Amid growing demand by the Opposition for a national caste census, a Parliamentary panel has expressed concerns over the failure of several states to set up the necessary systems to effectively address atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SCs).
The Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment headed by Member of Parliament PC Mohan in its report tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday took exception to the persistent systemic gaps in the implementation of laws designed to protect SCs from violence and discrimination.
The report pointed out that despite the availability of central government funds, many states have not effectively utilised these resources or established proper mechanisms to enforce the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The report also emphasised broader challenges in the implementation of welfare schemes under the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment. Significant allocations under key programmes like the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs and the National Action Plan for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) remained underutilised, with bottlenecks such as incomplete documentation, errors in Aadhaar seeding and delays in states releasing their share of funds.
States like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Odisha were singled out for consistently lagging in fund utilisation and achieving implementation targets. Many eligible beneficiaries, it noted, remain unaware of their entitlements due to inadequate publicity.
To address these issues, the panel recommended stricter monitoring, greater accountability, and more coordinated efforts between central and state governments. It also called for expanding outreach and awareness about welfare programs, especially in marginalized communities, and ensuring better implementation of schemes like SMILE (for transgender persons and beggars) and SHREYAS (for SC students in higher education).
The report also pointed out 74 sanitation workers out of 1,035 sanitation workers who died while cleaning the sewer and septic tanks are yet to be paid compensation despite Supreme Court Judgement of 2014 which directed that the State Governments /UTs must ensure payment of compensation of Rs 10.00 lakh to the family of a victim in case of death of a worker while cleaning sewer/septic tank.
