India's Socio Economic and Caste Census website down for more than two months now
New Delhi: The Indian Express reported on March 22 that India's Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) website has been inaccessible for over two months. Despite attempts to contact the Ministry of Rural Development, responsible for maintaining the portal, the ministry cited "technical reasons" for the outage but assured efforts to rectify the situation.
The SECC, conducted in 2011, was India's first-ever caste-based census since 1931. It was a paperless census conducted across 640 districts using handheld electronic devices, revealing alarming statistics about rural India. Among its findings were that one in three rural families were landless and relied on manual labor for sustenance, and nearly a quarter had no literate adults over 25 years old.
The census aimed to enhance social welfare schemes by identifying beneficiaries, including those under schemes like Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri, Jan Arogya Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin. However, the outage of the SECC website has deprived the public of crucial data.
The portal has been inaccessible since at least January 6, 2024, with the Ministry of Rural Development acknowledging the issue as an outage due to technical reasons. Despite internal discussions and assurances of restoration, the website remained offline as of March 23.
Caste censuses have been pivotal in electoral discourse, evidenced by Bihar's recent state-based caste census. Bihar's census revealed that dominant castes constituted only 15.5% of the population, with marginalized castes comprising 84%. Furthermore, about 34.13% of Bihar's families were economically poor, earning less than Rs 6,000 per month. This data prompted Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to announce significant welfare measures.
Following Bihar's lead, Andhra Pradesh initiated its own caste survey, while political parties, including the Congress, have pledged to conduct a nationwide caste census if elected after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The postponement of Census 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic marks the first delay in its 150-year history.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
