Report seeks job quotas for dalits
NDTV Correspondent
Sunday, August 20, 2006 (New Delhi):
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=Report+seeks+job+quotas+for+dalits&id=91870
As the reservation debate rages in the country, a new report prepared
by a Group of Ministers headed by Ramvilas Paswan on Dalit affairs has
recommended more job quotas and land for dalits.
The report, which will be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been made on the basis of the latest 2001 census.
The
report has also recommended an increase in the number of reserved seats
for scheduled castes in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.
"As
per the 2001 census, reservation in jobs for SC and ST's should be
increased from 22.4 per cent to 24.8 per cent," said Ramvilas Paswan,
Minister for Steel and Chemicals.
The report has also
recommended that villages with more than 40 per cent SC/ST population
be declared as "Prime Minister" model villages estimated at over 71,000.
Their
development will be specially looked at and these will be monitored by
the local DC and supervised by the Prime Minister's Office. In these
villages one acre of cultivable land will be given to each landless
scheduled caste family.
"Both state and central government should earmark expenditure for dalits in proportion to their population," said Paswan.
The report is to be submitted to the Prime Minister and only then will future action on Paswan's recommendations be decided.
Interestingly
Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due in a few months, will be the
biggest beneficiary with 17000 villages with a large dalit population.
The
recommendations are likely to be cleared soon mainly because assembly
elections are due in two states- Uttar Pradesh and Punjab where the BSP
has almost walked away with the traditional dalit vote bank of the
Congress.
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"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality."
- Dr BR Ambedkar
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