Indian-American civil rights attorney Kalpana Kotagal is EEOC
Commissioner
One of the original minds behind the Inclusion Rider, Kalpana Kotagal becoming
the Commissioner has been widely acclaimed as a victory of the American
working class, especially the marginalised. Her nomination delayed by a year in
the Senate, was finally confirmed with Kamala Harris' historic tie-breaker. (See video)
WASHINGTON, Aug 13: Indian-American civil rights attorney Kalpana Kotagal has
been sworn in as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioner.
Kalpana Kotagal is a diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility expert
and represented women and other marginalized people in employment and civil
rights litigation.
She joined the EEOC as Commissioner on August 9 for a term expiring in July
2027, according to a press release received by India Travel Times.
A well-known litigator, she has been involved in issues related to Title VII,
Equal Pay Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act,
as well as wage and hour issues and the non-discrimination provision of the
Affordable Care Act, EEOC said.
One of the original minds behind the Inclusion Rider, Kalpana Kotagal becoming
the Commissioner has been widely acclaimed as a victory of the American working
class, especially the marginalised.
Kalpana Kotagal was nominated by President Joe Biden a year ago as the Commissioner
of the EEOC, a federal agency. However, confirmation by the Senate was delayed
for want of majority support and Vice-President Kamala Harris had to cast her
tie-breaking vote to ensure its passage, on July 12.
Casting her 31st such tie-breaking vote, she matched a VP casting maximum such
votes, that was 191 years ago. He was John C. Calhoun, who took eight years
to hit 31 !!!
“My mother gave me great advice, which is that I may be the first to do many
things," Harris told reporters afterward, and added, "I’m going to make sure
I’m not the last.”
Kalpana Kotagal had said upon Senate confirmation, "I am honored by the President's
nomination to serve as Commissioner of the EEOC and gratified by the Senate's
vote to confirm me. I look forward to working with the Chair, Vice Chair and
other Commissioners and with the talented career staff at the EEOC."
Daughter of immigrant Indians, Kalpana Kotagal has always fought for equity
and inclusion in hiring and been a protagonist of civil rights. She is one among
the few well-known South Asian women litigators. He last assignment was as partner
at law firm Cohen Milstein. She is also the co-author of 'Inclusion Rider'.
A law graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, Kalpana Kotagal especially
takes up women and deprived sections' employment and civil rights class action
cases. And she has dedicated her career to rescue vulnerable sections of workers
in America.
"Kotagal co-authored the "Inclusion Rider" — a voluntary agreement between
actors, filmmakers and studios aimed at advancing equal opportunity in the film
industry both behind the camera and in front of it. The contract provision gained
recognition when actor Francis McDormand endorsed it in her acceptance speech
during the 2018 Academy Awards. In the years since then, Kotagal collaborated
with studios, production companies, and actors to advance implementation of
the Inclusion Rider in film, television, music and fashion," EEOC wrote.
Two days earlier, in a similar incident in the area, a domestic help was bitten by a pet dog in the lift when she was going for work.
Tailpiece: Sometimes appearing to outnumnber men and women on the streets, the stray dogs are turning more and more daring with sections of anti-social elements out there to feed and protect them in order to find a window for their unfulfilled love! There is an all-pervading feeling of lack of authority.
Ankit Tiwari had told the employee that “instructions had been received
from the Prime Minister’s Office to conduct an enquiry” and reopen the
“already disposed of” case and asked him to appear before the ED office
at Madurai on October 30, DVAC said. The doctor was allegedly
threatened with arrest and told to pay a bribe of Rs 3 cr to avoid the ED
probe, which was later negotiated down to Rs 50 lakh.
Tailpiece: We are made to believe RBI, CBI, ED, Judiciary as sacrosanct
and all others like railways, transport, revenue, education, PWD
departments are composed of us the mortals, absolutely corrupt! As if in
the sacrosanct places the angels descend from the heavens to work in the
night and fly away before day-break! Let's be true to ourselves, we are all
cut from the same cloth.
Apart from cash, Gill had also taken three planes as bribe and two of them
were leased out to Redbird Aviation Academy. With the result, flying
schools compromised on safety requirements and trainers met with
accidents several times.
Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 Noida on Thursday
where they were called to hold a rave party in a trap laid by the animal
rights group, PFA. They named Yadav but he was not present.
Betting through Dubai-based Mahadev Book in India is conducted through a countrywide network. Probes reveal that the online gambling is worth several millions and top politicians, officials and celebs have been beneficiaries.
TAILPIECE: Polling dates for some States are round the corner. Top
politicians have begun their acrimonious debate who looted more, even as
Mahadev is washing their dirty laundry in the open ghat. Come what may,
one needs to seize power to amass "thy wretched pelf!" One simple
question is, why else one should spend lakhs or crores to get elected! A
question every Indian should ask to oneself at least once a day!
His inaction amounts to defeating the rights of the people of the State to
welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills, the Kerala
Government's petition submitted, while the State of Tamil Nadu remarked
that its "Governor is acting as a political rival."
Tailpiece: Coming up back to back, the petitions in their totality seem to question the provision of Raj Bhavan, and not motives of a Governor as a
person.
Hundreds of cars piled up behind the wreckage of crashes occurring one
after other in backing up - continuous crashes to the rhythm of metallic
clanks and bangs back to back. According to reports, some ops required
'Jaws of Life' to pull apart the mangled cars to save lives inside.
The pilots struggled with Emerson to thwart a shut-off as he reached for
the T-handles (see pix). Later he admitted to police he had taken
psychedelic mushrooms and had a "nervous breakdown."
Doctors reasoned how the incidence of heart attacks is spiking over time and
advise the simple way to play safely is to take a break and rehydrate
yourself.
But how come ten people, including children, die of cardiac arrest at
Garba in 24 hours, and that at different places of Gujarat? Garba had been going on
for six days, and every year it is celebrated.
Shocking news from the UK: Leading grocers have started bribing policemen with free food and drinks to persuade them to take action against shoplifters.
Shoplifting has risen by about 27 per cent in 10 major cities across the UK
this year. The cost of retail crime last year was $2.15 billion. Besides, “We
are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying
stores," Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said. Data shows that the police failed to respond to 73 per cent of serious
retail crimes that included assault and abuse of workers, apart from
shoplifting.
Harris said hip-hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every
aspect of American popular culture.” “Hip-hop culture is American
culture,” she said in a talk at her official residence at the US Naval
Observatory in Washington, D.C.
The social media had mixed reaction. There was much appreciation that
she dances better than any VP in American history. But some called her
"moves" as “cringe” while others did not like her pink pants - "pink pants
don’t look good.” In fact, her ensembles have always been incongruous.
"Let’s see how the (Governor's) Vice-Chancellors are given salary."
Mamata's extreme statements will put the Marxist Government in Kerala,
which is also facing similar issues, to shame. Has she begun the
countdown for a war on the streets?
It's true Mamata has come to see a conspiracy to demolish the established systems across the country, but lacks the ability to foresee what exactly is being pushed.
Brandishing a sword, Mahant Paramhans told reporters on Tuesday he
himself will behead MK Stalin's son for his remarks against Sanatan
Dharma in case nobody came forward to accept his offer he made in his
video. Udhayanidhi reacted to the saint's Monday video, "I will speak
more. I am the grandson of the artist who put his head on the rail track for
Tamil Nadu."
Somanath elaborated, "I am an explorer. I explore the Moon. I explore the inner
space. So it's a part of the journey of my life to explore both science and
spirituality. So I visit many temples and I read many scriptures. So try to find the
meaning of our existence and our journey in this cosmos. So it's a part of the
culture that we are all built to explore, find out the inner self as well as outer
self. So for the outer, I do science, for the inner I come to temples." (See videos)
Rao the mathematical legend had fathered the path-breaking Rao-Blackwell
theorem, one of the most important theorems in mathematical statistics, at the
age of 25. That brought him global fame. He is also famous for his Cramér-Rao
Bound inequality theorem relating to quality of estimators in statistics which has
had a profound bearing on applications of modern economics and several other
diverse fields. Simply put, with the pioneering statistician computation became a
tool to analyse even socio-economic challenges of modern times.
The alleged incident has received such a flash publicity that a standardised
city's hugely middle class population will have second thoughts about eating
outside for some time. Now everything on the table looks suspicious!
“All subjects directly connected to the people should be shifted to the State List. Particularly the subject of education. Only if this is done can cruel exams like NEET be abolished,” Stalin said. Education was moved from the State List to the Concurrent List with the 42nd Constitution Amendment made by the Central Government in 1976.
Decentralisation has been at the core of Tamil politics since the times of CN Annadurai. Stalin indicated there will be political changes in the offing.
TAILPIECE: While the Centre and the States are at loggerheads, it takes a
different cognitive acumen to know that entrance tests are not the way for
students' admission to courses.