Page 90 - Social Issues
11 per cent polling till 10 am in Sikkim
An estimated 11 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first three hours of polling in 32 legislative assembly constituencies and the loan Lok Sabha constituency in Sikkim. Polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat and the Sikkim assembly is being held simultaneously here. There has been no report of any untoward incident till 10 am, the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) in the state said. Polling is being held in 567 polling stations spread across four districts in Sikkim. As many as 39 of 567 polling stations are being manned by all-women personnel. A total of 4,32,306 voters comprising 2,20,305 males and 2,12,001 females will exercise their franchise on Thursday and 30,480 voters will cast their votes for the first time. Special arrangements have been made at the polling stations to enable people with disabilities (PWD) to exercise their franchise. Around 2,042 voters have been registered as the people with disabilities (PWD). A total of 150 candidates ...
EVM glitches reported in some polling booths in Andhra Pradesh
In Andhra Pradesh, malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) disrupted the polling briefly in some constituencies.The polling at Kanchikacherla village of Krishna district had to be halted till the machines were rectified or replaced. Voting was delayed at booth numbers 196, 198 and 200 of the region.Not only in Kanchikacherla village, voters at booth number 154 in Rajam town of Srikakulam district had to wait for some time to exercise their franchise because of a technical glitch in the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) unit installed there.In Pulivendula Assembly constituency, several reserved employees staged a protest against the Returning Officer, demanding his suspension, for sidelining them and giving duties to private employees.Voting is taking place in a single phase for the 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
2019 general elections: Kashmiri migrants all set to vote through postal ballots
In a first, Kashmiri migrants in Himachal Pradesh are all set to cast their votes for candidates back home through postal ballot system, as seven-phase elections in the country begin today.Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, the state's Additional Chief Electoral Officer D.K. Rattan said the Election Commission has provided necessary facilities for migrant voters to exercise their franchise from their present locations in the state."This is an initiative of EC where migrants from Jammu and Kashmir will get the chance to vote in their registered constituencies via postal ballot. These migrant laborers and other migrants from Jammu and Kashmir will also get another option for voting at one of the three locations of their choice in Jammu, Delhi and Kathua. They will be able to vote at these locations after registering themselves with the portal," he said.Last month, Uttar Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer BD Ram had said the EC has provided the facility of postal ballot to Kashmiri migrants ...
Over 14 crore voters in first phase of LS polls
Over 14.21 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,279 candidates in 91 constituencies across India in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.
Congress wants to finish middle class: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attempted to create a caste wedge in Congress' poll campaign, by claiming that the Opposition party, through promises made in its election manifesto, was trying to finish off the country's middle class.
Congress trying to finish neo-middle class in country: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday accused the Congress of trying to "finish" the emerging "neo-middle class" of the country, which he said is a product of the poverty eradication policies of the BJP-led NDA government in the past five years. Addressing 'Vijay Sankalp Sabha' near Panaji in Goa as part of the BJP's campaign for the Lok Sabha election, Modi said his government has succeeded in reining in inflation, which was high during the previous Congress rule. "My government has been successful in controlling inflation. For the middle class families, inflation is one of the important issues. The middle class would have found it difficult had we governed like the Congress did when inflation spiralled into double digits. But we brought it down to 4 per cent," he said. Modi further said the middle class extremely benefitted from the budgetary measure to grant income tax exemption on income of up to Rs 5 lakh. "The BJP respects the contribution of tax players, and that is the reason
World must work harder to secure sexual, reproductive rights for all: UNFPA
The world has a long way to go before reproductive and sexual rights are claimed by all, said the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in a report released here on Wednesday.The global reproductive rights movement that began in the 1960s transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of women, empowering them to govern their own bodies and shape their own futures.The world still has a long way to go, despite the gains made since the establishment of the UNFPA over 50 years ago, the report highlighted."India has covered a lot of ground in advancing sexual and reproductive health since 1994. I am confident the country will continue to provide global leadership in making universal access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services, and reproductive rights and choices a reality for all," Klaus Beck, the Regional Programme Adviser and Officer-in-charge, UNFPA India Country Office said while speaking at the report's release here.The report's release was attended by various
Drive away Modi, jailed Lalu to people of Bihar
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad serving sentences in fodder scam cases Wednesday told the people of Bihar that they needed a spirit of "do or die" in the fight to drive away "anti-reservation and anti-Constitution Narendra Modi." In an open letter to the people of the state, which was released here by his party after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea for bail, Prasad said "in the election this time, everything is at stake, country, society, Lalu in other words one who gave you the aspiration to move about as equals with your heads held high and your rights, self-respect and dignity, are all at stake." "Sitting alone in a Ranchi hospital," he wondered "whether disruptive forces by getting me imprisoned in this manner will again succeed in scripting any conspiracy in Bihar." "I am imprisoned, not my thoughts," he said adding that he was sharing his thoughts because only by doing so "we can fight against these divisive forces." Prasad said the people knew from media reports ..
School boy bats for removal of GST on equipment for divyang
A student of a city-based school has launched an online campaign seeking removal of GST levied on the equipment, including wheelchairs, crutches and hearing aides, used by divyang people. Eleven-year-old boy, Mehaan Doshi, a student of Class V of Hill Spring International School, started the petition on Change.org last week. Mehaan took up the initiative after he met Nipun Malhotra, who works for the rights of persons with disabilities. So far, the petition has been signed by over 11,500 people and Doshi intends to submit the final draft of petition to the GST Committee and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "For persons with disabilities, their equipments like wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids etc. are important for their basic mobility and survival. Unfortunately, these equipments are taxed, and make basic-living expensive for these persons with disabilities," the petition said. "Even today, most disability equipment, which includes assistive devices and ...
Hospital built with Indian assistance inaugurated in Nepal
A 25-bed hospital built with Indian assistance was inaugurated in Nepal's Siraha district on Wednesday. The Chandra Narayan Yadav Memorial Maternity Hospital, equipped with all modern medical technologies, was inaugurated by the India's Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri in the presence of several political leaders from the Himalayan nation. "The hospital aims to boost access to maternity and child health care services for the people from 50 village committees in and around the Siraha district," a statement issued by the Indian Embassy said "The new facilities will provide improved maternal and child care health service to the people of Siraha and surrounding districts and help in bringing down the maternal and child mortality rate," the statement added.
Another top US Homeland Security official quits
Claire Grady, acting Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, has become the latest official to resign after the agency's Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced she was leaving her post.
Facebook to use AI to map world population
Aiming to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create accurate maps, Facebook said its maps now cover "majority" of Africa and that its project would eventually map nearly the whole world's population.
Lokayukta police raid MP bank manager's properties
The Lokayukta police on Wednesday searched three properties of the manager of a Central Cooperative Bank (Rural) Satish Sitokey in the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.
Trump's use of 'The Dark Knight Rises' music gets in to controversy
The unauthorised use of the title track from 'The Dark Knight Rises' by US president Donald Trump in a campaign video, has received a strong reaction from Warner Bros. The company is reportedly planning to take legal action against the White House President.As per the reports by Variety, "The copyright infringement suit will allege that the video uses an instrumental track from the film titled "Why Do We Fall?""The use of Warner Bros.' score from 'The Dark Knight Rises' in the campaign video was unauthorized," Warner Bros. said in a statement.The tweet of the President reads: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"The video has been disabled "in response to a report by the copyright owner," Twitter wrote. Before the video was removed from Twitter, it had garnered more than two million views.The campaign video which gives you those movie trailer vibes starts with an aerial view of Washington, D.C. along with subtitles that read "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you ...
2 brothers who survived Gulberg massacre contesting LS poll
Two brothers, who survived the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre here, are contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat. Imtiyaz Khan Pathan (42) is a candidate of the Apna Desh Party from Kheda, while his elder brother Firoz Khan Pathan (45) has filed his nomination as an Independent from Gandhinagar, where he is pitted against BJP chief Amit Shah. The Pathan brothers lost as many as 10 members of their family, including their mother and grandmother, when an angry mob attacked the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad after the 2002 Godhra train burning incident. Imtiyaz Khan now lives in Gomtipur area of the city while his elder brother resides in Vejalpur, which falls under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. While Imtiyaz Khan is the key prosecution witness in the Gulberg case, his brother had lodged a complaint against social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand for alleged misuse of funds collected for the riot victims. "By deciding to contest from ...
Celebs urge voting by people with disabilities
Bollywood celebrities Dia Mirza and Esha Deol Takhtani have backed a campaign urging greater voting by people with disabilities in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Lok Sabha polls: Over 3 lakh differently-abled voters in Maha
A total of 3,09,233 differently-abled voters have registered themselves for the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra which will be held in four phases beginning April 11, an election official has said. The official from the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that additional facilities will be provided to such voters for exercising their franchise. Of the 3,09, 233 differently-abled voters, 51,605 electors are visually disabled and have low vision, while 35887 voters are hearing and speech impaired, he said, adding that 1,61,920 voters have Osteogenesis while 59,821 voters are physically disabled. "Ramps, wheel chairs and volunteer facilities are provided for differently-abled voters at the polling booths. Visually disabled and physically handicapped voters are permitted to take a companion along with them," the official said. He said a Braille script facility is provided on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the visually disabled and low vision ...
'India has world's 2nd largest start-up ecosystem'
India has the second largest start-up ecosystem in the world and the median age of founders of these enterprises is only 31 years, a youth delegate from India said at the UN. India's young population is scripting remarkable success stories, said youth delegate Seema Pujani at an interactive round-table on 'Looking to the Future: A dialogue on the High-level Political Forum (SDG) Summit' during the ECOSOC Youth Forum here on Tuesday. India today has the second largest start-up ecosystem in the world, she said. "With a median age of about 29 years, India is one of the youngest countries in the world. As a substantial segment of the Indian electorate, the youth stand to influence policymaking in the country. "The median age of founders of these enterprises is only 31 years. Youth in India are also behind forging new alliances and partnerships across the government, civil society, business and academia which are critical for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Pujani ...
Warner Bros. shuts down Trump's campaign video
Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Pictures appears to have shut down a video posted on Twitter by US President Donald Trump, citing a copyright issue.
Median age of founders of Indian start-ups only 31
Youth are leading India's start-up ecosystem where the median age of founder-entrepreneurs is only 31 years, according to India's youth delegate at the UN.