The Odisha government will conduct a survey on educational and social condition of people belonging to the backward classes on its own.
The State Assembly on Monday resolved to amend the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, to enable the State Commission for Backward Classes to make survey of the educational and social condition of the people belonging to the backward classes.
The amendment was passed after the State government failed to get any response to its demand that a socio-economic caste survey be conducted simultaneously with the general census in 2021.
The State government had constituted the Commission for Backward Classes in accordance with the provisions contained in the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 on February 12.
Soon after the amendment was passed in the Assembly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked all Members of the House. “This very significant moment will have a transformative impact on the backward classes of our State,” he said.
The Odisha Cabinet had on January 11 resolved to move the Central government to include backward class survey as part of the Census 2021. This had been formally moved by the State government to the Central government, informed the Chief Minister.
“Further this issue has been raised both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by our Members of Parliament. However, there has been no response,” said Mr. Patnaik.
Referring to the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Patnaik said Gandhiji’s idea of India had the empowerment of the vulnerable as the core objective of the State.
