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ISSUE CASTE FORGERY

A Menace to the Scheduled Communities

By   OOKODE GOPALN

THE SCHEDULED Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the real aborigines of India, are the people whose human rights and freedom had been denied and suppressed due to several social and historical reasons.  It is these people who had been kept away from the mainstream of the society on account of social barriers such as untouchability, slavery, etc and were included in the Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of the Indian Constitution enacted by the Parliament.  Persons belonging to scheduled castes and tribes can get constitutional rights and benefits, only if they belong to a caste or a tribe included in the above schedules.  It is for the total development of these people that reservation was considered as a constitutional right.  The practice of grabbing the rights of castes and tribes included in the schedules by non-scheduled community members purposefully b y way of forged caste certificates has become a severe menace and challenge to the growth and development of the real scheduled communities.

It is natural that there may not be enough candidates for the positions set apart through reservation for the scheduled communities who are socially, economically and educationally backward.  It is the intellectual coterie of able and efficient persons belonging to forward positions, who prepare the ground for the forgery of caste certificates.  Specific rules and regulations are there for issuing caste certificates.  But they are willfully violated and with the connivance of revenue authorities, the reservation benefits of the scheduled communities are snatched away by producing forged certificates.

Admission to technical education, reservation in higher posts, etc are the sectors where others make inroads into through caste forgery.  A civilized society should never tolerate efficient and able persons enjoying easily the reservation benefits envisaged in the Constitution for the total development of a weaker section which deserves the sympathy and consideration of the society and the Government in particular.

Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (KIRTADS), responsible for looking into the complaints regarding caste forgery and for reporting the facts to the government has already brought to light a series of such forgeries.  Not only that, Dr N Viswanathan Nair, director, KIRTADS and V K Mohan Kumar, deputy director have already published a report titled Pattika Vibhagangulu, Vyaja Samudaya Certificatum (Scheduled Communities and Bogus Community Certificates).  They have described in detail in the light of their studies and research the information regarding the ways adopted by non-scheduled community members to get scheduled community certificates.

Most of them secure bogus certificates through attempts like the confusing similarity in caste denomination, using of common denomination, resemblance of traditional occupations, in the pretext of migration from other States, the registration of associations, inclusion of caste denomination falsely in the census, reporting of denomination falsely at the time of admission to the school, bogus certificate secured from non-revenue officials, etc.  Bogus certificates are obtained from panchayat presidents, MLAs, MPs and gazetted officers and are used to influence revenue officials for purposes for which certificates from specific authorities are not insisted (See Box).

Thousands of persons belonging to non-scheduled communities can be seen enjoying the benefits of scheduled communities in the social, cultural, political and official fields on the strength of bogus caste certificates.

Laxity of the Government and concerned officials in duty considering the complaints regarding caste forgery and resorting to stringent actions has added to the caste forgeries.  But KIRTADS is of the view that the investigations and actions of the government Screening Committee on the complaints regarding the intrusion of caste forgerers in the technical education sector and government services have led to the complete stoppage of such tendencies in the technical, professional and educational sectors.  Even then, KIRTADS warns that many miles have to be covered in other areas.  Also KIRTADS suggests that arrangements have to be made to conduct just and impartial investigation against those who are suspected to be grabbing the benefits of scheduled communities.

The following suggestions of KIRTADS are worth considering.  KIRTADS suggests that maximum number of training programmes on characterization of castes should be organized for officials authorized to issue caste certificates.  Details on the day to day life and the cultural peculiarities of scheduled communities should be included in the training programmes.  The caste forgeries made hitherto should be explained.  Investigations should be initiated on taluka basis where more forgeries have been noticed.

The government orders on the issuing of caste certificates have to be complied with by the concerned authorities in time.  The present schedules should be rectified by removing those communities which are clearly not existing in Kerala.  The veracity of scheduled communities newly enlisted in the new census after 1951 should be subjected to study.  The census officials should be given training before census operations regarding the enlisted scheduled communities and the way to check the inclusion of undeserving communities as scheduled communities.

Persons enjoying fraudulently the benefits of SCs should be punished exemplarily.  Action should be taken against authorities issuing bogus certificates.  Anthropological research books depicting the cultural specialties of SCs, other backward communities and all other communities deserving benefits should be published.  The Anthropological Research Section in KIRTADS should be strengthened and more technical facilities should be provided so that information about bogus castes can be passed on to the concerned authorities.  The delay in investigations on caste forgery should also be avoided.

It is the duty of the Government to initiate and implement strong and exemplary steps to check effectively the commission and repetition of caste forgeries.  The activities of KIRTADS in this regard are remarkable and commendable.  The tendency of caste forgery can be stopped only if the government initiates strong steps and procedures on a warfooting, considering repercussions caste forgery creates in the society.  At the same time the affected communities also should come forward to pressurize the Government for such actions.  Otherwise, they will be pushed out from the mainstream of the society.

FACT FILE

SCHEDULED TRIBES

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