3 Muslim panchayat presidents forced to remove hijab at PM Modi’s event

March 10, 2017

Ahmadabad, Mar 10: Three female Muslim panchayat presidents from Kerala were allegedly forced to remove their headscarf at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat on the occasion of the International Women's Day .

Fouziya, Shahina and Shaharban Saidalavi were part of a delegation from Kerala and were invited to the event held in Gandhinagar meant to felicitate women achievers.

For a practicing Muslim woman, a headscarf is not only considered a matter of modesty, but also an intricate part of religious observation.

Noorbina Rashid, a member of Kerala Women's Commission, said Ms Saidalavi, a panchayat president, was asked to remove her headscarf by the security persons at the venue. It was taken away for the entire duration of the event, which was attended by nearly 6,000 people, she said.

"The headscarf was given back to her after an hour when other members from the delegation intervened," said Yahy Khan, who had been informed about the matter by people from Kerala's 100-strong delegation who had accompanied Ms Saidalavi.

Ms Saidalavi has been a local body leader for over 20 years. Her panchayat in Kerala's Wayanand was being felicitated for its contribution in making the area free of open defecation, which is one of the key objectives of PM Modi's Clean India mission.

"This is an insult and unacceptable. On Women's Day, this is what is happening to a woman from a minority community," Ms Rashid said.

Calling it a violation of human rights, Kerala Women's Commission has demanded action against the security officer concerned.

The senior most police officer of the area has denied the allegations. "The woman's face was covered and it had to be removed to check her identity. This was done in the presence of the lady co-ordinator," said Virendra Yadav, Superintendent of Police, Gandhinagar.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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