LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED

ASIAN AGE

BUSINESS LINE

DECCAN HERALD

ECONOMIC TIMES

HINDU

HINDUSTAN TIMES

INDIAN EXPRESS

PIONEER

STATESMAN

TELEGRAPH

TRIBUNE

CONTENTS

AADHAR 3-4

BACKWARD CLASSES 5-7

CIVIL SERVICE 8-9

COMPUTERS 10-13

CONSUMERS 14

DISABLED PERSONS 15-16

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 17-25

EDUCATION 26-28

ELECTIONS 29-35

EMINENT PERSONALITIES 36-38

GOVERNORS 39

HEALTH SERVICES 40-44

HOUSING 45

JUDICIARY 46-50

LABOUR 51

MANAGEMENT 52-53

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 54-61

RAILWAYS 62-63

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 64-66

AADHAR

INDIAN EXPRESS, DEC 16, 2017

Centre to SC: Deadline to link Aadhaar with schemesextended

The decision will only be applicable for those who still don't have an Aadhaar card and are willing to enroll for one.

Over the past couple of years, the government had set different deadlines for different social welfare and subsidy schemes.As of now, December 31, 2017 is the deadline for linking Aadhar to avail the benefits of various schemes like scholarships, subsidised LPG cylinders, farm loans and pension schemes.

The Centre may extend the deadline for linkingAadhaarcards to various welfare schemes to March 31, 2018, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The decision will be applicable for those who do not have an Aadhar card and are willing to enroll for one.

As of now, December 31, 2017 is the deadline for linking Aadhaar to avail benefits of various schemes like government scholarships, subsidised LPG cylinders, farm loans and pension schemes.

The counsel appearing for petitioners, who havechallenged the government’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for


these schemes, raised the issue of the mandatory linking ofUnique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number withbank accounts and mobile numbers.

The Reserve Bank of India, too, had announced last week that bank account holders across the country will have to compulsorily link their accounts to their Aadhaar number by December 31, 2017. It also clarified that linking Aadhaar to bank accounts is mandatory. The union government had earlier said the deadline to furnish Aadhaar to avail benefits of welfare schemes will be extended until December 31.

The government has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar to several essentials and has also set strict penalties for defaulting on deadlines over the last few months. Aadhaar, an identification document bearing a unique 12-digit Aadhaar number, is issued to an individual by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) after a person registers their demographic and biometric details with the UIDAI.

A case on the constitutional validity of Aadhaar is as of now pending in the Supreme Court.

BACKWARD CLASSES

TELEGRAPH, DEC 22, 2017

Gurjars, 4 other communities to get 1 per cent reservation in Rajasthan

Jaipur, Dec. 22 (PTI):Five castes including Gurjars will get one per cent reservation within the 50 per cent legal limit in Rajasthan, a senior minister said here on Friday.

The state government took the decision yesterday to provide reservation to the Gujjar/Gurjar, Banjara/Baldia/ Labana, Gadia-Lohar/Gadalia, Raika/Rebari and Gadaria communities.

”The decision was taken to give one per cent reservation to Gurjars and other castes under the most backward category,” said state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore.

A notification will be issued after the governor's approval, he said.

The present overall reservation percentage in the state stands at 49 per cent.

The five castes were included in the Other Backward Classes list in 1994. After the state cabinet's decision they can now seek benefits in educational institutions and job opportunities.

The Rajasthan Assemblyin October this year passed a bill to raise OBC reservation from 21 to 26 per cent to provide five per cent quota to Gurjars and other castes.

However, the high court stayed the bill as it would have increased the reservation to 54 per cent.

Later, the Supreme Court also directed the state government not to exceed the 50 per cent reservation limit.

The government has taken the step in the wake of widespread agitation by the Gurjar community, demanding reservation under the backward class category.

STATESMAN, DEC 18, 2017

A new caste agenda

Ayan Guha

Social dignity and political empowerment of the lower castes have figured prominently in the agenda of caste-based identity politics in India while economic issues such as redistribution and livelihood have not been given adequate political attention. The dominant tendency is to regard socio-cultural recognition as the cardinal aspect of social justice. Economic welfare is regarded as a secondary derivative of political and symbolic gains.

The underlying presumption is that achievement of political power will ultimately bring about economic uplift of the lower castes. This had once led Kanshi Ram and Mayawati to emphasise the importance of political power. For them, as the state is controlled by the upper castes, Dalits can only make progress if they get hold of state power and then utilize it to bring about equitable distribution of wealth and income.

However, political empowerment of the lower castes has not resulted in their proportionate economic advancement. Caste-based political parties have done little to provide economic redress to the lower and backward castes. The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh only undertook symbolic initiatives like organizing Periyar Mela and the construction of Ambedkar parks and statues. No economic programmes such as land reforms were initiated and there was little public intervention in education and health for the benefit of the lower castes during the rule of both Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP).

In Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) secured dignity and self-respect for the backward castes but it miserably failed to bring about any significant amelioration in their economic condition. Even the demand for OBC (Other Backward Castes) reservation in education and government jobs was made by the organisations of the backward castes and parties not with the objective to achieve material well-being, but to achieve social respect and dignity. In accordance with this goal, the Mandal Commission defined backwardness by giving disproportionately greater importance to social factors downplaying the economic criteria. Thus, the idea of social justice remained largely disassociated from the goal of economic development.

It is in this context that the recent caste-based mobilization in Gujarat is extremely significant. It seems to have finally brought livelihood issues into the agenda of caste politics. The Dalit movement led by Jignesh Mevani seems to have amplified the scope of Dalit politics ~ from one aiming at dignity, respect and identity, to one also focusing on material issues, such as land ownership. Mevani is demanding allotment of five acres of land to every landless Dalit household. His slogan is “land to the tiller, not to the tycoon.’ He is of the opinion that, since in rural India landholding is a major determinant of a person’s status it is necessary to reduce inequality in land distribution patterns for the uplift of the Dalits. He has categorically stated that the time is ripe to move away from Asmita (dignity) to Astitva (livelihood). On the other hand, the OBC agitation led by Alpesh Thakur has also raised concrete economic demands. The main demands include a Rs 5,000-crore yearly package for the welfare of the OBCs, farm loan waiver and better employment opportunities for local residents in industries.

It is also interesting to note that the Patidar agitation led by Hardik Patel is demanding reservation on economic grounds, thus deviating from the Mandal discourse on the issue. The Patidars feel that economically they are increasingly lagging behind other social groups since their traditional sources of income have failed to yield adequate returns.

According to the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), the community is mainly dependent on seasonal ccupations and therefore, needs reservations to tackle economic uncertainties. Moreover, they are also opposed to the caste-basedreservation and have spoken in favour of reservation based on economic criteria rather than on caste.

Thus, the recent caste mobilization in Gujarat has shown the preliminary tendency to go beyond identities and symbolism and accommodate concrete economic demands in its agenda. It also generated a critique of the Gujarat model of economic development. The ruling government has been criticised for handing over land to corporate houses at a nominal rate but not providing land to the Dalits and tribals. Thus, economic demands are being voiced through the articulation of caste identity.

Does the raising of such demands indicate the beginning of a new form of identity politics which is equally sensitive to dignity and political representation of the lower castes on the one hand and their economic welfare on the other? It is premature to arrive at any conclusion at this juncture. But it is imperative to see the recent events of caste mobilization in Gujarat in the context of the overall political climate.

Different caste groups have been mobilized in Gujarat with economic demands at a time when traditional caste parties such as the BSP and SP have been facing dwindling political fortunes. Their dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the recent UP Assembly elections has given ammunition to the view that caste politics is rapidly losing its relevance. In this background, recent political events in Gujarat somehow demonstrate that caste politics can still remain relevant if it can reinvent itself by addressing economic concerns of the lower strata along with their desire for dignity.

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Bankura University, West Bengal)

CIVIL SERVICE

ECONOMIC TIMES, DEC 20, 2017

176 non-performing officers retired in public interest

As many as 176 government officers were asked to retire in public interest for being nonperformers, the Lok Sabha was informed today. "As per the available information, provisions under Financial Rules 56 (j) and similar provisions under service rules have been invoked/recommended in case of 53 Group A officers and 123 Group B officers of central civil services, during the period from July 1, 2014 till October 31, 2017," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply. The FR 56 (j) has provisions for a service review of a government employee. The review is to be conducted twice, first after 15 years and again after 25 years of completion of qualifying service. The personnel ministry had earlier said that the records of 11,828 Group A officers, including 2,953 from the all India services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFoS), have been reviewed. The service records of 19,714 Group B officers were also reviewed to eliminate the deadwood and the corrupt, according to the ministry officials.

ECONOMIC TIMES, DEC 20, 2017

Over 4 lakh posts vacant in central government departments: Minister

NEW DELHI: Over four lakh posts are vacant in various central government departments, the Lok Sabha was informed today. "As per the annual report on pay and allowances of central government civilian employees, the number of vacant posts in position in various ministries/departments is 4,12,752 out of total sanctioned strength of 36,33,935 as on March 1, 2016," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply. In response to another query, Singh said there was no proposal under consideration of the government to give reservation to women in the posts/services in central government.

TELEGRAPH, DEC 19, 2017

Benefits cheer for state govt employees
Subhashish Mohanty
Naveen Patnaik
Bhubaneswar:The Naveen Patnaik government has decided to give better retirement and death benefits to its employees who joined service after January 1, 2005.
These employees are now covered by the contribution pension scheme under the National Pension System (NPS).
They were not entitled to such benefits earlier. Officials said according to the new provision, the employees would be entitled to 26 months' salary at the time of retirement or death during service.
Under the contribution pension scheme, the state government deducts 10 per cent from the salary of employee and contributes another 10 per cent from its account and deposits it in the NPS. After retirement, the pension would be given from the consolidated amount. But, they were not qualified for any other benefits. The decision, considered another sop for the nearly one lakh employees who have joined after 2005, comes after the state government had decided to implement the recommendations of the Centre's Seventh Pay Commission.
Finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said: "The Odisha Civil Services (Pension) Amendment Rules, 2005, has been modified to extend these facilities."
After the implementation of the recommendations of the state's expert committee on the 7th pay commission, there was a demand that other benefits should be extended to the employees who joined the government service after January 1, 2005. A finance department official said: "The Union ministry of personnel public grievances and pensions has extended retirement gratuity and death gratuity to the central government employees covered by the NPS with effect from January 1, 2004 on the same terms and conditions as are applicable to the employees covered by Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972."
Abanti Pradhan, a state government employee, said: "This is a good move."
The Opposition smelled petty politics in the state government's move. The state government has nearly 4.8 lakh employees who constitute a major votebank. Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty said: "People should be told why the state government did not implement the rules it in 2005. It is doing it now for the sake of vote-bank politics."
BJP leader Golak Mohapatra said: "I hope the announcement is not a political gimmick."
BJD leaders denied the allegations and said the move was only aimed at the welfare of government employees who constituted the backbone of state administration. BJD secretary Bijay Nayak said: "Our government is keen to ensure the welfare of our employees. The Opposition is in the habit of reading motives in our every move."

COMPUTERS

HINDU, DEC 19, 2017

For a safe cyberspace

Subi Chaturvedi

Cybersecurity needs to be integrated in every aspectof policy and planning

India is one of the key players in the digital and knowledge-based economy, holding more than a 50% share of the world’s outsourcing market. Pioneering and technology-inspired programmes such as Aadhaar, MyGov, Government e-Market, DigiLocker, Bharat Net, Startup India, Skill India and Smart Cities are propelling India towards technological competence and transformation. India is already the third largest hub for technology-driven startups in the world and its Information and Communications Technology sector is estimated to reach the $225 billion landmark by 2020.