NCST chairman calls for stopping jhum cultivation in Mizoram
Aizawl: National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) chairperson
Antar Singh Arya
on Wednesday highlighted the importance of discontinuing
jhum cultivation
practices in Mizoram, while advocating alternative farming methods that would be more environmentally sustainable through a pilot project initiative.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
During a review meeting in Aizawl with senior state officials discussing safeguards and development programmes for STs in Mizoram, Arya raised these concerns. The NCST delegation, including commission members Nirupam Chakma, Dr Asha Lakra and Jatothu Hussain, is conducting a four-day visit to the state.
During the meeting, the chairperson stressed the importance of promoting Hindi across the state and requested the administration to take necessary actions.
Commission member Nirupam Chakma provided an overview of the commission's responsibilities and discussed the tribal community's situation in the state's southern region and border areas. Lakra shared her insights regarding health, education and women's status.
State chief secretary Khilli Ram Meena and other senior govt officials presented information about Mizoram's tribal welfare and development initiatives.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
21 minutes ago
- The Hindu
‘Namma Naadu Namma Aalvike' urges for two-language policy in Karnataka
The forum 'Namma Naadu-Namma Aalvike (NNNA)' urged the State government to implement the two-language policy in the State education system. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Kannada film lyricist Kaviraj, said, 'The aim of our campaign is to ensure that students are not burdened with a third language that holds little relevance to their immediate academic and social environment.' He emphasised that children, already pressed for time, find it difficult to cope with an additional language. 'Children barely get five hours to study after returning home, and with three languages, they barely get even 30 minutes per subject,' he added. Over the past seven months, NNNA has led a number of awareness campaigns, including a large-scale bike rally in Bengaluru on November 1, 2024. More than 27,000 people have signed petitions calling for the elimination of Hindi as a compulsory third language in schools. The campaign draws inspiration from Tamil Nadu, which has long opposed the three-language policy but has still managed to maintain a high student pass rate. Kaviraj also pointed out that students' overall percentages are significantly pulled down if they perform poorly in languages, even if they excel in core subjects. 'In Karnataka alone, over 1,25,000 students have failed in Hindi, a language that many are not familiar with,' he noted.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Are northern states flipping the ‘injustice' narrative? Kushwaha's call for delimitation says so
Written by Mrityunjay Sharma Upendra Kushwaha, leader of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), a constituent of the NDA, recently launched his campaign for the upcoming Bihar elections from Muzaffarpur. While this marks the usual pre-election show of strength, aimed at bargaining for a larger share of seats before the NDA finalises its seat-sharing arrangement, what drew attention was the name of his rally: Samvaidhanik Adhikar–Parisiman Sudhar (Constitutional Rights–Delimitation Reform). Addressing the rally, Kushwaha advocated for delimitation. He said that had the process been carried out on time, the number of Lok Sabha seats in Bihar would have increased to around 60, thereby boosting representation for Scheduled Castes and women. He also warned of launching an agitation against what he termed a 'gross injustice' to the state. This appears to be the first significant mention of delimitation by a political leader at a public rally in the Hindi heartland. While the issue has been debated in Parliament and among policy experts, it hasn't entered the mainstream political narrative ahead of the decisive year, 2026, when the freeze on delimitation elapses. Delimitation, which is supposed to follow each decennial census, has been postponed twice — first in 1976 and again in 2001, each time for 25 years. Many speculate that the Centre may continue this delay, fearing severe backlash from the southern states, which would possibly lose a few Lok Sabha seats. However, others believe that, given the Modi government's track record of addressing long-pending and contentious issues head-on, delimitation may indeed be on the cards. The last amendment in 2001 mentioned that delimitation may be carried out following a Census conducted after 2026. The recent announcement of the decennial census to be conducted in 2026–27 fulfils this condition and further strengthens the belief that delimitation is imminent. Delimitation, as envisaged in Article 82 of the Constitution, refers to the process of restructuring Parliamentary constituencies to ensure that each represents an approximately equal population. The data used for this purpose must be from the most recent census. The suspension of this process since 1976, intended to promote family planning and reward states that effectively curbed population growth, has led to massive discrepancies. For example, a Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh today represents an average of 30 lakh people, whereas a Tamil Nadu MP represents only 18 lakh people. This violates the principle of 'one person, one vote,' a cornerstone of democratic representation. The imbalance has implications not just for representation but also for the equitable delivery of basic services. Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hinston, in one of their research papers, project state-wise populations to 2026 and evaluate the potential impact of reallocation using a method proposed by McMillan. This approach suggests expanding the total size of the Lok Sabha so that no state loses seats under the new distribution. Based on 2026 projections, this would increase the total number of Lok Sabha seats to 848. The biggest beneficiaries would be Uttar Pradesh (which would go from 80 to 143 seats) and Bihar (which would nearly double from 40 to 79). It's no surprise, then, that the strongest demands for delimitation are emerging from these two states. The biggest loser would be Kerala, which wouldn't gain any additional seats beyond its current tally of 20. Other South Indian states would gain marginally, nothing compared to the gains by northern states. According to the leaders of the Southern states, they should not be penalised for successfully curbing population growth, especially when compared to high-growth states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They aren't wrong, either. While the southern states have reduced their TFR (total fertility rate) to 1.5, much below the population replacement rate of 2.1, Bihar is still growing with a TFR of around 3. In recent years, some parties in the South have tapped into anti-North Indian sentiments to consolidate support, raising issues such as skewed financial devolution, northern migrants taking away local jobs, and threats to local culture. Recent clashes over language in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are a testament to these growing tensions. It will be interesting to see if parties in North India are now going to flip the narrative, accusing the South of unfairly benefiting from a frozen system that denies Northern states their rightful share of representation. While such a move could deepen the North–South divide, it could also become a political tool to rally regional identities and demand equitable representation. In the upcoming Bihar elections, while Chirag Paswan pushes the slogan of 'Bihar First, Bihari First', the Congress focuses on caste census and representation, and Tejashwi Yadav attacks the failures of the Nitish government, it remains to be seen whether Upendra Kushwaha's call for delimitation will resonate with voters, or whether it will be drowned out by more conventional electoral issues. The writer is a BJP Leader and author of Broken Promises: Caste, Crime and Politics in Bihar
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Time of India
Haryana education minister calls Hindi national language, pushes to end English in department communication
CHANDIGARH: Haryana Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda said all work under his department should be done in Hindi as a majority of the state's population speaks the language and it was the "national language". Speaking to reporters in Kurukshetra on Wednesday, Dhanda said people will benefit if government correspondence was done in Hindi. India does not have a national language. Hindi is among the 22 official languages of the country. Addressing mediapersons during an event on Narendra Modi's 11 years as prime minister, Dhanda said, "Hindi is our national language. Why should we work in English? I don't know I can understand it somewhat.... In our state, 90 per cent of the people are far removed from English." Dhanda said the vast majority of people will not understand government correspondence if it is done in English. "We cannot do injustice to 90-95 per cent people for 5-7 per cent people." "So, I said my department will do all work in Hindi so that everyone understands what is written. I would prefer it if all work in Haryana is done in Hindi," the minister said. Later in a post in Hindi on X, Dhanda said, "Hindi is our mother tongue and also our identity. We are proud of our mother tongue. It will be my endeavour that Hindi gets respect and priority in every field and Hindi is implemented everywhere." Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala reacted to the minister's remarks in a post on X on Thursday. He said, "I agree with Mahipal Dhanda that Hindi is our national language. We are proud of it and if someone does not know English, then there is no shame or problem in it". "But as the education minister of Haryana, his statement that our youth, our next generations do not need to learn English along with Hindi is not correct. In this way we will deprive them from progressing in the world. There should be no hesitation in knowing and learning English and there is no need to oppose it unnecessarily," Surjewala posted in Hindi on X. Surjewala said English is a "link language" all over the world, especially in south India. Knowing English opens countless doors to employment as well as technology and science, increasing possibilities, the Congress leader said. "More than one million people from Delhi and the country work in Gurugram alone and most of them are from outside Haryana. Reason - Be it a call centre or a software company, knowing fluent English is mandatory to get a job. "If the youth of Haryana, who are very talented, are well versed in English, then it will help them in getting good employment in their state. This is the criterion for good employment in IT, software, technology companies of Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram," he added. In the age of internet, artificial intelligence, advanced engineering, robotics, solar and hydrogen revolution, the whole world is changing rapidly, Surjewala said. "Knowledge, science, technology and innovation are the keys to the future. The link language for all these is English. Therefore, it is important that we train our youth in English along with Hindi. This is important for the state as well as for the future of the youth," he said. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! Spaces are limited.
