January  2003 
Year 9    No.83
Special Report


Words in deed

The MP government delivers on its year-old promise of social and economic empowerment of Dalits and tribals in the state

By a Special Correspondent

The adoption of the Dalit Agenda at Bhopal over a year ago was indeed a milestone in the struggle for the social and economic empowerment of Dalits and tribals to harness the energies of these deprived sections for the overall development of the country. But what is more encouraging is the fact that within a year the Madhya Pradesh government has considerably traversed the difficult path of implementing the Agenda both in letter and spirit.

The 21-point Agenda, inspired by the 1965 Affirmative Action of US President Johnson, had set out to make available cultivable land to Dalits and tribals for their socio-economic development, democratise capital so as to ensure proportionate share for these sections and enable them to enter the market economy, make affirmative action mandatory in all private institutions, including industries and the corporate sector which receive State patronage, ensure high quality education, particularly market-oriented vocational and technical education, ensure the State’s sole responsibility in protecting the SCs & STs and punishing the perpetrators of atrocities against these sections, and to ensure reservation to SCs and STs at all levels of judiciary and defence forces, among other things.

On the first anniversary of the Agenda on January 13, chief minister Digvijay Singh not only presented to the media a report card of the actions taken so far, but also announced his government’s resolve to implement a string of other actions envisaged in the report of the Agenda’s Task Force. In all, he announced for SCs and STs schemes worth Rs. 225 crore to be implemented over the next year.

The chief minister said that orders worth Rs. 10 million for purchase from entrepreneurs of SC and ST communities had been made by the Tribal Welfare Department so far, and, in the coming year, purchases worth at least Rs. 100 crore would be made from the members of these communities by all the government departments. To ensure that SC & ST entrepreneurs do not face any problems, the government would make necessary amendments in the MP Store Purchase Rules.

As of November 2002, the government had distributed 2.75-lakh hectares of grazing land among 3.34 lakh landless families, out of a total of 3-lakh hectares made available. The government would purchase land from the open market for such distribution in areas where cultivable land was not available.

The chief minister said that at least 10 per cent of the constructed houses, plots, business centres, and shops belonging to government housing agencies in rural and semi-urban areas had been reserved for SCs and STs, while in the urban areas, there would be a reservation of 15 per cent for the landless.

With a view to making unemployed youths of these communities self-reliant, the government has decided to identify 25,000 unemployed over the next five years and provide financial assistance along with proper training to set up their own businesses. In addition to this, contracts up to Rs. 2 lakh would be awarded to petty contractors from these communities by all the works departments.

Other decisions included setting up of grain banks in 11,000 villages dominated by SCs & STs, availability of Rs. 30 crore for providing basic amenities in the SC/St dominated urban areas, construction of 7,500 houses, out of which 5,000 would be given to sanitary workers, the imposition of a community fine on villages where instances of unsociability were brought to the government’s notice, and a string of schemes aimed at providing educational facilities to these communities, particularly girl students. The chief minister also announced that steps were being taken to ensure reservation for these communities in private sector jobs.

The MP government’s efforts to give impetus to the uplift of Dalits and tribals have, however, not gone without criticism and difficulties. For one, the distribution of excess grazing land among SC and ST farmers has caused caste scrapes with those in possession of the land not willing to part with it.

Similarly, the allotment of 10,000 shops at prime localities in urban areas to beneficiaries of these communities is not going to be easy. Unfavourable caste equations in district planning committees dominated by politicians belonging to upper castes and OBCs could prove to be a major stumbling block. Under the earlier system, the district collector was empowered to allot Nazul pattas but that is no longer the case. 


[ Subscribe | Contact Us | Archives | Khoj | Aman ]
[ Letter to editor  ]

Copyrights © 2002, Sabrang Communications & Publishing Pvt. Ltd.