Page 56 - Social Issues

Gujarat government under fire for attacks on Dalit marriage processions

Dalit rights activists Jignesh Mevani and Martin Mcwan on Tuesday came down heavily on the Gujarat government for failing to protect the community even as at least five incidents of marriage processions of the Scheduled Castes were attacked in a week.

Mother commits suicide as son fails Class 12 exam

A mother committed suicide on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district after her son failed in the Class 12 board exam.

Germany sees sharp rise in racist, anti-Semitic hate crime

Xenophobic and anti-Semitic hate crime rose by nearly 20 per cent in Germany last year, according to the latest interior ministry data published Tuesday. In its report, the ministry listed 7,701 xenophobic criminal acts, a jump of 19.7 percent compared to 2017. Anti-Semitic offences totalled 1,799 after a similar increase. Almost 90 percent of perpetrators had a right-wing extremist background, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told a press conference. Despite a post-war culture of repentance for the Nazi era and Holocaust, Germany has not bucked a European tend of increasing hate speech and attacks against Jews. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed his concern at the Berlin launch of a European network called Combating Anti-Semitism Through Education. All over Europe, hatred of Jews and violence against minorities are now rampant, Maas said. Historical awareness is the best shield against intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism, he said, urging efforts to close "gaps in knowledge". The

Breaking the mould: 51 per cent of females connect through Docprime's digital consultation platform

With around 5000 consultations a day, Docprime, a Policybazaar group company connected 51 per cent women, who took the online consultation from dedicated medical consultants. This leaves the rest, 49 per cent males taking on the digital consultation. With the underlining digital gender gap that still persists in India, this transformation seems relevant and going forward, the internet usage is expected to be more gender balanced.The statistics reveal that between January and April 2019, medical consultancy on chat by women increased by 43.9 per cent. It is hard to ignore the significant jump (almost double) in first two & three months of the year - 24.4 per cent between January and February to 45.4 per cent between January and March. Docprime's technology enables women to access medicare from home in complete privacy, all at your finger-tips."Women, especially mothers tend to ignore their health as the family becomes their priority. Providing them with the digital platform like .

Over 13,000 beggars admitted to Prison Dept-run rehab centres

More than 13,000 beggars, both men and women, have been admitted to 'Anand Ashrams' (special homes) here since their establishment over one-and-a-half years ago. As part of its initiative to make the city 'beggar- free', the prisons department in Telangana on October 20, 2017, started 'Anand Ashrams' for rehabilitation of beggars in Chanchalguda and Cherlapalli central prisons in the city. The objective of the 'Anand Ashrams' is to serve the people at the lowest rung of society and to maintain law and order by eradicating begging,Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services Vinoy Kumar Singh said. The beggars were brought to 'Anand Ashrams' through regular drives held in coordination with the police and municipal authorities. "So far we have picked up 8,438 male beggars and 4,977 female ones, out of which 8,260 male beggars and 4,948 female beggars were released on a personal undertaking that they would not resort to begging again," Singh told PTI. Most of the ..

Youth Congress has tried to expose the propaganda of the ruling BJP dispensation: Pandey

The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has tried to build a narrative on socio-economic issues through a series of interviews with experts on its official Facebook page and expose the "propaganda" of the ruling BJP government, the youth wing's media in-charge Amrish Ranjan Pandey said Tuesday. In the Lok Sabha polls, the IYC has helped the Congress by building a narrative on socio-economic issues which is contrary to the information provided by the ruling dispensation at the Centre, Pandey said. The use of social media has increased substantially in last few years and has become a readily available source of information amongst youth of the country who are affected by narratives built through these sources, he said. "This is an ongoing initiative where objective is to reveal the political truths in their correct sense through the social media platform and expose propaganda of the ruling dispensation of BJP," Pandey said. The IYC's Media and Communication department came up with a strategic ..

UN experts urge 'financial isolation' of Myanmar military

Myanmar's military commanders should be financially "isolated" and brought to trial to face charges of war crimes and genocide against the Rohingya minority, UN investigators said Tuesday. The United Nations fact-finding mission on the situation in Myanmar called on the international community to cut off all financial and other support to the country's military. Marzuki Darusman, who heads the fact-finding mission which just concluded a 10-day visit to surrounding countries, said drastic measures were needed since Myanmar so far had done little to resolve the egregious rights situation in the country. "There has been no movement toward a resolution of the crisis," Darusman said in a statement. "The situation is at a total standstill." Some 740,000 Rohingya refugees fled a military crackdown in August 2017 to cross into Bangladesh where 300,000 members of the persecuted Muslim minority were already in camps. Many Rohingya refugees who fled said there had been mass rapes and slaughters .

'Kashmiri Pandits to take up genocide of community at UN, world forums'

Ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of exodus of minority Hindus from the valley, a global Kashmiri Pandit organisation will take up their genocide and ethnic cleansing strongly at the UN and other important world fora. However, the organisation strongly appreciates Governor's administration for dealing with separatist and terrorist elements in Kashmir in accordance with the law of the land. "Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) will take up the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Pandits strongly at the UN and other important world fora as well as reputed human rights organisations in different countries of the world to build consensus of opinion on the issue," GKPD Chairman K L Chowdhury told reporters here. Pandits were forced to flee Kashmir Valley from January 1990 onwards in the wake of spread of terrorism in 1989-90. "We have collected the data of killings of minority Kashmiri Hindus in valley by terrorists, temples damaged and destroyed, houses destroyed and encroached of ...

UN mission urges financial isolation of Myanmar's military

A United Nations fact-finding mission urged Tuesday that countries cut off all business with Myanmar's military as part of efforts to hold the army accountable for human rights abuses. The independent investigators, working under a mandate from the UN Human Rights Council, said in a statement that there has been no progress toward resolving the crisis over Myanmar's mostly Muslim Rohingya minority, more than 1 million of whom have fled military "clearance operations" in the northwest Rakhine region. "The situation is at a total standstill," said Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. Myanmar authorities have razed deserted Rohingya villages and members of the minority remaining in the country live in displacement camps and in fear of further military reprisals. "Due to the gravity of the past and continuing violations, attention must be given to the political, economic and financial ties of the Myanmar military to identify who and what should be targeted ..

MoSPI to use mobile app for 7th Economic Census beginning next month

The statistics ministry has decided to use mobile phone application for conducting 7th economic census beginning next month, which will speed up the process of data collection and analysis. The census will provide insights of all economic activities and ownership patterns of businesses across the country. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) partnered with CSC e-Governance services India Ltd (CSC SPV) to conduct the census. "The 7th economic census will be done using a mobile application. There will be two rounds of supervision to ensure quality of the census," a CSC statement said. The CSC run common services centres (CSC), which are the access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C (business to consumers) services to citizens in urban, rural and remote areas of the country. "We are planning to start the economic survey fieldwork in ..

Prove that I'm corrupt: PM Modi's open challenge to 'mahamilavati' leaders

Claiming his probity while asserting that he has been in office for more than 2 decades - first as chief minister of Gujarat and then as prime minister - Narendra Modi has openly challenged the opposition to prove his involvement in any corruption scam."I am giving an open challenge to the 'mahamilavati', if they have the guts then rather than abusing me they should accept my challenge. I challenge them to show whether I have any undeclared assets, farmhouses, or shopping complex, or whether my money is stacked in foreign banks. Prove that I have any property in any foreign land, bungalows worth crores, high-end cars worth lakhs and crores of rupees," he said while addressing an election rally here on Tuesday."Neither have I ever dreamt of becoming rich nor have I ever looted poor's money. For me the welfare of poor and protecting motherland is more important than my life," he added.The Prime Minister said he considers abuses hurled at him by the opposition leaders as a sort of ...

Video shows CRPF trooper feeding child in Srinagar

A video of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper feeding a hungry child on a Srinagar street went viral on the social media on Tuesday, earning widespread appreciation.

Muzaffarnagar riots: Victim's family demand arrest of all accused

The family of one of the youths whose death sparked the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots demanded on Tuesday that the police arrest all the accused and implement a court order to attach the properties. Residents of the Kawal village in Jansath area met the Muzaffarnagar senior superintendent of police and demanded the arrest of all the six accused in connection with the death of Shahnawaz. Led by his father, the residents demanded that the property of the accused be attached as directed by a court. According to the complainant's lawyer, Mohsin Zaidi, a local court had ordered to attach the property of all six accused, who failed to surrender before it despite repeated arrest warrants. Communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in August and September 2013 had claimed the 60 lives and displaced over 40,000 people.

23 Nepali girls rescued in Mizoram

Twenty-three Nepali girls, who were victims of human trafficking, were rescued in Mizoram and handed over to Nepalese authorities, police said here on Tuesday.

Malaysia deports Thai activist seeking asylum

Malaysian authorities have deported a Thai anti-monarchy activist who was seeking asylum after fleeing persecution in her country, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

Britain, NZ failing on children's rights: global survey

Britain and New Zealand are failing on children's rights, scoring lower than war-torn Syria and North Korea relative to their wealth in rankings released Tuesday by a children's group. "Appalling" discrimination against migrant children and a lack of legal protection for poorer youths in New Zealand and the UK put them near the bottom of the annual survey by Dutch NGO KidsRights. "It's a shame that countries like the United Kingdom and New Zealand are really at the lowest ranks of this index," Marc Dulleart, founder and chairman of KidsRights, told AFP. Britain ranked 170 and New Zealand 169 in the survey of 181 countries. Iceland was top followed by Portugal, Switzerland, Finland and Germany. Afghanistan was worst, followed by Sierra Leone, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic. The annual KidsRights rankings, compiled with the Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, use UN data to measure how countries measure up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the ...

Growing up in areas with income inequality associated with being bullied: Study

Researchers have found that country-level income inequality during the first four years of a child's life can be associated with later bully victimisation.According to the study, which surveyed approximately 874,000 children in 40 medium and high-income countries in Europe, North America and Israel, growing up in areas with income inequality is associated with being bullied.The study, published today in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, was conducted by an international team led by Frank Elgar of Mcgill University, and other Canadian researchers together with scholars from Ireland, Poland, Romania, and Israel.The researchers utilized 35 years of data from the World Health Organization's Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study, a survey carried out every four years. The HBSC uses representative samples of 11, 13 and 15-year-olds in each country.According to the study, country-level income inequality during the first four years of a child's life (rather than school age years) ..

Mumbai: GST superintendent jumps from World Trade Centre

A 51-year-old GST superintendent allegedly committed suicide by jumping from World Trade Centre in Cuffe Parade here on Monday, police said.The deceased, identified as Harinder Kapadia, jumped from the World Trade Centre at around 6:30 pm in the evening. The locals immediately gathered at the spot and rushed Kapadia to the nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.The police is carrying out a thorough investigating into the matter and have registered an accidental death report.More details in this regard are awaited.

UP: Head police constable shoots self with service revolver in Moradabad

A police Head Constable on Monday allegedly shot himself using his service revolver while on duty here.However, his condition is stable and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Moradabad.Superintendent of Police, Muradabad City Ankit Mittal said, "Head Constable Sanjiv was on duty while he shot himself using service revolver. He was admitted to the hospital later. We could not get to talk to him. The reason behind the suicide attempt is not yet ascertained."The police has started the investigation in this regard.

Government's performance 'below average' on voters' issues: ADR

Employment, healthcare facilities and drinking water were the top priorities for the Indian voters, but the government's performance on these fronts was "below average", according to a survey by the Association of Democratic Alliance (ADR).