March 2020

Shashi Tharoor’s petition on menstrual leave draws sharp, and divided, response Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor’s tweet, advocating support for menstrual leave for women in public and private workplaces and calling for its support via a petition, has left Twitter divided, with many diverging opinions emerging on the topic. In the tweet, Tharoor started by asking, “Do you support Menstrual Leave for Women at Public and Private Workplaces?” The answer to that, for senior journalist Barkha Dutt, was a firm no.”NO… menstrual leave ghettoises women, becomes one more excuse to close certain professional doors on women and treats the...

Govt asks Nilekani to explain Infosys’ failure to fix GSTN glitch: Report The government has asked Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani to explain the software major’s failure to fix glitches in the Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN), The Times of India reported. Nilekani has been asked to make a presentation before the GST Council next week, the report said. The council is scheduled to meet on March 14. The government recently extended the deadline for filing GST returns after Infosys’ executives were unable to resolve the technical bug. The issues included login errors, auto logouts and delays in receiving on-time passwords (OTPs). Source: Moneycontrol

MS Dhoni on a mission to stay master of his own destiny CHENNAI: When Martin Guptill’s throw from the deep broke the stumps at the striker’s end to finish MS Dhoni and India’s dream of winning the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, it seemed to be the end of the road for the former Indian captain, at least on the international front. Dhoni kept adding fuel to the fire by deciding to stay away from international cricket for the next eight months, but there were enough indications from all quarters that he wouldn’t stop playing for Chennai Super Kings...

London-based woman declares herself ‘CM candidate’ for Bihar Assembly polls Pushpam Priya Choudhary, the daughter of former Janata Dal United MLC Vinod Chaudhary has declared herself as the “Chief Ministerial candidate” for the Assembly elections in Bihar. Priya, who belongs to Darbhanga but lives in London, announced the same in full-page advertisements which appeared in several Hindi and English newspapers in Bihar on Sunday. The advertisement mentioned her as president, Plurals, and the CM Candidate, Bihar. Currently, Bihar is ruled by BJP-JDU-LJP coalition headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Source: Hindustan Times

Tim Cook encouraging remote work at Apple global offices due to coronavirus Calling the coronavirus outbreak an “unprecedented event,” Apple CEO Tim Cook is encouraging employees at several of its global offices to “please feel free to work remotely if your job allows” from March 9th to 13th, Bloomberg reports. Cook sent a memo to employees which expands Apple’s earlier work-from-home provisions for some Apple workers in California and the Seattle area. He said in the memo that the company is “making a major effort to reduce human density” and the remote work policy will apply to offices in “areas with the greatest density of...

Veteran journalist Anant Dixit passes away at 67 Veteran Marathi journalist Anant Dixit died here on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 67. According to sources close to his family members, Dixit was suffering from a kidney-related ailment and was undergoing treatment at a city-based private hospital where he breathed his last in evening. His last rites will be performed on Wednesday. He hailed from Barshi in neighbouring Solapur district. Dixit had worked as the editor of Marathi newspaper ‘Sakal’ in Pune as well as in Kolhapur, and also for daily ‘Lokmat’. Source: Hindustan Times

Hans Raj Bhardwaj, former Union Law minister, dies at 82 Former Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj passed away Sunday due to a cardiac arrest, PTI quoted his family as saying. Bhardwaj, 82, was a Congress leader and part of the UPA government, holding the second-longest tenure in the Law ministry. He was the Karnataka Governor between 2009 and 2014 and was given additional charge as the Governor of Kerala in January 2012, which he left in March 2013. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief on the Congress leader’s death, as the Prime Minister’s Office wrote o Twitter quoting him: “Anguished by...

Women’s Day 2020: ‘Be a water warrior,’ posts another woman achiever from PM’s social media account The fourth woman achiever to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s social media accounts on the occasion of Women’s Day on Sunday was Kalpana Ramesh. Kalpana is a crusader in the fight against water scarcity who puts novel ideas and techniques in place to ensure that our future generation and the environment has enough of it to survive and thrive. “I never imagined I could bring back birds to a lake or tweet from our PMs handle. With a firm resolve, the impossible can emerge. We...

Explained: Who was the woman to have organised the first-ever Women’s Day International Women’s Day (IWD), observed every year on March 8, celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Being celebrated for over a century, the Day’s roots lie in the labour movement rather than the feminist movement. It was first organised in 1911 by the early 20th century Marxist from Germany, Clara Zetkin. A prominent feminist, Zetkin is referred to as the “grandmother of German communism”. Source: The Indian Express

Kamala Harris endorses Joe Biden as Democratic presidential candidate “Biden has served our country with dignity and we need him now more than ever,” she said in a Twitter post. Her announcement is another boost for Mr Biden, the Democratic front runner to take on Donald Trump in November. Ms Harris, seen as a rising star within the party, dropped out of the presidential race in December. Support for Mr Biden surged in the Super Tuesday Democratic primaries last week, with the 77-year-old winning 10 of the 14 states that voted. The list of possible candidates who might realistically win the nomination...