Page 404 - Social Issues
Odisha: Born without arms, girl uses feet as hands
Twelve-year-old Subhadra Tungo is carrying out an incredible array of activities using her feet as her hands, which might seem difficult for others.Born without arms, Subhadra brushes her hair, eats with the spoon, writes and even cuts vegetables using her feet.Living with her family in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, the girl's disability did not stop her from living life to the fullest. Although she wore prosthetic limbs initially, she decided to do without it and use her feet instead."I do not feel any sorrow, as there is no work I cannot do. People use their hands for all their work, I do the same with my feet," said the girl, who studies in class 8 in a nearby school.Sharing his daughter's story, Subhadra's father said that even they were amused when she first started using her feet for different tasks. "People often ask, how did you teach her to do all the tasks with her feet? But we did not teach her anything, she learned on her own," said the father.Subhadra said that she was ...
Odisha Police issues advisory on deadly 'Momo Challenge' game
Odisha Police has issued an advisory to parents and teachers to guard children against the deadly 'Momo Challenge' game. The crime branch advisory issued on Saturday night has also urged the media not to publish any unverified news and connect any death or suicide to the game without proper verification, a senior police official said on Sunday. The online game, featuring a grotesque image of a girl with her distorted face and bulging eyes, has made headway in several countries and is similar to last year's killer 'Blue Whale Challenge'. "On social media, a game with the name 'Momo Challenge' is being circulated by some mischievous and criminal minded people. "This game instigates people, especially children to commit suicide as final task. Some innocent people around the world have fallen prey to this game," the advisory said. There is need for parents and teachers to be aware of this threat and save children from it. Unknown links appearing on WhatsApp should be deleted
'Queer Eye' star reveals past suicide attempt
The presenter rose to prominence on MTV's reality series "The Real World: Philadelphia" in 2004. He became an iconic fixture on the hit Netflix show "Queer Eye", where he specialises in culture alongside his "Fab Five" co-stars Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Bobby Berk and Jonathan Van Ness, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Probe into sexual misconduct allegations against Indian employed in UN Women completed
An investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against an Indian national employed in the UN agency for gender equality and women empowerment has been completed and steps have been taken to initiate "appropriate action" against him. While the Office of Audit and Investigation of UNDP did not identify the Indian national, sexual misconduct allegations were levelled last month against Ravi Karkara, Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy to the Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director at UN Women. UN Women, in a statement dated August 24, said its Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has "taken immediate steps to initiate appropriate action. "She is committed to ensuring that UN Women focuses on a survivor-centred approach in concluding this matter as quickly as possible," the statement said. It added that the Executive Director appointed earlier this year Purna Sen as Executive Coordinator on Sexual Harassment to engage with survivors so that
Plea in SC challenging setting up of Sharia courts
The Supreme Court has considered a fresh plea of a Muslim woman seeking to declare as unconstitutional the setting up of Sharia courts to decide marriage, divorce and other cases. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud asked petitioner Zikra to file an application to intervene as a party in a batch of pleas challenging the practice of polygamy and 'nikah halala' among Muslims. The apex court, which had last year banned the age-old practice of instant 'triple talaq' among Sunni Muslims, had on March 26 decided to refer to a five-judge Constitution bench a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of polygamy and 'nikah halala'. Polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives. Under 'nikah halala', a man cannot remarry his former wife unless she marries another man, consummates the marriage, gets a divorce and observes a period of separation period called 'iddat'. Zikra, a 21-year-old resident of Uttar Pradesh and a ...
Number of trans-gender voters up by 300 in poll-bound MP
The number of trans-gender voters has increased by over 300 in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh as compared to the 2013 state elections, an official says. The number of total voters registered in the state, where the Assembly elections are due later this year, stood at 4.94 crore as on July 31. Of these, 1,286 are from the third gender category, he said. "In the last Assembly polls, 970 voters of the third gender were registered. The number has now gone up to 1,286 in the recently published electoral rolls," MP's Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao told PTI Saturday. Comparing the number with other states, he said in Tamil Nadu, there are nearly 4,720 third gender voters. The 'third gender' column was introduced in the voter enrolment application form in MP before of the 2013 state polls. Previously, it used to be marked as the column for 'others', Rao said. Notably, Madhya Pradesh was the first state in the country to elect a trans-gender, Shabnam Mausi, as an MLA. Shabnam ..
HC asks Maha govt to make all its websites disabled-friendly
The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to ensure that all its websites are updated within three months and made user-friendly for disabled people. A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil gave the order Friday while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by city-based NGO Disability Rights Initiative, seeking a direction to the government and other authorities concerned to make their websites user-friendly for disabled people. The petition sought that the government comply with guidelines issued by the central government in 2009 to provide universal accessibility to government websites to persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. The high court directed the state government to ensure guidelines are complied with and that all their websites are disabled-friendly. "After completing this procedure, the government shall take a certification (of compliance with guidelines) from the National Informatics Centre of the Union ...
MOMO Challenge: Odisha Police issues advisory against deadly game
Odisha Police's Crime Branch on Saturday issued an advisory against the 'MOMO challenge', asking parents and teachers to protect children from the game, which "instigates people, especially children to commit suicide as final task.""On social media a game with name MOMO Challenge is being circulated by some mischievous and criminal minded people. This game instigates people, especially children to commit suicide as final task. Some innocent people around the world have fallen prey to this malicious game. There is need for parents and teachers to be aware of this threat and save the children from the deadly game," the advisory read.As part of the game, "one unknown number having the profile of a girl's distorted face with protruding eyes and wide mouth appears with a WhatsApp invitation from an unknown number," the advisory stated.The statement added, "The perpetrators of this horrific crime monitor the status and profiles of people on social networking websites to target people ...
BJP delegation meets J&K Governor
A delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday called on Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and raised various issues related to the development works in the state. The delegation led by its state president Ravinder Raina met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan today, an official spokesperson said. The BJP leaders welcomed the decision taken by the Governor-led state administrative council in Friday's meeting to conduct elections to urban local bodies and panchayats in the month of October-December this year, the official added. The delegation members described it as a step towards empowerment of people at grass root level, the spokesperson said, adding that the group also raised the issues related to a significant number of roads, bridges and other development works in the state. They also apprised the Governor about the various problems being faced by the Kashmiri migrants including their rehabilitation, provision of basic amenities in migrant camps in Jammu and elsewhere,
Celebrators of Gandhi's death in power today: Swara Bhaskar
Amid the growing debate on "urban Naxals" following the arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, Bollywood actor Swara Bhaskar said that those who celebrated the death of Mahatma Gandhi are in power presently, and questioned whether they, too, should be jailed for the same.Addressing the press at an event organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps on Saturday, Swara stated that people can be punished for their deeds, and not for their thoughts."It is a human tendency to have low thoughts. When Gandhi was killed in this country, there were people who celebrated his death; those people are now sitting in power. Will you put all those people in jail? Obviously, the answer is no," she noted.Responding to a question on the '#MeTooUrbanNaxal' uprising on Twitter, Swara added "We can joke about it. As long as a person was using the term for personal reasons, it was different. But the moment I saw this term in police reports, I knew it wasn't a joke ...
US: Sex abuse claims raise pressure to reunite migrant families
The Trump administration is under increasing pressure to speed up the reunification of immigrant families it separated at the Mexican border, following allegations three youngsters were sexually abused while in US custody. The government of El Salvador said the three, ages 12 to 17, were victimized at shelters in Arizona, and it asked the US to make their return a priority. "May they leave the shelters as soon as possible, because it is there that they are the most vulnerable," Deputy Foreign Relations Minister Liduvina Magarin said in San Salvador on Thursday. The US government already is facing heavy criticism over its slow pace in reuniting more than 2,600 children who were separated from their parents last spring before the Trump administration agreed to stop the practice. Most have since been reunited, but hundreds remain apart more than a month after the deadline set by a judge. Before the Trump administration reversed course, many of the parents had been deported to their home .
Haryana govt settles first claim under Ayushman Bharat scheme
The Haryana government on Saturday settled the first claim of Rs 9,000 under the public health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat for a baby girl born in a state-run hospital in Karnal district. Mousami, a resident of Karnal's village Ghisarpuri, has become the first beneficiary under the scheme, an official spokesperson said. She underwent caesarian section and delivered a healthy baby girl on August 17, he added. Mousami gave birth at Karnal's Kalpana Chawala Government Medical College. She is the first person to be treated under the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state and the claim amount was paid to the treating hospital on August 31, the spokesperson said. Dubbed Modicare, Ayushman Bharat is the world's largest government healthcare programme. The state government launched the Ayushman Bharat-Haryana Health Protection Mission on August 15 to provide cashless and paperless healthcare facilities to beneficiaries at empanelled government hospitals.
Mexico frees 39 Cuban migrants held for ransom
Mexican prosecutors say authorities have rescued 39 Cuban migrants who had been held for ransom by four Cuban men in the resort city of Cancun. Prosecutor Jorge Nader Kuri said on Friday police got an anonymous tip the Cubans were being held at a safe house. When marines and prosecutors approached, they heard cries for help and raided the house late Thursday. Criminals in Mexico often kidnap migrants and call their relatives in the US to demand ransoms in return for freeing them. It was unclear what would happen to the victims, but Mexico often simply sends migrants back to Cuba.
Rio urges people to cooperate with govt in checking influx of
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio Saturday called upon the people of the state to come together and cooperate with the government in checking the influx of illegal immigrants. Addressing a gathering on the occasion of 74th anniversary of Khonoma Ruffuno at Khonoma village, Rio said the state government acknowledges the concerns of different organisations for enforcement of Inner Line Permit (ILP) but the government alone cannot implement it successfully unless everyone becomes a stakeholder. "We Nagas do not want to do the skilled and labour jobs, because of which more and more outsiders are getting earning opportunity in the state," he said, adding that Nagas have to develop work culture in order to tackle the problems of illegal immigrant. Rio lamented that even as Nagas remain unemployed they still continue to employ the illegal immigrants in various skilled jobs. He urged the owners of commercial buildings and employers to properly verify the documents of ...
Counting OBCs a mischievous step of govt to further divide population: Sharad Yadav
The decision to collect data on Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the 2021 Census seems to be a "mischievous step" of the government to further divide the population, Opposition leader Sharad Yadav said on Saturday. He also demanded that the government ensure comprehensive data about all castes and religious groups, including forward castes, backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in this Census. He said the people of the country should know as to what percentage of a community is living in the country and noted that the data on upper castes and other non-reserved categories are also vague. "This makes it difficult to empirically prove the extent of dominance that upper castes have over wealth and power in the country," Yadav said in a statement. Caste enumeration, he said, will help the government in deciding its schemes and policies for the reserved classes and also puncture the claims of inflated numbers of some castes which are often claiming their reservation. "The ..
Woman gets pregnant after tubectomy, moves HC for compensation
A woman has moved the Madras High Court seeking a directive to doctors of a government hospital to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation for alleged medical negligence since she conceived despite undergoing a tubectomy surgery. Justice R Mahadevan, before whom the petition came up Friday, issued notice returnable by two weeks to the Resident Medical Officer of Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital in Nagercoil, the Health Secretary, Director of Medical Education, Deputy Director, Medical Rural Development, Kanyakumari. The petitioner submitted taht after she delivered her second girl child on April 5, 2014, she underwent tubectomy at the Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital and was issued a sterlisation certificate. The Tahsildar concerned also issued a certificate for getting benefits under the Girl Child Welfare Scheme, whose benefits can be obtained only at the time the two girls get married. On April 5, 2017, she went to the hospital for a check up as she
Pope decries "emergency" of plastics blighting world's seas
Pope Francis on Saturday called for concrete action to combat the "emergency" of plastics littering seas and oceans, lamenting the lack of effective regulation to protect the world's waters. Building on his papacy's concern for the environment, Francis issued a message aimed at galvanizing Christians and others to commit to saving what he hails as the "impressive and marvelous," God-given gift of the "great waters and all they contain." "Sadly, all too often many efforts fail due to the lack of effective regulation and means of control, particularly with regard to the protection of marine areas beyond national confines," the pope wrote. "We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic," Francis said. "Here, too, our active commitment is needed to confront this emergency." Francis recommended a two-pronged approach, saying: "We need to pray as if everything depended on God's providence and work as if everything depended on us." He also denounced
EC wants maximum voting by differently-abled eligible voters (Lead, correcting para 6)
The Election Commission would conduct intensive mapping aiming at getting the maximum number of differently-abled voters to exercise their franchise including in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and later, an official said here on Saturday.
Uniform civil code not necessary nor desirable: Law Commission
The Law Commission has suggested certain changes in marriage and divorce laws that should be uniformly accepted in the personal laws of all religions, while holding that the uniform civil code "is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage" in the country.
US ends aid to Palestinian refugee agency
The US has decided to end all funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), tasked with supporting Palestinian refugees and called for a large reduction in the number of these refugees.
