NEWS

In a major embarrassment to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), party's minorities wing secretary K S Masthan who is also the Gingee constituency representative in the State Assembly has, last week, donated Rs 11,000 for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. This has created a ruffle among the alliance parties of DMK. While some welcome the act, some have distanced themselves.

The Viduthalai Siruthaigal Katchi leader and the Member of Parliament from Villupuram constituency, D Ravikumar, calls it a symbolic act of religious harmony. "It should be viewed as a symbolic act of religious harmony though I wouldn't make such a contribution myself. For that matter, I will not contribute to Babri Masjid construction either. I would rather contribute to building schools. But one must note that the government has given 80G tax exemption for Ram Temple contribution but not for those who contribute to Babri Masjid construction. I had raised this issue in the last concluded parliamentary session. But there has been no reply from the government yet. The government should also ensure religious harmony," he said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has once again called for a caste-based census. Talking to reporters on February 17, he maintained that this was necessary to determine proportionate quotas for different castes based on their numbers.

India's last caste census, conducted 90 years ago in 1931, had pegged the backward castes at 52 per cent of the population. In 2011, the then UPA government conducted a Socioeconomic Caste Census to get data on the caste and economic status of every household in the country. The data from the census was made public in 2015 but the caste data was withheld citing "discrepancies".

As of now, the Centre has just one category, Other Backward Castes (OBCs), for reservation in jobs and admissions in educational institutions. The term OBC is used collectively to classify castes which are educationally or socially disadvantaged. This social group is other than the General Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes among the population of India. Currently, they have 27% reservation in government jobs.

The Yogi Adityanath government on Monday presented the first paperless budget in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative assembly. The budget of Rs 5.50 lakh crore for the Financial Year 2021-22 was presented by the state's Finance Minister Suresh Khanna in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The size of this budget is Rs 37,410 crore more than the previous financial year. This is the fifth budget of the Yogi government of the state.

The focus was also on the development of religious hubs like Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi for their infrastructural and cultural development. The UP Finance Minister Khanna said that the airport under construction in Ayodhya will be named after Maryada Purushottam Lord Shri Ram. A provision of Rs 101 crore has been made for this.

The BJP has cancelled its statewide “jail bharo” agitation slated for February 24 following rise in Covid-19 cases across Maharashtra. The protest aimed to show solidarity with the poor and farmers who are being “subjected to harassment by the state”.

BJP general secretary and former power minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Monday said, “The party has called off the jail bharo andolan following increase in Covid-19 cases. We will reschedule the new date for the agitation after monitoring the situation.”

Bawankule said, “Power Minister Nitin Raut promised free electricity to people using up to 100 units. Besides, he had also promised to waive the electricity bill during the lockdown period between April and July 2020. But none of these promises have been fulfilled.”