18 migrants killed, 29 injured in a bus crash
Mexico City: At least 18 migrants from Venezuela and Peru died on early Friday in a bus crash in southern Mexico, authorities said. Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said the dead include two women and three children, and that 29 people were injured. There was no immediate information on their condition. Photos distributed by the institute showed the bus rolled over onto its side on a curvy section of highway in the southern state of Oaxaca. The cause of the crash on the town of San Pablo Huitzo, near the border with the neighbouring state of Puebla, is under investigation. The institute said a total of 55 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were aboard the vehicle. It was the latest in a series of migrant deaths in Mexico amid a surge in migrants travelling toward the US border. Because migration agents often raid regular buses, migrants and smugglers often seek out risky forms of transportation, like unregulated buses, trains or freight trucks. Last week, 10 Cuban migrants died and 17 others were seriously injured after a freight truck they were riding in crashed on a highway in the neighbouring state of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala. The National Immigration Institute said all of the dead Cuban migrants were women, and one of them was under 18. The Institute said the driver of the vehicle had apparently been speeding and lost control of the truck, which was carrying 27 migrants at the time. The driver fled the scene. Mexican authorities generally prohibit migrants without proper documents from buying tickets for regular buses, so those without the money to hire smugglers often hire poorly-driven, poorly-maintained buses that speed to avoid being stopped. Or they walk along the side of highways, hitching rides aboard passing trucks. Last week, a truck flipped over on a highway in Chiapas, killing two Central American migrants and injuring another 27. And two Central American migrants died last week after trying to board a moving train in the state of Coahuila near the Texas border.
Indian-American couple donates USD 1.75 million for Hindu youth campsite in Texas
Washington: An Indian-American couple from Houston has donated USD 1.75 million to start the construction of the first Hindu campsite in Texas, which will hold heritage youth camps every summer. Similar to schools and colleges providing academic education, the Hindu Heritage Youth camps provide a life-moulding education, a media release said on Friday. Subhash Gupta and Sarojini Gupta, who made the mega donation, said they are passionate about the camp because it inculcates critical values and skills in the next generation.“This is the best thing we can do for the next generation,” Subhash said. “We are already losing youth in this country because they are not interested in our Hindu dharma and preserving our value system, so whatever we can do to cultivate that, the better,” he said. The campsite, located on a 37-acre property in Columbus, Texas, will be complete next summer, just in time to welcome campers for a six-night and five-day camp. The camp started in 1985 and has historically been held at a variety of campsites, such as Camp Lantern Creek in Montgomery. However, the organisers said it had become increasingly difficult to find a location that could accommodate the 1,200 plus youth who want to participate. The new campsite will include cabins, a swimming pool, a dining hall that will accommodate 200 people, an outdoor amphitheatre, covered basketball courts and classrooms.
Connecticut to include Sikhism in new social studies standards
Washington: The Connecticut State Board of Education in the US has initiated a move to include Sikhism in its new social studies standards. These new standards, the first ever in the state, will give approximately 5,14,000 students in Connecticut, the opportunity to learn about the Sikh community. Over the past year, Sikhs have been pushing for this. “These new standards will provide students the opportunity to learn about the Sikh community at all three levels of their education,” said Norwich City Councilman Swaranjit Singh. “Classroom instruction about Sikh history and contributions from an early age are critical in creating a safe environment for our students,” Singh said in a statement issued by the Sikh Coalition. Local adoption and implementation of the new standards will begin in the coming years. The Sikh Coalition will continue to work closely with the Connecticut Department of Education during this process to ensure that ‘Sikhi’ successfully makes it into classrooms across the state, a media release said. With this, Connecticut has become the eighteenth state in a growing list of states that have worked with the Sikh Coalition to include accurate information about Sikhs in their public school social studies standards. In June, Washington DC became the most recent region to ensure the inclusion of Sikhism. These efforts mean that more than 25 million students from coast to coast have the possibility of a more inclusive and holistic education. Sikhism is one of the largest religions in the world and the members of the community have contributed to American society for over 125 years in the fields of civil rights, politics, agriculture, engineering, and medicine.