NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR SCHEDULED CASTES
The
National Commission for Scheduled Castes, a Constitutional body
monitors the safeguards provided for Scheduled Castes and also reviews
issues concerning their welfare.The SCs constitute 16.23% of India's population spread all over the country, with 80% of them living in the rural areas.
They constitute more than a fifth of the population of UP, Punjab,
Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal. Punjab has the highest proportion of
SCs to the State population. More than
half of the SC population is concentrated in the five States of Uttar
Pradesh (35.1 million), west Bengal (18.4 million), Tamil Nadu (11.8
million), Andhra Pradesh (12.3 million) and Bihar (13.0 million).Due
to their social disability and economic backwardness, they were grossly
handicapped in getting reasonable share in elected offices, Government
jobs and educational institutions and, therefore, it was considered
necessary to follow a policy of reservations in their favour to ensure
their equitable participation in governance.
Functions and duties of the commission are:
a)To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards
provided for the Scheduled Castes under this Constitution or under any
other law for the time being in force or under any order of the
Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguard;
b)To inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Scheduled Castes;
c)To participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic
development of the Scheduled Castes and to evaluate the progress of
their development under the Union and any
State;
d)To present to the President, annually and at such other times as the
Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;
e)To make in such reports recommendations as to the measures that should
be taken by the Union or any State for the effective implementation of
those safeguards and other measures for the protection, welfare and
socioeconomic development of the Scheduled Castes; and
f)To discharge such other functions in relation to the protection,
welfare and development and advancement of the Scheduled Castes as the
President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament,
by rule specify.
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON SCHEDULED TRIBES
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was first formed by the
Government of India in 1978 as a Non-statutory Multi-Member Commission.
Initially, the Commission was set up through a resolution for both the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In the year 1987,
the Government of India re-structured the duties of the Commission by
authorizing it to advice on the Broad Policy Issues and Levels of
Development of SCs and STs. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
(NCST) was established by amending Article 338 and inserting a new Article 338A in the Constitution through the Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003. By this amendment, the erstwhile National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was replaced by two separate
Commissions namely- (i) the National Commission for Scheduled Castes
(NCSC), and (ii) the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in
2004. Scheduled Tribes live in contiguous areas unlike other
communities. It is, therefore, much simpler to have an area-approach for
development activities and also regulatory provisions to protect their
interests. In order to protect the interests of Scheduled Tribes with
regard to land alienation and other social factors, provisions of "Fifth
Schedule" and "Sixth Schedule" have been enshrined in the Constitution.
Functions of the Commission are:
a.To investigate and monitor all the matters relating to the safeguards
provided for the SCs and STs under the Constitution of India or under
any other law and to evaluate the working of such scapegoats.
b.To enquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of the rights and the safeguards of the SCs and the STs.
c.To participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic
development of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and to
evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any
State.
d.To present to the President, annually andat such other times as the
Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards.
e.To make in such reports or recommendations as to the measures that
should be taken by the Union or any State for the effective
implementation of those the protection, welfare and socio-economic
development of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes as the
President may by lured specify.
The term Scheduled Tribes is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 366 as such tribes or tribal communities or parts of groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution.According to the Article 342(1),
the President may, with respect to any State or Union Territory, and
where it is State, after consultation with the Governor thereof,
notifies tribes or tribal communities or parts thereof as Scheduled
Tribes. This confers on the tribe or part of it a Constitutional status
invoking the safeguards provided for in the Constitution, to these
communities in their respective States/ UTs. Thus only those communities
who have been declared as such by the President through an initial
public notification will be considered as Scheduled Tribes. Parliament
may, by law, include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes,
any tribe or tribal community or parts of thereof. The list of Scheduled
Tribes is State-specific. In other words, a community declared as
Scheduled Tribe in one State need not be so in another State.
The Commission presents an annual report to the President. The President
places all the reports before the Parliament along with memorandum
explaining the action taken on the recommendations made by the
Commission. The memorandum also contains the reasons for the non
acceptance of any recommendation
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