Member, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Dr Anju Bala, today chaired maiden meeting regarding facilities being made available for welfare and development of SC community in the district. Director, NCSC Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, Rahul Pandey, SSP Kathua, R C Kotwal, CPO, ACD and district officers were present in the meeting.
The meeting was briefed about district profile with special reference to SC population in the district. It was informed that about 23% of the total population of Kathua district consists of SC population. Besides, details about the status of implementation of different schemes concerning SC population in the district were also shared.
Dr Anju Bala took sector wise review and discussed modalities being followed by different institutions to extend the benefits under different schemes to SC community. She had detailed deliberation on MGNERAGA, School and Higher Education, PMAY, JSY, AB-PMJAY, Ujjwala Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana, Scholarship Schemes, Adarsh Gram Yojana and related programmes.
Member NCSC highlighted various relevant issues like increasing dropout rate in schools, verification of existing Job card holders under MGNREGA, number of loan cases sanctioned, rejected, details of crimes, conviction rate against the SC population in the district.
She also mentioned about other welfare measures being taken up by the administration to safeguard the interest of SC population. While speaking on the occasion, Dr Anju Bala emphasized the need of awareness generation and education as a tool to empower the marginal community.
She said that youth has to be educated in such a way that instead of job seeker they could become job creator. She said that the PM's vision can only be realized through empowerment and awareness of such communities.
Member NCSC asked the district administration to submit the action taken report on issues discussed during the meeting within a period of fifteen days. He also urged upon the administration to organize regular meetings of District Vigilance Committee on safeguarding the rights and protecting the SC population against discrimination and exploitation.
Later, the member interacted with members of J&K postal circle wherein she reviewed implementation of reservation policy for SC category population.