Dalit empowerment plan of Cong stuck

Providing the SC/ST certificates with the application forms is important for two reasons. First,the membership fee for SC/STs is only Rs 5 as against Rs 15 for others. So any person unable to submit the certificate has to pay Rs 15. But more importantly,the SC/ST candidates without the required certificates will be enrolled under the general category and this will debars them from getting the benefit of reservation in important posts of the Youth Congress.

In an attempt to empower the Dalits,the Youth Congress has,for the first time,provided reservation for SC/STs at all levels of the organisation,beginning from panchayats to Lok Sabha constituencies.

The reason behind the outfit’s insistence to attaching the SC/ST certificate is that it wants to ensure that the organisational reform actually benefits the SC/STs. But with just two days of the membership drive left,the party has thousands of application forms filled by the SC/ST members minus the caste certificates.

The caste certificates are issued by the local tehsil administration but the Youth Congress has told the applicants that it would also accept those certificates which have been issued by gram panchayat secretary or any authorised government official. This,too,has not helped the candidates. “We are trying our level best to help such members,but they say panchayat secretaries and officials at the tehsils are not issuing the certificates. We cannot accept these forms under the SC/ST category. We estimate that if the problem persists,then it would reduce our SC/ST membership by 50 per cent,” said Arvind Chaudhary,state returning officer of the Youth Congress.

If the candidates are unable to submit their caste certificates by December 15,their applications will be accepted under the general category. “We did not face such problem in other states,” said Chaudhary,who actively took part in organising Youth Congress polls in Punjab and Gujarat.

Rajesh Rathore,returning officer for Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha segment said that little could be done for those without the caste certificates as almost the entire enrollment process has been computerised. “Even if we accept these forms without caste certificates,they will be rejected during scrutiny,” Rathore added

Sources said that in Rae Bareli Lok Sabha segment,around 800 forms submitted by SC/ST youths are without caste certificates. In Dariabad Assembly segment of Faizabad Lok Sabha area it is 450 and in Kannauj Lok Sabha segment the figure stands at 1,000. A district administration official in Lucknow,meanwhile,said the procedure of getting the caste certificate that entails submission of an application with an affidavit at the tehsil office followed by verification,generally takes a month.