10.1
|
Ø
Constitutional Aspirations
|
10.10 |
Ø Strengthening of constitutional provisions in
favour of SCs and STs |
|
10.2 |
Ø Progress towards social justice |
10.11 |
Ø Minorities |
|
10.3 |
Ø Issues of governance |
10.12 |
Ø Denotified Tribes/ Communities and Nomadic and
Semi-nomadic Tribes/ Communities |
|
10.4 |
Ø Education – Establishment of Residential Talent
Schools and Protection of Educational Interest of Weaker Sections |
10.13 |
Ø Unorganised labour |
|
10.5 |
Ø Liberation and Rehabilitation of Safai Karmacharis
(Scavengers) |
10.14 |
Ø Bonded and Child Labour |
|
10.6 |
Ø Socio-economic Development and Empowerment of SCs,
STs and Revitalisation of Special Component Plan for SCs and Tribal sub-plan |
10.15 |
Ø Development of Backward Classes |
|
10.7 |
Ø Land Reforms |
10.16 |
Ø Empowerment of Women |
|
10.8 |
Ø Legal protection for security of life and human
dignity |
10.17 |
Ø Immoral traffic in women and girls children- rescue
and rehabilitation |
|
10.9 |
Ø Science and Technology |
|
|
CHAPTER 10
PACE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC
CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
1
Constitutional Aspirations
10.1.1 The Constitution aimed at a social
revolution that would transform the Indian society. There were many dimensions
to this historic endeavour. There was, first, the task of catching up with the
agricultural and industrial revolutions that had characterised the developed
world. This among other reforms involved vast technological changes for
increasing productivity of both capital and labour. It was not easy to
introduce new techniques of production based on modern science and technology.
New structures and institutions had to be created to suit these, a difficult
and disruptive exercise in the best of circumstances.
10.1.2 In the Indian context there were
other serious obstacles to be overcome, obstacles that had not been confronted
by the presently developed nations. Hierarchy and attendant inequality
presented an entirely new aspect in India in the shape of the caste system
which stifled the creative energies of vast numbers condemned to labour in
conditions of degrading exploitation. The exploiter and the exploited were both
stripped of human dignity and worth. Patriarchy added yet another element of
subjection of women and children to this enormously tragic blockage of
initiative and innovation. Religious differences of a plural tradition were
turned into a pernicious divide by the deliberate policy of the master minds of
the Raj which continues to cast its
vicious shadows on Indian polity.
10.1.3 The colonial version of modernity
not only carefully preserved inherited inequalities and oppressions, but also
overlaid them with more powerful subtexts of new inequalities of a parasitic
feudalism and dominations deriving from arrested development.
10.1.4 Faced with the daunting task of
modernising India against this setting, the constitution makers set to work
with unflinching faith and unbounded hope - faith in the revolutionising
principles of liberty, equality and fraternity and in the genius of the Indian
people to build a better future for themselves, and hope that the promised transformation
would be accomplished without violence and within the framework of democracy.
Progress towards social justice
10.2.1 The Preamble to the Constitution
accords primacy to Justice, social, economic, and political, in the making of
state policy and in state action. Accordingly, an impressive array of
legislative enactments and executive orders have provided a firm legal
framework for government action to abolish the most outrageous aspects of the
caste system, viz., untouchability; to anchor in law the scheme of reservations for the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in political institutions of governance, and to provide for
reservation in government services and educational institutions; to reform land
relations in order to enable the weaker sections, predominantly belonging to
the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, to access productive assets so that
they may work with freedom and dignity; to protect the incomes of landless
labour and marginal land holders through minimum wage legislation; to provide
financial and organisational resources for the scheduled caste children to
receive elementary, secondary and higher education; to prevent and penalise
atrocities; to allocate plan resources under specially designed schemes for
economic, educational and social development of the scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes and to provide the plan mechanism of Special Component Plan
for SCs and Tribal Sub-plan to channelise more developmental resources to them
and to integrate the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes with the mainstream
of social and economic life in the country.
There is a misconception that the problems of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes are sectional and marginal. In reality these are part of the central and
core problems of the country. These
three categories of people constitute about 3/4th of the population
of the country and almost the entire physical labour force of the country is
drawn from them. It is the failure to
tackle their problems so as to remove their disabilities and secure their full
potential for national development that lies at the root of the many weaknesses
faced by post-Independence India to this day.
Therefore, these issues and the remedial measures should be approached
as central and core concerns of India.
10.2.2 It is true that there is some progress
in breaking the mould of social inequality and caste oppression and in the
economic and educational spheres but there is a long way to go before social
equality, educational equality, freedom from caste oppression, freedom from
economic dependence are achieved. The
traditional sanction for inequality has been decisively questioned and to some
extent undermined. What is most
important is the cultural and intellectual upsurge in the dalit communities across the country evidenced in their literary
and intellectual productions. This is a development which fills us with hope
for the future.
10.2.3 Yet, one still waits for a cultural revolution
that would uproot inherited attitudes, values, institutions, practices, and
postures, replacing them with values and attitudes relevant to a modern,
egalitarian society. Education has still to perform the role of dissolving the
encrusted debris of birth sanctioned superiority and birth-based
discrimination, deprivation and exploitation. Vast numbers of landless and
marginal farmers still hope for a change in institutional arrangements that
would end their abject dependency on the existing power structures in the rural
areas.
10.2.4 However, even when faced with the
reality of the gap between aspiration and achievement, we cannot but pay our
humble tribute to the foresight and wisdom of the Constitution makers in
frontally tackling an issue of immense significance to nation building. It
remains for us to carry forward the task of bringing about social, economic and
educational equality fortified by the mandates of our Constitution. Reservation, no doubt, helped the deprived
sections to secure a share, though not to an adequate extent, in
governance. Reservation was intended to
be part of a comprehensive package of an entire gamut of economic, educational
and social measures. This comprehensive
package has not been provided in its fullness.
Consequently, reservation alone by itself has not been able to bring
about the total social transformation envisaged in the Constitution.
10.2.5 The outcome of the failure to provide the comprehensive
package envisaged by the Constitution gives material for a sobering
thought. More than half century after
the Constitution, the bulk of the SC families remain agricultural wage
labourers as in the past many centuries.
The bulk of STs continue to remain in remote areas and are being
progressively deprived of their lands converting many of them into agricultural
labourers. The bulk of the backward
classes pertaining to economic categories like traditional artisans,
fisher-folks and the like are being deprived of their traditional occupations
while being denied access to relevant technology and modern occupations,
thereby pushing them into the unorganised labour force. All the three categories continue to be the
victims, in varying forms and degrees, of all-round deprivations,
discriminations and disabilities, in all spheres – economic, educational,
social – in the case of SCs extending to the extreme of untouchability and in
the case of STs to the extreme of isolation.
Issues of governance
10.3.1 In line with our earlier analysis of the Executive and Public
Administration (Chapter 6), we emphasise the paramount need for a radical
redefinition of governance to change the mind-set of the political executive
and the permanent civil service. The movement must be from governance to
self-governance. It should be recognised that constitutional rights of the
citizenry, human dignity, Human Rights, human security are not rewards of
development but are critical to development itself. Self-governance must
necessarily include developmental autonomy for SCs and STs through empowered
special institutions on their behalf and empowerment of SCs, STs, BCs and other
deprived categories to shape relevant and appropriate policies and programmes
for their development and empowerment and the implementation of those policies. Since civil society is an important element
figuring conceptually in model of self-governance, it has to be emphasised that
civil society must include Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes
and other deprived categories outside Government and governmental institutions
and they should be enabled to have a hand in the continuing process of
development and programmes.
10.3.2. The Commission recommends that
Citizens’ Charters be prepared by every service providing department/agency to
enumerate the entitlements of the citizens. In case a citizen fails to receive
the public goods and the services in the manner and to the extent set out in
such charters, he/she should have recourse to an easy and effective system of
grievance redressal through chartered Ombudsman. These citizen’s charters should include specifically the
entitlements of citizens belonging to SCs, STs and other deprived classes. In the case of these deprived classes the
charters can with advantage provide for
National and State Commission for SC, ST, BC. Minorities, women, safai
karamcharis to function effectively as ombudsman-bodies. Concomitantly, the Commission recommends that the charter of these National and
State Commissions and the way they are constituted should be such as to
facilitate the role, inter alia, as ombudsman-bodies for different
deprived classes.
10.3.3 Personnel policy should consciously
aim at sensitizing public servants, especially officers in the Indian
Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service to the special needs of
women, the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, minorities, and other weaker
sections. The Commission recommends that
the Civil Services Boards, recommended to be set up under Chapter 6 for
considering promotions and placements, should be directed to specifically
consider the performance of officers in promoting the welfare of scheduled
castes, scheduled tribes and other deprived categories. When officers are being
considered for promotion and placement
economic agencies/ministries, weightage
should be given to officers who have
worked conscientiously and efficiently to implement constitutional values and
norms under the law and rules and regulations for the welfare, development and
empowerment of the above disadvantaged categories and those who have failed in
this and those who have not worked at
least for five years in the areas and sectors pertaining to these categories
should be excluded from placements in economic ministries/agencies. For this purpose, the Commission recommends
that provision be made for Social Justice Clearance before an officer of class
I or class II is promoted along the lines detailed in para 3.2 at pages
1390-1391 of Book-3, Vol.II.
10.3.4 The
Commission recommends that:
(i) reservation for SCs and STs should be
brought under the purview of a statute covering all aspects of reservation , as
detailed in para 8.10 at pages 1406-1408 of Book-3, Vol.II, including setting
up Arakshan Nyaya Adalats or Tribunal
to adjudicate upon all cases and disputes pertaining to reservation in
posts and vacancies in Government, Public Sector, Banks and other financial
institutions, Universities and all other institutions and organisations to
which reservations are and become applicable.
These Tribunals should have the status of High Courts, appeals lying
only to the Supreme Court. These
Tribunals should have their main Bench at Delhi and other Benches in the
States. The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson
and other Members of the Tribunal and
its benches should be selected on the basis of their record in the
implementation of Reservation in their earlier positions. The statute should, inter alia, have
a penal provision including imprisonment for those convicted of wilfully or
negligently failing to implement reservation; and
(ii) the proposed statute and related
provisions should be brought under the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution.
10.3.5 The
Commission further recommends that the three constitution amendment enacted in
the last two years to undo the harm done in 1997 to the long pre-existing
rights of SCs and STs in reservations should be put into effect forthwith. The Central and State Governments should
amend the executive orders issued in 1997 regarding the roster and restore the
pre-1996 roster. This should also be
brought into the purview of the statute mentioned above.
10.3.6 The
Commission recommends that Reservation for backward classes should also be
brought under a statute which, while containing the specificities of
reservation for BCs should also contain provisions for Arakshan Nyaya
Adalats or Tribunal for providing Justice in Reservation, penal provisions
etc. as recommended in the case of the statute in respect of SCs and STs.
10.3.7 The
Commission recommends that It should be mandatorily stipulated in the Memoranda
of Understanding (M.O.Us.) of privatisation or dis-investment of public sector
undertakings that the policy of reservation in favour of SCs, STs and BCs shall
be continued even after privatisation or dis-investment in the same form as it
exists in the Government and this should also be incorporated in the respective
statutes of reservation. As a measure
of social integration there should be a half per cent reservation for children
of parents one of whom is SC/ST and the other parent is non-SC/non-ST and this
reservation should be termed as reservation for the Casteless.
10.3.8 In
higher judiciary, the representation of judges from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and other backward classes is inadequate. Out of 610 judges in the High Courts, there are hardly about 20
judges belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. In S.P.
Gupta’s
2 case and Supreme Court Advocates on Record3 case, popularly known as the First Judges’ Case and Second Judges’ Case respectively, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the circular letter addressed by the Union Law Minister requesting the State Governments and the High Courts to recommend the names of competent candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, women and Other Backward Classes.
10.3.9 In view of the above and also taking into
account the weighty opinion against the formal introduction of reservation in
the higher judiciary, and the fact that over fifty years, the progress of
education, however tardy, has certainly produced adequate number of persons of
the SC, ST and BC in every State who possess the required qualifications,
having necessary integrity, character and acumen required for Judges of Supreme
Court and High Courts for appointment as Judge of the superior judiciary, a way
could and should, therefore, be found to bring a reasonable number of SCs, STs
and BCs on to the Benches of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the same way
in which, in practice, it is found is followed in respect of advocates from
different social segments/regions of the country/States or different religious
communities so that on the one hand the overwhelming opinion against formal
reservation in the Supreme Court and High Courts is respected and on the other
hand, the feeling of alienation of the vast majority of Indians comprising SCs,
STs and BCs that, in spite of having
persons of requisite calibre and character among them, they are being ignored
in the appointment of Judges, is resolved.
10.3.10 The
Commission recommends that there should be reservation for SCs, STs and BCs
(including BC minorities and especially More and Most Backward classes), with
a due proportion of women from each of
these categories in the matter of allotment of shops under the public
distribution system, and other allotments like petrol stations, gas agencies,
etc. for distribution of commodities by public authority. There is need for support mechanism to help entrepreneurs
among these deprived sections to help them to come up in these business
ventures. These measures should be
taken along detailed lines as spelt out in para 4.6 at page 1393 of Book-3
Vol.II.
10.3.11 In
the context of PDS, taking note of people who do not have purchasing power even
to pay for subsidised food-grains available through PDS, the Commission
recommends that massive programmes of employment be undertaken and expanded to
cover all such people and provide them employment at statutory minimum wage
fixed for agricultural labourers at least for 80 days in the year over and
above the unsteady employment they normally have. The nature of the work to be undertaken, the mode of payment of
wages etc. should be as detailed in para 4.5 at pages 1392 to 1393 of Book-3 of
Volume-II. Inclusion of Right to Work
as a fundamental right has been recommended in para 3.13.2 of this Report and
this will provide the necessary constitutional base and support for this
programme.
Education - Establishment
of Residential Talent Schools and Protection of Educational Interest of Weaker
Sections
10.4.1 Education was envisaged as one of the most
powerful engines for the social and economic liberation of the SCs, STs, BCs
and for bringing about social equality and empowerment of these
categories. The mandate of Article 46
of the Constitution is very clear on these aspects. Yet the best education has not been brought within the reach of
these sections. In the context of
realities, it is imperative to set up residential schools of high quality for
SC, ST and BC, each of which is not a single community but hundreds of
communities, recognised and categorised together on the basis of criteria like
untouchability, and social backwardness.
Unless such schools are set up for them, the goal of educational
equalisation and quality education will continue to elude them and the
constitutional mandate envisaged by Article 46 will continue to be
flouted. This Commission, therefore, recommends the establishment of residential
schools for SCs and STs in every district in the country – one each for SC boys
and SC girls, and ST boys and ST girls, as one item of an important package of
comprehensive measures required for the development and empowerment of SCs and
STs. Similarly, the Commission
recommends that residential schools should be set up for the BCs in every
district, one each for BC boys and BC girls, including minorities who belong to
BCs and with special attention to More Backward and Most Backward classes among
BCs. The proportion of the students of
the specific category of weaker sections (say 75 per cent) and of other social
categories (say 25 per cent), the principles of location, methodology of
covering the Minority B.C., phasing and funding, mode of selection of the
candidates, management etc. should be as detailed in paras 5.4 and 6.2 at pages
1395 to 1398 of Book 3 of Volume II.
This system has got the support of the precedent and experience for the
last two decades in Andhra Pradesh state, providing ground for hope in this
important and indispensable measure. In
addition, the Commission recommends that it is also necessary to see that the
SCs, STs and BCs especially the More and Most Backward classes of BCs from poor
and middle-class families get due benefit of good and prestigious private educational institutions in the country as
well as in foreign educational institutions at all levels and in all
disciplines, at state cost. Funding for
this can be found by measures outlined in sub para (V) of para 5.4 at page 1396
of Book 3 of Volume II. The measures
detailed in sub para (ii) and (iv) of para 5.4 at pages 1395 and 1396 of Book 3
of Volume II should be followed in the matter.
10.4.2 The
Commission feels that the time has come to build up the educational coverage of
SC and ST in technical, vocational, scientific and professional disciplines,
with appropriate incentive and support and with special budgetary outlays so
that a reservoir of highly educated professional, scientific and technological
manpower is built up among the SCs and STs and also the More and Most Backward
Classes of BCs, commensurate with their population proportion.
Incentives should be offered to students to prepare for such courses of
study. Only a massive transfer of resources to the educational programmes for
the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes will enable us to achieve the kind of
quantitative expansion needed to bring these communities on par with others in
terms of skills and knowledge base to engage with the modern world. It is only
then that they would be in a position to compete on the basis of their own
strength and rise to the leadership role in different spheres of public
life. The Commission recommends that
this aspect of measures for building up a reservoir of highly educated
professional, scientific and technological manpowers among these categories in
population equivalent proportion should be borne in mind along with its earlier
recommendations regarding residential schools of high quality and elementary
education, and provisions and outlays should be made accordingly.
10.4.3 Social policy should aim at enabling the SC,
ST and BC (including BC minorities and especially the More and Most Backward
Classes among BCs) and with particular attention to the girls in each of these
categories to compete on equal terms with the general category. This was always necessary but this becomes
more important and increasingly urgent in the context of a knowledge society
that is emerging. Reservation has
helped the above deprived categories to enter state educational institutions
from which they had been debarred and / or otherwise excluded in the past. Reservation continues to be necessary since
these adverse factors have not ceased to exist. But with the growth of high quality educational institutions
built up by the wealthier sections, almost entirely drawn from non-SC, non-ST,
non-BC categories, as a high quality stream distinct and separate from the
state educational system, it becomes important to ensure that other measures in
addition to reservations are introduced.
That is why the Commission has recommended establishment of high quality
residential schools for boys and girls of these categories in every district,
and ensuring a share for boys and girls of these categories from poor and
middle-class families, at state cost, in private institutions of excellence
created for themselves by the wealthier sections and also a share for these
disadvantaged categories in foreign educational institutions again at state
cost. Without these measures, along
with the Commissions recommendations on elementary education, the gap between
the SC, ST and BC on the one hand and the rest of society will inexorably
continue and even be widened.
Liberation and Rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis
(Scavengers)
10.5 Manual
scavenging is a degrading practice. The Commission recommends that the
Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition)
Act, 1993, be strictly enforced to bring to an early end to this degrading
practice so offensive to human dignity without abridgement of the employment
and income of existing Safai Karamcharis. Automatic applicability of the Act to
all states should be brought about by the amendment suggested in para 7.2 at
page 1399 of Book 3 of Volume II.
Further, the specifics and details of the abolition of the manual scavenging system and the
liberation and rehabilitation of safai karamcharis and protection of safai
karamcharis during the transition period should be as detailed in para 7.3 of
pages 1399 to 1401 of book 3 of Volume II,
including its incorporation in the System of Social Justice Clearance of
officers at the time of their consideration for promotion. Limitations placed on the National
Commission of Safai Karamcharis should be removed and it should be given the
same powers and functional autonomy as is being enjoyed by the National Human
Rights Commission; it should be adequately equipped to achieve its objective of
total liberation and full rehabilitation of safai karamcharis. This should form an integral part of a
National Sanitation Policy-cum-National Social Justice Policy.
Socio-economic
Development and Empowerment of SCs, STs and Revitalisation of Special Component
Plan for SCs and Tribal sub-Plan
10.6.1 For comprehensive development and
empowerment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Government have
followed, over the last 25 years, a policy of earmarking a proportion of total
plan outlay, not less than the proportion of the population of SCs/STs in India
as a whole (for the central plan) and in each State (for State Plans). It has also been formally decided many years
back that population equivalent proportion of the total plan outlay of the
Centre and of each State should be for the Special Component Plan for Scheduled
Castes (SCP), and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP).
Further the concept has been that programmes and schemes in accordance
with the developmental needs and priorities of the SCs and STs should be
formulated under the SCP and TSP. This
commendable policy has no doubt helped but has not been able to bring about the
required qualitative change in the conditions of the SCs and STs. Adequate Plan outlays and corresponding
budgetary allocations as required for SCP and TSP are never made for want of
seriousness of purpose in line with Article 46 of the Constitution, in the
process of plan formulation and implementation. In recent years even the aggregate allocations for the development
of SCs and STs have declined as a proportion of the total plan outlay. Another serious problem is that the
allocated amounts are not fully utilised due to lack of coordination between
various Departments and want of seriousness and sincerity. Further funds earmarked for SCP and TSP
allocated for the development of SCs and STs often have been diverted in spite
of specific policy decisions and guidelines from the Centre as well as States
against such diversions.
10.6.2 The
Commission strongly feels that this bleak situation will continue to bedevil
the SCs and STs and the nation unless appropriate new institutions are created
to take charge of the full quantum of outlay of SCP and TSP (i.e. outlay not less than the population
equivalent proportion of the total plan outlay of the Centre/each State) and
manned by competent experts of SCs and STs and others genuinely working for
them, to formulate Plans in accordance with the developmental needs and
priorities of the SCs and STs and ensure that these plans are implemented
effectively. This will help to take
planning and implementation of development of SCs and STs out of the hands of
those who have no interest in them. This new institutional system should consist
of an integrated network of National
Development Council for SCs and
STs, and National SCs and STs
Development Authority, State SCs and STs Development Authorities and District
SCs and STs Development Authorities.
Out of the total plan outlay of the Centre and of each State, before
sectoral allocations are made, an outlay equivalent to the population
proportion of SCs and STs should be placed at the disposal of the National and
respective State Authorities, as the corpus of SCP and TsP for formulation of
plans in accordance with the needs and priorities of SC & ST. For this,
the system as detailed in para 9.2 at pages 1409 to 1411 of Book-3,
Volume-II should be established.
The schemes as illustrated in
sub-para (9) of para 9.2 at page 1410 to 1411 of Book-3, Volume-II should also
be taken up on a massive scale. This
will at one stroke remove the various limitations and difficulties faced by the
SCP and TSP and create a powerful, integrated instrument of social
transformation based on the vision of economic liberation, educational equality
and social dignity of the SCs and STs.
Land Reforms
10.7.1 One of the basic issues continues
to be access to and control over land. It is significant that land reform as a
political and economic issue of major importance has ceased to occupy the
central place it occupied in political discourse not too long ago. The
statistical data compiled for the background paper clearly shows that the vast
majority of the SC population remain landless agricultural labourers and
marginal peasants and the STs have been steadily losing their land and adding
to the landless agricultural labour force.
Without access to productive assets and firm legal protection for their
title, ownership, possession and peaceful enjoyment, it is difficult to see how
there can be a real and significant change in the position of the scheduled
castes and scheduled tribes in the village society. In addition, we need to
inject new vitality in the operation of minimum wage legislations to benefit
agricultural labour. The Commission
recommends that land reforms involving distribution and allotment of lands from
different sources (i.e. Government lands not required for genuine public use,
Bhoodan lands, ceiling surplus lands, etc.) to the SCs and STs along with
supportive mechanism in the shape of supply of subsidised capital and credit
and extension be made, and development of these lands through irrigation and
other means be undertaken. In this
context, the measures recommended at (b) of sub-para (9) of para 9.2 at pages
1410 to 1411 of Book-3, Volume-II and in para 14(i) to (vi) at pages 1416 to
1417 of Book-3, Volume-II should be implemented. Similarly, with regard to enforcement of the Minimum Wages Act
for agricultural labour, the methodology recommended at (c) of sub-para (9) of
para 9.2 at page 1410 of Book-3, Volume-II should be followed. Strong legal action is needed to prevent
alienation of lands belonging to the tribal communities and effective prior
rehabilitation of tribals before displacement due to developmental
projects. For this purpose the measures
listed in para 13.2 at page 1414 to 1416 of Book-3, Volume-II should be
undertaken. Additionally the tribal communities have to be associated with the
management of forest resources, for not only their livelihoods, but also for protecting their way of life
and cultural identity which are indissolubly linked to forests. For this purpose, action as recommended in
sub-para (10) and (11) of para 13.2 at pages 1415 to 1416 of Book-3, Volume-II should be taken.
10.7.2 In
the matter of harmonising the preservation of the land ownership of STs,
industrial and other development, the Commission recommends that action be
taken as outlined in sub-para (6),(8) and (9) of para 13.2 of pages 1415 to
1416 of Book-3, Volume-II.
10.7.3 The
tribal communities are repositories of myriad cultural traditions –tribal lore,
the arts and crafts, music, dance, and design, textiles, metallurgy and
eco-friendly technology. There is a tremendous range of attainment in all these
different aspects of their heritage. Knowledge of flora and fauna, herbal
medicine and therapies, time-reckoning, animal husbandry, veterinary practices
etc. represent additional areas of specialized knowledge in tribal societies in
different parts of the country. It is of crucial importance that these
variegated elements of tribal cultural heritage are protected from being
overrun or expropriated. The Commission
recommends that special safeguards should be provided to protect the wholesome traditions
of the cultural heritage and of the intellectual property rights of the tribal
people. This is no less important for the tribal identity than the effort to
prevent alienation of land and land-related institutional rights of tribal
people.
10.7.4 As a means of improving the
administration of the areas inhabited by the Scheduled Tribes and promoting
local autonomy, the Commission recommends that all areas governed by the
Fifth Schedule of the Constitution should be forthwith transferred to the Sixth
Schedule extending the applicability of the Sixth Schedule to tribal areas
other than the North Eastern States to which alone the Sixth Schedule now
applies, and all tribal areas which are neither in the Fifth Schedule nor in
the Sixth Schedule should also be brought forthwith under the Sixth
Schedule. Special programmes of
training and orientation for the elected representatives of the Sixth Schedule
bodies and related officials should be undertaken and conducted regularly in
order to secure the full potential of local developmental and administrative
autonomy envisaged under the Sixth Schedule.
10.7.5 The
Commission took into account the changing parameters of State action in the
context of the tectonic shift toward globalization and liberalization. At
present SC and ST employees in the private sector are numerically insignificant
except at the shop floor level. This is
also true of More and Most Backward Classes to a considerable extent including
BC Minorities and women, particularly women from these sections. It is obvious that in the context of the
severe bias against the SCs and STs and also in varying degrees against BCs,
women and minorities shared by the captains of the private sector with the rest
of the advanced sections of the society, they will not, left to themselves, be
able to provide adequate space for the SCs and STs and also to BCs, women and
Minorities and meet their just aspirations.
It is necessary for the Government to step in firmly and clearly, if the
gap is to be bridged between private prejudices, camouflaged in the name
“efficiency” on the one hand and the just aspirations of the SC, ST, BC
including BC minorities, and women. For this purpose the Commission recommends that the Government
should take the initiative along the lines
suggested in para 11.3 at pages 1412 to 1413 of Book-3, Volume-II.
10.7.6 Further the Government should examine
other economic and activity sectors at
every level of each such sector and see whether the SCs and STs are adequately
represented in each of them. If they
are not, remedial measures either through reservation or through other means
should be undertaken to see that they are adequately represented at every level
in every such sector. Similar action
should also be taken with regard to backward classes including BC minorities,
especially More and Most Backward Classes and women of all categories. This is possible, if non-economic prejudices
are excluded, without watering down the genuine requirements of efficiency.
10.7.7 Agriculturists and other traditional
producing classes face certain adverse effects of sudden and unprepared
exposure to the regimes of WTO, IPR, etc.
In order to protect them from these adverse effects while at the same
time to secure the benefits of those regimes, a national convention should be
convened involving Ministers in charge of Ministries connected with
globalisation and Ministers in charge of Agriculture and other sectors of
traditional produce and authentic representatives of the peasant organizations
as well as organisations of other traditional producing classes, to identify
remedial Steps arrive at a consensus
about them and these should be implemented quickly. There should be a continuing mechanism involving all these to
continuously monitor implementation and corrections and modifications required
from time to time.
10.7.8 Further agriculturists and many other
traditional producing classes suffer from the adverse effects of natural
calamities like drought, cyclone, floods, etc.
A similar national convention should identify the measures required to
protect them from such adverse effects of natural calamities including crop
insurance, preparedness etc., arrive at a consensus about these measures and
institute a continuing machinery of continuous monitoring and corrections and
modifications.
Legal protection for security of life and human
dignity
10.8.1 The Commission recognises that on the one hand there should be an
effective legal structure to protect the SCs and STs against atrocities and
discriminatory practices based on untouchability and along with such structure
and its efficient functioning, there
should also be attitudinal change of a profound nature in the general
society.
10.8.2 With
regard to legal structure, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 needs to be strengthened and its effective
enforcement ensured. This include the
establishment of special courts exclusively to try offences under this Act,
inclusion of certain crimes in the list of atrocities, certain penal provisions
where they do not exist, appropriate plugging of certain loopholes and
comprehensive rehabilitation of victims and so on. For this purpose, the Commission recommends the measures
suggested in para 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3, 8.3 and 8.4 (a) to (p) of Book-3, Vol.II
at pages 1401 to 1404.
10.8.3 Regarding
untouchability which continues to be widely prevalent in old classic forms as
well as in new forms in line with modern developments, multi-pronged measures
covering human rights education, moral education, building up of a strong
democratic movement against untouchability and effective punitive action under
the Protection of Civil Right Acts, 1955 (PCR Act) are required. In view of this, the Commission recommends
the adoption of the entire gamut of measures suggested in paras 8.6 to 8.8 at
pages 1404 to 1405, Book-3, Vol.II.
Science and
Technology
10.9 The National Science and Technology Commission referred to in Chapter 6
should also promote measures for extending the umbrella of modern science and
technology and higher scientific and technological research to cover SCs, STs
and BCs, women and other poor sections of the society, devise means by which
they can also be introduced into this field and potential talent among them
identified and nurtured so that they also are enabled to contribute to the
advancement of higher scientific and technological research in the country and
so that there is no feeling that they
are shut out from this important area on account of non-scientific
prejudices.
Strengthening of constitutional provisions in favour
of SCs and STs
10.10 The Constitution of India was shaped by
the guiding hand and genius of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar with the goodwill of Pt.
Nehru, Sardar Patel and Dr.Rajendra Prasad and other stalwarts of the
Constituent Assembly under the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi and contains distinct provisions for the
protection and promotion of the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes, Backward classes, women, minorities and other weaker sections so that
an egalitarian society could be built
up. If these provisions had been
implemented in the right spirit, the problems bedevilling the masses of the
people and country as a whole should have disappeared by now. Taking the realities of the recent decades
and the failure to implement these constitutional provisions, the Commission
considers it necessary to strengthen these provisions by amendments, transfer
of certain articles to Part III Fundamental Rights, and certain other similar
steps. Accordingly, the Commission
recommends amendments to the Constitution listed in para 15 at pages 1417 and
1418 of Book-3, Vol.II, covering articles 46, 335, 16, 15 and List III of the
Seventh Schedule.
Minorities
10.11.1 The general argument for creating a
better cultural, economic and educational environment for protection of rights
and of development of disadvantaged sections applies mutatis mutandis to the
religious and linguistic minorities. Constitutional safeguards already exist.
What is needed is a major break through in educational and economic
spheres. In this context, it is also to
be noted that the bulk of the religious minorities consist of
castes/communities which are included in the list of socially and educationally
backward classes. They are mainly
counterparts of Hindu Backward Classes and to some extent of Hindu Scheduled
Castes.
10.11.2 The Commission recommends that-
(a) Steps should be taken for improvement of
educational standards amongst the minority communities. Special programmes
should be drawn up after the widest consultation with the leaders of minority
communities including leaders of BCs, SCs and STs among Minorities from
academic, professional, business, and socio-political spheres and from
low-occupational spheres. Such programmes should be generously funded. Only
educational and cultural advancement will help the cause of national
integration as well as raise the capabilities of the communities. This is the
high road to national cohesion.
(b) At present the political representation of
minority communities in legislatures, especially Muslims, has fallen well below
their proportion of population. The
proportion of BCs among them is next to nil.
This can lead to a sense of alienation. It is recommended that in
situations of this kind, it is incumbent for political parties to build up
leadership potential in the minority communities, including BCs, SCs and STs
among them, for participation in political life. The role of the state for strengthening the pluralism of Indian
polity has to be emphasised.
(c) Backward classes belonging to religious
minorities who have been identified and included in the list of backward
classes and who, in fact, constitute the bulk of the population of religious
minorities should be taken up with special care along with their Hindu
counterparts in the developmental efforts for the backward classes. This should be on the pattern of the
approach to the development of Backward Classes formulated by the Working Group
for the Development and Empowerment of Backward Classes in the Tenth Plan
referred to separately under Backward Classes.
This will, on the one hand, help the development of the masses of
religious minorities and on the other hand help bring about national cohesion.
(d) An effort needs to be made to carry out special
recruitment of persons belonging to the underrepresented minority communities
in the police forces of States, para military forces and armed forces. This
will instil confidence among minority populations as well as help them to
develop responsible attitudes toward security issues confronting the nation.
10.11.3 There
exist in every State minority people speaking languages other than the Stage langueage
in other words linguistic minorities, who suffer from the dis-advantage of
education being available only in the language of the State concerned. Keeping in view the psychology of learning,
the Commission recommends that in every State the linguistic minorities should
be provided the facility of having instruction for their children at elementary
stage in their mother tongue. Numerous
recommendations in this behalf and other matters have been made by the Commissioner
for Linguistic Minorities in his successive Annual Reports regarding the
various problems faced by the linguistic minorities. The Commission recommends that the Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of HRD should collate all
these recommendations and see that substantive action is taken on each of them.
10.11.4 The Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment requested the Commission to examine the relevance of the Office of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities under article 350B. After considering the matter, the Commission felt that no change in article 350B was desirable.
Denotified
Tribes/Communities and Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes/ Communities
10.12.1
The denotified tribes/communities have been wrongly stigmatized as crime prone
and subjected to high handed treatment as well as exploitation by the
representatives of law and order as well as by the general society. Some of them are included in the list of
Scheduled Tribes and others are in the list of Scheduled Castes and list of
backward classes. The special approach
to their development has been delineated and emphasized in the Reports of the
Working Groups for the Development of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and
Backward Classes in successive Plans and also in the Annual Reports of the
Commissioners for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, National Commission
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes and the National Commission for Backward Classes. There are also special reports available on
de-notified tribes. Their
recommendations have not received attention.
The Commission recommends that the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal
Welfare should collate all these
materials and recommendations contained in the reports of the working groups
and the reports of the National Commissions and other reports referred to and
strengthen the programmes for the economic development, educational
development, generation of employment opportunities, social liberation and full
rehabilitation of denotified tribes.
Whatever has been said about vimuktajatis also holds good for nomadic
and semi-nomadic
tribes/communities. The Commission
recommends similar action in respect of nomadic and semi-nomadic
tribes/communities as done in the case of
de-notified tribes or vimuktajatis. The continued plight of
these groups of communities distributed
in the list of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes is an
eloquent illustration of the failure of the machinery for planning, financial resources
allocation and budgeting and administration in the country to seriously follow
the mandate of the Constitution including Article 46. The Commission also points out that the setting up of an
integrated net work of National Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Development Authority, etc. recommended in para 10.5.2 to 10.5.3 above will
provide a structural mechanism to deal in a practical way with the vimuktajatis
as well as nomadic and semi-nomadic
tribes/communities within the frame work of the SCP and TsP. Similarly the approach to the development
of backward classes referred to at para 10.14 below contains the approach to
deal in a practical way with the Vimuktajatis and nomadic and semi-nomadic
tribes/communities who are in Backward Class list.
10.12.2 The Commission also considered the
representations made on behalf of the De-notified and Nomadic Tribal Rights
Action Group and decided to forward them to the Ministry of Social Justice
& Empowerment with the suggestion that they may examine the same preferably
through a Commission.
Unorganized
labour
10.13.1 In 1991, out of a total work force of 286
million, an overwhelming proportion was in the unorganized sector. Nothing
illustrates better, the dualistic structure of our economy. Whereas legal
protection for the rights of workers in the organized sector has a long history
and the trade union movement has made a major contribution to organized
workers’ welfare, unorganized labour is in an extremely vulnerable situation.
Bereft of trade union support, ill supported by the enforcement agencies of
State Governments in regard to the implementation of minimum wages legislations
and let down by political formations of nearly all descriptions, unorganized
workers have looked to the State in vain to come to their help.
10.13.2 The
Commission recommends that the Union legislation for agricultural workers, drafted as far back as 1978-80, should
be introduced and passed immediately. It is regrettable that a legal measure
of great importance for the welfare of unorganized workers in the rural sector
has not had the political salience it deserved. A realistic scheme of credible
implementation of minimum wages Acts with particular attention to agricultural
labours, relying to a suitable degree on the district Collectors/Dy.
Commissioners and district superintendents of police, should be immediately put
into action. For this purpose the measures suggested in
para 17.2 at page 1419 of Book 3 Vol.II
should be followed.
Bonded and Child Labour
10.14 Despite
prohibition of begar and other forms of forced labour by the Constitution, the
practice of bonded labour has not ended
as it is patronised by the most
powerful sections in the rural areas.
Child labour too is widespread.
In order to deal effectively with this problem in keeping with the
mandate of the Constitution, the Commission recommends that a
fully empowered National Authority for the Liberation and Rehabilitation
of bonded labour, as recommended by the Commission for Rural Labour in 1990-91,
should be set up immediately along with similar authorities at the State
level. In addition, the Commission
recommends simultaneous rehabilitation of released Bonded Labourers and
education for released bonded child labourers and other measures referred to in para 19.2 at page 1420 of
Book 3,Vol.II.
Development of
Backward Classes
10.15 Socially and educationally backward
classes other than SC and ST were recognised at the national level and many
States as a category needing focussed developmental attention, only in 1990 and
this could be put into effect only after the Supreme court’s Mandal judgment in
November 1992. On account of this
unfortunate delay, there has been a serious lacuna in respect of planned
development of Backward Classes and there is no national policy and programmes
consensus as in the case of SCs and STs.
The Working Group on the
Empowerment of Backward Classes in the Tenth Plan has given a clear and
comprehensive approach to the development of backward classes. The best that can be said is that the
Government should immediately implement everyone of the recommendations of the
Working Group. As mentioned in para
10.9.1 above, the backward classes include identified castes/communities of
religious minorities who together constitute the bulk of the population of religious minorities of the country. The Commission recommends that the Government should immediately implement every one of the recommendations of the
Working Group on Employment of Backward
Classes in the Tenth Plan which covers all aspects and fields of their
development - Economic, Educational, social, employment, reservation, etc.
- taking in with particular care those
backward classes who belong to religious minorities along with their Hindu
counterparts in a cohesive manner. For
example, some of the residential talent schools earmarked for Backward Classes
should be located in areas of concentration of Muslim B.Cs. Further there should be residential talent
schools for backward classes as separately recommended for SCs and STs at the rate of one each for boys and
girls in each district, 75% being taken from backward classes and 25%
from other categories. The Government
should without any delay introduce reservation for backward classes in seats in
educational institutions since absence
of promotion of their education through
reservation and other means when there is reservation of employment is
anomalous.
Empowerment of Women
10.16 Disabilities
to which women of all categories are subject to and the deprivations are well documented in various books, reports and papers as well as the background paper on
the Pace of Socio-Economic Change under our Constitution. In addition, the women of SC, ST and BC and
other weaker sections have extra dimensions of disabilities along with their
men folk. In view of this, the
Commission recommends to the Government action in accordance with the
suggestions made in para 16.2 at page 1418 of Book 3 Vol.II, covering
reservation, development, empowerment, health including malnutrition and
maternal anaemia and protection against violence.
Immoral
traffic in women and girls children - rescue and rehabilitation
10.17 The
problems relating to prostitution, child
prostitutes and children of prostitutes have been the subject of a
landmark judgment of the Supreme Court
in Gaurav Jain's case of 9th
July, 1997 and the Report of Committee of Secretaries on Prostitution, Child Prostitutes and children of Prostitutes
set up in 1997 as explained in para 20.1 and 20.2 at pages 1414 to 1415 of Book
3 Vol.II. In respect of this area of
problem, the Commission recommends to the Government that action be taken
according to the suggestion listed at para 20.3 at page 1415 of Book 3 of Vol.II, covering implementation of the
judgement and the Secretaries’ report, eliminating the Devadasi system,
provision of development and education and prevention of HIV / AIDS.