BJP's OBC Morcha thanks Majhi for SEBC reservation even as BJD, Cong plan stir for more quota
While the BJD has announced it will stage an agitation on May 21 demanding 27 per cent reservation for SEBC students, the Congress said its activists would gherao the CM's residence on May 22 and 23.
On the other hand, both opposition BJD and Congress announced the parties will hit the streets, demanding 27 per cent reservation for SEBCs. OBCs are called SEBCs in Odisha. They enjoy 11.25 per cent reservation in jobs but did not have similar reservation in higher education till now.
Bhubaneswar, May 16 (PTI) Hailing it as a 'landmark decision', BJP's OBC Morcha and other social organisations thanked Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for announcing 11.25 per cent reservation for students belonging to the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in higher education.
A statement issued by the CMO claimed that hundreds of members of BJP's OBC Morcha and caste-based organisations from different districts of the state met Majhi at the State Guest House and expressed their gratitude and appreciation for reserving 11.25 per cent of the seats for SEBC students in the education sector.
The state cabinet on May 14 decided to introduce 11.25 per cent quota for SEBC students in higher education. Majhi called it a 'landmark' decision as his government was the first to introduce quota for SEBC students in education.
Senior BJD MLA and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, on the other hand, dubbed the reservation for SEBC students as 'fraud and deception' and rejected the BJP's claim of it being a 'historic decision.' The BJD demanded 27 per cent reservation for SEBC students across all educational institutions and has declared its intent to launch an agitation in support of this demand.
Sahoo, also the BJD's OBC cell convenor, told reporters, 'Isn't it deceitful to claim such a move as historic when the reservation is only for vacant seats and not implemented in mainstream, professional or vocational education?' 'A massive peaceful demonstration will be held by the BJD near Governor House Square on May 21, and a memorandum addressing this demand will be submitted to the governor,' Sahoo said.
Earlier, OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das had announced that Congress workers will gherao the CM's residence on May 22 and 23 demanding 27 per cent reservation for SEBCs in Odisha. PTI AAM AAM ACD
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
18 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Rahul Gandhi writes to PM over delays in scholarships for students from marginalised communities
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the 'deplorable' conditions students from the Dalit, Scheduled Tribe (ST), Economically Backward Class (EBC), Other Backward Class (OBC), and minority sections of the society have to deal with at residential hostels, along with the delays in post-matric scholarship disbursements. In a letter dated June 10, the Congress leader detailed a crisis in scholarships programmes, citing Bihar as an example where the scholarship portal allegedly remained non-functional for three years, resulting in no scholarships being disbursed during the 2021-22 academic year. He noted a sharp decline in beneficiaries, and said, 'The number of Dalit students receiving scholarships fell by nearly half, from 1.36 lakh in FY23 to 69,000 in FY24,' while adding that 'students further complain that the scholarship amounts are insultingly low'. The Lok Sabha leader of opposition cited his visit to the Ambedkar Hostel in Darbhanga, Bihar, where students reported severe overcrowding, with '6-7 students forced to share' single rooms, coupled with unhygienic toilets, unsafe drinking water, absent mess facilities, and no access to libraries or the internet. Gandhi claimed that these issues were not isolated to Bihar but 'represent a nationwide failure', hindering education for the vast majority of students from marginalised backgrounds. He called for immediate government action, a comprehensive audit of all hostels serving these communities to ensure basic infrastructure, sanitation, food, and academic facilities, backed by adequate funding; and systemic reforms to ensure timely scholarship disbursement, increased amounts, and improved execution in coordination with state governments. 'India cannot progress unless youth from marginalised communities progress,' Gandhi said. HT had reported in February that the Union Budget 2025 slashed funding for several scholarships. Funding for the National Fellowship and Scholarship for ST students was slashed by 99.99% (from ₹240 crore in 2024 RE to ₹0.02 crore in 2025 BE). The Pre-Matric Scholarship for Minorities saw a 72.4% reduction, and the Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities was cut by 69.9%. The National Overseas Scholarship Scheme faced a 99.8% cut. HT had also reported last week that over 1,400 PhD scholars under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) face severe financial hardships as stipend payments have been stalled since January 2025 due to administrative hurdles following a change in nodal agency from UGC to NMDFC. The MANF scholars had also written to Gandhi asking for help regarding the disbursal of stipend. Separately, the National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes (NFSC) selection process for June 2024 is also in troubled waters. After initially releasing a selection list of 865 scholars in March 2025 and issuing award letters, the National Testing Agency published a revised list in April, reducing selections to 805 and removing 487 previously chosen candidates.
Indian Express
18 minutes ago
- Indian Express
D for dope test returns to Punjab politics vocabulary as Ludhiana West bypoll heats up
A demand for legal cultivation of poppy in drug-hit Punjab has triggered a war of words between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress ahead of the high-stakes June 19 Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll, with leaders challenging each other to take dope tests. Making a case in favour of legalisation of poppy cultivation, Ludhiana MP and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Sunday said that consumption of poppy was less harmful than synthetic drugs. Ruling out any possibility of meeting the demand, state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday demanded Warring undertake a dope test and accused him of 'promoting drug culture'. Cheema also held the previous Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP governments responsible for the 'alarming rise of drug abuse in Punjab'. 'It was during their terms that drugs were sown in Punjab's soil. The AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is now committed to uprooting this menace,' he said. Warring almost immediately responded and urged Cheema not to politicise the issue. 'I welcome Cheema's suggestion (of me taking a dope test)… I am ready for the test but I will get it done along with Cheema. Before that, CM Mann should also undergo the test… I raised the issue of opium cultivation as the number of deaths due to drug overdose have been on the rise. The cultivation of poppy can put an end to this,' he said. Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa too echoed Warring's views. 'I have been suggesting for a while now that all leaders, starting with the CM, must take the test…' he said. Terming the issue a 'diversionary tactic', state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said, 'As the bypoll is round the corner, politics is being played over the issue to divert the people from real ones.' The standoff comes amid the Mann government's crackdown on the drug menace to make a 'drug-free Punjab', a pre-poll promise of the AAP. The Punjab Police has filed 11,156 FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act between April 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. The Punjab and Haryana High Court in January 2023 also weighed in on the issue. 'The lives of citizens are being destroyed due to the selling of these banned substances… There is an alarming spike in the number of people buying and selling these contraband in the country, especially in Punjab, which needs to be controlled in an effective manner so as to minimise the said offence, if not to eradicate,' the court held, while hearing the anticipatory bail plea of a person accused of peddling drugs. In March 2023, then Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh told the Assembly that the number of individuals grappling with addiction stood at 10 lakh. Now new to Punjab's politics Incidentally, demanding testing for drugs is not new in Punjab's politics. In 2018, with former CM Amarinder Singh at the helm, state minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa had demanded dope tests for all government employees after several people died of drug overdose. As employee unions demanded that leaders take the test first, several MLAs and ministers volunteered for it, before the government took a call. First to get himself tested for drugs was Punjab AAP chief and then Sunam MLA Aman Arora. Tripat Bajwa himself took a dope test and was followed by a few MLAs, including then Speaker Rana K P Singh. In 2015, a similar demand was put forward by the then Opposition Congress, which demanded SAD and BJP ministers undergo the test after then DSP Jagdish Singh Bhola, an alleged drug kingpin, was nabbed. The upcoming bypoll, necessitated after sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi 'accidentally' shot himself to death in January, has turned into a prestige battle for the AAP as it comes close on the heels of its drubbing in the February Delhi Assembly polls, where party bigwigs including party chief Arvind Kejriwal and former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia lost. The Congress is also going all out to wrest the seat from the AAP. The AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora for the bypoll. He will be up against former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress, the Akali Dal's Parupkar Singh Ghumman and Jiwan Gupta of the BJP.
Hindustan Times
22 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
ED raids Cong Bellary MP, 3 MLAs in Karnataka Valmiki case
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches against Congress Bellary MP E Tukaram and three MLAs of the party as part of a money laundering investigation into the alleged Valmiki scam-linked money laundering case, official sources said. They said five premises in Bellary and three in Bengaluru city are being searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These include houses belonging to Tukaram and MLAs Nara Bharath Reddy (Bellary city), J N Ganesh (Kampli) and N T Srinivas (Kudligi). The sources said the searches are being conducted in order to gather evidence on the allegation that funds siphoned off from the accounts of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) were used for election expenses -- to distribute cash to voters and Congress workers of the Bellary seat during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Also Read | ED searches on Cong MP, MLAs 'conspiracy' to divide party in Karnataka: Kharge The money laundering case of 2024 stems from FIRs registered by Karnataka Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which alleged that funds worth crores of rupees were diverted from the KMVSTDC and sent to "fake accounts" before being laundered through shell entities. The corporation was established in 2006 with a primary focus on the socio-economic development of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in Karnataka by running welfare schemes for them. The alleged irregularities came to the fore after accounts superintendent of the Valmiki Corporation, Chandrasekharan P, was found dead on May 21 last year. He wrote a suicide note alleging illegal transfer of money from the corporation to various bank accounts. Former Karnataka tribal affairs minister B Nagendra and five others allegedly linked to him were arrested by the ED in this case. Nagendra later got bail. Nagendra told the ED that J G Padmanabha, the managing director of the corporation under his ministry, "fraudulently" transferred funds of the corporation without his knowledge or approval from the board. He denied any wrongdoing and said that he did not benefit personally from the siphoned funds. Also Read | Cong MLA convicted in iron ore export case Padmanabha told the ED that he was acting on the orders of the higher officials, including Nagendra, and he had no real control over the fraudulent activities. Nagendra, an MLA from Bellary rural seat, resigned as minister in the face of these allegations. According to an ED chargesheet filed last year, two of Nagendra's personal assistants and an associate "admitted" to handling large sums of money, which aligns with the broader scheme of siphoning funds for electoral purposes. Nagendra, the agency said, handled a "substantial portion" of the proceeds of crime, primarily in the form of cash, which was used to support activities related to the Lok Sabha elections. "This cash, siphoned from the Valmiki Corporation, was received and distributed by Vijay Kumar Gowda, personal assistant to B Nagendra, under his direct instructions," the ED said. Gowda recorded in his statement with the ED that he had handed over cash to the persons instructed by Nagendra which "eventually went to party workers and voters, following instructions from B Nagendra, for the purpose of election-related activities", the agency said. "To incentivise voters to cast their vote in favour of Sh. E Tukaram, the INC (Congress) candidate, ₹200 was distributed to each voter. "Additionally, ₹10,000 was allocated to each polling booth to compensate the Congress party workers responsible for assisting voters and overseeing the booths," the ED said in its chargesheet filed last year. The ED claimed that the three MLAs "ensured" that the cash was disbursed to voters and party workers in their respective constituencies and this was " corroborated" by the evidence gathered during the investigation. It said that a total of 7,40,112 voters in Bellary were given ₹200 each from the Valmiki funds, totalling more than ₹14 crore, apart from ₹10,000 each to party workers in each booth, totalling over ₹72 lakh. The probe, the ED earlier said, uncovered a "complex" money laundering operation within the corporation with more than ₹187.33 crore intended for welfare schemes being fraudulently siphoned off from the corporation's account between March and May last year.
