The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Redress grievances of weaker sections”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“Redress grievances of weaker sections”

Special Correspondent

Representatives of SCs/STs hold meeting

— PHOTO: R. RAVEENDRAN

MAKING A PLEA: P. Sivakami, Commissioner, Printing and Stationery, addressing the conference of Central and State government SC/ST employees in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: A meeting of representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, including senior IAS officers, lawyers, and college teachers, on Saturday urged the Centre and the State government to address the grievances of weaker sections.

“The government is providing 2,500 acres for setting up an industry, but we have hamlets in the State with no roads to take our dead to a crematorium,” lamented Yesu Mariaan, an activist who was honoured for his work by the organisers.

Scholarships

The government should raise the income limit, from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakh, for higher education scholarships, to enable more students to pursue professional courses. The speakers demanded that the government pay for the education of meritorious students, whose family income was below Rs.2 lakh. Only seven per cent of Dalits owned land, said P. Sivakami, commissioner, Printing and Stationery.

“The Dalit Rights Movement has been fighting for land rights since 2004,” she said.

“Since most of the landless Dalits were agricultural workers, who could not get jobs in private companies, the government should provide either 2.5 acres of wetland or 5 acres of dry land.”

The disciplinary section in government departments should be headed by a Dalit, said C. Umashankar, managing director of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation.

Mr. Umashankar recalled incidents where charge sheets were filed against Dalit employees when they were due for promotion.

The meeting, integrated by monthly magazine Puthiya Kodaangi, was a forum to voice concerns about the Dalits who were being discriminated against.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu