The Yogi Adityanath government has clarified that it has no plans to ban the word `Dalit’ as it is not used in official communication.
The word means a particular section of society.
The issue came up during Question Hour in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Thursday, when replying to a question of Mohammad Aslam Raini of Samajwadi Party, Social Welfare Minister Ramapati Shastri said that the government had no plans to ban the word ‘Dalit”.
“The word ‘Dalit’ means those who are oppressed and it includes everyone who has been exploited. It is not unparliamentary and therefore there is no need to ban it,” Shastri said in his written reply.
Ventilators: The UP government informed the Assembly that there were 1,010 ventilators in government-run hospitals, including 18 medical colleges in the state, and 131 more ventilators would be added to the list in the current fiscal.
However, out of these ventilators, 71 were not functional and while nine were being repaired, the others would be disposed of.
Replying to a question in the Assembly, Medical Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon said the government was making all efforts to improve medical facilities. He said after the Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power, 157 new ventilators were installed in hospitals.
Tandon said that the highest number of ventilators were in King George’s Medical University in Lucknow and of the total 214 ventilators, 193 were functional. Similarly, he said, in SGPGI, there were 188 ventilators and in Noida 101.
The minister said in 18 medical colleges of the state, there were 391 ventilators of which 29 were non-functional.
He said oxygen was supplied for ventilators at super speciality hospitals through piped lines while in six existing medical colleges, the process for supplying piped oxygen was underway.