New Delhi: The Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that arguments made by petitioners’ counsel that the top court should make a declaration about legal validation for same-sex marriage as Parliament is not likely to do anything about it will be a “dangerous proposition”.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Jamiat, submitted before a five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud that he was “very worried” at the beginning of the hearing when the petitioners’ side said that Parliament is not going to do anything about it so the court should make a declaration.
He said it would be a wrong step forward if there were to be a declaration on the premise that Parliament is not likely to pass a law on same-sex union and emphasised that any law of this nature requires public discourse, which includes discourse within and outside parliament.
“I say that it is a very dangerous route to take,” Sibal contended before the bench, which also comprises Justices S.K. Kaul, S.R. Bhat, P.S. Narasimha and Hima Kohli.
Sibal said after the declaration by the court there will be no scope for debate in the Parliament — one that same-sex union is a fundamental right; two, it has to be recognised.
However, the top court said the Parliament can overrule a declaration. Sibal replied that “once your lordships have declared, the Parliament can’t overrule it. I hope that stage has not come for Parliament to overrule what your lordships decide.”
He said the court is now deciding two things — sexual unions and recognition by the state of sexual unions.
Sibal said if question arises whether that sexual union is akin to a marriage and, if yes, is it founded in any provision of the Constitution, and for it to result in certain rights, it can only be done through recognition by the state through legislation, and stressed that there can’t be a declaration from the court.
The top court observed that it takes Sibal’s point that “don’t go into an area where you declare a right to marry.”
Sibal, in the context of acceptance, said it is also at three levels – first by two individuals themselves, then by the family, and thereafter by the society. He argued that nobody can dispute the fact that same-sex couples have a separate sexual identity and even the government has not disputed it.
The top court will continue to hear a batch of petitions seeking legal sanction for same sex marriages on Wednesday.
New Delhi: Several LGBTQ rights activists have called the survey on same-sex marriage by an RSS body “dangerous and misleading” and accused the organisation of “spreading disinformation”.
According to the survey by Samwardhini Nyas, an affiliate of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti (a women’s organisation which parallels the RSS), many doctors and allied medical professionals believe that homosexuality is “a disorder” and it will increase further in society if same-sex marriage is legalised.
“Such a study is dangerous and misleading for a society that is unaware. It goes against basic dignity and amounts to defamation. Who are these doctors who have respondents in the survey? Their licences should be cancelled.
“Be it The Yoga Institute which was founded in 1918 or the Indian Psychiatric Society, both have maintained that homosexuality is legitimate and normal, it is natural, inborn and choiceless,” said author and advocate for equal rights, Sharif Rangnekar, who also points out how Hinduism is replete with references to homosexuality.
Activist Harish Iyer said that psychiatric bodies from across the world and India have maintained that homosexuality is not an “aberration but a variation”. It is beyond any reasonable doubt, he said.
“No religion that claims to be a protector of humanity can also support this labelling of LGBTQIA+ individuals as deviants. It is against the ethos of our nation and also against the very grain of the belief of every religion that is based on the principle of love and acceptance.
“If you believe that your God created all of humankind. Then God made me too. And standing up against LGBTQIA+ individuals is akin to working against the intent of your God. God made me this way,” he said.
Iyer also appealed to the government to raise awareness on the issue.
“In keeping with the ruling on Section 377, the government’s responsibility is to create awareness to ensure more acceptance and no misinformation. I would appeal to the government of the day to step in and stand against such blatant disinformation,” he said.
Q Manivannan, a queer scholar and PhD candidate, at the University of St Andrews, to refers to ancient mythology in debunking the results of the survey.
“The RSS forgets, when convenient, that homosexuality is rife in mythology too. Same-sex unions of many kinds, companionships and homoeroticism, much like transgender themes, feature in the Ramayana, in the Mahabharata, and the Upanishads,” he said.
Activist and CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali also attacked the survey. “It was “idiotic unscientific, inhuman,” she tweeted.
The survey has been conducted by the Samwardhini Nyas against the backdrop of a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, hearing arguments on a batch of pleas seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriage.
A senior functionary of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti had said the findings of the survey are based on 318 responses collected across the country covering medical practitioners from eight different paths of treatment from modern science to Ayurveda.
In their response to the survey, according to Samwardhini Nyas, nearly 70 per cent of the doctors and allied medical professionals stated that “homosexuality is a disorder” while 83 per cent of them “confirmed transmission of sexual disease in homosexual relations.”
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said the BJP and the RSS have the “dangerous intention” of bringing one-party rule to the country, and cited Russia and China as examples.
Addressing farmers at a Kisan Sabha in Bikaner’s Jasrasar, he said BJP leaders keep talking about a “Congress-free” India.
“What is the meaning of BJP leaders talking about Congress-free India. What it means — a one-party rule. It is very dangerous intention of the RSS as well of the BJP. If the country does not understand this in time the coming generations will suffer and elections will be held like in Russia and China,” he said.
Under the one-party rule, elections will be fake and only one party will come to power again and again, he said.
It will also mean an end to the practice of politicians going to the poorest of the poor, to the Dalits, farmers and elders to seek their votes to become MLAs, MPs and Sarpanches, the Congress leader said.
China is a one-party system. Russia is not, but one party now dominates its parliament.
Gehlot said the agenda of the central government is taking a “dangerous turn” and the country needs to understand that.
The meeting was also addressed by AICC in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra, former leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi and others.
Gehlot said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his silence over the issues related to the Adani group being raised by the Congress party.
He said PM Modi should also clarify his relationship with industrialist Gautam Adani.
Earlier, Gehlot inspected a ‘Mahangai Rahat Shivir’ being run by his government and interacted with the beneficiaries of various schemes of the state government.
Hyderabad: Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar has made a controversial statement that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is more dangerous than gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was recently gunned down in Uttar Pradesh.
Sanjay Kumar tweeted on Wednesday that Chief Minister KCR is a gangster to all the gangsters. He said while Atiq Ahmed threatened people with guns, KCR is using police to threaten and ‘Dharani’ to harass common man.
KCR is dangerous than Atiq Ahmed. He is a gangster to all gangsters
Atiq Ahmed wud threatening with guns, but KCR will use police to threaten and Dharani to harass common man.
SIT setup on, Miyapur Land Scam, Intermediate students suicides, Drugs case – never submitted report.… pic.twitter.com/MoGR4TikdY
‘Dharani’ is a portal launched by KCR government for land transactions.
He reiterated the demand for a probe by a sitting judge into the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exam paper leak. “We don’t trust the Special Investigation Team set up by the KCR government,” he said.
Sanjay Kumar, who is also a Member of Parliament, stated that SITs constituted to probe Miyapur land scam, Intermediate students’ suicides and drugs case never submitted report their reports.
The BJP leader addressed a protest march in Mahabubnagar last night to highlight the problems of unemployed in the state.
He claimed that the response was tremendous to the march titled ‘Nirudyogula Gosa BJP Bharosa’. He said the BJP would continue to fight for justice for unemployed youth.
The BJP leader said that a person who can’t even properly conduct examinations has no right to remain in power.
This was the second major protest organised by the BJP over the issue. Last week, a protest was organised in Warangal.
The BJP is looking to cash in on the TSPSC paper leak which has affected thousands of unemployed who had appeared in various examinations for recruitment in government departments.
As the Assembly elections in the state are scheduled later this year, the BJP is going all out to target the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government on the paper leak scam.
The saffron party has already demanded the resignation of state minister for information technology and KCR’s son K. T. Rama Rao over the paper leak.
During a public meeting at Chevella on April 23, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also trained guns on BRS over paper leak.
“The future of lakhs of youth was destroyed by the KCR government. Youth will hold you accountable in coming elections,” Shah said.
Stating that there are over 2 lakh vacancies in the state, the BJP leader said the KCR government did not fill them even in two terms and was now trying to fill up 80,000 posts and even in this it leaked question papers.
Relying on technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is “dangerous” and a cause for “alarm”, John Kerry has warned.
The US special presidential envoy for climate said in an interview that new technologies may not prevent the world from passing “tipping points”, key temperature thresholds that, once passed, could trigger a cascade of unstoppable physical effects.
“Some scientists suggest that it’s possible there could be an overshoot [of global temperatures, beyond the limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels that governments are targeting] and you could clawback, so to speak – you have technologies and other things that allow you to come back,” Kerry told the Guardian.
“The danger with that, which alarms me the most and motivates me the most, is that according to the science, and the best scientists in the world, we may be at or past several tipping points that they have been warning us about for some time,” he said. “That’s the danger, the irreversibility.”
He called on governments to deploy renewable energy faster, along with related technologies such as electric vehicles. These are already available for widespread deployment, and could prevent the world from reaching the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that would cause temperatures to breach the 1.5C threshold.
“Part of the challenge we face right now is countries that have technologies available to them are not necessarily deploying them at the rate that they should be,” he said. “Fatih Birol [executive director of the International Energy Agency] has made it very clear for some time that all you need to meet the 2030 goal of 45% reduction [in greenhouse gas emissions] globally is to deploy renewables in the current state of technology, and that’s not happening.”
“There’s a resistance right now that I see from several quarters to doing what we know we need to do,” Kerry said. “I think there are things that are really quite simple that we could be doing, but it requires political will, it requires resources, allocation and a determination to get the job done.”
He pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act, the $369bn (£296bn) push by the US to invest in renewable energy and low-carbon technologies. EU governments have protested at aspects of the legislation, such as tax breaks for green companies to set up in the US, which they see as protectionist and a potential competitive threat.
Kerry countered that the US measures were good for all countries. “If we accelerate the pace of discovery, then the world benefits. This is not a US-centric thing,” he said. “If we can advance those technologies very rapidly, then we’re sworn to share them, and help people to develop similarly. That’s the way collectively we try to meet the challenge.”
He said the act, passed last summer, was already making an impact. “People are shifting and realising the best thing to do. There are a number of countries in Europe – Germany, and France, and others – that are hell-bent to do a similar kind of effort. They try to define it for themselves and go out and do it,” he said. “Given the trillions we need to be deploying to meet this challenge, to have something that excites investment is in everybody’s interest. We are seeing a tremendous amount of venture capital moving in the direction of some of these transition essentials.”
The UK must also pile efforts into net zero, he added. “Everybody in the world [needs a net zero strategy],” he said. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it crystal clear that we’re not on the track we need to be … everything needs to be increased exponentially in effort.”
The US president, Joe Biden, has come under severe criticism from climate activists, despite his green investment push, for pressing ahead with investment in fossil fuels.
In recent weeks, he approved an area of the Gulf of Mexico amounting to about 73m acres, roughly the size of Italy, for drilling for oil and gas wells. A fortnight before that, he approved the Willow project, a drilling site in Alaska that is expected to produce 600m barrels of oil over its lifetime. Further licences are also possible, and the US is looking to expand its shale gas production and export to Europe under Biden’s watch.
Kerry robustly defended these actions, on the grounds that more fossil fuels were needed temporarily because of the war in Ukraine, and said some oil and gas expansion could occur within climate limits, particularly if carbon capture and storage, or other ways of reducing the impact of the fossil fuels, could be used.
“Gas usage is an automatic 30-50% reduction over oil and coal. It’s not clean, it’s cleaner,” he said. “So now the question is, can carbon capture and storage be deployed at a scale that makes it possible to meet our goals?”
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The expansion of drilling would “not have a deep impact. I’m not saying it’s impactless completely, but it’s not going to have a significant impact.” The US was still committed to its climate targets, of a 50-52% reduction in emissions by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, he added.
Kerry also pointed to the turmoil around the world, and high energy prices, caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “We needed desperately to not allow Putin to make his gas cutoff a weapon. And because of Ukraine, and the urgency of calming the marketplace, making sure that economies are not suddenly crashing because prices are going so high that people can’t afford to live, you’ve got to have some supply. It’s transition. That’s why the goal was 2030 and then it’s 2050. It’s not tomorrow.”
He conceded that the expansion of fossil fuels in the US was difficult to explain to other countries, however. “It obviously has challenges of perception or messaging,” he said. “There’s a danger that somebody distorts it, and says ‘they did it, therefore we can do it’. That’s why I say you’ve got to understand it, you’ve got to put it in a real context of what it really means and what the impact of this is going to be.”
But he insisted that the US would still meet its climate targets. “President Biden has reiterated a full-fledged commitment to keep our target, we’re not moving on our target,” he said. “This one thing is not an aberration in terms of us walking back on our goals, or walking back on our expectations. I feel very confident about that.”
The appointment of Sultan Al Jaber as president of the next UN climate summit, Cop28, in the United Arab Emirates in November, has been condemned by activists who say his role as chief of the UAE national oil company Adnoc creates a conflict of interest.
Kerry defended Jaber, insisting that his background – which Jaber told the Guardian would help him bring a business focus to the role – would be an advantage. “Personally, I think that because he has an experience within the context of oil and gas production, and a leadership in that, he has the ability to pull some missing links to the table with respect to what we have to get done. I’m hopeful about that,” Kerry said.
Kerry also called for more private sector funding for climate finance, to help poor countries cut their emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather. “Climate finance is not just a challenge, it is the biggest single challenge right now,” he said. “Finance, and I mean big finance in the trillions of dollars. That requires a mobilisation of capital, using incentives and working with the private sector to bring them to the table, to create bankable projects that will excite deployment of capital.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Evacuees from the fighting in Sudan have described a harrowing escape from the violence-wracked capital, across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.
Wheelchair-bound elderly women and babies asleep in their parents’ arms were among the nearly 200 people from more than 20 countries who disembarked from a naval frigate in the coastal city of Jeddah on Monday night after a daring journey to safety.
“We travelled a long way from Khartoum to Port Sudan. It took us around 10 or 11 hours,” said Lebanese national Suhaib Aicha, who has operated a plastics factory in Sudan for more than a decade.
“It took us another 20 hours on this ship from Port Sudan to Jeddah,” he told the AFP news agency as his young daughter cried on his shoulders.
“We were not sleeping, eating or drinking. We lived through many difficult days,” said another Lebanese passenger who declined to give her name.
Fighting broke out in Sudan on 15 April between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemedti, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies, and many are now grappling with acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts.
Late Monday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken announced Burhan and Hemedti had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire.
Saudi royal navy personnel assist a woman who was evacuated from Sudan Photograph: Saudi Press Agency/Reuters
Those who reached Saudi soil on Monday said they were grateful to be out of a country where the doctors’ union has reported that “morgues are full” and “corpses litter the streets”.
Saudi Arabia has so far welcomed 150 people including foreign diplomats and officials in Jeddah. In total, 356 people have been evacuated to the kingdom from Sudan so far – 101 Saudis and 255 foreigners from more than 20 countries, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
A US special forces operation at the weekend triggered the rush by many other western countries to get their diplomatic staff out. They rescued dozens of people from Khartoum, spending less than an hour on the ground.
France sent two planes to Khartoum, evacuating nearly 400 people, including French nationals as well as citizens of other countries, while Germany’s air force has flown out 311 people so far on three planes from an airfield near Khartoum.
The British military is assessing how to rescue some of the thousands of British nationals still stranded in Sudan after facing criticism for missing a window of opportunity to evacuate more than just British diplomats and their families.
Saudi officials are coming under pressure to do more than facilitate evacuations, given their close ties to the two generals whose troops are fighting it out in and beyond Khartoum.
“Saudi Arabia is a critical player in the ceasefire diplomacy in Sudan,” Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
“African and western governments are looking to Riyadh for help in convincing Sudan’s military to give talks a chance.”
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#sleeping #eating #drinking #Sudan #evacuees #dangerous #journeys
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Varanasi: The Vishva Hindu Parishad on Saturday said the “haste” with which the Supreme Court is disposing of the petitions for legal recognition to same-sex marriages is not appropriate and it should have sought the opinion of religious leaders and experts from diverse fields.
VHP Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain expressed apprehension the top court’s actions could lead to “new disputes”.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud is hearing a batch of pleas seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriage. It began hearing the matter on Tuesday and the arguments remained inconclusive on the third consecutive day on Thursday. The arguments will resume on April 24.
On Thursday, the top court said it may be redefining the “evolving notion of marriage” as the next step after decriminalising consensual homosexual relationship, which implicitly recognised that same-sex people could live in a stable marriage-like relationship.
“The haste with which the honourable Supreme Court is disposing off the petitions for recognition of same-sex marriage is not appropriate in any way. This will give rise to new disputes and will also prove to be dangerous for the culture of India,” Jain said.
“Hence, before proceeding ahead on this subject, the honourable Supreme Court should have taken the opinion of the religious leaders, people from the field of medicine, social scientists and academicians by forming a committee,” he told reporters here.
Jain said the subject of marriage is governed by different civil codes.
“None of the civil codes prevailing in India gives permission for this (same-sex marriage). Does the Supreme Court want to make a change in these?” he said.
Ram Narayan Dwivedi of Kashi Vidvat Parishad, Govind Sharma of Ganga Mahasabha and Mahant Balak Das of Dharma Parishad also spoke at the press conference.
During Thursday’s hearing, the Supreme Court did not agree to the contention that unlike heterosexuals, same-sex couples cannot take proper care of their children.
Referring to its 2018 judgment that decriminalised consensual gay sex, the court said it led to a situation where two consenting homosexual adults can live in a marriage-like relationship and the next step could be to validate their relationship as marriage.
“Therefore, by decriminalising homosexuality we have not just recognised the relationship between consenting adults of the same gender, we have also recognised implicitly the fact that the people who are of same sex could be in a stable relationship,” it said.
The governor made the announcement amid political turmoil in the state Legislature over a GOP-led ouster of two Democrats for leading a gun reform protest inside the statehouse this month. The Nashville Metropolitan Council, a body that has sparred with Republicans in the Legislature, reappointed one of the lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones, to his seat on Monday. The second member, Rep. Justin Pearson, is also expected to be reinstated this week.
While some GOP states, including Florida and Indiana, have embraced red flag laws, such legislation faces long odds in Tennessee, a deep-red state with many Republican leaders strongly opposed to any effort that could be construed as limiting gun rights.
But Lee said that he’d been meeting with legislative leaders to discuss passing an order-of-protection law that would allow law enforcement to seek a court order confiscating firearms from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have passed similar legislation with bipartisan support.
“I think everyone — leadership from speakers, as well as other leaders — have expressed a desire to do something and move forward,” Lee said at the police precinct that responded to the March 27 shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville that left six people dead, including three children. One of the adult victims was friends with Lee’s wife, Maria.
“I do believe we should get it done during this session,” Lee said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The White House said on Monday that it would be a “dangerous precedent” for the administration to ignore a federal judge’s decision last week blocking the sale of an abortion pill.
“But I’ll say this, you know, as a dangerous precedent is set for the court to set aside the FDA’s and expert judgment regarding a drug’s safety and efficiency, it will also set a dangerous precedent for this administration to disregard a binding decision,” White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said at her briefing on Monday. “We are ready to fight this. This is going to be a long fight. We understand this. We stand by FDA approval of mifepristone.”
Jean-Pierre’s comments came after a federal judge in Texas ruled on Friday to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug that can be used in tandem with another to induce an abortion. Though it isn’t set to take effect for a week, the decision virtually bans the sale of the pills across the country.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The H3N2 influenza epidemic is a major concern in India, as it has the potential to cause severe illness and even death in some cases. The H3N2 strain of the influenza virus is one of the most common causes of seasonal flu worldwide, and it can lead to complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and sinus infections.
Symptoms
The symptoms of H3N2 influenza are similar to those of other strains of the flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, fatigue, and headaches. In some cases, individuals may also experience vomiting and diarrhoea. It is important to seek medical attention immediately if you or a loved one are experiencing these symptoms, especially if you are at higher risk of complications from the flu, such as the elderly, young children, pregnant women, and individuals with underlying health conditions.
How to beat it?
The best way to prevent the spread of H3N2 influenza is by getting vaccinated. The flu vaccine is widely available in India and is recommended for everyone, especially those who are at high risk of complications from the flu. The vaccine is safe and effective and can significantly reduce the likelihood of getting the flu or developing severe complications if you do get the flu.
In addition to getting vaccinated, there are several other steps that you can take to prevent the spread of the flu virus. These include practicing good hygiene, such as washing your hands frequently with soap and water, covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, avoiding close contact with individuals who are sick, and staying home if you are feeling unwell.
If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with H3N2 influenza, it is important to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. This includes staying home from work or school, avoiding close contact with others, covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and practicing good hygiene.
Ask your doctor
Antibiotics are not effective against the flu virus, so if you have been diagnosed with H3N2 influenza, your doctor may prescribe antiviral medications, which can help to reduce the severity and duration of the illness. It is important to take these medications as prescribed and to follow your doctor’s instructions closely.
How dangerous is it?
It is also important to note that H3N2 influenza can be particularly dangerous for certain groups of people, including the elderly, young children, pregnant women, and individuals with underlying health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease. If you or a loved one are in one of these groups, it is especially important to take steps to prevent the spread of the virus and to seek medical attention immediately if you experience symptoms of the flu.
In conclusion, the H3N2 influenza epidemic is a serious concern in India, but there are steps that individuals can take to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the virus. By getting vaccinated, practicing good hygiene, and seeking medical attention if you are experiencing symptoms, you can help to keep yourself and your loved ones healthy and safe. It is important to take the flu seriously and to take all necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
Dr. Md Fawad Ali is a renowned and experienced Consultant Physician & Diabetologist in Hyderabad. He brings with him an experience of six years and has been associated with some of the best hospitals in Hyderabad. He worked as a senior resident at the Department of Medicine, NIMS; worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Medicine, DCMS; Chief Consultant and Director of Health Front Speciality Clinics and Day Care, Tolichowki, Hyderabad.
