Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, on a visit to India, was seen riding in an electric auto rickshaw and the video of the same has gone viral on the internet. 

The billionaire has shared the clip on his Instagram handle. In the beginning of the clip, he is seen looking at himself in the vehicle’s mirror. “What has three wheels, zero emissions and makes no noise? It’s called Mahindra Treo,” reads the text supers on the video. He also shares certain features of the three-wheeler, adding, “We’re going to need to reinvent the way we do everything from agriculture to transportation to get on the road to a zero-carbon emissions world.” 

The billionaire drove through various roads in a proper suit and tie. From his expressions, it seemed that Mr Gates enjoyed driving the electric vehicle. Interestingly, the video features the song “Babu Samjho Ishare” from the film ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’.

The philanthropist captioned the post as, “India’s passion for innovation never ceases to amaze. I drove an electric rickshaw, capable of traveling up to 131km (about 81 miles) and carrying up to 4 people. It’s inspiring seeing companies like Mahindra contribute to the decarbonization of the transportation industry.” Since being shared on the platform, the reel has amassed over one million views and 66,000 likes.

Reacting to the same, Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of the Mahindra Group, invited Mr Gates for a “three-wheeler EV drag race” between the two businessmen and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. He took to Twitter and reshared the video posted by Mr Gates. Mr Mahindra wrote in the caption, “Chalti ka Naam Bill Gates ki Gaadi”. So glad you found the time to check out the Treo @BillGates Now on your next trip’s agenda should be a 3-wheeler EV drag race between you, @sachin_rt and me…”

Many people on Twitter appreciated the banter between the two business tycoons.

“Great to have such positive action for society by legends,” added a user.

Popular politician from Nagaland, Temjen Imna Along, commented, “”hauran pukaare pam pam pam…Greatly appreciate @anandmahindra  Ji for your contribution to decarbonizing the transportation industry.  Your passion for innovation, exemplified by the electric rickshaw, is truly inspiring! Driving Innovation, Decarbonizing the Future!”A second person said, “Really proud of u and ur team sir who makes India 3rd position in auto industry.”

Abused for years by her ex-husband who broke all of her teeth, Marwa has retreated into hiding with her eight children after Taliban commanders tore up her divorce.

Kabul: 

Abused for years by her ex-husband who broke all of her teeth, Marwa has retreated into hiding with her eight children after Taliban commanders tore up her divorce.

Marwa was one of a small number of women who, under the previous US-backed government, were granted a legal separation in Afghanistan, where women have next to no rights and domestic abuse is endemic.

When Taliban forces swept into power in 2021, her husband claimed he had been forced into the divorce and commanders ordered her back to his clutches.

“My daughters and I cried a lot that day,” Marwa, 40, whose name has been changed for her own protection, told AFP.

“I said to myself, ‘Oh God, the devil has returned’.”

The Taliban government adheres to an austere interpretation of Islam and has imposed severe restrictions on women’s lives that the United Nations called “gender-based apartheid”.

Lawyers told AFP that several women have reported being dragged back into abusive marriages after Taliban commanders annulled their divorces.

For months Marwa endured a new round of beatings, locked away in the house, with her hands broken and fingers cracked.

“There were days when I was unconscious, and my daughters would feed me,” she said.

“He used to pull my hair so hard that I became partly bald. He beat me so much that all my teeth have broken.”

Gathering the strength to leave, she fled hundreds of kilometres (miles) to a relative’s house with her six daughters and two sons, who have all assumed fictitious names.

“My children say, ‘Mother, it’s okay if we are starving. At least we have got rid of the abuse’,” said Marwa, sitting on the cracked floor of her bare home, clasping a string of prayer beads.

“Nobody knows us here, not even our neighbours,” she said, fearing her husband would discover her.

‘Islam permits divorce’

In Afghanistan nine in 10 women will experience physical, sexual or psychological violence from their partner, according to the UN’s mission in the country.

Divorce, however, is often more taboo than the abuse itself and the culture remains unforgiving to women who part with their husbands.

Under the previous US-backed government, divorce rates were steadily rising in some cities, where the small gains in women’s rights were largely limited to education and employment.

Women once blamed their fate for whatever happened to them, said Nazifa, a lawyer who successfully handled around 100 divorce cases for abused women but is no longer permitted to work in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

As awareness grew, women realised that separating from abusive husbands was possible.

“When there is no harmony left in a husband and wife relationship, even Islam permits a divorce,” explained Nazifa, who only wanted to give her first name.

Under the ousted regime, special family courts with women judges and lawyers were established to hear such cases, but the Taliban authorities have made their new justice system an all-male affair.

Nazifa told AFP that five of her former clients have reported being in the same situation as Marwa.

Another lawyer, who did not want to be identified, told AFP she recently witnessed a court case where a woman was fighting against being forcefully reunited with her ex-husband.

She added that divorces under the Taliban government are limited to when a husband was a classified drug addict or has left the country.

“But in cases of domestic violence or when a husband does not agree to a divorce, then the court is not granting them,” she said.

A nationwide network of shelters and services that once supported women has almost entirely collapsed, while the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Human Rights Commission have been erased.

‘Knock on the door’

Sana was 15 when she married her cousin, 10 years older than her.

“He would beat me if our baby cried or the food was not good,” she said as she prepared tea on a gas stove at a home where she has been living in secret.

“He used to say that a woman does not have the right to talk.”

With the help of a free legal service project she won a divorce from her husband in court — but her relief was shattered when Taliban commanders came knocking.

Threatened with losing custody of her four daughters, she returned to her ex-husband who by then had also married another woman.

She escaped after he announced the engagement of her daughters to Taliban members.

“My daughters said, ‘Mother, we will commit suicide’,” Sana said.

She was able to gather some money and escape with her children, and with the help of a relative found a one-room house, furnished only with a gas stove and some cushions for sleeping.

“Whenever there’s a knock on the door, I fear that he’s found me and come to take the kids away.”

Ordeal for children

A Taliban official told AFP the authorities would look into such cases where previously divorced women were being forced to return to their ex-husbands.

“If we receive such complaints, we will investigate them according to sharia,” said Inayatullah, spokesman for the Taliban supreme court, who like many Afghans goes by one name.

When asked whether the Taliban regime would acknowledge divorces granted under the previous government, he said: “This is an important and complex issue.”

“The Dar al-Ifta is looking into it. When it arrives at a uniform decision, then we will see,” he said, referring to a court-affiliated institution that issues rulings on sharia.

For Marwa and her daughters, who survive by sewing clothes, the trauma has left deep psychological wounds.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to get them married,” said Marwa, looking at her daughters.

“They tell me, ‘Mother, watching how bad your life has been, we hate the word husband’.”

Actor and National Commission for Women (NCW) member Khushbu Sundar has said she was sexually abused by her father at the age of 8, which she described as the “toughest” thing.

Actor and National Commission for Women (NCW) member Khushbu Sundar has said she was sexually abused by her father at the age of 8, which she described as the “toughest” thing.

When she was 15 years old, she started revolting against her father who then left the family in the lurch, the actor-politician said at the “We The Women” town hall organised by Mojo Story in Jaipur recently.

“The toughest thing which took me long, not to forget, not to forgive but put it behind me and move forward was the abuse I faced as a child by my father. When a child is abused it scars the child for life,” she said.

“My mother’s been through the most abusive marriage, a man who beat up his wife, his children, sexually abused his only daughter. He thought it was his birthright, being a man it was his right to do so. And when my abuse started I was just 8 years old and I had the courage to speak against him at the age of 15,” Ms Sundar added.

“At 15 I thought that it was enough and when I started revolting against, rebelling…he just left us with whatever we had, literally left us in the lurch. we didn’t know where the next food is going to come from and he just left us went.” she recalled.

She said she was glad to have stood up against her father because “had he been in the family, I would not have reached so far.” “If I could fight the man at home, I could manage the world very easily,” the outspoken actor said.

Ms Sundar, who ruled Tamil cinema in the 1990s and paired opposite top actors including Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, later entered politics. She joined the BJP in 2020 after quitting Congress.

Actor Amitabh Bachchan suffered a muscle tear to his right rib cage while shooting Project K in Hyderabad. The 80-year-old star revealed in a blog post that his rib cartilage “popped” on set while he filmed an action shot, injuring him. He received medical care in Hyderabad and is now recovering at Jalsa, his home in Mumbai. He is “mobile a bit for essential activities” but otherwise resting, Amitabh Bachchan revealed. “Yes, painful,” he wrote in his blog on Tumbler, “On movement and breathing, will take some weeks they say before some normalisation will occur.” He ended the post, shared on Sunday, with a plea to fans not to gather at Jalsa as usual – a Sunday meet and greet with fans outside his home has been Big B’s Sunday ritual for decades.

In his post, Amitabh Bachchan wrote: “In Hyderabad at the shoot for Project K, during an action shot, I have got injured – rib cartilage popped broke and muscle tear to the right rib cage, canceled shoot, did Doctor consult and scan by CT at the AIG Hospital in Hyderabad and flown back home. Strapping has been done and rest been advocated. Yes painful. On movement and breathing, will take some weeks they say before some normalisation will occur. Some medication is on also for pain.”

“So all work that was to be done has been suspended and canceled dropped postponed for the moment until healing occurs,” Amitabh Bachchan continued, “I rest at Jalsa and am mobile a bit for all the essential activities, but yes in rest and generally lying around.”

“It shall be difficult or let me say I shall be unable to meet, the well wishers at Jalsa Gate this evening. So do not come and do inform as much as you can to those that intend coming. All else is well,” Big B ended his post. Project K co-stars Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Disha Patani, and is expected to release next year.