-The Indian Express To fulfil the constitutional requirement, reservation must be based on a rigorous identification of economic backwardness. The introduction of the 124th constitutional amendment that provides the possibility of quotas for the “economically weaker sections” (EWS) has rekindled the debate on reservations. These quotas diverge from reservation policies for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and educationally backward classes, by jettisoning caste or community identity as the...

-The Hindu With a high percentage of Muslims, Bihar’s Seemanchal region frames issues of representation and welfare In the ongoing general election, Seemanchal, a historically neglected and yet socially and politically significant region in Bihar, has once again registered a high voting percentage. Comprising four districts — Purnea, Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria — Seemanchal has a population of about 1 crore. It assumes sociopolitical significance owing to the large proportion of Muslims...

-TheNewsMinute.com Out of the 506 students who have cleared the exam, 307 are from Social welfare residential institutions and 199 from tribal welfare institutions. For the first time ever, 506 students belonging to the Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions (TTWREIs) and Social welfare Residential Educational Institutions (TSWREIs) cracked the JEE Mains, 2019 and have qualified for JEE Advanced to be held this month. This comes as an achievement since it is...

-Financial Express With an aim to honour renowned India-born economist Amartya Sen, the London School of Economics and Political Science, has announced a Chair in Inequality Studies in his name. The Nobel laureate served as a professor in the economics department at the institute from 1971-82. The person holding the position would also serve in the capacity as the Director of the International Inequalities Institute at LSE, the institute said on its...

-The Indian Express Congress manifesto should have promised better implementation of MGNREGA instead of another scheme In its previous ruling stint in New Delhi, the Congress’s flagship Social welfare programme was MGNREGA, which provides 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. For its next shot at power, the grand old party is promising to implement a...