PS Krishnan, former secretary, ministry of welfare, Government of India, has in a letter asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to eliminate "gaps in governance and administration, revealed by a number of recent judgments which have adversely affected the legitimate interests of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs)."
According to Krishnan, "there have been a number of judgments" that suggest, these "have not been and are not being handled effectively", adding, "As a result of these gaps, governments have had to deal with important issues and problems pertaining to SCs, STs and SEdBCs in episodical and disjointed manner, without consistency."
"What has happened in the Forest Rights Act (FRA) case highlights this serious gap, which cries for urgent correction", Krishnan says, adding, "The urgent correction and elimination of these gaps is necessary to remove inequality in ever parameter between the SCs and STs, and also SEdBCs, on the one hand, and the Socially Advanced Castes (SACs), on the other, and thereby to make Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas a reality for these three deprived classes."
Says Krishnan, "The SCs, STs and SEdBCs constitute about 3/4ths of the population of the country and the near-totality of the labour-force of the country. The wealth of the country is largely the product of their labour, which they have been rendering, contributing much more to the nation than what is given back to them in the shape of meagre wages."
Insisting that "they need and deserve the personal attention", the letter says, "I request you to kindly consider introducing and enforcing remedial measures."
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