The Hindu : National : Parliament nod for SC Bill

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Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007
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Parliament nod for SC Bill

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Parliament adopted the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2007 on Tuesday, with the Rajya Sabha approving it by a voice vote.

The Bill that seeks inclusion of new castes in the list of the Scheduled Castes and modification in the existing entries relating to some communities in various States was approved by the Lok Sabha in May.

The communities included in the Bill are from Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab and Chhattisgarh. After consultations with the States concerned, the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, the list of the Scheduled Castes in respect of these communities would be amended.

Responding to a discussion on the Bill, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar said since 1950 —when the list was first included in the Constitution with 607 castes — the number of the Scheduled Castes had gone up to 1,206.

Lamenting that there was no debate on closing the list altogether to make India a casteless society, Ms. Kumar said that despite stringent laws to check caste atrocities and untouchability, the ground reality was that the caste system was still prevalent with reports of excesses being reported regularly.“Sadly, instead of thinking of making these laws irrelevant, we are still working towards making them more stringent and effective to protect the rights of people belonging to the Scheduled Castes,” she said., adding that The ground reality was that the rate of conviction against of those who perpetrate atrocities against on people belonging to the Scheduled Castes was a mere two to three per cent.

On CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat’s demand for a single list of SCs across the country, Ms. Kumar said that was not possible as different castes enjoyed different social and economic status in various States.

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and BJP member Kalraj Mishra objected to the removal of about a dozen castes from the list in U.P., Ms. Kumar clarified that this was done on the State’s recommendation.

Members also protested against the non-inclusion of certain castes in the list despite recommendations, including those of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. “This has been done as the Registrar General of India has sought some clarifications,” Ms. Kumar said.

While supporting the Bill, Brinda Karat and Tarini Kanta Roy of the CPI(M), D. Raja (Communist Party of India) and Sushma Swaraj (BJP) sought a comprehensive Bill to remove the anomalies in the identification of various scheduled castes in different States. The status of Namashudra community was mentioned as an example.

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