Representative image. Photo: Akshay Kapoor

Methodological innovation is required to re-evaluate and investigate how backwardness is defined. The 11 criteria the Mandal Commission specified could act as a framework.

India’s pursuit of greatness will remain elusive if it fails to address inequality and revive its democratic and secular values.

Professor Amir Ullah Khan addressed the crowd on the dangers of non-availability of data

The youth of India were chasing their dreams and striving for their future to reach Parvaaz and then they tripped over reality and busted their head over truth- A truth that will have a deep impact on their livelihood, their dreams, and what their future may behold with a malice administration in place oblivious to the destruction they are causing.

Will the Qutub Minar and the Taj Mahal too be destroyed by Hindutva vandals like the 500-old Babri Masjid and replaced with temples? The world is slowly finding it a new normal to consistently discriminate, and abuse the rights of Muslims for practicing their religion, and they are persistently being excluded from every aspect of life now.

India’s once-vaunted statistical infrastructure is crumbling. The reasons are worryingly familiar. Lack of management, COVID Impact, and the incapability of India’s governance are putting its own long-known and highly recognized heritage at risk.

Redefining or justifying your identity after decades of belongingness is what has now brought the democratic ideals of the ‘largest democracy in the world to crumble down. A significant part of the population staged protests against a new Citizenship Amendment which initially was a bill but was then passed as an act in 2019. This act aims to systematically exclude Muslims from the new law, and are now forced to substantiate their decade-old identity with this nation-state.

Documents submitted by people for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens were examined at the NRC Office in Guwahati on August 28th, 2019 ahead of the release of the register’s final draft. The Muslim community is facing unprecedented levels of institutionalized bias. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the NRC are likely to aggravate its distress.

A Muslim fruit vendor near Charminar in Hyderabad, a file photograph. Muslims constitute the largest minority in India accounting for a 100 million strong labor force.

Social and economic differences along communal and caste lines have led to a lopsided growth in India which favours the higher castes and fails to unlock the tremendous potential of labouring classes from communities that are discriminated against.