Page 2 - Caste

Nitish Kumar in soup over his 'birth control lessons' in Bihar Assembly

A day after his remarks on educated women and family planning sparked controversy, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday apologised for his statement

Bihar caste survey: Here's what it reveals about poverty, jobs in the state

Bihar caste survey: Around 99.49% of people belonging to the SC category in the state have no access to laptops

OBCs decoded: How backward classes in India were categorised and recognised

The Other Backward Class (OBC) is a collective term used to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward

CWC's caste census decision powerful step for liberation of poor: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the party's working committee has taken a "historic decision" unanimously to support the idea of a nationwide caste census, asserting that it is a "powerful step" for the emancipation of the poor. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Gandhi expressed confidence that a vast majority of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties will support and push for a caste census. If any party has a different opinion, the Congress is flexible, "not fascist", he added. Flanked by the party's chief ministers in four states, Gandhi also said the decision of the CWC to support a caste census is a "very progressive" and "powerful" step for the emancipation of poor people. Talking about the idea of caste census, the former Congress chief said this 'X-ray' is needed for a new paradigm and development in the country. Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked party workers

Congress meet decides caste survey will be its main poll plank in MP

The Congress' central election committee on Saturday held deliberations on the names of candidates for about 140 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh and also decided that the party's main poll plank will be the conduct of a caste survey in the state. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal and general secretary in charge of the state Randeep Surjewala, state party chief Kamal Nath and members of the central election committee attended the meeting. "The Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting was held (in Delhi) today. We discussed candidates' names for about 140 seats. The names will be finalised in the next 6-7 days," Nath told reporters after the meeting. Surjewala said the issue of a caste survey was discussed at the meeting. "We have decided that (conducting) a caste census in Madhya Pradesh will be our main agenda," Surjewala told reporters. The election to the 230-member assembl

Weekend Bites: RBI kills one bird with one stone, future of 50-over cricket

In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views

SC questions Bihar on publishing caste survey numbers, but puts no bar

The Supreme Court Friday questioned the Bihar government as to why it published its caste survey data but refused to restrain it from making public further data, and said it may examine if the state has power to conduct such an exercise. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti issued a formal notice on a batch of pleas challenging the August 1 order of the Patna High Court that gave the go-ahead for the caste survey in Bihar. The SC bench listed the matter in January, 2024. It rejected the petitioners' contention that the state government has already published some data preempting a stay. They sought a complete stay on further publication of data. "We are not staying anything at this moment. We cannot stop the state government or any government from taking a policy decision. That would be wrongWe are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state government to conduct this exercise," the bench said. The top court, however, questioned the counsel for t

Conduct national caste census to ensure social justice, says Congress

The Congress on Monday welcomed the Bihar government's move to release the findings of a caste census and called upon the Centre to immediately conduct a similar exercise at the national level to ensure social justice and provide a firm foundation for social empowerment programmes. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the caste census of Bihar has proved that 84 per cent of people in the state are OBCs, SCs and STs and their share should be according to their population. "Out of 90 secretaries of the central government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5 per cent of India's budget. Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India...," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the UPA government led by the Congress had conducted a census but its results were not published by the Modi government. "The Bihar government has just released the results of the Caste Survey conducted by it in the state. While welcoming the ...

Govt's submission to SC on plea challenging caste survey exposes BJP: JD(U)

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Monday alleged that BJP's "anti-poor, anti-OBC, anti-reservations" stance stood "exposed" with the Centre's submission before the Supreme Court on a petition challenging the state's caste survey. JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan', while citing the submission of Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, also pointed out that "former Attorney General" had appeared as the petitioners' counsel before the Apex Court. "The BJP seeks to project a pro-OBC face for electoral gains. Its boast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi being an ati pichhra (extremely backward class) is a part of this strategy. But its character has been anti-poor, anti-OBC and anti-reservations", Lalan said. "The BJP has always claimed that it is in support of the caste survey, which as the chief minister says, would benefit not just the OBCs but also all sections of the society, including the economically weaker sections. But it has tried to put hurdles befor

Rich or poor, there's a caste element in financial recovery after Covid-19

Religion and region have shaped how families are doing, data shows

CFA Institute's inclusion push to take account of caste, gender neutrality

The focus has recently been on new-age technology companies, where disclosure quality, audit quality, and shareholder rights are areas that have attracted regulatory attention, says Arati Porwal

National SC Commission serves notice to Zomato over 'casteist' ad

A government panel has now announced that it will investigate the matter and has also issued a notice to Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal

Patna High Court orders stay on Bihar govt's caste-based survey

The Patna High Court on Thursday ordered a stay on the caste survey being conducted by the state government. Hearing a bunch of petitions, a division bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad directed the government to immediately stop the caste-based survey, and ensure that the data already collected are secured and not shared with anybody till final orders are passed. The court fixed July 7 as the next date for the hearing. "We are of the considered opinion that the petitioners have made out a prima facie case against the continuation of the process of caste-based survey, as attempted by the State of Bihar. There is also the question raised of data integrity and security which has to be more elaborately addressed by the State," the court said. "Prima facie, we are of the opinion that the State has no power to carry out a caste-based survey, in the manner in which it is fashioned now, which would amount to a census, thus impinging upon the legislative po

Odisha begins OBC survey after Bihar, process to continue till May 27

Odisha on Monday became the second state in the country to launch the OBC survey. The much-awaited survey will continue till May 27, an official said. The opposition BJP has criticised the ruling dispensation over the manner in which the exercise is being undertaken, while the ruling BJD said the survey is being held to ensure the socio-economic development of the other backward classes (OBC). Bihar was the first state to have launched the survey, the first phase of which was launched on January 21 and the second on April 15 this year. It is being carried out in all 314 blocks and 114 urban local bodies of Odisha, the official said. The objective of the survey is to get a picture of the present social and educational conditions of the people belonging to backward classes in Odisha, he said. The social and educational conditions of 208 enlisted OBC communities will be collected during the survey, which will be followed by a special drive to ensure that none was left out across the

Diversity on the bench: Police, judiciary lack caste, gender multiplicity

The report tracks states' progress on justice delivery mechanisms - the judiciary, police, prisons, and legal aid.

Odisha cabinet approves inclusion of 22 castes in State's list of SEBC

The meeting was headed by state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, when the cabinet decided to approve the inclusion of 22 castes and communities in the state list of SEBC

SC declines to entertain petitions against caste-based census in Bihar

The petitions sought a direction from the apex court to quash the Bihar government's notification to conduct caste-based census

Never refer to anyone's caste and religion in House: warns LS speaker

Om Birla warned members against referring to anyone's caste and religion in the House after a Congress MP alleged that FM Nirmala Sitharaman made certain remarks about his proficiency in Hindi

Deletion of names from electoral roll not on basis of caste, faith: CEO

In the wake of allegations of voter data theft, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka Manoj Kumar Meena on Monday said the question of deletion of voters based on caste and community from the electoral roll does not arise. The CEO stated this after Congress alleged that names of minorities and some downtrodden communities were deleted based on the data provided by the co-founder of the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Institute (Chilume Trust). A section of the media reported that names of people belonging to particular communities have been deleted. In view of the reports, the clarification is imperative, said the CEO. Electoral rolls do not contain any information related to caste/religion of voters, hence the question of deletion of names based on caste/community from the electoral rolls does not arise, Meena said in a statement. According to him, names of people who are dead or those who moved to other places are deleted by following due process of ..

'Anthropologically, gods don't belong to upper caste,' says JNU VC

Amid a slew of caste-related violence in the country, JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Monday said anthropologically gods do not belong to the upper caste and that even Lord Shiva could be from scheduled caste or tribe. Delivering the Dr B R Ambedkar Lecture Series titled 'Dr B R Ambedkar's Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code', she also said the "status of shudras given to women in Manusmriti" makes it extraordinarily regressive. "Let me tell all women that all women according to Manusmriti are shudras so no woman can claim she is a brahmin or anything else and it is only by marriage that you get the husband or father's caste on you. I think this is something which is extraordinarily regressive," she said. Taking about the recent caste violence involving a nine-year-old Dalit boy, she said that no god belonged to the upper caste. "Most of you should know the origins of our gods anthropologically. No god is a brahmin, the highest is a ...