India Faced Attacks By Invaders, Still Has Hindu Majority: Mohan Bhagwat

May 18: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced the date sheet for the pending class 10 and 12 board exams, which will now be held from July 1 to 15.

The exams were postponed due to the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Class 10 board exams are pending only in the North East Delhi.

"The Class 10 exams will be staggered on four dates, starting July 1. The first paper will be Social Science, while the next day students will be required to appear for the Science exam,” said Sanyam Bhardwaj, the Controller of Examination, CBSE.

“On July 10, exams will be conducted for both courses of Hindi and on July 15 for both courses of English," he said.

On health guidelines for students, Bhardwaj said that they will be required to carry their own sanitiser bottles and wear masks to examination centres.

"Parents will have to ensure that their ward is not sick and candidates will have to strictly follow physical-distancing norms," he said.

For Class 12, the Home Science exam will be held on July 1, followed by both courses of Hindi the next day.

The Class 12 Business Studies exam has been scheduled for July 9, followed by Biotechnology on July 10 and Geography on July 11.

United Nations, May 20: Highlighting India's long-standing history of promoting inclusive and peaceful societies, a top UN official on Tuesday voiced concern over incidents of "increased hate speech and discrimination" against minority communities in the country following the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Under-Secretary-General and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng, however, welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for unity and brotherhood in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic.

Dieng said in a note to the media on Tuesday that he is "concerned over reports of increased hate speech and discrimination against minority communities in India" since the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.

The Indian government has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.

The CAA, which was notified on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.

"While the objective of the act, to provide protection to minority communities is commendable, it is concerning that this protection is not extended to all groups, including Muslims. This is contrary to India’s obligations under international human rights law, in particular on non-discrimination,” Dieng said.

The Special Adviser recognised "India’s long standing and well recognised history of promoting inclusive and peaceful societies, with respect for equality and principles of non-discrimination.”

He also welcomed recent statements by Prime Minister Modi that the COVID-19 pandemic “does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking and that our response and conduct...should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood.”

Dieng encouraged the Government of India to "continue to abide by this guidance by ensuring that national laws and policies follow international standards related to non-discrimination and to address and counter the rise of hate speech through messages of inclusion, respect for diversity and unity.”

He further reiterated that he would continue to follow developments and expressed his readiness to support initiatives to counter and address hate speech.

The hate speech and the dehumanisation of others goes against international human rights norms and values, he added.

“In these extraordinary times brought about by the COVID-19 crisis it is more important than ever that we stand united as one humanity, demonstrating unity and solidarity rather than division and hate,” he said.

Dieng also expressed concern over reports of violence during demonstrations against CAA in some regions of India.

New Delhi, May 6: Around 39 crore people have received financial assistance of Rs 34,800 crore amid the COVID-19 lockdown under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) as on May 5, the government said in a statement.

These people received the assistance, which was announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to protect them from the impact of the lockdown due to COVID 19, via digital payment infrastructure.

The swift implementation of the free food grain and cash payment package under PMGKP is being continuously monitored by Central and state governments. Also, Fintech and digital technology have been employed for swift and efficient transfer to the beneficiary.

As per the data provided by the government, Rs 16,394 crore front-loaded towards payment of the first installment of PM-KISAN was provided to 8.19 crore beneficiaries.

Rs 10,025 crore credited to 20.05 crore (98.33 per cent) women Jan Dhan account holders as first installment and Rs 2,785 crore credited to 5.57 crore women in the second installment.

Further, Rs 1,405 crore was disbursed to about 2.82 crore old age persons, widows and disabled persons and Rs 3,492.57 crore financial support was given to 2.20 crore building and construction workers.

Moreover, foodgrain has been distributed, covering 60.33 crore beneficiaries in all 36 Union Territories and states till April and 12.39 crore beneficiaries by 22 states/UTs for May. Pulses have been distributed so far to 5.21 crore household beneficiaries out of 19.4 crore such beneficiaries.

Over 5 crore cylinders have been booked under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and 4.82 crore free cylinders already delivered to beneficiaries.

While 9.6 lakh members of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has taken benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advance from EPFO account amounting to Rs 2,985 crore, 24 per cent EPF contribution transferred to 44.97 lakh employees account amounting to Rs 698 crore.

In the current financial year, 5.97 crore person's man-days of work generated under MNREGA scheme and Rs 21,032 crore were released to states to liquidate pending dues of both wage and material.

Insurance scheme for health workers in government hospitals and health care centres has been operationalised by New India Assurance covering 22.12 lakh health workers.