
Refrain from caste census, urges NSS
Kottayam: Nair Service Society (NSS) has urged the govt to refrain from carrying out a caste census and to confine it to collecting the numerical strength. NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair submitted a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister, vice-president, Union home minister and Lok Sabha speaker regarding this.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
The memorandum cites that a communal census will result in dividing the country along communal and religious lines. It will sap the nationality's profound status, says the memorandum.
NSS, which has been functioning for decades to integrate the members of the community into the nation's mainstream by abjuring caste differences, was taken aback by the impending caste census, which will nullify all the endeavours made thus far to eradicate caste discrimination, says the memorandum.
NSS's present endeavour is to highlight the menace of conducting a caste census, which would create fissiparous tendencies in society, states the memorandum.
The demographic information of an individual pertaining to name, address, gender and date of birth can only be elicited for the purpose of data collection. The collection of any other demographic information in relation to an individual will invade their personal autonomy and privacy.
Therefore, the present move to conduct a caste census to elicit the caste and religion of citizens will infringe on the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, says the memorandum.
Kottayam: Nair Service Society (NSS) has urged the govt to refrain from carrying out a caste census and to confine it to collecting the numerical strength. NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair submitted a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister, vice-president, Union home minister and Lok Sabha speaker regarding this.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
The memorandum cites that a communal census will result in dividing the country along communal and religious lines. It will sap the nationality's profound status, says the memorandum.
NSS, which has been functioning for decades to integrate the members of the community into the nation's mainstream by abjuring caste differences, was taken aback by the impending caste census, which will nullify all the endeavours made thus far to eradicate caste discrimination, says the memorandum.
NSS's present endeavour is to highlight the menace of conducting a caste census, which would create fissiparous tendencies in society, states the memorandum.
The demographic information of an individual pertaining to name, address, gender and date of birth can only be elicited for the purpose of data collection. The collection of any other demographic information in relation to an individual will invade their personal autonomy and privacy. Therefore, the present move to conduct a caste census to elicit the caste and religion of citizens will infringe on the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, says the memorandum.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
HC stays gov resolution asking minority institutions to enforce quotas in FYJC admissions
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday stayed a resolution issued by the Maharashtra government on May 6, which said that minority educational institutes must have reservation for Scheduled Castes/Schedule Tribes (SC/ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in first year junior college (FYJC) admissions. Stating that social reservation should not be applicable to any seat in a minority educational institution, a division bench of justices M S Karnik and N R Borkar stayed the resolution and asked the state to update the FYJC admission portal. The court asked the state to respond in four weeks and scheduled the next hearing on August 6. The order follows petitions filed by Solapur's APD Jain Pathashala, a minority institution that runs the Walchand College of Arts and Science and the Hirachand Nemchand College of Commerce in Mumbai, and another petition by the Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions. Senior advocate Milind Sathe, represented the petitioners, and said that according to the Constitution of India, minority educational institutes, both aided or unaided, need not have reservations for socially and educationally backward classes. He added that a similar government resolution issued in 2019 was also withdrawn after it was challenged in the court. The court on Wednesday had asked government pleader Neha Bhide to check whether the government was willing to drop minority institutions from the scope of the resolution. Bhide on Thursday told the court that she had not received any instructions from the government to change the resolution. She added that the resolution did not violate the Indian Constitution and said, 'It is only if the seats remain unfilled and are surrendered that the social reservation comes into place.' The high court had, on Wednesday, questioned the resolution. The court had said that this could just be a mistake by the government for which a correction can be issued, and that an order from the court was not necessary when it came to making such corrections. The Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions (MAMEI) had raised objections about the FYJC admission process for the academic year 2025-26 and said that minority colleges until recently followed a fixed seat distribution of 50% for minority quota, 10% for in-house students, 5% for management quota, and 35% for the rest, including the sports quota and ex-servicemen quota. This year, the government changed the rules for admissions to minority institutions and imposed a reservation for SC/STs and OBCs on the 35% of seats which were in the open category. MAMEI said that the previous reservation structure was legally protected and upheld by the high court and the Supreme Court, and added that the latter had earlier dismissed a petition by the state which challenged the autonomy of minority institutions.


Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Air India plane crash: Blaze left no chance of rescue, says Amit Shah
GANDHINAGAR: The intense heat from 1.25 lakh litres of burning jet fuel left "no chance of saving lives" after AI 171 crashed, Union home minister Amit Shah, who reached Ahmedabad after the crash, said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "All bodies have been recovered and DNA tests are being done to establish identities," he said after visiting the injured. 'Heat from 1.2L litres fuel left no chance of saving anyone' Shah said the searing heat from 1.25 lakh litres of jet fuel left "no chance of saving lives" after AI Flight 171 crashed Thursday in Ahmedabad. Of 242 people on board, only one survived - British citizen Viswashkumar Ramesh, with business in Diu. Shah visited the crash site and met the sole survivor at Ahmedabad civil hospital. "The temperature increased to such a level that there was no chance of saving lives," Shah told reporters after inspecting the wreckage and visiting the injured. "All bodies have been recovered and DNA sampling is underway to establish identities." Around 1,000 DNA tests would be conducted, including for relatives abroad, who have been informed and will be tested upon arrival, he said. "Gujarat has the facility for these tests. Mortal remains will be handed over after sampling," Shah said. Union civil aviation ministry has ordered a swift investigation into the crash, Shah said, with the aviation department initiating a probe. CM Bhupendra Patel, who returned from Bardoli to oversee rescue operations, joined Shah at the crash site and hospital, directing forensic and science teams at FSL and NFSU to expedite DNA collection as desperate families gathered. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Praising state response, Shah said: "Accidents cannot be prevented, but the administration's preparedness is tested during such times. Gujarat has handled the emergency remarkably well." The Union govt was alerted within 10 minutes of the crash, Shah said, with both central and state authorities launching a coordinated rescue mission. "The country stands in solidarity with the victims' families," he said.


Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Air India plane crash: Vijay Rupani latest Indian political bigwig to lose life in aviation tragedy
NEW DELHI: Former became the latest addition to a tragic list of Indian political leaders who lost their lives in air accidents, after Air India flight AI-171 crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on Thursday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The London-bound Dreamliner was carrying 242 passengers, with Rupani among the confirmed fatalities. This tragedy renews scrutiny on aviation safety involving public figures in India - an issue marred by repeated disasters and close escapes. Among the most high-profile air crash victims are Sanjay Gandhi - the influential son of former PM Indira Gandhi - who died in 1980 while piloting a small aircraft in Delhi. His death left a political vacuum and changed the course of Congress politics. Years earlier, Mohan Kumaramangalam, Union steel and mines minister, was killed in the 1973 crash of Indian Airlines flight 440 near Delhi. His body was identified only by a Parker pen and his hearing aid. Former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy perished in a 2009 chopper crash. In 2001, senior Congress leader and the then MP from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, Madhavrao Scindia died in a chartered plane crash in Uttar Pradesh - an incident that followed an earlier air scare in his political career which he survived. He had held key portfolios in Congress govts such as civil aviation, human resource development, railways, and communications. In 2002, the then Lok Sabha speaker GMC Balayogi died in a chopper crash. Others include Dorjee Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh CM), OP Jindal (Haryana power minister), & Surendra Singh - son of ex-Haryana CM Bansi Lal - who died in 2005 in a crash near Saharanpur. Notably, another Gujarat chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta, died in an air tragedy during the 1965 India-Pakistan war. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now His plane was mistakenly shot down by Pakistani fighter aircraft near the border, having been misidentified as a reconnaissance plane. Yet, there have been remarkable survivals. In 1977, the then PM Morarji Desai escaped unhurt when his helicopter made an emergency landing in the Northeast. In 2001, Narendra Modi, then Gujarat CM, survived an emergency landing during earthquake relief operations in Bhuj. M Venkaiah Naidu, former vice president, has had multiple near misses. In 2003, during taxiing, an engine fire broke out on an Air Deccan flight from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, carrying both Naidu and then Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy. The fire was contained before takeoff and all passengers were evacuated safely. In 2005, Naidu's helicopter made an emergency landing in Bihar's Gaya due to a technical failure. Minutes later, Naxals attacked and destroyed the grounded aircraft with a petrol bomb. Both he and the pilot escaped unhurt. Rupani's death is likely to reignite urgent debate on the protocols and preparedness surrounding the air travel of India's top political leaders.