by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
New Delhi : Union cabinet has given its nod to 10 per cent quota for poor among the general categories in Jammu and Kashmir and also approved the provision for SC/ST reservation in promotion in government jobs in the state.
Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh said since Jammu and Kashmir is under the President’s Rule, the Cabinet on Tuesday in its meeting took these decisions.
Talking to reporters here at his official residence, Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said it will help a certain section of society which belongs to lower economic strata and will benefit equally Jammu and Kashmir like other states.
He said the government had introduced the provision of reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
“That too has been approved for Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
“It will enable Jammu and Kashmir to be beneficiaries of the same public welfare measures for the benefit of the weaker sections that PM Modi initiated for the rest of the country,” he said.
Hailing the decision Singh said that these decisions show the Prime Minister’s extremely sensitive concern for the state.
“In the last 65 years, no earlier government had ever taken an initiative on these lines and even now these decisions have come forth in the interest of the state because of the Modi Government being at the helm at the Centre,” he said.
The Union Cabinet had in January this year took the decision to provide for 10 per cent quota for people belonging to ‘unreserved categories’, including Christians and Muslims, in jobs and education with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh and land-holding ceiling of about five acres, highly-placed sources said.
A Constitution Amendment bill for the purpose was recently passed by the Parliament.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
SDPI national president M. K. Faizy
By Pervez Bari, Maeeshat.in,
Bhopal : The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has termed the move to provide 10 per cent reservation for upper castes (the unreserved category) with reference to their economic backwardness a political gimmick and eyewash by BJP with an eye on forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
SDPI national president M. K. Faizy in a statement said that it is the need of the hour to save community quota reservation system permanently so that it doesn’t get assaulted again and again by upper caste controlled political parties. The present move is a deliberate violation of constitutional provisions related to reservation in government services. He warned that the proposed constitutional amendment will be proved invalid.
The concept of reservation was initially meant for proportional representation in parliament and state assemblies which never happened. However, it was hijacked in a conniving manner and put into practice only in government job sector, that too not adequately, he said.
Faizy said that this step is a proof that BJP government does not have anything to showcase for the next election. They are trying all the options. He cautioned that the voters need to be vigilant about such gimmicks on the eve of a general election.
He said that real beneficiaries of such reservations are always rich people. To give real benefits, earning limit should have been kept much lower than Rs.8 lakhs as announced. With Rs.8 lakhs, majority of people will be included, thus, not really benefiting poor. This is a masterstroke from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Faizy pointed out that the Bill cannot be passed in Rajya Sabha as BJP has no majority in it. The planned legislation may not take a shape at all. He observed that by opening the Pandora’s Box the government is likely to lose its support from all backward communities, as the party will be seen as a forward community party, putting BJP in a more disadvantage position.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Hyderabad : The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Tuesday urged the Centre to amend the proposed Bill to provide 10 per cent reservation for economically backward people in the general category to include Telangana’s demand for quota for backward Muslims and Scheduled Tribes
Telangana Chief Minister and TRS President K. Chandrashekhar Rao directed his party MPs to demand the amendments to the Bill when it is taken up in Parliament.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, recalled that the Telangana Assembly had passed a resolution for providing 12 per cent reservation for backward Muslims and 10 per cent reservation for STs and had sent the same to the Union Government.
“This resolution should be introduced in Parliament,” said a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office.
As the central government has decided to take up the issue of reservations, KCR asked the MPs to raise the issue of providing reservation to the backward Muslims and STs and demand amendment to the Bill to this effect.
The Telangana Assembly had passed a Bill in 2017 enhancing reservations for backward Muslims and STs in the government jobs and educational institutions.
Currently the reservation for backward Muslims in the State is at 4 per cent and for STs it is at 6 per cent.
As the enhancement of quota will take the overall quantum of reservation in the state to over 50 per cent, KCR urged the Centre to include the State legislation into 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu.
The Centre has not yet acted on the State’s request.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, News, Politics
New Delhi : Opposition parties and political leaders on Monday sought to dismiss as “election gimmick” the Narendra Modi governments move to give 10 percent reservation for economically backward people in the general category, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Union Cabinet on the day approved 10 percent quota for people belonging to “unreserved categories”, including Christians and Muslims, in jobs and education with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh.
Questioning the legality of the move vis-a-vis the Supreme Court putting a cap of 50 per cent on reservations, the Congress called it an “election gimmick”.
“Did you (government) not think of this for 4 years and 8 months? So, obviously thought of as an election gimmick 3 months before the model code. You know you cannot exceed 50 per cent cap, so it is done only to posture that you tried an unconstitutional thing,” Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
“Forward reservation is a gimmick to fool people, the 50 per cent cap continues to be law,” he said citing the M R Balaji case in which the Supreme Court put a 50 per cent cap on reservations.
“Government only misleading nation. Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan tried exceeding 50 per cent quota but was struck down by court. Modi, BJP clearly think Indian public eats grass,” said Singhvi adding that the move was a sign of the Modi’s “fear and certainty of losing 2019 elections”.
Communist Party of India’s (CPI) D Raja said the move indicated the ruling BJP’s desperation.
“What exactly they (government) have decided we don’t know. How they have defined ‘backwardness’ we don’t know. Already the Supreme Court has put a cap on reservation at 50 per cent. That has not been challenged by the Central government, which means the cap remains.
“So in this case, what Supreme Court is going to do we don’t know. There are many questions which need to be answered. They have to come before Parliament. The BJP is desperate, it is panicking and rattled. It wants to do certain things for fear of losing vote base,” said Raja.
Supreme Court advocate and nominated Rajya Sabha member K.T.S. Tulsi said: “This looks like an attempt in the direction of abolishing the entire reservation system.”
Speaking in a similar vein, former Union Finance Minister Yahswant Sinha dubbed the move as “jumla” (fake promise).
Sinha questioned the government’s intent citing legal complexities and paucity of time as the current session of Parliament is scheduled to end on Tuesday.
“The proposal to give 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker upper castes is nothing more than a jumla. It is bristling with legal complications and there is no time for getting it passed through both Houses of Parliament. Government stands completely exposed,” he said.
However, BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla, said the move was not aimed at placating the upper caste.
“This is not an attempt to placate the upper castes. We are trying to give them their right. We are not doing a favour to them. It is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motto of ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas’.
“Those who do not want to get this bill passed in Parliament may go ahead. We will try to get this bill passed,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Hyderabad : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said attempts to provide reservation to minorities are betrayal with the nation and an insult to the framers of the Indian Constitution.
Addressing an election rally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he called for defeating any such move to protect the country’s unity.
Hitting out at the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for its move to increase reservation for minorities to 12 per cent, Modi said he was surprised how the power-hungry were pushing for religion-based quota for the sake of their family and to save their seats of power.
Stating that the issue of religion-based reservation was discussed in the Constituent Assembly, the Prime Minister said the great personalities framing the Constitution decided against it in the interest of the country’s unity.
Modi wondered from where the reservation for minorities would come when the Supreme Court had already fixed the upper limit of total reservation at 50 per cent.
“They will take away the rights of Dalits, STs and OBCs from backdoor. Will you allow this crime?” he asked the participants in the rally held at L.B. Stadium.
Telangana Assembly had last year passed a resolution to increase reservation for minorities in jobs and education from current 4 per cent to 12 per cent and the same was sent to the Centre. TRS had blamed Modi for the delay in implementing its poll promise made in 2014.
Modi also came down heavily on TRS, saying it destroyed Telangana the way Congress destroyed the nation.
Countering Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that TRS is ‘B’ team of BJP, Modi said TRS and the Congress had common nature, character, thinking and policies.
The Prime Minister recalled that during the Karnataka Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi used to dub Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) as the ‘B’ team of BJP, but after the elections formed the government with the same party to keep the BJP out of power.
Branding the TRS and the Congress as the two sides of the same coin, he alleged that they have already started planning backdoor entry to prevent BJP from coming to power in Telangana.
Modi said both TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had their apprenticeship in the Congress and this made them natural friends.
He described dynasty politics as a threat to the democracy. He pointed out that barring the BJP, all major parties in fray in the Telangana elections were parties with dynasty politics and family rule.
He said the Congress, TRS, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) all were family-ruled parties. “All these parties are becoming threat to democracy,” he remarked.
Modi said Telangana had wasted its five years of welfare due to the arrogance of one family. He alleged that the KCR family exploited emotions of Telangana movement for itself. Stating that Telangana had huge potential, he said the state could not progress because of the kind of rulers it got.
“Why people of Telangana demanded a separate state? Why they suffered so long for separate Telangana. Why so many youth sacrificed their lives? They did it for a bright future of Telangana. One family was not to be given the right to loot Telangana.”
Referring to the TDP’s alliance with the Congress, Modi recalled that N.T. Rama Rao had formed the TDP for the self-respect of Telugu people after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had insulted them.
He alleged that TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu for the sake of power and vested interests put the entire party into the lap of Rahul Gandhi.
—IANS
