The Communist Party of India MP and national secretary D. Raja has asked the Centre to formulate a social policy with set targets, strategies and personnel to operate programmes for the benefit of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes in the country.
“…there is no systematic policy to ameliorate the conditions of the poor through development planning that guarantees delivery. It is simply ad-hocism that rules the roost of SC/ST development. It also found that the constitutional provisions in respect of Dalits and Adivasis are not put to effective use,” Mr. Raja said in letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh .
He said the SC/ST/BCs constitute more than 80 per cent of the population in the country with the Constitution making special provision for their uplift. Even after six decades of development planning and the implementation of special programmes both at the centre and States around 40 per cent of these sections remain poor and underdeveloped.
“What is happening to the billions of Rupees and the millions of bureaucratic manpower employed to ameliorate the conditions of these people?...Regrettably more number of people have been killed and or committed suicides due to the failure of our system and at the same time the billionaires of our country are able to find place in the list of the world’s top most rich, year after year. Is this the mandate of the Constitution?”, he asked .
Areas of concern
Mr. Raja flagged seven areas of concern –protection of civil rights, Poverty and Unemployment, Employment Guarantee, Land Reforms and Tribal Rights, Education and Skill Formation, Special Component Plan, and Dalits kept out of active participation in the economy – that need attention.
For instance, he said it has been reported that there is not even one officer in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India and not even half a dozen Joint Secretaries from these communities.
He said no Dalit or Tribal has been allowed to reach a position of heading any public sector undertaking so far and that there has been no concerted effort to make them head such positions.
Mr. Raja asked the Prime Minister to call for a special meeting to review the existing policies.
