MORNINGER 17.07.24.UT NEWS.(Untouchables News)Team work by Sivaji.
Top court quashes Bihar decision to classify Tanti-Tantwa as SC
Says state government has no authority to tinker with SC list under Article 341
The said proposal was examined as per settled modalities in consultation with the Registrar General of India, who did not support the proposal but the state government went ahead and passed a resolution on July 1, 2015.The Supreme Court Monday ruled states cannot make changes to the Scheduled Caste list published under Article 341 of the Constitution and quashed the 2015 Bihar government notification categorising Tanti-Tantwa community as Scheduled Caste.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Prashant Kumar said the Patna High Court had made a “serious error by upholding the…notification on a completely wrong premise without referring to Article 341 of the Constitution”.
The court said the state government had no competence or authority to tinker with the lists of Scheduled Castes published under Article 341 of the Constitution ans directed the group be reverted to its original category of Extremely Backward Class. It called the notification “mala fide” and unpardonable “mischief”.
The bench “further directed such posts of the Scheduled Castes quota which had been filled up by members of Tanti-Tantwa community availing of benefit on the basis of resolution dated 01.07.2015 may be returned to Scheduled Castes category and such candidates of Tanti-Tantwa community be accommodated by the state in their original category of Extremely Backward Classes”.
The SC said, “The state cannot be pardoned for the mischief done by it. Depriving the members of the Scheduled Castes covered by the lists under Article 341 of the Constitution is a serious issue.”
However, the court said as it did not find fault with any individual member of the Tanti-Tantwa community, “we do not wish to direct that their services may be terminated or that recovery may be made for illegal appointments or withdrawal of other benefits which may have been extended”.
Who can amend or alter SC list
The Scheduled Castes list specified under the notification under Clause-1 can be amended or altered only by a law made by the Parliament, the SC bench said. As per Article 341 neither the central government, nor the President can make any amendments or changes in the notification issued under Clause-1 without a law made by the Parliament, specifying the castes in relation to the states or UT, as the case may be, it said.
“We are of the view all such posts of the Scheduled Castes reserved quota which have been extended to members of the Tanti-Tantwa community appointed subsequent to the resolution be returned to the Scheduled Castes quota and all such members of the Tanti-Tantwa community, who have been extended such benefit may be accommodated under their original category of Extremely Backward Classes,” the court said.
The Bihar Legislature had enacted the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1991 (Act No.3 of 1992). Under the Act, it had declared the lists of Extremely Backward Classes and at serial number 33, Tanti-Tantwa was shown as falling under the Extremely Backward Classes.
In 2011, Bihar government had recommended inclusion of Tanti-Tantwa in the list of SCs as a synonym of “Pan, Sawasi, Panr”. The said proposal was examined as per settled modalities in consultation with the Registrar General of India, who did not support the proposal but the state government went ahead and passed a resolution on July 1, 2015.
.‘Chandala’ usage punishable offence: Tamil Nadu SC/ST panel
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission on Monday clarified that the use of the word ‘chandala’ (sandala in Tamil) to insult or ridicule someone, its usage in films and on political platforms is a punishable offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The commission also recommended the state government to take legal action against those who use the word to insult someone.
The commission said according to the SC/ST Act, using a caste name in a derogatory manner in public domains is a punishable offence.
It also recalled that calling social groups engaged in meeting essential requirements of humanity, including those who bury dead bodies (in this case), with insulting words on political platforms, certain dialogues, or comedy scenes in movies were common.
Denying that the commission took up the issue suo motu, Punitha Pandiyan, vice-chairperson, said, “For the past few days, we have received many calls seeking clarification about the use of the word. The general public does not know that using this world in a derogatory manner is an offence. Without knowing this fact, the word has been used in movies, etc. So, we have issued a clarification.”
A few days ago, Naam Tamilar Katchi functionary Sattai Duraimurugan was arrested for making derogatory remarks against the late M Karunanidhi while campaigning in Vikravandi. Later, NTK leader Seeman defended Duraimurugan saying the word has been in vogue even in literature. This issue has evoked a huge debate on social media.
Cases related to atrocities against SCs and STs be dealt with immediately: Dhami
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 13 Jul: A meeting of the State Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee constituted under the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was held at the Chief Minister’s residence here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. This meeting was organised after 14 years. The Chief Minister today directed the officials to hold this meeting every six months. The Chief Minister said that the Chairpersons of the SC and the ST Commission should also be invited as special members in the upcoming meetings.
The Chief Minister also directed in the meeting that the pending cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act should be disposed off in a timely manner, for which regular advocacy should be done in the courts. On receipt of complaints, FIR proceedings should be completed immediately and the police should also investigate the complaints speedily. Cases pending for a long time should be disposed off on mission mode. Dhami asserted that the officials must ensure timely payment of permissible assistance amount to the victims. He directed the officials to seriously resolve the problems of the people of Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
During the meeting, the CM also directed that arrangements be made to simplify old age pension related procedures for the benefit of the beneficiaries on completion of 60 years of age. Those eligible for pension should not face any unnecessary inconvenience. For this, the best practices followed in other states should also be studied. The CM also stated that an integrated system should be made so that the beneficiaries get the benefits of various schemes of SC and ST category on a single platform. The Chief Minister said that “In order to make the people aware of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Social Welfare Department and the Home Department should do extensive publicity through various mediums.
In the meeting, Finance Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal said that in order to make people fully aware about the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and departmental schemes, publicity should be done through multipurpose welfare camps organised at the district level and also through wall painting and flex in the development block offices.
Cabinet Minister Rekha Arya said that senior or PCS officers should be appointed to speed up the work in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commissions. She also spoke about speeding up the filling of backlog posts.
Secretary Social Welfare Dr Neeraj Khairwal made a detailed presentation in the meeting. He said that whatever suggestions have been received in the meeting, further action will be taken on those suggestions immediately. He said that all types of cases registered under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act will be classified and details will be presented in the next meeting.
MLAs Khajan Das, Durgeshwar Lal, Bhupal Ram Tamta, Fakir Ram, Sarita Arya and Parvati Das, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar, Special Secretary Home Riddhim Agarwal, Additional Secretary Prakash Chandra, Bhagwat Kishore Mishra, Omkar Singh, Director Social Welfare Ashish Bhatgai, Director Tribal Welfare Sanjay Singh Tolia and departmental officers were present in the meeting.
Tamil Nadu: Home Secretary, other IAS officers transferred in major reshuffle
Dheeraj Kumar, IAS, was appointed as the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise department, on Tuesday, July 16. The post was previously held by P Amudha, IAS who has now been appointed as the Principal Secretary to Government, Revenue and Disaster Management Department. It may be noted that these transfers were among the many, ordered by the state, close on the heels of the Kallakurichi liquor tragedy and the murder of Dalit Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader K Armstrong.
Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation, J Radhakrishnan was also transferred and appointed as the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection department. J Kumaragurubaran will now take on Radhakrishnan’s role.
Here is the complete list of transfers ordered by the government:
S Madumathi, Managing Director, SIDCO was transferred and posted as Secretary to Government, School Education Department
K Gopal, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department was transferred and posted as Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries-Fishermen Welfare Department
Har Sahay Meena, Principal Secretary/Commissioner, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection was transferred and posted as Principal Secretary to Government, Special Initiatives Department
Veera Raghava Rao, Commissioner of Technical Education was transferred and posted as Secretary to Government, Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department
Kumar Jayant, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department was transferred and posted as Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Information Technology and Digital Services Department
V Rajaraman, Secretary to Government, Revenue and Disaster Management Department was transferred and posted as Secretary to Government, Tamil Development and Information Department
S Suresh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Tamil Nadu Khadi & Village Industries Board was transferred and posted as Additional Secretary to Government, Backward Classes, MBC & Minorities Welfare Department
CA Rishab, Additional Collector (Development)/Project Officer, DRDA, Thiruvannamalai is was transferred and posted Deputy Secretary to Government, Finance Department
B Vishnu Chandran, Collector, Ramanathapuram District was transferred and posted as Deputy Secretary to Government, Public Department
S Valarmathi, Collector, Ranipet District was transferred and posted as Joint Secretary to Government, Social Welfare & Women Empowerment Department. Valarmathi will also act as Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Working Women Hostel Corporation.
J Anne Mary Swarna, Collector, Ariyalur District is was transferred and posted as Joint Secretary to Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department
Sravan Kumar Jatavath, Collector, Kallakurichi District is posted as Joint Secretary to Government, Housing & Urban Development Department.
JU Chandrakala, Director, Integrated Child Development Services was transferred and posted as Collector, Ranipet District.
M Aruna, Collector, The Nilgiris District was transferred and posted as Collector, Pudukkottai District
Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Erode was transferred and posted as Collector, The Nilgiris District
B Priyanka, formerly Executive Director, Tamil Nadu Women Development Corporation, now posted as Collector, Thanjavur District
P Akash, Executive Director, SIPCOT is was transferred and posted as Collector, Nagapattinam District
P Rathinasamy, Joint Commissioner (Admin.), Commercial Taxes, Chennai was transferred and posted as Collector, Ariyalur District
Sibi Adhithya Senthil Kumar, Deputy Secretary to Government, Finance Department was transferred and posted as Collector, Cuddalore District
R Alagumeena, Commissioner, Corporation of Tambaram was transferred and posted as Collector, Kanniyakumari District
Grace Lalrindiki Pachuau, Additional Commissioner of Industries and Commerce was transferred and posted as Collector, Perambalur District
Simranjeet Singh Kahlon, Joint Commissioner of Municipal Administration was transferred and posted as Collector, Ramanathapuram District
Further, Narnaware Manish Shankarrao, Additional Collector (Development)/ Project officer, District Rural Development Agency, Erode has been recommended as the Commissioner of Erode Corporation. Similarly, J Vijaya Rani, Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies has been recommended as the Joint Commissioner (Education) of the Greater Chennai Corporation and S Balachander, Commissioner, Corporation of Salem has been recommended as the Commissioner of the Corporation of Tambaram.
Activists, students unhappy over Karnataka govt. tweaking rules on incentives to Dalit students, introducing income criteria
For the first time, the government has fixed a family income limit for beneficiaries as ₹6 lakh to avail the incentive
Updated - July 16, 2024 09:59 am IST
Published - July 16, 2024 06:40 am IST - Bengaluru
Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. The government of Karnataka has changed the rules for giving incentives to Scheduled Caste students. | Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH K
In an order that has come to light belatedly, the Karnataka government changed the rules of giving incentives to Scheduled Caste students who pass with first class in SSLC and a range of post-matric courses.
The earlier rule of providing an incentive of ₹7,000 to SC students who secure 60% to 74.99% marks in their first attempt in the SSLC exam has been abolished. Instead, the cut-off marks for SSLC passed students to apply for the incentive have been fixed as 75% and above. In addition, for the first time, the government has also fixed a family income limit for these beneficiaries as ₹6 lakh to avail the incentive.
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Unlikely victory that jolted BJP’s Hindutva push
Akhilesh Yadav's candidate Awadhesh Prasad, backed by Dalit votes, pulled off a shock victory in Faizabad against BJP, shifting UP politics.
On May 15, bang in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections campaign, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav stopped for a small rally in Mavai village. The meeting didn’t make too many headlines; the seat of Faizabad, under which Mavai falls, was considered an assured victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because of the frenzy around the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya earlier this year. The ruling party had fielded old warhorse and two-time sitting MP, Lallu Singh.
To take him on, Yadav walked up to the dias and introduced his candidate – Awadhesh Prasad. “And here is our former MLA who is contesting the seat…,” he said. Visibly baffled next to him, Prasad attempted to correct him: “No, no. Not former MLA, sitting MLA.”
Yadav swatted him away. “You will soon be the former MLA, as you are becoming an MP.” The crowd cheered, and Prasad smiled. The short clip went viral on social media.
On June 4, the words proved prophetic. Prasad – a nine-time legislator, six-time state minister under three different chief ministers, and a founding member of the SP -- registered a comprehensive but shock victory against Singh in a seat that not only encapsulated the BJP’s Hindutva push over the Ram Temple inauguration but also the SP’s resurgence as the single-largest party in UP after being out of power for almost a decade.
And the man who scripted possibly the INDIA bloc’s most consequential electoral win, 78-year-old Prasad, himself represented the crucial shift of the Dalit vote away from the BJP, allowing him to register a rare win for a Scheduled Caste candidate in an unreserved constituency. In his improbable victory by a margin of 50,000 votes was also the triumph of Yadav’s strategy of fielding a Pasi candidate against Singh, prompting non-dominant Dalit communities to back their old leader who got into politics during the turbulence of the Emergency.
“The BJP tried to take the credit for the Ram temple, which was built on the orders of the Supreme Court and tried to derive political mileage to divert people’s attention from serious fundamental problems such as unemployment, poverty, inflation, and issues concerning farmers including the stray cattle menace,” said Prasad. “I was not contesting against BJP, it was the people who were fighting with the BJP.”
Temple and politicsThe Ram Temple has been at the centre of the BJP’s political project for decades. The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute planted the seeds for the party’s pan-India revival when it prompted LK Advani to plan an expansive, and eventually violent, Rath Yatra. The party jumped from two parliamentary seats in 1984 to 89 in 1989. Building a Ram Temple at the site Hindus believed was the birthplace of Lord Ram also became part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s trifecta of ideological goals – the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir and the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code being the others.
Going into 2024, the BJP was confident about the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, under which Ayodhya falls. The consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple earlier in January by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had energised the BJP’s base. The party had won four of the five assembly segments that make up the seat in 2022. Lallu Singh had won the seat twice in a row, and the Opposition appeared to have been outmanoeuvred during the temple opening. The party focussed on the infrastructural transformation of Ayodhya – its new avenues, a transformed and renamed airport, a refurbished railway station, and new public spots.
Fighting an uphill battle, SP and Prasad took a different tack. The party focussed on wooing marginalised groups by fielding a Dalit leader on a general constituency seat against the BJP’s Thakur candidate. The campaign consciously stayed away from polarising issues and kept the focus on bread-and-butter issues of livelihood.
“The BJP tried to take the credit for the Ram temple, which is being built on the orders of the Supreme Court, and unsuccessfully tried to derive political mileage to divert attention from serious problems such bas unemployment, poverty, inflation, and issues concerning farmers including the stray cattle menace,” Prasad said.
“Distressed under the BJP rule, we got maximum support from Dalits who were the worst sufferers of the BJP’s policies.” The results showed that the SP had managed to wean up critical Dalit support from the BJP by talking up dangers to the Constitution and everyday worries of income and poverty. Crucial to this endeavour was the appeal of the Pasi leader, whose presence and strong campaign helped shore up support from smaller Dalit communities that had drifted to the BJP since 2014.
“At 78, he walked five to seven kilometres regularly in the morning and then remained in the public till midnight,” said Jai Shankar Pandey, an old associate of Prasad.
To keep the BJP at bay, Prasad called himself a Ram-bhakt, or Ram devotee, at every rally. He even changed his social media bio to “Jai Siyaram”, a greeting that incorporates both Ram and Sita. “I am born in Ayodhya, I am Rambhakt by birth,” he said. “Ayodhya is not anyone’s fiefdom...We are the real Ram-bhakts.”
Humble beginningsBorn in July 1945 to Dukhi Ram and Ram Rati, Prasad’s ancestral house is in Purey Oachchhan Tiwari village of Sohawal tehsil in Ayodhya. “I grew up on the banks of a small river, Madhua. My father was a small farmer and we were seven siblings – an elder brother and five younger sisters,” he said.
His school years were spent in poverty, with no money for even shoes. “When the river was in spate, I used to wade through the water to go to the school. We had a kutcha house with no electricity. So, I studied under a kerosene lamp,” he said. In Class 12, he finally bought an old bicycle for ₹85.
Prasad began his political career at 21, shortly after he took admission in Lucknow University for an LLB degree. “Soon after finishing my LLB, I began practising as a criminal lawyer at Faizabad district court. During my LLB, I developed a lot of political consciousness. In 1974, I quit my law practice and joined politics,” he said.
During the Emergency, Prasad served as the Faizabad district co-convener of the anti-Emergency Sangharsh Samiti. “I was in Faizabad jail and Lucknow jail. While in jail, my mother passed away but I couldn’t get parole to attend her last rites,” he said.
He contested his first assembly elections in 1974 as a candidate from the Bhartiya Kranti Dal – led by former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh — from Sohawal but lost. But in the elections held immediately after the Emergency, he won the seat as Janta Party candidate. By then, he was already seen as an associate of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. “I lost my first assembly elections by a narrow margin of 332 votes, but when I won the next elections, my nearest rival’s deposit was forfeited,” he said.
He became a minister of state in the Ram Naresh Yadav government and was given charge of information and general administration portfolios. “Then again, I became a minister in the Banarsi Das government. It was during this time I became very close to Netaji Mulayam Singh Yadav. He was a senior minister in the government.”
The veteran – who served under three chief ministers across parties and won an assembly election nine times – is looking forward to his maiden stint in Parliament. “My ideology is socialism and my focus will be on young people, who are the sona-heera (gold and diamond) of the nation. For them, we’ll stop paper leaks and scrap Agniveer.”
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