Page 420 - Social Issues
Indian man racially abused in Canada, told to 'go back to your country'
An Indian in Canada has been allegedly racially abused over a parking dispute by a white woman who yelled "go back to your country" and called him a "Paki", according to a media report. Rahul Kumar, who moved from India to Canada seven years ago, was also called a "loser" with "shit-coloured skin", CTV news reported. Kumar filmed the encounter outside his home on his cellphone last week. In the video, a woman yells at Kumar over a parking dispute. "You can film all you want Paki. Yes Paki, that's you with the shit-coloured skin," the report said, citing the video. The woman who made the comments called CTV Edmonton after the report aired and criticised the coverage, saying that she is "not a racist." Asked whether the parking disagreement justifies the racist language used, she said, "It doesn't matter if it justifies it or not; it happened and that's where I took it." She is unapologetic. "I have no problem with what happened," she was quoted as saying by the report. At one point in .
Facebook cuts ad-target options to thwart discrimination
Facebook has said it is cutting more than 5,000 ad-targeting options to prevent advertisers from discriminating based on traits such as religion or race. The shift eliminates the ability to direct Facebook ads at people based on ethnicity, beliefs, political affinity or other data that could be considered sensitive or personal. "While these options have been used in legitimate ways to reach people interested in a certain product or service, we think minimizing the risk of abuse is more important," the leading online social network said in an online post yesterday. The announcement came less than a week after the US Department of Housing and Urban Development accused Facebook of breaking the law by letting landlords and home sellers use its ad-targeting system to discriminate against potential buyers or tenants. A formal complaint filed by HUD contended that Facebook advertisers were able to target offers of homes available for rent or sale based on factors such as race, religion, ...
US inmates launch nationwide strike
US prisoners today declared a nationwide strike demanding changes to correctional institutions including living conditions, pathways to parole and voting rights restoration. The US incarceration rate is the world's highest: about 2.2 million people were behind bars at the end of 2016, a figure the American Civil Liberties Union says represents approximately one-fifth of the global population of prisoners. The strike -- set to continue through September 9, according to organizers -- was called in response to a deadly riot in April at a maximum security prison in South Carolina, Lee Correctional Institution. "Seven comrades lost their lives during a senseless uprising that could have been avoided had the prison not been so overcrowded from the greed wrought by mass incarceration, and a lack of respect for human life that is embedded in our nation's penal ideology," the group of incarcerated prison rights advocates leading the strike said. "These men and women are demanding humane living
DU Kerala students' association take out candle march in solidarity with flood victims
Delhi University Kerala students' association, Maithry, organised a candle march at India Gate today in memory of those who lost their lives in floods that ravaged the southern state. Around 400 students from different universities gathered at India Gate and took out a march, the organisation said. Mahroof, a representative of the organisation, said the march was in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the floods and to express solidarity with those who were displaced. Kerala is struggling to find its feet after the devastating deluge that left 231 dead in a fortnight and displaced over 14 lakh people. Though rains have eased over the last two days, vast swathes of land remain under a seemingly endless sheet of water in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kollam districts.
Deoria shelter home case: SIT searches Gorakhpur's old-age home
The Special Investigating Team probing the Deoria girls' shelter home case involving sexual exploitation of its inmates today conducted searches in an old-age home run here by the NGO that ran the shelter home too. The SIT searched the old-age home in presence of NGO Vindya Vasini's chief and shelter home manager Girija Tripathi, the prime accused in the case, said an official, who participated in the search operation. The team broke open the seal of the old-age home and conducted searches under the supervision of Sadar sub divisional magistrate during which forensic experts from Lucknow lifted various samples from inside the home, the official said. During the search, the SIT also seized some documents, including the office register of the old age home. The police had raided the Deoria shelter home at station road there on August 5 and had rescued 23 inmates. The rescued inmates had told sleuths that they were used to be ferried out of the shelter home to Gorakhpur in two cars - a ...
HC rejects disabled students' pleas seeking medical admission
The Gujarat High Court today rejected pleas of three differently-abled students who had challenged denial of admission to undergraduate medical courses. A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi rejected the petitions, and thus upheld an amendment to Rule 6 in the state government's Fixation of Fees Rules. The rule deals with constitution of a medical board to reassess if a disabled person can take admission to a medical course. Three students with disabilities had challenged denial of admission to medical colleges by the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses. The admission was denied as the medical board held that they were not fit to pursue the course, having more than 40 per cent disability. A person with less than 40 per cent disability is considered fit for admission. The appellate authority also upheld the board's decision. The government had assessed the degree of the disability of petitioners Ganesh ...
Group of ministers discuss ways to check upload of pornographic materials online
Union ministers and top officials met here today to discuss the problem of unabated uploading of pornographic materials on YouTube and some social media sites using laptops and smartphones, and ways to check them, officials said. The discussion came following a Supreme Court directive on the subject in response to a writ petition filed by a Hyderabad-based NGO. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, besides others, a Home Ministry official said. The government will have to file an affidavit soon, giving details of the action taken by it in this regard. It has already set up an online cybercrime-reporting portal to block videos of sexual offences on social sites. The apex court was earlier informed that the Ministry of Home Affairs had identified keywords for child pornography, rape and gang rape content search, and a list of keywords in English language had been compiled and circulated among content providers for further ...
SC concerned over missing children from shelter homes
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it was "very distressing that more than two lakh children were 'missing' from government-run shelters homes, suggesting that there should be Central and state-level committees to monitor and prevent the incidents of physical and sexual abuse of children living in such homes.
J'khand to roll our Ayushman Bharat on Sept 25
Jharkhand government today decided to roll out Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme on September 25 as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech. The scheme would provide up to Rs five lakh to 57 lakh families, an official release said. Chief Minister Raghubar Das told a high-level meeting that no person should face any problem in getting the health facility. As per the government decision, Rs one lakh would be provided through the insurance company and the rest Rs four lakh will be provided through Health Facility Society, the release said. Das directed the health department to prepare a detailed proposal to be placed before the cabinet. He also asked to introduce the scheme in any hospital as a pilot project so that there is no problem when it is implemented on September 25. The prime minister had on August 15 announced that the insurance scheme would roll out on September 25, the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhaya.
SC shocked over 2 lakh children 'missing' in survey on child care institutions
The Supreme Court today expressed shock at the discrepancy in two surveys reflecting a difference of around two lakh children staying in child care institutions and said it was "very, very disturbing" that such children were being "treated" as mere numbers. The top court was shocked when it was told that as per a 2016-17 survey carried out at the directions of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the number of children living in child care institutions (CCIs) was around 4.73 lakh, while the data filed in the court by the government this March says it was about 2.61 lakh. "It is not clear what has happened to the balance of around two lakh children. These children appear to be missing from the statistics," a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said. It also asked the Centre "how many children are missing in this country besides these two lakh" and said if the provisions of law were being implemented in "letter and spirit", then child abuse incidents like those in Muzaffarpur .
Myanmar working with UN for Rohingya repatriation: Suu Kyi
Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday that her country was working with the UN to allow the safe return of the minority Rohingya refugees who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following Army offensives in 2017.
Make law to confiscate property of drug peddlers: HP Cong to CM
Ahead of the commencement of the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the state Congress today asked Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to bring in a stringent law to check drug abuse, with the provision of confiscating property of drug peddlers. A 15-member delegation of the state Congress led by its president Sukhvinder Singh Thakur submitted a memorandum to the chief minister in this regard here. The delegation also demanded to make the provision of making drug peddling a non-bailable offence at least for one year. It expressed concern over synthetic drug and sought immediate steps, including bringing stringent law to check increasing drug abuse in the state. Former minister Ram Lal Thakur, ex-chief parliamentary Secretaries Rohit Thakur, Sohan Lal Thakur and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, former MLAs and other Congress leaders were part of the delegation. The chief minister assured the delegation that the state government was committed to make Himachal Pradesh a drug-free state. It
Mental health may not ruin teenagers' friendships: Study
Teenagers with similar levels of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression are more likely to remain friends, but dissimilarites can create incidence instability, a new study has found.
Chhattisgarh has 1.81 cr voters for assembly poll
The electoral roll for Chhattisgarh was published on Tuesday, placing the total number of voters at 1,81,79,435 ahead of assembly polls.
HC dismisses plea seeking release of Tamil outfit leader
The Madras High Court today dismissed a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of pro-Tamil activist Thirumurugan Gandhi, noting that it was not maintainable as he had been remanded in judicial custody by a competent court after being arrested recently. A division bench comprising Justice C T Selvam and Justice Nirmalkumar directed Gandhi to approach the appropriate court for regular bail. The habeas corpus petition, usually filed to set at liberty a person in illegal detention, was moved by the father of Gandhi, who is the coordinator of the May 17 Movement, a rights group. The petitioner alleged that his son had been kept under illegal detention by the police even after refusal of a magistrate to remand him in police custody after his arrest on August 9 at Bengaluru airport. He sought a direction to the police to produce his son in the court and set him at liberty. In its order, the bench noted that the activist had been arrested by police again on August 11 in connection with a
NCW takes note of Bihar woman thrashing incident
Taking note of the Bihar incident, where a woman was allegedly thrashed and stripped by a mob, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday asked the state police to inform about the action taken in the matter.The NCW has asked the Deputy General Police (DGP) of Bihar, Krishna Swaroop Dwivedi to apprise the commission of concrete action taken in the matter at the earliest.On Monday, the woman was allegedly beaten up in Bihar's Bhojpur district on the suspicion of being involved in the murder of a youth, Vimlesh Sav. However, the woman who is under the police custody, denied the allegations.In view of the incident, eight police officials including the Station House Officer, Bahiya, and station in-charge Government Railway Police have been suspended.The state of Bihar has lately been witnessing a surge in violent crimes against women. It was around a couple of months back, a shelter home rape scandal in the city of Muzaffarpur rocked the nation following an audit by the Tata ...
Britain apologises to migrants removed in Windrush scandal
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said it would formally apologise to 18 members of the "Windrush generation" who were forced to leave or detained because they were not issued with documents when they came to the country from the Caribbean after World War Two.
Five injured in clash between two transgender groups
Five people were injured in a clash between two groups of transgenders outside a police station over the issue of money collection in South West Delhi's Najafgarh area, the police said. The transgender groups based in Uttam Nagar and Palam, respectively, clashed on August 16 outside the Najafgarh police station, they said. The Palam-based group allegedly stopped the Uttam Nagar-based group from collecting 'dakshina' (donation) in Najafgarh area, leading to a brawl, a senior police officer said. Both the groups lodged cross-complaints alleging that they were being threatened by the other, the officer said. In the meantime, the Uttam Nagar-based transgenders group called the other group and soon after they entered into a brawl, leading to a clash outside the police station, he said. The police pacified the members of both groups but by then, four transgenders of the Palam-based group and a driver were already injured in the scuffle, he said, adding that they were rushed to a nearby ...
Now, a dedicated marriage portal for HIV-infected people
People with HIV infection can now look for a marriage partner on a web portal specially designed for them. The portal -- matrimonial.gnspplus.org -- was launched today at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) to address the confidentiality concerns of people infected by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). The online platform has been created by Gujarat State Network of Positive People (GSNP+), a non-profit organisation, with the technical support of the IIMA's Centre for Management of Health Services. The Surat-based Sri Rama Krishna (SRK) Knowledge Foundation has offered financial support. Daksha Patel, the president of GSNP+, said the concern of such people is how to approach a matrimonial platform without disclosing their health status. "When we met HIV positive people, we found some of them had no families and social support. It was difficult for them to find a life partner," she said. This led to the NGO earlier launching a marriage bureau for ...
Assamese Community in London opposes Citizenship (Amendment)
The Assamese community in London has submitted a memorandum to the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, a press release of the community said. "The Assamese community in London is deeply concerned by the Indian Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. If the bill passes through, it will have a serious implication on the people of Assam regarding the demography, culture and Assamese language", said an emailed press release of the community today. "Our identity is at threat and our safety as an NRA (Non-Resident Assamese)", the release claimed. A delegation of the members of Assamese Community in London led by Dr Benu Kakati had met the Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom, Y K Sinha last month to express their concern, it said. The delegation requested Sinha to convey their concern to the appropriate government departments in New Delhi, notably to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chairman of the Joint ...
