Page 383 - Social Issues
UP: Rs 40.36 cr sanctioned to child devp service & nutrition directorate to buy Aadhaar kits
The Uttar Pradesh government has sanctioned Rs 40.36 crore to the Child Development Service and Nutrition Directorate for purchasing Aadhaar Nomination Kits. These kits will be set up in the Child Development Project Office, which according to an order issued by the Women and Child Development Department will work as Aadhaar Nomination Agency. The kit will include desktop/laptop, computer, tablet (for children), scanner, printer, slap finger strip scanner, iris scanner and GPS device. "Rs 40.36 crore has been sanctioned by the state government for purchase of Aadhaar nomination kits," an official spokesperson said on Thursday. Directions have been given by the state government to the director of Child Development Service and Nutrition Department to purchase all goods in the kit. The kit will be used for Aadhaar nomination of all beneficiaries of the Women and Child Development Ministry. Directions have also been given to purchase and set up all Aadhaar Nomination Kits by March
Naqvi launches National Scholarship Portal mobile app
Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday launched the country's first National Scholarship Portal mobile app here that would make the government welfare schemes more accessible to needy students.
Man, wife kill children, selves
A 38-year-old man, suffering from jaundice, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison along with his wife after poisoning their two children near Papanasam in the district Thursday, police said. The bodies of the man, his 28-year-old wife, son and daughter, aged seven and three, were found by his mother-in-law this morning. The man, who was working as a T-shirt designer in Tirupur, had been undergoing treatment for jaundice for which he had come to the district 15 days ago, police said. He was reportedly upset over his condition and hence could have taken the extreme step, they said. However, investigations are on to find the exact reason for the suicide, police said, adding that the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.
Instagram rolls out new feature to help users with drug issues
Facebook-owned Instagram is rolling out a new "prompt feature" that would pop-up if users try to find substance abuse related recovery and treatment services or look to buy drugs illegally on the platform using certain hashtags such as "opioid", the media has reported.
Modi first Indian PM to prioritise universal health coverage: Lancet
Narendra Modi is the first prime minister of India, which is engulfed in a "swirling epidemic of non-communicable diseases", to have prioritised universal health coverage as part of his political platform under the 'Ayushman Bharat' programme, a noted UK-based medical journal has said. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the 'The Lancet', said the prime minister has grasped the importance of health not only as a natural right of citizens, but also as a political instrument to meet the growing expectations of India's emerging middle class. He, however, was critical of Rahul Gandhi, and said the Congress chief was "yet to match Modicare". "Rahul Gandhi seeking to resurrect the Congress and prove that India's greatest political dynasty still has something to offer, despite his promises to help lower castes, tribal communities and rural poor, is yet to match Modicare," Horton said in an article published in the journal. The Lancet editor-in-chief asserted that health will be a decisive ...
App allowing easy access to scholarships for minority students launched
A mobile application facilitating easy access to scholarships for minority community students was Thursday launched by Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The app of the national scholarship portal (NSP) will bring down duplication and leakage of scholarship benefits to zero per cent, the Union minority affairs minister said. "It is the first official mobile app of the national scholarship portal under the ministry. It will prove highly beneficial to students, especially those living in remote parts of the country," Naqvi told reporters. Lauding "empowerment without appeasement" policy of the Modi government, he said about three crore minority students, including 1.63 crore girls, benefitted from different scholarships of the ministry in the past four years. "The dropout rate among Muslim girl students has come down to 35-40 per cent from more than 70 per cent earlier due to the educational programmes of the Modi government," he claimed. The NSP app will help students fill their ...
Workers can't be fired for anti-apartheid song: S.Africa court
South African workers sacked for singing allegedly offensive anti-apartheid struggle songs during a strike should not have been dismissed, the country's top court ruled Thursday. Duncanmec, which makes refuse-handling equipment, fired nine workers who embarked on an illegal strike in 2013 and sang what the company deemed a racist song. The disputed song included the lyrics: "climb on top of the rooftop and shout that my mother is rejoicing when we hit the boers (white Afrikaners)". The company went to the Constitutional Court seeking to have its decision to sack the workers upheld after a long legal battle. It argued that political protest songs had no place in the modern workplace. It said because the song was sung in front of managers in a disrespectful and aggressive way and that it ought to be considered racist conduct or hate speech. But in dismissing the application, the Constitutional Court found that the word "boer", which can mean white Afrikaner or farmer, is not an ...
Spiritual leader claims he received death threat for opposing SC/ST Act
Spiritual leader Devkinandan Thakur has claimed he received a death threat from an unidentified person for "objecting to the SC/ST Act", police said Thursday. Thakur claimed he got a call from a man, who said "he will be killed" if he continued opposing the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they said. "A complaint has been registered against the caller and investigation is going on," Deputy Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar said. "I am not against the SC/ST Act but I am strictly against its misuse," Thakur said Wednesday before he left for the US, where he will deliver religious discourses. Thakur also claimed that he was Wednesday taken into police custody in Agra for opposing the SC/ST Act but was released later. He said he was invited to attend a programme to protest the SC/ST Act but he chose to give it a miss on the advice of the district administration. Police took him into custody while he was talking to the media in a hotel, he ...
Woman kills daughter, self in UP
A woman in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnore district on Thursday committed suicide after consuming poison along with her two daughters, police said.
Could have been handled better: Suu Kyi on Rohingya crisis
Myanmar State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday said that her government could have handled the situation in her country's Rakhine state better."There are of course ways in which we, with hindsight, might think the situation might have been handled better. We believe that for the sake of long-term stability and security we have to be fair to all sides, that rule of law must apply to everybody," Suu Kyi said while interacting with the President of the World Economic, Forum Børge Brende.More than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Rakhine in August 2017 after Myanmar's army launched a massive crackdown in its northern state, retaliating the attacks by insurgents, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on the country's police posts and a military base.Suu Kyi also revealed that before the violence in the state escalated, she had tried to set up a body to address the deep-rooted tensions in the province and promote peace."We organised a central committee for rule of law in the Rakhine... ...
UP: Gorakhpur cop commits suicide
A Sub-Inspector of Police, who was posted in Gorakhpur, allegedly committed suicide last night.The 32-year-old man hanged himself at his home in Varanasi.The police have sent the body for post-mortem, the report of which may divulge further details.The officials also recovered from the spot what looks like a suicide note, in which the deceased held no one responsible for allegedly killing himself.Preliminary reports suggest that he was posted at Shahpur police station in the Gorakhpur city and had come to Varanasi on a leave for two weeks.Officials have begun the probe into the case. Further information is awaited.
Girl child marriage rate highest among SC/ST: NCPCR
The prevalence of child marriage in India is the highest amongst Scheduled Tribe girls (15 per cent) followed by Scheduled Castes (13 per cent), according to a report released by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
Mumbai-born Mahesh Bindra hopes for 2nd term in NZ parliament (Diaspora Feature)
With his first three-year term as a Member of Parliament in New Zealand behind him, Mumbai-born Mahesh Bindra is biding his time for the next phase of his engagement in his adopted country's public life.
'Spiderman' migrant hero becomes French citizen
The migrant hero nicknamed "Spiderman" for saving a child hanging off a balcony by scaling a Paris apartment block with his bare hands has become a French citizen, according to a government decree. Nimble 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama from Mali was granted a fast-track to French nationality and a job in the fire service after the daring rescue in May. "This act of great bravery exemplifies the values which help unite our national community, such as courage, selflessness, altruism and taking care of the most vulnerable," said the official document published Wednesday. Gassama, who had been in France illegally, was catapulted to global fame by the extraordinary feat captured in footage seen by millions on social media. The video showed the former construction worker jumping from one floor to the next, hauling himself up with impressive athleticism towards the four-year-old boy dangling above. He was congratulated in person by President Emmanuel Macron two days later and also met Mali's ..
U.S. incomes rose but inequality widened in 2017 - data
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The median U.S. household income rose for a third straight year in 2017 to the highest on record since 1967 by one measure, but the gap between white- and non-white households widened, government data showed on Wednesday.
India has constitutionally enshrined rights for minorities: US
India is a vibrant democracy which has constitutionally enshrined rights for minorities for freedom of religion, a senior Trump Administration official said Wednesday. The United States has conversations about human rights with all countries including India, Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told Washington audience. "India is a vibrant democracy which has constitutionally enshrined rights for minorities, for freedom of religion," she said. In response to a question if human rights issue came up during the recently held 2+2 Dialogue between India and the US on September 6 in New Delhi, she said, "We respect democracies. We respect democracies because we believed democracies are self correcting because there are institutions at play." "I think the spirit of the dialogue takes place within that framework of respect for one another and the fact that we stand for and have fought for and have been trained in institutions, these ...
Ariana Grande's Brother Frankie Grande mourns Mac Miller's death
Ariana Grande's Brother Frankie J. Grande has broken his silence on the sudden demise of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller.The 35-years-old took to his Instagram account to mourn the death of the American rapper. He began with writing "I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm's death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister."Revealing that Miller helped him with his drug addiction Frankie wrote, "He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking when I couldn't imagine living without them.""I remember when I would get 30, 60, 90 days clean and Malcom would be there with a gift and a card and words of encouragement... telling me that he knew how hard getting sober is and how impressed he was that I was succeeding," he added.Addressing the issue of addiction Frankie wrote, "Addiction is a TERRIBLE disease. many people are suffering from addiction like I am and many many of them are losing. Those .
Chile passes law allowing teens over 14 to change their legal sex
Lawmakers in Chile on Wednesday passed legislation allowing people as young as 14 to legally change their name and gender identity. The Chamber of Deputies passed the Gender Identity Law by a vote of 95-46. It allows people aged 18 and above to change their name and legal gender, while those aged over 14 can do so with the permission of a parent or legal guardian. The Senate had passed the bill last month, so Wednesday's vote brought an end to a five-year battle in the deeply conservative South American country. The hotly debated legislation had come close to passing several times, but the issue came to a head earlier this year in the final months of former president Michelle Bachelet's term. "We are witnessing a historic event which we celebrate with great emotion and joy," said Alvaro Troncoso, head of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh). "It will improve the quality of life of thousands of people whose dignity and rights have been denigrated simply by ...
U.S. incomes rose but inequality widened in 2017: data
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The median U.S. household income rose for a third straight year in 2017 to the highest on record since 1967 by one measure, but the gap between white- and non-white households widened, government data showed on Wednesday.
Haryana Vidhan Sabha passes State Commission for SC Bill
The Haryana Vidhan Sabha has passed the Haryana State Commission for Scheduled Castes Bill, 2018, for development and safeguarding the interests of people belonging to the community. This Bill was passed Tuesday, which was the last day of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha session. The Haryana State Commission for Scheduled Castes Bill, 2018, has been passed to provide for the constitution of Commission for Scheduled Castes in the state for the overall development and welfare of scheduled castes and safeguard their interests as per the Bill. Besides, the commission would also check and curb the trocities being committed on the Scheduled Castes. The commission will investigate and examine the working of various safeguards provided in the Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any order of the government for the welfare and protection of the Scheduled Castes, it said. It will also inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and ...
