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India emerges world’s child marriage capital

[email protected] (TNN)
October 12, 2012

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New Delhi, October 12: Four UN agencies urged India to take "incremental action" to fight the scourge of child marriages in the country on Thursday when the first International Day of the Girl Child was observed across the world. The focus of the first observance of the day is on child marriage.

In a letter to Union minister of women and child development Krishna Tirath, heads of four UN agencies in India — UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women and UN Information Centre — wrote, "Child marriage is not a solution to protecting girls from sexual crimes including rape."

This comes a day after former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala endorsed Haryana khap panchayat's suggestion to bring down marriageable age of teenagers to 16 to check sexual atrocities like rape.

In the letter, the UN agencies said, "More than 40% of the world's child marriages happen in India. In eight states of the country, more than half of young girls are married before the age of 18."

Speaking to TOI, Anne Stenhammer, regional programme director of UN Women, said, "Child marriage is a fundamental human rights violation and impacts all aspects of a girl's life. We want to alert and raise awareness on the negative effects of child marriage on girls and the society as a whole."

Child marriage denies a girl of her childhood, disrupts her education, limits her opportunities, increases her risk to be a victim of violence and jeopardizes her health. "It constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of nearly every Millennium Development Goal and the development of healthy communities," said Stenhammer.

The UN Women is conducting a programme to promote women's political leadership and governance in 16 districts in five states of India — Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Odisha, she said. The programme helped equip over half a million elected women representatives with knowledge and skills to participate in local governance.

"(Prevention of) child marriage is part of the agenda of the programme and of the mahila sabhas. Not just women, panchayats, society, community and the family must be involved to check child marriage," said Stenhammer.


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Agencies
August 5,2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Ayodhya to lay the foundation of the Ram temple. He participated in the bhoomi poojan rituals at the temple site and offered prayers. He will shortly lay the foundation of the temple with a sliver brick.

From Varanasi to Tamil Nadu, many devotees have sent gifts for the ceremony, like silver bricks and coins.

Special prayers were started on Monday and will culminate with the PM laying the foundation stone for the temple. The city has been decorated with paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana. The Uttar Pradesh government has also made elaborate security arrangement for the event.

Apart from the state police, the NSG commandos have also been kept on stand-by. The invitations for the ceremony have been kept limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will witness the event from New Delhi via video-conferencing.

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News Network
February 2,2020

New Delhi, Feb 2: The Congress on Sunday released its manifesto for Delhi polls, promising to implement unemployment allowance of Rs 5,000-7,500 per month and cashback schemes for water and power consumers, if voted to power.

Presenting the manifesto, Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra said the party will provide free power up to 300 unit per month.

The manifesto also committed to spend 25 per cent budget each year on fighting pollution and improving transport facilities.

An unemployment allowance of Rs 5,000 for graduates and Rs 7,500 for post graduates per month will be provided under the Yuva Swabhiman Yojna, he said.

The Congress will launch flagship cashback schemes for power and water supply to benefit consumers saving these resources. The party, if voted to power, will open 100 Indira Canteens to provide subsidised meals at Rs 15, Chopra said.

The Congress will challenge the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the Supreme Court and demand the Centre to withdraw the law. The party will also not implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the existing form of the National Population Register (NPR), if voted to power in Delhi.

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News Network
April 13,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 13: Three more people in Kerala tested positive for novel coronavirus disease on Monday, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

"With 3 new COVID-19 cases, the total number of cases in the state has reached 378," said Vijayan at a press conference.

Giving a break-up of the three confirmed COVID-19 cases, he said, "Of the 3 cases, 2 are from Kannur and 1 is from Palakkad."

He further said, "Till date, 15,683 samples tested, out of which 14,829 tested negative."

However, the total number of positive cases is decreasing, the Chief Minister added.

According to a recent update by the Ministery of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of cases in the country has reached 9352.

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