http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Ahmedabad/Caste-row-erupts-over-ration-card-forms/articleshow/6039772.cms
Caste row erupts over ration card forms
Parth Shastri, TNN, Jun 12, 2010, 06.04am IST
AHMEDABAD: Forms for new biometric ration cards, issued recently by
the state civil supplies department, have irked members of the dalit
community. Derogatory terms in the form, seeking information on
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, can land anybody in jail if
spoken in public. These terms have long been banned by the central and
state governments.
However, the state civil supplies department's recently-issued forms
seem to have forgotten this norm. The information sought in the card
has angered public distribution service shops.
"The onus is on us to fill up the forms and then submit them to
respective civil supplies officers. How can they ask for information
which is considered derogatory? For long, the practice was
discontinued. We can't understand why it made a sudden comeback.
Besides, the form is complex and a commoner cannot fill without help,"
said Harshad Patel, a ration shop owner and social worker from
Amraiwadi.
Angry dalits along with shop owners held a protest in Amraiwadi on
Friday. The agitators sought withdrawal of the form with immediate
effect.
Social workers too have strongly protested against the move. Manjula
Pradeep, director of NGO Navsarjan, said that castes have been made an
issue unnecessarily. "This is not limited to ration cards. Various
forms and schemes of the government ask for such details. On the one
hand, they claim they have abolished the system and on the other,
their own documents use caste identities," she said.
Girish Parmar, general secretary of Gujarat Pradesh Congress
Committee, said no other state government has used such words to
describe castes.
"It is an insult to the entire dalit society. We have objected to such
government moves in the past. We will protest against the forms and
give an application to senior government officials on the issue," said
Parmar.
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