The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has issued an advisory to all media outlets not to use the word “Dalit” to refer to people belonging to the Scheduled Castes.
The advisory is based on an order of the Bombay High Court on June 6, based on a petition filed by Pankaj Meshram. “It is advised that the media may refrain from using the nomenclature ‘Dalit’,” the guideline said.
In a circular on March 15 this year, the Ministry of Social Justice had issued a similar advisory to all State governments that all official communications should use the constitutional term Scheduled Caste instead of the word “Dalit”.
