The Evening Wrap: Xinjiang not a human rights issue, says Beijing

The Union Government has set up a three-member Commission for Inquiry to look into giving Scheduled Castes status to Dalits who have converted to any religion other than Sikhism or Buddhism. The Commission will be headed by former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and will have as its members UGC member Prof. Sushma Yadav, and retired IAS officer Ravinder Kumar Jain. The government has set a time of two years for the Commission to submit its report. A gazette notification issued by the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry on Thursday said the Commission will also examine the changes Scheduled Caste persons go through on converting to other religions in terms of their customs, traditions, social and other status discrimination and deprivation, and the implication of the same on the question of giving them Scheduled Caste status. In addition, the Commission has also been tasked with examining the implications of granting Scheduled Castes status to Dalit converts on existing Scheduled Castes communities in the country. Recently, the Supreme Court sought the most recent position of the Union government on a batch of petitions challenging the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, which allows only members of Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions to be recognised as SCs. The petitions arguing for inclusion have cited several independent Commission reports that have documented the existence of caste and caste inequalities among Indian Christians and Indian Muslims, noting that even after conversion, members who were originally from SCs continued to experience the same social disabilities. The closest a government got to including Dalit Christians as SCs came in March, 1996, when based on a recommendation of the then Ministry of Welfare, the P. V. Narsimha Rao government first brought a Bill to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order accordingly. However, the Bill could not be passed. Human rights of people of Xinjiang should be respected and guaranteed: India A day after abstaining at the United Nations Human Rights Council vote on Xinjiang, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that India “remains committed to upholding all human rights”. In the first such comments, New Delhi said that the human rights of the people of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region should be "respected and guaranteed" and called on China to address issues. “The human rights of the people of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region should be respected and guaranteed. We hope that the relevant party will address the situation objectively and properly,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. “India remains committed to upholding all human rights. India’s vote is in line with its long held position that country specific resolutions are never helpful. India favours a dialogue to deal with such issues,” he said. India has taken note of assessment of human rights concerns in Xinjiang by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), the spokesperson said. The draft resolution was pushed by a group comprising Canada, Denmark, Finland, the UK, the US, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and was co-sponsored by some other countries. In its recent report, the OCHCR said serious human rights violations have been committed in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the context of the Chinese government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies. Kharge rubbishes talk of being ‘Sonia’s remote control’, slams BJP for its way of choosing party chiefs Senior Congress leader and candidate for the party's presidential polls Mallikarjun Kharge said there was no "remote control" in his party unlike the BJP, whose presidents were selected through a "consensus". Kharge also said that if he wins the election for Congress president, the “remote control” would be with him. He was replying to a query about the BJP's claim that he would act as the "remote control" and "proxy" of Sonia Gandhi after being elected to the post. "A lot of people say I am a remote control and work from behind. They say I will do what Sonia Gandhi will say. There is no such thing as remote control in Congress, people take decisions together. It is your thinking. A few people are creating this idea," he said. Criticising the BJP for their method of electing party presidents, he said, "How many times has the prime minister held (party president's) election? All the presidents were selected through consensus, and you are teaching me? Where is the remote control in the BJP? When I become president, the remote control will stay with me." Decisions would be taken by "committee, elected members, working committee and parliamentary board", he said, adding that he would try his best to ensure 50% of organisational posts are reserved for those below 50 years of age. Kharge also said he would work towards representation for women, youth, Dalits, backward classes at every level of the party, and also appeal to state units to fight polls unitedly, if he won the polls. Action initiated on all cases: India counters U.K. Home Secretary’s claim on visa overstayers India responded to British Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s claim that the Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) had not "worked very well" and said that action was initiated on all cases raised with it under the agreement. The Indian High Commission in London said that India also awaits “demonstrable progress” on certain commitments undertaken by the U.K. government under the MMP that was signed last year. Braverman, in an interview to ‘The Spectator’, said Indians were the “largest group of people who overstay” their visas in the U.K. “As part of our wider discussions under Migration and Mobility, the government of India is committed to working with the government of the UK to facilitate the return of Indian citizens who have overstayed their visa period here in the UK,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement. “As per the data shared with the Home Office, as of date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. Further, the UK has also undertaken to fulfil certain commitments as part of the Migration and Mobility Protocol, on which we await demonstrable progress,” it further said. With reference to Braverman’s comments about having visa-related "reservations" over the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between the two sides, the High Commission noted that any future arrangements would be of mutual benefit. “While certain issues pertaining to Mobility and Migration are currently under discussion as part of these negotiations, any comment on these matters may not be appropriate given that the negotiations are underway, and that any arrangement will include issues of interest to both sides,” the High Commission said. Braverman, the Indian-origin minister who took charge at the Home Office last month, said she had "concerns" over the FTA with India fearing what she termed as an “open borders” migration policy. Her contention that the MMP has not worked very well is seen as a clear indication that she is likely to withhold Cabinet backing for any visa concessions for India as part of an FTA. This would put her on a collision course with her boss, Liz Truss, who is keen to stick to the Deepavali deadline for an FTA with India as one of her highlight trade deals since taking over as the British Prime Minister. Belarus activist Ales Bialiatski, Russian, Ukrainian organisations win Nobel Peace Prize Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties are being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced. The Nobel Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy, the academy said. Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. He founded the organisation Viasna (Spring), in 1996, which evolved into a broad-based human rights organisation that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners. Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski. Since 2020, he is still detained without trial. The human rights organisation Memorial was established in 1987 by activists in the former Soviet Union to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten. Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones. The Center for Civil Liberties was founded for the purpose of advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the center has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian population. It is playing a pioneering role in holding guilty parties accountable for their crimes. The prize announcement came amid Russia’s continued attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia where the death toll from a missile attack on apartment buildings rose to 11 as more Russian missiles and — for the first time — explosive packed drones were used on Friday. Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said, “The prize is not addressing President Putin, not for his birthday or in any other sense, except that his government, as the government in Belarus, is representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists.” In Brief: The death toll from an avalanche in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, rose to 26 as 10 more bodies were recovered from the site, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. Meanwhile, officials said that two Cheetah helicopters had joined the search operations. The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when a team of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was returning after summiting Draupadi Ka Danda II peak. While 24 of the dead have been identified as trainee mountaineers, two are instructors. According to the NIM, three trainees are still missing. [logo] The Evening Wrap 08 OCTOBER 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]( [Privacy Info]( Three-member commission to look into granting SC status to Dalits converted to other religions The Union Government has set up[a three-member Commission for Inquiry to look into giving Scheduled Castes status to Dalits who have converted]( to any religion other than Sikhism or Buddhism. The Commission will be headed by former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and will have as its members UGC member Prof. Sushma Yadav, and retired IAS officer Ravinder Kumar Jain. The government has set a time of two years for the Commission to submit its report. A gazette notification issued by the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry on Thursday said the Commission will also examine the changes Scheduled Caste persons go through on converting to other religions in terms of their customs, traditions, social and other status discrimination and deprivation, and the implication of the same on the question of giving them Scheduled Caste status. In addition, the Commission has also been tasked with examining the implications of granting Scheduled Castes status to Dalit converts on existing Scheduled Castes communities in the country. Recently, the Supreme Court sought the most recent position of the Union government on a batch of petitions challenging the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, which allows only members of Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions to be recognised as SCs. The petitions arguing for inclusion have cited several independent Commission reports that have documented the existence of caste and caste inequalities among Indian Christians and Indian Muslims, noting that even after conversion, members who were originally from SCs continued to experience the same social disabilities. The closest a government got to including Dalit Christians as SCs came in March, 1996, when based on a recommendation of the then Ministry of Welfare, the P. V. Narsimha Rao government first brought a Bill to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order accordingly. However, the Bill could not be passed. Human rights of people of Xinjiang should be respected and guaranteed: India A day after abstaining at the United Nations Human Rights Council vote on Xinjiang, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that[India “remains committed to upholding all human rights”.]( In the first such comments, New Delhi said that the human rights of the people of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region should be "respected and guaranteed" and called on China to address issues. [Students training to become imams recite verses from the Quran at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far west Xinjiang region, during a government organised visit for foreign journalists on April 21, 2021. ] “The human rights of the people of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region should be respected and guaranteed. We hope that the relevant party will address the situation objectively and properly,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. “India remains committed to upholding all human rights. India’s vote is in line with its long held position that country specific resolutions are never helpful. India favours a dialogue to deal with such issues,” he said. India has taken note of assessment of human rights concerns in Xinjiang by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), the spokesperson said. The draft resolution was pushed by a group comprising Canada, Denmark, Finland, the UK, the US, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and was co-sponsored by some other countries. In its recent report, the OCHCR said serious human rights violations have been committed in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the context of the Chinese government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies. Kharge rubbishes talk of being ‘Sonia’s remote control’, slams BJP for its way of choosing party chiefs Senior Congress leader and candidate for the party's presidential polls [Mallikarjun Kharge said there was no "remote control" in his party unlike the BJP]( whose presidents were selected through a "consensus". Kharge also said that if he wins the election for Congress president, the “remote control” would be with him. He was replying to a query about the BJP's claim that he would act as the "remote control" and "proxy" of Sonia Gandhi after being elected to the post. "A lot of people say I am a remote control and work from behind. They say I will do what Sonia Gandhi will say. There is no such thing as remote control in Congress, people take decisions together. It is your thinking. A few people are creating this idea," he said. Criticising the BJP for their method of electing party presidents, he said, "How many times has the prime minister held (party president's) election? All the presidents were selected through consensus, and you are teaching me? Where is the remote control in the BJP? When I become president, the remote control will stay with me." Decisions would be taken by "committee, elected members, working committee and parliamentary board", he said, adding that he would try his best to ensure 50% of organisational posts are reserved for those below 50 years of age. Kharge also said he would work towards representation for women, youth, Dalits, backward classes at every level of the party, and also appeal to state units to fight polls unitedly, if he won the polls. Action initiated on all cases: India counters U.K. Home Secretary’s claim on visa overstayers [India responded to British Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s claim]( that the Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) had not "worked very well" and said that action was initiated on all cases raised with it under the agreement. The Indian High Commission in London said that India also awaits “demonstrable progress” on certain commitments undertaken by the U.K. government under the MMP that was signed last year. Braverman, in an interview to ‘The Spectator’, said Indians were the “largest group of people who overstay” their visas in the U.K. “As part of our wider discussions under Migration and Mobility, the government of India is committed to working with the government of the UK to facilitate the return of Indian citizens who have overstayed their visa period here in the UK,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement. “As per the data shared with the Home Office, as of date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. Further, the UK has also undertaken to fulfil certain commitments as part of the Migration and Mobility Protocol, on which we await demonstrable progress,” it further said. With reference to Braverman’s comments about having visa-related "reservations" over the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between the two sides, the High Commission noted that any future arrangements would be of mutual benefit. “While certain issues pertaining to Mobility and Migration are currently under discussion as part of these negotiations, any comment on these matters may not be appropriate given that the negotiations are underway, and that any arrangement will include issues of interest to both sides,” the High Commission said. Braverman, the Indian-origin minister who took charge at the Home Office last month, said she had "concerns" over the FTA with India fearing what she termed as an “open borders” migration policy. Her contention that the MMP has not worked very well is seen as a clear indication that she is likely to withhold Cabinet backing for any visa concessions for India as part of an FTA. This would put her on a collision course with her boss, Liz Truss, who is keen to stick to the Deepavali deadline for an FTA with India as one of her highlight trade deals since taking over as the British Prime Minister. Belarus activist Ales Bialiatski, Russian, Ukrainian organisations win Nobel Peace Prize Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties are being [awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022]( the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced. [Anna Popova (left) and Alona Matvieieva (right) of the Centre for Civil Liberties talk as staff celebrate in their office on October 7, 2022 in Kyiv. The Ukrainian human rights organisation received the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize along with human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, and the Russian human rights organisation Memorial. ] The Nobel Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy, the academy said. Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. He founded the organisation Viasna (Spring), in 1996, which evolved into a broad-based human rights organisation that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners. Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski. Since 2020, he is still detained without trial. The human rights organisation Memorial was established in 1987 by activists in the former Soviet Union to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten. Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones. The Center for Civil Liberties was founded for the purpose of advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the center has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian population. It is playing a pioneering role in holding guilty parties accountable for their crimes. The prize announcement came amid [Russia’s continued attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia]( where the death toll from a missile attack on apartment buildings rose to 11 as more Russian missiles and — for the first time — explosive packed drones were used on Friday. Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said, “The prize is [not addressing President Putin, not for his birthday]( or in any other sense, except that his government, as the government in Belarus, is representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists.” In Brief: The death toll from an avalanche in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, rose to 26 as [10 more bodies were recovered]( from the site, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. Meanwhile, officials said that two Cheetah helicopters had joined the search operations. The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when a team of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was returning after summiting Draupadi Ka Danda II peak. While 24 of the dead have been identified as trainee mountaineers, two are instructors. According to the NIM, three trainees are still missing. 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