HC strikes down Centre's proposal on quota for minorities

May 28, 2012

High-Court


Hyderabad, May 28: In a setback to government, the Andhra Pradesh High Court today struck down its proposal to give 4.5 per cent reservation to minorities within OBC quota in central educational institutions and jobs, saying that the decision was based on religious grounds and not on any other consideration.

Slamming the Centre for handling the issue in a "casual" manner", a division bench conspiring Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Sanjay Kumar set aside the Office Memoranda (OM) for carving out the quota from the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs issued in December 2011.

"In fact, we must express our anguish at the rather casual manner in which the entire issue has been taken up by the central government.

"No evidence has been shown to us by the learned Assistant Solicitor General to justify the classification of these religious minorities as a homogeneous group or as more backward classes deserving some special treatment," the bench said.

"We must, therefore, hold that Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) do not form a homogeneous group but a heterogeneous group," the court observed.

According to K Ramakrishna Reddy, senior counsel who argued for the petitioner R Krishnaiah-- a backward caste leader from Andhra Pradesh, the High Court judgement may affect the admissions that have already been made in central educational institutions such as IITs.

The first OM states that the 4.5 per cent sub-quota is carved out of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens "belonging to minorities" as defined in Section 2(c) of the NCM Act.

The resolution and the second OM created a sub-quota "for minorities".

The very use of the words "belonging to minorities" or "for minorities" indicates that the sub-quota has been carved out only on religious lines and not on any other intelligible basis, the bench observed.

"We have, therefore, no option but to set aside the carving out of a sub-quota of 4.5 per cent in favour of backward classes belonging to minorities out of the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in both the OMs dated 22.12.2011 and the Resolution dated 22.12.2011. We do so accordingly," the court said.

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Agencies
June 23,2020

New Delhi, Jun 23: "Coming up with a clinically tested, evidence-based medicine was a challenge," said Yoga Guru Ramdev as on Tuesday he launched Patanjali's Coronil tablet, which he claims is a cure for COVID-19. He also talked about various other immunity boosters at an event here during the launch.

Patanjali claims those administered the medicine were fully cured and none died. Ramdev even claimed that 69 per cent of them recovered within 3 days.

"We appointed a team of scientists after COVID-19 outbreak," said Balkrishna, Ramdev's close aide and MD of Patanjali Ayurved. He added that Patanjali conducted a clinical case study on hundreds of positive patients.

Patanjali has claimed that the clinical trials which were controlled in nature, was jointly conducted by Patanjali Research Institute which is based out of Haridwar and the National Institute of Medical Sciences, Jaipur.

Talking about the clinical trials, Ramdev said, "Under this 280 patients were included and 100 per cent of those recovered." He added they were able to control Coronavirus and its complications.

He said that in the next few days, data of the trail will be released as evidence to bolster claims. There are now over 9 million people affected by the pandemic since it broke out in China's Wuhan city in December 2019.

He said Ayurvedic elements are being used in the tablet. "There are more than 100 compounds used in the Coronil," he added. An entire kit is being made for that which consists of other Ayurvedic medicine as well which helps in immunity. The entire kit comes at Rs 600. However, he claimed that it will be given for free to those living below the poverty line.

As for doses, Panajali prescribes: "2-2 tablets should be consumed with hot water half an hour after meals. The above mentioned drug intake and quantity is suitable for people between 15 to 80 years of age. Half the amount of the above mentioned medicines can be used for children between the age of 6 to 14 years." These are the written instructions on the pack.

India has been battling the pandemic with close to 4 lakh cases in India on Tuesday and around 14,000 deaths so far.

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Agencies
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: On the New Year's eve, the railways announced fare hike across its network effective from January 1, 2020, according to an order issued on Tuesday.

While suburban fares remain unchanged, ordinary non-AC, non-suburban fares were increased by 1 paise per km of journey.

The railways also announced a two paise/km hike in fares of mail/express non-AC trains and four paise/km hike in the fares of AC classes.

The fare hike is also applicable to premium trains such as Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto, according to the order.

In the Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani, which covers a distance of 1,447 km, the hike at the rate of 4 paise per km will be around Rs 58.

According to the order, there will not be any change in the reservation fee and superfast charge and the hike in fares will not be applicable to tickets already booked.

The last such hike was announced in 2014-2015 when fares of all classes of trains were raised by 14.2 per cent and freight charges by 6.5 per cent. However, since then, the railways introduced the flexi-fare scheme which significantly raised fares on select trains and launched trains like Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express which have relatively higher fares. Trains with dynamic pricing like Suvidha Express were also introduced.

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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday called an emergency meeting here to discuss the situation following a locust attack in neighbouring Gurugram.

The minister also directed the administration to be alert, an official said.

"After the emergency meeting, an advisory will be issued on steps to be taken to deal with the situation," Rai told PTI.

He asked the officials of the Agriculture department to make field visits to areas close to Gurugram.

The development secretary, divisional commissioner, director, Agriculture department, and the district magistrates of South Delhi and West Delhi will attend the meeting, the official said.

Earlier in the day, the skies over many parts of Gurugram turned dark as swarms of locusts descended on the town.

However, the migratory pests are likely to spare the national capital for now, officials said.

The swarms of locusts, spread across two kilometres, moved from west to east. They entered Gurugram around 11.30 am, K L Gurjar of the Locust Warning Organisation, Ministry of Agriculture, told PTI.

The pests, he said, were headed towards Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana.

Alarmed at the invasion of the locusts, which settled on trees, rooftops and plants, many residents of Gurugram shared videos from their high-rise perches.

In May, India battled a devastating desert locust outbreak. The crop-destroying swarms first attacked Rajasthan and then spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

According to experts, broadly four species of locusts are found in India – desert locust, migratory locust, Bombay locust and tree locust. The desert locust is considered the most destructive.

It multiplies very rapidly and is capable of covering 150 kilometers in a day.

This insect, a type of a grasshopper, can eat more than its body weight. A one square kilometer of locust swarm containing around 40 million locusts can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people.

Experts blame the growing menace of desert locusts on climate change. They say breeding of locusts is directly related to soil moisture and food availability.

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