HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

DMK party, which came to power in 1967, had a crisis in facing the 1971 Assembly elections. Mr.C.N.Annadurai passed away in 1968 after being in power for one year and Mr. Karunanidhi succeeded as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. During the 1971 election there was a huge campaign against DMK for “corruption in public life”. The late Sri Kamaraj, with his unblemished record in public life, spearheaded this campaign against DMK. The octogenarian Rajaji also gave his blessings to Kamaraj in this campaign.
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RESERVATION (Part-5)

Why Reservation is needed

There was further political change in the State of Tamil Nadu in the year 1971. The DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) split into two and another Dravidian party ADMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhzagam) was born. The ADMK won state elections in 1971 and they brought in change in the reservation policy. While hitherto reservation was accorded based on social and educational backwardness, for the first time economic backwardness was introduced. Low income individuals among backward classes alone were eligible for the benefits of reservation.
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RESERVATION (Part-4)

1951-Watershed Year

The year 1951 was a watershed in the history of the Backward Classes movement. When the Constitution of India came into being there was opposition to the application of the “communal G.O.” The matter was taken up to the Supreme Court, in the case of educational institutions in Champakam Dorairajan Versus State of Madras, and similarly in Venkataramana Versus State of Madras, in respect of appointments in Public services. In both these cases, the Supreme Court struck down the communal Govt. order as unconstitutional.
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Cinema (Part 2)

In earlier times the ritual of going to a movie was a family affair that was comparable to that of going to a relative’s house, to attend a marriage, visiting a temple festival, or even going to a pilgrimage to a nearby religious place. Women would plan for it for few days in advance. They shall advertise it to the neighbours, plan domestic chores in such a way that during their trips to the cinema theatre (on most occasions, these theatres would be far away and for many it can be negotiated on foot only) no work at home remains undone.
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RESERVATION (Part-3)

History re-written

For the first time in the history of appointments to Public services the Backward Hindus came to be recognized and a separate allocation was made for them.

Article 16(1) of the Indian Constitution reads as follows:-
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Cinema (Part 1)

Tamil Nadu is the birth place of cinema and from here films in all four regional languages, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, were made in the past. Over the years, cinema became the most prevalent entertainment in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu. One can go even without a dinner but not a cinema show run in those “touring talkies” as they were called. They were present everywhere in the village side and the maximum number of cinema theatres in the country were in this State. Even when there were other forms of entertainment, cinema occupies a special place in the life of people in Tamil Nadu. People took the events in movies so seriously and they believed them to be true real life stuff. Thus one will not dismiss filmy events like dressing by young heroes and heroines. New fashions in dresses will be set in motion by new movies and the dress will become the fashion for the day until a new dress fashion is introduced by a new movie. Heroes in cinema became demigods.
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RESERVATION (Part-2)

Awakening

In 1904, the Board of Revenue obtained from the Collectors a report classifying all employees on the basis of caste in the superior services of the Revenue offices in the Districts. It was found that the ratio of Brahmins to Non-Brahmins was 70:30. The Board instructed the Collectors to arrange for the recruitment of Non-Brahmins in such a way to ensure that public jobs were more fairly distributed to various local castes in proportion to their population. The Board also advised certain Collectors about the desirability of increasing the number of Non-Brahmin Deputy Tahsildars in their districts, if qualified men were available. A list of revenue employees in each district was ordered to be printed annually so that Collectors might ensure that instructions contained in BSO 128(2) were scrupulously observed.
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RESERVATION

The controversy surrounding reservation is assuming peculiar dimensions recently among students. The reasons are not far to seek. These educated youth lack clear understanding of the conceptual basics surrounding the subject of reservation. Also many well meaning academics and journalists are jumping into this bandwagon in opposing reservations citing wrong reasons. Comparable to our reservation policy is the affirmative action policy of the US government which requires reservation for minorities and African Americans in employment, higher education and also in awarding contracts. The stated justification for such preferential treatment of the disadvantaged groups is that there is need to rectify historical discrimination practiced against these groups. One usual criticism against affirmative action is that the current generation of whites suffers reverse discrimination for the deeds of their forefather generations.
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The genesis of Bank Nationalisation

(This is the first in a series of articles that will examine the post-Independence banking structure in India)

India's brand of Socialism is a product of the views and beliefs of our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. To look into its genesis, one has to understand the context of the education which young Jawaharlal had in England, thanks to his affluent lawyer-father, Motilal Nehru.
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Rainy Ordeal

Despite millennia of experiencing heavy rains during fixed times of the year, India appears to have learned little either about taking precautionary measures or about initiating rapid rescue efforts. Western and parts of south-western India were badly affected during the recent rains. Several news reports had put the death toll from the floods at around 200 in the Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
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