Page 2 - Caste Politics

Behind Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's switch: Caste play, Modi's outreach

Bihar CM, who returned to NDA fold, feared significant losses in Lok Sabha polls had he stayed with INDIA bloc

Following Bihar, Andhra Pradesh govt begins comprehensive caste census

The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday kicked off its comprehensive caste census to enumerate all communities in the state. Information and Public Relations (I & PR) Minister C Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna said the census is scheduled for 10 days from January 19. "The comprehensive caste census is scheduled for 10 days in one phase and if needed, it will be extended by four or five days," Krishna told PTI. The Minister noted that volunteers will visit each and every home to collect the caste details, which will be relayed to the village secretariat system. Andhra Pradesh becomes the second state after Bihar to take up the caste census. Krishna said officials in the village secretariat system across the state will verify the accuracy of information collected by the volunteers and correct it, if necessary, before making the final record. Each volunteer will cater to 50 households. Krishna exuded confidence that the entire census process will be completed before the issuance of th

Congress will undertake caste census after coming to power at Centre: Rahul

The Congress will undertake caste census after coming to power at the Centre, said party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. Addressing a huge rally in Maharashtra's Nagpur on the occasion of the Congress' 139th foundation day, he said unemployment in the country has reached its highest point in the last 40 years. He said his party will undertake caste census after returning to power at the Centre. Speaking at the event, named 'Hain Tayyar Hum', where the Congress kickstarted its campaign for next year's Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said there is a battle of two ideologies in the country. "Unlike the BJP, even a junior Congress worker can question and disagree with top party leaders, he said. Vice chancellors are being appointed not on the basis of merit but because they belong to a particular organisation, he said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and many top party leaders from Maharashtra and other states took part in the event, while its former president Sonia Gandhi and gen

The biggest 4 castes for me are poor, youth, women, farmers: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government's priority is to respect and empower the poor and deprived sections of the society. He also said investments of thousands of crores have been made in Indore's vicinity during the BJP's "double-engine" government (at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh). This will give rise to thousands of employment opportunities, Modi said addressing via video link a programme organised to distribute dues worth Rs 224 crore pertaining to workers of the Hukumchand Mill in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city. The decision will benefit more than 4,800 labourers, he said at the programme 'Mazdooron ka Hit, Mazdooron ko Samarpit'. The PM also praised the state government for resolving this issue, which was pending for a long time, and said he was fortunate to be a part of this event. He said the Madhya Pradesh government has taken significant steps to transform the lives of the poor. "I have always said that for me, the biggest four castes are poor, yo

PM Modi says women one big caste, warns against attempts to create rift

In a swipe at opposition parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday cautioned women against "divisive politics" seeking to split them and said they are one big "caste" who can take on any challenge together. "All women should remain together. Nowadays, some people are creating rift among women... All women have one caste which is so big that they can together take on any challenge," he said while interacting with women beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY). An official statement later added that he cautioned women to be aware of divisive politics seeking to create a rift among them. The ruling BJP has assiduously courted women voters with several welfare schemes, some surveys have shown that they have voted for the party more enthusiastically in a number of state elections. Modi's comments are seen as a swipe at the Congress and other parties which have been pushing for a caste census while the prime minister has asserted that the poor, women, youths and ..

People have rejected caste-based politics of Congress: Anurag Singh Thakur

Anurag Thakur further said that women in Rajasthan had made up their minds to vote against the Congress for allegations of corruption and poor handling of women's security in the state

Bihar urges Centre for 65% quota in 9th Schedule to seek legal shield

The Bihar government on Wednesday decided to urge the Centre to incorporate the hiked reservation for deprived castes from 50 to 65 per cent in state government jobs and educational institutions in the 9th schedule of the Constitution, so that it is guaranteed immunity from legal scrutiny, an official said. The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution includes a list of Central and state laws that cannot be challenged in courts. In 1992, the Supreme Court capped reservations for the backward classes at 50 per cent. The Cabinet also increased the dearness allowance of government employees in Bihar by 4 per cent. They will get a DA of 46 per cent with effect from July 1 this year, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat), S Siddharth, told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. The Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday issued gazette notifications for raising the quota for deprived castes to 65 per cent, after Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar gave his assent to two bills, paving the

Karnataka govt in tight spot as dominant communities oppose caste census

Karnataka's Socio-Economic and Education Survey, popularly known as the "caste census", is mired in controversies even before the report is submitted to the government, amid deep divisions within the ruling Congress, stiff opposition by dominant communities against its acceptance and the survey's original "work-sheet" copy missing. There are also indications about a delay in the submission of the survey report by Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, with the government extending the tenure of its current Chairman, K Jayaprakash Hegde by a couple of months, until the submission of the report, originally due this month. What has put the state government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who on Tuesday had asserted that his decision to accept the report is unwavering, in a tight spot is Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar being a signatory to a memorandum submitted to him, requesting to reject it along with the data. Along with Shivakumar, who hails from the dominant ...

Bihar govt passes resolution for special status to state after caste survey

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar upped the ante on the Chief Minister's long-standing demand for grant of special status to the state with a resolution to the effect on Wednesday being passed by the cabinet. Kumar broke the news himself, announcing the development on social media, shortly after the cabinet meeting he chaired here was over. "The cabinet has passed a resolution (prastaav) requesting the Centre for grant of special category status to Bihar", Kumar wrote in a lengthy post in which he also said that the fresh demand was necessitated by findings of the caste survey his government carried out in the state. Kumar said that while the rise in percentage of population of the deprived castes has led to increase in the quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs from 50 to 65 per cent, his government also planned to undertake a number of welfare measures for the benefit of "94 lakh families", which according to the survey lived in abject poverty. "We intend to provide, in instalments, an

PM Modi seeks votes on caste basis, but neglects OBCs: AIMIM chief Owaisi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is appealing for votes on caste identity, but does not want to do justice to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said on Wednesday. PM Modi on Tuesday night in a post on "X" said the countdown to a BJP chief minister of Telangana who belongs to the Backward Communities began from Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium in the city where he addressed a poll rally. Reacting to that, Owaisi on "X" also said PM Modi promises to remove reservations for backward Muslims, opposes the 27 per cent OBC quota and did not remove the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations. "PM is appealing for votes on caste identity, but does not want to do justice to OBCsWhen I say that Muslims are underrepresented in Indian politics, I am called anti-national & communal. Modi is desperate and it's showing," the Hyderabad MP said. Hitting out at the alleged 'parivaarvad' mindset of the Congress and BRS, Modi on Tuesday here said these parties will never make a ...

More than a third of families in Bihar surviving on Rs 6k per month or less

More than a third of families inhabiting Bihar were living in poverty, making do with a monthly income of Rs 6,000 or less, according to a detailed report of the caste survey tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday. The report also acknowledged considerable poverty among the upper castes, though the percentage was, predictably, much higher among backward classes, Dalits and tribals. As per the report, tabled by parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, the state was home to about 2.97 crore families, out of which more than 94 lakhs (34.13 per cent) were poor. Another important finding was that more than 50 lakh Biharis were living outside the state in search of livelihood or better education opportunities. Those earning a living in other states numbered around 46 lakhs while another 2.17 lakhs have found greener pastures abroad. Those pursuing studies in other states numbered about 5.52 lakhs while about 27,000 were doing the same abroad. Notably, preliminary findings

Bihar caste survey deliberately showed inflated Muslim population: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday attacked Bihar's Nitish Kumar government, accusing it of deliberately showing inflated Muslim and Yadav population in the state's caste survey as part of its "appeasement politics". Addressing a rally in Muzaffarpur district, the senior BJP leader said that the decision to conduct the caste survey in the state was taken when Nitish Kumar's JD(U) was an NDA constituent. Last year, JD(U) severed ties with the BJP and joined the Mahagathbandhan alliance comprising Congress, RJD and Left parties. Attacking the opposition INDIA alliance, of which both JD(U) and RJD are key members, Shah alleged that the only agenda of the bloc is to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Nitish Kumar should stop dreaming about becoming the next PM. The INDIA alliance did not even make him its convener," he said. Shah exuded confidence that the BJP would win all the 40 seats in Bihar in next year's Lok Sabha elections. Hitting out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, h

Suppressio veri, suggestio falsi

Why quota proponents and social justice warriors are never called to account for their failed remedies

K'taka CM takes a dig at PM Modi over his call against caste politics

Taking a leaf out of the Bihar government, which recently came out with the inaugural caste census report, the Congress promised to conduct a similar exercise in Rajasthan and across the country

What Bihar thinks today

Kanshi Ram was a genius and a political visionary, his ideas gave India an OBC Prime Minister. But Bihar-style caste census will be a very sad offering to the rest of the country

TMS Ep535: Cricket & Indian brands, caste politics, markets, govt shutdown

Will World Cup bring Diwali early for Indian brands? Will Bihar caste survey change political dynamics? Will this RBI policy be non-event for markets? What is a government shutdown? All answers here

New caste equations

Empowerment must go beyond quotas

State govt has no plans for caste census in UP, says CM Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the state government has no plans to conduct a "caste census" in the state. "The subject matter of census is mentioned at number 69 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Census Act 1948 and Census Rules 1990 have been made by the Government of India for census work under which the work of census is done by the Government of India," he said. Adityanath said this in a written reply to a question asked by Samajwadi Party member Sangram Yadav. "No," the chief minister said in the state assembly in his reply on the government's plans for "caste census". The Samajwadi Party, which has been demanding a "caste census" in the state, had included the issue in its manifesto for the 2022 assembly polls. The issue will be top on the Samajwadi Party's poll plank for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as part of party chief Akhilesh Yadav's new formula - the PDA (Pichada, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) that is backwards, .

Conducting caste-based survey no crime, says Bihar CM to opposers

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday reacted with exasperation over the opposition faced by the head count of caste' underway in the state, saying that holding such a survey is not a crime. He asserted that the state is not conducting a caste census but only collecting information related to people's economic status and their caste so that specific steps could be taken by the government to serve them better. The ongoing caste survey is a good initiative taken by us. People will be hugely benefited after the recognition of their economic status, whether they belong to the upper caste, backward caste or extremely weaker sections of the society. I don't understand why a section of people are against this exercise They are challenging it. Is it a crime? No, it is not, Kumar said while addressing a conference of Civil Servants here. An organisation had claimed that it was not a survey for a sample population but a census involving house-to-house enumeration of all people, which o

SC rejects plea against Bihar govt's decision to conduct caste-based survey

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea against the Bihar government's decision to conduct a caste-based survey in the state. A bench of Justices M R Shah and J B Pardiwala allowed the petitioner to approach the Patna High Court and directed it to decide the petition expeditiously. "Petitioner seeks permission to move an application which can be considered by the high court. "We permit the petitioner to file an appropriate interim application and request the high court to consider and finally decide at least the interim application at the earliest and preferably with three days of filing it," the bench said. The apex court clarified that it has not expressed anything on merits of the case. The first round of caste survey in Bihar was conducted between January 7 and 21. The second round started on April 15 and will continue till May 15. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that this is a serious case where the Patna High Court has