Tamil Nadu's latest budget offers path-breaking initiatives and major boost for social infrastructure, which other state governments are sure to follow in the coming years, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The moment the BJP loses a state, it announces some policy which never takes off.'
A BJP source admitted that a census will inevitably reconfirm the numerical majority of the OBCs. 'That will overturn social equations and consign the upper castes to a twilight zone of marginalisation. The RSS won't accept it.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance released its manifesto for the February 20 Punjab polls on Saturday, promising a slew of sops for various sections, including 75 per cent reservation in all government jobs for youngsters from the state, an unemployment allowance, 35 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and massive infrastructure development.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Leader of the Opposition in state Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav and state party President Mangal Pandey and several party workers were detained when they tried to stop trains at Sachivalya halt in Patna town, police said.
The Andhra Pradesh government has promulgated an ordinance providing four per cent reservation to 15 socially and educationally backward groups among Muslims in professional educational institutions and public employment.
The bill, approved by the Union Cabinet on Monday, was brought in on the last day of the Winter Session of Lok Sabha.
It is unusual in democratic countries two decades into the 21st century for laws to become regressive instead of progressive. But that is clearly what is happening in India today and more of this is ahead, asserts Aakar Patel.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has long been demanding special category status for his state.
The notification said the Act will come into force from a date to be announced by the government later.
The Act amends Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, by adding a clause which allows states to make 'special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens'.
The Union Budget 2011-2012 is likely to be more beneficial for the special and underdeveloped states, including J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, rating agency Fitch said on Wednesday.
'The BJP always said Rahul Gandhi is an 'air-conditioned leader', but after this yatra he has proved them wrong.'
'We pulled out 2 ministers from the Union cabinet and then quit the NDA. We also moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government. Yet, the Centre remains unmoved'
'We were supposed to be a united nation based on unity and diversity.' 'Now what we are doing is there will be a class called Marathas, Dangars, etc.' 'The 100 per cent of our nation's population will be in classes and you will be allocating the nation's education and service resources in terms of classes.' 'How does it work out in terms of equality? Where is your equal nation?'
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said he will wait for the Centre's decision on granting special category status to Bihar, despite ally Bharatiya Janata Party terming the government's proposal of forming a panel for to decide the backwardness of states as "illusory". "The Centre has its own way of approaching an issue so what is the harm in waiting for a good result," Kumar told reporters.
Dr Zaheed Qureshi said that when his daughter Shabana married Sameer Wankhede, the latter practised Islam, and would occasionally visit mosques.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday refused to vacate the stay granted by it last month on Haryana government's decision to grant reservation to Jats.
Welcoming Raghuram Rajan panel report which has put Bihar among the least developed states, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday described it as a 'victory' for the state but was non-committal on alliance with the Congress for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
'The common belief in political circles is that if you provide reservation to somebody, s/he will automatically come up.' 'This is a very faulty understanding.'
Andhra Pradesh has been demanding a Special Category State status from the Centre ever since the state's economic powerhouse Hyderabad, which housed several IT and pharmaceutical companies as well as PSUs, went to Telengana in the bifurcation
Blowing the bugle for the 2014 Parliamentary elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday hit out at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for dilly dallying on granting special category status to the state.
The Gujjar community will be given five per cent reservation as a special category under an agreement reached with Rajasthan government, bringing to an end the nearly month-long agitation for Scheduled Tribe status. Addressing a joint press conference with Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla in Jaipur, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje announced five per cent quota for Gujjars as also Rebaris and Banjaras.
There were reports that some Commission officials were against the Rajan panel's suggestion to replace Gadgil- Mukherjee formula with Rajan Committee's Multi Dimensial Index for allocation funds to states.
The nearly month-long agitation by members of the Gujjar community demanding Scheduled Tribe status -- was called off by their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla on Thursday. The decision comes in the wake of the agreement finalised between the Rajasthan government and leaders of the Gujjar community on Wednesday.The 27-day Gujjar agitation, which witnessed large-scale violence, claimed 43 lives in police firing in Rajasthan and Haryana.
The bill proposes to make university or college as a unit instead of department for the purpose of providing reservation for filling teachers posts in central education institutions.
Mevani, after his meeting with the Gandhi scion, said he would ask his community members to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Gujarat polls.
Excluding the Bharatiya Janata Party, which ardently opposed the bill both inside and outside the assembly, the entire Opposition supported the Backward Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Reservation Bill, 2017, which will be now debated and passed by the state legislative council.
Kamalrukh said she is a Parsi who got married to the "Dabangg" composer under the Special Marriages Act.
Most of the migrants do not get access to any medical facilities in government-run hospitals or dispensaries as they do not have an Aadhaar card and are not Indian citizens.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has stated that backward state of Assam and the Northeast region as a while need more fund from the Centre instead of frequent visits of Union ministers, a new and unprecedented trend since Independence.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday defended his development index for measuring backwardness of states, saying the aim is to "encourage development" and "everything over and above that is a political spin."
'If you solve it in one day, it will go after a day.' 'If it is there for 100 years or 1,000 years, reservation has to continue.'
Thus it was that for the first time in the history of the republic a constitutional amendment was announced and passed by Parliament within 72 hours, reports R Rajagopalan.
Keeping an eye on the upcoming assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday promised the people of Assam that if his party comes to power it will put an end to unabated infiltration in the state from Bangladesh.
Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said all the commissions were functioning and the process of filling up the vacancies was on.
In the light of the efforts being made to forge electoral unity between scheduled castes and Muslims, Mohammad Sajjad examines what the architect of our Constitution, B R Ambedkar, had to say about the Muslim community.
She said despite being aware of adverse political consequences, the Congress went ahead and created Telangana, and paid the price in the elections that followed.
Despite various political leaders, including Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealing protesting Jats to maintain calm and peace, the incidents of violence and arson continued during the night in various parts of the state, crippling the normal life in worst affected places like Rohtak, Jind, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Hisar.
Justices Dilip B Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi have been appointed as judicial members in the anti-corruption ombudsman.
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