Monday, August 1, 2011

Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes


Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
Scheduled castes ("SC"s, dalit, परिशिष्ट-जाति [parishiShTa jAti] in most Indian languages) and scheduled tribes are Indian population groupings that are explicitly recognized by the Constitution of India, previously called the "depressed classes" by the British. SCs/STs together comprise over 24% of India's population, with SC at over 16% and ST over 7.50% as per the 2001 Census. The proportion of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the population of India has steadily risen since independence in 1947.
The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 lists 1,108 castes across 25 states in its First Schedule. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order 1950 lists 744 tribes across 22 states in its First Schedule.
Post Independence Scheduled Castes have been benefited by Reservation policy. The policy was made an integral part of Constitution by the efforts of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, regarded as the father of the Indian constitution, who participated in Round Table Conferences and fought for the rights of Depressed classes. The Constitution lays down general principles for the policy of affirmative action for the SCs and STs.
History
From the 1850s these communities were loosely referred to as the "Depressed Classes". The early part of the 20th century saw a flurry of activity in the British Raj to assess the feasibility of responsible self-government for India. The Morley-Minto Reforms Report, Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms Report, and the Simon Commission were some of the initiatives that happened in this context. One of the hotly contested issues in the proposed reforms was the topic of reservation of seats for the "Depressed" Classes in provincial and central legislatures.
In 1935 the British passed the Government of India Act 1935, designed to give Indian provinces greater self-rule and set up a national federal structure. Reservation of seats for the Depressed Classes was incorporated into the act, which came into force in 1937. The Act brought the term "Scheduled Castes" into use, and defined the group as including "such castes, races or tribes or parts of groups within castes, races or tribes, which appear to His Majesty in Council to correspond to the classes of persons formerly known as the 'Depressed Classes', as His Majesty in Council may prefer." This discretionary definition was clarified in The Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936 which contained a list, or Schedule, of castes throughout the British administered provinces.
After independence, the Constituent Assembly continued the prevailing definition of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and gave (via articles 341, 342) the President of India and Governors of states responsibility to compile a full listing of castes and tribes, and also the power to edit it later as required. The actual complete listing of castes and tribes was made via two orders The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 respectively.

Constitutional framework for safeguarding of interests
The Constitution provides a framework with a three pronged strategy to improve the situation of SCs and STs.
  1. Protective Arrangements - Such measures as are required to enforce equality, to provide punitive measures for transgressions, to eliminate established practices that perpetuate inequities, etc. A number of laws were enacted to operationalize the provisions in the Constitution. Examples of such laws include The Untouchability Practices Act, 1955, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, The Employment of Manual scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, etc.
  2. Affirmative action - provide positive preferential treatment in allotment of jobs and access to higher education, as a means to accelerate the integration of the SCs and STs with mainstream society. Affirmative action is also popularly referred to as Reservation.
  3. Development - Provide for resources and benefits to bridge the wide gap in social and economic condition between the SCs/STs and other communities.

National commissions
To effectively implement the various safeguards built into the Constitution and other legislations, the Constitution, under Articles 338 and 338A, provides for two statutory commissions - the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

 History
In the original Constitution, Article 338 provided for a Special Officer, called the Commissioner for SCs and STs, to have the responsibility of monitoring the effective implementation of various safeguards for SCs/STs in the Constitution as well as other related legislations and to report to the President. To enable efficient discharge of duties, 17 regional offices of the Commissioner were set up all over the country.
In the meanwhile there was persistent representation for a replacement of the Commissioner with a multi-member committee. It was proposed that the 48th Amendment to the Constitution be made to alter Article 338 to enable said proposal. While the amendment was being debated, the Ministry of Welfare issued an administrative decision to establish the Commission for SCs/STs as a multi-member committee to discharge the same functions as that of the Commissioner of SCs/STs. The first commission came into being in August 1978. The functions of the commission were modified in September 1987 to advise Government on broad policy issues and levels of development of SCs/STs.
In 1990 that the Article 338 was amended to give birth to the statutory National Commission for SCs and STs via the Constitution (Sixty fifth Amendment) Bill, 1990.[7] The first Commission under the 65th Amendment was constituted in March 1992 replacing the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the Commission set up under the Ministry of Welfare's Resolution of 1989.
In 2002, the Constitution was again amended to split the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate commissions - the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes

Distribution
According to the 61st Round Survey of the NSSO, almost nine-tenths of Buddhists and one-third of Sikhs in India belonged to scheduled castes of the Constitution while one-third of Christians belonged to scheduled tribes. The Sachar Committee report of 2006 also confirmed that members of scheduled castes and tribes of India are not exclusively adherents of Hinduism.
Religion
Scheduled Caste
Scheduled Tribe
Buddhism
89.50%
7.40%
Christianity
9.00%
32.80%
Sikhism
37.0%
0.90%
Hinduism
22.20%
9.10%
Zoroastrianism
-
15.90%
Jainism
-
2.60%
Islam
0.80%
0.50%

Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan
The strategy of Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) which was evolved in 1979 is one of the most important interventions through the planning process for social, economic and educational development of Scheduled Castes and for improvement in their working and living conditions. It is an umbrella strategy to ensure flow of targeted financial and physical benefits from all the general sectors of development for the benefit of Scheduled Castes. Under this strategy, population.[8] It entails targeted flow of funds and associated benefits from the annual plan of States/ Union Territories (UTs) at least in proportion to the SC population i.e. 16 % in the total population of the country/the particular state. Presently, 27 States/UTs having sizeable SC populations are implementing Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan. Although the Scheduled Castes population, according to 2001 Census, was 16.66 crores constituting 16.23% of the total population of India, the allocations made through SCSP in recent years have been much lower than the population proportion. Table below provides the details of total State Plan Outlay, flow to Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) as reported by the State/UT Governments for the last few years especially since the present UPA government is in power at the
2004–2005
108788.9
17656
2065.38
11.06
68.3
5591
2005–2006
136234.5
22111
16422.63
12.05
74.3
5688
2006–2007
152088
24684
21461.12
14.11
86.9
3223
2007-2008*
155013.2
25159
22939.99
14.80
91.2
2219
Information in respect of 14 States/UTs only and as on 31-12- 2007
Source: Network for Social Accountability (NSA) http://nsa.org.in



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National Integration


National Integration
India has many races, nationalities, castes, subscastes and communities but so far the hear of India is concerned it is one. It is true that societies that have been integrated into bonds of unity have always enjoyed peace, stability, prosperity and permanence. And those torn by mutual distruptive tendencies among various sections of the society have always been short lived and become non- existent. The national integration is the process of uniting different people from all walks of life into a single whole. The most serious problem being faced by India in present circumstances is, how to develop an atmosphere of national consciousness among so varied a people.
Indians already have suffered for long periods, the pangs of enslavement and servitude. It is India in the whole world which has to suffer under foreign rulers for more than seven hundred years. The separatist tendencies among people and kings have always resulted in the fall of our kingdoms. Our country was always divided into large number of small kingdoms which were mostly at daggers end. There has been a lack of national consciousness. The internal disputes among the Rajput kings allowed Muslim invaders to establish their foothold here. Then the Britishers were able to create rifts between various kings and princes and thus established their supremacy. It was only overthrown when Indian nationhood joined together by unparalled acumen of some great Indian leaders who became creators of history.
There is a need to make efforts for creating emotional integration or a sense of unity. The need of the hour is national integration. It should be taught at the very beginning, in all schools and colleges all over the country that India is one and only one. The difference between various cultures are just superficial and basically it is only one. What is needed is superior interpretations, synthesis of the power of the mind that can give rise to a vision of the whole and oneness. The school and college teaching material should be suitably revised wherein importance and need of oneness should be emphasised. From one end of the country to the other end, regular long distance tours must be conducted so as to foster emotional integration among the young students of our country. Steps must be taken to see that, there are no sectional appeals so that disunity among the people does not increase manifold.
To bring about national integration, there are many techniques. It can be forced out, or can be made to strengthen from within the core of hearts. The result by way of exercise of power would always be weak, unsuccessful and it would be for a temporary phase only. But when the sense of national integration stems from within, it would be strong stable and ever-lasting.
British government brought about national integration by way of their needs. For the first time during the British rule, the whole of India came to be governed from one centre and all regions of the country from West to East and South to North obeyed instructions and advice from the central power. This was because the God of freedom was the same and realized all over the country. The national unity became more emotional when the country fought a united struggle for freedom. Emotional integration is the basic foundation on which the main structure of national integration can be created.
There is a rich cultural heritage in India. All of us are inheritors to several grand treasurers in the fields of music, dance, drama, fine arts and paintings, sculpture and theatre. Our seers and sages have left behind a tradition of piety, penance, conquest of passion and spiritual greatness. Our cultural unity is further exemplified by the great temples of the South, the caves of Khajuraho and Ajanta and Ellora which are glittering examples of proficiency of India in the field of architecture and sculpture. India classical music is built on the concept of ragas and talas. Each raga is regarded appropriage to a certain emotion, a certain mood suitable for a specified time of the day or night. In the modern times, people like Pandit Ravi Shanker have taken the Indian music to great heights in the whole world and thus have bridged the gap between the East and the West in the field of music.
Today the intellectuals of Indian society can give the right direction as the country is standing at the crossroads of failures and achievements. The intellectuals must come out of their narrow cells of detachment and awake up to their responsibilities towards the general masses. Through national integration, we will prosper and flourish and dominate the others who are characterized by divisive forces. We will carry with us, a power and strength, solidity and solidarity and an element of cohesiveness which will impart to us further permanence and stay in present struggling world.
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