The two major problems that troubling the human communities are race and caste. Race is from the western context and caste is of India. India is a country where people were divided into four varnas. Untouchability was attained to the people based on their birth. The last section in the four varnas were once considered as Sudras now they are called as downtrodden sections of the society.
The vulnerable groups spread throughout the globe with different names such as First Nations in Canada, Maori of New Zealand, Natives of America and Aboriginals of Australia, Dalits of India etc. These communities were claimed as original inhabitants of the land. Once the original inhabitants of the land are now facing serious struggles to live a dignified life like others. A clear division is visible between upper communities and down trodden sections in India.
The lives of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Backward Classes, Religious Minorities and women belonging to lower sections are few examples of it. They were included in the census reports but excluded in society in terms of getting benefited from governments. As a result, Centers for Social Exclusion and Inclusion were established in many academic institutions in India to study the exact conditions of these marginalized communities. The public policies for social inclusion were made to reach out the neglected communities for their upliftment from their vulnerable condition. Benefits of subsidy loans, skill development programs for the unemployed youth in the targeted communities, establishing educational institutions exclusively for the socially back ward communities. DWCRA, and the helping hand extended to Scheduled Castes by NSFDC under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Government of India are few examples of it.
I wish there should be a policy in implementing the reservations for Scheduled Castes and Tribes for the benefit of their future generations. Although the government has introduced development policies for these communities, what has happened in the reservations has isolated these groups to only a few castes in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who enjoy the benefits of reservation. That is why the sub-classification movement in Scheduled Castes and Tribes emerging in India, like MRPS in South region and Valmiki and Pasi movement in Northern Parts of India. The committee formed to look into the issue for Andhra Pradesh by name ‘Usha Mehra Commission’ (2008) have examined the facts and arrived at a conclusion that Sub-Quota in Scheduled Caste reservations is the need of the hour. Several commissions were formed thorough out India such as Justice Sadasivam commission in Karantaka and Hukum Singh Commission in Uttar Pradesh. The issue can be resolved in only at central level, state Govts struggling with these problems introduced their own financial strategies to help most marginalized communities in Scheduled Castes such as G.O.No.25 in AP and Dalit Maha Dalit Concept in Bihar.
G.O. No. 25 in Andhra Pradesh distributing the financial allocations for Scheduled Castes according to their respective individual communities’ population in each district, but it becomes a failure, as it was not implemented properly. Whatever the benefits the Scheduled Caste communities are getting throughout all these years since independence as a whole for the total population of Scheduled Castes.
Policy makers should think of introducing the sub-classification in Scheduled Castes and establishment of educational and coaching institutions for most backward castes listed in Scheduled Castes. This can be a new policy if it was introduced and the state can review the results according to the progress in due course of time. Introducing policies for social inclusion has become a common issue for administrators. Let us wish for the proper implementation of constitutional policies for the social inclusion of targeted communities.