Rahul Gandhi welcomes govt's 'sudden' caste census decision, wants timeline for its implementation
New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI): Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he welcomes the government's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census after "11 years of opposing it" but it should give a timeline for its implementation.
His comments came within hours of the government announcing that caste enumeration would be included in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.
Addressing a press conference here, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, "We support this (government's decision) completely but we want a timeline. We want to know by when it will be done."
Welcoming the Narendra Modi dispensation's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the census exercise after "11 years of opposing it", he said, "This is the first step and Telangana is a model for caste census."
While reiterating the demand for removing the 50 per cent cap on reservations, Gandhi said funds should be allocated for the caste census.
"We want people's census, not bureaucrats' census," he added.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been demanding a nationwide caste census, making it a major election issue. Some states like Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted such surveys.
Announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the census comes under the purview of the Centre, but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys "non-transparently" which has created doubts in the society.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Gujarat Titans beat SRH by 38 runs
Ahmedabad, May 2 (PTI): Gujarat Titans inched closer to sealing a playoff spot with a 38-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here on Friday.
Invited to bat, skipper Shubman Gill scored a 38-ball 76 before Jos Buttler slammed 64 off 37 deliveries for the Titans.
In reply, Abhishek Sharma (74) gave SRH a solid start but GT bowlers stopped the visitors at 186 for 6.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat Titans 224 for 6 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 76, Jos Buttler 64; Jaydev Unadkat 3/35).
Sunrisers Hyderbad 186 for 6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 74; Mohammed Siraj 2/33, Prasidh Krishna 2/19).
