Issue 264
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NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS<br />
16/08/2018<br />
21<br />
HC seeks Centre's<br />
response on plea seeking<br />
hiring of women in IAF<br />
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on<br />
Tuesday asked the Central government to<br />
file response on a plea seeking recruitment<br />
of women as "Airmen" in the Indian Air<br />
Force (IAF). A bench of Chief Justice<br />
Rajendra Menon and V. Kameswar Rao<br />
asked the Ministry of Defence and the IAF<br />
to file response on the plea and listed the<br />
matter for further hearing on November 19.<br />
The court was hearing a plea filed by<br />
lawyer Kush Kalra, who said he was<br />
shocked to see a "discriminatory advertisement"<br />
restricting eligibility to only unmarried<br />
male for the posts of Airmen in Group<br />
X Trade and Group Y Trade in all the<br />
departments of IAF. Group X Trade refers<br />
to technical fields like aircraft and ground<br />
systems, while Group Y pertains to nontechnical<br />
fields like logistics and accounts.<br />
Kalra's advocate Charu Wali Khanna has<br />
sought directions for allowing recruitment<br />
of women as Airmen in the two groups.<br />
Incidentally, on October 24, 2015, the<br />
government announced that women could<br />
serve as fighter pilots in the IAF.<br />
Iran bans export of 5<br />
commercial items<br />
Tehran : The Iranian Ministry of<br />
Industry banned the export of five types of<br />
commercial items, media reports said on<br />
Tuesday. The exports of packing paper, tissue<br />
paper, powdered milk, bulk and packed<br />
tea, and over 500g packets of butter will be<br />
prohibited from August 23 in a move to<br />
regulate domestic market, Xinhua quoted<br />
the Ministry as saying.<br />
Due to the reinstatement of US sanctions,<br />
the Iranian administration is considering<br />
amendments to the country's exports<br />
and imports regulations. In the meantime, to<br />
support the domestic products and services,<br />
main companies and their subcontractors<br />
have been prohibited from purchasing foreign<br />
products and equipment. Iranian Oil<br />
Ministry has also passed an order to ban the<br />
import of 84 items and equipment which<br />
could be produced inside the country.<br />
DALITS IN THE UK RESPOND<br />
TO THE DEMAND FOR A<br />
PUNJAB REFERENDUM<br />
Joint<br />
For the Punjab problems, Sikhs are partly to<br />
be blamed for. In sixties, they launched many<br />
agitations, Punjab Bandh and went to fast unto<br />
death for Punjabi Suba. What they ended up<br />
with division of Punjab into Himachal,<br />
Haryana and Punjab. Sikhs were happy that<br />
they would have Sikh majority in Punjab and<br />
their permanent government Just to improve<br />
their chances of getting elected, they ditched<br />
the genuine demands of the Punjabi people.<br />
Since the division of Punjab in 1966, no non<br />
Sikh became a Chief Minister of Punjab. Not<br />
only Sikh but Jat Sikhs apart from Giani Zail<br />
Singh remained as Chief Ministers. In Sikh<br />
politics one caste is dominating. Now they are<br />
asking for an Independent Sikh state, did they<br />
ever consult other people living in Punjab?<br />
They don’t consider that Dalits exist in<br />
Punjab? Why can’t they contest elections in<br />
Punjab on their agenda of Khalistan? They<br />
will know their power base. Their referendum<br />
only talks about the Punjab in India but more<br />
than half the Punjab territory is in Pakistan.<br />
Are they going to include Himachal and<br />
Haryana in the game and will they include<br />
Punjab territory on the Pakistan side? They<br />
should spell out openly.<br />
Even after seventy one years of Independence,<br />
Dalits are routinely discriminated and numerous<br />
atrocities are inflicted upon them not only<br />
in India but also in Punjab. Sikhs have used<br />
them as their vote bank but the conditions of<br />
Dalits have worsened during the Akali regime.<br />
Even in the United Kingdom, Sikhs have sided<br />
with Hindus and opposed the Dalit legitimate<br />
demand to include caste discrimination into<br />
the British law. In their new scheme of<br />
Khalistan, how can they be trusted that they<br />
will do a justice to Dalits? That is why a number<br />
of Dalit organisations in the UK issued this<br />
Joint Statement.<br />
-Arun Kumar<br />
Statement from Dalit<br />
organisations in the UK, on the<br />
call for `Referendum 2020' – a<br />
campaign by a UK-based organisation<br />
for a separate Sikh State<br />
in Punjab, India.<br />
The organisations listed at<br />
Annex A reject the campaign for<br />
Referendum 2020:<br />
1. Scheduled Castes (SCs)<br />
and Scheduled Tribes (STs),<br />
collectively referred to as Dalits,<br />
are one of the largest minorities<br />
in India. They are: regular victims<br />
of oppression and bonded<br />
labour, many suffer from social<br />
and economic deprivation their<br />
houses are burnt to the ground,<br />
their women are abused, raped<br />
and paraded naked, and men<br />
and women are murdered routinely<br />
on daily basis.<br />
2. We have issues with the<br />
Indian and Punjab authorities for<br />
their slow or lack of action<br />
against the culprits – many of them whom are<br />
released on bail and continue to intimidate.<br />
3. We condemn the false cases lodged against human<br />
rights activists and their frequent incarceration. We<br />
believe our problems can be best solved in a secular<br />
democratic united country, India.<br />
4. SCs/STs make a sizable proportion of the Punjab.<br />
Not only are they the indigenous peoples of India and<br />
the region, they make up to 35% of the population<br />
that live in the Punjab, many of whom follow their<br />
own version of Sikhism after being shunned from<br />
Sikh places of workshop due to caste discrimination.<br />
5. We question and doubt whether the Hindu,<br />
Muslim and Christian communities in the UK who<br />
have social and economic links with Punjab have<br />
been consulted on the proposed Referendum.<br />
6. Dalits are a diverse people, and we value our<br />
traditions and cultural freedoms that are enshrined<br />
within India’s Constitution. We believe a secular<br />
Government is best placed for the people of India<br />
and especially for the diverse communities of<br />
Punjab. The last thing the Punjabis want is a religiously<br />
dominated State that cannot be guaranteed<br />
to provide basic human rights for all its people.<br />
7. We Dalits in the UK who have social and economic<br />
connections with Punjab, do not support<br />
any separatist movement that threatens the unity<br />
of India. We therefore do not support the Sikh separatists’<br />
Khalistan Movement and the Referendum<br />
2020 that will cause unrest and division in the UK.<br />
8. A national and international alliance of all<br />
organisations opposing these activities will be<br />
convened.<br />
Rupee devalues to record<br />
low of 70 to a USD; recovers<br />
Mumbai : Geo-political pressures,<br />
along with outflows of foreign<br />
funds and high crude oil prices<br />
dragged the Indian rupee to its lowest<br />
ever intra-day level of over 70<br />
against a US dollar on Tuesday.<br />
On Tuesday morning, the Indian<br />
currency plunged to 70.08 -- the lowest<br />
ever -- against the greenback.<br />
However, a likely intervention by the<br />
Reserve Bank of India and stabilisation<br />
in the global currency markets<br />
pared the rupee's early fall. At the<br />
end of the intra-bank trade session on<br />
Tuesday, the Indian rupee strengthened<br />
by four paise at 69.90 against<br />
the dollar, compared to Monday's<br />
close of 69.94 per greenback. "A<br />
near 4 per cent intra-day rebound in<br />
the Turkish Lira, on the back of talks<br />
between NSA from USA and Turkish<br />
Ambassador to US, was not enough<br />
to prevent the rupee from sliding past<br />
70 handle against the greenback,"<br />
said Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice<br />
President for Currency and Interest<br />
Rates with Kotak Securities.<br />
"RBI intervention has kept the<br />
pair below 70 since then on spot.<br />
However, demand from offshore<br />
speculators and also demand from<br />
importers have not allowed the rupee<br />
to appreciate." Banerjee pointed out<br />
the trend in USD/INR for the rest of<br />
the week will be dictated by the trend<br />
in greenback against major currencies<br />
like Euro and GBP.<br />
Recent US-imposed sanctions and<br />
tariffs on Turkey has had an impact<br />
on its and other emerging market<br />
currencies over fears of further global<br />
protectionist measures. "Since currencies<br />
of emerging and developed<br />
markets are falling, the RBI is not<br />
intervening aggressively in the market.<br />
It is intervening selectively to<br />
contain volatility," Rushabh Maru,<br />
Research Analyst, Anand Rathi<br />
Shares and Stock Brokers, told<br />
IANS.<br />
"Since 70 level has been breached<br />
today we may see importers rushing<br />
to buy dollars on every dip in the<br />
USD/INR. On the other hand<br />
exporters may avoid selling dollars<br />
at current levels as the rupee is<br />
depreciating sharply."<br />
Apart from global cues, outflow of<br />
foreign funds from the Indian equity<br />
and bond markets has had an adverse<br />
impact on the rupee. Investment-wise,<br />
provisional data with exchanges<br />
showed that foreign institutional<br />
investors sold scrip worth Rs 378.84<br />
crore. "The swift move past 69 happened<br />
due to Foreign Institution<br />
Investor (FII) outflows and the need to<br />
hedge existing short dollar positions in<br />
the market, driven by global market<br />
sentiment rather than actual importer<br />
demand," said B. Prasanna, Group<br />
Executive and Head for Global<br />
Markets Group, ICICI Bank. "On a<br />
medium term basis, the rupee will<br />
need to depreciate further to keep up<br />
with the inflation differentials with<br />
other trading partners. However there<br />
could be a minor reversal of this<br />
depreciation on a short term basis<br />
when the global situation stabilises."<br />
India taking its rightful place as<br />
leading global power: US<br />
Washington: Greeting India on its 72nd<br />
Independence Day, US Secretary of State Michael R.<br />
Pompeo on Wednesday said a "fellow democracy and<br />
a friend" was taking its rightful place as a leading global<br />
power with its democratic values and inclusiveness.<br />
"On behalf of the Government of the United States of<br />
America, I extend my best wishes to the people and<br />
government of India on their Independence Day. Since<br />
gaining its independence 71 years ago today, India has<br />
set an example for South Asia and the world by supporting<br />
democracy, diversity, and the rule of law-values<br />
shared by the US," Pompeo said in a statement.<br />
"As members of the oldest and largest democracies,<br />
the people of the US and India have always enjoyed<br />
strong bonds of friendship. We are grateful for the<br />
vibrant Indian-American diaspora and the growing<br />
number of young people strengthening ties between<br />
our countries as exchange students." He said the values<br />
shared by the two countries contribute to inspiring collaboration<br />
in health, energy, environment, science, and<br />
high technology that will fuel the jobs and prosperity<br />
of the future. "On this Indian Independence Day, we<br />
congratulate India - a unique civilization, fellow<br />
democracy, and a friend - on taking its rightful place as<br />
a leading global power and continuing our shared<br />
efforts to sustain the rules-based order."