Activists, Academicians Move Supreme Court against Citizenship Law

News Network
December 17, 2019

New Delhi, Dec 17: Activists Harsh Mander, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, historian Irfan Habib, economist Prabhat Patnaik and some organisations on Monday approached the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and sought direction to strike it down.

The plea filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan sought direction to declare the Act as unconstitutional and illegal.

"These notifications and the Amendment Act are unconstitutional as they are discriminatory and violate the right to equality of all persons under the constitutional scheme. They are discriminatory towards illegal migrants from other countries in the neighbourhood of India apart from the three countries as well as discriminatory towards other minority communities such as Muslims, Jews, Ahmadiyas or Atheists who do not identify with a religious group," the plea said.

The activists further said that this classification on the basis of religion, country of origin or kind of persecution or date of entry or place of residence in India, is an unreasonable classification and hence discriminatory.

"Granting citizenship on the basis of religion goes against the grain of our Constitution. Religious pluralism and secularism have been the foundation of our country since Independence," it added.

"Our constitutional scheme does not allow discrimination on the basis of religion or country of origin or kind of persecution. This cannot be the basis of granting citizenship. The religious basis of citizenship would be a negation of the secular and inclusive fabric of our Constitution," it added.

The petitioners said that the Act also violates Article 21 of the Constitution as it violates the right to live with dignity of individuals who are not covered under the special dispensation of the Amendment Act, solely on the basis of their membership to a particular religion.

Muslim Advocates Association, a registered society, has also approached the Supreme Court challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 asking to declare the new law as unconstitutional.

The Act violates Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the Constitution, as well as the Constitution's basic structure, the association plea said.

Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) also challenged the Act, while seeking direction to declare it in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution as it is discriminatory, manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable and irrational.

DYFI's plea said the Act is challenged wherein first-time religion is introduced as a reference point, condition for acquisition of Indian Citizenship for illegal/ undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

"Citizenship is being extended to certain a class of illegal/undocumented migrants belonging to the religion of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Such classification on the basis of religious identity of the individual clearly violates Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. Moreover, the classification based on the religious identity of the individual offends the fundamental principle of ''Secularism'', which is enshrined as the basic structure of the Constitution," the plea added.

During the day, two more petitions were filed in the top court, one by the Makkal Needhi Maiam, a political party-led by actor-turned-politician Kaman Haasan and another by Padi Richo, former MLA and a resident of Arunachal Pradesh.

Both petitions said that the exclusion of Muslim beneficiaries from the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is violative of Articles 14 and 21, apart from contravening basic principles of secularism.

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News Network
June 21,2020

New Delhi, June 21: India today recorded the highest single-day spike in infections so far with 15,413 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of positive cases in India touched 4.11 lakh on Sunday.

As per the Ministry of Health data, the total number of coronavirus cases stands at 4,10,461 cases which include 1,69,451 active cases, 2,27,756 recovered/migrated cases, and 13,254 deaths as per the Ministry of Health data.

With 1,28,205 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu with 56,845 and Delhi 56,746. 

Delhi reported its highest single-day increase of 3,630 new coronavirus cases. With this, the state’s tally rose to 56,746. The toll rose to 2,112 with 77 deaths. As many as 7,725 people recovered, taking the total recoveries to 31,294.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: Over 700 employees of Hindu Rao Hospital would stage a protest against North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday morning over non-payment of their salaries since April. The staff includes paramedical, nurses, and Class IV employees of the hospital. However, the employees said that only 40 or 50 people would gather to stage the protest keeping COVID situation in mind, and the norms of social distancing would also be followed.

Tejinder Singh, president of the Paramedical technical staff welfare association, said that the corporation is forcing the employees to go on a protest when they are needed the most. "The government hails us as Corona warriors but do not treat us like one," he commented.

"We all have families. Many amongst us have taken loans, live on rental accommodation, and have children whose schools and colleges are demanding fees. How would we incur our expenses when we are not paid? We repeatedly asked the corporation to clear our dues, but our requests fell on deaf ears. We don't have any option but to go on protest," he said.

Besides, Singh also said that the staff of Hindu Rao had not received arrears of seventh pay commission, bonus and dearness allowances for two years. "These are our rights which we are being denied. The protest is to call out injustice and ignorance we face from the administration," he added.

The nurses of the hospital corroborated with Singh. However, they also added the issues they are facing since the pandemic started that they would be rising through the protest.

Nurses complain lack of facilities despite hospital gearing up as dedicated COVID care

Indumati Jaiswal, president of nurses' welfare association of the hospital, said that apart from salaries, the hospital is not providing many facilities required by the staff to battle the pandemic. The Delhi government had designated the hospital as a dedicated COVID facility on June 16.

"The preparedness for such responsibility is completely shoddy. There is no provision for air conditioners and coolers for us. We have to work wearing PPE kits for six hours straight under ceiling fans. The lack of AC and coolers amplifies our struggle to stay under PPE kits for longer hours. We can't even drink water in that duration. It's just inhumane," Jaiswal said.

Jaiswal also said that the hospital is facing staff crunch, yet, have not prepared a roster for the nurses. "The hospital has 238 nurses on 700 doctors. This is opposite to the prescribed guidelines of the Indian Nurses Council that suggests four nurses per doctor as a healthy ratio. Here, we have less than five nurses per doctor. A complete opposite of an ideal scenario," she complained.

Jaiswal said that the room for donning and doffing the PPE kits should be outside the ward. "In the hospital, it's within the ward, and the nurses have to cross through the patients to wear in and out the PPE suits. It increases the risk of contracting COVID-19 from the patients," she said.

The hospital employees informed that more than 40 healthcare workers from Hindu Rao had contracted the COVID-19 infection.

The corporation argues lack of funds behind delay in salaries

Indu Singhal, the deputy commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Commissioner, told media corporation is in the process to resolve the salary issues of the Hindu Rao Hospital's staff. "We have received their complaints and pursuing the matter. We will release their dues as soon as we receive the funds from the government," she said.

However, a senior official of the corporation revealed that the corporation is reeling under an acute shortage of funds. "Even the employees working in the corporation have not been paid salaries. The employees of A-grade are not paid since March," the official said.

Singhal said that the dispersion of salaries starts from the lower base. "Many officers, including I have not been paid," she added.

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News Network
April 27,2020

New Delhi, Apr 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a video conference with chief ministers to discuss the situation arising due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, which has been under a lockdown since March 25 to contain the spread of the virus, amid indications that the interaction would also focus on a graded exit from the ongoing lockdown.

This is Modi's fourth such interaction with state chief ministers since March 22 when he discussed coronavirus situation and steps taken both by the Centre and the states to contain the pandemic.

Two days later on March 24, Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown. He extended the lockdown by 19 days on April 14, the last day of the initial three week shutdown, till May 3.

Sources in the government had on Sunday indicated that besides discussing the way forward in dealing with the pandemic, the prime ministers and chief ministers could also focus on a "graded" exit from the lockdown.

In a tweet on Monday, the Prime Minister's Office said Modi and the chief ministers will be discussing aspects relating to the COVID-19 situation.

In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio address on Sunday, the prime minister said the country is in the middle of a 'yudh' (war) and asserted that people have to continue being careful and take precautions.

His note of caution came amidst gradual exemptions being granted by the Centre and states to revive economic activities.

"I urge you not to get overconfident. You should in your over-enthusiasm not think that if the coronavirus has not yet reached your city, village, street or office, it is not going to reach now. Never make such a mistake. The experience of the world tells us a lot in this regard," Modi said while referring to a popular Hindi idiom 'Sawdhani hati, durghatna ghati' (disaster strikes when you lower your concentration).

The Centre and the state governments have been giving gradual exemptions to boost economic activities as also to provide relief to people as some states want further relaxation in areas which have seen few or no coronavirus cases.

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