Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 4: The abrogation of Article 370 will remove various hurdles and end woes of Scheduled Caste (SC) community in Jammu & Kashmir, who had been among the sufferers due to this Special Provision in the Constitution of India.
This was stated by BJP State spokesperson, Balbir Ram Rattan, who himself belongs to the SC community and has been highlighting the problems of his brethren at different platforms for the last so many years, while talking to members of SC community here, today.
He said while the abrogation of Article 370 will benefit all the sections, regions and faiths in the State, for SCs it has more significance, which is going to prove to be path breaker in their welfare, progress and prosperity.
Balbir Ram Rattan, along with senior leader S. Varinderjeet Singh, elaborated that any Act/Law related to atrocities on SCs was not applicable to J&K due to Article 370.
While J&K had Woman Commission, Human Rights Commission and Backward Classes Commission, the Scheduled Caste Commission was not constituted here, which is an important and legally empowered body to take note of the grievances and problems of this section and recommend remedial measures. Not only this but also the benefits of reservation in jobs and State Assembly were not implemented in J&K for more than two decades after the adoption of Constitution. As for Category Certificate, J&K had its own separate performa for certifying some one of being SC, which differed from one that of Union Government.
Balbir Ram Rattan said that all these added to the woes of SCs, who suffered for 70 years and now they will surely be relieved of all these agonies and get treated at par with SCs across the country. He said that 2011 official census shows that the population of SCs in the State was 9.24 lakh and it may have now crossed 10 lakh. Such a large population should wake up and support the decision of Narendra Modi Government and also contribute to defeat the misleading campaign of a handful of people, who are responsible for such a treatment to SCs for so long and never bothered to think of their plight when in power.
Balbir shared this with Sarpanch Dalip Kumar, Sarpanch (Retd Captain) Hans Raj, Vivek Patyal and R.D. Gorka.