The Welfare and Plight of SC/ST continuously neglected by political parties ,Government and caste Media . This news item published by the media in 4 th page. SC/ST Population of India is 1/4 the news item concerning them published in 4 page whereas news item concerning an individual actor(Prakash Raj) find a place in the front page. Please click the following link http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOICH&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI.
The amount of Rs 678.91 crore diverted from the special component plan for scheduled castes to the Commonwealth Games are yet to be restored despite promises by the home minister, according to retired IAS officer P S Krishnan, a champion of the rights of SC and ST.
Addressing the fourth Gijubhai memorial lecture, Krishnan said the Indian state had long ignored the rights of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in its quest for 9 to 10% GDP growth.
PS Krishnan, a 1956 batch IAS officer, headed the social welfare ministry at the time when PM VP Singh announced implementation of 27% job reservation in government for OBCs.
“The largest number of landless labourers, the largest number of people below the poverty line, the largest number of malnourished children and the population with the highest infant and child mortality rate, are all SCs and STs,” he said.
He said the marginalised group had also been denied quality education with nearly one- third of SC families having no literate adult member, three-fifths having no literate female adult and SC and ST children in many schools being prevented from drinking water or eating mid-day meals with other children. “An amount of Rs 250 crore which was provided in 1996 for establishing residential schools for SC girls in low literacy districts all over India was also snatched away in 2003 and not a single residential school was established with these funds,” Krishnan said.
He said that though the Right to Education Act was welcome, in the absence of specific reservation for SC/STs, the goal of removing educational gap between them and the advanced castes would not be achieved. “Manual scavenging, bonded labour, abysmal working conditions and denial of social security for SCs/STs continue to exist despite laws and legislations against these in the country,” he said. Commenting on the census, he said that the enumeration for SC/STs and BCs had to be more comprehensive.
The amount of Rs 678.91 crore diverted from the special component plan for scheduled castes to the Commonwealth Games are yet to be restored despite promises by the home minister, according to retired IAS officer P S Krishnan, a champion of the rights of SC and ST.
Addressing the fourth Gijubhai memorial lecture, Krishnan said the Indian state had long ignored the rights of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in its quest for 9 to 10% GDP growth.
PS Krishnan, a 1956 batch IAS officer, headed the social welfare ministry at the time when PM VP Singh announced implementation of 27% job reservation in government for OBCs.
“The largest number of landless labourers, the largest number of people below the poverty line, the largest number of malnourished children and the population with the highest infant and child mortality rate, are all SCs and STs,” he said.
He said the marginalised group had also been denied quality education with nearly one- third of SC families having no literate adult member, three-fifths having no literate female adult and SC and ST children in many schools being prevented from drinking water or eating mid-day meals with other children. “An amount of Rs 250 crore which was provided in 1996 for establishing residential schools for SC girls in low literacy districts all over India was also snatched away in 2003 and not a single residential school was established with these funds,” Krishnan said.
He said that though the Right to Education Act was welcome, in the absence of specific reservation for SC/STs, the goal of removing educational gap between them and the advanced castes would not be achieved. “Manual scavenging, bonded labour, abysmal working conditions and denial of social security for SCs/STs continue to exist despite laws and legislations against these in the country,” he said. Commenting on the census, he said that the enumeration for SC/STs and BCs had to be more comprehensive.
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| PS Krishnan and V Vasanthi Devi, former VC of Manonmaniam Sundaram University at the fourth Gijubhai memorial lecture Source: The Times of India dated 11.02.2011 Call for leak-proof legislation for reservation for SCs/STs, BCs in employment Watertight legislation for reservation in State jobs for SCs, STs and BCs, a comprehensive land distribution and minor irrigation programme and educational parity initiatives at all levels are key instruments for implementing social justice goals envisaged in the Constitution, former bureaucrat P.S. Krishnan said here on Thursday. Delivering the Gijubhai Badekha Memorial Lecture under the joint auspices of the Asian College of Journalism and the NCERT, Mr. Krishnan said while irrigation-linked land distribution schemes were crucial for the economic liberation of SCs, STs, BCs and other landless peasants, evolving “leakage-proof” legislation for job reservation was necessary to remove loopholes in the present system and for providing due share to SCs, STs and BCs in governance and administration. Mr. Krishnan, a former Government of India Secretary and a champion of the rights of the marginalised social strata, advocated the establishment of high quality residential schools for SC,ST and BC children as a starting point for achieving educational parity. On the higher education front, he sought the implementation of the recommendations (in 2008) of the high-level Ministerial committee on Dalit Affairs and the introduction in Parliament of “The Private Educational Institutions (Reservations in Admissions) Bill to fulfil the purpose foreseen in the 93 {+r} {+d} Constitution Amendment Act. While advocating zero-tolerance of untouchability and forms of discrimination (such as social boycott), Mr. Krishnan wanted more teeth to the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 through establishment of special courts and enhancement of punishment. Pointing out that the pre-Independence slogan of “land to the tiller” remained substantively unrealised in rural India, Mr. Krishnan argued that in the case of SCs, landless state contributed to and aggravated agricultural servitude and “untouchability.” According to the former bureaucrat, the rampant diversion of the Special Component Plan for SCs constituted a “serious social corruption.” The cavalier approach to the SCPs (and Tribal Sub-Plans), as borne out in the controversy over the Commonwealth Games, had reduced what was intended to bridge the gap between the marginalised and the advanced classes to a “meaningless, pointless arithmetical-statistical exercise.” Making the case that the issues of the SCs, STs and BCs were not marginal issues but entwined with the core of India's aspirations to become a regional and global power, Mr. Krishnan said the operational cost of land distribution, educational parity and uplift programmes were well within the financial capability of the government. Citing the Global Financial Integrity research group that pointed out that India had lost in illicit financial outflows at least Rs. 72,000 crore every year between 2002 and 2006 alone, Mr. Krishnan said “… even without taking this into account, the present and likely future annual plan size is enough to accommodate the needs of SCs and STs … .” Terming the mainstreaming of the oppressed classes a national task, Mr. Krishnan said teachers had an important role to play in changing attitudes and mindsets through human rights education that promoted the egalitarian ideal in society — especially among children — and eliminated “the total mismatch between a big nation and small caste-shrivelled minds.” V. Vasanthi Devi, former Vice Chancellor, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, and Shakuntala Nagpal from the NCERT also spoke. Source: The Hindu Dt 11.02.2011 |
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