The Committee of Ministers on Dalit Affairs met here today. It was presided over by the Minister of Steel, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan. The Minister for Rural Development, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and the Minister of Small-Scale Industries, Shri Mahabir Prasad attended the meeting.
The meeting felt that in spite of a large number of constitutional and statutory provisions and programmes for the socio-economic uplift of the Dalits, their conditions have not improved. By and large they do not have basic amenities like electricity, roads, drinking water and telephone connections in their localities. The meeting directed the Secretaries of the concerned Ministries and Departments to present the status report on their respective sectors. The meeting directed the concerned secretaries to implement the schemes for providing basic amenities to the Dalits. They were asked to generate awareness among the beneficiaries about the welfare schemes for them. The Secretaries were also asked to evolve a system whereby a greater thrust could be given to benefit the poorest strata among the category. The meeting also discussed a reference from the Prime Minister’s Office on how to follow the Madhya Pradesh example of setting aside 30 per cent of the Government purchases from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe traders and suppliers. The Committee felt this would help a large number of youth in getting jobs.
SMK/SAK
(Release ID :18385)