Regulating Caste Certificates in Manipur: A New Law for Verification and Uniformity
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance (Reservation, Scheduled Castes, OBCs, Constitutional Provisions, Role of President in assenting to state bills).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (Polity, Governance, Social Justice): Mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections; Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation; Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States.
Key Highlights from the News
The President has given assent to a new law in Manipur regulating the issuance of caste certificates to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) individuals.
The main objectives of this law are to prevent fraudulent cases of caste certificates and to bring uniformity to the certificate issuance procedures.
The law provides for the formation of one or more Scrutiny Committees to examine suspicious caste certificates.
These committees have the authority to take up cases suo motu and investigate certificates.
The committee's decision will be final, and an appeal can only be made to the High Court against it.
It is noteworthy that this law comes in the context of the ethnic conflicts in Manipur.
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