Govt issues 8 lakh caste certificates in four years

In a major development towards developed of backward classes, the Backward Classes Welfare Department has issued 8 lakh caste certificates in the past four years.

During the erstwhile Left Front government 2.5 lakh caste certificates had been issued. It may be recalled that the issuance of this certificate is very important as without this, the SC, ST and OBC people could not approach any government department for facilities. It may be mentioned that between 2007-08 to 2010-11, a total of 11,34,009 SC and OBC certificates had been issued which has gone up to 38,99,591 from 2011-12 to 2015-16 (December, 2015).

This has become possible after the BCW department introduced e-enabled services for issuance of caste certificates and disbursement of all types of scholarships resulting in transparency, speedy disposal, easy access and increased coverage during the last four years. The online processing of caste certificate is operational in 65 out of 66 sub divisions.

The online processing and disbursement of scholarships through Direct benefit Transfer system has benefitted the students resulting in enhanced coverage. From disbursement of 7.5 lakh SC/ST/ OBC scholarship in 2011, in 2015-16 around 12.50 lakh SC/ST/OBC will be benefitted.

The Shikhashree schme has been introduced for the SC students of classes V to VIII in which 25 lakh students were covered. The scholarship is paid directly to the bank accounts of the students.

To cater to the demands of the outstation students 62 school attached with Ashram hostels other than Babu Jagjivan Ram Chatrawas Yojana (BJRCY) hostels have been constructed. An amount of Rs 7.15 crore has been utilised during 2011-12 to 2015-16 (December). Under BJRCY, 35 new hostels have been approved during the last three years as compared to only 9 during 2007-08 to 2010- with more than 4000 student enjoying the facility.

The State government has taken major step to sponsor SC candidates who want to sit for IAS and WBCS examinations. In 2014-15, 14 aspirants were sent to Delhi to take coaching.