Chirag Paswan says his party will appeal against SC verdict on Dalit sub-groups
Patna (PTI): Union minister Chirag Paswan on Saturday opposed the Supreme Court judgement allowing states to create sub-groups within Scheduled Castes for a slice of the 15 per cent quota, and declared that his Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will appeal against it.
Addressing a press conference here, Paswan said he was in favour of a caste census, for which a vociferous demand is being made by the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, though he was also of the view that findings thereof "must not be made public".
"Our party will go for an appeal requesting the apex court to review its recent judgement allowing sub-groups within 15 per SC quota," he said.
"Creamy layer cannot be allowed in SC quota. Allowing sub-groups within SC quota will not serve the purpose of uplifting the socially marginalised segment that has been a victim of the practice of untouchability," he added.
The Hajipur MP, whose late father Ram Vilas Paswan was among the tallest Dalit leaders of the country, expressed surprise that "the word untouchability does not even find a mention in the apex court judgement".
"The majority of Scheduled Caste people, even those coming from well-to-do families and having access to education, face untouchability. Therefore, allowing sub-groups within SC is not justified," he said.
Paswan, however, refused to comment on the stand taken by his alliance partner JD(U) over the issue, which has hailed the verdict as a "vindication" of policies of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who had years ago created the "Mahadalit" category in the state.
He was also asked about the demand for a caste census which has of late rocked Parliament.
"I think we should have a caste census. But findings of the same must not be made public. The data collated should be used by the government for framing policies," added Paswan, without elaborating further.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
