Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes chairperson Tejinder Kaur has written to the chief secretary Vini Mahajan asking the state government to rename the caste-based villages, towns and other places, besides refraining from using the word Harijan and Girijan in official functioning.
The chairperson, Kaur said it has been brought to the notice of the Commission by various organisations belonging to the SCs that most of the villages, towns, schools, mohallas, Basti, streets, Dharamshalas and societies in the state have caste-based names.
She said in a letter dated 28 July, 2017 to all the heads of the state, issued by the social justice, empowerment and minorities department (reservation cell) Punjab, as per the Union government’s guidelines issued in 1990, it was directed that using the word Harijan and Girijan in official functioning and on the certificates of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes should be refrained.
The chairperson, while asking the chief secretary to intervene personally in the matter, said that directions should be issued for refraining from use of the words Harijan and Girijan in official functioning and the departments concerned such as revenue, rural development and panchayat, local government, school education and registrar cooperative societies should be issued necessary guidelines to ensure renaming of villages and towns, schools, mohallas, basti, streets, dharamshalas and societies.