Rekindling the debate on internal reservation, the State government has promised to shortly set up a Cabinet sub-committee to review the recommendations of the A.J. Sadashiva Commission.
Social Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu told the Legislative Council on Wednesday that such a move was first proposed in 2018, but not taken forward. The sub-committee will study the report and its recommendation will be placed before the House, the Minister said. He, however, refrained from setting any deadline for the whole process to be completed.
The Sadashiva commission had studied whether the reservation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have brought benefit to the communities, and the report was submitted to the government in 2012. In 2015, it was decided that the commission recommendations would be discussed in the Legislative Assembly, the Minister said.
He said that by 2018, there were many voices supporting or opposing the recommendation of the commission. In March 2018, Cabinet decided to set up a sub committee to study the matter. “However, governments after that did not give much importance to this. Till now there has been no decision on setting up the sub committee,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition S.R. Patil pointed out that Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had promised during the byelections to Sira that the recommendations would be implemented. “Nothing has been done so far. Another byelections have come,” he said. Mr. Sriramulu said the process required detailed deliberation and was a long one. “Commission’s report has to be studied by the Cabinet and a Cabinet sub-committee has to be formed. The House also has to discuss.... The sub committee will be formed very shortly. The sub-committee report will be placed for discussion in the House,” he added.
Regarding the socio-economic survey conducted by the Backward Classes Commission in 2016, Mr. Sriramulu said the commission has got a new chairman, and the report is expected. He did not set any deadline for submission of the survey report. Earlier, Congress member P.R. Ramesh enquired about the status of the caste census and asked how a caste can be assessed as backward. “An assessment is to be made about the current status of the castes.” He also pointed that the amendment to the constitution articles 15 (6) and 16 (6) for reservation for EWS that will benefit only five communities.
33 manual scavengers died since 2015
As many as 33 persons have died while involved in manual scavenging in Karnataka since 2015, Mr. Sriramulu said in the Legislative Council.
He was replying to a question posed by Congress member B.K. Hariprasad, who also pointed that two persons died in Kalaburagi last month and another person committed suicide in Maddur.
He said that about 25,000 persons are involved in manual scavenging across the State. “Despite strict implementation of the Manual Scavenging Act and adoption of latest technology, deaths were still reported,” said the Minister.
Mr. Hariprasad said that a meagre ₹2 crore had been allocated for the welfare of persons involved in manual scavenging.
