'Guj CMs don't call mandatory meetings'

AHMEDABAD: From Keshubhai Patel to Anandiben, chief ministers of Gujarat have habitually neglected calling meetings of the body meant to ensure rights of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, said activists on Tuesday.
On basis of an RTI reply obtained from state social justice and welfare department, activists claimed that from 1995 to August 19, 2016, chief ministers of Gujarat have held only seven meetings of the precautionary and monitoring committee for SC/ST rights, instead of the required 42 meetings.Under the SC, ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, the state head has to call such meetings twice a year to discuss the issue of violence against dalits and tribals, Kirit Rathod, convener of Gujarat Anusuchit Jati Atyachar Sangharsh Samiti, said.
Rathod stated that not a single meeting to discuss atrocity cases and to ensure rights of dalits and tribals was called by the previous chief minister Anandiben Patel. During the regime of Narendra Modi, only six such meetings had been called, as he held it once every two years. Modi, now the Prime Minister, had called such meetings in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013. In Keshubhai's regime, only one meeting was held. tnn