Heatwave claims 167 lives in India.

 As many as 167 people have died reportedly due to sunstroke in Telangana since April 1 as the state continues to reel under blistering heatwave, a senior official of the state disaster management said here today.

However, these casualties are yet to be recognised as 'heatwave deaths'.

Three-member government committees, consisting of a tehsildar, a police sub-inspector and a civil surgeon, in each mandal (administrative unit) will have to confirm that these deaths were due to heatwave.

"These (167) deaths (till date) should be confirmed by the committees as heatwave deaths. Then only it can be recognised as heatwave deaths and financial assistance will be sanctioned accordingly.

"All the deaths are currently under scrutiny. No death has been confirmed as a heatwave death as yet," the official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Telangana has been experiencing severe heatwave for the past few days with temperatures crossing the 40 degree-mark in most of the places.

Newlywed Women in India are Being Given Wooden Bats to Prevent Domestic Violence

Brides share a light moment during mass marraige ceremony in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh, India on April 29, 2017. Mujeeb Faruqui—Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Newlywed women in one Indian state are being given state-issued wooden bats to ward off drunk or abusive husbands, amid nationwide efforts to crackdown on alcohol-linked violence against women.

Agence France-Presse reports that Gopal Bhargava, a minister in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, gave the bats to nearly 700 women who participated in a government-organized mass wedding on Saturday.

Bhargava has reportedly ordered about 10,000 more paddles to hand out to future brides. The specially made bats, measuring nearly one foot long and traditionally used to beat dirt out of laundry, bear messages such as “for beating drunkards” and “police won’t intervene,” according to AFP.

The minister reportedly advised the brides to first try to reason with their husbands, but to “let the wooden paddles do the talking” if words fail.

“Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor,” Bhargava told AFP. “There is no intent to provoke women or instigate them to violence but the bat is to prevent violence.”

Several states across India have recently introduced measures to curb alcohol-related domestic and sexual violence, mostly geared toward prohibition or restricted liquor sales.

Experts warn, however, that while such measures have proven politically popular, prohibition has in some cases taken a toll on local economies and could lead to a rise in dangerous, illegal production of moonshine.

[AFP]

India to give cows ID cards

COWS

The Indian government is contemplating providing unique identification numbers for cows in the country to prevent their trafficking, officials said.

According to Xinhua, the information was submitted by the federal government in the country’s top court, which was hearing a petition by an organisation alleging rampant smuggling of cattle across the border of Bangladesh.

“Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar told Supreme Court Monday that in order to tackle the illegal smuggling of cows and other cattle, it (gov’t) had accepted the recommendation of an expert group to provide a unique identification number (UIN) for each one,” an official said.

“It may be made mandatory for cows and their progeny throughout India,” the official quoted solicitor general as saying, adding that “each animal will be tagged proper records of identification details – age, breed, sex, lactation, height, body colour, horn type, tail switch and special marks.”

Following the issuance of UIN, a state-level database may be uploaded on a website that would be linked with a national online database.

The proposal is somewhat similar to India’s huge national identity scheme project, wherein it provided biometric identity card to its citizens.

Focus on cow protection, especially by vigilante groups, has risen since 2014 – the year Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) ascended to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi.

There has been a string of cow-related violence, but many state governments, particularly those ruled by the BJP, have defended the action on the grounds that the animal is considered holy by many Hindus.

Human Rights Reports Rapes of 16 Women by the Police Force.

The National Human Rights Commission in India released a report on Saturday stating that they believe 16 women were victims of rape by police officers in the Bijapur district of central India during an attack on Maoist rebels in the Fall of 2015. There are potentially dozens more assaults yet to be confirmed.

The Indian Express reported in 2015 that as many as 40 women from five different villages reported rape, assault and sexual harassment by the Chhattisgarh Police, two of them gang rapes. Many of the villagers were also allegedly chased from their homes and their belongings were scattered or destroyed.

Aljazeera reports that an attorney representing 14 of the cases, Kishore Narayan, slammed the time it took to establish the facts of these attacks, saying to AFP news agency, “The victims gave the names of the policemen involved in the barbarity but nothing has happened. They carried a sham investigation and are trying to obfuscate the case.”

Police obstruction may have contributed to the delay, but access is also an issue. The region is a place of frequent unrest and is largely inhabited by very poor tribes who often get caught in the violence of insurgent combat. As several reporters told The Hindustan Times, getting to those villages is almost impossible:

“This area of Bastar is virtually a no-go zone for us. One has to cross 10 CRPF camps and three police stations to reach the villages,” said a local TV channel reporter who did not want to be named. “Police, usually, do not stop local journalists, but CRPF personnel treat everyone as Maoists. I will not to go there because anything can happen.”

Another Bijapur journalist claimed, “It is not advisable to go there now. There are still victims who are scared to record their statements. If we cover human rights lawyers and defenders for stories, they target us in subtle ways. It is very difficult to work here.”

The NHRC is still interviewing alleged victims and say they have at least 20 more interviews to record.