CHANDIGARH: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday announced that the caste column would be removed from school admission forms from the next academic session, saying the move would help eliminate caste-based discrimination and promote a sense of equality and fraternity among children.
While chairing a meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Caste Welfare Board (HPSCWB) in Shimla today, he said that the state government was committed to eliminating caste-based discrimination in society and promoting a sense of fraternity and equality.
He said that removing the caste column from school admission forms would be a step in this direction and would help ensure that children do not develop any sense of inferiority on the basis of caste.
However, members of the scheduled caste community would continue to provide their caste details while availing themselves of government schemes and benefits, ensuring that they receive the benefits of such schemes without any difficulty.
Sukhu said that the state government was giving priority to resolving the issues faced by the scheduled caste community. Several schemes had been launched for the welfare of the community, and all eligible beneficiaries should be made aware of these initiatives so that they could avail themselves of the benefits available to them.
He said that under the Rajiv Gandhi Start-up Swarozgar Saur Yojana, the state government was providing subsidies for setting up projects ranging from 100 KW to 2 MW. A subsidy of 5 percent was being provided for projects in tribal areas and 4 percent in other areas.
Sukhu further said that the state government was also providing loans of up to Rs 20 lakh to meritorious students for higher education at an interest rate of one percent, to ensure that students were not forced to discontinue their studies due to financial constraints.
He said that the state government was going to implement the Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana for extremely poor families. Under the scheme, eligible families would be provided 300 units of free electricity, while women from these families would receive a monthly pension of Rs 1,500.
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil said that the state government was providing social security pensions to 8,41,917 beneficiaries. He said that old-age men were being provided a pension of Rs. 1,000 per month, while women, persons with disabilities, widows and deserted or single women were receiving Rs 1,500 per month.
Senior citizens above 70 years of age and persons with more than 70 percent disability were being provided Rs 1,700 per month. He said that approximately Rs 1,400 crore was being spent on social security pension schemes during the current financial year. He added that the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment was spending approximately Rs 314.90 crore during the current financial year on various schemes for the social and economic upliftment of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, women, children and senior citizens. In addition, Rs 1,105.37 crore was allocated under the Scheduled Caste Development Programme.
