Canada border authorities use DNA tool to detect nationality
Ottawa, July 31 : Immigration officials in Canada have been using DNA testing and ancestry websites to try and determine migrants nationality, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
The agency's actions have raised concerns about the privacy of the data held by the sites involved in the process.
The agency has not kept statistics on how often the tools had been applied, but they were being used on those who run afoul of the country's immigration laws, the Guardian reported. The CBSA said the tools also come in handy "whenever other avenues of investigation have been exhausted".
Vice News first reported the story after speaking to two immigration lawyers whose clients had been investigated through DNA tests submitted to FamilytreeDNA.com.
The CBSA described the tools "as part of a suite of investigative techniques" used to ascertain a person's identity. "DNA testing assists the CBSA to focus further lines of investigation on particular countries," the CBSA spokesperson said.
The agency obtains consent from the migrants before submitting their information the sites.
"The CBSA does not publicly discuss the mechanics of its investigative techniques in a public forum, as doing so could render them ineffective," the Guardian was told.
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Row over removal of sacred thread during CET in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): A row has erupted after five Brahmin students were forced to remove their sacred thread (Janeu/Yajnopaveetha) at Krupanidhi College in the city during the CET held here.
The Common Entrance Test (CET) is held to select students for admission into professional courses.
Students on Friday alleged that the invigilators present at the examination hall of the college at Madivala asked them to get the sacred thread removed if they wished to write the exam.
This was despite the fact that last year, when a similar controversy took place, the government made it clear that the sacred thread would not be removed during the CET. However, once again this year, students faced similar discrimination.
A student said, "When I went to the examination centre, the teachers got my ear ring removed. I can still understand that because no metal is allowed, but they also forced me to get the sacred thread removed from the body."
Left with no other option, the student obeyed the diktat of the invigilators.
Sources said parents of the students reached the venue after the exam was over and questioned the motive when there were standing instructions not to remove the sacred thread.
Some other students alleged that the red and yellow sacred thread (Mauli/Kalava) tied to the wrist was also removed by the invigilators.
When a similar controversy erupted in Shivamogga, Bidar and some other places, the state's Higher Education Minister M C Sudhakar, assured parents that action would be taken against those responsible for it.
Even the chief minister had directed authorities not to ask students to remove the thread last year. Yet, the incident was repeated on Thursday, the parents alleged.
