http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=507908
SC Commission issues notice to Punjab Chief Secretary BUTA-PUNJAB JALANDHAR, SEP 30 (PTI) The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary of Punjab after receiving complaints of "atrocities" on Dalits in the Malwa region of the state. "For the last few months, the Commission has received hundreds of complaints, especially from the Malwa region, regarding atrocities on dalits ... The Commission has taken a serious note of the same and issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary of the state," its Chairman Buta Singh told reporters here today. Singh said the Commission was in the process of reviewing the implementation of welfare schemes by states and has already initiated the process with regard to Uttar Pradesh. About the arena of the review, Singh said that "as per the Constitution, it was mandatory for each state to allocate special component of allocation in its budget for welfare of dalits, according to the percentage of their population in that state." "It was noticed that several states were not following the Constitutional guidelines and in some states, budgetary allocations were made but finance department did not release the allocated fund for the welfare of dalits," he alleged, adding the commission would visit every state to review implementation of such guidelines.
