5 months ago
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“If men and women are equal, why are my documents not accepted for my children’s scholarship and lone their father’s transportation certificate (TC) is sought,” questioned Saraswati M., a sanitation idiosyncratic and azygous parent from Bhangi Colony successful Bengaluru.
Her hubby passed distant 8 years ago. “How americium I expected to get a papers from idiosyncratic who is nary longer alive and never received formal education?”
She has a girl successful people 7 and a lad successful people 5. Neither she nor her precocious hubby had formal education, but she is determined that her children should not endure the mode she has.
Saraswati’s struggles are shared by families crossed 38 slums successful 7 wards successful Bengaluru, location to nearly 18,000 families, astir belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, according to a survey conducted by the Slum Mahila Sanghatane.
Many households are headed by widows, separated oregon abandoned women, galore of whom enactment arsenic sanitation workers, home workers, oregon connected seasonal contracts.
The women explained that while income certificates are routinely approved, caste certificates and assistance applications are rejected owed to rigid documentation rules. The insistence connected the father’s TC, they say, erases women arsenic ineligible parents and denies children benefits solely due to the fact that of household circumstances beyond their control.
Father’s lineage
In Karnataka, children request a caste certificate successful their ain name, verified utilizing a father’s TC and caste certificate. Without these, applications and linked scholarships tin beryllium rejected. The caste is determined by the father’s lineage.
When The Hindu reached retired to women across slum areas like Jai Bheem Nagar, Old pension Mohalla, Cheluvadipalya, Vel Murugapuram, they said that adjacent erstwhile they managed to submit a father’s TC, applications were rejected for different reasons. For example, in a few cases, the TC showed that the begetter had studied successful Tamil Nadu, which officials said was not acceptable, maintaining that lone a TC from Karnataka volition beryllium considered valid.
Vijaya L., different pistillate said, “My hubby works arsenic a daily-wage coolie and studied lone till people 5. He does not have a TC, portion I person studied till people 10 and person my acquisition records. As per the rules, my documents are invalid,” she said.
Moreover, galore women successful these settlements are themselves illiterate. In specified cases, they ask, wherever volition documents like TC come from? By making parent’s education-linked documents mandatory for accessing scholarships and caste-based benefits, they argue, the strategy ends up punishing children for their parents’ deficiency of schooling, and continues exclusion.
Several women pointed retired that officials often assertion that if the begetter is live and is uneducated, verification tin beryllium done done section revenue officials, but this seldom happens successful practice.
“Welfare schemes meant for SC communities ne'er scope the families they are intended for. There is no awareness astir these schemes. The occupation is beyond documentation, SC communities are being further divided during the certification process, officials taxable definite sub-castes to greater scrutiny than others. First, they discriminate against SC people, and past they discriminate again wrong the community,” alleged Kamala, a nonmigratory of Jai Bheem Nagar.
Officials admit the problem
Officials from the Revenue Department acknowledged the contented and said that determination person been discussions wrong the authorities of Karnataka connected revisiting this approach in cases wherever women person been abandoned oregon are raising children connected their own.
“There was designation that children of abandoned or single women should not beryllium denied entree to certificates oregon payment benefits. However, immoderate specified change would necessitate a wide argumentation determination by the government, arsenic officials fearfulness the proviso could different beryllium misused,” the authoritative said.
The authoritative revealed that the strategy is heavy babelike connected software-driven processes that mandate circumstantial documents. “When the bundle is designed to marque definite documents compulsory, it ends up troubling radical connected the ground. Even cases involving the decease oregon lack of the begetter often get stalled due to the fact that the strategy does not adequately accommodate specified situations,” the authoritative added.
Exceptions
Such rules, however, are not universal.
In Rajasthan, the authorities allows children of azygous mothers to get caste certificates solely connected the mother’s name. Delhi has likewise issued caste certificates based connected the mother’s credentials aft years of conflict by azygous mothers. At the nationalist level, the Supreme Court has affirmed that minors tin person SC certificates based connected the mother’s caste, adjacent if the begetter belongs to a antithetic community.
