'The reason why they rushed through the bill was they wanted to avoid using the 2026 Census because the 2026 Census by their own decision will be a caste census.' 'The BJP knows that a significant share of the OBCs who will get captured in the census, for the first time after the 1931 Census, are against the BJP. Only a segment of the OBCs are in their favour.' 'So they wanted to avoid the OBC reservation among women, which is a demand of a lot of Opposition parties.'
India has launched digital tools for its upcoming fully digital Census 2027, including mobile apps and a self-enumeration portal, aiming for efficient and accurate data collection.
On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused BJP MP Anurag Thakur of "abusing and insulting" him during the Lok Sabha discussion on the Union Budget.
Gandhi said the Congress' slogan is 'count' because that would be the first step towards justice.
As the row erupted in Parliament, the Congress said the Gandhi family's caste is martyrdom but the BJP-RSS will never understand that.
'For the first time in this country, perhaps the first time anywhere, we are going to use backwardness index.' 'It is a fundamental shift in the discourse in the country's social justice.'
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to resign, potentially paving the way for his deputy DK Shivakumar to take over. The move follows reported pressure from the Congress high command, though the party has denied any official decision. Speculation is rife as political tensions rise in the state.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for gifting 'Melody' toffees to Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, calling it a 'gimmick' while India faces an 'economic storm'. He accused Modi of prioritising public relations over addressing the struggles of farmers, labourers, and youth, a sentiment echoed by other Congress leaders.
'If the Opposition associates itself too much with the minorities, then it becomes easy for the BJP to get Hindu consolidation votes.'
What lessons opposition parties need to learn post defeat of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal elections? The election saw spectacular victor of BJP which rose from 3 seats in 2016 to 206 seats in 2026 assembly elections.
With the Bihar government releasing the findings of its caste survey, pressure seems to be mounting on the Karnataka government, especially within the ruling Congress, to make the state's Socio-economic and Educational Census, popularly known as the 'caste census', public.
Political watchers say the caste survey report was made public to play the OBC-EBC card and stall the BJP's campaign to win most of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats.
The Telangana government officials would submit a report by February 2 on the caste survey held in the state last year.
'All governments are scared of a negative image.' 'Somehow, this government has a tendency to create a narrative that things are improving.' 'When the real data gives a different picture, they are upset.'
As the Congress batted for a national caste census with an assertion that rights should be proportionate to population, its senior leader Abhishek Singhvi on Tuesday created a flutter by saying "it will eventually culminate into majoritarianism", a remark he later withdrew from social media and blaming it on his staff.
The Karnataka High Court declined to halt the state's socio-economic and educational survey (caste survey) but instructed the government to keep the collected data confidential and ensure participation is voluntary.
'This is going to generate a new debate on reservation because the quota for Economically Weaker Sections is 10%, and that is for nearly 16% of the population.' 'For 16% you are giving 10%. This is set to raise eyebrows among the OBCs after the caste survey.'
'Bihar's caste survey has bolstered the Opposition parties, but one shouldn't forget that the BJP is also trying to present itself as a party that cares for the OBCs more than other parties,' points out Sanjay Kumar.
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.
Kharge claimed that the Centre accepted "intelligence failure" in an all-party meeting and said it should be held accountable for "not reinforcing" security arrangements in Kashmir to protect people.
'The BNP's election manifesto lists grievances against India, mirroring the attitude of past BNP governments.' 'Political parties have been careful not to say bad things about China.'
Collecting caste-based data will be a major challenge, but it would have to be delinked from the census, to prevent respondents from misrepresenting facts, says Amitabh Kundu
'The upper caste elite's belief that they are casteless is a belief that is available only to the upper castes. Because all the lower castes are reminded by society every day what their caste is.'
The plea filed by Nalanda resident Akhilesh Kumar submitted that in terms of the constitutional mandate, only the Union government is empowered to conduct a census.
While it is evident that the INDIA bloc has not shut its doors on Nitish Kumar, those within the NDA are hopeful that the JD-U's support base would benefit them as well
Ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan, the Congress government on Saturday night issued an order for the conduct of a caste survey in the state.
The bench noted even the high court has said in its judgement that 80 per cent of the work related to the survey has been completed.
If he cannot do it this term by using his bureaucracy and experts from different fields, it will be a tragedy, asserts Ramesh Menon.
'If the BJP had its way, it would sideline him in favour of someone else. But that's not feasible. There is no vote catcher in Bihar for the BJP.'
Inaugurating the Grameen Bharat Mahotsav, the Prime Minister exuded confidence that villages will play a key role in pushing forward the dream of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticized the Waqf (Amendment) Act, calling it anti-constitutional and an attack on freedom of religion. He warned that the BJP-RSS will soon target the rights of other minorities, such as Christians and Sikhs. Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of succumbing to pressure from US President Donald Trump on the imposition of tariffs, citing a recent meeting between the two leaders. He also questioned PM Modi's recent meeting with Bangladeshi leader Mohammad Yunus, who has been critical of India's policies. Gandhi further advocated for a caste census in India, stating that Congress aims to break the barrier of 50% reservation.
The Supreme Court, by a majority view of 3:2, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) in admissions and government jobs.
'They want to keep the pot boiling all the time.' 'The BJP wants to set a political narrative that the Gandhis are doing wrong things.'
The socio-economic and caste census 2011 painted a grim picture of rural India, indicating that one out of three families living in villages is landless and depends on manual labour for livelihood.
A fresh survey to identify a minimum of eight million new beneficiaries of the flagship rural housing scheme, in addition to the 12 million already identified, will use the latest face-recognition tools to minimise gaps, a senior official said on Tuesday. The survey, which has already started across the country for building the fresh 20 million new rural houses over the next five years, can also be done by the beneficiary himself/herself as well through the Awaassoft mobile application specially created for this purpose.
Gandhi claimed that Dalits, tribals, and Other Backward Classes were made bonded labourers and their participation was lacking in big companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and courts.
The NSSO had enumerated 79,306 households in rural areas and 45,374 in urban regions.
'Earlier, we used to talk about a deficit economy. There is a deficit in democracy' 'If you read superficially Gandhi and Ambedkar and Nehru, some misconceptions and misunderstanding come to mind, as if they were at loggerheads and they differed radically in their views' 'India is one nation. There is only one citizenship. No citizenship for South India and no citizenship for North India and another for the Northeast'
The Mahayuti landslide in Maharashtra will leave the state assembly without a leader of opposition as no party outside the ruling alliance has been able to get the mandatory minimum 29 seats.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday rejected reports that he was not attending 'iftaar' party hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on July 13 over differences cropping up between the two parties.
