Dalit word set to be barred

Days after the Bombay High Court asked the Union information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry to consider issuing a direction to the media to stop using the word Dalit, the Press Council of India (PCI) is soon likely to issue an advisory on the issue.

Sources stated the I&B ministry is expected to ask the PCI, which is the regulatory body for print media in the country, to study the Bombay high court judgement. Following this, an advisory on the issue is expected.

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court had, last week, asked the Union I&B ministry and the PCI to issue directives to the media to abstain from using the word “Dalit” in reports.

The court order stated “the Central government/state governments and its functionaries would refrain from using the nomenclature “Dalit” for the members belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as the same does not find mention in the Constitution of India or any statute.”

Sources stated the I&B ministry is unlikely to issue any advisory on its part and is expected to ask the PCI to take a call on the issue. It is understood that the PCI advisory on the issue is expected within a month.

The Centre had also recently issued an advisory, in which the use of Dalit was barred in official communication. In the March circular, the government had asked all state and Central government departments to avoid the nomenclature “Dalit”.

THE NOMENCLATURE “Dalit” for the members belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes does not find mention in the Constitution, the court said.