Bihar Assembly unanimously passes bill for 65% caste quota, past Supreme Court cap

News Network
November 9, 2023

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Patna, Nov 9: The Bihar Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a bill to increase reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Classes in state jobs and educational institutions to 65 per cent. This is well past the Supreme Court's 50 per cent cap.

The amended bill will now have to be signed off by Governor Rajendra Arlekar before it is law.

The amendments were passed amid ruckus inside and outside the Bihar Assembly - over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's remark this week on women's education and population control.

Under the revised quotas, Scheduled Caste candidates will have 20 per cent reservation, while those from OBCs and EBCs will get 18 and 25 per cent - a significant increase from the earlier (combined) 30 per cent. Reservation of two per cent has been proposed for ST candidates.

At present there is 18 per cent reservation for EBCs and 12 per cent for Backward Classes, 16 per cent for Scheduled Castes, and one per cent for Scheduled Tribes.

The existing three per cent reservation for women from backward classes has been scrapped.

The amended bill excludes the central government's mandatory 10 per cent reservation for individuals from Economically Weaker Sections, and will take total quotas to 75 per cent.

Nitish Kumar had proposed the amendment on Tuesday, hours after his government tabled the full report of the contentious state-wide caste survey. The report said 36 per cent of the Bihar's 13.1 crore people are from EBCs and 27.1 per cent are from Backward Classes.

Of the rest, 19.7 per cent are from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 1.7 per cent of the population. The General Category accounts for 15.5 per cent of the population, the report said.

This means that over 60 per cent of Bihar hails from OBCs or EBCs.

Data from the survey was presented amid BJP claims that data about population of the Yadav - to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs - and Muslim communities was manipulated.

The Yadav community, which will benefit from 18 per cent reservation for OBC groups, is the largest sub-group, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the category.

The report also said that 42 per cent of all Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families live in poverty, and that 34 per cent of all families in the state survive on less than ₹ 6,000 per month.

Also according to the data, less than six per cent of individuals from Scheduled Castes had finished their schooling; i.e., cleared Class 11 and Class 12.

The report was initially criticised by the BJP; in a sharp response hours after data was released, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of "trying to divide the country in the name of caste".

Last week, though, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared the BJP remains open to the idea of a nation-wide caste census, so long as due diligence is done.

The data - coming months before next year's Lok Sabha poll - underlines the electoral importance of OBCs and marginalised communities - both for the BJP, which has opposed calls for a national caste census, and the opposition, which has been increasingly more and more vocal on the subject. 

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News Network
October 1,2024

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The Israeli regime has conducted a series of deadly airstrikes on the Syrian capital of Damascus, with Syrian media reporting three rounds of strikes in the capital area in one night.

An Israeli aircraft launched several missiles from the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, targeting locations southwest of Damascus.

Syrian air defenses successfully intercepted many of these missiles, according to the Syrian state media.

According to the Syrian military, the Israeli aggression led to the martyrdom of three civilians, the injury of nine others, and significant damage to private property.

The Al Mayadeen news outlet reports that local journalist Safaa Ahmad was among those killed in the attack, which hit the Mezzeh neighborhood in the Syrian capital. Rescue crews are dealing with fires on the ground.

Syrian television said one of its anchors was killed in the Israeli strike on Damascus on Tuesday.

State television said in a statement that it "mourns anchor Safaa Ahmad who was martyred in the Israeli aggression on the capital Damascus."

The official SANA news agency earlier said "air defense systems are intercepting hostile targets for the third time tonight in the Damascus area," using a phrase that usually refers to Israeli aggression.

Subsequently, another wave of attacks was aimed at the suburbs of Damascus which was intercepted by air defenses.

Syria has consistently called on the UN Security Council to take action against these assaults, which it views as clear violations of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.

The Tel Aviv regime rarely comments on its attacks on Syrian territories, which many see as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s phenomenal success in confronting and decimating terrorism.

Damascus has time and again called on the UN Security Council to put an end to the regime’s attacks that violate Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Israeli attacks on Syria come amid the regime’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip which has killed more than 41,600 people, mostly women and children, over the past year.

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News Network
September 25,2024

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court today closed proceedings against Karnataka High Court Judge Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda, following his public apology for controversial comments made during court sessions. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, leading a five-judge bench, stated that the decision was made in the interest of justice and the dignity of the judiciary.

Justice Srishananda during a recent court hearing. Justice Srishananda, while addressing a landlord-tenant dispute, referred to a Muslim-majority area in Bengaluru as "Pakistan" and made a misogynistic comment involving a woman lawyer. His comments, which went viral on social media, prompted the Supreme Court to seek a report from the Karnataka High Court, which was submitted shortly after the incident.

"No one can call any part of territory of India as 'Pakistan'," Chief Justice Chandrachud said. "It is fundamentally against the territorial integrity of the nation. The answer to sunlight is more sunlight and not to suppress what happens in court. The answer is not to close it down."

The Supreme Court had taken up the case on its own and had sought a report from the Karnataka High Court over the controversial remarks. A five-judge bench led by CJI Chandrachud, along with Justices S Khanna, B R Gavai, S Kant, and H Roy, had on September 20 expressed the need for establishing clear guidelines for constitutional court judges regarding their remarks in court. 

"Casual observational may indicate personal biases especially when perceived to be directed at a certain gender or community. Thus one must be wary of making patriarchal or misogynistic comments. We express our serious concern about observations on a certain gender or a community and such observations are liable to be construed in a negative light. We hope and trust that the responsibilities entrusted to all stakeholders are discharged without bias and caution," CJI Chandrachud said today. 

The Supreme Court bench said that when social media plays an active role in monitoring and amplifying courtroom proceedings, there is an urgency to ensure judicial commentary aligns with the decorum expected from courts of law.

Videos of Justice Srishanananda were viral on social media.

In one video, he refers to a Muslim-dominated locality in Bengaluru as "Pakistan" and in another video he was seen making objectionable comments against a woman lawyer. In the second incident, Justice Srishanananda can be heard telling the woman lawyer that she seemed to know a lot about the "opposition party", so much so that she might be able to reveal the colour of their undergarments.

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News Network
October 2,2024

Yemeni Armed Forces have launched a series of attacks on Israeli military positions deep inside the occupied territories, in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese people amid the Tel Aviv regime’s ongoing offensives in the Gaza Strip and across Lebanon.

Delivering a televised statement broadcast live from the capital Sana’a on Wednesday morning, Yemen’s military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the country’s missile units had fired three domestically-developed Quds-5 cruise missiles at the strategic installations.

He added that the missiles managed to strike the designated targets precisely, despite the Zionist regime’s attempts to conceal the losses it sustained in the aftermath of the missile attack.

Saree also hailed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation True Promise II, against Israel, stressing that Yemeni Armed Forces are prepared to participate in any joint military operation against the Zionist enemy in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese nations, and in response to Israeli atrocities.

“The continued US and British support for the Israeli enemy will put their interests in the region in jeopardy. Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to expand their military operations against the Zionist enemy and its sponsors until the ongoing aggression against Gaza stops, the siege on the coastal territory is completely lifted, and the attacks on Lebanon come to an end,” he pointed out.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they will not stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.

So far, Israel has killed at least 41,638 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 96,460 others in Gaza.

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