Calling a Dalit by his caste with a view to insulting him or her is an offence under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), the Supreme Court has ruled, upholding the conviction of two persons in Tamil Nadu.
Six people, including a minor, were arrested for allegedly raping a 19-year-old college student for several days and videographing the act in Odisha's Cuttack district, police said on Friday.
The government lags behind in implementing the various schemes meant for SC/ST and OBCs, a parliamentary committee has said
A purported video showing the boy dancing to a song with four to five men sitting around surfaced online. In the video, the men were compelling the boy to dance with a smile.
India's decadal census is likely to be further delayed after the budget allocated only Rs 574.80 crore for the exercise, a significant reduction from previous years. The census, originally scheduled for 2021, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government has not yet announced a new schedule. The budget allocation suggests that the exercise may not be carried out even after the delay. The upcoming census will be the first digital census, allowing citizens to self-enumerate using a dedicated portal. The exercise will be made compulsory for citizens who wish to self-enumerate, and Aadhaar or mobile numbers will be required. The census will include questions on household demographics, amenities, and economic status.
The Congress has lodged complaints with the Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of making 'false, divisive, malicious and slanderous' statements during their recent election campaign.
The 13th Legislative Assembly in Karnataka is all set to take charge of the affairs of the state in a few days. After being under the President's rule for a long time, Karnataka will finally have a popular government in place. There are certain interesting facts about the 13th Legislative Assembly in Karnataka which will be dominated once again by the Lingayats and Vokkaligas, with 59 and 51 legislators respectively.
Assam journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder was arrested for a second time on Thursday after being granted bail in a previous case where he was accused of attempting to steal bank documents. The arrest came after Mozumder questioned the Managing Director of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank Limited about alleged financial irregularities. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that Mozumder is not a "recognized journalist" as the government only recognizes journalists from print and electronic media.
"I had sought an appointment with the PM to meet him along with an all-party delegation from Bihar, including RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, to discuss the issue of a caste-based census. I thank him for giving us time next Monday at 11 am," Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar told reporters in Patna.
The percentage of households who live on less than Rs 6,000 a month or less than Rs 200 a day among the Scheduled tribe households (42.91 per cent) was almost the same as among scheduled caste households (42.78 per cent).
Eknath Z Khobragade, a retired IAS officer and former president of the officers' forum of Maharashtra, says the provision for reservation in promotions was already in the Constitution.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has distributed portfolios among the new ministers, keeping key departments such as Home, Personnel, and several others to himself. The Congress' Radhakrishna Kishore was given Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development Department, and Parliamentary Affairs departments. JMM's Deepak Biruwa was allotted the departments of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms (non-registration), and Transport. Chamra Linda, another JMM leader, was allotted the departments of Schedule Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (except Minority Welfare). RJD's Sanjay Prasad Yadav was given the departments of Industries, and Labour, Planning, Training and Skill Development. The Congress' Irfan Ansari got Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, besides Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management departments. The chief minister also kept to himself the departments of Cabinet Secretariat, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language, Road Construction, Building Construction, and those departments yet to be distributed to anyone. Among the other ministers, JMM's Ramdas Soren was given the School Education and Literacy, and Registration departments. Party colleague Hafizul Hasan was allotted the departments of Water Resources, and Minority Welfare Department. Panchayati Raj, Rural Works, and Rural Development departments were given to Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh. The CM gave Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Excise and Prohibition departments to JMM's Yogendra Prasad. JMM legislator Sudhivya Kumar became the minister for Urban Development and Housing, Higher and Technical Education, and Tourism, Art Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs departments. Shilpi Neha Tirkey of the Congress was allotted Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department. A total of 11 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand on Thursday.
K Satyanarayana, Dalit scholar, activist and associate professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, tells Ravichandran Chakkiliyan of Dalit Camera why he feels betrayed by Ashis Nandy
While asking the Centre to set up the delimitation panel, the top court, however, said it cannot direct Parliament to amend or make laws for giving proper representation to other communities that form part of the STs as that would amount to "venturing into the legislative domain".
According to the data released in Patna by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, the state's total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the EBCs (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the OBCs at 27.13 per cent.
About 18 lakh employees and officers of the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday went on a flash strike boycotting work in protest against attempts at "forcible passage" of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes quota bill in Rajya Sabha, saying the stir will continue.
The Centre on Tuesday admitted in the Rajya Sabha that diversion of funds meant for the welfare of Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribes to Commonwealth Games projects by the Delhi government was 'wrong' and efforts would be made to bring them back to the SC/ST Fund. "In my view, using Rs 678.91 crore out of the Schedule Caste Sub Plan to contribute for CWG appears to be wrong," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
Accusing the government of not being serious in passing the bill for providing quota for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in promotions in government jobs, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati threatened to take a 'tougher' stand, saying her Wednesday's 'outburst' in the Rajya Sabha was only 'the first step'.
The United Progressive Alliance government has made up its mind to move a resolution on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha to get nine Members of Parliament of the Samajwadi Party suspended for their misbehaviour and disruptions during the debate on the job quota bill for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes.
Asking Team Anna to clarify its stand on reservation issue, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said he suspected "political ambitions" behind Anna Hazare's decision to expand his committee to include Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims.
The TDB has decided to appoint 19 lower caste people, including 18 belonging to the scheduled caste and one from the scheduled tribe
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has criticized the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, calling it a 'brazen assault' on the Constitution and part of the BJP's strategy to keep society in a 'permanent state of polarization.' She also spoke out against the One Nation, One Election Bill, calling it a 'subversion of the Constitution.' Gandhi further accused the Modi government of ignoring the women's reservation bill and other demands for reservation, and of 'dragging the country into an abyss' where the Constitution will only exist on paper. She also criticized the government for limiting the speaking time of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and for not allowing discussions on important issues like the working of the defense and external affairs ministries and the challenges posed by China on the border.
Terming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government as 'anti-Dalit', the Bahujan Samaj Party on Friday demanded that a special session of Parliament should be called in August to clear the Bill for reservation in promotions for Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe employees.
With the Cabinet clearing a bill to provide reservation in promotion to Scheduled Caste /Scheduled Tribes in government jobs, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday met top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to seek their support for its passage in the current session of Parliament.
Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill-2021 to club seven castes in poll-bound Tamil Nadu under one nomenclature of Devendrakula Vellalars.
Activists who support reservation staged a protest in New Delhi.
J K Ritheesh, a Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam member of Parliament and five others were arrested in connection with a clash between his partymen and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam-All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers at Kalavankudi in the district, police said here on Tuesday.
Uttarakhand has become the first state in India to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), fulfilling a key promise made by the ruling BJP ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami unveiled the UCC notification and launched a portal for mandatory online registration of marriages, divorces, and live-in relationships. The UCC aims to create equal laws for all citizens regardless of their religion, marking a historic moment in the state's legal landscape.
An MP from Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh on Friday filed a complaint against eminent scholar Ashis Nandy, for making remarks alleged to be anti-Dalit at the Jaipur Literature Festival, police said.
Charges and counter-charges flew thick and fast minutes after the controversy in the Lok Sabha, when Samajwadi Party member Yashvir Singh snatched the copy of quota in promotion bill from Union minister V Narayansamy and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi intervened to stop him.
"I think this is absolutely wrong and this should not be done. This is absolutely ridiculous. People have been waiting for 30 years for getting promoted and working hard for it, what will happen to them," SP MP Jaya Bachchan told media persons in New Delhi.
Rajya Sabha could not function on the first day of the winter session of Parliament, with issues like Foreign Direct Investment and reservation to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in promotions triggering an uproar that led to its adjournment for the day.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Bihar government to put in the public domain the break-up of the caste survey data to enable those aggrieved to challenge the findings.
'Young Dalits are looking for better educational opportunities, more job avenues in the private sector, which need not necessarily mean job quotas, but a more welcoming corporate world that offers a liberated social environment, essentially a new India.'
The NDA said there should be reservation for Dalits and backward classes among minority community in the minority institutions.
The bill will not apply to three institutions of scientific and technological importance, including one in Chennai.
Dalit leader Udit Raj, who is campaigning against Team Anna's version of the Lokpal Bill, on Tuesday demanded that corporates, NGOs and media should be brought under the anti-corruption ombudsman to make the law "more effective". "If there is no representation of plurality, I don't think this law will be successful," the National Chairman of All India Confederation of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Organisations said.
The government on Wednesday approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.
Two students allegedly hit a Dalit student, who chanted 'Jai Bhim-Jai Bharat' after finishing his speech at the Republic Day function in a school in Narauli town of this district, police on Saturday said.
