New Delhi Feb 21 PTI Batter VR Vanitha who represented the country in six womens ODIs and 16 T20Is from 2014 to 2016 on Monday announced retirement from all forms of the game at the age of 31 She made her announcement via Twitter and India team-mates Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj were among those thanked by the cricketer who made her debut for the national team in an ODI against Sri Lanka in January 2014 Besides she thanked her family members friends mentor and other team-mates who had been part of her journey in the sport Vanitha also thanked the two state associations -- Karnataka and Bengal -- that she represented in domestic cricket 19 years ago when I started playing I was just a little girl who loved sport Even to this day my love for cricket remains the same Whats changing is direction My heart says continue playing my body says stop and I have decided to listen to the latter Time is ripe to hang my boots Vanitha said in the post I hereby announce my retirement from all forms of cricket Its been a journey of struggles joy heartbreak learning and personal milestones While there are a few regrets Im grateful for the opportunities I got especially to represent India She called her retirement from the game not the end but the beginning of a new challenge In the limited number of ODIs and T20Is she played Vanitha scored 85 and 216 runs respectively and was a part of Indias squad during the Womens World T20 at home During the 2021-22 domestic season Vanitha guided Bengal to the semi-finals of the Womens Senior One-Day Trophy scoring 225 runs with knocks of 61 against Andhra and a 71-ball 107 against Hyderabad She enjoyed a strike rate of over 100 in the tournament PTI AH AH PDS PDS

New Delhi Jan 27 PTI A cow protection and research centre set up at Delhi Universitys Hansraj College has drawn the ire of students who claim that it has been set up at a site reserved for a womens hostelCollege principal Rama Sharma however said architects found the site unsuitable for building a hostel as it is a setback areaThe Students Federation of India SFI unit of Hansraj College alleged that a gaushala cow shelter dubbed as Swami Dayanand Cow-Protection and Research Centre has been constructed at the site reserved for the womens hostelAs colleges shut down because of the pandemic our college administration demanded full fees even though most of our families were suffering economic hardships Now imagine our surprise when we learn that while the campus has been shut the college has finished the construction of a full-fledged gaushala without any warning or discussion with the student community the SFI allegedIt said students will launch a vigorous campaign against this move It also demanded that the gaushala be pulled down and the construction of the long-awaited womens hostel be startedSharma said architects had examined the site in question and informed the college that a hostel could not be built thereArchitects had seen the site and told us that it is a setback area and a hostel cannot be constructed there The womens hostel is my dream project and architects will identify a suitable place for it she saidWe are getting a master plan of the entire college drawn up by professional architects since we want to have more classrooms and a hostel that can accommodate 100 women students she addedSharma also denied the centre was a gaushalaThere is only one cow at the centre to enable students to carry out research and it is not a gaushala she saidWe were thinking of setting up a gobar gas plant before Covid and this has been done as an experiment she addedThe principal said theirs is a DAV trust college and a havan is held every month on the campus PTI SLB DIV DIV

Patna Jan 24 PTI Girls need to unlearn the notion of being the weaker sex that is in need of protection to achieve true empowerment a top official said here on Monday The remarks were made by Harjot Kaur Bumrah a senior IAS officer who is also the Managing Director of Womens and Child Development Corporation WCDC which functions under the department of social welfare in the Bihar government She was addressing a webinar jointly organised by WCDC UNICEF and city-based think-tank ADRI on the occasion of National Girl Child Day From early childhood a girl is taught that she is supposed to care for others and not compete with others That she is weak and needs to be protected These so-called lessons are to be unlearnt so that she can learn the value of empowerment Bumrah said Speaking on the occasion UNICEFs Bihar head Nafisa Shafiq called for a girl-intentional approach that placed girls at the centre of programmes and policies Prabhat P Ghosh and Barna Ganguli spoke on behalf of ADRI which came out with a presentation on the states sex ratio The panelists agreed that Bihar has seen improvements in girls health and education though a lot remains to be achieved in the state which has lagged behind the national average on these parameters PTI NAC MM MM

Lucknow Jan 23 PTI Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu eased past young compatriot Malvika Bansod in straight games to win her second womens singles title at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament here on Sunday Playing in a depleted field due to multiple COVID-19 cases top seed Sindhu hardly broke her sweat to get past Bansod 21-13 21-16 in a lop-sided title contest The final lasted just 35 minutes It was former world champion Sindhus second Syed Modi title after having annexed the BWF World Tour Super 300 event in 2017 Before that seventh seeded Indians Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto clinched the mixed doubles title with a straight game win over compatriots T Hema Nagendra Babu and Srivedya Gurazada Bhatnagar and Crasto inflicted a 21-16 21-12 on the unseeded Indian duo in the summit clash that ended in 29 minutes Earlier the mens singles final between Arnaud Merkle and Lucas Claerbout was declared a No Match after one of the finalists tested positive for COVID-19 It was expected to be a one-sided womens singles match between world number seven Sindhu and young Bansod ranked 84th in the world and it turned out to be exactly that Sindhu used her vast experience and skills to great effect as Bansod found it extremely difficult to adjust to her opponents game from the onset The Tokyo Olympics silver medallist took off from the word go and raced to a 7-0 lead in no time The ace shuttler used her height and reach to great effect to increase her lead to 11-1 at the break After the break Bansod tried to up her game and collected a few points to close the gap but it was no match for a much superior Sindhu who closed out the first game with consummate ease The second game however produced a better contest with Bansod trying her best to lift her game and she did that too but it was not enough to challenge Sindhus class Sindhu used her height to mix her smashes with pinpoint drop shots which Bansod failed to counter as the Olympic medallist raced to a 11-4 lead at the break Sindhu continued in the same vein even though Bansod tried her best to forge a comeback and in the process secured four points on the trot to reduce the deficit to 17-12 Bansod managed to pick up four more points but lacked the temperament and class as Sindhu closed out the contest without any fuss PTI SSC SSC AH AH

New Delhi Oct 28 PTI A new literary prize for women announced on Thursday aims to put the spotlight on women writers and also shrink the gap that comes to awarding the work of men and women in writingInstituted by the New Delhi-based womens platform SheThePeople novels and short story collections by single authors in English or regional languages will be eligible for the Women Writers Prize for fictionWorks of fiction submitted for the award should have female protagonists written by Indian women writers residing in India The protagonists should be engaged in an honest struggle to improve their own and thus their sisters fate which may have been negatively impacted by economic gender class social or any other discrimination the organisers saidEach publishing house can send up to four submissions Books submitted should have been published between August 1 2020 and October 1 2021 The award carries prize money of Rs 50000 In case of translated work the award money will be shared equally between writer and translatorThe submission deadline is November 25 The longlist will be announced on January 20 2022 the shortlist on February 15 and the winner will be named on March 1 2022It is the wide range of womens writing which is ever-growing that the inaugural Women Writers Prize aims to shine a light on There is a visible gap when it comes to awarding the work of men and women in almost all fields including writing that needs to be urgently shrunk the organisers saidAccording to prize mentor and novelist Shashi Deshpande the idea of the insignificance of womens lives and experiences has spilled over into their writing and branded it as trivial and insignificant whereas the truth is that every single human experience is part of the infinite tapestry of the human story without womens stories the record remains incompleteA literary prize exclusively for womens writing can right the wrong and give womens writing the prestige and dignity that all writing deserves she saidFounder of SheThePeople and this prize Shaili Chopra said she believes there is a need to read more of womens writing and understand and absorb stories as told by womenWe also need to champion more female authors from India whose writings bring new and inclusive elements to the idea of the written word she addedPrize curator and author Shinie Antony said this award is for original path-breaking women writers telling their stories in exciting new ways This award is exclusively to honour women writers among us who stun us with their extraordinary literary merit PTI ZMN RDS RDS

New Delhi Oct 25 PTI Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Monday inaugurated a seven-day E-Auto Mela where prospective buyers can test-drive all the available vehicle models and explore the financing options an official statement said The mela organised by the Delhi government commenced at two locations here - Institute of Driving Training and Research IDTR Sarai Kale Khan and Loni It will continue till October 31 from 9 am to 4 pm daily The visiting prospective auto drivers will be able to see and test-drive all the available models of e-autos and explore the loan options available E-auto manufacturers Mahindra Piaggio ETO Motors and Saarthi as well as financiers like Mahindra Finance Bajaj Fincorp Convergence Energy Services Limited CESL are participating in the mela the statement said The experts at the mela will also guide the applicants on how to register for the e-autos and will brief them about the various environmental benefits battery and charging various maintenance subsidies interest relief it added Switching to non-polluting electric vehicles has been of highest priority to the government and to ensure Delhi is eased into this huge but crucial shift we have also simplified the process of application and other formalities as much as possible With over 1400 autos reserved for women this would be one of the biggest steps any city has taken in the direction of increasing the presence of women in public transport and overall womens safety Gahlot said at the eventHe also interacted with female auto drivers during the eventThe Transport Department has already invited online applications for the registration of 4261 e-autosThe Delhi Government has especially reserved 33 per cent of the total registration -- 1406 e-autos for women applicants The e-autos will be blue in colour in line with the electric buses soon to be inducted into the DTC fleet However the e-autos registered by a woman would be pink in colour The department has already received 6352 applications as of October 25 PTI SLB BAL BAL

Chennai Sept 20 PTI DMK leader and member of Parliament Kanimozhi on Monday lashed out at the BJP-led government at the Centre over problems faced by farmers Accusing the Narendra Modi government of enacting laws and launching initiatives that do not augur well for the people she said it had not spared even the students as it continued to hold NEET National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test The biggest issue is the Centre doesnt want to resolve the issues it is not prepared to listen to the problems of farmers she said and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the farm laws Speaking to reporters here after leading a black flag protest against the Centre as part of the nation-wide protest by the parties opposed to the BJP she slammed the Centre on the farm legislations and said they were against the interest of the farmers The government chose to increase the prices of petrol diesel and LPG when the economy is sliding How can people manage with the day-to day living when the prices of fuel and LPG are increased in spite of the slide in the economy The government promised to create number of jobs before coming to power but created none Kanimozhi said We have registered our opposition on behalf of the womens wing with the DMKs struggle against the anti-people policies of the BJP government she said DMKs youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin led a protest in the city The party workers raised slogans denouncing the Centre and demanded steps to stabilise the soaring prices of petrol diesel and LPG Black flag demonstrations were held throughout Tamil Nadu against the Central government for declining to withdraw the three farm laws besides the alleged anti-people and anti-democratic stand of the government Ruling DMKs allies including the CPI CPI M VCK and the Congress too staged such demonstrations as per the decision taken at a meeting convened by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi JSP NVG NVG