State may approach Prez on release of life convicts

The State government was contemplating approaching the President if the Governor once again rejected its proposal for the premature release of 103 life convicts based on their good conduct.

“We will send a fresh proposal to the Governor. We are also contemplating petitioning the President,” Social Welfare Minister A Narayanaswamy told reporters on Monday.

He said the government had sent proposals in this regard to the Governor on more than two occasions, but he had rejected them on technical grounds. The process of establishing a full-fledged secretariat for other backward classes was in full swing, he said.

A final decision on the schedule of the long-pending caste census in the State, proposed to
be taken up by the Backward Classes Commission, would be taken soon, Narayanaswamy said.

Successive governments had allotted 10,000 to 15,000 acres of land to various dalit organisations so that they could be given to poor dalit families for agriculture purposes.
However, the land continued to remain with the organisations, the minister pointed out.
The government would now take steps to give ownership rights to the beneficiaries, he said.