Increase reservation to 68 per cent, Mallikarjun Kharge urges Centre
Hubballi (Karnataka), May 1 (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday demanded that the Centre remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations and increase it to 68 per cent.
Kharge also accused the union government of not being keen on conducting the caste census initially and agreeing after the pressure built by the Congress party.
“I demand that the Centre remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations and increase it to 67 to 68 per cent,” he said addressing a public meeting in Hubballi.
The Congress held the event under the title, “Save Constitution, Save the Country”. The event is also against the price rise.
The party has alleged that the Centre was responsible for the hike in prices of essential commodities.
According to Kharge, the reservation should be increased to 68 per cent in line with the reservation provided by the Tamil Nadu government.
He charged that the Centre was coming on way to increase reservation to 67 to 68 per cent.
The Congress president alleged that the Centre was initially not keen on conducting the caste census.
“The Centre never wanted to even conduct census but we don’t know how good sense prevailed upon them,” he quipped.
He also sought to know why the census did not take place in 2021.
Had it happened then, we would have come to know the condition of the citizens, their per capita income, their salaries, number of jobs created and the number of people who came out of poverty, Kharge noted.
The Congress chief further said, “Now that the BJP-led Centre has decided to conduct it, our hunch is that the central government is not doing the exercise wholeheartedly.”
Kharge set a deadline of three months to conclude the enumeration work.
“You have to do it in three months, then only we will conclude that you are interested in conducting the census. If you fail to do so then we will believe that you are not keen on it,” he said.
He also underlined that he and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had built pressure on the Centre to get it done.
Kharge, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, reiterated his demand for a special Parliament session on the Pahalgam terror strike.
“Explain to us what and why it happened in Pahalgam. Was it due to intelligence and security lapse by the central forces, local police or the Border Security Forces?” he asked.
Noting that terrorists shot dead 26 innocent people, Kharge said the Centre should explain the details of the incident.
He reiterated the demand for an all-party meeting.
Kharge flayed Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his statement that Pahalgam-like incidents would continue to disturb until 140 crore Indians do not regard patriotism as their paramount ‘Dharma’.
“A Union Minister says 140 crore people of the country lack patriotism. If they had patriotism, no one would have troubled us. This is absurd. You mean to say all 140 crore people are anti-nationals? Are you all sitting here are anti-nationals and only BJP people are patriots?” Kharge alleged.
“These people were ready to see the country to the British. They were working for the British but it was only Congressmen who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the country. It was we who went to jail,” he added.
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When SC praised Col Sofiya Qureshi while granting PC to women officers in Indian Army
New Delhi (PTI): While ruling in favour of granting Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in the Indian Army, the Supreme Court in 2020 had acknowledged the achievements of Colonel Sofia Qureshi, one of the two women officers who briefed the media on 'Operation Sindoor' on Wednesday.
In its February 17, 2020, judgement, the top court said that absolute exclusion of women from all positions, except staff assignments, in the Army was indefensible and their blanket non-consideration for command appointments without any justification cannot be sustained in law.
The apex court, which allowed Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in the Army, said an absolute prohibition of women Short Service Commission (SSC) officers to obtain anything but staff appointments evidently did not fulfil the purpose of granting PC as a means of career advancement in the Army.
The top court also referred to the distinctions achieved by women officers, and put out an example of Col Qureshi's achievements.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sophia Qureshi (Army Signal Corps) is the first woman to lead an Indian Army contingent at a multi-national military exercise named 'Exercise Force 18', which is the largest ever foreign military exercise hosted by India.
"She has served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operation in Congo in 2006, where she, along with others, was in charge of monitoring ceasefires in those countries and aiding in humanitarian activities. Her job included ensuring peace in the conflict affected areas," the apex court had said.
Taking note of the Centre's affidavit in the matter, the court had said that the counter affidavit contained a detailed elaboration of the service rendered by women SSC officers to the cause of the nation, working shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts.
"Yet, that role is sought to be diluted by the repeated pleas made before this court that women, by the nature of their biological composition and social milieu, have a less important role to play than their male counterparts.
"Such a line of submission is disturbing as it ignores the solemn constitutional values which every institution in the nation is bound to uphold and facilitate. Women officers of the Indian Army have brought laurels to the force," the apex court had said.
During the media briefing on Wednesday, Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flanked Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on the dais, who delivered the opening statement from the government.
The briefing came hours after the Indian armed forces, under 'Operation Sindoor', carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
Born in Gujarat's Vadodara in 1974, Col Qureshi graduated with a Master's in biochemistry from the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in 1997.
An officer in the critical Corps of Signals, in the past, she had been picked for the role of a military observer in Congo in 2006, besides being part of flood relief operations in the Northeast region.
The officer broke the glass ceiling when in 2016, she became the first woman officer to lead its contingent at the multi-national field training exercise, Exercise Force 18, hosted by India for interoperability in sustaining peace among the ASEAN nations.
