Students harassed as institutes ask to renew caste certificates annually

Deepkamal Kaur

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 25

Even as there are guidelines that there is no need to renew caste certificates issued to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Castes, many institutes in the region have been asking the students to furnish fresh certificates annually at the time of applying for SC scholarships and even while applying for jobs.

As a result, almost every tehsil in the SC-dominated Doaba region issues nearly 10,000 caste certificates with the peak season being this time of the year. The Suwidha Centre in Jalandhar is getting as many as 600 applications each day since the past nearly a month and the number of counters for the work have been increased from two to five today to clear the backlog and expedite the work.

The timings of the Suwidha Centre have been increased from 8 to 12 hours and Saturdays and Sundays too have been kept open, primarily keeping their demand in view.

BSP leader Balwinder Kumar termed it a sheer harassment of the SC students and parents by the institutes as their two days get wasted in the process. 

Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar KK Yadav said, “It is completely wrong to ask for caste certificates every year as its validity is life-long.”

"The caste of a person does not change in his lifetime and certificate once issued need not be renewed at all. Last year, we took up the case with the Deputy Commissioner in the matter and urged him to get directions issued to the schools and colleges. But the problem continues to persist and we recently got a complaint from Adampur-based institute." Balwinder Kumar, BSP leader 

"We recently took up the matter against a Nakodar-based institute with the District Welfare Office. Demand for a fresh income certificate for SC Post Matric Scholarship is fine but we fail to understand the need for a fresh Scheduled Caste certificate." Mangaljit Singh, representative of Punjab Student Union

"It is a completely wrong practice to ask for a new caste certificate annually, especially since it is issued after due verification by patwari, kanungu, tehsildar and SDM. The institutes have to do away with this demand." Jagdish Samrai, Dalit activist