Crème de la Crème
Outlook|September 21, 2024
The mainstream society thinks reservations are against right to equality. It’s high time they are seen in the context of right to justice.
Santosh Kiro
Crème de la Crème

Supreme Court’s seven-judge constitution bench ruling on subclassification of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) categories required an exhaustive study and a report by a commission. In fact, many from the SC and ST communities felt the ruling itself should have been preceded by a database for the ready reference of the SC.

The message of the SC judgment is two-fold. First, the country should go beyond the parametres of the Constitution to ensure justice to the genuinely deprived. However, the creation of the concept of creamy layer or sub-categorisation of SCs and STs is not allowed by the Constitution. And second, the SC needs to know which sections are truly deprived. “Such a ruling of the constitution bench of the SC should have been accompanied by a proper database on the economic and social situation of the SC-ST communities. And for this, the government should have constituted a commission to study their situation and come up with an exhaustive report first,” opined Prabhakar Tirkey, the director of Jharkhand-based Centre for Tribal Studies. Jharkhand is known for its independent tribal opinions on socio-political and economic issues and has a long history of tribals fighting for their rights to political self-determination.

During the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had prepared a draft for National Tribal Policy, which never progressed beyond. Tribal groups from across the country have been urging the present government to prepare and promulgate such a policy but no thought has been given to this serious demand yet at the government level.

This story is from the September 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.

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This story is from the September 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.