Page 826 - Social Issues

Greece: Man sentenced to 1,489 years for migrant smuggling

A court in northern Greece has sentenced 23 people to prison terms ranging from eight to 1,489 years for smuggling Iraqi and Syrian refugees into the country from the Turkish border in 2015 and 2016. The Thessaloniki court imposed the longest sentence on a 54-year-old Greek man convicted of running a smuggling ring that arranged the transport of more than 500 refugees in 43 separate cases. Under Greek law, the maximum prison term that can be served is 25 years, regardless of the length of the sentence. Another 23 people, mainly taxi drivers, were acquitted. The suspects were rounded up in a July 2016 police operation. Greece was the main entry point into the European Union of more than a million refugees at the height of the 2015 refugee crisis.

Govt plans to improve conditions of Lankan, Tibetan refugees

The living conditions of Tibetan and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees would be improved with Home Minister Rajnath Singh directing officials to take steps for it, the home ministry said today. The rehabilitation issues of Sri Lankan Tamilians staying in 107 camps and Tibetan refugees were reviewed at a high level meeting chaired by the home minister. The freedom fighters and rehabilitation division of the home ministry, which handles the Sri Lankan Tamilian and Tibetan refugee issues, has been advised to handle the issues relating to Tibetan and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to ensure good living conditions to the refugees, an official statement said. There are around 1.50 lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and 1.2 lakh Tibetan refugees in the country. The meeting also decided that the distribution of pension through banks to the freedom fighters under the 'Swantratra Sainik Samman Yojana' should be further streamlined by strengthening pension distribution monitoring cell to reconcile

3rd round of Intensified Mission Indradhanush launched in Hry

The third round of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI), an intensive immunisation drive, was launched in Haryana today with a target of covering up to 90 per cent of children and pregnant women, an official statement said. Amit Jha, Principal Secretary, Health Department, today presided over a review meeting of the state task force here and said 2,194 sessions were held in the second round of IMI from November 7, in which 19,550 children and 4,820 pregnant women were vaccinated, and 3,814 children were fully immunized. Similarly, in the first round, which was launched on October 7, 2,747 sessions were held, Jha said. Nearly 32,443 children and 8,230 pregnant women were vaccinated, and 7,563 children were fully immunized during it, Jha added. The IMI was launched in the districts of Mewat, Palwal, Faridabad and Urban Gurugram on October 7, he said. The programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Gujarat and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar ...

Former Registrar of Periyar University commits suicide

The former Registrar of Periyar University allegedly committed suicide today by consuming poison, apparently frustrated over some police cases against him, police said. The 62-year-old Angamuthu was facing some police cases regarding missing of documents from the University when he was the Registrar. He consumed some poisonous tablets and was removed to Government Hospital, Perundurai and died in the afternoon.

Chinese convicts executed after stadium trial

Thousands of spectators filled a stadium in China to watch 10 suspects be sentenced to death for crimes ranging from drug-dealing to homicide before they were taken away to be executed at the weekend. An online video of the rare public trial, held in southern Guangdong province on Saturday, showed the handcuffed suspects paraded around a track by uniformed police officers as onlookers watched from the sidelines. The convicts also stood on a podium as their sentences were read over loudspeakers, while officials sat on a stage flanked by military guards. Rights groups say China executes more people than any other country, but Beijing does not give figures on the death penalty, regarding the statistics as state secrets. A public announcement last week from Lufeng City People's Court had invited citizens to sit in on the "open-air stadium trial", as it was dubbed by the state-run Global Times. Beijing News, which circulated the trial video along with several other Chinese ...

China police detain artist who documented migrant evictions

Beijing-based artist Hua Yong has been detained by police after documenting the mass eviction of migrant workers from the Chinese capital, his friends said today. "His current situation is unknown. We have contacted his family and lawyer and legal formalities are being processed," according to a handwritten statement posted to Hua's Twitter account and signed by artists Ji Feng and Guo Zhenming. In the weeks before he disappeared, Hua uploaded dozens of videos on YouTube and Chinese social media platform WeChat documenting the destruction of migrant neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Beijing. Since setting up a YouTube account only two weeks ago, his videos have been viewed tens of thousands of times and some have been translated by others into English. Hua was taken from a friend's home in the northern city of Tianjin in the early hours of Saturday after fleeing Beijing to evade police, other friends told AFP. "Police grabbed him. Didn't you know? Nobody is able to ...

Cost standardisation in health insurance need of hour: Vijayan

Irdai chief T S Vijayan today batted for cost standardisation in health insurance, saying the cost should be comparable at least locally or within a city. "There is a need for cost standardisation in the health insurance sector... at least among hospitals. If someone is having some procedure in a hospital, it should be comparable with another hospital in the same city," the chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) said at Ficci's Annual Health Insurance conference here. He also laid a premium on insurers making their policies simple and affordable for a wider reach so that these are availed by the needy and the uncovered. The government's push for health insurance is to go up substantially because healthcare should reach everybody in society and should be inclusive, Vijayan stressed. He pointed to very high out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare in India -- as high as 60 per cent compared to western countries and others in the BRICS .

Mamata Banerjee extends wishes on Minorities Rights Day

Extending her wishes to people on Minorities Rights Day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said all should pledge to uphold the rights of minority communities. Today is Minority Rights Day. We must pledge to uphold the rights of all minority communities. After all, India stands for unity in diversity, Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle this morning. Minorities Rights Day is observed across the country on this day every year since 2013 to create awareness on rights of the minorities. The day is celebrated to promote the rights of the minorities besides bringing a better understanding among the the religious communities of the country. The United Nations had on December 18, 1992 promulgated the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities to strengthen the cause of the minorities.

Panel suggests host of changes in life insurance sector

The panel has suggested to "lower the mandatory proportion of G-Secs' in the Life Fund and the Pension and General Annuity Funds

Germany vows to fight local and 'imported' anti-Semitism

Germany should appoint an anti- Semitism commissioner to counter growing hate speech against Jews and Israel from both its home-grown far right and the immigrant community, the interior minister said today. Thomas de Maiziere spoke days after protesters in Berlin burnt Israeli flags to protest the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. "Every criminal act motivated by anti-Semitism is one too many and a shame for our country," de Maiziere, the caretaker minister since inconclusive September elections, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "Anti-Semitism must never again take hold in Germany," he said, pointing to a rise of "derogatory remarks, inappropriate jokes and discriminatory behaviour against our Jewish citizens". He condemned the recent flag-burnings as "the symbolic destruction of a country's right to exist", while Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen also said such expressions of hate were "unbearable". De Maiziere said when Germany has a new

PTI highlights at 9 pm.

The following are PTI's top stories at 9 pm: STORIES ON WIRE Nation: DEL1 DEF-BRAHMOS New Delhi: Work begins to integrate the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile on 40 Sukhoi combat aircraft which is expected to fulfil critical needs of the Indian Air Force in the wake of evolving security dynamics in the region. BOM11 MP-VP-WOMEN-BILL Bhopal: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu says all parties should reach a consensus to clear the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill. CAL3 TR-BHAGWAT Agartala: Anybody living in India is a Hindu, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says, asserting that the meaning of Hindutva is to unite all communities. MDS6 KA-LD RAJNATH Bengaluru: Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi a day after he accused BJP of spreading hatred, Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh says it was his party which has been trying to douse the fire "lit by Congress" on issues such as Kashmir and communal tensions. DEL9 JK-LD CIVILIAN Srinagar: Defence spokesperson says a civilian was killed in an ...

SP leader's daughter-in-law found dead in UP's Muzaffarnagar

The daughter-in-law of a Samajwadi Party leader was today found dead, with the police suspecting that she might have committed suicide. Thirty-five year old Babita, the daughter-in-law of local SP leader Kullan Devi, was found dead in her house in Kotwali police station area here, the police said. Police have also recovered a country-made pistol, which was lying near her body, they said. The reason behind the suspected suicide is not know yet, the police said, adding an investigation is on.

Farmer allegedly commits suicide due to debt, crop failure

A farmer allegedly committed suicide last night by consuming poison at his farm in Rajpura village here. Kailash Lal Singh Jamre (35) died during treatment at the district hospital, said Tejram Babar, the hospital's police post in-charge. While family members said that the farmer took the extreme step due to debt, police said that the exact reason would be known after investigations. Shankar Jamre, brother of the deceased, said that the farmer killed himself as he was unable to repay loans totalling around Rs 1.75 lakh, taken from a bank, a private company and two other cooperatives. "Our father and elder brother were bed-ridden and the crop on his two-acre farmland was also destroyed," his brother said. Three farmers have allegedly committed suicide in the past eight days in the state. Earlier on December 12, Gokul Pal (50) had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree at his farm in Bhundi village of Umaria district. Pal's son Naresh Pal (25) had ...

PTI highlights at 6.30 pm.

The following are PTI's top stories at 6.30 pm: STORIES ON WIRE Nation: DEL1 DEF-BRAHMOS New Delhi: Work begins to integrate the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile on 40 Sukhoi combat aircraft which is expected to fulfil critical needs of the Indian Air Force in the wake of evolving security dynamics in the region. BOM11 MP-VP-WOMEN-BILL Bhopal: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu says all parties should reach a consensus to clear the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill. MDS2 KA-RAJNATH Bengaluru: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh lashes out at the Congress government in Karnataka on the law-and- order front, citing the killings of right-wing activists and journalist Gauri Lankesh. DEL9 JK-LD CIVILIAN Srinagar: Defence spokesperson says a civilian was killed in an exchange of fire between Army personnel and terrorists in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. DEL5 INSURGENT CAMPS-BANGLADESH New Delhi: In a major development reported after decades of cross-border insurgency along ..

Some people unable to digest Centre's development programmes:

Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today that "some people are unable to digest" the central government's programmes for the poor and the minorities and were spreading negativity to disrupt the development process. Speaking at a 'Progress Panchayat' in Rajasthan's Alwar district, the minority affairs minister said the Narendra Modi government was determined to further the agenda of development without any discrimination or appeasement. The government has prepared its policies keeping in mind the welfare of farmers, youth, women and poor, he said. "(But) some people are unable to digest the atmosphere of trust and development. These people are trying to disturb the atmosphere of development through their negative agenda," he alleged. The government will not allow any negative agenda to dominate the main agenda of development, Naqvi said. "By defeating those people who want to disrupt the development process, we are following the path of empowerment without appeasement

Woman doctor awarded for donating blood for 53 times in Jammu

A woman doctor in Jammu and Kashmir has been honoured for donating blood for more than 50 times in three decades by an organisation which promotes such efforts. A senior medical officer at Police Hospital, Jammu, Kiran Sharma, received the award from the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (ISBTI) this month for her extraordinary contribution in the field of voluntary blood donation movement. ISBTI was formed in 1972 after Indo-Pak war in 1971, to motivate people for voluntary blood donation in the country. Sharma, the only women among the 10 people who received the award, said she felt inner solace on all 53 times she had donated blood. "I am donating blood for the past 30 years. I started in 1987 when I was a student," she told PTI. Born in Bhaderwah area of Doda district, Sharma received the award from ISBTI during its 42nd National Conference held at Kota in Rajasthan from Dec 8-10. She said family issues had an impact on her to work for the ...

Migrant arrivals in Germany fall for second year in a row

The number of new asylum seekers in Germany has fallen for a second year in a row following the mass influx that peaked in 2015, the government said today. For all of 2017, "I presume a total of fewer than 200,000 migrants," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere was quoted as saying by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The EU's top economy has taken in more than one million asylum seekers since 2015, around half from conflict-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, in a mass intake that sparked a xenophobic backlash. The total for 2015 reached 890,000, but arrivals slowed sharply after several Balkans transit countries shuttered their borders and the EU in March 2016 reached a deal with Turkey to stop crossings to the Greek islands. Arrivals of new asylum seekers to Germany fell back to around 280,000 in 2016. Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under strong pressure for her liberal immigration policy, and her Bavarian allies the CSU have long pushed for a maximum intake of 200,000 .

Actor, son allege heckling at Kolkata airport, 1 arrested

Actor Kaushik Sen and his son Riddhi were allegedly heckled last night at NSC Bose International Airport here following arguments over car parking. One airport parking agency employee was arrested after Sen, who was returning to the city from Bhubaneswar along with his wife, filed a complaint at Airport Police Station about the alleged heckling, sources in the police station said today. The actor said the accused misbehaved with the driver of his car when he stopped the vehicle outside the domestic terminal area to drop his son, who had gone there to receive his parents. He also slapped a fine of Rs 100 on the driver for exceeding the free 10 minutes allowed to pick or drop a person. Later, when Sen and his family were about to leave the parking lot outside the terminal, they found the accused allegedly 'misbehaving' with another car driver and protested against it. "We got down from our car when we saw another gentleman and his driver were being harassed for ...

No of dug wells reduced from 9.2 million to 8.7 million in

The number of dug wells in the country has declined from 9.2 million in 2006-07 to 8.7 million in 2013-14, says the fifth Minor Irrigation (MI) Census. A dug well is a shallow hole dug down into the water table. Open and ring wells are common dug wells, particularly found in rural areas of the country. According to the census report, the dug wells are owned dominantly (98.3 per cent) by private individuals. Of the total private owners, majority are individual farmers (78 per cent). The rest (22 per cent) are being owned by groups of farmers. The ownership of dug wells by groups of farmers is concentrated in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it says. "Among the dug wells, 'pucca' dug wells have a majority share of 67 per cent, 'kutcha' dug wells 21 per cent, 'dug-cum-bore' wells 10 per cent and others 2 per cent. Dug-cum-bore wells have recorded an increase from 4 per cent in the fourth census to 10 per cent in the fifth and latest survey," says the

Religious minorities better in India than in Pak, B'desh:

Controversial writer Taslima Nasreen says the condition of religious minorities is much better in India than in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh. The exiled Bangaldeshi author alleged that atrocities are committed against Hindus and Buddhists in Bangladesh. "Though I have never been to Pakistan, but have read that members of religious minorities there are being converted and persecuted," the 55-year-old writer told PTI in an interview. The author was in the city for the Indore Literature Festival on December 15. She said, "The condition of religious minorities is much better in India as compared to these two nations. The Constitution of India is same for all." "However, I am not saying that minority communities do not have any problem in India," said Nasreen, who had fled Bangladesh in the early 1990s after right wing Muslim outfits issued death threats to her. "I am a citizen of Europe but India appears to be home to me. I am thankful to the Indian government to have .