Par panel unhappy over absence of population data of SCs

The Constitution (SC) Orders (Amendment) Bill 2012 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in May this year to insert certain castes from states of Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tripura in the SC list.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on "The Constitution (SC) Orders (Amendment) Bill 2012" observed that the caste-wise data could be obtained by the government from 2011 Census records and can be used in preparing the Financial Memorandum of the Bill.

"The Committee was constrained to note that data on the estimated population of communities proposed to be included in SC list through the Bill was not available with them," the report prepared by the Committee said.

The Committee also pulled up the Registrar General of India "for referring to old literature of pre-independence era in determining socio-economic status of castes for clearing proposal for inclusion/exclusion of castes and there was no new literature on demographic and economic status of castes."

Strongly recommending for updating the data on economic and social status of castes, the committee said, "Government should collect and use updated data on economic and social status of various castes for processing new proposals for inclusion/exclusion of castes."

It also prescribed strict time schedules for all the agencies involved in the process including the Social Justice Ministry so that the benefits could reach the intended populace in shortest possible time.

The Committee also noted that the state governments' reports regarding certain castes say that these were socially, educationally and economically backward but no such information was available with the Union Ministry.

"The Bill seeks to introduce inclusion of synonyms of two castes in Kerala, one in Madhya Pradesh, four in Odisha and three in Tripura and deletion of a caste... And also the change of name of the state of Orissa to Odisha," the report said, adding that the Committee has approved the amendments in the Bill in its entirety. MORE