Page 95 - Social Issues
Trump says secretary of homeland security to step down
US President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted that Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen "will be leaving her position".
This specially-abled rider has won hearts and awards at The Delhi Horse Show
New Delhi [India], April 8 (ANI): Aftab Khan, a young horse rider, is determined to overcome all hurdles that come in his way of living his dream of being an acclaimed name in sports of his choice.16-year-old Aftab cannot hear and speak but has a unique understanding with his horse Vertigo, whom he confidently rides and controls as per needs of the sport.In the 34th edition of the Delhi Horse Show held at Army Equestrian Centre, Aftab bagged the most promising junior rider award and a silver medal in jumping under junior rider category. Till now, he has won five awards since 2015 in The Delhi Horse Show and eight other national certificates in horse riding.It was after his father Dawood Khan was transferred to Delhi in 2009 in Army's cavalry unit that Aftab started riding.Talking to ANI, Dawood said, "He (Aftab) is very passionate about sports. He is crazy about horse riding. You just ask him for riding and he is always ready, even at midnight."Because of being a differently-abled ...
PM should talk about policy matters and not make personal
TRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Sunday hit back at Narendra Modifor making personal remarks on himand said he had never come across such a "petty" Prime Minister. Accusing Modi of dividing people on religious lines, he said the BJP raised issues like Pakistan, Hindus and Ram temple at the time of elections. Addressing a public meeting in Nirmal town, Rao said he had not seen such a "petty" Prime Minister, who makes personal remarks. "Being a PM, he should talk of policy matters and not make personal remarks," he said. Addressing a rally in Mahbubnagar last month, Modi had targetted Rao over his belief in astrology. Modi had alleged that Rao was under the influence of astrologers. "For the BJP and the PM issues like Ram Mandir and Pakistan comes to mind when there are elections. They garner votes by dividing people on the lines of Hindus and Muslims. Is it right to divide people for votes?" Rao asked. Claiming that successive governments at the ..
BJP launches 'Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar' theme song
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday released the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign tagline and theme song 'Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar Banate Hai, Phir Se Kamal Khilate Hai' (Let's elect the Modi government again and let the lotus blossom again) for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. The ringtone "Chalo Ek Baar Phir Modi Sarkar Banate Hai" will also be available for Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, and Idea users.Jaitley, who called a press conference at the BJP headquarters to launch the party's campaign song and other media materials, said: "India wants a decisive leader who can promise hard working and corruption-free government. We want a government with one captain and not a team of 11 members with 40 captains.""Our campaign for commercial TV and radio will emphasise on national security, government's achievement, women empowerment through Ujwalla scheme, campaign against corruption, PM Kisan Yojana, the welfare of the poor, middle class and newly emerging middle class," he said.Jaitley ...
No Muslim Lok Sabha MP from Guj, BJP's Hindutva lab, post 1984
Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state and a BJP citadel for long, has not had a Muslim Lok Sabha MP since senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel won from Bharuch in the 1984 polls. Muslims form around nine per cent of the state's population, and are traditionally seen as Congress supporters. Congressman Patel won from Bharuch defeating Chandubhai Deshmukh in 1984. He lost to Deshmukh in 1989. Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP now, had won from the seat in the 1977 and 1980 general elections as well. A Hindutva surge following BJP patriarch LK Advani's Rath Yatra from Somnath in the state to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in 1990 has made the state a saffron citadel, leading to Muslim candidates drawing a blank at the Lok Sabha hustings, observers said. While the Congress has fielded Muslim candidates, at least one, in every Lok Sabha poll, the ruling BJP is yet to do so. "In Gujarat, unfortunately, we have a clear communal divide which the political leadership has created with a
'Anti-middle class' Cong wants higher taxes: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that Congress wants to punish the middle class by imposing high taxes and take the country back to the "licence raj"."Congress and some other parties are pitching for higher taxes on middle class. I want to ask them whether they want to get the country back to the licence raj era when there was a tax regime of 70-80 per cent," Modi said at a rally here.He said that the Congress wants to punish the middle class by increasing taxes as they feel the middle class had voted Modi to power in the 2014 general elections.Modi cautioned the gathering against the people he described as "anti-middle class".The prime minister claimed that middle class did not find any mention in recently launched Congress manifesto or 'dhakosala patra' as Modi dubbed it."There is not even a single mention of the middle class in Congress' 50-60 pages dhakosala patra," he said.Modi's remark came days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi assured people that the funds ...
6 held with 62 passports, 28 fake immigration stamps
Six people, including a married couple, were arrested with 62 passports and 28 fake visa stamps, said a police officer here on Sunday.
Public angry over rising attacks on women: Kamal Haasan
Makkal Needhi Maiam Chief Kamal Haasan Sunday urged the Tamil Nadu government to take stringent measures to prevent attacks on women, saying such incidents only caused outrage among the public. Referring to the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl in the district recently, Hassan told reporters here that protection to women was found to be reducing and continuous incidents of 'sexual assaults' aroused anger. The government should take stringent steps to prevent such attacks and allow the police department to function freely, he said. To a question on pre poll surveys, Hassan quipped that when each and every political party owned a television channel, the survey would favour them. He claimed that his party found a place in every genuine survey. MNM leader reiterated that his party would ask its candidates to step down if they were not functioning satisfcatorily. The actor-turned politician was here to campaign for the party candidates contesting from Coimbatore and ...
Congress will raise tax burden on middle class: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday said the Congress wanted to punish people belonging to the middle class and had not mentioned them in their manifesto.
Loan waiver, job for every family in Odisha: Congress
The Congress on Sunday released its manifesto for Odisha, promising waiver of crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh per family, 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and a government or private job for every family.
Gauhati HC imposes penalty on gym for 'discrimination' against person with disability
In a path-breaking judgement on making services accessible to persons with disabilities in the state, the Gauhati High Court has imposed penalties on a gym and the Assam government for discrimination against such a person. Gauhati High Court Judge Ujjal Bhuyan, last month, ordered a prominent gym here and the Assam government to pay Rs 50,000 each as penalty in a 2011 writ petition filed by Arman Ali, Executive Director of National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People (NCPEDP) against inaccessible, disabled-unfriendly services by the gym. According to the case history, Ali had applied for a membership with the gym in 2011. On realising his disability, the gym demanded as condition for membership doctors certificates from both his physician as well as an orthopedician. The gym also subjected him to a rigorous workout in an attempt to discourage him, during which he was also put through humiliation and ignominy by members of the staff and other users, Ali's petition ...
Farooq asks Centre to withdraw order to close Srinagar-Jammu national highway
The Central government must withdraw its decision to close Srinagar-Jammu highway, the lifeline of the Valley, said National Conference (NC) chairman and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah here on Sunday.Abdullah, while addressing NC workers protesting against the Centre's decision to close Srinagar-Jammu national highway for two days every week for the movement of security convoy, said: "The highway is the lifeline of Srinagar. How can they close it? It will have an impact over the trade. We want a complete withdrawal of the erroneous order by the Centre.""If they are worried about the security of the security personnel, then they should use trains for ferrying them or the convoy should move in the night," he said.Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government as "dictatorship," Abdullah said: "This order is wrong. The law is false. Take it back."The restrictions come after a CRPF convoy, on its way from Jammu and Srinagar, was attacked by a suicide car bomber on the National
BJP launches manifesto seeks to build new 'Odisha'
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Sunday released its election manifesto for Odisha, in which it promised to invest over 1 lakh crore in the irrigation sector and provide a pension of Rs 3,000 per month to farmers above the age of 60 years among others."The manifesto is based on nine points. These are the nine pillars of our vision for the development of 'New Odisha', " Shah said at the release of the election manifesto in Bhubaneswar."Farmers will be given loans at zero per cent interest to ensure that they are not burdened by it. In the irrigation sector, the BJP will invest over 1 lakh crore. We will give over Rs 3000 per month pension to the small and medium farmers above the age of 60," Shah said.Addressing a gathering here Shah said that the BJP will push Rs 3500 crore fund for the 'Skill Odisha' initiative, which promises to benefit over 20 lakh people in the span of five years."We have also made a fund of Rs 1000 crore for the startup companies in the ...
Namami Gange has failed, claims Congress
From alleging failure of the Namami Gange plan to rising unemployment in Uttarakhand, the Congress on Sunday released a chargesheet against the Central and the state governments claiming they have failed to deliver most of their promises.
EC's special arrangements for differently abled voters
The Election Commission (EC) will take adequate steps to help physically challenged voters, including visually-impaired ones, exercise their franchise, a top official said here on Sunday.
US says reuniting separated families laborious process
The Trump administration wants up to two years to find potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the border before a judge halted the practice last year, a task that it says is more laborious than previous efforts because the children are no longer in government custody. The Justice Department said in a court filing late Friday that it will take at least a year to review about 47,000 cases of unaccompanied children taken into government custody between July 1, 2017 and June 25, 2018 the day before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw halted the general practice of splitting families. The administration would begin by sifting through names for traits most likely to signal separation for example, children under 5. The administration would provide information on separated families on a rolling basis to the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to reunite families and criticized the proposed timeline on Saturday. "We strongly oppose a plan that could ...
It's dangerous to be silent: Kabir Khan
Kabir Khan says he has often been advised to not speak his mind on topical issues but the director believes if it's problematic to speak out, it's equally dangerous to remain silent. The filmmaker says it's important for like minded people to speak up and not let "negative forces run rampant" in a country. "All my life I have been advised not to speak things as they are. But I think we should. If we don't speak up for each other, there will be nobody left to speak for you. We must voice our opinion. "People who think in a certain way, if they keep quiet, let the negative forces in a society or a country run rampant, then they are also responsible for that. As dangerous it is to speak out in a certain way, it is equally dangerous to be silent," Kabir told PTI in an interview. The repercussions of speaking out are usually felt first on social media, where opinions which differ from the majoritarian view are met with abuse and trolling. "There are too many lunatics on social media and we
Farmer ends life over crop failure in Maharashtra
A 24-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide at a village in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, police said on Sunday. A family member claimed that the deceased, Shreejit Vilasrao Hathe, was under stress due to his crop failure. Hathe allegedly hanged himself to a pole in front of his house at Wadgaon village in Ralegaon tehsil on Saturday, a police official said. A probe was on to ascertain the reason behind his extreme step, he said. However, a relative of Hathe said the farmer owned four acres of agricultural land but his crops were failing every year, because of which he was under stress. Kishore Tiwari, chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission, a state government agency, said Hathe's father also committed suicide last year by jumping into their farm well.
US could take 2 years to identify separated immigrant families
The US government has said that it may take federal officials two years to identify what could be thousands of immigrant children who were separated from their families at the country's border with Mexico.
Woman delivers baby at Thane railway station
A woman delivered a baby boy at Thane railway station on Saturday evening after she developed labour pain while travelling to Kurla.Ishrat Shaikh was travelling from Ambivali to Kurla by train. After she developed labour pain, the women officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) brought her to the 'One Rupee' clinic where she delivered the baby at around 6:30 pm.Both mother and the child are in good health, said Rahul Ghule, CEO of One Rupee clinic."We thank the Railway authority for giving us an opportunity to run EMR via One Rupee clinics at many railway stations for passengers' golden hour treatment," Ghule added.