Dalit chamber of commerce signs MoU with EDII to incubate Dalit enterprise
Ahmedabad, July 1: The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), in a first, has signed an MoU with the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DICCI) to help develop entrepreneurial skills among youth from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the EDII's nineteenth convocation function on Saturday at the institute's campus in Bhat village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
According to EDII officials, the MoU not only aims at evolving an entrepreneurial culture among the Dalit youth but also incubating them to launch and sustain their own ventures.
The EDII itself runs an entrepreneurial incubation centre on its campus since 2016 and has incubated 24 enterprises and helped find seed funding for 11 start-up ventures raising Rs 2.23 crore and 124 jobs.
DICCI founder-Chairman Milind Kamle, who is member of the EDII's governing council, presided over the convocation function.
Even as this MoU was signed, Prof Anil Gupta, founder of Honeybee network of rural innovations and entrepreneurs, spoke of the requirement of socially inclusive business models in the country.
Delivering the convocation address, he said there was need for social inclusion through "cross-subsidisation, innovative business models and public policy institutions".
Referring to Dalits and other disadvantaged sections of the society, he said there was a new restiveness among them and they were not willing to remain neglected or lag behind any more.
"While socio-economic transition takes place, a lot of values come into conflict, some for good, but some for bad. Social inclusion is one such issue which is receiving heightened attention from many entrepreneurs," said Gupta, who is also the chairman of National Innovation Foundation.
As many as 87 students were awarded post-graduate diplomas at the convocation function.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
