The Gujarat High Court has restrained the state from issuing a resolution raising the quota of reservation in higher education and government services from 10 to 28 per cent for other backward communities. The petitioner, a higher secondary student, has submitted that the increase will adversely affect his prospects, and that the decision has no rational nexus because it has been taken without assessing the adequacy of representation for OBCs in reservation schemes.

Rajasthan Violence

Four persons were killed and several injured in the towns of Deeg and Bharatpur when the police opened fire to contain mobs that had turned violent in protest against the killing of Man Singh, one of the two senior-most legislators of Rajasthan. The one-day-old Hiralal Deopura government, faced with its first severe test, blamed the Rashtriya Janata Party leader, Raj Narain, a former associate of Charan Singh, for “instigating” the crowd.

Martial Law In Pak

Martial law will continue in Pakistan even after the restricted elections to the National Assembly. President Ziaul Haq says it is “next to impossible” for a military regime to hand over power to a civilian government and that he would lift martial law after assessing the stability of the civilian government. Zia said Pakistan was in a “crucial transition period” after seven-and-a-half years of military rule.