NEWS

After the Centre included 12 Arunachal Pradesh tribes in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list with separate identities on Monday, the Assam Congress lashed out at the Modi government for allegedly betraying six communities in Assam. The six communities, Tai Ahom, Moran, Motok, Chutia, Tea Tribes and Koch-Rajbangshi, were assured ST tag by BJP leaders from the time of the general election in 2014.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) media department chairperson, Bobbeeta Sharma, came down heavily on the ‘anti-people policies’ of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state, while addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan, here on Tuesday. "The BJP government has been misleading the simple people of Assam. A prime example of this is the promise of ST status to six indigenous communities of Assam,” said Sharma.

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed officials of the state Minority Welfare department to take measures to protect properties owned by the Waqf board. The waqf is a charitable endowment, usually involving the donation of a building or plot of land.

In a meeting on Monday, the chief minister instructed officials to conduct a comprehensive study of waqf lands.

He also asked them to explore the possibility of construction of compound walls around such properties under the state government's employment guarantee programme.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday demanded restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir alongside “free and fair elections” to be held in J&K.

Gandhi was speaking after inaugurating a Congress office in Srinagar — his first address to party workers after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories. He had earlier in August 2019 attempted to visit Kashmir but was not allowed to leave Srinagar airport.

For three years now, Bihar has not received a single application for the Post-Matric Scholarship, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students.

Officials blame it on “technical issues with the National Scholarship Portal” but are unable to explain why this has not been sorted out in three years, and why other states, including neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, have done exceedingly well in providing benefits of this scheme to SC/ST students.

In a state where SCs make 16% of the population and the STs 1%, an estimated 5 lakh students are eligible for this scholarship every year. In fact, most Bihar SC/ST students have been denied this scholarship for six years now – and for an entirely different reason from 2016-17 to 2018-19.