Saudi Arabia allows women to travel without male 'guardian' approval
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will allow women to travel abroad without approval from a male "guardian", the government said Thursday.
The landmark reform erodes the longstanding guardianship system that renders women permanently as legal minors and allows their "guardians" -- husband, father and other male relatives -- to exercise arbitrary authority over them.
The decision, following years of campaigning by activists, comes after high-profile attempts by women to escape their guardians despite a string of change including a historic decree last year that overturned the world's only ban on female motorists.
"A passport will be granted to any Saudi national who submits an application," said a government ruling published in the official gazette Umm Al Qura.
The regulation effectively allows women over the age of 21 to obtain passports and leave the country without their guardian's permission, the pro-government Okaz newspaper and other local media reported, citing senior authorities.
Women in the kingdom have long required permission from their male "guardians" to marry, renew their passports or exit the country. The pro-government Saudi Gazette newspaper hailed the decision as "one giant leap for Saudi women".
The ruling comes as Saudi Arabia faces heightened scrutiny over its human rights record, including an ongoing trial of women activists who have long demanded that the guardianship system be dismantled.
That includes Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent rights activist who marked her 30th birthday this week in a Saudi prison, campaigners said.
Alongside a sweeping crackdown on dissent, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- the kingdom's de facto ruler -- spearheads a wide-ranging liberalisation drive that is aimed at transforming the conservative petro-state, long criticised for its treatment of women.
His changes include the much-celebrated decision allowing women to drive in June last year, allowing women to attend soccer games alongside men and take on jobs.
But while transforming the lives of many women, critics said the reforms will be cosmetic for many others until the kingdom abolishes the "guardianship" system that gives men arbitrary authority over their female relatives.
Some have undertaken perilous attempts to escape overseas despite the reforms.
They include 18-year-old Rahaf al-Qunun, whose live-tweeted asylum plea from a Bangkok hotel in January after she fled her Saudi family drew global attention.
Saudi officials have expressed commitment to fighting guardianship abuse, but have warned the system can only be dismantled piecemeal to prevent a backlash from arch-conservatives.
In a one-off case last year, a Saudi court ruled in favour of a 24-year-old woman who challenged her father's decision to not let her have a passport.
But until Thursday's ruling, she would have still required his permission to travel.
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Ajit Pawar rues Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka still not part of Maharashtra
Mumbai, May 1 (PTI): Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said even 65 years after the formation of Maharashtra, there is one regret - that Belgaum and Karwar, parts of adjoining Karnataka, were still not merged with the western Marathi-speaking state.
Speaking at a party event organised on the occasion of Maharashtra Day, Pawar, who heads the ruling NCP, asserted his outfit will not abandon the ideology of legendary social reformers Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and B R Ambedkar.
Recalling the work of chief ministers of Maharashtra from the first CM Yashwantrao Chavan to the incumbent Devendra Fadnavis, Pawar said each one of them have contributed to development of the state since its formation in 1960.
"Maharashtra was formed out of struggle. Even if Maharashtra has completed 65 years of its existence, here is one regret in our hearts. Even today, the Marathi manoos (Marathi-speaking people) of Belgaum and Karwar are still not with us. The case is going on in the Supreme Court.
"The day they are merged with Maharashtra, we can confidently said Maharashtra is now complete," he said.
Maharashtra has been demanding that Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka -- Belgaum, Karwar, Nipani -- be merged with the state, a stand strongly opposed by the southern state.
Pawar noted India's population in 1947 was 35 crore, but it has now multiplied four times to 140 crore. The population of the state has also increased accordingly, he said.
He emphasised that those in power now and in the past have been working to address the water woes of Maharashtra, but with a growing population, the sources have become limited.
The deputy CM said some people oppose the bullet train project in India, but China and Japan have progressed because of such high-speed transport modes.
The erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government (November 2019-June 2022) had stopped the bullet train project connecting Mumbai to Ahmedabad which is currently under construction.
