The Evening Wrap: On faculty reservations at IIMs

The Hindu Newsletter - The Evening Wrap [logo] The Evening Wrap Monday | 15 March, 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( More than half of OBC and above 40% of SC/ST faculty positions in central institutions unfilled: Education Minister There are only [nine professors from Scheduled Tribe communities across all 42 Central Universities](, according to data presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday. At the 20 Indian Institutes of Management, only five of the posts reserved for STs have been filled. In a written response to a question from three Congress MPs on the vacancies in reserved positions at all central educational institutions, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank told the Lok Sabha that more than half of the positions reserved for OBCs, and about 40% of those reserved for Scheduled Castes and Tribes are vacant. The situation is particularly acute in the elite IIMs, where more than 60% of positions reserved for SCs and OBCs are vacant, while a whopping 80% of positions reserved for STs have not been filled. This means that out of 24 positions reserved for STs, only five have been filled. For the Indian Institutes of Technology, data has only been provided for non-faculty positions. Both IITs and IIMs have been lobbying for exemption from such faculty quota requirements. [ Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament in New Delhi on March 15, 2021. ] Nishank’s response to another question from Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy showed that within the Central Universities, vacancies are higher at the level of professors. Out of 709 assistant professor positions reserved for STs at the 42 universities, more than 500 have been filled. However, when it comes to professors, only nine positions have been filled out of the 137 reserved for ST candidates. This means 93% of these posts remain unfilled. Less than 1% of the 1,062 professors in central universities are from ST communities. Similarly, 64% of the 2,206 assistant professor positions reserved for OBCs have been filled at the Central Universities. However, less than 5% of the 378 professor positions reserved for OBCs have been filled. According to the data presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday, there are now 6,074 vacant positions at the 42 universities, of which 75% are in reserved categories. [underlineimg] MHA moves Bill to make L-G’s nod must for all Delhi govt. decisions; Kejriwal calls it ‘unconstitutional’ The [Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) moved The National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021]( in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Bill proposes that “government” in the national capital territory of Delhi means the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The Bill gives discretionary powers to the L-G of Delhi even in matters where the Legislative Assembly of Delhi is empowered to make laws. The proposed legislation also seeks to ensure that the L-G is “necessarily granted an opportunity” to give her/his opinion before any decision taken by the Council of Ministers (or the Delhi Cabinet) is implemented. Among other things, the Bill seeks to amend Section 33 of the Act that empowered the Delhi Assembly to make rules to conduct its business by inserting the clause that it shall not be inconsistent with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in House of People. The amendment says that “Legislative Assembly shall not make any rule to enable itself or its Committees to consider the matters of day-to-day administration of the Capital or conduct inquiries in relation to the administrative decisions” and any such rules made before the commencement of the Act shall be void. Legal experts have opined that this particular amendment puts a question mark over the ongoing enquiry by the Delhi Assembly into the February 2020 Delhi riots. Reacting to the Bill, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of seeking to drastically curtail the powers of his elected government. He also said that the bill is “contrary to Constitution Bench judgement”. In a tweet, Kejriwal said he strongly condemns “BJP’s unconstitutional and anti-democracy” move. “After being rejected by ppl of Delhi (8 seats in Assembly, 0 in MCD bypolls), BJP seeks to drastically curtail powers of elected government through a Bill in LS today. Bill is contrary to Constitution Bench judgement. We strongly condemn BJP’s unconstitutional n anti-democracy move,” Kejriwal tweeted. “The Bill says- 1. For Delhi, “Govt” will mean LG Then what will elected govt do? … 2. All files will go to LG This is against 4.7.18 Constitution Bench judgement which said that files will not be sent to LG, elected govt will take all decisions and send copy of decision to LG,” he said in another tweet. [underlineimg] Batla House encounter: Delhi court awards death penalty to Ariz Khan for killing inspector A [Delhi court Monday awarded death penalty to Ariz Khan for the murder of police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma]( in the 2008 Batla House encounter case. Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav also imposed a total fine of ₹11 lakh against Ariz in the case. The court said ₹10 lakh should be immediately released to the family members of Sharma. Police sought death penalty for Ariz, allegedly associated with the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, saying it was not just any killing but a murder of a law enforcement officer who was a defender of justice. Additional Public Prosecutor A.T. Ansari, appearing for the police, said the case attracts exemplary punishment, which is capital punishment. Advocate M.S. Khan, appearing for Ariz, opposed the death penalty and said the incident was not premeditated. [ Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav also imposed a total fine of ₹11 lakh against Ariz Khan in the case. File ] The court had said on March 8 that it was “duly proved that Ariz Khan and his associates caused murder of police official and fired gunshot on the police official”. Inspector Sharma of the special cell was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi. The trial court had sentenced Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed in July 2013 to life imprisonment in connection with the case. His appeal against the verdict has been pending in the high court. Ariz Khan had fled from the spot and was declared a proclaimed offender. He was arrested on February 14, 2018, and faced the trial. [underlineimg] NCB moves Supreme Court against Bombay HC order granting bail to Rhea Chakraborty The [Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order]( granting bail to actress Rhea Chakraborty, arrested over drugs-related charges in actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. A Bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian will hear the plea on March 18. On October 7 last year, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to the actress and directed her to deposit a personal bond of ₹1 lakh. It had, however, rejected the bail plea of her brother Showik Chakraborty, who is also an accused in the case, and an alleged drug peddler Abdel Basit Parihar. Rhea, her brother and the other accused were arrested in September last year by the NCB in connection with its probe into the drugs angle related to the case of Rajput's death. Earlier this month, in a chargesheet running into nearly 12,000 pages and containing statements from more than 200 witnesses, the NCB had named 33 people, including Chakraborty and Showik. The actress was accused of being “an active member of a drugs syndicate” and financing narcotics used by Sushant Singh Rajput. [underlineimg] SC asks Centre, EC to respond to plea for fresh polls if most votes are NOTA The [Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Election Commission of India (EC)]( to respond to a plea that fresh elections should be conducted in constituencies where the maximum votes polled are NOTA. The petition said candidates ‘rejected’ by voters should not be fielded again in the fresh polls. During the hearing, Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde expressed doubts initially about the feasibility of the petition by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to arm the electorate with the “right to reject” and nudge political parties to present voters with a better choice of candidates to pick from. Chief Justice Bobde said if voters kept rejecting candidates, Parliament/Assembly seats would continue to remain vacant, affecting legislative functioning. “It is a constitutional problem. If your argument is accepted and there is a certain number of NOTAs, then the constituency will go unrepresented in the Parliament... How will the Parliament function then?” Chief Justice Bobde asked senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who represented Upadhyay. But Guruswamy replied that “if voters are given the power to reject, political parties will take care to field worthy candidates in the first place...” The petition noted how parties spent crores of rupees on the candidates. The CJI also flagged during the hearing the issue whether a political party could influence voters to not vote in a particular constituency. However, Guruswamy prevailed, which led the court to agree to examine the issue raised in the petition. “Political parties choose contesting candidates in a very undemocratic manner without consulting electors. That is why many times people in constituency are totally discontented with candidates presented before them. This problem can be solved by holding a fresh election if maximum votes are polled in favour of NOTA. In such situation, the contesting candidates should be considered as rejected and not be allowed in fresh election,” the petition said. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 1,13,82,720 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,61,390. India on Monday registered 26,291 new coronavirus cases. This is the highest single day rise in nearly three months, with Maharashtra having recorded this year’s highest one-day spike of 16,620 new coronavirus cases on Sunday. [underlineimg] In Brief: Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) ‘commander’ Sajjad Afghani was killed in the encounter in south Kashmir’s Shopian, as the operation continued for the third day on Monday. “I congratulate the Shopian police and security forces for eliminating JeM ‘commander’ Sajjad Afghani in the Shopian encounter,” Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said. Afghani is the second militant to be killed in the three-day-long operation. Afghani and a local associate, who was killed on Sunday, were encircled by the security forces on Saturday evening at Shopian’s Rawalpora area. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow Today's Top Picks [[Twitter’s Spaces are public content - meaning they will appear in followers’ fleets and will also have a shareable public link.] Twitter to roll out its Clubhouse-like Spaces feature soon for all users]( [[ ‘Nomadland’ director Chloé Zhao and actress Frances McDormand are hot favourites to win. ] Oscar nominations 2021: Complete list]( [['Butea monosperma' commonly known as 'flame of forest flowers' are now in bloom in the buffer zone and core area of Mudumalai tiger reserve.] Watch | ‘Flame of the forest’ now in bloom across Nilgiris]( [[ Beyoncé accepting the award for Best R&B Performance onstage during the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards at Los Angeles Convention Center on March 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. ] Beyonce breaks record for most Grammy wins by female artist]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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