-ANI Defending the decision to provide minority (Muslim) reservation, Law Minister, Salman Khurshid on Sunday said that the Central Government had powers to grant quota to backwards castes of minority communities within the Hindu backward caste quota. The Election Commission has stayed the government decision to grant 4.5 percent reservation to minorities (Muslims) in government jobs and educational institutions due to ongoing state polls. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has opposed the move, contending...

-The Hindu   ‘The 50 per cent limit on reservation set by the Supreme Court should be challenged' Scholar of the Dalit movement Gail Omvedt supported reservation for minorities, but said the allocation should not be carved out of the existing quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), but added to it by increasing the percentage of reservation. Addressing a large gathering of people attending the 10th anniversary of the Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangha (BVS), Ms....

-BBC   India's election authorities have put on hold a government decision to reserve a proportion of government jobs and seats in state-run education centres for minority groups. The quota - of 4.5% of jobs and seats - has been suspended until elections are held in five states next month. Critics say the Congress party announced the quota to woo Muslim minorities in the upcoming polls. Opposition parties had complained about the move. They accused the...

-The Hindustan Times The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday directed the Centre to stop the implementation of the 4.5% quota for minorities in the five election-bound states till the poll process is over.  The government had announced its decision to carve out the 4.5% sub-quota from the 27% reservation for OBCs on December 22, two days before poll dates were out and the model code of conduct kicked in. In a retrospective decision,...

After leaving its rivals in Uttar Pradesh, barring BJP, tongue-tied with its poll-eve announcement of 4.5% minority quota in central jobs, Congress has flashed yet another ace by wooing the community with the promise of 9% reservation, also within the existing 27% OBC quota, in state government jobs if voted to power.  The promise will be made in Congress' election manifesto for Uttar Pradesh. Salman Khurshid, who is part of the...