Reservations

NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar urged the BJP-led Centre on Friday to bring a constitutional amendment to increase reservation in education and government jobs beyond the existing cap of 50 per cent. Speaking to reporters here, Pawar said that while granting reservation to Marathas, who have been agitating for quota, care should be taken to ensure that such limits meant for other communities are not disturbed. "Currently, the cap on reservation is 50 per cent. But if Tamil Nadu can have 78 per cent (quota for various communities), why can't Maharashtra have 75 per cent reservation, he asked. The Centre should take the lead and bring a constitutional amendment to raise the quota cap. We will support the amendment, he said. Pawar said the seat-sharing talks among the leaders of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will continue next week. I would only advise the leaders to conclude the talks as early as possible so that we can go to the people, who are looking for a change, he

The 'Nipuna Karnataka' programme, which includes a Rs 10 crore pilot project, is aimed at boosting the global competitiveness of state's young workforce

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and the state government on a plea of Rashtriya Janata Dal against a Patna High Court order setting aside the amended reservation laws in Bihar that had led to raising of quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 percent. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior advocate P Wilson, appearing for RJD, that the plea needed to be decided. "Issue notice and tag with the pending pleas," the CJI said. On July 29, the top court, while hearing other similar 10 pleas, had refused to stay the high court order that set aside the amended reservation laws in Bihar that enabled the Nitish Kumar government to raise quotas 50 per cent to 65 per cent. The bench, however, had agreed to hear the petitions of the Bihar government against the verdict. The state government has also moved the top court against the high cour

The move to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and the state assemblies will greatly empower them, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said on Monday. Speaking to PTI, he said the government was committed to working for women's welfare and hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the legislation providing women 33 per cent reservation in elected bodies. "The role of women in public welfare works has increased. PM Modi has given 33 pc reservation to women in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas. It is a big decision. The world will see the power of Indian democracy. India will continue to grow under the leadership of Modi ji," Yadav said. Incidentally, on Saturday, the India unit of the UNICEF appreciated Yadav's initiative to provide sanitary napkins to schoolgirls in a bid to to promote menstrual health among adolescents. "The government had announced plans to provide sanitary pads to girls studying in high school and high secondary. I am thankful as the government

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Union Minister's remarks came days after the Supreme Court ruled that states have the power to sub-classify Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)

The 'Students Against Discrimination' group, which was at the forefront of last month's job quota protests, is leading the latest demonstrations

The 'Students Against Discrimination' group, which was at the forefront of last month's job quota protests, is leading the latest demonstrations

Nasscom said it is seeking an urgent meeting for industry representatives with state authorities to discuss the concerns

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) will hold the 'Aarakshan Bachao Janyatra' on the reservation issue in parts of Maharashtra from July 25, party chief Prakash Ambedkar said. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, Ambedkar demanded that the Kunbi caste certificates issued without the people applying for it be cancelled and political parties clear their stand on the reservation issue. He also claimed the demand for the implementation of the "sage soyare" (blood relatives) notification amounted to "adulteration" of the quota and courts have given decisions against it earlier. Activist Manoj Jarange has been demanding implementation of the government's draft notification that recognises Kunbis as sage soyare of Maratha community members. He has been demanding that Kunbi certificates be issued to all Marathas, thus making them eligible for quota benefits. Kunbi, an agrarian group, is part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. However, some OBC activists recently launched an ...

Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan on Wednesday said the demand by quota activist Maroj Jarange for the inclusion of the "sage soyare" term in the Maratha reservation notification will not withstand legal scrutiny. The term "sage soyare" in Marathi means through birth relations and relations by marriage. Speaking to the reporters in Pune, Mahajan accused the opposition of deriving political mileage from the Maratha reservation issue and asserted that it was the Devendra Fadnvais government which had granted the quota to the Maratha community without disturbing the allocation of other communities. "In the last 50 years, had anyone made efforts to give reservation to the Maratha community? (NCP-SP Chief) Sharad Pawar had even said there was no need to give reservation to Marathas," claimed the BJP leader, a confidant of Fadnavis. Mahajan noted that after the BJP-led government granted the reservation to the Maratha community, the subsequent Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government failed

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that an INDIA bloc government will end the 50 per cent cap on reservation while asserting that the alliance will protect the Constitution with "dil, jaan aur khoon". Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Bansgaon with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Gandhi said, "There is INDIA bloc and the Constitution on one side and those who want to finish the Constitution on the other." The INDIA bloc will protect the Constitution with "dil, jaan aur khoon (heart, life and blood)", he said and added that the alliance will end the 50 per cent cap on reservation while also increasing it. On Agnipath, Gandhi said the INDIA bloc, once it assumes power, will tear apart the scheme and throw it in the dustbin. The government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme in June 2022 for short-term induction of personnel with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three armed services. It provides for recruiting youngsters between the age .

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday claimed that the INDIA bloc is talking about having five PMs over the next five years and said the fight over 'ghee' has broken out in the alliance, even before the cow has given milk. Hours before campaigning for the sixth round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls came to an end, Modi at a rally in Haryana's Mahendragarh asserted that till he is alive, no one can snatch the reservation for Dalits and tribals. In this election, "you will not only choose the country's PM but also decide the country's future", the prime minister told the gathering. "On one hand is your tried and tested 'sewak' Modi. Who is on the other side, one does not know," he said, targeting the INDIA bloc that has as its constituents opposition parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The INDIA bloc is "extremely communal, casteist and nepotist", he said while alleging that when the Congress was in power, it d

The Congress on Sunday attacked the BJP over Home Minister Amit Shah's quota remarks in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that the Modi government has used privatization as a "weapon" to weaken reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs in the last 10 years. The opposition party also claimed that the secret behind the BJP's '400 paar' slogan is that they will openly try to end reservation this time. The Congress' attack came after Shah, speaking at a UP rally, said the BJP will neither remove reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs nor will it allow anyone to do so, calling it a "Modi guarantee". Responding to Shah's remarks, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Mr. Home Minister when airports were handed over to the prime minister's best friend in various cities, wasn't reservation finished there? When Air India was sold, wasn't the reservation finished there? When you were going to sell steel plants and oil refineries, wouldn't that have ended reservation there?" "Earlier IPCL, BSNL, Ashoka

Gehlot further said if PM Modi considers himself as the biggest supporter of the OBC community, then he should have a nationwide caste census conducted at the earliest

The Supreme Court on Saturday stayed all proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in a matter relating to alleged irregularities in the issuance of reserved category certificates and admission of MBBS candidates in state-run medical colleges and hospitals in West Bengal. In a special hearing, a five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose issued notice to the West Bengal government and the original petitioner in the case. It also stayed the orders passed by the single-judge bench and the division bench in the matter. "We will take this up on Monday, took this up now to pass this order. We have taken charge now," the bench said. The top court has taken suo moto cognisance of an order passed by a single bench of the Calcutta High Court that termed as "illegal and ignored" an order of the division bench in a case of alleged irregularities in the admission of MBBS candidates in state-run medic

BJP in its manifesto said that it will remove unconstitutional religion-based reservations and provide this to OBCs, SCs and STs.

Condition will not improve by increasing reservations

The Haryana Cabinet on Monday accepted the State Backward Classes Commission's report on the proportion of reservation for the communities in urban local body elections, according to an official statement. The commission has recommended that every municipal body shall have at least one councillor belonging to backward classes Block-A if its population is not less than two per cent of the total population of the urban local body, it said. There are as many as 78 backward classes in the state and more than 70 of them fall in Block-A sub-category. The commission, headed by Justice (retired) Darshan Singh, conducted an empirical assessment of the political backwardness of the backward classes. In the assessment, the commission found that the backward classes Block-A are not adequately represented in the political setup, so they require the support of reservation in the elections of urban local bodies and municipalities for adequate participation in the grassroots democratic setup, ...

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said that BJP does not want common people to get the benefits of reservation