The entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government over Rs 12,000 crore, the officials said.
'...it gets a survey report that they are going to lose elections.' 'The fear of losing elections will make them immediately conduct a caste census.'
In an appeal filed before the top court against the May 4 order of the high court, the state government said the stay will adversely affect the entire exercise.
'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly Tejashwi Yadav on Monday said the caste-based census will help in preparing welfare schemes for people from different sections of society.
The row over Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur's remarks in Lok Sabha escalated on Wednesday with the Congress submitting a notice to move a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for posting on 'X' a video that allegedly also contained expunged portions of Thakur's speech.
A seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, by a majority of 6:1, set aside the apex court's five-judge bench verdict of 2014 in the EV Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh case which had held that no sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) can be allowed as they are a homogeneous class in themselves.
The interim budget 2024-24 on Thursday allocated Rs 1,277.80 crore for census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when Rs 3,768 crore was allocated and an indication that the exercise may not be carried out even after three years of delay.
The caste census has already become a hot-button issue. Unless settled earlier, it will echo loudly in the coming assembly elections and eventually in the 2024 parliamentary poll, notes Virendra Kapoor.
The government on Friday refrained from releasing the caste-based data in its first Socio Economic and Caste Census released in eight decades and maintained that it was concerned with economic data which will help in effective implementation of its programmes.
A head count to identify the poor, including their caste and religion, was on Thursday approved by the government, which aims at ensuring that the benefits of the targeted subsidy programme reach them. A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave its nod for conducting a census in rural and urban areas to identify those living below poverty line. The enumeration on the basis of caste and religion would be part of the census.
Although the Disaster Management Act for Covid containment measures, considered a hindrance in conducting the census, was withdrawn in March this year the Centre has not taken any further action on conducting the much-delayed population enumeration.
Members cutting across party lines demanded that an all-party delegation call on the prime minister to seek caste-wise census to determine the population of other backward classes.
The Madras high court on Thursday issued a fresh direction to the Centre to conduct caste-wise census in the country. Allowing a PIL by lawyer R Krishnamoorthy, a division bench on Wednesday directed the Census commissioner to take all steps to hold caste-wise enumeration. The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice T S Sivagnanam said the relief sought by the petitioner had already been answered in the affirmative by the court in an earlier verdict
With most parties pushing for a caste-based census, the government does not seem to be averse to such an exercise during the process to enumerate the country's populace that began recently.
A substantial number of castes and groups are already placed in the reserved category, getting about 52 per cent of reservations altogether. It would be completely inequitable to place the Maratha community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, it said.
'A delay of two years has happened, but stretching it to 2024 is a bit too far.' 'And we do not know about 2024 also.'
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
Non-heterosexual unions and heterosexual marriages ought to be considered as two sides of the same coin, both in terms of recognition and consequential benefits, Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said as he lamented that the only deficiency at present is the absence of a suitable regulatory framework for such unions.
While arithmetic political stability is a reality, the end result of politics in Maharashtra is hard to predict.
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Monday issued an order terming the 10.5 per cent internal reservation for the Vanniyars community in Tamil Nadu as 'unconstitutional.'
If implemented after stakeholder consultations, migrant voters do not need to travel to their home district to exercise their franchise.
Congress MPs on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the motion of thanks on President's address, alleging he was only speaking against the Congress party and not on the address.
The NSSO had enumerated 79,306 households in rural areas and 45,374 in urban regions.
The 2021 census will be conducted through a mobile phone application, moving away from the traditional pen and paper.
The National Judicial Commission Bill, 2022, was introduced after the majority of voice votes were in its favour.
When I first spoke about Nitish Kumar being PM material, many of you scoffed at me. Now you can see... it has happened often that I say something and it becomes a widespread sentiment later on," JD-U leader Upendra Kushwaha said.
Testosterone not rationale is the driving force behind KGF franchise, observes Sukanya Verma.
'Congress leaders don't believe in themselves and in the potential of the party.' 'Unless they have faith in themselves, only then will the public have faith in them.'
Shah said the Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the national capital were turned into communal riots. "I call upon my Muslim brothers and sisters that false propaganda is being spread on the issue of CAA. This Act is not to take anyone's citizenship but to give citizenship," said Shah.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would not reopen its decision on granting reservation in promotions to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as it was for the states to decide how they implement it.
Noting that it was his government that had recommended a CBI probe into the actor's death, Kumar said the incident saddened both the state and the country.
The NPR data can be used for transparent and efficient delivery of social benefits by linking it with various beneficiary oriented government schemes, they said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee campaigning in tribal Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday for the coming state election asked "Marxist friends" not to vote for either the CPI-M or Congress, who are "cohorts of the communal BJP".
Here is all you need to know about the National Population Register and worries over its links with NRC.
'The moment the BJP loses a state, it announces some policy which never takes off.'
The Election Commission on Friday said there was "nothing particularly wrong" in the speech of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah in which he reportedly described Azamgarh as "a base of terrorists".
The NPR data will be used for schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ujjvala and Saubhagya for identifying the intended beneficiaries.
'Was he afraid that his answers during cross-examination would land him in trouble under the new ruling dispensation?'
20 times increase in people joining RSS on rss.org, Marginal increase in number of branches. Archis Mohan reports
