Page 406 - Social Issues

Law panel floats consultation paper on family law reform

The Law Commission on Friday floated a consultation paper on family law reforms and suggested changes to several provisions including 'no fault' divorce, alimony, age of consent for marriage, bigamy and marriage registration.

Government seeks comments on allowing single mother's name on PAN

The government on Friday proposed amendments in the Income Tax Rules to allow having one's mother's name on the PAN card in cases where she is the single parent.

Some arrested activists held meetings abroad: Maha police

Some of the Left-wing activists arrested on suspicion of Maoists links held meetings abroad and were in touch with organisations there, Maharashtra police said Friday. There is a reference to the meetings in Paris and some other countries in the letters recovered from activists arrested in June and this week , Additional Director General (Law and Order) Param Bir Singh told reporters here. "They were also in touch with (similar) organisations of the other countries and were co-ordinating with them to highlight (their issues)," he said. The letters mention "meetings of philosophers" held in France and the US, he said. He did not mention the time-frame of any of the meetings held abroad. A letter written by Maoist functionary Comrade Prakash to activist Anand Teltumbde mentions the need to highlight the issue (Koregoan-Bhima violence) at international level, he said. "Many like-minded activists and groups joined forces with us to highlight the oppression of Dalits and ...

Nadda urges Odisha to implement Ayushman Bharat

Union Health Minister J P Nadda today urged the Odisha government to implement the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme along with its own Biju Swastha Kalyan programme for better health protection for the people. The state government had earlier rejected the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme claiming that its own programme was much better. Nadda made his suggestion at the inauguration of a Medical College at Balangir. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and state Health Minister Pratap Jena were also present. "I urge the chief minister to adopt the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the central government along with the state's own programme. Both the Centre and the state should work together for protection of people's health," he said. The Centre has always supported the state government in strengthening its health system, the Union minister said. If Odisha does not implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme, many who need the benefits most may be deprived of them, he said, adding people covered under the ...

Court orders South Africa to recognise Muslim marriages

A court in South Africa ordered the government today to change the law to formally recognise Muslim marriage for the first time to avoid being in breach of the constitution. Under the country's common law system, Muslim marriages are not recognised limiting the options of Muslim women to seek legal recourse in the event of divorce. The Western Cape High Court ordered that "legislation to recognise marriages solemnised in accordance with the tenets of Sharia law (Muslim marriages) as valid marriages". "The president and cabinet together with parliament are directed to rectify the failure within 24 months of the date of this order," judge Siraj Desai said. The case was brought by the Women's Legal Center (WLC) which argued that women entering into Islamic marriages did not benefit from the same rights and legal protection as those in civil or customary unions -- especially in cases of divorce. It claimed Muslim women entering into Islamic marriages were often left without access to ...

Microsoft directs its suppliers to provide paid parental leave

Microsoft has announced it would direct its US suppliers and business partners to offer workers 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

Census 2021 will collect OBC data

India, the second most populous country with 1.34 billion people, will soon begin a census operation which will for the first time include a count of the backward classes.

Civil code 'neither necessary nor desirable': Law Panel

A uniform civil code is "neither necessary nor desirable" at this stage, the Law Commission said in a consultation paper on the last day of its term today and suggested changes in laws relating to marriage, divorce, alimony, and marriageable age for men and women. Issuing a consultation paper instead of a full-fledged report on the contentious topic, the panel held freedom of religion as also to propagate it must be strongly protected in a secular democracy, but it is important to bear in mind that a number of "social evils" such as the practice of triple talaq and child marriage should not be allowed to take refuge under 'religious customs'. "To seek their protection under law as religion would be a grave folly," it said in the paper titled 'Reform of Family Law'. A bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq or 'talaq-e-biddat' is pending in Rajya Sabha despite having been passed in Lok Sabha. The panel, whose three-year term ended today, said diversity of Indian culture should

Sept 5 rally would spread political message of change:Left workers & farmer leaders

Left farmer and labour leaders said today their September 5 would identify the real enemy of the toiling masses and spread political message of change for the 2019 general elections. They termed the rally an "unprecedented event" in the nation's history and said for the first time farmers, workers, eminent people from diverse fields such as economics and human rights activists would also participate in the rally. "Until now there have been separate rallies of workers and farmers in the country, but never a joint rally. This would be first such effort. "This rally would identify the real enemy of the toiling masses and spread a political message of change for the coming general elections," CITU leader Tapan Sen told reporters. The organisers said they are expecting more than 3 lakh people from across the country to participate in the rally. "Farmers and workers from all over the country are coming to Delhi to raise their voice against the anti-people policies and the ...

Build central facility for women, children to prevent Muzaffarpur-like incidents: Maneka

In a bid to prevent Muzaffarpur-like incidents, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has urged the states to establish a central facility for women and children together in their capitals.

Rajnath reviews Census 2021 preparations

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed the blueprint of the preparations for the nationwide census to be held in 2021.The meeting took place at the Office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner here in the national capital on Friday.Minister of State (Home) Kiren Rijiju, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RGI) Sailesh and other Senior officers of the Office of RGI and Home Ministry were present in the meeting.During the meeting, it was emphasized that the improvements in design and technological interventions be made to ensure that the Census data is finalised within three years of conducting of Census. At the moment, it takes around seven to eight years to release the comprehensive data.Almost 25 lakh enumerators have been trained and engaged to ensure accurate collection of data in Census 2021.This census will also witness the collection of data on OBC for the first time. The use of maps/georeferencing at the ...

Hryana to hold events as part of Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary

The Haryana government will organise various events, beginning October 2, as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi which will include convening a special session of the state Assembly, an official statement said here today. The events to mark his 150th birth anniversary celebrations would begin on October 2 this year and would culminate on October 2, 2020, it said. As the central government has decided to celebrate 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as a global affair, accordingly the Haryana government will organise various events to commemorate the birth anniversary throughout the state and the celebrations will continue for the next two years, it said. A special Vidhan Sabha session would be convened next year, the statement said. Besides, a 'Pada Yatra' would be organised involving 150 youth at a time walking 10 km per day for 150 days covering every village of the state. A 'Cycle Yatra' would also be organised and during these yatras, awareness

First in independent India, Census 2021 to collect data on OBCs

Census 2021 will for the first time in independent India collect data on Other Backwards Castes (OBCs), a move considered politically significant ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The then V P Singh government had announced 27 per cent reservation for OBCs based on the Mandal Commission recommendation, which was broadly prepared on the basis of the country's last castes data collected in the 1931 census. The disclosure of the decision to collect the OBC data came after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the preparation for the Census 2021. "It is envisaged to collect data on OBCs for the first time," a Home Ministry spokesperson said. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), a wing of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, had announced a sample survey report on the country's population in 2006 and suggested that the OBC population in the country is around 41 per cent of the total population. The NSSO had enumerated 79,306 households in rural ...

Let 18 years be recognised as legal age for marriage for men too: Law panel

The Law Commission today suggested that 18 years should be the minimum legal age for men and women alike to get married, saying the insistence on recognising different ages of marriage between consenting adults must be abolished. In its consultation paper on 'Reform of Family Law', the panel also said "if a universal age for majority is recognised, and that grants all citizens the right to choose their governments, surely, they must then be also considered capable of choosing their spouses". The age of majority, 18 years, must be recognised uniformly as the legal age for marriage for men and women alike as per Indian Majority Act, 1875. "The difference in age for husband and wife has no basis in law as spouses entering into a marriage are by all means equals and their partnership must also be of that between equals," the paper said. The law panel was of the view that maintaining the difference of 18 years for women and 21 years for men "simply contributes to the stereotype that wives .

Two Indians receive Magsaysay awards

Two Indian nationals, Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk, on Friday were given the Ramon Magsaysay award, popularly known as Asia's Nobel Prize.

Arrested activist spoke of "Rajiv Gandhi-like" event: Police

Police today claimed they have "conclusive proof" to link Left-wing activists arrested in June and this week to Maoists, saying one of them spoke of a "Rajiv Gandhi-type event to end Modi-raj". An email between Rona Wilson, one of the arrested activists, and a Maoist leader, speaks of ending "Modi-raj" with a 'Rajiv Gandhi-type incident', Additional Director General (law and order) Parambir Singh told reporters here. Wilson was arrested in Delhi in June in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence in Maharashtra in January. Police have seized "thousands of letters" exchanged between the overground and underground of Maoists, he said. Pune police had on August 28 raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested five of them - Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, Sudha Bharadwaj in Faridabad and Gautam Navalakha in Delhi. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the Elgaar Parishad conclave in ..

Post-docu theft,Bru body for fresh revision of electoral rolls

The newly-formed Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Coordination Committee (MBDPCC) has appealed to the Election Commission and the Mizoram government to conduct revision of electoral rolls in the six relief camps in Tripura again. The request followed a burglary at the election office of Mizoram's Mamit district following which enlistment forms duly filled in by the displaced Bru people in the relief camps of the neighbouring Tripura have gone missing. The August 23 burglary took place two days before the final phase of repatriation of Bru families from Tripura to Mizoram started on August 25. In a statement issued yesterday evening, MBDPCC president T Laldingliana asked the poll panel and the Mizoram government officials to conduct revision of voters list expeditiously and hand over the electoral photo identity cards to the voters personally. Mizoram, the last remaining Congress bastion in the northeast, is due for polls this December. The MNDPCC president condemned the ...

Personal laws cannot be in conflict with Constitution: Law Commission

The Law Commission in its consultation paper released on Friday said that personal laws, by virtue of being enacted as laws, cannot be codified in a way that contradicts the Constitution.The Commission, however, clarified, that certain issues such as polygamy, nikah halala, settlement of a Parsi wife's property for benefit of children, and the law on adultery are presently sub judiced before the Supreme Court, hence, comprehensive changes on some of these have not been suggested at this stage.The Commission said that in the absence of any consensus on a uniform civil code the best way forward may be to preserve the diversity of personal laws but at the same time ensure that personal laws do not contradict fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India."In order to achieve this, it is desirable that all personal laws relating to matters of family must first be codified to the greatest extent possible, and the inequalities that have crept into codified law, these should ..

Women should get equal share in property acquired after marriage upon divorce: Law panel

There is a need to recognise the role of woman in a household and regardless of her financial contribution, she should get an equal part of the property gained after marriage upon divorce, the Law Commission suggested today. It said all personal and secular laws should be amended accordingly. However, it cautioned that at the same time, this principle does not automatically translate to an 'absolute' equal split of property at the end of the relationship, as in a number of cases such a yardstick may bring an "unfair burden" to one of the parties. "Thus, it is important to retain the discretion of the court in such cases," the commission said in its consultation paper on 'Reform of Family Law'. It said all property acquired after marriage of either spouse be treated as a unit between the couple. It is often women who compromise on careers in order to support families and they also contribute to a major share of housework which is never calculated in monetary terms, the paper said. The .

Meet India's first transgender cabbie

A Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Human Resource (HR) and Marketing, Meghna Sahoo is India's first transgender cab driver, hailing from Bhubaneswar.Speaking to ANI, 30-year-old Sahoo, who became the first transgender driver -partner of cab aggregator Ola, said she faced a lot of discrimination and rejection due of her gender identity and switched jobs in the hope of being treated at par with others."I struggled to get the same opportunity as others and it's difficult for transgender people to get jobs and driving training/ license etc. After the Supreme Court ruling that recognised 'transgender' as the third 'gender' it became easier for transgender people," she said.Although landing a job was a difficult task, Meghna said that women travellers felt safer while commuting in her cab."I also didn't face any difficulty with male travellers because of my gender identity, and I feel happy about that," she added.Meghna has appealed to more members of the transgender community to