Maharashtra Muslims form action committee on job quota
Mumbai, Aug 26: Maharashtra's Muslims on Sunday formed "Muslim Aarakshan Sanyukta Kruti Samiti" (Muslim Reservation Joint Action Committee) to force the state government to implement its promise of providing reservation in jobs.
The committee has been set up by top Muslim organisations, political leaders, scholars, academicians, lawyers, professionals and other prominent personalities to take their quota struggle to its logical conclusion.
When the erstwhile Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan-led Democratic Front government was in power, "it promulgated an ordinance" to provide 16 per cent reservations to Marathas and 5 per cent quotas for Muslims in government jobs and educational institutions.
Later, the Bombay High Court struck down the reservations for the politically-influential Maratha community completely but allowed 5 per cent reservations for Muslims only in educational institutions.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court upheld the order of the Bombay High Court.
Against the backdrop of the recent protests by the Maratha community for reservations and the renewed demand by Dhangars to be included in Schedule Tribes, the demand for Muslim quotas has also come to the fore.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Hussain Dalwai said it was high time the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre and Maharashtra government pay heed and work together to ensure reservations for Muslims.
Referring to the Rajinder Sachar Committee commissioned in 2005 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dalwai said, it is a report highlighting the plight and the current status of Muslims in India.
He pointed out that the Mehmood-ur-Rehman Committee had recommended 8-10 per cent reservation in education and jobs, plus a separate 10 per cent reservation for Muslim women.
This Committee was set up in 2008 by the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party Democratic Front government in Maharashtra, to study the economic, social and educational backwardness of Muslims in the state.
Shrimant Kokate of Maratha Seva Sangh has also backed the demand of the Muslims.
As per the Census 2011, Muslims constitute around 172 million or 14.20 per cent of the total Indian population and are the single largest religious minority.
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Indian startup's 'Drishti' satellite launched aboard SpaceX rocket
New Delhi (PTI): Bengaluru-based space start-up GalaxEye's Mission Drishti satellite was launched on Sunday aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from California.
Mission Drishti is the world's first OptoSAR satellite, integrating electro-optical (EO) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform, according to the company.
While EO sensors capture high-resolution images during sunlight and clear skies, SAR sensors provide all-weather and all-time images, using radar pulses.
In a statement, Suyash Singh, founder and CEO of GalaxEye, said, "With the satellite (Mission Drishti) now successfully in orbit, our immediate focus is on completing its commissioning. As we move through this phase, we are already witnessing strong global interest in the differentiated datasets enabled by our OptoSAR payload."
The satellite will help address long-standing limitations of conventional systems and enable more reliable and consistent data acquisition across diverse environmental conditions, the company said.
As a dual-use Earth observation satellite, the mission will support use cases across defence, agriculture, disaster management, maritime monitoring, and infrastructure planning.
The satellite is also expected to complement India's broader initiatives, including the 29 active Earth Observation satellites outlined in ISRO's recent annual report.
The launch came after five years of indigenous research and development, and extensive environmental testing and performance validation of the Mission Drishti.
In a statement, Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd), director general of Indian Space Association (ISpA), said, "GalaxEye has achieved what only a few global players have, which is seamlessly combining optical and SAR capabilities on a single platform to enable persistent, all-weather intelligence."
What stands out is not just the technology, but its broader impact on how downstream applications will increasingly define value in the space economy, particularly in Earth observation, where timely, decision-grade insights are critical," he added.
ISpA is the premier industry association of space and satellite companies in the country.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh also took note of the Mission Drishti launch, saying the development marked a significant milestone in India's space journey.
In a post on X, the minister said, "The successful launch of the world's first OptoSAR satellite, and the largest privately-built satellite in the country, reflects the immense potential of our young innovators driving nation-building."
GalaxEye aims to scale up Mission Drishti to a constellation of 10 satellites by 2030, developing a robust and sovereign Earth observation infrastructure for India.
