Gurjjars8217; ST status demand rejected

The summary of the 294-page report submitted by the committee headed by Justice Jasraj Chopra said it would be desirable to provide the benefits to Gurjjars in a special package rather than incorporating them in already existing schemes.

The report suggested scrapping of the criteria used so far to include any class of people in the list of Scheduled Tribe as these have become 8216;obsolete and outdated8217;.

It asked the state government to take immediate steps to set up a board to attend to the problems faced by the people living a life of abject poverty in inaccessible and remote areas like ravines, forests and hills where development has not yet reached as these are the places where most of the backward among the Gurjjars reside and for whom their community leaders had raised their voice.

The Gurjjars had waged a violent campaign across Rajasthan for ST status in May and June this year during which 26 people were killed in police firing and clashes with Meena community members who already enjoy ST status but oppose the same for Gurjjars.

The Chopra committee report said development of remote and inaccessible areas where Gurjjars live should not wait for the outcome of a classificatory exercise.

For this purpose, the government should benevolently allocate sizeable funds for a reasonable period of time by reprioritising its developmental activities, according to the report.

Emphasis will have to be paid on building roads to link the communities living in underdeveloped and remote areas with the mainstream, motivating the children of these families to get educated and improving health and hygiene of their members through provisions of drinking water, immunisation against major illness and better care of children and of the aged, it concluded.

The state cabinet announced the setting up of a four-member committee to prepare a special pakcage for Gurjjars based on the committee8217;s report.

The committee will be headed by BJP Treasurer Ramdas Agarwal and have three ministers G S Tiwari Education, Digamber Singh Health and Madan Dilawar Social Justice and Empowerment.

The committee is of the view that the existing criteria to classify a particular community as ST should be replaced by quantifiable criteria that are relevant in the present context and could stand judicial scrutiny and enable future commissions or committees appointed by the government to examine the issue with exactitude and reliability.

Gurjjars threaten stir, knock at Rajnath8217;s door

Meanwhile, Gurjjars threatened to launch afresh a stir even as BJP high command promised to talk to party8217;s government in the state to resolve the matter.

Soon after the Justice Jasraj Chopra committee submitted its report to the Rajasthan government, a delegation of Gurjjar leaders, headed by NCP Rambir Singh Bidhuri, met BJP president Rajnath Singh here to seek his intervention in the matter.

Bidhuri said after the meeting with Singh that Gurjjars would launch nationwide stir to press the demand for grant of ST status to the community.

8220;The agitation will not confine to Rajasthan but will spread to other parts of the country if our demand is not met immediately,8221; he said.

Singh said he would talk to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on the issue.

8220;Justice Chopra committee has just submitted the report and the state cabinet will decide on the issue. The CM is coming here tomorrow and I will discuss with her the matter,8221; the BJP chief said.

The Chopra committee, while rejecting the demand for ST status, suggested a special package to members of the community living in under-developed and remote areas of the state.

The state8217;s BJP government decided to forward the report to the Centre without any comment or recommendation of its own on the 294-page report.