01-03-2021 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Caste
The Supreme Court has issued
notice to the government on a petition
seeking caste-based census in 2021.
The plea filed by one G Mallesh
Yadav has sought directions to be
issued to the Ministry of Home
Affairs, Department of Social Justice
and Empowerment, and the National
Commission of Backward Classes
(NCBC) for conducting a caste-wise
census for backward classes in 2021.
As per LiveLaw, the petitioner has
argued that the caste-wise census of
backward classes has an imperative
role in implementing reservations
regarding education, employment sectors,
panchayat raj elections and
municipal elections and lack of such
census creates problems in deciding
the percentage of reservations for
backward classes proportionate to
their population. The plea states that a
proforma of 2021 population census
has columns for Scheduled castes and
Scheduled Tribes but not for OBCs.
The plea refers to the Rohini
Commission of 2017, which was set
up to make recommendations for the
benefit of marginalised communities
in the existing OBCs but the
Commission has sought extension
nine times until now.
The caste census debate
The last caste-based census was
held in 1931, and discontinued after
independence. But a need for caste
census was felt against and in 1961 a
caste survey was conducted only
including SC and STs, excluding the
OBCs. In 2011 the Manmohan Singh
government included caste in the census
but the report has been withheld
ever since. The Rohini Commission
has proposed to divide the 27% reservation
for the castes on the Central list
into four sub-categories.
Justice Vangala Eswaraiah, Former
NCBC chairman whose tenure ended
in 2016, has said that if the government
wants to sub-categorise the
OBCs in order to give them justice, it
MP: Over 5 kg opium in
chocolate wrappers recovered
Betul (Madhya Pradesh) : Acting on a tip-off, the police here
seized 5.6 kg of opium worth Rs 2 crore, which was being smuggled
in chocolate wrappers.
According to the police, an informer reported that opium
wrapped in chocolate wrappers was being transported from Multai
to Parsodi Road in a white-colour Innova car.
During the police raid led by Additional Superintendent of
Police, Shraddha Joshi, and Police Sub-Divisional Officer, Nitesh
Patel, they searched the car and recovered a huge amount of narcotic
substance wrapped in chocolate wrappers hidden under the
car seat. Nearly 3 kg of opium was recovered from the car. A person
identified as Mugsingh Rajpurohit and the car driver Suresh
Pawar were arrested.
According to Superintendent of Police (SP), Simala Prasad,
search operations were conducted at the confectionery shop and
godown of the prime accused Rajpurohit.
As much as 2.6 kg of opium and empty wrappers of chocolates
were recovered from the godown of the main accused taking the
total recovery to 5.6 kg. The price of the drugs seized is estimated
to be nearly Rs two crore in the international market.
NEWS
SC issues notice in plea
seeking caste-based
census in 2021
The last caste-based census was held in 1931, and the
reservations for OBCs was decided on the data.
should either publicise the data of
Socio Economic and Caste Census
(SECC)-2011 or it should conduct a
caste census. He terms the sub-categorisation,
proposed by the Rohini
Commission as “un-scientific, atrocious
and illegal”, Indian Express
reported.
In December 2020, Tamil Nadu
government appointed a Commission
headed by former High Court judge A
Kulasekaran to go into the modalities
PSLV C-51 launch:
Telugu states' CMs
hail ISRO
Hyderabad : Telangana Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh
counterpart Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on
Sunday congratulated Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) for successful launch of
PSLV-C51.
Chandrasekhar Rao said that with the
launch of PSLV-C5 the first dedicated commercial
satellite, ISRO has proved to be one of
the world's leading space research organisation.
The Telangana CM also said that many
countries have chosen ISRO for their technical
needs and has once again brought a reputation
to our country. He congratulated the scientists,
engineers, other technical staff and employees
of the ISRO for achieving success.
Jagan Mohan Reddy also congratulated
ISRO scientists for the successful launch of
PSLV- C 51. He wished the ISRO team success
in all future endeavours.
01-03-2021 to 15-03-2021
15
on the gathering of quantifiable data
for a caste census.
Karnataka had conducted a Social
and Education Survey in 2015 when
Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister
but that report has also not been publicly
released. As per a Deccan Herald
report, the survey, which was partially
leaked, but never officially released,
reveals that SC/STs, Muslims and
Kurubas now constitute close to 50%
of the population and outnumber
Lingayats and Vokkaligas, who have
dominated the political scene in the
state by the virtue of their perceived
numbers. Recently, some BJP members
in the state put pressure on the
government to immediately release
the survey report. “Powerful uppercaste
communities carry out rallies
demanding fulfilment of their
demands. But some backward communities
do not even know how many
of them live in the State and where. I
demand that the government release
the report and come clean with its
stand on the issue,” KP Nanjundi said.
Sociologist Satish Deshpande in an
interview with IndiaSpend with was
reported by Scroll Has emphasised the
importance of caste-based census,
“For example, [data about] the OBC
category does not tell us about the
population of the various, different
castes that constitute this category in
different regions/states. If we had this
data, then meaningful aggregates
could be put together in a region-specific
manner, leading to more useful
information. This is far more valuable
than very large aggregations such as
“OBC” that conceal many differences
within a cluster without the opportunity
to disaggregate.”
A Hindustan Times report favouring
caste-based census has justified
the need for the same stating that only
about 100 affluent communities
among the more than 2,633 OBCs
have gained most from the 27% OBC
reservation. The reservation was
implemented on the basis of the 1931
caste census, which found 52% of
Indians were OBC and the government
adopted the Mandal Commission
recommendation to provide the 27%
reservation, the report states.
Courtesy : Sabrang
Education must evolve,
says Sheikh Hasina
Dhaka : Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina has called for greater
emphasis on science and technology, and
technical education to ensure employment
opportunities for the people in keeping
with the requirements of the modern
age. Hasina said this while speaking at
the inaugural event for the distribution of
stipends, tuition fees, admission assistance
and financial
grants among
poor and meritorious
students
under the Prime
Minister's
Education
Assistance Trust
via video conference
on Sunday,
bdnews24 reported.
She said the
government is setting up various universities
in the country with the aim of providing
the necessary tools to succeed in
the modern workplace.
"We have established the Maritime
University, the Civil Aviation and
Aerospace University. In other words, we
are looking at the subjects and the kind of
education that is very important in different
parts of Bangladesh and setting universities
accordingly. We are doing this so
that everyone can receive a proper education."
Education in science and technology
alongside technical training is crucial as it
improves job prospects, according to the
Awami League chief.
"It's relevant both at home and abroad.
And it's necessary in our country in light
of the 100 economic
zones that we are
creating. There will
be domestic and
foreign investment.
It will take a lot of
people with technical
expertise there.
Therefore, we want
to create a skilled
workforce."
"If we create
skilled manpower,
they will be able to make a huge contribution
to our economic development.
Therefore, we are taking various measures
to that end." The Prime Minister also
highlighted the steps taken by her father
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to
modernise and develop the education system
of the country while outlining the
various initiatives taken in this regard by
her Awami League government.