Kerala High Court directs medical education board to remove derogatory terms on sexual minorities in textbooks
The Hindu
The petition was filed by Queerythm LGBTIQ community in Thiruvananthapuram and another Kollam-based NGO, both working towards the welfare of the queer community. They claim that the curricula portray queer and sexual minorities in an inhuman manner
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the National Medical Commission and Undergraduate Medical Education Board to consider and take a decision on representations seeking to revise medical textbooks and curriculum by removing unscientific data and derogatory terms used against transgender community and sexual minorities from them. The petition was filed by Queerythm LGBTIQ community in Thiruvananthapuram and another Kollam-based NGO, both working towards the welfare of the queer community. According to the petitioners, the references in the medical textbooks prescribed for medical courses termed the Queer community’s sexual or gender identities as an offence, mental disorder or perversion despite recognising such persons' rights by the Supreme Court and decriminalising homosexual intercourse between consenting adults. The curricula, formulated by the Commission and the medical education, portray queer and sexual minorities in an inhuman manner.A crowd comprising farmers, researchers, professors, students, and horticulture enthusiasts thronged the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, on Friday for the inaugural ceremony of the Triphal Diversity Show which showcased 300 mango, 100 jackfruit, and 100 banana genotypes in collaboration with ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.
The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.