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Sunday, March 15, 2026
TopicMandal Commission

Topic: Mandal Commission

India’s most consequential decade & chronicling it as part of the dream team of journalism

You’d think the decade of 1985-95 is long over. Not really. The issues that erupted in that decade are still shaping Indian conversations.

Before Mandal, there was no casteism. New think-tank report says no proof it’s 3,000 yrs old

The report, which took Durga Nath Jha two years to research and write, concludes that backwardness should be based on location and not caste.

OBC representation in public sector companies improving, but still below Mandal Commission benchmark

Though ThePrint’s analysis of annual public sector survey reports shows a gradual rise, it is still below ceiling of 27 percent as recommended by the 1979 Mandal Commission.

Congress & BJP are gunning for fair OBC ‘share’, but only about 1 in 4 candidates from community

Rahul Gandhi to PM Modi are championing OBC cause, but only 23% of Congress and 27% of BJP candidates are from the community, estimated to make up about half of India’s population.

Lower, lowered, Shudra or OBC caste—What to call more than half of India’s population?

Shudra’ has been used as a slur in Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas and other Hindu texts. And in common parlance, it is used to insult or belittle someone.

BJP Pasmanda outreach biggest disruption since Mandal. Desire for quota rising among Muslims

Scooter yatra, Sneh sammelan, personal meetings with PM—BJP is already prepping for 2024 by Pasmanda outreach.

From ‘jamaat’ to ‘jaat’ — how Nitish is using the caste census in Bihar to corner the BJP

By conducting a socio-economic caste census, which began in Bihar Saturday, CM Nitish Kumar is trying to recreate 1990s Mandal politics and gain political mileage in the state.

EWS is upon us because politicians now offer reservation in elections just like freebies

It wasn’t just human beings who immolated themselves in the anti-Mandal agitation in 1990-1991. Ideals and an entire style of politics also went up in flames during that period.

Bihar is talking caste census but with Mandal memories — Hope, anxiety, fear

Caste census is a political hot potato that is likely to upset social and political arithmetic. And it is something no party can afford to be seen openly opposing.

Hurdang creates the world of Mandal student politics but not a convincing one

The film tries to look at the Mandal Commission and caste-based reservation through an upper-caste lens, but offers lazy arguments.

On Camera

Menstrual leave doesn’t work in ‘real world’. And that real world is designed by, for men

When a woman menstruates, when/if she decides to marry, when/if she decides to have kids, should not be factors when looking at a woman’s potential from a hiring standpoint.

US strike on Iran’s key oil export island Kharg raises fears of wider supply disruption

President Trump said the US had bombed military targets on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, but spared oil infrastructure.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba, the man Iran must keep alive & the secret force ‘tasked with it’—all about NOPO

The Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, or NOPO, was the only force Ali Khamenei trusted.It was founded in 1991 and is more feared than the Revolutionary Guards.

Peaceful power transfers followed uprisings in India’s neighbourhood. It’s a sign of mature democracies

Rating democracies is a tricky business. I am only using the simple metric of who in the Indian subcontinent has had the most peaceful, stable, normal political transitions and continuity.