Chandigarh: Observing how the media referred to Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi as a 'Dalit,' the state's Chairperson of the Scheduled Castes Commission, Tejinder Kaur, issued instructions on Tuesday not to use the nomenclature to identify anyone from the Schedule Castes.
Since there have been allegations that some private satellite TV channels have violated the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry's prior restriction against the use of the word Dalit in reports, Kaur claims that the ministry has sent a notice to those media.
In a statement released here, Kaur said that the term "Dalit" does not find mention in the Indian Constitution or any other legislation.
Even the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has instructed all state governments and Union Territory administrations to refer to people who are SCs as Scheduled Castes rather than Dalits.