in commercials, movies, on the
Payal Tadvi suicide case: NCST to meet Maha govt officials, BYL Nair Hospital authorities on June 8
A five-member team of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is in Mumbai to meet top government officials and the management of the BYL Nair Hospital regarding the Payal Tadvi suicide case. The team, led by NCST Chairman Nand Kumar Sai, will hold meetings with top administration and police officials, including the Maharashtra chief secretary, secretary (Health) and the Mumbai police commissioner, on June 8, an official said. The commission will also meet the managing director, TN Topiwala National Medical College, and the management of the BYL Nair Hospital in connection with the case. The NCST official said the team is already in Mumbai and the chairman will reach on Thursday. The commission had earlier issued notices to the Maharashtra chief secretary, health secretary, Mumbai police commissioner and BYL Nair Hospital authorities, seeking a response from them in 10 days. Tadvi, 26, a second-year gynaecology student of TN Topiwala National Medical College, committed ...
Landmark victory for gay civil servant in HK's top court
A gay civil servant prevailed in his final appeal on Thursday to require the Hong Kong government to grant him and his husband spousal benefits and joint tax assessment, in yet another landmark ruling for the city's LGBT community.
Hong Kong court issues landmark ruling on benefits for gay couples
Hong Kong's top court ordered the government to grant spousal rights and benefits to the husband of a gay civil servant who married overseas, in a new landmark ruling for LGBT rights on Thursday. The judgement, handed down by the Court of Final Appeal, is the latest instance where the judiciary has found against the government and in favour of gay rights groups seeking greater equality. Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex marriage or civil unions and only decriminalised homosexuality in 1991. Despite growing public support for gay marriage, campaigners have made little headway against staunch opposition from the city's successive pro-Beijing governments and religious conservatives. But they have started to see some success in the courts. The latest case was brought by Angus Leung, a Hong Kong immigration officer who legally married his husband in New Zealand in 2014. When the newlyweds returned to Hong Kong, Leung applied for his husband to be granted the same medical and dental ...
Mexico blocks new caravan of Central American migrants
Authorities blocked a new caravan of Central American migrants Wednesday after they entered Mexico bound for the United States, as the government scrambled to dodge President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs over undocumented immigration. Soldiers and police forced hundreds of migrants in the group -- which was mostly from Honduras -- to a halt in the southern town of Metapa de Dominguez, about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the Mexican-Guatemalan border. The National Migration Institute (INM) said about 420 migrants had been stopped and taken to a detention center by bus. But many others may have fled: state police initially estimated the caravan had some 1,200 people. The incident came as a high-level delegation led by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard held talks in Washington with US officials in a bid to avoid Trump's threatened tariffs. Trump is threatening to apply tariffs of five percent on all Mexican exports starting Monday, and rising incrementally to 25 percent
US-Mexico border apprehensions top 132,000 in May
Migrant apprehensions on the US-Mexico border soared to 132,887 in May, compared to 99,304 in April, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has said.
Assam linguistic minorities flay campaign to make Bengali Assam's first language
A social media campaign that seeks to build a movement for making Bengali the first language of Assam in the coming 2021 census has raised the hackles of Bengali minority groups in the north-eastern state, who flay it as an attempt to disturb peace by spoiling the age-old ties between the Assamese and Bengalis.
HM Shah in all 8, PM Modi and Sithraman in 6, Rajnath in 2 Cabinet Committees
Among the eight key Cabinet committees reconstituted by the Centre on Wednesday, Home Minister Amit Shah finds representation in all of them while Prime Minister is on-board 6 committees barring Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.The lone Cabinet Committee having only Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah on board is Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.Union Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman has been roped-in for six committees i.e. Cabinet Committee on Accommodation, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Security, Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth, Cabinet Committee on Employment & Skill Development.On the other hand, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh finds his say in only two Committees i.e. Cabinet Committee on Security and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Considered one of the most significant .
Trump reports progress, but not enough, in tariff talks with Mexico
President Donald Trump said some progress -- but not enough -- was made Wednesday in talks with Mexico on averting the tariffs he threatens to impose unless the southern neighbour stems the flow of undocumented migrants into the US. Trump's evening tweet said discussions will resume Thursday, and came as new data showed migrant detentions at the southern US border have hit their highest level since 2006. Ahead of the high-stakes negotiations Wednesday, the Trump administration laid out tough demands for Mexico City to crack down on hundreds of thousands of Central American migrants traversing the country to the US Mexican border in recent months. Trump, tweeting from Europe, said "Progress is being made, but not nearly enough!" He said that more talks will be held Thursday "with the understanding" that if no deal is reached, the tariffs he announced last week will go into effect Monday as planned. That means they will start at five per cent, hit all Mexican imports, and rise ...
Myanmar, Hungary see migration as 'greatest challenge'
Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban both view migration as "one of the greatest challenges" currently facing their countries and Europe and South East Asia in general, the government in Budapest said on Wednesday. In a rare trip to Europe, the Nobel Prize laureate -- once considered a democracy icon but whose reputation has been tarnished by her handling of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar -- met the firebrand Hungarian leader, who has frequently clashed with the EU over immigration. The talks between the two covered topics such as "illegal immigration and bilateral economic, educational and cultural relations", the Hungarian government said in a statement. No official media briefing was held afterwards. "The two leaders highlighted that one of the greatest challenges at present for both countries and their respective regions -- South East Asia and Europe -- is migration," the statement said. "They noted that both regions have seen the ...
Caravan of 1,200 migrants enters Mexico
A caravan of around 1,200 Central American migrants entered southern Mexico Wednesday bound for the United States, police said, even as President Donald Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs if it fails to slow illegal immigration. Authorities did not deter the large group of undocumented migrants who crossed the bridge over the Suchiate river, which forms the border between Guatemala and Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico. A municipal police patrol monitored the migrants -- who were mostly from Honduras -- but did not stop them as they began walking along the side of the road in the southern state of Chiapas toward the city of Tapachula. Mexico has deployed its new National Guard police force to the southern border and stepped up detentions and deportations in a bid to slow the flow of migrants crossing its territory toward the United States. But migrant detentions at the US-Mexican border still increased by 32 percent month-on-month in May, to more than 144,000, according to US Customs and ...
Power ministry signs MoU with Ahmedabad civic body on electric vehicles
Union Power Ministrys joint venture Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) on the World Environment Day on Wednesday signed up a partnership with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to establish enabling infrastructure for launch of electric vehicles (EV) in the city over a period of 10 years.
Mexico officials intercept about 1,000 migrants on highway
Some 200 military police, immigration agents and federal police blocked the advance of about 1,000 Central American migrants who were walking north along a southern Mexico highway on Wednesday. The group of migrants, including many women and children, set out early from Ciudad Hidalgo at the Mexico-Guatemala border and was headed for Tapachula, the principle city in the region. State and local police accompanied the caravan. The officials blocked the highway near the community of Metapa, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) from Tapachula. They were unarmed and said their orders were to urge the migrants to board buses there that would carry them to a fairgrounds outside Tapachula that has been used to register and house migrants. In recent months Mexico has used raids and roadside checkpoints to discourage highway marches such as the massive migrant caravans that occurred in 2018 and early 2019. The migrants say they aim to reach the U.S. border, where many plan to request asylum. The ...