‘Caste-wise census of denotified tribes is essential’
The Hindu
DINDIGUL
Members of Denotified Communities Joint Forum for Social Justice petitioned the Collector here on Monday seeking to take up caste-wise population census across the Centre and State government.
Their demands included urging the State to withdraw the order issued enabling a special reservation of 10.5% for Vanniyars in employment, within the overall quota of 20% for Most Backward Classes (MBCs) and Denotified Communities (DNCs).
“Acting in favour of a single community is against laws. The High Court and Supreme Court, when we filed cases against the reservations, only reiterated the need to take up caste-wise population census to support the reservations,” said M.C.A. Anbalagan, executive member of the forum.
The present reservation would only deprive the chances of employment and education of people belonging to MBC and DNC, he added.
They also urged the Union government to conduct a similar census and list them under Other Backward Classes in order to enable them to avail the benefits.
The benefits of taking up the caste-based census would help ascertain the status of backward classes and for the governments to take steps to develop their present status, stated their petition. “This will help recognise many unidentified communities where the government needs to intervene for their upliftment,” said Mr Anbagalan.
They also demanded the State to change the community certificate issued for people of DNCs as Denotified Tribes to reap the benefits given by the Union government–which has been their demand for the past eight years.