Chaitar Vasava

The State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meeting held in Gandhinagar on September 26 saw Aam Aadmi Party MLA Chaitar Vasava call for urgent action to combat untouchability and caste discrimination in Gujarat.

In a written proposal, the Dediapada MLA urged the government to issue a circular mandating the organisation of “Untouchability Prevention Camps” across the state. He has also demanded that existing reservation policies for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) be enforced stringently.

Vasava pointed out that incidents of untouchability and discrimination continue to plague Gujarat’s SC and ST population, who number more than 1.5 crore. He highlighted that the state’s reservations quotas for government jobs — 7% for SC and 15% for ST applicants — are not being enforced. Vasava urged the government to ensure compliance and hold officials accountable if they fail to implement the reservation policies.

The meeting, led by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, saw participation from key officials, including Minister of State for Home Affairs Harsh Sanghavi, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Bhanuben Babariya, and MPs and MLAs from SC and ST communities. It marked the first such gathering in a long period, following repeated requests from Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani to convene the committee.

गुजरात सरकार के विभिन्न विभागों में अभी भी अनुसूचित जाति और अनुसूचित जनजाति के अधिकारियों के साथ भेदभाव किया जा रहा है, वंचित समुदायों के अधिकारियों को अभी भी निर्णय लेने वाले पद नहीं दिए जाते हैं।
इसलिए राज्य स्तरीय तकेदारी और निगरानी समिति को मेरा लिखित निवेदन। pic.twitter.com/DIxO1dz6wQ

— Chaitar Vasava AAP (@Chaitar_Vasava) September 26, 2024

The home and social justice departments noted several suggestions from the attending MLAs and MPs for statewide action.

A meeting of State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee was held today at Gandhinagar in which Chief Minister, Minister of State for Home department, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Department including Chief Officers of Social Justice and Empowerment Department and elected MPs and MLAs of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes communities of the state were present.

The Vigilance and Monitoring Committee chaired by the Chief Minister of the state has a meeting, but due to the non-existence of the meeting for a long time, earlier Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani wrote to the government several times for a meeting.

Apart from this, in today's meeting, a letter was written by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Chaitra Vasava to the state level vigilance and monitoring committee to consider the written submission to issue a circular regarding the organization of "Untouchability Prevention Camp" programs across the stateStrict implementation was suggested.

Chaitar Vasava wrote in the letter that the total population of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community in Gujarat is more than 1.50 crore, yet even today thousands of incidents of untouchability and caste discrimination are happening in most of the villages and cities of Gujarat. Schedule caste and scheduled tribe community reservation in Gujarat is 7% and 15% respectively, but still the reservation policy is not systematically implemented in job advertisements by various government organizations of the state government, in all recruitment process scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. A circular should be passed regarding strict implementation of community reservation of 7% and 15% respectively and standard action should be taken against officials who do not implement this circular.

The meeting have received numbers of suggestions from the MLAs and MPs are registered by the home and social justice department for the further state wide actions.

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