Rail, road services hit in Bihar shutdown against SC/ST Act
Patna, Sep 6 : Trains were forcibly halted, railway tracks, national and state highways blocked in Bihar as upper caste communities on Thursday tried to impose a shutdown called to protest against the SC/ST Act, police said.
Hundreds of people from the upper caste communities took to streets across the state early in the day to protest against the The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The protesters burned tyres, blocked roads and rail traffic in Patna, Gaya, Begusarai, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, Madhubni, Bhojpur, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura ,Nawada and Bhagalour districts. Traffic remained disrupted for hours.
They also raised slogans against the central government and Prime Minister Narendar Modi and demanded reservation for the poor among the upper castes in jobs and educational institutions.
The protest was called by over two dozen groups including the Sawarn Sena and the Bhumihar-Brahmin Ekta Manch on the social media.
Security has been tightened in the state with additional forces deployed at sensitive places.
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Affront to non-Hindi speaking people: Chidambaram slams use of Hindi words in bills' names
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader P Chidambaram has slammed the "increasing practice" of the government using Hindi words in the titles of the bills and said the change is an "affront" to the non-Hindi-speaking people.
Chidambaram said the non-Hindi-speaking people cannot identify a Bill/Act with titles that are in Hindi words written in English letters, and they cannot pronounce them.
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"I am opposed to the increasing practice of the government using Hindi words written in English letters in the title of the Bills to be introduced in Parliament," the former Union minister said late Monday night.
Hitherto, the practice was to write the title of the Bill in English words in the English version and in Hindi words in the Hindi version of the Bill, Chidambaram said.
"When no one pointed out any difficulty in the 75 year practice, why should government make a change?" he said.
"This change is an affront to non-Hindi speaking people and to States that have an official language other than Hindi," the Congress leader said.
Successive governments have reiterated the promise that English will remain an Associate Official Language, Chidambaram said.
"I fear that promise is in danger of being broken," the Congress MP said.
