Patna, July 3: The National Scheduled Castes Commission (NSCC) chairman P.L. Punia today said that the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government is still way behind in implementation of schemes for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

Punia, who was in the capital to participate at the National Awareness Programme for Scheduled Caste and Tribes said that according to NSCC guidelines, there is provision that a state has to spend 15 per cent of the fund for SC/ST as per their population but the Bihar government is implementing just 7 per cent of Centre’s fund for uplift of SC/ST in the state.

The NSCC chairman also said there is no provision of Mahadalit Commission in NSCC purview — the much-talked about commission of chief minister Nitish Kumar for people belonging to Scheduled Caste category.

Punia also said that as per Supreme Court guidelines there is no provision of creamy layer for SC/ST in reservation policies and efforts should be made so that people under SC/ST category can get reservation in private sectors too. Punia sought a ban on outsourcing of contractual labour saying that it is an exploitation of labour force and more particularly the Scheduled Caste community.

“The outsourcing of contractual labour is an effort by private players to exploit the labour force and Scheduled Castes as these outsourcing companies not only deprive the reserved community of their job but also gives payment much below the prescribed format,” said Punia.

The NSCC chairman asked the state and the central governments to frame rules for protection of the rights of labour force. Punia, a prominent Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh and a member of the Congress, rued that the socio-economic condition of Dalits has not improved significantly because still a huge population of SC/STs are poverty stricken and deprived.

Punia also demanded there is a huge backlog of vacancies for Scheduled Caste and Tribes in the state and central government departments and these must be filled with people belonging from reserved category only and for this the government should come out with special drives for Scheduled Caste and Tribes.