New Delhi: Food security law may leave out many dalits, tribals

TNN

New Delh, 23 Sep, 2013 : A good number of dalits and tribals may be left out of the ambit of the ambitious Food Security Act, with the socio-economic caste census reporting lesser number of households of the two communities than found by the decennial census, a fraught prospect that has led to jitters in the government.

 

As per the preliminary figures of socio-economic caste census (survey),1702 tehsils across 27 states have fewer SCs and STs than found in the decennial population census 2011. The census figures of SC/ST population exceed the survey numbers by 1%.

It implies that fewer SCs/STs would be part of the poverty list to be shortlisted by the much-awaited survey. Once finalized, the survey is to serve as the blue book of poor households for entitlement schemes and its first big use would be in the implementation of food security scheme that Congress has called a "game-changer".

The discrepancy has been found in the poorest states like Bihar (124 tehsils), Madhya Pradesh (163), Odisha (132) as also in Andhra Pradesh (450) and Maharashtra (154). However, the absolute number of households in Andhra is not high because the tehsils are small in size, sources said.

According to sources, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has shot off letters to 26 chief ministers and the administrator of Daman and Diu, seeking proactive initiative to detect omissions.

The census-survey gap in population figures of SCs/STs is seen as sensitive since it involves the sections more likely to be poor and obvious candidates for the poverty list. Being SC/ST is also one of the seven deprivation indicators to rank the surveyed households in the poverty index.

The fear of SCs falling through the cracks of identification process made social justice minister Selja to recently urge the Planning Commission that dalits should be deemed to be poor except those paying income tax and government servants among them.

The RD ministry stumbled upon the possible underreporting of SC/ST population when it did a comparative study between the survey and the census as part of cross-checking.

While the fewer numbers in socio-economic survey could be owing to migration or absence of the household at the time of enumeration, the RD ministry has urged the states that a revision be undertaken to ensure that not a single family of the poorest section is left out.

As the easiest way out, states have been asked to ensure that all SC/ST households participate in the gram sabha meetings to cross-check the findings of the survey so that those left out can file objections.