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Dear Reader,
In August, the UP government launched a survey of the state’s madrasas, ostensibly to identify unregistered institutions and their source of funding. This is on top of the staggering erosion in the number of students appearing for the madrasa exams which has reduced to 1.22 lakh last year from 3.17 lakh in 2016. Moreover, the teachers of the ‘modern madrasa’ – who teach English, science, and maths, other than The Quran - have not been paid for months by the government.
ThePrint reports that the move has sent shivers down the spine of Muslims who fear that it was a thinly veiled move to weaponise the madrasa issue to intimidate and “bulldoze” the community – a “mini-NRC” exercise.
Many foreign-based VPN service providers are looking to exit India, unable and unwilling to comply with the ‘cybersecurity directions’ issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) in April. Now, for the first time, an Indian company in Pune has gone to court against the decrees, arguing that it not only violates their ‘right to do business’ but is also beyond the scope of CERT-In’s powers. MediaNama examines the issue.
Last week, in a tragic incident, five sanitation workers died in Haryana’s Faridabad after inhaling toxic gases while working in a 10-foot-deep sewer without any safety gear. The Citizen reports that these deaths come as no surprise and are increasingly becoming the norm – with 347 deaths of workers in the last five years – and most fatalities being reported from UP, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana.
And, on the occasion of World Mental Health Day on October 10, The Probe takes us through the poor state of mental health infrastructure in the country. It explains how the issue is still not a priority for governments despite a clear and recorded rise in the prevalence of mental afflictions since the advent of Covid.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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