Without naming Pawar or his kin, the tax authority said evidence gathered by the department during the raids carried out at about 70 premises across Mumbai, Pune, Baramati, Goa and Jaipur has revealed “several prima-facie unaccounted and benami transactions”.

The Income Tax (I-T) Department on Friday said it has unearthed unaccounted income worth Rs 184 crore after its searches on October 7 at premises of two real estate groups in Mumbai linked to the family of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Without naming Pawar or his kin, the tax authority said the evidence gathered by it during the searches carried out at about 70 premises spread across Mumbai, Pune, Baramati, Goa and Jaipur revealed “several prima-facie unaccounted and benami transactions”.

“Incriminating documents evidencing unaccounted income of about Rs 184 crore of the two groups have been found,” said the tax agency in a statement on Friday.

On October 7, the tax agency had searched a firm where Pawar’s son, Parth, is a director; a few firms owned by Pawar’s sisters; two real estate firms linked to Pawar; and premises of directors of four sugar mills across the state reportedly indirectly linked to the Pawar family.

Standing in the lobby of London's Savoy hotel, pregnant and with a crying bundle in her tattered shawl, Dublin woman Florrie Kavanagh must have attracted some disdainful looks.

A combination of desperate poverty and daring had brought her here. While she waited to hear whether she would be seen, she would have cried a little herself and tried to quieten the child. And, most of all, she would have reasoned with herself: this was the Fifties and babies were abandoned all the time. Better to be left in the plush suite of a Hollywood film star than in some dire orphanage or at a railway station.

Florrie, like everyone else in London, had heard the news. Jane Russell, the "moody, mean and magnificent" Queen of Hollywood had swept into town and was looking for a young addition to her family. On the front page of the paper that morning there had been just two huge photos. One showed a smiling Winston Churchill, who had just been re-elected Prime Minister. The other showed the bejewelled screen goddess with the caption: "Miss Russell in London to adopt baby boy."

Years before, Florrie had moved to England in search of a better life, but things had not been easy. She already had three small children and was living in a shabby, tiny house in south London with no working toilet inside. She and her husband Michael, also from Ireland, were struggling to make ends meet. This latest baby, Tommy, left her young family on the brink, and with one more on the way she had few other options. She had heard of rich Americans adopting children back home and had read that Jane Russell was devoutly religious. Florrie told herself she was securing her little boy "a place in heaven".

In ordinary circumstances, of course, an Irish church mouse with a crying baby would have had no chance of getting in the orbit of an imperious film deity such as Russell. The actress had starred alongside Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and, together with Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth, embodied the sensuously contoured "sweater girl" look. With her topaz-coloured eyes and perfect figure, she represented what one publicist described as "lust, desire and everything that good boys are not supposed to think about". She was one of the biggest stars in the world.

The group of parents, who have reached out to the ministry through an advocacy group known as ‘Adoption Action Group’, include both resident and non-resident Indians

A group of 250 prospective adoptive parents (PaPs) and adoptive parents has written to Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani, seeking various reforms in the existing adoption norms in the country so that the process becomes faster and transparent.

While PaPs are those who have registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) — a statutory body under the ministry of women and child development (WCD) — and are yet to receive a child, the adoptive parents are those who have already received a child through the authority. The group of parents, who have reached out to the ministry through an advocacy group known as ‘Adoption Action Group’, include both resident and non-resident Indians.

In a letter dated October 7, the group highlighted several issues, including the delay in getting referrals (notification issued after CARA finds a suitable match for any PaP), lack of information and transparency from CARA, lack of clarity on the new processes or plans adopted during the pandemic, increased threat of illegal adoptions and trafficking of children orphaned by Covid-19, among others.

“These issues have a direct impact on the process and current waiting time for PaPs...From an already long wait of two and a half years, we are now into a three-year-long process and heading towards a waiting period of more than three years,” the group said in the letter.

Amanda Lipitz's film, which follows three adopted American teenagers who discover they are related and embark on a journey to explore their Chinese roots, will be released Oct. 20.

“When you know where you come from, you can find the peace in your heart.”

That’s the thesis behind the upcoming Netflix documentary Found, which follows a trio of three American teenage girls – Chloe, Sadie and Lily – who find each other via the genetic lineage site 23andMe and discover that they are related and, coincidentally, all adopted. With the strength of their newfound bond, they decide to embark on the journey of returning to China – and exploring their origin stories – together.

The film’s director (and Chloe’s aunt), Amanda Lipitz (2017’s Step), reached out to the company My China Roots, which specializes in helping diaspora Chinese find long-lost relatives and trace their genealogical lineage. With the guidance of researcher Liu Hao, whose personal story has given her a deep empathy for China’s adopted daughters, Chloe, Sadie and Lily gain new insight into the circumstances of their early years, revisiting their orphanages and reuniting with the nannies who loved and cared for them.

“Asian American women are an extremely underrepresented group in film and television, and I’m sure that was a motivating factor to them,” said Lipitz of Chloe and her cousins’ decision to participate in the documentary. “It felt like a moment of ‘Let me tell my story. Let me show people that I’m here.'”

Family Power is a joint initiative of nine Dutch NGOs and their international partner NGOs spread over four continents. With an extensive research and communication program, these relatively small organisations want to show together how vulnerable children can still grow up in a safe, caring and permanent family.

Worldwide, more than 6 million children live in institutions such as orphanages and many more are at risk of losing their family. Of 80-90% of children in institutions, one or both parents are still alive.

Family-based care offers a solution.

What we do

Strengthening cross-border cooperation to improve protection and care for children worldwide

Body

Court of North Holland

Date of judgment

27-06-2018

Date of publication

Body

Court of North Holland

Date of judgment

27-06-2018

Date of publication

This article is the 18th in a series about Koreans adopted abroad. Apparently, many Koreans never expected that the children it had sent away via adoption would return as adults with questions demanding to be answered. However, thousands of adoptees visit Korea each year. Once they rediscover this country, it becomes a turning point in their lives. We should embrace the dialogue with adoptees to discover the path to recovering our collective humanity. ? ED.

By Lee Kyung-eun

I'm often asked by Western diplomats, "I know Korea had a problem with that issue in the past but is it still relevant these days?" Korean civil society and human rights groups have demonstrated a similar depth of understanding, "Wasn't that the legacy of the military dictatorship? With democratization, hasn't that already changed?" Rather than addressing the fundamental flaws and injustices of the legal system and legislation, these problems have been swept under the rug to be forgotten or ignored.

Korea's political landscape has changed since 1992 and now resembles a "democratic" presidential system. This progress has been complemented by economic growth that has elevated the level of social and cultural development of the country. Unlike in many other countries, a 1987 revision of the Constitution banned consecutive or multiple executive terms, limiting the president to a single five-year term. Critics have expressed frustration over the short term-limits that encourage presidents to prioritize short-term gains to secure their legacies. However, considering the times in which the revision was passed, the primary aim of the term limit was to prevent the re-emergence of prolonged dictatorial rule, which remained fresh in the minds of the people.

The democratization of Korea did not mark the end of tyranny but rather ushered in a new stage of struggle for human rights. We only need to look at world history to see that democratization does not guarantee an actual "democracy." Moreover, "democracy" does not automatically equate to the protection of human rights.

For the first time, the Belgian government risks being sentenced to reparations for crimes against humanity committed in the Congolese colony. "Apologies aren't enough."

Simone Ngalula (71), Léa Tavares Mujinga (78), Monique Bitu Bingi (72), Noëlle Verbeken (76) and Marie-José Loshi (74) stayed as metis children – children of Congolese mothers and Belgian fathers – together at the mission post of Katende, in Congo. Sixty years later, they are suing the Belgian state for kidnapping, assault, being separated from their families and taking away their identities. All on a racial basis, because of their skin color. The case will come before the Brussels civil court on Thursday.

"We don't want to have the entire colonization condemned," says Brussels lawyer Michèle Hirsch. "We ask that the Belgian government be ordered to repair the damage it has done to these women."

Children of sin

The so-called mulatto question troubled the colonial government from the beginning. Mixing between the varieties had to be avoided at all costs. God created the white and the black man, the devil made the 'mulatto', also called 'child of sin'. If they were born anyway, they had to be checked. By the middle of the twentieth century, missions were deployed all over Congo to help solve the 'problem'. The same happened in the mandated territories of Rwanda and Burundi.

Accused’s Wife Is Not The Child’s Mother

Minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi told media that the police had identified and nabbed the father of the child, along with his wife, from Kota in Rajasthan. They are being brought to Gandhinagar.

CCTVs nailed it

Sanghavi said the accused Sachinkumar Dikshit was identified with the help of CCTV footage and technical analysis. He was identified by the car he used while abandoning the child outside the gate of Swaminarayan Gurukul Gaushala at 9.20pm on Friday night. “Sachin Dikshit is the father, but his wife is not the mother of the child. The identity of the child’s mother is not yet ascertained.”

Dikshit had fled Gandhinagar with his wife and parents on Saturday morning. His house was found locked when the police reached there.