The Evening Wrap: IT Minister says Bulli Bai app user blocked

Following outrage over photos of hundreds of Muslim women being uploaded on an app called ‘Bulli Bai’ hosted on GitHub, IT and Electronics Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said the user had been blocked and that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and police are working together for further action. This is the second time in less than a year that pictures of several Muslim women, sourced largely from their social media accounts without permission, have been used on app called ‘Sulli Deals’. Highlighting the issue, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, “I have repeatedly asked Hon. IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji to take stern action against such rampant misogyny and communal targeting of women through #sullideals like platforms. A shame that it continues to be ignored.” In his response, the Minister said, “GitHub confirmed blocking the user this morning itself. CERT and Police authorities are coordinating further action.” Collection of details to update NPR put off till September The first phase of the census and collection of details to update the National Population Register (NPR) have been postponed at least till September. The Registrar General of India (RGI) in December informed the States that freezing of boundaries of districts, sub-districts, tehsils, talukas, police stations etc. has been postponed till June 2022, said a senior official on Sunday. The first phase of Census 2021 — the Houselisting and Housing Census along with updating the NPR — was scheduled to be held from April-September, 2020 but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The second and main phase of the decennial exercise — the population enumeration — was to be concluded by March 5, 2021. The NPR was first compiled in 2010 and updated in 2015, and it already has a database of 119 crore residents. It was to be updated along with the first phase of the census. The exercise has been opposed by some States and citizen groups as the NPR is the first step towards compilation of the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRC) according to the Citizenship Rules, 2003. ₹8 lakh criterion to determine EWS is reasonable: Govt panel A government committee report in the Supreme Court has said that “income” is a “feasible criterion” for defining the “Economically Weaker Sections” (EWS) in society and the annual family income of ₹8 lakh is a “reasonable” threshold to determine EWS in order to extend reservation in admissions and jobs. “A feasible criterion for defining EWS can be based on income [family income]. A threshold of ₹8 lakh of annual family income, in the current situation, seems reasonable for determining EWS,” the committee report submitted as part of a government affidavit concluded. The committee did not agree with the notion that the Centre had “mechanically adopted” ₹8 lakh as a number because it was also used for the OBC creamy layer cut-off. It said the income criterion for EWS was “more stringent” than the one for the OBC creamy layer. The report is the result of the Supreme Court’s repeated grilling of the government, since October, to explain how it zeroed in on the figure of ‘₹8 lakh’ as the annual income criterion to identify EWS among forward classes of society for grant of 10% reservation in NEET medical admissions under the All India Quota (AIQ) category. The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by NEET aspirants challenging a July 29 notification of the Centre announcing 27% quota to OBCs and 10% reservation to EWS in AIQ. Parliamentary panel on legal age of marriage has only one woman member The parliamentary panel assigned to examine the landmark bill which seeks to raise the legal age of marriage for women to 21 has only one woman MP out of 31 members. The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the winter session, and referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports. According to the members list of the parliamentary standing committee, led by senior BJP leader Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, available on the Rajya Sabha website, Trinamool MP Sushmita Dev is the only woman member. When contacted, Ms. Dev said it would have been better if there were more women MPs in the panel. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The CoWIN platform has till Sunday evening recorded over six lakh registrations in the age group of 15 to 18 whose COVID-19 vaccination is set to begin from Monday. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya advised States and Union Territories to provide separate vaccination centres, session sites, queue and different vaccination teams for the 15-18 age group to avoid mixing-up of vaccines. The vaccine option for this age group would only be Covaxin, according to guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry on December 27. The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,48,90,346 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,81,776. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 02 JANUARY 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Bulli Bai app | IT Minister says user blocked Following outrage over photos of [hundreds of Muslim women being uploaded]( on an app called ‘Bulli Bai’ hosted on GitHub, IT and Electronics Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday [said the user had been blocked]( and that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and police are working together for further action. This is the second time in less than a year that pictures of several Muslim women, sourced largely from their social media accounts without permission, have been used on app called ‘Sulli Deals’. [File photo for representation. Cyber crimes awareness painting at District Police Commissionarate office in Khammam, Telangana]  Highlighting the issue, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, “I have repeatedly asked Hon. IT Minister[ @AshwiniVaishnaw]( ji to take stern action against such rampant misogyny and communal targeting of women through[ #sullideals]( like platforms. A shame that it continues to be ignored.” In his response, the Minister said, “GitHub confirmed blocking the user this morning itself. CERT and Police authorities are coordinating further action.” [underlineimg] Collection of details to update NPR put off till September The first phase of the census and collection of details to update the [National Population Register (NPR)]( have been [postponed at least till September](. The Registrar General of India (RGI) in December informed the States that freezing of boundaries of districts, sub-districts, tehsils, talukas, police stations etc. [has been postponed till June 2022]( said a senior official on Sunday. [Photo used for representation purpose only.]  The first phase of Census 2021 — the Houselisting and Housing Census along with updating the NPR — was scheduled to be held from April-September, 2020 but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The second and main phase of the decennial exercise — the population enumeration — was to be concluded by March 5, 2021. The NPR was first compiled in 2010 and updated in 2015, and it already has a database of 119 crore residents. It was to be updated along with the first phase of the census. The exercise has been opposed by some States and citizen groups as the NPR is the first step towards compilation of the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRC) according to the Citizenship Rules, 2003. [underlineimg] ₹8 lakh criterion to determine EWS is reasonable: Govt panel A government committee report in the Supreme Court has said that “income” is a “feasible criterion” for defining the “Economically Weaker Sections” (EWS) in society and the annual family income of ₹8 lakh is a “reasonable” threshold to determine EWS in order to extend reservation in admissions and jobs. “A feasible criterion for defining EWS can be based on income [family income]. A threshold of ₹8 lakh of annual family income, in the current situation, seems reasonable for determining EWS,” the committee report submitted as part of a government affidavit concluded. The committee did not agree with the notion that the Centre had “mechanically adopted” ₹8 lakh as a number because it was also used for the OBC creamy layer cut-off. It said [the income criterion for EWS was “more stringent” than the one for the OBC creamy layer](. The report is the result of the Supreme Court’s repeated grilling of the government, since October, to explain how it zeroed in on the figure of ‘₹8 lakh’ as the annual income criterion to identify EWS among forward classes of society for grant of 10% reservation in NEET medical admissions under the All India Quota (AIQ) category. The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by NEET aspirants challenging a July 29 notification of the Centre announcing 27% quota to OBCs and 10% reservation to EWS in AIQ. [underlineimg] Parliamentary panel on legal age of marriage has only one woman member The parliamentary panel assigned to examine the landmark bill which seeks to [raise the legal age of marriage for women]( to 21 [has only one woman MP]( out of 31 members. The [Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill]( was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the winter session, and referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports. According to the members list of the parliamentary standing committee, led by senior BJP leader Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, available on the Rajya Sabha website, Trinamool MP Sushmita Dev is the only woman member. When contacted, Ms. Dev said it would have been better if there were more women MPs in the panel. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The CoWIN platform has till Sunday evening recorded over [six lakh registrations in the age group of 15 to 18]( COVID-19 vaccination is set to begin from Monday. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya advised States and Union Territories to provide separate vaccination centres, session sites, queue and different vaccination teams for the 15-18 age group to avoid mixing-up of vaccines. The vaccine option for this age group would only be Covaxin, according to guidelines issued by the [Union Health Ministry on December 27](. The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 3,48,90,346 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,81,776. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today's Top Picks [[J&K govt. asks people to share facts on Vaishno Devi shrine stampede] J&K govt. asks people to share facts on Vaishno Devi shrine stampede]( [[Pegasus: SC panel reaches out to victims of snooping] Pegasus: SC panel reaches out to victims of snooping]( [[Oxfam India says Centre’s refusal to renew FCRA registration will hit humanitarian work in 16 States] Oxfam India says Centre’s refusal to renew FCRA registration will hit humanitarian work in 16 States]( [[Kohli has been phenomenal over the last 20 days despite noise around him: Dravid] Kohli has been phenomenal over the last 20 days despite noise around him: Dravid]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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