The West Bengal government has decided to reserve 17 per cent seats in all government and government-aided colleges for students belonging to the other Backward Classes (OBCs), with effect from the coming academic session. This was announced in the Assembly by Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury on Thursday. “The question of reservation of seats in higher education to expand opportunities to OBCs has been under the consideration of the State government...

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat on Tuesday called for a time-bound commission to look into the anomalies in scheduling tribal communities, and pointed out that there was a huge undercounting of their number. “It is not just the question of numbers. Their right to a share of national resources is not recognised because of undercounting,” she said at a protest organised by the National Platform for...

The number of seats for them in ZPs will go down following amendment to Act A recent Ordinance of the State Government amends the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act and caps the reservation to various deprived communities at 50 per cent. This means that half the seats are available to general merit candidates. This, according to the Ordinance, will be achieved by keeping the reservation for SC/STs intact and reducing the number...

Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh this time have seen unusual candidates jumping into the fray. There are teachers, shopkeepers, businessmen, relatives of politicians and even wives of BSP ministers. Some of them took leave from their normal work and some even sold their properties to take part in the polls. All claim they want to serve their village, block or district, but it is alleged that the lure of money pouring...

KEY TRENDS   • Maternal Mortality Ratio for India was 370 in 2000, 286 in 2005, 210 in 2010, 158 in 2015 and 145 in 2017. Therefore, the MMRatio for the country decreased by almost 61 percent between 2000 and 2017 *14    • As per the NSS 71st round, among rural females aged 5-29 years, the main reasons for dropping out/ discontinuance were: engagement in domestic activities, not interested in education, financial constraints and marriage. Among rural males aged...