Unlike Opposition, social justice not mere rhetoric for NDA, says Anupriya
1
2
Lucknow: Union minister and Apna Dal (S) chief Anupriya Patel on Monday said that Centre's notification for the Census exercise cleared the path for a caste-based census.
"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA govt is ready to take yet another revolutionary step in the area of social justice," Patel posted on her X account.
Patel said that, unlike the opposition, the NDA doesn't use the politics of social justice as mere rhetoric.
"For us, true social justice means the economic and social empowerment of the deprived classes — this is both our policy and commitment," she said.
The Apna Dal (S) president said that the NDA govt fulfilled the unrealised dream of Apna Dal (S) founder, late Dr Sonelal Patel.
"He continuously fought for a caste census throughout his political journey.
Inspired by his thoughts, all his followers carried this movement from the streets to Parliament. Today is a moment of immense satisfaction for all of us," she said.
Patel said that the NDA govt worked on the ground to achieve the objective of social justice. This, she said, included granting constitutional status to the National OBC Commission, implementing the OBC quota in NEET-PG entrance exams, enforcing OBC reservation in admissions to Navodaya, Sainik, and central schools, resolving the 13-point roster dispute in universities, and ensuring that the benefits of welfare schemes reach the most deprived sections.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Bihar reshuffles key commissions, sparking charges of nepotism and politics
Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government has undertaken a large-scale reorganisation of various state commissions. Over the past few weeks, at least half a dozen commissions - including the Minority Commission, Savarna Commission, Fishermen's Commission and Scheduled Caste Commission - have been restructured. These developments are closely linked to political calculations and adjustments within the ruling timing of the reorganisation, after prolonged delays, is seen as strategic. Many of the appointees are either aspirants for Assembly tickets or politically significant figures. For instance, former JDU Rajya Sabha MP and national general secretary Ghulam Rasool Baliyavi, who had raised objections to the Wakf amendment law, has been made chairman of the State Minority move is being seen as an attempt to temper his opposition and align him with the party's line. Alongside Baliyavi, NDA allies' leaders Lakhvinder Singh and Maulana Umar Noorani have been appointed as vice-chairpersons of the same commission. In the newly constituted Savarna Commission, former BJP minister Mahachandra Prasad Singh has been named chairman - putting to rest speculations about his candidacy in the next election. JDU spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan has been appointed as vice-chairman, viewed as a political accommodation, while BJP's Rajkumar Singh, a leader from the Rajput community, has been included as a all appointees are frontline politicians. Several relatives of key leaders have also been adjusted into positions of influence. Mrinal Paswan, son-in-law of the late Ram Vilas Paswan and brother-in-law of Union Minister Chirag Paswan, has been appointed as chairman of the Scheduled Caste Commission. Devendra Kumar, son-in-law of Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, has been made vice-chairman of the same commission. In the Fishermen's Commission, former MLA Ajit Chaudhary, seen as a contender from Brahmpur constituency in Buxar, has been appointed list extends further. Sayan Kunal, son of Acharya Kishore Kunal and son-in-law of state minister Ashok Choudhary, has been made a member of the State Religious Trust Board. Rashmi Rekha Sinha, wife of former chief secretary Deepak Kumar and a retired IAS officer, has been inducted into the State Women's appointments triggered a political storm, with Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav accusing the government of indulging in nepotism. In response, Minister Ashok Choudhary countered by asking Yadav to reflect on his own family's political history. He defended the appointment of his son-in-law Sayan Kunal, stating that Sayan is better known for being the son of Acharya Kishore Kunal, a respected figure who once saved the Mahavir Mandir during Lalu Prasad Yadav's also hit back with personal jibes, questioning the merit of Tejashwi's own rise in politics, pointing out that he became Deputy Chief Minister twice despite studying only till class nine, and that other members of the Lalu family have similarly held political office without corresponding Kumar Manjhi, son-in-law of Jitan Ram Manjhi and newly appointed vice-chairman of the Scheduled Caste Commission, also responded to criticism. He said Tejashwi Yadav was attempting to intimidate a Dalit by questioning his appointment. Claiming he is a qualified engineer with 15 years of public service, Manjhi said he had issued a notice to Lalu Prasad Yadav over a viral video in which Lalu is allegedly seen disrespecting Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's portrait. If Lalu fails to respond, the Commission will instruct the police to file an unfolding events underscore how the reshuffling of commissions in Bihar is deeply intertwined with political maneuvering, ticket distribution management, and an attempt to maintain caste balance—particularly as the NDA prepares for a closely contested Assembly Watch
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Census 2027: Assessing pros and cons of self-enumeration exercise
It's a much delayed Census, and changes are afoot. On Monday, the government notified the 2027 Indian Census, which will be the first census exercise in India in 16 years. India has seen significant economic, political, and technological transformation in this time period. There is also a lot riding politically on the Census. Also Read: Centre issues notification for caste census, says 2-phase exercise to begin in 2027 It will likely be the basis for the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC), which can be used to determine citizenship in India, should the government decided to extend the National Population Registry to a NRC; the next round of delimitation (drawing constituency boundaries); and caste reservations. This iteration of the Census will also include a 'caste census' — enumerating Indians by caste for the first time since 1931, which will certainly impact the allotment of reservations for other backward classes (OBCs). With so much riding on the Census, a curious little addition to the census procedure, with no details, was included in the notification. For the first time ever, India will allow 'self-enumeration' which will allow citizens to fill out Census data without a visit from a census enumerator. Also Read: BJP will have to give people their due 'bhagidari': UP Cong in charge Let us take a closer look at the challenges and implications of self-enumeration. Many developed countries, such as the US, essentially use self-enumeration in the Census — as door-to-door canvassing is not operationally or fiscally feasible. Given India's advancement in biometric identification, greater mobile phone connectivity, and the difficulty of interviewing populations on the move such as commuters and migrants, it makes sense for the government to experiment with this idea. Also Read: UP Congress pushes caste census, begins statewide outreach Beyond operational ease, self-enumeration can offer many advantages for procuring high quality data. It is no secret that demographics in many parts of India are highly sensitive matters. To take one example, speaking Bengali as a first language in the state of Assam has become politicized. Imagine how a Bengali speaker may respond to the language questions in the census if directly speaking to an Assamese-speaking enumerator. The interaction may cause the speaker to lie about their first language, or the enumerator may intimidate the respondent to generate incorrect data. Similar claims can be made about declaring oneself as Muslim where there is a threat of religious intimidation or being a Hindi-speaker in Karnataka. In principle, if privacy protocols are sufficiently strong, respondents may more honestly report their demographics and this could yield some surprising (but more correct) results. In this manner, the push to self-enumeration may help reduce 'surveyor bias.' At the same time, there can be genuine concerns about data quality with self-enumeration, from a greater likelihood of data entry error to purposeful misrepresentation. The Census data is complicated, and enumerators are given strict guidelines about how to code various definition (the definition of the household). How will these guidelines genuinely be communicated to the citizen, and will people be able to apply them systematically? Are we certain that each person that desires to enter data through self-enumeration will have the functional literacy to do so? But beyond entry error, there are genuine concerns of wilful misrepresentation. If we are concerned that the Census can only be filled by persons with a certain level of functional literacy, then it is equally true that those that do not reach that level will be obliged to look to others, such as 'agents,' to fill out the information. Given that this data will now be tied to a caste census and to a national register, will there be a secondary market that develops to fill out the information in the 'right way'? For instance, will better organized caste groups get 'better enumeration' through self-enumeration? Data fidelity is a major concern, even in the US. After the information is collected, the US runs a Post-Enumeration Survey to characterize the bias and error in self-enumeration. Is this something to which the government is committed? Will there be sufficient coordination in the system to know who has engaged self-enumeration and who needs a visit from a Census enumerator? In other words, when there are multiple ways of entering in the system, there are genuine concerns of redundancy but also miscoordination that misses out on Indians. Perhaps this initial run a self-enumeration will see a low adoption rate. But if the government is committed to moving to a system of self-enumeration for a significant share of the population, these are all issues that will have to be addressed. We all expect some growing pains. The biggest challenges will occur if self-enumeration throws up some surprising results, like higher than expected number of Bengali speakers in Assam. Will the data be seen as more accurate or the subject of manipulation? How will the validity of such surprising data be adjudicated? Given the operational costs of the Census, it was only a matter of time before the government looked to self-enumeration. As the government builds out the guidelines on self-enumeration in future notifications, it will need to think through these concerns to guarantee that the data remain high quality. Neelanjan Sircar is Associate Professor, Division of Social Sciences, Ahmedabad University
India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
'Popular' Yogi Adityanath, 'friend' Keshav Maurya: Decoding Amit Shah's UP speech
Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent visit to Lucknow sparked political chatter as he shared the stage with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The event, held to distribute appointment letters to over 60,000 newly recruited police personnel, marked Shah's first appearance in the state after the Lok Sabha elections and was closely watched for signals regarding the BJP's political direction in Uttar the hour-long event, Shah sat at the centre of the stage with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his right and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya on his the programme progressed, Shah was seen interacting with both leaders. However, it was his address that drew the most attention, particularly when he referred to Maurya as his "priya mitra" (dear friend) in Yogi Adityanath's presence. The remark gained significant traction on social media. While most viral clips focused on Shah calling Maurya his friend, they left out the earlier part of his speech where he praised Yogi as "the most popular (lokpriya ) and successful Chief Minister".With this, Shah seemed to make two key messages clear: one, that there is no question over Yogi's leadership in the state, and two, that Keshav Maurya remains an important and trusted figure within the BJP publicly acknowledging Maurya as his friend, Shah sent a clear message within party ranks that Maurya, despite recent setbacks, continues to enjoy the confidence of the top leadership. Shah's remarks also appeared to reassert Maurya's relevance as the BJP's most prominent OBC face in Uttar Pradesh, especially at a time when his political stature had seemingly diminished after losing his own seat in the Assembly elections and facing setbacks in his region during the Lok Sabha noted that Shah's speech not only reaffirmed Yogi Adityanath's place as the BJP's face in the state but also clarified that the party's future strategy would continue to revolve around key OBC leaders like Keshav BJP, which rose to power in UP with a carefully crafted caste coalition, appears to be returning to its old formula ahead of the 2027 BJP's renewed emphasis on OBC representation also comes against the backdrop of the opposition's growing focus on caste narratives. Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly called the Yogi government a regime of a particular caste and has pushed the narrative of "Thakur vs PDA" (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak). Shah's subtle endorsement of Maurya, therefore, is also being viewed as a course correction to counter this opposition responding to Shah's speech, first took a swipe at the BJP on social media and later targeted the Yogi government during a press conference, pointing out the absence of Maurya in some posters and questioning the party's internal Shah's speech was also carefully aligned with the setting. Of the more than 60,000 recruits, 15 individuals representing various castes and communities received their appointment letters symbolically from the Union Minister. This caste-conscious selection was seen as a signal of the BJP's intention to maintain social balance and appeal across this visit, Shah appeared to have reset the BJP's political message in Uttar Pradesh. As the party looks ahead to 2027, the signal is clear: the top leadership stands firmly with Yogi Adityanath as the face of the government and sees Keshav Maurya as a vital part of its ongoing OBC Watch
