Will pass law for SC/ST quota hike ordinance in next Assembly session: CM Bommai
Hubballi (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said his government will take every measure to offer legal protection to the ordinance increasing the reservation for SCs and STs in educational institutions and government jobs.
The ordinance increasing the reservation for Scheduled Castes from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, got Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's assent on Sunday.
After it was approved by the Governor, it was made public through a gazette notification.
The gazette notification said the number of castes increased drastically after the inclusion of some more communities. The total population of SCs and STs in the state went up by leaps and bounds, it added.
"There is a need to get approval of both the Houses, which we will do in the next (Assembly) session," Bommai said.
Regarding a few other recommendations on reservation, the Chief Minister said those proposals are pending before various commissions. Once the report comes, the government will take action, he added.
Bommai declined to comment on the possibility of removing or adding communities from the reservation categories saying that such decisions have to be taken within the framework of law and the Constitution.
The Karnataka government brought the ordinance for SCs and STs in accordance with the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee recommendation to increase the quota.
The move is seen as an attempt by the BJP government in Karnataka to woo the SC/ST communities ahead of assembly elections, which are about six months away.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
