"It's The Best Time To Be A Woman In India," Says Country's Envoy To UN



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It is the best time to be a woman in India today, the country's UN envoy Ruchira Kamboj has said, emphasising that the government was fully empowering women at all levels.

The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, in partnership with UN Women India, organised a high-level panel discussion this week on 'Leveraging Public-Private Commitment for Women's Greater Access to Technology and Education" at the United Nations Headquarters on the margins of the ongoing 67th session of the Commission on Status of Women.

"In India, there has been enormous, enormous growth in the past eight-nine years particularly and today, I think it is perhaps the best time to be a woman in India. I mean that very sincerely," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Kamboj said.

In her remarks, Ms Kamboj stressed that in India "we recognise the transformational capacity of technology to provide impetus to women's empowerment and sustainable development."

"This is a fantastic time to be a woman and the government is fully empowering you at all levels. The Prime Minister has emphasised upon a model of women-led growth and development and it is very much a reality," Ms Kamboj said.

She highlighted that the Government of India has taken numerous citizen-centric digital initiatives with a greater focus to enable access for women to finance, credit, technology, and employment.

These initiatives have focused on providing immediate assistance to women in distress, preventing violence against women, and promoting women's full and equal participation in every sphere of society, she said.

Ms Kamboj spoke on two major initiatives -- the Digital India programme and the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity -- that have shown the capacity of technology to provide impetus to women's empowerment and sustainable development.

She said that during the pandemic, these initiatives had facilitated direct benefit transfer to nearly 200 million women.

Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women Anita Bhatia said that since 2017, successive Commissions on the Status of Women have recognized the important and fundamental role that digitalization plays in closing the gender digital divide.

Highlighting that women have less access than men and boys to technology, Ms Bhatia said "the non-negotiables have to be a recognition that digital rights are also human rights and that women have as much right to digital access as do men and boys."

She pointed to data, which she termed as "pretty shocking" and according to which, globally men are 20 per cent more likely to be online than women, with this percentage as high as 52 in low-income countries as a group.

"There also has to be a recognition of this from the point of view of opportunity, because not investing sufficiently in digitalization means that governments are actually leaving money on the table," she said.

Ms Bhatia added that in a post-pandemic world, where the fiscal space is constrained, "this is actually a fabulous opportunity to say how can we leapfrog our economies, how can we grow our economies quickly and how can we do so by leveraging both the power, creativity and innovation of women, but also the power of creativity and innovation that is inherent in digitalisation."

Ms Bhatia also noted that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field is "uber-masculine" and "we need to make it look less masculine and have more girls and boys involved in this."

Apollo Hospitals Joint Managing Director Dr Sangita Reddy told the discussion that "in a single word, what we are all seeking today - we were striving for equity. We're looking forward now to 'Techquity'."

Ms Reddy said it is techquity "which will help us take the position that we're looking forward to in the years to come."

With technology driving every aspect and field of life now, Ms Reddy said from computing and automation to artificial intelligence.

"The world is transforming. As we seek equity in this world, it is important for every woman to be digitally connected, digitally savvy," Ms Reddy said.

The panel discussion was organised as a part of the 'India Roundtables' at the United Nations.

The roundtables, being organised to commemorate India@75, will showcase India's achievements in various areas of development, including women empowerment, financial inclusion, social development, climate action, and many more.

The panel, moderated by Country Representative, UN Women India Susan Ferguson, included Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, LinkedIn Melissa Selcher, and Senior Vice President & Human Resources Development Head - India & Americas, Nina Nair.

Source: NDTV

   

Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari passes away



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Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of a heart attack.

The 63-year-old politician died on Thursday (March 28) around 8:30 pm while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Earlier, the jail authorities took him to the district's Rani Durgavati Medical College Hospital after he fainted in the jail last Tuesday. Later a team of nine doctors provided immediate medical attention to him. But, despite their best efforts, he died after 14 hours in the ICU.

Indian media NDTV reported that this 5-time MP from Uttar Pradesh has been in jail since 2005.

A large contingent of police was deployed outside the hospital soon after Ansari was taken to the hospital and prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been issued across Uttar Pradesh following his death, news agency PTI reported.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said additional policemen have been deployed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi districts as well as Central Reserve Police Force.

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The ICJ ordered Israel to take steps to stop the famine in Gaza



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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to take necessary and effective measures to stop the spread of famine in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip.

On Thursday (March 28), the International Court of Justice unanimously gave the order to Israel. But Hamas leaders say a ceasefire is necessary to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

South Africa asked the court for new measures as part of a case accusing Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza. Later the court gave this order.

The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to take necessary and effective measures to ensure basic food supplies for the Palestinian population and to stop the spread of famine, Reuters reported. The order came as Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters battled around Gaza's Al Shifa hospital.

The people of Gaza are going to face worse conditions, the court judges said. The court observed that the people of Gaza are not only at risk of famine but that famine has already begun, the judges said in the order.

Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the verdict was not enough. Israel must be ordered to cease military attacks to end the suffering.

He added, "We welcome any new demands to end the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, but we hope that the court will order a ceasefire as a solution to the misery our people in Gaza are living through."

There was no immediate comment from Israel's Foreign Ministry on the International Court of Justice ruling.

The UN Security Council voted on Tuesday to demand an immediate ceasefire and the immediate unconditional release of all hostages. The United States abstained from voting, but did not veto.

 

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76 more killed in Gaza, death toll rises to nearly 32,500



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Even after the UN Security Council passed a cease-fire resolution, the Israeli barbaric attacks on the Palestinian-besieged Gaza have not stopped. Another 76 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours by Israeli attacks. The death toll has increased to about 32,500 people. The number of injured has reached about 75000 people.

Al-Jazeera reported this information in a live update on Thursday (March 28).

Quoting the Ministry of Health of Gaza, the report said that since last October, the number of dead in Palestine has reached 32490 in the Israeli barbaric attack in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, an emergency ceasefire resolution was passed in the besieged Gaza Strip. The resolution passed by the UN Security Council on Monday (March 25) calls for a cease-fire in Gaza as well as the immediate and unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas.

In this proposal, 14 countries of the Security Council voted in favor of the proposal. Israel's close ally, the United States, abstained from voting.

Welcoming the proposal, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, after a long wait, the Security Council has passed a resolution regarding the cease-fire in Gaza. This proposal must be implemented. Failure of any party to implement the ceasefire and its terms would constitute an unforgivable offence. 

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Israel wants to wipe out Palestinians: UN



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Gazans are going through one of the worst times in living memory. The lives of Palestinians are in danger due to the long-term killings and severe food shortages. The world is criticizing the surprise attack on the destitute Gazans. However, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu is unwilling to stop the attack. In this situation, the international organization, which could not find any solution after repeated efforts, said that Israel is going to wipe out the Palestinians.

On Monday (March 25), the special envoy for human rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanez, released her detailed report. She said that since the start of the attack, Israel has targeted Gazans. The Israeli forces assumed that these Gazans could be attacked, killed, or even destroyed. Israel's genocidal action has become clear through this. They are trying to erase Palestinians from Palestine.

The news agency AFP reported this information.

According to the report, Albanez attacked Israel in harsh language at the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. She said Israel destroyed Gaza. She also said, 'What is happening in Gaza shows the intention of genocide. We cannot turn away from it. We have to face it, we have to stop this genocide and action must be taken against those who took this step.''

Francesca Albanez is working as Special Envoy for Palestinian Human Rights. She told the United Nations Human Rights Council last Monday that the organization's member states should end arms embargoes against Israel and arms supplies to Israel.

Support for the UN expert panel, which has been working on allegations of genocide against Israel since the start of Israel's assault on Gaza, has been growing in Palestine. Various countries are now showing interest in investigating the allegations of genocide.

Ambassadors of different countries are supporting this report of Albanez. Ambassadors from Muslim and Arab countries, as well as Latin American countries, are among those supporting Albanez's report to hold Israel accountable.

Pakistan has supported this Albanez report on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC has also called for an arms embargo on Israel. When Albanez presented the report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Pakistan's representative said, "We appreciate your courage in documenting the genocide in Gaza."

Accusations of genocide against Israel are intensifying as it continues to operate in Gaza's Rafah area in defiance of international calls. The Ministry of Health of Palestine said on Wednesday that 76 people were killed in the attack in the last 24 hours. With this, 32490 people have been killed in Israel's attacks since October 7.

The representative of Egypt, on behalf of the Arab countries, said they were deeply concerned about Israel's structural and systematic attack on the Gaza Strip, making it uninhabitable. Qatar represented the Gulf countries in the meeting. They want international action to stop the war that Israel is waging in Palestine. 

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