Homeless, beggars should work; everything can’t be provided to them by State: Bombay High Court
The Hindu
“They should also work for the country. Everyone is working. Everything cannot be provided by the State. You (petitioner) are just increasing the population of this section of the society,” the high court
The Bombay High Court on Saturday said that homeless persons and beggars should also work for the country as everything cannot be provided to them by the State. A division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G. S. Kulkarni said this while disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Brijesh Aarya, seeking directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to provide nutritious meals thrice a day, potable water, shelter and clean public toilets for homeless persons, beggars and poor people in the city. The BMC informed the court that food packets were being distributed to such people all over Mumbai with the help of NGOs, and sanitary napkins were being provided to the women from this section of the society.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.