Page 307 - Social Issues
Centre orders shutting of adoption agency in Madhya Pradesh
The Centre has issued order to Madhya Pradesh government to immediately shut an adoption agency following gross violation of norms, the Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) said on Friday.
Japan Cabinet OKs bill that would allow more foreign workers
Japan's Cabinet has approved a draft bill that would allow more foreign blue-colour workers as the country's fast-aging population faces labour shortages. The bill, endorsed by the Cabinet on Friday, is a major revision of Japan's policy on foreign labour. The country has long resisted accepting foreign workers. The proposed legislation would create two new visa categories for foreigners employed in more than a dozen sectors. The government hopes the bill will be enacted by next April. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied that the relaxed policy on foreign workers means Japan is opening its doors to immigrants. Media surveys show public sentiment is divided on the issue. Opponents are concerned about crime and jobs taken away from Japanese, while proponents say foreign workers are indispensable in sectors facing labour shortages.
Meghalaya HC asks state to correct CPF with retrospective
The Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to correct the contributory provident fund (CPF) with retrospective effect within 3 months failing which it will have to pay pension to all deficit college teachers in the state as per rules. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice SR Sen on Thursday asked the state government to comply with the various directions in letter and spirit within three months while disposing of two petitions filed by the Meghalaya College Teachers Association. In the judgment, the bench said, "In case the government fails to correct the contributory provident fund and other directions, they will have to pay pension to government deficit/ad-hoc/aided college teachers and staff as per pension rules applicable to government college teachers and staffs." It also maintained that the benefits of the Assam Non-Government (Deficit) College Central Pension and Provident Fund Act, 1997 and the Assam Deficit College ...
Posters supporting entryof of all women into shrine appear in
Suspected Maoists Friday pasted posters in tribal hamlet Attappady here, supporting the entry of women of all age groups into the hill shrine at Sabarimala, police said. At least five to six posters, urging to "defeat" the "fascist" forces, appeared in the mountain road area, they said. "Oppose the fascist forces standing against the entry of women in Sabarimala...fight patriarchy," a poster said. The posters were undersigned 'CPI-Maoist' and no other details were available as of now, a senior police officer said. Attappady is one of the largest tribal hamlets in the state.
UK police probe Labour Party 'anti-Semitic hate crimes'
British police announced Friday they were investigating alleged "anti-Semitic hate crimes" within the main opposition Labour Party after receiving a leaked internal dossier. The criminal investigation comes after a national radio station obtained what it said was an internal Labour document detailing 45 cases involving messages posted by party members on social media. Labour, led by veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, spent the British summer dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism. The issue has bubbled under the surface for years, but intensified in recent months with a series of incidents coming to light. "A criminal investigation has commenced into some of the allegations within the documentation," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Britain's top police officer Cressida Dick was handed the leaked dossier two months ago after an interview at LBC. "The complainant alleged that the documentation included evidence of anti-Semitic hate crimes," the Met Police said. "The ...
Amsterdam prostitutes could move outside red light area
Amsterdam could let prostitutes operate outside the city's famed red-light district in a bid to clean up the area and improve conditions for the women who work there, officials said Friday. Sex workers in their glass-fronted booths in the Dutch capital complain that they are subject to gawping from camera-toting tourists, whose presence also deters potential clients. City authorities are therefore debating a plan to give sex workers licences to work elsewhere in Amsterdam, for example in safe, hotel-style purpose-built brothels. The plan is being pushed by Amsterdam's first female mayor, Femke Halsema, and has been formally proposed by three of the parties in the city's governing coalition - Groenlinks, the progressive D66 and the Socialist Party. "The idea is that sex workers will have more choices than either working from home or in the touristy area where they have much less anonymity," said D66 councillor Alexander Hammelburg. "Secondly, it will solve the problem of a shortage of .
Mamata turns her social media DP black against Tinsukia killings
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee turned her social media display picture (DP) black on Friday as a mark of protest against brutal killings in Assam's Tinsukia district with her party Trinamool Congress urging others to do the same.
Assam killings: TMC links deaths to NRC, protests in Bengal
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday held protests across the state against the killing of five Bengalis in Assam's Tinsukia as it put the blame on the Assam government and their NRC move.
Online survey says majority prefer Modi as PM for 2nd term
More than 63 per cent respondents in an online survey expressed their "trust" in Narendra Modi and over 50 per cent said a second term for him will provide them a better future. The survey, carried out by the news portal 'Dailyhunt', and Nielsen India, a data analytics company, was based on opinion of over 54 lakh respondents taken online from within the country and abroad, claimed a statement by them. "Sixty-three per cent of the respondents expressed more or similar levels of trust in Narendra Modi as compared to 2014 (when he came into power), representing satisfaction in his leadership capabilities for the last four years," according to the survey. The Congress, however, rubbished the findings and termed the survey as "wasteful" and "fake". "A desperate Modi government has lost the faith of people and is facing imminent decimation in five poll-bound states. It is now only using its ill-gotten financial resources to latch onto fake surveys to find legitimacy. Such wasteful surveys
BJP fails to keep its promises: Naveen
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday accused the BJP of not keeping its promises made to the people in Odisha on according special category status to the state. "According special category status for Odisha was the first agenda in BJP's 2014 poll manifesto. However, the party simply forgot it after assuming power," Patnaik said while addressing a function here on the occasion of ruling BJD's 'Jan Sampark Padayatra'. Stating that he was "extremely happy" over the BJP's promise with the hope that people of Odisha will finally get justice, Patnaik said "the hope of the people remained in hope alone and never materialised." Recalling how both the BJD and the BJP were fighting for the special category status for the state till 2009 before the alliance broke, he said "our fight for the status will continue till it is fulfilled." As Odisha has been encountering with natural calamities almost every year and incurring huge loss, it should be accorded the status, he ...
Tinsukia killings part of larger campaign of hate, violence: CPI(M)
Condemning the killing of five persons by suspected militants in Assam's easternmost Tinsukia district, the CPI(M) Friday alleged that the incident was part of a larger campaign of hate and violence. "Apart from the state government failing to ensure the protection of law and order, these killings are part of a larger campaign of hate and violence. This must be put a stop to," the party said in a statement. It alleged that the "environment of hate created and fanned by the BJP" in Assam "lies at the root of the murders". The party demanded that the Assam government discharge its constitutional responsibilities by providing adequate security to protect the life and properties of religious and linguistic minorities. Five people from a linguistic minority community were shot dead and two others were injured by gunmen at Kheronibari in Tinsukia district on Thursday night. Police suspect the gunmen belonged to the ULFA (Independent) faction as they were dressed in battle fatigue, but the ..
Birthright citizenship has created birth tourism: Trump
President Donald Trump has claimed that the provision of birthright citizenship has created an entire industry of birth tourism in the US with Chinese people benefitting a lot from this "crazy, lunatic policy". Birth tourism refers to the practice of people travelling to another country solely to give birth there. Most leave for their home countries right after. In his latest hardline immigration rhetoric, the US President on Tuesday expressed his intention to take the path of an executive order to deny automatic citizenship to children born of non-American parents in the US. "This policy (birthright citizenship) has even created an entire industry. It's called birth tourism, where pregnant mothers from all over the world travel to America to make their children instant lifelong citizens with guaranteed everything," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in Columbia, Missouri. Trump alleged that the opposition Democrats want to continue giving automatic birthright citizenship .
Japan cabinet approves bill to accept foreign workers
Japan's cabinet on Friday approved a draft bill to bring more blue-collar foreign workers into the country, in a controversial move to address chronic labour shortages. The draft legislation, now likely to be submitted to parliament as soon as Friday, has come under attack from both the opposition and members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's own party, but business leaders say it is desperately needed. The bill would allow foreign nationals with skills in sectors facing particularly severe shortages to obtain five-year visas, which would not allow them to bring their families. Foreign workers in those fields who hold stronger qualifications and pass a more difficult Japanese language test will be able to obtain a visa that can be extended indefinitely, eventually leading to residency, and will be able to bring over family. Abe has insisted the new policy does not represent a wholesale overhaul of the country's strict immigration policy. Japan will only accept foreign workers "who have ..
1 teen dead, 2 hurt in Oklahoma shooting; woman in custody
An 18-year-old man was killed and two teenage girls were injured in a shooting Thursday in rural eastern Oklahoma, and a woman believed to be the mother of at least one of the victims is in custody, a sheriff said. The shooting was reported around 6.30 am local time at a home in the Nuyaka area, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southwest of Tulsa. Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said at a news conference that the young man was found dead at the scene, one of the girls was in critical condition and the other was stable. Rice said Amy Leann Hall, 38, who is believed to be the biological mother of at least one of the teens, is in custody. She was being held in the Okmulgee County Jail on preliminary charges of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. Formal charges have not been filed. It was not clear if Hall has a lawyer. "We do not have a motive at this time. We're still investigating this," Rice said. Police have visited the household multiple .
US man put to death in Tennessee electric chair
A Tennessee man convicted of a double murder has been put to death in the electric chair, after insisting on the rarely-used method rather than lethal injection. Edmund Zagorski, 63, was the first US convict in five years to be put to death by electrocution. Zagorski was sentenced to death for the 1983 murders of two men he lured into a wooded area with a promise to sell them marijuana. The victims' bodies were found two weeks later, shot and their throats slit. An 11th-hour appeal to the US Supreme Court was denied. Only nine US states still use the electric chair as a form of capital punishment. It was set to be Tennessee's only electric chair execution since 2007. The southern state's Department of Correction said the execution was carried out "in accordance with the laws" of Tennessee. Zagorski was pronounced dead at 7:26 pm local time Thursday. In Tennessee, people condemned to death before 1999 have the right to choose between the two methods of capital punishment. Officials ...
Sexual abuse part of daily routine in North Korea: Report
Sexual harassment offences against women by people in positions of power like government officials and the police in North Korea are normal and part of a women's daily routine.A report by the Human Rights Watch, a global, non-governmental organisation, which prepared the report by interviewing at least 50 North Koreans who fled the country, gives an insight into the everyday happenings in markets, detention facilities, checkpoints, army bases, etc, Fox News reported citing a Guardian report."The North Koreans we spoke with told us that unwanted sexual contact and violence is so common that it has come to be accepted as part of ordinary life: sexual abuse by officials, and the impunity they enjoy, is linked to larger patterns of sexual abuse and impunity in the country," the report read."Interviewees told us that when a guard or police officer 'picks' a woman, she has no choice but to comply with any demands he makes, whether for sex, money or other favours. Women in custody have ...
Illegal immigrants to be apprehended & would not be released: Trump
President Donald Trump has said illegal immigrants trying to enter the United States would now be apprehended at the border and, unlike the current practice, would no longer be released. Announcing a significant change in the current catch-and-release policy for illegal immigrants, Trump said Thursday these illegal immigrants would be released only after a US court pronounces its judgement on their asylum application. If negative, they would be deported to their original country. "We are not releasing them into our country any longer. They will wait for long periods of time. We're putting up massive cities of tents; the military is helping us incredibly well," Trump said in a major policy speech on illegal immigrants. The policy speech days ahead of the crucial midterm poll comes because of a caravan, estimated to be comprising between 5,000-7,000 people, from three Latin American countries, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Trump has deployed military at the Southwestern border to
UN rejects US bid to criticize Cuba and calls for end to embargo
The UN General Assembly on Thursday called for an end to the decades-old US embargo on Cuba, adopting a resolution by an overwhelming majority and rejecting US moves to criticize Havana's human rights record. It was the 27th time that the 193-nation assembly has issued the call to lift the embargo imposed in 1962. The resolution presented by Cuba was adopted by a vote of 189 to 2 with no abstentions. The US and its ally Israel voted against while Ukraine and Moldova did not vote. The United States failed to win support for eight amendments criticizing Cuba's human rights record. Only the US, Israel and Ukraine voted in favor of those amendments. The Marshall Islands joined them in one vote. At least 65 countries including many European nations abstained and at least 113 voted against the proposed US call to Cuba to fully uphold its citizens' rights. President Donald Trump's administration points to Cuba's repression of political opponents and curbs on freedom of expression as a reason
Himachal govt invites suggestions from public for next budget
The Himachal Pradesh government has invited suggestions from the public, industries, and associations regarding the state budget for 2019-20. The suggestions may be sent by e-mail or web portal of finance department or by letter to the Additional Chief Secretary, (Finance) by November 15, an official spokesperson said. The suggestions may be provided on increasing revenue receipt, expenditure control and other related matters for the budget, the spokesperson said adding that it would promote transparency, openness, responsiveness and participatory approach in budget preparation. Stating that the process of preparing state budget has already been started, the spokesperson said that suggestions from the public would make the budget more people centric, participative and reflection of the views of various stakeholders in the society.
Haryana govt increases monthly social security pension by Rs 200
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced to raise social security pension by Rs 200 per month to Rs 2,000 per month, with the enhancement coming into effective Thursday. Old age pension, widow pension and Divyang pension have been increased to Rs 2,000 per month, said Khattar whileaddressing a gathering in Panipat on the occasion of Haryana Day, an official release said. He said all former sarpanches, presidents of zila parishad and Block Samitis in the state would now get monthly pension of Rs 1,000 and maximum pension of Rs 2,000 as honorarium for one tenure. Tenure of two-and-a-half years and above would be considered complete tenure. The chief minister also announced to give pension as honorarium of Rs 2,500 to all former mayors of all municipal corporations for every tenure and Rs 2,000 each to former senior deputy mayor, former deputy mayor and the head of every municipal council for each tenure. Former heads of municipalities would get Rs 1,000 per month for ...
