The quantum is well below expectations of Muslims who have been pressing for exclusive reservation of 10% The Union government's much-anticipated quota-within-quota sop for minorities as a whole has left Muslim groups confused and groping for answers. On Thursday, the Union Cabinet marked off 4.5 percentage points from within the 27 per cent OBC Central quota, allocating the share to religious minorities, among them Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Jains. (In the 2001...

-Express News Service Queationing the methods and the ethics of Anna Hazare’s proposed fast in Mumbai next week to press for a strong Lokpal bill, the Bombay High Court today refused to intervene in the petition by his supporters seeking concessions in charges for using a government ground as the venue for its campaign. Reacting to the court’s observations, Hazare said that his team would hold the protest at the MMRDA ground...

The setting aside of 50% of seats in the proposed Lokpal for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women and minorities, triggered a sharp debate within parties today around a central, normative question: should social diversity, especially inclusion of minorities, weigh in an empowered body to “fight corruption?”   While the BJP has opposed it and Team Anna, caught off-guard on a sensitive political issue, has declined to comment, legal experts...

-Express News Service Applicants seeking admission to entry-level classes in private schools under the 25 per cent reservation of Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009 can apply in their neighbouring schools by January 20. As per the guidelines framed by UT Administration, in compliance with the provisions of RTE Act, an applicant either from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) or disadvantaged groups of society, can apply in a school situated within a radius...

Kandhamal was not a spontaneous outburst of mass anger. And the victims still await justice. It was a terrifying Christmas in 2007 for tribal and dalit Christians who live in the second poorest, deeply forested district of Odisha, Kandhamal. Long-smouldering violence targeting them exploded, and was to continue to rage for another full year. During this time, 600 villages were ransacked, 5,600 houses were looted and burnt, 54,000 persons rendered homeless,...