Latest news with #YogendraYadav
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Census that has to be more than just a head count
The Union government announced this week that the long-delayed census will be carried out in two phases with the reference date of March 1, 2027. For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be October 1, 2026. Late April, the Centre announced that caste enumeration will be a part of the next decennial census. This is a significant shift. I have previously argued in these pages that a carefully conducted caste census offers more positives than negatives, but two considerations must be taken seriously. First, the data must be collected with care. Second, the data must be made accessible — not just to policymakers and researchers, but to the people themselves. India's three most urgent structural challenges over the next two decades are clear – job creation, rising centralisation, and the growing social and economic marginalisation of Muslims. A well-designed caste census can speak to all three. This is not to suggest that such a census will resolve these challenges outright, but it can meaningfully illuminate specific aspects of each. The first challenge concerns employment — or rather, the lack of meaningful, secure work for large segments of India's population. Caste in India has long been closely tied to occupational hierarchies. We need a clearer map of who is doing what work today, which jatis dominate the public sector, which remain concentrated in casual labour, who has exited traditional caste-based occupations, and who remains locked into them. Without this information, it is difficult to design effective affirmative action policies, employment guarantees, skilling programmes, or education pipelines. For instance, using data from its caste census, the Telangana government has created a sub-quota for particularly marginalised Scheduled Caste (SC) jatis within the broader SC reservation quota. This does not increase the overall SC share in public jobs, but ensures that historically left-behind Scheduled Caste (SC) jatis have a fairer chance. If the national caste census includes occupation data by jati, it can illuminate why some communities remain trapped in insecure, informal work while others diversify. Unless we make caste visible in our understanding of labour markets, we cannot address the structural roots of inequality in employment outcomes. The second is centralisation. India is among the most centralised countries in the world: only 3% of all public expenditure is made by local governments, compared to 51% in China. Key governance decisions are made in Delhi and there is simply not enough wiggle-room for federal and local governments. Yogendra Yadav has previously argued that a caste census is a diagnostic tool — the X-ray before the prescription. But a well-executed caste census can be more than an X-ray of a broken limb. It is a high-resolution, full-body scan. It offers a hyperlocal picture of Indian society — who lives where, who owns what, who does what — allowing for policies that respond to the specificities of place. Over time, the objective should be to invert the current governance model — one in which Union and state governments play a supporting role while village and municipal governments chart their own development paths. A caste census can help accelerate this transition. One long-standing concern with decentralisation, articulated most forcefully by BR Ambedkar when he described villages as 'dens of ignorance', is the risk of elite capture: The possibility that decentralised governance will merely consolidate the power of dominant castes. India — and its villages and towns — has changed considerably since Ambedkar made that assessment, but the problem of elite capture exists to varying degrees. A caste census can offer a granular view of where power is concentrated and where it is more diffuse. It can help identify which local governments are dominated by a single elite group and which display broader representation. This allows policymakers to tailor the pace and sequencing of decentralisation — perhaps beginning where elite capture is lower, building capacity and trust, and expanding from there. A caste census, therefore, enables us to approach decentralisation more intelligently. The third challenge is the growing marginalisation of Indian Muslims. A 2024 study by Asher, Novosad, and Rafkin shows that Muslims are now the least upwardly mobile group in India — faring worse than even Dalits and Adivasis when it comes to educational progress over generations. Another recent analysis by Himanshu and Guilmoto (2024) using data from Bihar's caste census finds that Muslims, as a group, are located near the bottom of the state's economic distribution — in some cases, below Mahadalit groups. What's more, the study finds that this deprivation is strikingly uniform: Across jatis like Pathans, Sheikhs, and Ansaris, economic indicators remain consistently poor. This makes a strong case for targeted policy action. But politics at the national level may not allow for it. States, however, can. A caste census gives state governments the tools to recognise and respond to intra-Muslim variation and provide tailored support — in housing, education, political representation — to those who need it most. Crucially, none of this is possible unless the data reaches the people. In India, data flows from citizen to State — but rarely the other way around. This must change. Marginalised groups should be able to view their own position relative to others — both within their localities and across districts. Platforms such gram sabhas can be used to disseminate findings, supported by civil society and domain experts. When citizens see that their mohallas and communities have done worse than others, they are more likely to mobilise and demand change. Equally, elected representatives — from ward members to MLAs — should receive localised reports that compare their jurisdictions with others. This is how data becomes a tool for accountability — not just for the state to monitor citizens, but for citizens to challenge the state. India's caste census, then, must do more than count heads. It can be both a mirror that reflects the structure of society and a lever for meaningful, democratic change. MR Sharan teaches at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the author of Last Among Equals: Caste and Politics in Bihar's Villages. The views expressed are personal
Indian Express
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Suhas Palshikar writes: Who stole my nationalism?
This is in response to Yogendra Yadav's spirited exposition of 'Indian' nationalism ('The nationalism we forgot, IE, May 27). India's imagination and practice of nationalism from the early 20th century was an audacious intellectual and political project by any standard. Its elaboration and defence in the piece by Yadav is a valuable reminder of what could have been. While agreeing with his description of Indian nationalism, it is necessary to also register a small but critical disagreement with his argument. As Yogendra bhai puts it, Indian nationalism is under assault today; it is being replaced by a 'phoney nationalism'. And yet, he chides us that locating the problem only in the current moment would be wrong and lazy. That is where my disagreement may be located. Let me mention two disagreements. Following from them, there is a third disagreement about the trajectory of the challenge to Indian nationalism, coupled with a question on the semantics of 'forgetting', in the hope that this will broaden the scope of the debate. One disagreement, which may seem like a quibble but is crucial to understanding the death of Indian nationalism, is the point about not locating the backsliding in what the current regime has done. Indeed, any major socio-political tendency has a deeper lineage than the present. In that sense, let us agree that merely blaming the currently fashionable idea of phoney nationalism is not an adequate analytical response to what has happened to the idea of Indian nationalism that promised 'belonging without othering'. Nevertheless, it is not possible to ignore the present moment, which has formally and frontally disbanded Indian nationalism not merely through the subterfuge of practice but through the assault of ideology. Today, 'belonging' is replaced by a conditionality: One doesn't belong, someone else decides who belongs, and who must belong, to the nation on the basis of one trait or the other. Is it not commonplace today to decide who is a Pakistani by identifying the person's religion, irrespective of whether that person is a colonel or a district magistrate? Don't we witness the othering of communities not just on the basis of religion, but also on the basis of the size of their eyes? So, one 'belongs' only on the sufferance of those who claim to own this nation. Thus, the pseudo-nationalism of today doesn't allow citizens to belong without preconditions and without tests of patriotism. A politics that mixes — via vigilante violence and state patronage — forced attachment and an ideology of othering has become the lingua franca of the phoney nationalism of today. Against this backdrop, the 'backsliding' — or, in fact, disbandment and delegitimisation — of Indian nationalism must be located in the contemporary moment notwithstanding the failures to consolidate it in the past. As a matter of fact, it is not backsliding but a resolute replacement of Indian nationalism. But of course, I would agree with Yadav that this process did not start in 2014 — or with Narendra Modi. December 1992 marked a major departure from the imagination of inclusion and accommodation. And as we know, December 1992 itself was a culmination of a long history of imagining the nation only through othering. This process formally took an organisational shape exactly a century ago. However, we still cannot ignore the significance and force that the decade since 2014 has brought to bear on the dramatic demise of Indian nationalism. This long history of the gradual challenge thrown at Indian nationalism forces me to disagree with Yogendra bhai on a second point. He finds the post-Independence elite and the ruling ideology responsible for the disconnect between citizens and Indian nationalism. Again, let me begin with agreement. A section of 'secular-liberal' elites did ignore the cultural dimension; it even overlooked the potential of traditions emanating from religion. But it is an exaggeration to blame this section for the crisis faced by Indian nationalism. This section was far too tiny to have any influence; worse, it was mostly English-speaking and lacked any real connection with the masses. On the other hand, not just the political class but a strong element among Indian language-speaking intellectuals were not averse to searching for sources of belonging from within Indian traditions and linguistic resources. They kept on struggling on the dual fronts of the meanings of traditions on the one hand, and the meaning of 'Indian' on the other. It wasn't just Gandhians and Lohiaites; even among communists, there was a recognition of the fact that traditions presented both things — elements of modernity and traditionalism, inclusive ideas as well as elements of exclusion. Moreover, while we need not hesitate to admit the many failings of the elite and the political leadership of the post-Independence era, in holding them responsible for the current crisis of Indian nationalism, we may be making the mistake of ignoring the deep rivalry between Indian nationalism and its phoney alternative. Throughout the 19th century, a sense of identity rooted in othering and instrumental unity without genuine belonging began to emerge as the language of collective action — particularly among the upper castes. Religion was imagined devoid of religiosity, God was imagined without devotion, communities were imagined without empathy. These tendencies were alive and posed a challenge to Indian nationalism when it was nascent. While the nationalist movement succeeded in bringing an inclusive Indian nationalism to the centre stage, the alternative, too, was shaping up all through the late 19th and early 20th century. India's elites — political, cultural and economic — were often torn between these two intellectual forces. While Mahatma Gandhi (and Jawaharlal Nehru) undoubtedly attracted many individuals from the upper castes, these same social sections were more favourably inclined to the narrow, vicious, macho and exclusionary European duplication of nationalism. Freedom in 1947 did not settle the deeper foundational dispute — it only postponed it. With occasional glimpses of superficial debates around Hindi and gau raksha in the 1960s, the simmering debate remained alive. For a variety of reasons of social turmoil and political deviations, the foundational dispute over the meaning of nationalism entered a critical phase around the 1980s. The larger point, therefore, is this: The audacity of the project of Indian nationalism itself signified that it would have strong challenges and many inner hiccups. A fuller history of its rise and fall may include the failings of its supporters and the inaction of its well-wishers but the limitations of the nationalist project lay in its very audacity. Because it was ambitious, it was difficult to realise and more difficult to sustain but easy to malign. Its fall cannot be explained without realising that its ideological rival always existed. What has happened in the past three to four decades is that Indian nationalism has been effectively replaced by the phoney. It's not that I/we forgot Indian nationalism, it was stolen. The story of Indian nationalism should, therefore, not be a story of forgetting but the story of it being stolen. The writer, based in Pune, taught Political Science
Hindustan Times
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
How the Left and Congress misread Operation Sindoor
Not so long ago, Yogendra Yadav, otherwise a fierce critic of the Narendra Modi government, told me that among the things those opposing the BJP got wrong was how to respond on issues of national security. The three 'most precious resources we have for politics,' he said, '...we have gifted these away to BJP — nationalism, religion, including Hindu religion, and cultural heritage and tradition.' The responses to Operation Sindoor (and I don't mean Yogendra Yadav personally) from large swathes of the Left, liberal Left, progressives (call it what you will) show this basic lesson has still not been learnt. And worse, there is complete denialism about this deracination. If anything, there is a show of supercilious moral superiority to anyone who points this out. The Indian Left is, unfortunately, utterly out of touch with wider public sentiment. It remains squeamish about expressing unqualified appreciation for the armed forces. It is disparaging of war, even in times of war. And it is unable to understand the idea that the country is larger than the government. This remains a key reason that the right wing is able to make electoral mincemeat of them. Intellectualising what comes to most Indians intuitively, a simple emotional surge for flag, anthem and military, confines this section of the Left only to echo chambers. I was astonished to see the level of disconnect between those still trapped in textbook ideas and how most of the country thinks and feels. I experienced this first hand when author Salil Tripathi mocked me on X for evidently 'rolling my eyes' at the statements of former Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar on a Piers Morgan show where I was her co-panelist. Yes, I probably did roll my eyes at one brief point when Khar obfuscated on how Osama Bin Laden was kept in hiding by the Pakistani deep state. But I also hammered home the protection and impunity offered to terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan by its army. Khar fled the show early, unable to answer anything directly. But Tripathi and his followers said I was guilty of 'temporary patriotic nonsense' and that I should be very embarrassed. Everything that plagues the extreme Left's commentary on Operation Sindoor was encapsulated in that every moment. Or take the semiotics debate around the name given to the military operation against Pakistan. Or the commentary on Aishwarya Rai sporting sindoor at her first appearance at Cannes. Mohammed Zubair, fact checker, thought there was a big conspiracy that I shared this image of Rai, editing it once to wonder whether her image was a reference to Op Sindoor or merely a sartorial statement. He took a screenshot of my post as if he had uncovered a scandal. Tomorrow, will the Left criticise Himanshi Narwal — whose image of sitting by the body of her husband, Lt Vinay Narwal, became the defining image of the Pahalgam terror attack — for wearing the traditional red bangles or chura that signified her days-old marriage? Whatever be one's personal gender politics, it is ludicrous to ignore the cultural zeitgeist or to literalise its underlying emotion when the context is so much larger. Of course, the Opposition can and must ask questions of the ruling government. There are legitimate concerns over where the terrorists of Pahalgam are, what lapses led to the terror attack, or why US President Donald Trump insists on claiming credit for a halt in hostilities that were unequivocally triggered by India's military victory. And, yes, there are legitimate concerns about India-Pakistan re-hyphenation in the West, thanks to Trump's bizarre rhetoric. But surely, any serious line of questioning cannot suggest that external affairs minister S Jaishankar gave away war plans to Pakistan? Anyone who understands military operations knows Jaishankar's statement was merely about India conveying a non-escalatory approach to Operation Sindoor. To distort that into a wild accusation of treason and then wonder aloud how many planes India has lost, is entirely uncalled for and takes away the legitimacy of any other good point you may want to make. Thankfully the Congress dropped this attack a couple of days after Rahul Gandhi led it. But political damage to itself had been done. Yes, as the main Opposition party, the Congress does not find itself in an easy position. It is damned if it does and invisible if it doesn't. The BJP will claim political points for Sindoor and the Congress wants to contest that. Fair enough. But it can't counter the BJP by disowning its most brilliant asset on the issue — Tharoor — and other colleagues such as Manish Tewari. And it can't counter that by using the talking points of the adversary on whether any fighter jet was shot down. Not when Air Marshal AK Bharti already answered that by saying, 'in a combat there will be losses but all our pilots are home'. Tharoor has shown that it is possible to forge a politics that is pluralistic and patriotic. Many Indians may lean centre-left on economics, many of us may identify as liberals on matters of inclusiveness and social equity, but on national security, most of us are centre-right. I know, I am. The Left — and the Congress — is unable to grasp that inconvenient, but obvious truth. Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author. The views expressed are personal.
Time of India
27-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Cong govt likely to open Cheyutha pensions for new applicants
Hyderabad: After the farm loan waiver and other welfare schemes, Congress is likely to open the doors for new applicants seeking Cheyutha (earlier Aasara) pensions. The ground report received by the govt is that lakhs of people are waiting to be covered under Cheyutha. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Even Bharat Jodo Abhiyan team, led by Yogendra Yadav, informed the Congress govt that the next priority should be opening the window for new pensioners. The team, which interacted with the people during its field visits in Telangana, received feedback that while Aasara pensions were being continued, there were lakhs more waiting to be covered under Cheyutha. The Revanth Reddy govt is continuing the social security pensions (Cheyutha) to 40-odd lakh beneficiaries. However, nearly seven lakh more were waiting to be covered, it is learnt. It is a financially-intensive scheme, with over 11,000 crore per annum presently being spent by the state govt on existing beneficiaries. Sources in the govt said that although Congress promised to enhance the social security pensions from 2,016 per month to 4,000 per month, the first step would be to bring new applicants under the Cheyutha scheme. As per existing monthly pensions, 2,016 was being given to weavers, single women, and widows, among others, while it was 4,016 for the visually challenged. Presently, widows, single women, beedi workers, stone cutters, weavers, specially challenged individuals, dialysis, filaria, and HIV-positive patients below the poverty line and holding white ration cards were eligible to receive monthly Aasara pensions ranging between 2,016 and 4,016 for the visually challenged, depending upon the category of beneficiary. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now A senior officwer said the govt has given directions to all district collectors to prepare the list of people seeking Cheyutha. The Revanth Reddy govt has invited applications from the people for its various welfare schemes and received applications through the conduct of gram sabhas. Over five lakh applications were received for Cheyutha pensions , which were pending approval. "The list of beneficiaries will be prepared after field visits and cross-verification of applicants door to door. Some of the proposals are to transfer the pension to the wife if the husband, who was receiving it, dies. The officials, during their field visit, will collect documents such as ration card, Aadhaar card, bank account, pension ID, and death certificate of the beneficiary (in case of the husband's death) and cover the wife under the widow pension category. Likewise, other eligible beneficiaries' lists will be prepared. This is likely to take a month or two," an officer said. Though there is also a proposal to keep on hold the pensions of those who have not taken it for three months in a row by categorising them into a migration list, the officials said a final decision might be taken by the state cabinet on this proposal, along with opening the doors for new applicants for Cheyutha.
Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Yogendra Yadav
YOGENDRA YADAV NEWS Yogendra Yadav: 'The North and South should make a deal on population vs revenue over delimitation' April 26, 2025 6:21 am Yogendra Yadav, member, Swaraj India, and national convenor of Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan, discusses the challenges of delimitation, freeing up the process from bias and streamlining voters' lists. The session was moderated by Amitabh Sinha, Science and Climate Editor Yogendra Yadav guest at event today March 28, 2025 4:58 am The DMK has taken the lead in opposing the exercise and is trying to get other Opposition parties on its side to demand that the exercise be put on hold for another 25 years. By turning against our past, we handed democracy over to 'manipulators': Yogendra Yadav January 06, 2025 11:33 am Yadav was delivering the Kappen Centenary Public Lecture, titled 'Re-enchanting Democracy, Reclaiming the Republic', in Bengaluru on Saturday evening. He was "exploring ways to reclaim democracy". Yogendra Yadav writes: 2024, the books read and the hope they inspire December 31, 2024 4:26 pm From Rahul Bhatia's story of the dismantling of Indian democracy to Neha Dixit's tale of empathy, a snapshot into the life of a fictional character who experiences the non-fictional events that plagued the nation, in 2024 truth found temporary shelter under the covers of some books Yogendra Yadav writes: What kind of India do we seek? December 03, 2024 9:49 pm In Kachchh, a gathering of organisations opens up space to ask this and other big questions, and a daring to imagine alternatives to modern 'development' Palshikar, Yogendra write to NCERT chief: We'll sue if you don't remove our names from textbook June 18, 2024 7:46 am Their letter comes against backdrop of revisions in the class 12 political science textbook, including pruning of the section on the Ayodhya dispute Civil society groups pledge support to INDIA bloc in elections September 30, 2023 1:14 am The Convention also pointwed to the economic recession and increase in unemployment and inflation, alleging that the BJP has in the meantime favoured its corporate 'cronies'' as like Adani. NCERT textbook modification row: No merit in hue and cry, says UGC chief June 17, 2023 9:08 am Kumar's and other academicians' statement comes a day after 33 academicians wrote to NCERT to remove their names from the revised political science textbooks, released by the Council. 'No thank you, we decline your generosity': Yadav, Palshikar clap back at NCERT June 12, 2023 9:31 am In a continuing war of words between the NCERT and its two former chief advisors, Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar issued another statement Saturday reacting to the Council's rejection of their demand to have their names removed from political science textbooks. "If the name of the Textbook Development Committee is there to acknowledge our contribution, as the NCERT claims, then we must be free to decline this generosity," their statement reads. Arc of Yogendra Yadav's journey: 'Congress must die' to 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', AAP to Swaraj India September 10, 2022 8:48 pm Days before joining the Yatra, Yadav stepped down from the coordination panel of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which led the year-long farmer protests against the three controversial central agricultural laws. Load More YOGENDRA YADAV PHOTOS Bharat Jodo Yatra: Congress Party's 'long battle' to unite the country September 09, 2022 8:55 pm The 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' by Rahul Gandhi is being billed by the party as the longest rally mounted in the country over the last century. Today in pics: March 24, 2014 March 24, 2014 10:22 am India will hold national elections from April 7 to May 12. Yogendra Yadav launches AAP campaign in Maharashtra, hits out at Rahul, Modi February 20, 2014 9:50 am Launching his party's Lok Sabha campaign in Maharashtra, Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav lambasted Congress and BJP, saying that they were neck deep in corruption. AAP MLA Binny launches fresh attack against Kejriwal January 21, 2014 6:47 pm
