Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
The remarks by China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, came during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday after the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 'Mission Karmayogi', dubbed as the biggest bureaucratic reform initiative, aimed at capacity building of government employees to make them more "creative, proactive, professional and technology-enabled". The core guiding principles of the competency-driven programme will be to support a transition from "rules based to roles based" HR management to prepare the Indian civil servant for the future, according to a government statement.
One shocking finding of the investigation was the extent to which sexual violence was committed against detainees, often extremely brutally, by the Sri Lankan security forces, with men as likely to be victims as women.
India has for the first time abstained from voting on a resolution on Palestine adopted at the UN rights body that calls for accountability by parties involved in last year's conflict in Gaza.
The lawyer discovers disturbing development while speaking to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
In a rare legislative action, a private member's Bill seeking to protect the rights of transgenders was passed unanimously by voice vote in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
'The new generation voter is hyper-nationalistic, but it isn't essentially illiberal.' 'They will find the rants of Adityanath as laughable as Irfan Habib's. They will also find the BJP's polarising approach to vote-gathering unacceptable if it fails to deliver jobs and growth,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Religious tolerance in India is "deteriorating" while religious freedom violations are "increasing", a rights expert has told American lawmakers.
Outrage in Himachal Pradesh over widow of ex-Army man being dragged out and assaulted in public after being accused of practising witchcraft.
That's all it takes to protect an institution -- just one person with no past and no greed for the future, says Shekhar Gupta.
A teenager was shot dead by security forces in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday during a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference against the recent killing of two youths in an army operation in Tral, prompting the authorities to register a murder case and order a magisterial probe.
The Haryana government on Friday set up a committee consisting of three women officers, including a deputy inspector general, for receiving any complaint of rape of women in Murthal near Sonepat during the Jat stir.
The manifesto, on the lines of the party's promise in Delhi in 2015, also says the AAP government will set up Aam Aadmi canteens at sub-division and district levels where one time meal will be available for Rs 5, and reduce the power tariff to half for usages up to 400 unit.
Rajmohan spoke with rediff.com, sharing his thoughts on what ails East Delhi, the future of AAP and his plans for strengthening the party.
Hundreds of students and teachers of Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia on Tuesday hit the streets with a call to "save" the varsities from the "onslaught" of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and "curbing" of dissent.
A former law intern, who has made sexual harassment allegations against Justice Swatanter Kumar, on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking inquiry against the retired judge.
'If this is the India you're talking about, where there is no space for minorities, where you have hate, where people can enter universities and beat students up, let me be anti-national.' 'I'll carry that as a badge of honour.'
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The Mahatma's descendants differ over Modi and the BJP victory... US-based Coalition Against Genocide vows to oppose Modi... Only Hindu US Congresswoman congratulates Modi... George Joseph/Rediff.com reports from New York.
In Gujarat's political circles, the appeal was seen as an indirect call to vote against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO have expressed concern on the new law and warned of retaliatory measures.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'In the districts of Jagdalpur and Dantewada, the only time the accused walked out of jail was when they were acquitted. There is no concept of bail.' 'The women were very clear -- they had to fight. Remaining silent any longer was not an option.'
Sandeep Pandey salutes women who have contributed to social transformation in India after 1980.
'As a course mate who has followed closely this star on the Bombay Sappers firmament, my heart swells with pride to see his extraordinary brilliance and focus; his commitment and his dedication; his hard work; and his technical as well as tactical knowledge,' says Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd) of his batchmate General Manoj Pande who will take over as chief of the army staff on May 1.
'They (the government) want to tame everything.' 'The entire systems they are trying to change.'
Troubles grew for the beleaguered former Supreme Court judge Justice Asok Ganguly with a non-governmental organisation on Wednesday moving the police seeking action against him in the alleged sexual harassment of a law intern even as he denied reports of fresh allegations that have appeared in the media.
Opposing a dialogue with Pakistan till it stops 'exporting' terror into Jammu and Kashmir, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina at an all-party meet in New Delhi on Thursday said those seeking engagement with the neighbouring country should meet the victims of violence to understand their pain.
'Women were not allowed in the Territorial Army before January 5, 2018. Presently girls are not allowed in Sainik Schools and Rashtriya Military schools. Women are not allowed in the army education corps, in the engineering services (as permanent commission), they can't be religious preachers in the army. There's a need to change with the times.'
As part of a global 'Orange the World' campaign, the iconic India Gate on Wednesday lit up in the colour orange celebrating the International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women.
Secretary general of CBCI Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas on what he doesn't like about the new education policy.
Award-winning lawyer, Claire Montgomery, the Queen's Counsel, is likely to fight the Indian government's attempt to extradite him to India.
Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has asked the international community to respect the ruling on Nasheed.
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
Indians will forever remember Akram as the scary phenomenon with the soft smile, the man who rattled through the Indian batting order, but was rarely as hated as Waqar or Shoaib Akhtar, observes Vaibhav Raghunandan.
'All these people want is a secure home where they can live and earn in peace.'
The migrant workers were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape the attention of police. A video clip from the scene of the tragedy shows the bodies of migrant workers lying on the tracks and nearby with their meagre personal belongings scattered around.
The Houston-based Halliburton, one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry with over 55,000 employees, has agreed to pay the amount and furnish significant relief to settle a national origin and religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Former Supreme Court judge Swatanter Kumar, who is facing charges of sexually harassing an intern, made no comments on Saturday despite repeated attempts by the media to get his reaction.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who as then Home Minister monitored the probe into the Batla House case, said he felt the gunfight between police and the Indian Mujahideen terrorists was genuine and was satisfied that the prosecution could prove the case in court.
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