India Today 30 January 2023

Rahul Gandhi is an unusual figure in Indian politics. He is a ‘Nepo Baby’ like many others, but the mantle of a political leader didn’t really sit well on him. He gave the impression that he had been conscripted into politics because of his distinguished lineage, one that boasts three prime ministers. Helped by his frequent foreign jaunts and the troll armies of the opposition, he was caricatured as a non-serious political dilettante. Ever since his early years, he has flattered to deceive. He arrived like a kind-hearted young prince awaiting a natural coronation, exuding a fresh charm that saw choruses of approval. But his claim to represent a force for the good was first deflated by the India Against Corruption movement against his party’s UPA-II government. The movement captured…

FROM THE STATES | KARNATAKA How Congress, BJP are wooing women in assembly poll-bound Karnataka By Ajay Sukumaran While Priyanka Gandhi announced a Rs 2,000 monthly allowance for women, the ruling BJP declared financial assistance to housewives from low-income families https://bit.ly/3Xcb8v7 SPOTLIGHT | MAYAWATI Why Mayawati ruled out BSP alliance with any party for polls By Prashant Srivastava The BSP supremo says her party will contest assembly polls this year and the 2024 Lok Sabha election on its own merit https://bit.ly/3CWmQC4 FROM THE STATES | TELANGANA Why Telangana chief secretary Somesh Kumar was told to report to Andhra within 48 hours By Amarnath K. Menon The Telangana High Court order, on the Union government’s petition, is adverse for bureaucrats lobbying to change state allotments https://bit.ly/3GP764W DIET | WINTER FESTIVITIES Food habits that ensure wellbeing through winter festivities By Sonali Acharjee The way to go is…

As you touch National Highway 5 upon leaving Punjab’s largest town, Ludhiana, the lush green fields of wheat, covered with a thick blanket of fog in peak winters, continue to travel with you. Along the way, at regular intervals, the sweet aroma of sugarcane juice being boiled—to prepare jaggery in makeshift units on the roadside—keeps you company. Till the other day, on taking the bypass circumventing the small town of Talwandi Bhai in the border district of Ferozepur, you would see a swarm of villagers aboard tractor-trolleys joining the road, and their numbers swelling. Destination? Mansurwal village, the epicentre of an agitation that lasted six months, and has just won a famous victory—the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, finding itself on the backfoot on a classic ‘people’s issue’, finally threw…

Since July, farmers were laying siege to a liquor factory in Ferozepur (right), accusing it of polluting the environment. The AAP government finally ordered its closure on Jan. 17 In October, a BKU faction laid siege to CM Bhagwant Mann’s house in Sangrur for three weeks to push for crop loss relief for farmers, among other demands In November, police lathicharged labourers led by Sanjha Mazdoor Morcha who were protesting outside the CM’s house to seek hike in wages In December, truckers demanding the restoration of their unions blocked vehicles from entering the state at the Ambala-Rajpura border on the busy NH-44 The New Year began with government-aided school employees up in arms over the denial of the Sixth Pay Commission benefits. Later, Punjab Civil Services officers went on mass casual leave to protest…

COVID-19 is not becoming just a bad memory yet, it seems. On January 10, India reported a fresh case of the XBB 1.5 sub-variant, nicknamed the Kraken variant, pushing India’s total cases to eight. The strain combines mutations from two Omicron variants—BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75—and is also fuelling the latest surge in the US. Meanwhile, India has also recorded several cases of the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant, many found in the samples of Covid-positive international visitors, and fuelling the current wave in China. However, despite the entry of these two new sub-variants, which have caused both increased infection and death in other countries, India is currently in a comfortable position. On January 9, only one death and 121 new cases were reported on account of the virus. The case load on January…

In independent India, data about only SCs and STs was collected in the census. However, a headcount of backward class groups was recommended by the Kakasaheb Kalelkar (1955) and B.P. Mandal (1980) commissions During Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi rule, the assembly unanimously approved a Jan. 8, 2020 resolution seeking caste-based census. However, the Centre has refused to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SC and ST in the much-delayed 2021 census OBCs are estimated to be around 53 per cent of Maharashtra’s population (43.7 per cent Hindus and 8.4 per cent non-Hindus) The Maratha-Kunbis are claimed to be around a third of the state’s population and thus the largest caste cluster. They are recognised as OBCs.…