Government forms panel to examine steps to safeguard interests of SCs — Sources

NEW DELHI — A high-level panel has been formed to examine the administrative steps that can be taken to safeguard the interests of scheduled caste communities like the Madigas, sources said on Friday.

The panel will seek to ensure fair allocation of benefits to the most disadvantaged communities within the Scheduled Castes, which have been overshadowed by comparatively affluent and influential groups.

“On the directions of the prime minister, a committee of secretaries has been constituted under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary,” a source privy to the matter said.

“It will examine the administrative steps that can be taken to safeguard the interests of the scheduled caste communities, like the Madigas and other such groups, who have represented that they are not evenly getting their due share of benefits,” he said.

The committee will comprise secretaries of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Personnel and Training, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Department of Legal Affairs and the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The first meeting of the committee of secretaries will take place on Tuesday, they said.

The government has been in receipt of representations from state governments, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka for the sub-categorisation of SCs, which includes the Madiga community, on the grounds that the benefits of reservation and welfare/developmental schemes are not percolating evenly among them.

The matter has been placed before various courts of law and is at present under consideration of a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court.

A committee of secretaries has been constituted under the chairpersonship of cabinet secretary to examine the administrative steps that can be taken to safeguard the interests of the Madiga and other similarly placed communities.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will provide necessary secretarial support to the committee.