Social Issues

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced fresh financial assistance totalling USD 1.27 billion to address poverty and social inequalities at the end of its two-day event that saw the participation of over 300 young change-makers from across the globe. The announcement on the financial commitment came over a week after the Foundation in its annual Goalkeepers report noted that nearly every indicator of the UN sustainable development goals are off track for achieving them by 2030. Despite these challenges, the report highlighted opportunities to accelerate progress by investing in long-term solutions and innovative approaches to entrenched issues, including poverty, inequality, and climate change. The Foundation said on Tuesday that the funding will address overlapping global crises that have reversed the progress already made toward achieving the UN sustainable development goals (Global Goals). The two-day Goalkeepers event at the Lincoln Center in New York coincided with

What will it take to make India a developed nation in the next 25 years?

PM Modi has urged citizens to focus on five resolutions to make India a developed nation in the next 25 years. How will the country and its economy have to perform to achieve this goal by 2047?

The country needs greater social harmony to accelerate economic development

This lucidly written and persuasively argued book pushes readers to think about ancient India beyond the prevailing stereotypes

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The pandemic is bringing back caste biases and reversing the gains in girl child education, writes Kavita Chowdhury

Is it possible to compartmentalise one's life in such a neat way that religious beliefs and professional priorities do not clash at all?

Indian women's unaccounted contribution in agricultural work has a detrimental impact on the nutrition levels of the households, leading to malnutrition among children, a study suggests. According to the research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, recognition of Indian women's roles in both agriculture and domestic work is key to improving household nutrition outcomes. The research concludes women's work in agriculture potentially has a negative impact on household nutrition, through a combination of reduced time for care work and seasonal energy deficits. In most of rural India, women work as agricultural and family farm labourers, in addition to performing nearly all the childcare and household duties. Often men have gone to work in urban areas, leaving women to balance agricultural and household work, including food gathering and preparation. Overall, women's work in agriculture seems to have a negative impact on household nutrition, through a combination of ...

More than $110 million was raised Tuesday at a pledging conference to support the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which has been struggling since the United States slashed funding. UNRWA chief Pierre Kraehenbuehl said the funding would allow the agency, which provides education and health services to Palestinians, to cover costs for the coming months and avoid a budget crisis. Around 35 countries took part in the conference, mostly European and Arab nations, with the biggest contributions coming from the EU, Germany and Britain. The conference was held on the same day as President Donald Trump's administration unveiled the economic component of a long-awaited Middle East peace plan, at a workshop in Bahrain boycotted by the Palestinian Authority. The US plan dangles the prospect of $50 billion of investment in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries over 10 years. Last year, the Trump administration cut all funding to UNRWA, arguing that it was flawed as ..

Choosing the perfect canine companion can be pose challenges similar to finding a spouse, scientists say. The research, published in the journal Behavior Research Methods, are based upon data from a working animal shelter and could help improve the pet adoption process. "What we show in this study is that what people say they want in a dog isn't always in line with what they choose," said Samantha Cohen, who led the study as a PhD student in Indiana University in the US. "By focusing on a subset of desired traits, rather than everything a visitor says, I believe we can make animal adoption more efficient and successful," Cohen said. "It was my responsibility to match dogs to people based on their preferences, but I often noticed that visitors would ultimately adopt some other dog than my original suggestion," Cohen said. "This study provides a reason: Only some desired traits tend to be fulfilled above chance, which means they may have a larger impact on dog selection," she said. The .

The acting commissioner of the US Customs and Border Protection agency announced his resignation on Tuesday amid a public outcry over alarming detention conditions of migrant children in Texas. John Sanders, appointed to the post just two months ago, said in a letter obtained by several US media outlets that he planned to step down as acting CBP chief on July 5. Sanders' departure coincides with the revelation of unsanitary detention conditions for children at an overcrowded Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, a sign of the increasing strain on resources due to soaring numbers of arrests at the US-Mexico border. The conditions at the centre in Clint were described by a team of lawyers, doctors and others who visited the facility about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of El Paso. Nearly 250 children were transferred out of Clint on Monday but a CBP official said Tuesday that some 100 were being sent back there. "The three-year old before me had matted hair, a hacking cough, muddy

San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major US city to effectively ban the sale and manufacture of electronic cigarettes. The city's board of supervisors unanimously endorsed legislation which backers said was necessary due to the "significant public health consequences" of a "dramatic surge" in vaping among youths. The ordinance says e-cigarette products sold in shops or online in San Francisco would need approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, which none currently has. The city's mayor has 10 days to sign the legislation, which she has said she will do.

San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major US city to effectively ban the sale and manufacture of electronic cigarettes. The city's board of supervisors unanimously endorsed legislation which backers said was necessary due to the "significant public health consequences" of a "dramatic surge" in vaping among youths. The ordinance says e-cigarette products sold in shops or online in San Francisco would need approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, which none currently has. The city's mayor has 10 days to sign the legislation, which she has said she will do.

San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major US city to effectively ban the sale and manufacture of electronic cigarettes. The city's board of supervisors unanimously endorsed legislation which backers said was necessary due to the "significant public health consequences" of a "dramatic surge" in vaping among youths. The ordinance says e-cigarette products sold in shops or online in San Francisco would need approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, which none currently has. The city's mayor has 10 days to sign the legislation, which she has said she will do.

San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major US city to effectively ban the sale and manufacture of electronic cigarettes. The city's board of supervisors unanimously endorsed legislation which backers said was necessary due to the "significant public health consequences" of a "dramatic surge" in vaping among youths. The ordinance says e-cigarette products sold in shops or online in San Francisco would need approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, which none currently has. The city's mayor has 10 days to sign the legislation, which she has said she will do.

Nearly 20,000 migrants have been rescued from the Sahara desert in Niger over the past three years, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday. The IOM said that on June 15 alone it rescued 406 migrants from 14 West African countries, including seven women and four children. "We walked for hours under the scorching desert sun with no water or idea where we were heading," the IOM quoted Amadou, a 27-year-old from Mali, as telling rescuers. The UN organisation said the most recent rescues had mainly included people from Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry and Mali. "Despite having assisted so many groups of migrants, I still find it difficult every time a new group arrives, with newborns in their arms, faces covered in sand and their clothes ripped apart," said Alhassane Adouel from IOM. "After so many arrivals, it still breaks my heart to see what they have to go through." Trucks carrying migrants north frequently breakdown in the desert or become lost, with smugglers ...

Survey of India, the country's principal mapping agency, has asked the Ministry of Skill Development to recognise geospatial as a sector or a sub-sector. Speaking at an ASSOCHAM event, Surveyor General of India Lt Gen. Girish Kumar said geospatial is not recognised as a sector like power, mining and telecom. Geospatial is the mother of all these sectors because without geospatial information, not even a single sector can come up but it has been ignored, he said. "Now we have taken up the case with the Ministry of Skill Development and we are trying to push forward so that geospatial is recognised as a sector. We are trying to make a case whereby geospatial is recognised either as a sector or a sub-sector," he added. The Survey of India, he said, is also trying to recognise the job roles. He further said that the Survey of India is also working on a surveyor licence bill.

Disability pension will be taxable to military personnel who superannuated under normal circumstances, defence sources said Tuesday. The pension will be non-taxable only to those personnel who have retired due to any kind of disability, they added. Citing a Finance Ministry circular, dated June 24, sources said, "Tax exemption will be available to armed forces personnel who have been invalided from the service on the account of bodily disability attributable to or aggravated by such service and not to personnel who have been retired or superannuated or otherwise." Armed forces personnel who suffer any kind of disability due to their service receive separate disability pension. The amount depends on their rank and the kind of disability.

Nine of the ten migrant labourers from Odisha held captive by their employees in Dubai returned to India on Tuesday, while the last worker will reach tomorrow, Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said.In a tweet addressed to Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Embassy informed that the air tickets for the workers were arranged by the Consulate General and Odisha community members."Sir @dpradhanbjp, we are happy to update that, after Consulate's intervention, 9 of the 10 Odisha workers have returned to India today while 1 will be travelling tomorrow. Air tickets for 8 workers were arranged by the Consulate and 2 air tickets were provided by Odisha community members," the tweet read.[{76732756-cec5-4e80-bc86-9989bccd86a5:intradmin/tweet_1_CUJxBbK.JPG}]Earlier this month, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister had written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar requesting his personal intervention in the release and repatriation of 10 people from Odisha held captive by ..

In Greenland, the scourge of child sexual abuse has emerged as a pressing concern with nearly one in three having suffered abuse in their childhood, and efforts to combat it hampered by a persistent conspiracy of silence. The sparsely populated autonomous Danish territory is confronted with major social problems, including high levels of suicide and alcoholism. The government highlights alcohol and hash abuse as the number one health concern. But the recent airing of a documentary on sexual abuse on Danish public television has put the spotlight on the issue, renewing the Arctic island's commitment to tackling abuse of children. "I was about six years old... I was woken up in the middle of the night because someone was touching me. My hands were tied, my knees were tied and he abused me," said Anna-Sofie Jonathansen in the documentary. She is a resident of Tasiilaq, a remote village in the south-east where the documentary said nearly half of adults under 60 years of age have been ...