Won't tolerate upper castes getting SC benefits: Karnataka govt

The statement was passed by Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy

Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy on Tuesday assured the Assembly that the government will not tolerate misuse of benefits meant for Dalits by people belonging to the upper castes.

He was replying to an issue raised by MLAs P Rajeev, N Mahesh, Goolihatti Shekhar, K Annadani and others on people wrongly getting certificates stating they belong to Beda Jangama, one of the 101 scheduled castes.

Mahesh showed some such certificates in which upper castes had become lower castes. “There are at least 12 such certificates issued in the Bengaluru South taluk. One Rachaiah’s son Gurusiddayya Hiremath got a Beda Jangama certificate. In another case, Ravishankar’s son Chandrashekhar Aradhya got an Adi Karnataka certificate,” he said. “These are the priestly class of the Lingayats. They are Brahmins who converted as Lingayats during Basavanna’s time,” he said.

Shekhar also showed some certificates. "I will make many enemies for saying this. These certificates from 2012 issued in Bengaluru North have the names of Dr M Panchaksharaiah, MP Dwarakeshwaraiah, his daughters Sujatha and Shruthi, MP Renukacharya and daughter MR Chetana," he said. “There are only some 3,000 Beda Jangamas. Let’s just issue SC certificates to everyone who asks,” he rued.

Madhuswamy said the Centre notified 101 SCs in 1997 and Beda Jangama was one of them. "If upper castes have taken certificates, we will take action. Government won't allow the well-off to make use of SC benefits. Government won't tolerate it," he said.

"In the Cabinet also, we've discussed that action should be initiated against those who issue these certificates. A circular has been issued as well. There's no question of compromise or protecting anyone," Madhuswamy said.

The minister urged lawmakers to approach tahsildars, assistant commissioners, deputy commissioners or the Civil Rights Enforcement cell.

Rajeev explained how castes with similar sounding names can be mistaken. “In Karnataka, the Dasari caste comes under Category-1 whereas Channa Dasar is SC. Similarly, Bhoyi is Category-1, but Bhovi is SC. Jangama comes under the general category, but Beda Jangama is SC,” he said.

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