Change.org India

1. BIG NEWS 🚨: India’s first helpline for deaf persons is on its way!

The @MSJEGOI has confirmed they've assigned ‘14456’ as the dedicated FIVE-digit helpline for deaf persons. #HelplinesForAll

How did an online petition get us here? 🧵👇

change.org/p/drvirendraku…

📢 "I’ve seen my father, also a magician, get beat up by cops in Connaught Place, because he dared to perform in a public place."

Our petition starter and world-renowned Indian street magician 🪄 @IshamudinKhan, who's been campaigning for street performers' right to earn their livelihoods through busking, is now performing at @sundernursery.

In his online petition, signed ✍️ by 8,299 people so far, Ishamudin is appealing to the authorities to allow regulated busking in public spots.

We're glad that #SunderNursery is helping Ishamudin revive traditional Indian magic.

Sign this petition to support the movement. Change.org/LetThemPerform

📅 22nd October
⏲️ 4 pm & 6 pm

Trigger Warning: Death By Suicide
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📢 "She was lovely, gentle and hardworking." While in medical college, she took her own life.

Change.org/JusticeForSugi…

We've seen this tragedy play out too many times to ignore the phenomenon.

Dr. Sugirtha, a 2nd year Anaesthesiology postgraduate student at Sree Mookambikai Medical College in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, died by suicide in her hostel room on October 6, 2023.

"Sugirtha may have left us, but her note proves that she's still seeking justice."

In her suicide note, Sugirtha accused a professor and two senior doctors of sexual harassment and mental abuse respectively.

In this petition, which has been signed ✍️ by nearly 15,000 people, Sugirtha's friends, colleagues and acquaintances appeal to @mkstalin to ensure an impartial judicial enquiry to probe the case and bring #JusticeForSugirtha. Further, the petition also asks for the mandatory constitution of internal complaints committees (ICCs) to deal with sexual harassment complaints in medical colleges, failing which, colleges should be asked to cease new admissions.

The systemic solutions proposed in the petition are needed, for medical students' suicides are not just scattered or one-off incidents but a phenomenon that has even attracted scholarly scrutiny.

@drsitu @IMAIndiaOrg @Indian__doctor @DrDhruvchauhan @MitaliVasavada @Dr_Aditya_reddy @NMC_IND @DrMG_PsychMD @abhiloquacious @garima_sadhwani

📢 The fight for #SameSexMarriage 🏳️‍🌈 is not only about marriage per se. With the right to marry flow other rights such as the right to jointly adopt a child, to apply for a home loan together, and to add your partner as a nominee to your bank account.

Change.org/ParentsArePare…

Today, while the #SupremeCourt asserted that it can't create a legal framework for queer couples and asked a committee constituted by the Centre to look into various aspects concerning the rights of queer couples, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed that it is "wrong to assume that only heterosexual couples will be good parents," adding that the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) regulations that prohibit unmarried couples from adopting a child, are in violation of Article 15 of the Constitution.

The five-judge bench, however, in a 3:2 verdict, ruled that non-heterosexual couples cannot be granted the right to jointly adopt a child, thus depriving same-sex couples of the right to adopt, once again.

As pointed out in several news reports, no timelines have been set for the Centre to pass laws for the protection of the rights of queer couples. 💔

Meanwhile, thousands of people have, and continue to sign online petitions advocating for the rights of queer communities. This petition by @hiyer, started when India was reeling from the second wave of the Covid pandemic, asked CARA guidelines to "make it possible for unmarried persons of all genders and sexes, live in couples of all genders and sexes, and people who identify as sexual minorities or gender minorities to adopt children affected by Covid-19."

"I rely on you to enable us as a nation to rise up from our age old unconscious and conscious biases against queer, live in and single people who wish to adopt children."

Over 25,000 people have ✍️ signed this petition.

📢 "More than 99.9% of people of the country are opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage," said the Bar Council of India in April this year.

Change.org/NotMyBCI

While India's 🇮🇳 #SupremeCourt pronounces its verdict on the issue of #SameSexMarriage and #MarriageEquality 🏳️‍🌈, it is worth re-looking at this online petition from April this year that talked about how a resolution passed by the Bar Council of India had demanded the Supreme Court "leave the issue of same-sex marriage to legislative process" and not adjudicate upon the said matter.

"The resolution, inter alia, contains the following objectionable and irresponsible statements:

'Marriage has been typically accepted and categorised as a union of a biological man and woman'

'More than 99.9% of people of the country are opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage'

'The Bar is the mouthpiece of the common man and therefore, this meeting is expressing their anxiety over this sensitive issue'," reads the online petition.

The petition starter argued that there was no empirical data to support the statement that 99.9% people of the country were opposed to same-sex marriage, also, that the BCI is not an entirely elected body and does not represent the views of the entire legal community.

"As far as the undersigned are aware, the BCI itself does not have a single woman or member of the LGBTQIA+ community and is gravely under-represented and skewed towards one section of the legal community," adds the petition.

Over 10,000 people signed ✍️ this petition, echoing #NotMyBCI in response to what they felt was a "deplorable stand taken by a few lawyers at the BCI."