Minister lauds Chandigarh efforts on schemes for SCs, OBCs

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 17

Ramdas Athawale, Minister of State, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, today appreciated the efforts of the UT Administration towards the effective implementation of schemes pertaining to SCs/OBCs across Chandigarh.

The minister reviewed the progress made by the UT Administration on the schemes pertaining to the SCs and OBCs. The minister was told that 36 castes/communities had been notified as SCs and 65 castes/communities as OBCs in Chandigarh.

The minister was briefed on the progress of schemes exclusively implemented for SCs/OBCs during 2021-22 by the Director, Social Welfare, Women & Child Development. The Director also said that in 2021-22, under the scheme, “Encouragement to Inter-Caste Marriage”, 26 beneficiaries had been given a financial assistance at Rs2.50 lakh. Under different schemes of national corporations for SCs/OBCs and safai karamcharis, 43 SCs/OBCs had been provided loan for their economic upliftment.

The minister was also informed that under the scheme, “Cash Award for Children of Safai Karamcharis”, Rs30,000 was awarded to the children of safai karamcharis who secured 50 per cent or above marks in Class X or XII. Under this scheme, 18 children of safai karamcharis had been awarded during 2020-21 and during 2021-22, 12 applications had been received till date and the last date for receipt of applications was January 27.

The Superintendent of Police gave the data of atrocity cases registered during the past three years. He said four cases were registered during 2020 and 2022, of which three registered in 2020 had been cancelled and one, that was registered on January 5 this year, was under investigation.

The Director, Higher Education, gave details about the progress of various scholarship schemes implemented by the Education Department.

The Director told the minister that nearly Rs4.50 crore was pending for 2020-21 and 2021-22 under centrally sponsored scholarship schemes of pre-matric and post-matric for SC/OBC/EBC students. The minister assured of early release of funds from the Centre.

The MC Commissioner shared details about the status of manual scavengers in UT. She said as per a survey conducted by the Centre as well as the MC, no manual scavenger was identified in UT.

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