By IANS
Raipur : The Chhattisgarh government has decided not to use the word Dalit to refer to Schedule Caste (SC) people in any of its departmental or legal correspondence, saying the word has no constitutional validity, an official statement said Friday.
In a circular issued to all the 18 district collectors, development commissioners, department heads and to the High Court registrar, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development department suggested that the term Dalit not be used while dealing with any matter related to people of the SC category.
“The circular has been issued as per the decision of the National Commission for Schedule Caste,” M.K. Raut, secretary of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe department, said in a release.
“Sometimes the `Dalit’ word is used in government letters and correspondences as a synonym to the SC community. Now, such reference will not be used in any government letters as `Dalit’ is neither a constitutional word nor is it mentioned anywhere in any law of the country,” the statement said.
Scheduled Castes comprise 10 percent of the 20.08 million population of Chhattisgarh. Ten seats in the state’s 90-member assembly have been reserved for the community.