No Hijab Bar Any More in Exams For Karnataka State Government Recruitment Tests
New Age
Islam News Bureau
25 October 2023
·
No Hijab Bar Any More in Exams
For Karnataka State Government Recruitment Tests
·
'Good Night, Gaza': Read The
Last Words Of Poet Heba Kamal Abu Nada Who Was Killed In Israeli Airstrike
·
Story Of An Afghan Woman, Reza
Gul, Who Said, “If Hunger Doesn’t Kill Us, The Cold Will”
·
Afghanistan Ranked As Worst
Country For Women’s Progress: Report
·
Shamima Begum Appeals Against
Revocation Of UK Citizenship
·
More Women As Astronauts Is A
Part Of My Wish List: ISRO Chairman
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-karnataka-muslim-girls/d/130972
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No Hijab Bar Any More In Exam For Karnataka
State Government Recruitment Tests
Six Muslim
students who were denied entry to classrooms for wearing hijab at the
Government Pre-University College campus in Udupi.
File picture
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25.10.23
K.M. Rakesh
The Congress government in Karnataka has
said there will not be any restrictions on hijab for candidates taking the
upcoming recruitment tests for state government services.
State education minister M.C. Sudhakar
said the candidates writing the Karnataka Examination Authority tests, to be
held on October 28 and 29 to fill vacancies in government departments, were
free to wear the hijab. The KEA follows NEET guidelines, which allow religious
garb such as the hijab, the minister clarified.
Sangh parivar groups are clamouring for
a ban on the hijab, a headscarf that many Muslim girls wear.
“I think the people who are protesting
should verify the guidelines of NEET exams. I don’t know why they are making an
issue out of this. NEET exams allow people to wear hijab,” Sudhakar told
reporters on Monday.
The KEA is the state government body
that conducts entrance exams for professional courses and recruitment tests to
fill vacancies in government departments and various state boards.
The hijab became a contentious issue in
Karnataka in 2022 when the then BJP government empowered educational
institutions to prescribe uniforms, seen as a de facto ban since no state-run
educational institution would dare to defy the Sangh parivar push to ban hijab
in classrooms.
The minister’s clarification came as
Sangh parivar outfit Hindu JanajagrutiSamithi sought police permission to hold
a protest in Bangalore on Wednesday against allowing the hijab.
“Our main objection is that allowing
hijab would be in contempt of the Karnataka High Court order that upheld the
ban on hijab in educational institutions,” the group’s district coordinator
Sharath Kumar told The Telegraph on Tuesday.
The high court in March 2022 had upheld
the right of government-run educational institutions to enforce the wearing of
uniforms in classrooms.
The order had come after an institution
in Udupi denied hijab-wearing girls entry into class on the grounds that the
hijab was not part of the uniform, sparking months of protest and a legal
challenge.
The incident was followed by a
state-wide ban on hijab in classrooms.
When told that the judgment only
concerned state-run educational institutions that have a prescribed uniform and
not recruitment exams, Kumar argued that it would cover all examinations.
“Will the government allow candidates to
wear saffron shawls to appear for the exams? That’s why we feel dragging
students and candidates writing such exams into unnecessary controversies
doesn’t augur well for anyone,” he countered.
Source: telegraphindia.com
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/no-hijab-bar-in-exam-for-karnataka-state-government-services-says-congress/cid/1975151
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'Good Night, Gaza': Read The Last Words
Of Poet Heba Kamal Abu Nada Who Was Killed In Israeli Airstrike
Palestinian
writer Heba Kamal Abu Nada
------
25th October 2023
By Online Desk
Palestinian writer Heba Kamal Abu Nada
was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.
She was thirty-two years old.
Abu Nada was killed in her home south of
Gaza City by an Israeli airstrike on Friday, October 20, 2023, according to
Literary Hub.
In her final post on October 8, in
Arabic, on platform X, the author and educator wrote: "Gaza's night is
dark apart from the glow of rockets, quiet apart from the sound of the bombs,
terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer, black apart from the light of the
martyrs. Good night, Gaza."
The British-born Cypriot poet, writer,
and publisher Anthony Anaxagorou reported that the following were Abu Nada’s
last words, penned just before her death:
"We find ourselves in an
indescribable state of bliss amidst the chaos. Amidst the ruins, a new city
emerges—a testament to our resilience. Cries of pain echo through the air,
mingling with the blood-stained garments of doctors. Teachers, despite their
grievances, embrace their little pupils, while families display unwavering
strength in the face of adversity."
“Oxygen is Not for the Dead” stands as a
testament to Heba Abu Nada’s literary prowess. Her works, deeply rooted in the
Palestinian context, resonated with readers globally, said erldc.org.
Her writings, laden with poignant themes
and profound messages, capture the essence of human experience. Through her
words, Heba Abu Nada immortalized herself, ensuring her legacy in Palestinian
literature remains indelible, it added.
Abu Nada was born in Saudi Arabia in
1991, from a refugee family from Beit Jirja, which was displaced in 1948.
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/oct/25/good-night-gaza-read-the-last-words-of-poet-heba-kamal-abu-nada-who-was-killed-in-israeli-airstrike-2626900.html
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Story Of An Afghan Woman, Reza Gul, Who
Said, “If Hunger Doesn’t Kill Us, The Cold Will”
October 25, 2023
Fidel Rahmati
Today, the cold winter winds have
arrived, causing a frail elderly woman to shiver as she bears the weight of her
suffering daily, with the wear and tear of her life’s journey behind her.
She is an elderly, delicate woman who
shoulders the responsibility of her family all alone. Amidst the other
challenges of life, her greatest fear is the arrival of the winter season. She
often says, “If hunger doesn’t kill us, the cold certainly will.
As the winter season approaches, the
concerns of the impoverished segment of society grow increasingly severe, and
50-year-old Reza Gul is among those who consider winter a “life-threatening
disaster” for the poor.
Reza Gul, just a few days before the
rise of the Taliban, had become a refugee in Kabul from Herat due to the war.
The passage of time and her displacement without proper shelter have gradually
pushed her towards a slow and agonizing death.
Signs of destitution manifest in every
corner of this family’s four walls: signs of illness, despair, and the
hardships brought by the advent of the Taliban administration in Afghanistan.
She sits in a cold room, narrating the highs and lows of her life. The lines
and wrinkles on her forehead bear witness to the hardships and injustices that
have unfairly burdened her.
The Four Walls Where Reza Gull’s Family
Live/Image/Khaama Press.
Mohsen, Reza Gul’s husband, cannot work
due to his advancing age and the loss of physical abilities. This has led Reza
Gul to take matters into her own hands. She uses a handcart to sell various
plastic items in the city and the market.
Reza Gul lives with her sick husband and
two children. Parviz, her eleven-year-old son, is battling stomach cancer, and
his condition deteriorates daily. His illness has prevented him from attending
school, and he works as a porter with a handcart, earning 50 Afghanis a day.
Reza Gul says that Parviz’s illness is
worsening every day. He loses weight daily, and doctors have diagnosed his
condition as cancer. The lack of financial means and access to healthcare
facilities has made Parviz vulnerable to the disease, and his mother watches as
her son takes steps closer to death each day.
Parviz says, “When I come home from
outside, I wish we had good food. We could have lived well. We could have had a
good home.” Parviz last had a proper meal at one of their relatives’ homes, and
it has been at least three months since then.
Reza Gull’s Young Daughter/Image/Khaama
Press.
A young girl in tattered clothes is
visible on the other side of these four walls. They call her Parveen. She is
the youngest member of the family and the only one with an education. While her
eyes are filled with tears, she expresses her wish for a life like others,
having a home where they could sleep peacefully without the fear of winter,
rain, and the ceiling collapsing.
The four walls, devoid of doors and
windows, where Reza Gul and her family live, have been entrusted to them by a
man, according to him, as a form of charity for a specified period. Previously,
these four walls were used to shelter animals like sheep and cows, but now they
serve as a refuge for Reza Gul. The allotted time for living in these four
walls is until the end of the winter season.
Reza Gul says, “When the sky becomes
cloudy, my fear starts because our room lacks doors and windows. Rainwater
easily enters the room, and my little daughter and I throw the water outside
with a bucket and flatten the rugs and mattresses again.”
She says that after displacement and
life’s hardships, she couldn’t provide household items like rugs, mattresses,
and blankets for herself.
Reza Gul continues, “If we had shelter,
we wouldn’t need to worry day and night about covering the gaps, cracks, and
holes in the roof of these four walls without doors and windows. I could go to
sleep with peace of mind.”
Reza Gul, who is in a dire economic
situation with her family, appeals for help from humanitarian organizations.
She says, “We don’t have enough food to eat, and we don’t have wood or coal to
heat our home. My sick husband needs warm air, but our house is cold. My
children eat in the cold every night. I don’t have the means to treat my son,
who has cancer, and every day, he gets closer to death, and there’s nothing I
can do. I can only watch, and I can do nothing for my son.”
Reza Gul says that if their life
continues this way, the cold weather will eventually lead to the death of her
and her family.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/story-of-an-afghan-woman-who-said-if-hunger-doesnt-kill-us-the-cold-will/
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Afghanistan ranked as worst country for
women’s progress: Report
Fidel Rahmati
October 25, 2023
According to research conducted by the
George Washington Institute and the Oslo Peace Research Institute, Afghanistan
has been ranked at the very bottom among 177 countries in terms of women’s
progress.
The director of the Oslo Peace Institute
says that this report on the situation of Afghan women is “a warning bell for
world leaders.”
The George Washington Institute has
assessed the status of women in 177 countries on three key dimensions:
participation, justice, and security for women. Data for this research has been
collected from sources such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the Gallup
Polling Institute, and several other sources.
This research also examines other
aspects such as women’s education, maternal mortality, women’s employment,
systematic violence, sexual violence, and more in these 177 countries.
The institute states that countries
categorized as “fragile states” have had the worst performance. In this
category, Afghanistan, categorized as a “fragile state,” has the worst
performance concerning women.
The situation for women and girls
worsened rapidly in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
“In Afghanistan, women have gone to school for
less than 3 years on average; less than five per cent of women have access to
their bank account; and more than 90% live near armed conflict. Afghanistan’s
maternal mortality rates are among the 10 worst in the world,” the report said.
The Taliban, with restrictions on
women’s employment, education, political participation, economic activities,
and social life, has turned Afghanistan into the worst place for women.
Torunn L. Tryggestad, the Oslo Peace
Research Center director, said in a press statement, “Afghan women begin each
day without jobs, education, and freedom.”
She emphasized that this report should
“warn world leaders because, in this country, women are imprisoned.”
In addition to Afghanistan, Yemen,
Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Syria, Somalia, and
Iraq are recognized as the worst countries for women.
However, countries like Denmark,
Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Austria, the
Netherlands, and New Zealand are among the top 10 countries for women.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/afghanistan-ranked-as-worst-country-for-womens-progress-report/
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Shamima Begum appeals against revocation
of UK citizenship
October 25, 2023
LONDON: A woman who left Britain to
marry a fighter of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group when she was a
teenager began her appeal against the revocation of her citizenship in a UK
court on Tuesday.
A lawyer for Shamima Begum, 24, told the
Court of Appeal in London that the Home Office had failed to consider its legal
duties owed to her as a potential victim of trafficking.
“The appellant’s trafficking was a
mandatory, relevant consideration in determining whether it was conducive to
the public good and proportionate to deprive her of citizenship, but it was not
considered by the Home Office,” Samantha Knights said in a written submission
to the court. “As a consequence, the deprivation decision was unlawful.”
Begum was 15 when she left her east
London home with two school friends in 2015. She married an IS fighter in Syria
and had three children, none of whom survived. She is one of hundreds of
Europeans whose fate has challenged governments following the 2019 collapse of
the Islamist extremists’ self-styled caliphate.
In February 2019, Britain’s interior
minister Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship on national security
grounds after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp.
A UK tribunal ruled in 2020 that she was
not stateless because she was “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent” when the
decision was made, by virtue of her Bangladeshi mother.
Earlier this year, Begum lost a
challenge against the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission,
which stated that while there was a “credible suspicion that Begum was
recruited, transferred and then harboured for the purpose of sexual exploitation”,
this did not prevent the then interior minister from removing her citizenship.
The ruling meant that Begum could not
return to the UK from the refugee camp in northern Syria.
Lawyers for the Home Office, which is
set to begin oral arguments on Wednesday, told the court that SIAC’s conclusion
was correct. “The fact that someone is radicalised, and may have been
manipulated, is not inconsistent with the assessment that they pose a national
security risk,” James Eadie said in written submissions.
Source: dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1783485/shamima-begum-appeals-against-revocation-of-uk-citizenship
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More Women As Astronauts Is A Part Of My
Wish List: ISRO Chairman
24-10-2023
Indian Space Research Organisation
Chairman S Somanath on Tuesday expressed his wish for increased female
representation in the nation's space missions. He said this desire echoes the
sentiments of the nation, including that of the Prime Minister.
During an event at the PournamiKavu
temple here, where Somanath initiated children into the world of letters as
part of the Vidyarambam ceremony on Vijayadasami, he shared his expectation of
seeing more female astronauts In ISRO's ambitious Gaganyaan mission.
Somanath clarified that as astronauts
had already been selected and trained, participation of women won't be feasible
in Gaganyaan's inaugural mission, which aims to send humans to space and bring
them back safely to Earth. However, he expressed optimism of greater female
involvement in future Gaganyaan missions. ''More women astronauts in space
missions is part of my wish list, and I only echoed the voice of the nation,
including that of the Prime Minister,'' he told PTI.
On Sunday, the ISRO chairman had said
the space agency prefers woman fighter test pilots or female scientists for its
much-awaited human space flight programme-Gaganyaan- and it is possible to send
them in future. He had also said ISRO would send a female humanoid - a robot
that resembles a human - on its unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft next year. The
ambitious mission aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400 km
for three days and bring them safely back to Earth. ''No doubt about it...but
we have to find out such possible (women) candidates in the future,'' Somanath
told PTI over phone in response to a query. Acknowledging his spiritual
inclination, the ISRO Chairman engaged in prayers on Vijayadasami day. After
completing his prayers at the temple on Tuesday, Somanath sat down for more
than 30 minutes to help toddlers write their first letters to mark the
beginning of their education. Somanath justified his participation, saying the
ceremony has got nothing to do with religion but is only considered as the
initiation to education. ''Alphabets are worshipped in this temple. We can see
the alphabets of the Malayalam language displayed as Gods and Goddesses here
and worshipped. So they belong to us as knowledge,'' Somanath said. He said on
the day of Vijayadasami, children are introduced to the domain of knowledge by
gurus, who have already acquired something. ''So when they transfer that
knowledge to the children, it is a blessing. So we transfer the blessing to
them so that they can become great in the years to come,'' the ISRO chief said.
He said it is a blessing of spirituality from the gurus to the children to help
them learn and understand about the whole universe.
Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director Unnikrishnan were also present in
PournamiKavu to help the children with Vidyarambam. Shashi Tharoor, MP, took
part in the Vidyarambam ceremony at SreeSaraswathy Devi Temple in Poojappura.
Source: devdiscourse.com
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/technology/2680017-sc-seeks-centres-stand-on-plea-for-transfer-of-pil-against-netra-natgrid-surveillance-systems
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-karnataka-muslim-girls/d/130972