-The Hindu A key breakthrough emerging from a critical multi-stakeholder meeting held here on Tuesday on Internet censorship and legitimate state restrictions during crisis situations was that the government should itself use the Internet and social media to counter hate speech with comfort speech. Hate speech on social media has been blamed for triggering riots in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Mumbai two weeks ago. The participants, who included DoT Secretary R. Chandrashekhar,...
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Animals clean 5 lakh toilets, Supreme Court told -Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Times of India In the cleaning of nearly 13 lakh insanitary dry toilets across the country, human beings and animals play an almost equal role, the Supreme Court was told on Monday. In what could deal a severe blow to the sanitation claims of successive governments, petitioner NGO 'Safai Karmachari Andolan' culled out data from the 2011 census report to inform the court that 4.97 lakh dry toilets were "serviced by...
More »Government to hold talks with stakeholders on Internet censorship -Shalini Singh
-The Hindu In an unprecedented move, the government, through the Department of Telecommunications and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, has agreed to initiate dialogue on Internet censorship with mega Internet companies, social media giants such as Google and Facebook, members of civil society, technical community, media, ISPs and legal experts. The triggers for the discussion, which will be held on Wednesday, are the riots in Assam, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh,...
More »AIDWA concerned over dismantling of GoM on ‘honour’ killing
-The Hindu The All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) on Monday expressed concern over dismantling of the Group of Ministers (GoM) set up in mid-2010 to examine the issue of crimes and killings in the name of “honour”. “Commitment” AIDWA president Shyamali Gupta said: “This GoM was constituted under the chairmanship of former Union Finance Minister [and President] Pranab Mukherjee to suggest legal and other measures for dealing with these crimes and killing. The...
More »For Varanasi widows, salvation is in ‘thorns’ -Bitan Sikdar
-The Telegraph Varanasi, Sept. 2: When the pain becomes excruciating, Lakhyi Pal smiles. No, it’s not age — she is 98 — that has dulled her senses. For her, such “thorns” are the “pathway to salvation”, and Shiva. Pain-relieving gel, or no gel. Abandoned widowhood, or dextrocardia. Prolonged complications from the congenital condition — where the heart is located on the right side of the thorax — has not dampened the spirits of...
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