Take concrete steps to curb atrocities on dalits: Athawale

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday asked Odisha government to take concrete steps to curb atrocities on dalits saying statistics show rise in such cases in the last five years.

The Social Justice and Empowerment minister also urged Naveen Patnaik government to encourage inter-caste marriage and provide ten per cent reservation to economically weaker sections in general category as it will go a long way in checking such atrocities and ending caste system.

Athawale, who reviewed implementation of various schemes relating to his ministry in Odisha at a meeting with senior state officials, said while 1653 cases were registered in 2014 under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the number of such cases stood at 1002 so far this year.

As per statistics, a total of 1818 cases were registered under the act in the state in 2015, 1796 cases in 2016, 1893 in 2017 and 1775 in 2018, he said.

Stating that Patnaik government has taken measures against atrocities against dalits, Athawale said concrete steps should be taken to reduce such cases in the state.

"He (the Chief Minister) should try to ensure that atrocities on dalits and weaker sections are minimised substantially," the union minister said.

Stating that inter-caste marriage will play a major role in checking atrocities on people belonging to scheduled castes, he said the state government should take steps to encourage inter-caste marriage.

The union minister said the state should offer government jobs and other incentives to people going for inter-caste marriage which will pave the way for establishing a casteless society and wiping out atrocities.

Athawale also urged chief minister Patnaik to implement 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections belonging to upper caste people s per the policy announced by the Centre.

Asserting that the centre has taken a slew of steps for the welfare of dalits and weaker sections in Odisha, the union minister said pre-matric scholarship has benefitted over 1.9 lakh students in the state, while more than 2.03 lakh students benfitted from post-matric scholarship schemes.

An amount of Rs 60 crore was spent for providing pre- matric scholarships in the state and Rs 322 crore for post-matric scholarships, he said.

Under Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY), a total of 8,54,176 houses have been constructed in Odisha where 15,57,558 beneficiaries have been identified for the scheme, the minister said.

Similarly, more than 1.10 crore people have been provided with loans under Mudra scheme, while 47.48 lakh have been given LPG gas connection in the state under Ujjwala programme, he said.

Athawale also came down heavily on the husband of an MLA in Jajpur district for allegedly having made "casteist" remarks against a Home Guard, who belongs to Scheduled Caste (SC) in the run up to the general elections held earlier this year.

He said home guard, who was abused by the MLA's husband for removing some posters and banners as per official instruction, has filed an FIR with the police but no action has so far been taken.

"I hope the chief minister will look into the matter and ensure that appropriate action is taken in this sensitive case," he said.