Varsha Deshpande honoured with 2025 U.N. Population Award for advancing gender equality
Ms. Deshpande, secretary of the Maharashtra-based Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal, was recognised for her pioneering work over more than 35 years to combat gender-based violence and discrimination, particularly gender-biased sex selection. She founded the organisation in 1990 to champion gender justice and empower marginalised women through legal reform, education, and grassroots mobilisation.
The UN lauded her leadership in community-driven advocacy and reform under India's Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, aimed at curbing the declining child sex ratio. Through her organisation, Ms. Deshpande has also worked to prevent child marriage, safeguard the rights of women in the informal sector and promote joint property registration for women.
'I am deeply honoured to receive the prestigious UN Population Award in recognition of my efforts to address gender-biased sex selection and the declining sex ratio,' Ms. Deshpande said.
She described the award as a tribute to the collective efforts of individuals and institutions working for gender justice.
'Humbling and inspiring'
'I sincerely hope this recognition helps renew focus on the critical issue of gender-biased sex selection and reinforces the importance of investing in the value of women and girls. Being counted among those who have made significant global contributions is both humbling and inspiring. It deepens my sense of responsibility to live up to this honour and to uphold the trust placed in me,' she added.
Andrea M. Wojnar, UNFPA India Representative and Country Director for Bhutan, said, 'Varsha's pioneering efforts to build a more equal society are truly commendable. Her dedication to addressing all forms of discrimination — whether based on gender, caste, or religion — has contributed significantly to ensuring that people, especially women and girls, can live with dignity, opportunity, and well-being. I deeply appreciate her passion and commend her courage for working on a sensitive and critical issue like gender-biased sex selection.'
The UN Population Award, established in 1981, honours individuals and institutions for outstanding contributions to population and reproductive health. It includes a gold medal, a diploma, and a monetary prize.
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Mint
21 minutes ago
- Mint
Trump signals support for new Israel attack if Iran moves toward bomb
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And Tehran is demanding guarantees it won't face more bombing in return for resuming talks with Washington. Israel wouldn't necessarily seek explicit American approval to resume strikes on Iran, a senior Israel official said. But depending on how significant the Iranian attempt to rekindle its nuclear program was, Netanyahu could face pushback from Trump to preserve the diplomatic track with Tehran. For Iran's leaders, the stakes are even more momentous: If they rebuff Trump's demand to give up nuclear enrichment and resume their nuclear activities, renewed attacks by Israel and even the U.S. could threaten the regime's survival. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, like other top Iranian leaders, in recent days has said Tehran is open to resuming nuclear talks with the U.S. with assurances there will be no renewed attacks during the negotiations. Iran will insist on what it says is its right to enrich uranium, he added. The White House declined to comment on Trump's talks with Netanyahu. The Iranian mission to the United Nations didn't respond to requests for comment. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a dinner at the White House earlier in July. Before last month's strikes, Israel assessed that Iran could produce a crude nuclear device within a matter of months and construct a usable weapon within a year. Top Israeli officials said they thought the U.S. and Israeli military strikes had set back Tehran's ability to build a nuclear weapon by up to two additional years, matching a recent Pentagon assessment. Israel has concluded that some of Tehran's stockpile of near-bomb-grade enriched uranium at Isfahan survived last month's attacks and that with considerable effort Iran could recover some of the fissile material from that site, the senior Israeli official said. 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The Print
25 minutes ago
- The Print
From Bengaluru traffic to Modi govt's diplomacy, Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia is ruffling feathers
Bhatia's latest was a dig at the Prime Minister's tours and civilian honours conferred on him by various heads of states over the past decade. What began as a series of acid-laced questions about India's GDP growth on record, soon escalated into an all-out punditry marathon: rants against Operation Sindoor, bemoaning lack of access to quality education, and even attacking the Narendra Modi-led central government's policy priorities. New Delhi: Indian-American entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia, better known as the founder of Hotmail, isn't someone afraid to speak their mind. Having stayed out of the public eye these past few years, except for the occasional press interview and paid speaking tour, Bhatia made a comeback with hot takes on everything from policy to economy, and how. His opening salvo was a direct X post questioning the significance of India becoming the world's fourth-largest economy when millions of citizens can barely afford to put food on the table. The post went viral, with thousands reposting the phrase, 'Can you feel it in your pocket?' Within days, Bhatia was also writing posts about a bottom-up initiative in BJP-governed states to encourage entrepreneurship among rural women, wondering if it was more performative politics than empowerment. Some social media users hailed him as the new 'people's megaphone' while others, particularly government-aligned pundits, brushed him aside as a 'self-appointed saviour'. But the momentum gained steam: By mid-May, Bhatia's follower count on X had risen from under 50,000 to more than 200,000. Returning to India in the early 2000s after selling Hotmail, he was eager to spearhead a technology revolution. He invested in Simpa Networks—a solar-energy company set to provide pay-as-you-go power to rural villages. Bhatia's next venture—a 200-acre 'Nano City' in Haryana's Panchkula—aimed to replicate Silicon Valley's knowledge hub. But critics flagged it for opaque land deals and unrealistic timelines. In 2019, the state government formally scrapped the project, citing unmet conditions. He launched two additional ventures: a mobile-first e-learning platform, EduSpark, and a blockchain-based supply chain company, Transcircle. ThePrint looks at some of his hot takes that have ruffled feathers on X. Also read: Viksit Bharat goal needs more than GDP growth. Shift policy from entitlement to empowerment Sabeer Bhatia's hot takes The first had to be Bhatia's breakthrough tweet questioning India's GDP data. Posted on 28 May, it followed chatter over how India is on track to surpass Japan to become the fourth largest economy in nominal terms. Bhatia shared a video showing quality of life in India, captioned: 'Growth without distribution is just inflation in disguise.' We overtook Japan in GDP……but can you feel it in your pocket? Growth without distribution is just inflation in disguise. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) May 28, 2025 Just 2 days ago, on 9 July, Bhatia cited Pakistan assuming rotational presidency of the UNSC for the month of July to ask whether PM Modi's multi-nation tour had yielded any tangible outcome for India. 90 trips to 77 countries. Countless handshakes, speeches, and photo ops. End result: Pakistan assumes Presidency of the UN Security Council. Wow. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 9, 2025 In a 29 June tweet, Bhatia launched a scathing attack on the central government's Viksit Bharat agenda, questioning how it planned to accomplish this target when hunger and poverty run deep in India. 34% kids under 5 malnourished. 20% never vaccinated. 8M children in bonded labour. 150M kids out of school. 25% teacher absenteeism… And we're dreaming of becoming 'developed' by 2047?Please explain how? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 29, 2025 Soon after the Air India crash in Ahmedabad last month claimed more than 200 lives, Bhatia wrote: '63 percent said I should fly Air India in the next 2 weeks. But when asked if they would fly it, only 51 percent said yes.' 63% said I should fly Air India in the next 2 weeks. But when asked if they would fly it, only 51% said yes. Interesting, right? The advice you give others is different from what you'd follow yourself. Why is that? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 21, 2025 He also questioned the legal definition of poverty in India, asking whether those who earn $5 each day instead of the earlier benchmark of $3 can now be considered 'not poor'. Some say 250M people in India aren't 'poor' anymore because they now make $5/day instead of $3. Really? Can you send your kids to school, buy books, shoes, food, pay rent and utilities on that? Which world are these people living in? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 20, 2025 Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark last month that Indians who speak English 'will soon feel ashamed', Bhatia said it illustrated how politicians wanted to take India back to the pre-British era. Amazing plan a leader has for our nation: stop speaking English or feel ashamed. Do we want to move forward or go back in time? Should our kids dream of space, robots, and large language models—or imagine life before the British came? I'm at a loss for words… — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 19, 2025 In another post on X in the aftermath of the AI-171 crash, Bhatia asked: 'Do you really think the 4th largest economy in the world should still be having plane crashes due to systemic failures?' Some news reports suggest that my asking a few logical questions about the plane crash is a political act. Since when did asking questions become political? What kind of democracy equates inquiry with partisanship? I'm struggling to understand this logic. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 15, 2025 Do you really think the 4th largest economy in the world should still be having plane crashes due to systemic failures? Time to question what truly makes a nation great. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 12, 2025 In one of his tweets in early June, Bhatia had said that Delhi tops the list of five most polluted cities in the world. He urged Indians to stop celebrating GDP growth and focus on the AQI index. Delhi tops the list of the 5 most polluted major cities in the world — followed by Dhaka, Ouagadougou, Karachi, and Lahore. Fellow Indians, it's time to stop celebrating GDP and start focusing on AQI, education, and human wellbeing. Economic growth means nothing if we can't… — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 3, 2025 Criticising the government's efforts to locate the terrorists who executed the Pahalgam attack, Bhatia shared a candid image of a man trying to kill a fly with a bazooka. Would you use a bazooka to kill a fly? Then why all this madness? Where are the 4 men who actually did it? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 1, 2025 In another rather cryptic post on 31 May, Bhatia remarked in an apparent dig at the Indian government, 'The country that taught tolerance to the world over 1000s of years is ruining its global brand by promoting untruths and misinformation.' The country that taught tolerance to the world over 1000s of years is ruining its global brand by promoting untruths and misinformation. Can the outcome of all this be good? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) May 31, 2025 In another post on X in June, the Hotmail founder wrote that Indians must think long and hard before celebrating predictions of the country being on track to become the fourth largest economy. Instead of hanging your head in shame that 415 million people in India survive on $3.10/day, you brag about being the world's 4th largest economy. Shame on you. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 10, 2025 More recently, Bhatia trained his guns at traffic management in Bengaluru. I know Bengaluru folks may call this negative… but the traffic here is INSANE. I ride the same distance on my bicycle in 1/3 the time in the Bay Area. How do people tolerate this every day? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 1, 2025 In another post on X, Bhatia gave his two cents on UP Energy Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma chanting 'Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Bajrang Bali' when constituents surrounded him to complain about power cuts in the state. Just when you think ministerial knowledge and concern for citizens can't get more bizarre, a power minister of a major state responds to complaints about power cuts by chanting Jai Shri Ram and Jai Shri Bajrang Bali. Electricity not included. Wow. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 10, 2025 Taking a jibe at BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's remarks in Mandi during her visit to her flash floods-stricken parliamentary constituency, Bhatia said she has no intention to help the people and lacks leadership skills. A leader recently told her people she can't help them—no staff, no funds, no power to act. Add to that: no intention of helping them either. Why hold office then? Leadership isn't about what you lack, it's about what you do with what you have. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 8, 2025 Bhatia also had some advice for the political class: as long as they 'want to 'rule' and people think they need to be 'ruled'—not 'served'—nothing will truly change'. Indian politics hasn't changed much since 1947. As long as parties want to 'rule' and people think they need to be 'ruled'—not 'served'—nothing will truly change. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 30, 2025 (Edited by Amrtansh Arora) Also Read: #ByeByeAP to #LuluBackInAP: Naidu's moves to make Andhra 'business friendly' & woo back investors
Time of India
25 minutes ago
- Time of India
Iran warns of fake X profiles trying to damage relations with India; shares list of imposter accounts
The Iranian Embassy in India on Saturday warned that several fake social media accounts are impersonating official Iranian entities in an apparent attempt to undermine Iran-India relations . 'Some fake channels, under the name of Iran, are attempting to damage Iran-India relations. These accounts do not belong to Iran," the embassy stated in a post shared on X. — Iran_in_India (@Iran_in_India) The embassy shared a list of multiple fraudulent accounts, some of which displayed the paid subscription blue verification tick, making them appear authentic to casual users. According to the post, the impersonating profiles included fake accounts posing as Iranian Armed Forces handles and others pretending to represent Iranian government ministries. Live Events Among the false claims circulated, one post alleged that Iran was reconsidering the Chabahar port agreement with India because US B-2 bombers had supposedly used Indian airspace for strikes on Iran. "Iran is reconsidering its Chabahar port agreement with India following revelations that US B-2 bombers used Indian airspace for strikes on Iran," it read. Despite rising global tensions, the two countries have long maintained cooperation over the strategic Chabahar port, which serves as a key trade and connectivity hub linking India to Afghanistan and Central Asia. The post in question is further referring to the Donald Trump-led US administration's Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran on June 22. Several nuclear facilities was targeted by the US Armed Forces in a combined attack resulted from the increasingly rising military conflicts between its ally Israel and Tehra.
