Union Minister Muraleedharan urges Indians in Israel to stay safe, contact Indian Embassy if needed
Kochi (PTI): Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Sunday urged the Indians stranded in Israel, which is at war with the Palestinian group Hamas, to stay safe and to contact the Indian embassy there if they require any assistance.
Speaking to reporters here, Muraleedharan said the Indian embassy has already issued an advisory to Indians there to stay safe.
"Indians in Israel can approach the Indian Embassy anytime. The embassy will extend all sorts of assistance to Indians stranded there," he said.
Asked about India's stand on the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas outfit, Muraleedharan said the Prime Minister had made it clear and expressed shock over the 'terror attack' on Israel.
"We express solidarity with the people of Israel," the Union Minister said.
Hamas launched a wave of rocket attacks on Saturday, killing over 200 people in Israel in the biggest escalation in decades. Israel has responded with a wave of air strikes on Gaza, killing more than 230 people, according to media reports.
The Indian embassy in Tel Aviv and the Representative Office of India in Palestine on Saturday issued advisories asking Indian nationals in respective countries to "remain vigilant" and "directly contact the Office" in case of emergency.
According to the details on the website of the Indian Embassy here, there are about 18,000 Indian citizens in Israel, primarily caregivers employed by Israeli elders, diamond traders, IT professionals and students.
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Madras HC strikes down TN order limiting maternity leave for third child
Chennai: The Madras High Court has set aside a Tamil Nadu government order restricting maternity leave for a third pregnancy to 12 weeks, holding the move to be contrary to established legal principles.
A division bench comprising Justices R Suresh Kumar and N Senthil Kumar ruled that there was no justification to treat third pregnancies differently from the first two, observing that the physical and medical requirements of childbirth remain the same irrespective of the number of pregnancies, as reported by The News Minute.
According to a report published by Live Law, the court was hearing a petition filed by Shayee Nisha, a staff member of the district judiciary in Villupuram, whose request for maternity leave from February 2026 to February 2027 had been curtailed to three months by authorities citing the March 13, 2026 government order.
Quashing the decision of the Principal District Judge and related directions asking her to resume duty, the bench directed that she be granted maternity leave on par with that provided for earlier pregnancies, allowing up to 365 days.
The court noted that both the Supreme Court of India and earlier rulings of the High Court had consistently held that maternity benefits cannot be denied for a third child. Holding the restriction to be unsustainable, the court directed authorities to process maternity leave applications without discrimination based on the number of pregnancies.
It also pointed out that a similar issue had been addressed by a division bench earlier this year, which had disapproved denial of maternity leave in such cases and directed that its ruling be circulated among judicial officers. Despite this, the state issued the impugned order, the bench observed.
