The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed implementation of the controversial decision of the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra to provide reservation to Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions announced ahead of the state assembly election.
The decision is expected to provide a push for their development in healthcare, cultural identity, education, financial matters, skill development and women empowerment among others, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.
Now it's all jibes about his chameleon-like politics and fading grip on the administration. But there was a time Nitish had the BJP trembling in the state, points out Aditi Phadnis.
In its reply, the state government said reservation solely on the basis of religion is also contrary to the principles of social justice and the concept of social justice aims to protect those who are deprived and discriminated against within the society.
The city police told the Delhi high court on Friday they have granted permission to Mission Save Constitution, an organisation that claims to be working for protection of citizen rights, to hold an 'All India Muslim Mahapanchayat' at the Ramlila grounds on December 18 subject to certain conditions for safe and smooth conduct of the event.
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.
Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the organisation to give the list of speakers at the event to the Delhi Police and listed the case for further hearing on Thursday.
'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.'
Several Muslim organisations have disfavoured the women's reservation bill in its present form and demanded that the government take up the measure only if it provides for a quota within quota to women belonging to Muslim, Dalit and Other Backward Class communities.
Leaders of the coordination committee of Muslim organisations, at a press conference held at Delhi on Tuesday, rejected the proposal to have a sub-quota of 3 per cent for them, to be carved out of the 27 per cent reservation earmarked for the Other Backward Classes.
'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
'Prashant Kishor is a businessman before he is a politician, and given that the expected average turnout for JSP candidates is 5,000 to 6,000 votes and since Bihar has a significant number of seats where the margin between the winner and runner-up falls within that range he will capitalise on exactly that to showcase his presence.'
The Julaya (weavers) community has been identified by the state government in 1978 as Baxi Panch belonging to OBC, advocate for the petitioner Mukul Sinha said.
According to poll observers, there are about 3.88 lakh voters in Rampur assembly constituency and of them, about 2.27 lakh, about 60 per cent, are Muslims.
Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad's statements regarding ministerial and chief ministerial posts, along with his veiled dig at Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to have created a sense of unease within the ruling party in Karnataka.
The Congress on Tuesday accused Home Minister Amit Shah of harboring "hatred" towards B.R. Ambedkar, demanding an apology from him for his remarks in the Rajya Sabha. Congress leaders pointed out that Shah's comments, which criticized the frequent invocation of Ambedkar's name by the opposition, demonstrate a deep-seated animosity towards the architect of India's Constitution. The allegations sparked outrage among Congress members, who accused the BJP and RSS of having a history of disdain for Ambedkar. The incident has fueled political tensions, with the Congress vowing to hold Shah accountable for his remarks.
The report was tabled by Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay.
Muslims' enrolment at secondary level of education is less than that of the scheduled castes, a government survey has indicated.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday expressed strong resentment to the proposal of giving underprivileged Muslims reservation under the Other Backward Classes category.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said from the records tabled before the court it appears that the Karnataka government's decision is based on "absolutely fallacious assumption".
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.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who has courted controversy by his statement on granting nine per cent quota for minorities, on Friday said he had no regrets as he had not done anything unlawful.
Andhra Pradesh has become the first state to categorise Muslims among backward classes and provide five per cent reservation to them in government jobs and educational institutions.
Modi also alleged the opposition grouping will end the reservation given to SC, ST, OBC and give all of it to Muslims.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Thursday said the final number of seats from where he will field his candidates in the Maharashtra assembly elections will be declared on the last day of the filing of nominations next week.
Faced with a challenge to his traditional Other Backward Class-Muslim vote base from the ruling National Democratic Alliance in poll-bound Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad appears to be making inclusion of caste in census and opposition to women's reservation bill his major planks to woo the electorate.Strongly pitching for incorporating caste in census, he said opposing it could spark a 'mass agitation'.
Opposition to the Karnataka government's proposed implementation of a caste census has intensified with dominant communities raising concerns about the survey's findings. The report, which has not been publicly released, is said to contradict traditional perceptions regarding the numerical strength of various castes, particularly Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas. These communities, along with political parties, including sections of the ruling Congress, have criticized the survey as "unscientific" and demanded a fresh assessment. The Vokkaligara Sangha and the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha have expressed strong opposition, alleging that the report misrepresents their populations and demanding a fresh survey. Meanwhile, Dalit and OBC groups have defended the survey and its recommendations, including an increase in reservation for OBCs to 51%. The controversy has fueled political tensions in Karnataka, with opposition parties accusing the Congress government of using the caste census for political gain.
'As soon as the BJP feels they are going to lose power, they will publish the caste census data of 2011 and conduct the caste census of 2021.'
Vijay, despite the loud message from his delayed arrival at the road-show/stampede venue, and more so his continued inaccessibility for fans-turned-cadres after graduating from a super-star to a political party leader with electoral ambitions, refuses to change. Or, so it seems, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'There are legions of unemployed degree holders across rural and semi-urban belts in Maharashtra. Now, they aren't finding brides.' 'This issue has now snowballed into a social crisis. In 2014 and 2019, they had voted for the BJP.'
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
The Congress wants to reinforce the tax more powerfully now after its four generations reaped benefit of the wealth passed on to them, he said.
A seven member bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court is expected to deliver its final judgment on the issue of reservations to Muslims in educational institutions in the state, on Monday.
The fact that the responses from the community to Mohan Bhagwat's remarks have ranged from guarded optimism to outright disbelief tells its own story, points out Kanika Dutta.
'BJP has risen to second spot, ahead of the BSP, as the political party of choice for Muslims in UP.' 'Only the BJP government has worked tirelessly to usher in the minorities to the mainstream of society'
The meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill took an ugly turn as the Trinamool Congress MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party during a heated exchange of words with BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta high court judge.
Once the Bill is passed in the assembly and notified, the Marathas will be entitled to reservation in the government jobs and in admission in government institutions.
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.
