Caste certificates are being issued to landless Baiga tribals
201 Baigas got certificates with the approval of Gram Sabha
Wave of joy among Baiga tribals on receiving caste certificates on Republic Day
Bilaspur, 27 January 2023 / The long standing problem of this tribe has finally been resolved after meeting Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel at his Bhent-Mulaqat programme. The landless Baiga tribals of Bilaspur district have finally got their proper social identity with the issuance of caste certificates.
On the instructions of the Chief Minister, the district administration has started the process of special gram sabhas for caste determination in the villages of tribals having no proper records. Caste certificates are issued by the revenue officers after their caste is approved by the Gram Sabha. Caste certificates have been issued to more than 200 Baiga tribals in the last one week after the ‘Bhent-Mulaqat’ programme was concluded.
There was a wave of joy among these people when they received their caste certificates on the occasion of Republic Day. On the instructions of Collector Saurabh Kumar, Kota SDM distributed caste certificates to a dozen of Baiga tribals today. Now they can take advantage of the government schemes.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel on his recent visit to Takhatpur assembly constituency as a part of his ‘Bhent-Mulaqat Abhiyan’ came to know that caste certificates of a large number of Baiga tribals are not being issued in Kota subdivision of the district. They do not have any documents to prove their caste. There were also some issues regarding organizing the Gram Sabha.
Taking the matter seriously, the Chief Minister instructed senior officials to give clarification in this regard immediately. Soon after getting clarification on the matter, the district administration started organization of the special gram sabhas. In the first phase, gram sabhas were organized in village Parsapani of Takhatpur, Basajhal of Ratanpur and village Dhanras and Nevasa of Kota tehsil. The Gram Sabha unanimously approved these people to be belonging to the Baiga tribal community. On the basis of this, they were issued caste certificates.
Rajesh Kumar Baiga, a resident of Lufa village and Pawan Singh Baiga of Paraspani have expressed their gratitude towards Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel for resolving the issues being faced by their tribal community. The district collector has given instructions to the revenue officials to issue caste certificates under the same process for the remaining tribals without documents.
