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Gujjars agitation in Rajasthan, demanding inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list, is getting worse day by day. The protest is affecting other cities and states also. Agitation by the Gujjars which has already claimed 37 lives, continued to disrupt rail and road traffic in the state.

According to the reports the Rajasthan government has called an emergency cabinet meeting to decide on the strategy of talks with the protesting community. A delegation is planned to send to have talks with the Gujjar leader who had in a fresh salvo, asked the CM Raje to meet him at the agitation site.

“The government is planning to send a delegation from Jaipur to talk to Gujjar leaders about the situation. The delegation would be headed by Industry Minister Digambar Singh,” a source said.

Head of the Gujjar Sangharsh Aarakshan Samiti (Gujjar pro-reservation front) K S Bainsla and hundreds of his supporters were squatting on the rail track near Dhumaria station, close to Bayana town in Bharatpur district, over 160 km east of state capital Jaipur. They get a hold on dead bodies of those killed in police firing and refused to cremate them until their demands approved by the government.

“Only Chief Minister Raje should come and talk to the community members present here. After all, we are her own people,” Bainsala told media.

Meanwhile the Gujjar agitation has spread to UP’s Ghaziabad area where the protestors are reported to have blocked the Loni railway station.

The lawyers at the Ghaziabad court have also announced that they would not allow any hearings to take place today. Aarushi murder accused Rajesh Talwar’s bail is up for hearing.

Many other areas are also affected by the Gujjar row. Blockade has also been reported near the Akshardham Temple Complex in Noida, near Delhi.

Tags: Cabinet, Delhi, Gujjar, Rajasthan, ST

In a recent move Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reshuffled the cabinet ministry today. The new included face in the cabinet are Raghunath Jha, Jyotiraditya Scindia, M S Gill, Jitin Prasada, V Narayanasami, Rameshwar Oraon and Santosh Bagrodia.

Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said that she wanted to include Rahul Gandhi in the cabinet but he refused the offer. Six Congress minister resigned to make space for these new ministers.

Those who resigned the cabinet are Akhilesh Das, Manikrao Gavit, Suresh Pachouri, M V Rajasekharan, D N Rao, and T S Reddy. The President has accepted the resignations.

This expansion of cabinet looks like a mix up of experience and youth. Jitin Prasada and Jyotiraditya Scindia are the members who became ministers for the first time.

Tags: Cabinet, India, Minister

Four new IITs and six IIMs are announced on Friday to be established by Government in various states besides upgrading some of the state universities to the status of central universities. The decision is taken to encourage higher education in the country.

The new IITs would be located in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh (Indore), Gujarat and Punjab and the IIMs would come up in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana. These new institutions would be part of the eight IITs and seven IIMs proposed to be set up during the 11th five year plan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has consented for the location of the institutions.

Four IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh and one IIM at Shillong are already announced. Admissions to new IITs in AP, Rajasthan and Bihar as also IIM in Shillong would start from this year.

Government also proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) into an IIT. Admission to this institute was already based on the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE).

The 14 central universities aiming at world class standards would be located in Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Greater Noida and Guwahati. Land for the universities will be defined shortly. However, their locations will be decided on the basis of infrastructure and connectivity which such universities would need.

Dismissing a suggestion that Kerala has been left out in the exercise, HRD Minister Arjun Singh said the southern state has got a central university and a world class university. “It is not correct that Kerala is left high and dry”, he said.

A central university each for Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa is suggested.

Dr Hari Singh Gaur University at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, Guru Ghasidas University at Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and Goa University will be converted into central universities.

To a question on the Right to Education Bill, he said a cabinet note on the issue has been circulated and his ministry was awaiting planning commission’s response on it. He hoped the bill to provide free and compulsory education to children in the 6-14 age groups would be introduced and passed in parliament.

Tags: Cabinet, IIM, IIT