http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sonia-invoked-to-quell-scepticism-over-dalit-procurement-quota/articleshow/10600547.cms
Bigwigs oppose dalit procurement quota, but Sonia mantra does the trick
TNN | Nov 4, 2011, 03.49AM IST
NEW DELHI: The proposal to make it mandatory for central government
bodies to source at least 4% of their purchases from enterprises owned
by Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes was greeted with scepticism in
the Cabinet, before an invocation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi
made the doubting Thomases fall in line.
Sources said a number of members of the Cabinet, including three who
are in-charge of large PSUs, strongly expressed their reservations
about the proposal. One the sceptics doubted there were enough
entrepreneurs among dalits/tribals to help the government meet the
mandatory requirement, while another expressed the fear of quality
being compromised.
The misgivings threatened to hold up the decision when one of the
attendees reminded his colleagues that it was Congress president Sonia
Gandhi who had made a commitment to give preference to dalit/tribal
enterprises in government procurements. The Cabinet minister recalled
that Sonia, who visited South Africa in August 2007, was impressed by
the country's policy to leverage public procurements to encourage
businesses promoted by blacks.
The Congress chief, who shared her experience with her colleagues,
made it a point to insist on its incorporation in a meeting she
presided over in January 2009 to draft the party's manifesto for Lok
Sabha polls. Accordingly, the manifesto committed the party to "use
government procurement to stimulate entrepreneurship activities among
SCs/STs.
The decision, which will generate business worth at least Rs 7,000
crore annually for dalit and tribal entrepreneurs, is to be
implemented through Pune-based Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
A group of dalit MPs belonging to Congress who feel that the decision
will help them counter Mayawati politically among the dalits in
poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab called on Sonia to thank her for
the initiative. The delegation included chairman of National
Commission for Scheduled Castes P L Punia, Prem Prakash Guddu,
'Commando' Kamal Kishore, Ashok Tanwar, Praveen Rashtrapal and J D
Seelam.
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