Bill introduced in RS for welfare of SCs/ STs

New Delhi, Aug 14: Minister for social justice and empowerment, Meira Kumar, today introduced the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order Amendment Bill 2007 in the Rajya Sabha, which has already been passed by the lower house. Mr Krishan Lal Balmiki of the BJP supported the bill and said the government must take concrete steps for welfare of economically backward people belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.

Mr Radhakant Nayak of the Congress said discrimination is meted out to SCs/STs in a plethora of fields. Violence is perpetrated against them at a time when the country is celebrating 60th year of Independence. He said efforts should be made so that they become part of the national development process.

Mr Tarani Kanta Roy of the CPI(M) said a comprehensive bill must cover all people belonging to the SCs, STs and OBCs. There are anomalies among states which create countless problems for them.

Ms Brinda Karat of the CPI(M) pointed out to the plight of dalit women from Namashudra community in West Bengal. India can never become a superpower unless dalits become a part of the national mainstream, she said.

Mr EMS Nachiappan of the Congress while supporting the Bill said that even after 60 years of Independence, dalits who had converted to Christianity or Islam still caried the social stigma, which makes it clear that the criteria of backwardness should be social and not economic. He demanded that there should be reservation in judiciary as in other services, so that a correct and balanced interpretation of social justice could be given.

Mr Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party said he supported the Left stand on the bill and agreed with the views of Ms Brinda Karat and Ms Sushma Swaraj on the condition of 'namo shudra'. The Government should take immediate steps to ameliorate their condition.

The issue was very serious and the House should discuss it with utmost seriousness. In this connection, he pointed out to the vacant treasury and Oposition benches and said it showed how little importance the matter was being given to by them. This led to strong protest from a few BJP and Congress members.

Mr Singh also demanded that the government give space for a memorial of dalit leader Babu Jagjivan Ram as it had done in the case of BSP founder leader Kanshi Ram.

Mr D Raja of the CPI said annihilation of the caste system was necessary for the country to be modernised.

He said land reform were a must for empowerment of dalits. He also demanded adequate housing and reservation in judiciary for them.

Mr Nandi Yellaiah of the Congress said that the bill would improve the condition of Scheduled Castes. Mr K B Shanappa of the BJP expressed concern over the low rate of conviction in crime against Scheduled Castes. He also called for reservation to be extended to higher education, judiciary and even to the Rajya Sabha for Scheduled Castes.

Mr Gandhi Azad of the BSP said that all the castes of the country should be included into the list of Scheduled Castes to remove casteism. Moreover, effective steps should be taken to implement reservation so as to fulfill the backlog of the vacancy in the reserved categories as was being done by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, he said.

Mr Silvius Condpan of the Congress said that Scheduled Castes people who had migrated from various states to Assam to work in tea gardens were not getting benefit of reservation. He said that instead of peacemeal efforts, a comprehensive bill be brought so that they should also be given the reservation benefit being given to the people of their caste in other states.

Mr Ali Anwar of the Janata Dal (United) demanded that the reservation benefit be extended to 'Dalit Muslims' and Dalit Christians also. He said that both the Sachar Committee and The Justice Rangnath Misra Commission had pointed out that conversion or change of religion did not change the social and economic conditions of the people.

Mr Tapan Kumar Sen of the CPI(M) said that economic liberalisation and privatisation were diluting the benefits of reservation and criticised the government for soft pedalling the issue of reservation in the private sector.

Mr Dharam Pal Sabharwal of the Congress urged the educated and influential among the Scheduled Castes to volutarily give up the benefit of reservation so that economically oppressed rural youth of the Scheduled Caste could get the benefit of reservation.

Mr Mahendra Sahni of the Janata Dal(United) demanded that the fishermen community which were getting Scheduled Caste benefit in West Bengal and Orissa must get SC status in Bihar also. He urged the Centre to accept the state government's recommendation in this regard.

Mr Sharad Joshi of the Swantantra Bharat Paksha wondered over the reason for bringing the Bill when the reservation itself was based on the Government orders and not on the Constitutional Amendment. He also pointed out that most of changes in the list were only nomenclature changes and not many significant inclusion of castes had been done.

UNI