Daily Archives: February 20, 2023

ISLAMABAD, LATEST, WORLD

SOCIAL JUSTICE DAY

Social Justice Day is observed on 20th March each year across the world. The day aims to promote social justice which includes efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights and social protections throughout the member countries of the UN. International peace and human rights organizations reports have revealed that India’s Hindu extremist government through RSS has made horrifying life for Muslims, Christians, Dalits, and Sikhs. Bihar has a notorious record for crimes against Dalits. Allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings persisted with the National Human Rights Commission registering 147 deaths in Police custody, 1,882 deaths in judicial custody, and 119 alleged extrajudicial killings in 2022. 

Violence against women and girls continued at alarming rates with 31,677 cases of rape registered in 2021, an average of 86 cases daily. National Crime Records Bureau reported 50,900 cases of crimes against Dalits in 2021, an increase of 1.2 percent over the previous year. Crimes against the Adivasi community increased by 6.4 percent at 8,802 cases. In September 2022 two Dalit teenage girls were raped and killed in Uttar Pradesh, once again spotlighting that Dalit and Adivasi women and girls are at heightened risk of sexual violence.

According to United Christian Forum, violence against Christians has geared up in New Delhi, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh since 2018, with perpetrators accusing them of forcefully converting into Hindus. Since August 2019, at least 35 journalists in Kashmir have faced Police interrogation, raids, threats, physical assault, restrictions on freedom of movement, or fabricated criminal cases for their reporting. From genocide in Kashmir to suppression of religious minorities, India has become an apartheid state where human rights and equality have become a far-flung idea. US and EU must rise above their economic and strategic interests and call for the protection of human rights in Indian minorities and Kashmiris in IIOJK.

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ISLAMABAD, LATEST, WORLD

“Wealth of the Few: 166 Billionaires in India Now Own More than 60% of the Country’s Wealth Despite Growing Hunger, Inflation and Health Crises”.

A recent Oxfam India report titled “Survival of the Richest: The India Narrative” revealed that just 5% of Indians own more than 60% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50% have only 3%. In 2022, the country’s wealthiest man enjoyed a 46% gain in wealth. India’s top 10 richest individuals have a collective net worth of $335.7billion, a 32.8% rise from 2021. There are currently 166 billionaires in India, up from 102 in 2020.

Despite this startling wealth disparity, the nation is battling numerous challenges including hunger, increasing suicide rates, unemployment, inflation, worsening law and order situation and health crises.

The report also highlighted that by 2022, India has around 350 million hungry people, a growth from 190 million in 2018. This led to 65% of death among children under 5 being attributed to hunger, significantly higher than other countries.

Amidst all this, the wealth of billionaires swells daily by an average of $2.7billion despite the stagnated wages of 1.7 billion workers due to inflation.