'SC/ST House panel satisfied with condition of both communities in Assam'

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Kirit Premjibhai Solanki on Monday expressed satisfaction on the overall social condition of these two communities in Assam.

He, however, stressed on the need to improve different parameters such as education and jobs besides ending practices like manual scavenging in which mostly people from Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) are engaged.

Talking to reporters at the end of a three-day study tour of the panel to the state, Solanki said, "Discrimination based on caste is less in Assam and the entire northeastern region compared many other parts of the country. We have learnt that cases of atrocities on SC/ST are also few here."

Solanki, who was accompanied by 14 out of total 30 members of the committee, held discussions with state government representatives including chief secretary and several PSUs such as LIC, ONGC, OIL, Northeast Frontier Railways and IIT-Guwahati.

The committee, which left for Darjeeling in West Bengal, also visited a tribal village near Guwahati during their tour.

"During our talks with the state government, we emphasised that benefits of schemes meant for both the communities should reach people. One of our thrust areas was the pre and post-matric scholarship schemes for students of these two communities," Solanki said.

Another area of focus was on awareness to mitigate sickle cell anemia, which is highly prevalent among the tribals, the BJP MP from Gujarat added.

"Allocation of funds for awareness and eradication of this disease has been made in the Union Budget. Besides the government initiatives, we have also requested private companies to take up the cause under their CSR commitments," he said.

The committee urged PSUs to ensure implementation of SC/ST welfare schemes, including full-time employment of safai karmacharis' (cleaning staff), so that they are not deprived of their benefits.

"The welfare of safai karmacharis' is essential. We want mechanisation of jobs such as cleaning of drains as far as feasible and we have put forth that before the different organisations," Solanki said.

He also called for appointment of eligible persons from SC/ST communities in higher posts.

Solanki urged for the implementation of reservation policies in letter and spirit, wherever applicable, though he refused to comment on a demand for caste census.

"The matter of caste census is for the government to decide. We cannot say anything on it," he added.