Fasttrack

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PICK OF THE WEEK* Caste in stoneTo hold a caste census, or not to. That was a question last week. Cabinet was reportedly divided on the issue. But a rare consensus was seen in Parliament. Parties across the ideological spectrum were in favour of the question on caste being included in the ongoing census exercise. And all indications are that it will be.Roughly speaking, the argument for a caste census, discontinued since 1931, is this: since caste is such a fact of life and politics, and policies are targeted at specific caste groups, a caste headcount will only make caste policy and politics more accurate. Those who oppose it maintain that a caste headcount would entrench caste divisions even more deeply in our social and political life. They also point to the difficulties of arriving at accurate numbers in a situation where castes vary in their hierarchical ranking from state to state and there are vested interests in respondents misrepresenting their own caste to the enumerators who have no credible ways of independent verification.* Maya's purgeMayawati carried out a purge of the criminal elements that had struck roots in the Bahujan Samaj Party. Or did she? Last week, questions surfaced about the much-hyped cleansing exercise.On May 2, Mayawati announced the expulsion of 500 party functionaries with a criminal background in a press conference. Immediately, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh demanded that the chief minister release the list of the 500 expelled leaders and their criminal history, while former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav asked her to explain why they were inducted into the BSP in the first place. But the most damaging criticism of the drive has been that it only targeted district and block-level workers and spared the MPs, MLAs and MLCs with a criminal record.* Power of DMKCommunications minister A Raja's involvement in the alleged Spectrum 2G scam led to much sound and fury in Parliament which amounted to nothing. Members of the BJP and AIADMK were at the forefront of demands for Raja's removal from the ministry.Meanwhile, on a visit to the capital, DMK chief M Karunanidhi managed to hasten the cabinet clearance and introduction in Rajya Sabha of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Bill 2010. The Bill's fast-track passage through the Upper House comes amid reports that the DMK is pushing for advancing state elections in Tamil Nadu.* Three yatrasAt last count, yatras were afoot, literally, in three states. In Uttar Pradesh, Congressmen are touring the length and breadth of the state on 10 simultaneous routes. They aim to spread the Congress's, or rather Rahul Gandhi's message, through the BSP-ruled state well in time for the next round of Assembly elections in 2012.In Bihar, where elections are due later this year, chief minister Nitish Kumar is on his fifth yatra in four years. This one is called the Biswas Yatra. Nitish is visiting villages in the state's districts to assess whether or not the administration has reached the state's most needy and far flung areas.And with his party, the Praja Rajyam, in complete disarray, and at a time when various political parties are making representations to the Srikrishna Commission on Telangana, Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi has embarked on a yatra to portray himself as the hero of 'united Andhra'.His 11-day yatra that kicked off last Wednesday from Antarvedi in East Godavari district will culminate, after going through several coastal districts, at Polavaram, the site of the dam coming up on the Godavari river in West Godavari district. Both the idea of united Andhra and the Polavaram Project are a matter of contention and discord in the Telangana region.

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