A stream of men holding bows and arrows slid through the lanes of Raipur's Civil Lines, coming to a startling stop outside chief minister Raman Singh's residence on November 1, the founding day of Chhattisgarh. As the police whisked them away, the tribal protestors told journalists they were asking for the most basic constitutional right: proportional reservation in government jobs. Eleven years ago, the sprawling state of Madhya Pradesh was trimmed...
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Quantum jump in SC/ST officers in govt jobs by Amitabh Sinha
Thanks to the policy of reservation, the representation of Scheduled Castes in higher-level government jobs has increased nearly eight times in the last 45 years while the proportion of Scheduled Tribes has shown an almost 20-fold jump. The proportion of SCs in Group A government jobs was only 1.64 per cent at the beginning of 1965. That had risen to 12.5 per cent by January 2008. Similarly, the share of STs...
More »NAC rules for Montek on poverty plans by Radhika Ramaseshan
The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council has listed dos and don’ts for Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the special component plan that forms a part of the five-year plan devised by the Planning Commission. The council has focused on the Dalits in the special plan that has two sub-plans: one for Dalits and the other for tribals. The council’s working group on Dalit issues — Harsh Mander and Farah Naqvi are in the...
More »4% of govt purchases will have to be from dalit, tribal-run firms by Subodh Ghildiyal
Ahead of its battle with dalit czarina Mayawati, the Congress-led Centre has made it mandatory for all central bodies to make at least 4% of their annual purchases from small scale industries owned by dalits and tribals. The decision, a leg up for developing entrepreneurship among SCs/STs, came as part of the new public procurement policy cleared by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday which mandates Union ministries/PSUs to make 20% of...
More »How dalits have actually fared in Uttar Pradesh by Ashish Tripathi
-The Economic Times A giant statue in a Lucknow square made 12-year-old Rashi curious. Whose statue is this, she asked her father. Although a BSP worker, Jhanki Ram couldn't go beyond the name, Jyotiba Phule. But not wanting to show his ignorance, he added, "He was a Mahatma who did a lot for the dalit community". Both had come from Etawah to take part in Kanshiram Parinirvan functions this month. For...
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