Junior Digest

Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan to launch new political party

New Delhi : Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan have announced they’re launching a
new political party by 2 October to provide an “alternative political vehicle”, even as they hit out at Aam Aadmi Party, saying it has a “supremo” culture.

The political party will be launched by 2 October and a six-member committee has been formed for this purpose, Yadav said.

Addressing the concluding session of a two-day Abhiyan national convention in the capital, Yadav said, “We were never secretive about going political. A decision to launch a political party was taken with nearly 93 per cent of the delegates at the convention overwhelmingly supporting it. Of the 433 delegates, 405 voted in favour of launching the party,” he said, amidst chanting of slogans “Vande Materam”,”Inquilab Zindabad” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” by the volunteers.

Yadav, however, clarified that Swaraj Abhiyan will continue to exist even after the new political party is launched. Although the decision to launch a party has been taken by the delegates, the two will function independently. The duo, however, parried questions on whether the new party will contest the Assembly elections in five states, including Punjab, which are going to polls next year.

Yadav and Bhushan were sacked from AAP in April last year for “anti-party” activities. They had hit out at AAP chief
Arvind Kejriwal, questioning his “supremo style of working” and “lack of transparency” in the party.

“Even if we are championing clean politics, people will not vote for us unless they feel we can win elections. This
was precisely the case with AAP. It took birth out of movements like India Against Corruption, Janlokpal and these
helped get public support. We should fight elections when we have done enough groundwork, be visible so that people can identify with us. We should contest polls only when we think we can win,” Bhushan said.

Yadav, however, said this does not mean that it will not contest polls at all. “We will look for alliances, but that will be only with people’s movements or party that have taken birth from such movements,” he said.

Suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi was present at the event, but he left before the announcement of launching of a party was made. “I am not a part of this (Swaraj Abhiyan) political party. I have extended my support to alternative politics, which is not a forte of any single political party. Anyway, I have been suspended by the AAP,” Gandhi said.

He, along with another party MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, was suspended by AAP for aligning with Swaraj Abhiyan.
Elaborating about functioning of the new outift, Yadav said it will not repeat the mistakes which the AAP made and
ensure transparency.

National-level athlete drowns while clicking selfie

Bhopal, Jul 31 : National steeplechase athlete Pooja Kumari has drowned after she accidentally fell in a pond while clicking selfies with her friends on the campus of the Sports Authority of India near here, police said today.

“After regular practice session, three girls, including national steeplechase athlete Pooja, went near pond to take selfie on Saturday evening,” a police spokesperson said.

He said while 20-year-old Pooja started screaming for help as she did not know swimming, her friends ran toward the SAI hostel and rushed back with other people.

“Pooja was pulled out from pond and rushed to Chirayu Hospital where she was declared brought dead,” he said.

Her body was sent for postmortem to a nearby hospital.

Pooja, who hails from Kashipur city in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, had been undergoing training at the SAI facility for the last two years.

Dalit protest rally held

Ahmedabad, Jul 31 : The ongoing agitation by Dalits in Gujarat claimed its first victim from the community when one of the over 20 youths who had attempted suicide died today even as thousands of protesters converged at a rally here where the state’s BJP government came under attack.j

The state dalit leaders while asking their community to give up the work of disposing dead cattle to “send a message” to the government also warned that if atrocities on the community does not stop they will “show their strength” in the Assembly polls in Gujarat due in 2017.

Yogesh Hirabhai Solanki, 25, was rushed to Ahmedabad civil hospital at midnight last night from Rajkot after his condition deteriorated but passed away soon after, police said.

Solanki had attempted suicide along with two others at Parabari village in Dhoraji taluka of Rajkot on July 19 during the statewide protests against thrashing of Dalits in Una for skinning a dead dow on July 11.

A policeman was killed in Amreli town on July 19 when Dalit protesters pelted stones at a police station.

As part of their continuing protests over the assault on their community members, thousands of Dalits attended a mass gathering organised in Sabarmati area here.

At the rally, Dalit leaders also demanded firm steps to curb atrocities on the community.

The leaders also announced a plan to organise a foot march from here to Una town in Gir-Somnath District, where four Dalits were brutally thrashed by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow, from August 5 as a mark of protest against the July 11 incident which caused an outrage.

Addressing the gathering, Dalit leader and Convener Jignesh Mevani put forward a slew of demands before the State Government and asked his community to take a pledge to stay away from their traditional work of disposing the dead cattle.

“To give a strong message to the Government, I urge all Dalits to discontinue the work of disposing dead animals.

I also want you to take a pledge of discontinuing the work of cleaning sewer lines. We no longer wish to do this work and want Government to allot agriculture land to us, so that we can live a respectable life,” said Mevani.

“If atrocities on Dalits does not stop, Dalits will show their strength in the 2017 Assembly polls,” he asserted, targeting the BJP Government in the State.

He put forward a series of demands and asked the Government to come to the table for talks, just like it did with the Patel quota leaders.

“We want everyone who thrashed Dalits in Una to be arrested under PASA. If they come out on bail, Government must extern them from five districts,” he said. PASA is a stringent law dealing with anti-social activities.

Other demands include withdrawal of cases filed against Dalits during recent protests, speedy probe in the 2012 Thangadh police firing (in which 3 Dalits were killed), allotment of five acres of land for community members who want to discontinue their traditional work and martial arts training to SC members for self defence.

“This agitation will continue till Government accepts our demands. If Government can sit with Patels and accept their demands, it should do the same with Dalits and call them for a meeting,” said Mevani.

Dalits set to hold mass gathering in Ahmedabad tomorrow

AHMEDABAD : Dalit rights groups will hold a mass gathering in Sabarmati area here tomorrow to register their protest over the brutal thrashing of fellow community members in Una taluka, after organisers agreed to hold the event at a changed venue for which police gave their nod.

Earlier, the organisers had decided to hold the event outside the Collector Office here, to which the police had denied permission stating that it might lead to major traffic snarls.

The gathering will be held at a ground near Acher depot in Sabarmati tomorrow.

Among the special invitees are family members of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from Hyderabad Central University, who had committed suicide early this year.

Family members of victims from Thangadh in Surendranagar district, who were killed in police firing during a protest gathering in 2012 have also been invited, the organisers said, adding leaders from both BJP and Congress have been asked to stay away from the event.

“The state government and police have been trying to prevent Dalits from uniting and coming under one banner, but considering the anger and mood of Dalits, police had to surrender and allow us to hold the event,” a Dalit leader and convener of the event, Jignesh Mevani said.

He said the response from community members from across the state has been immense.

“Family members of Rohith Vemula and Thangadh victims have been contacted to participate in the Sunday gathering.

Rohith’s mother is not well, but his elder brother will participate. They will expose BJP’s role in Rohith’s suicide.

Valjibhai Rathod, a member of the family of Thangadh police firing victims has also been requested to come,” Mevani said.

The event is being organised under the banner of “Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti” to protest against the recent incident of thrashing of Dalit youths in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district, and to highlight cases of atrocities against the community members in the state, organisers said.

Govind Parmar, another member of the organising committee, urged that those participating in the gathering should see that the event passes off in a peaceful manner.

UN Plans To Declassify Transgenders From Its List Of Mental Illnesses

Hard to believe at first but the United Nations had actually included transgenders, India’s third gender, in the list of mental illnesses. The World Health Organisation (WHO), which is the public health agency of the United Nations (UN), is considering making the change in a revised categorisation of mental and behavioural disorders to be released in 2018.

A new study released by the National Autonomous University of Mexico is led by Geoffrey Reed who is also involved with the WHO’s new classification of mental health and behavioural disorders. “Stigma associated with both mental disorder and transgender identity has contributed to the precarious legal status, human rights violations, and barriers to appropriate care among transgender people,” he says.

As part of the study, 250 members of the transgender community were interviewed to understand if their sexuality or the confusion over it had anything to do with their mental health. The study shows that while social rejection and violence expressed at them affected their health, their identity did not.

“Our findings support the idea that distress and dysfunction may be the result of stigmatisation and maltreatment, rather than integral aspects of transgender identity,” says lead investigator Rebeca Robles from the Mexican National Institute of Psychiatry. “The next step is to confirm this in further studies in different countries, ahead of the approval of the WHO revision to International Classification of Diseases in 2018.”

The bigger question that still remains is how to classify transgenders to best avoid their mistreatment. The consistent rate of crimes and acts of violence towards transgenders does make it a global health concern and a few activists have argued that it should feature under the WHO mandate.

Times Of India report.

Gurdeep Singh who was scheduled to be executed in Indonesia, spared for now

JALANDHAR: Gurdeep Singh, who was on death row in an Indonesian prison and was scheduled to face firing squad just past midnight has been spared for now. He called up his family in Nakodar in the morning on Friday and said that for now his execution had been put on hold.

Speaking to his nephew Gurpal Singh he told that it was just half an hour before the execution time that he was conveyed that he was being spared. “It is a last minute miracle,” he said and also told his family to profusely thanks the Government of India which made desperate efforts to save him. He also told the family that he would cal

up on Saturday also as he expected that he would returned to his cell.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also tweeted that Indian ambassador in Indonesia informed her that Gurdeep had not been executed.

His wife Kulwinder Kaur said that they wanted to meet Swaraj. “We know that she and her officials made very sincere efforts to save him and yesterday she even called me up twice to reassure that everything was being done to save him but we want to meet her to thanks her and to plead for my husband’s life who is a victim of the circumstances,” she said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead the Indian delegation that would attend the canonization ceremony of Mother Teresa in the Vatican City on September 4.

“In view of the importance we attach to canonization of Mother Teresa, Government of India’s delegation will be led by the External Affairs Minister. The composition of the delegation is presently being finalised,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Yesterday, a senior Delhi government official had said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be travelling to the Vatican as he has accepted the invitation of Missionaries of Charity to attend the event. Kejriwal had worked with Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata before he joined the Indian Revenue Service.

According to sources, Kejriwal will be joined by his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee.

Mother Teresa, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, will be declared a saint by Pope Francis on September 4. The announcement regarding her canonization was made by the Pope in March.