Sardarpur (Madhya Pradesh): In a significant development, out of 10,000 caste certificates, 4,000 have been processed and sent to janpad education centre for further distribution to schools, essential for accessing various educational and governmental benefits. Approximately 455 schools in the Sardarpur tehsil submitted applications for caste certificates under the Caste Certificate Maha Abhiyan in 2023.
The state government launched a special campaign in January-February 2023 to issue caste certificates to students from classes 1 to 8. Teachers collected documents from students, including Aadhaar cards, Samagra IDs and caste certificates of parents or siblings, and submitted them to the public service centres.
The Maha Abhiyan aimed to provide free caste certificates to students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Reports also indicate that some students were asked to even pay for their caste certificates, despite the government mandate for free issuance. The delay has caused problems for students trying to fill out profile registration forms, which require caste certificate authentication.
However, after one-and-a-half years, public service centres had not processed these applications, causing considerable difficulties for the students. The situation changed following a report published by Free Press on July 24, which highlighted the delays and the challenges faced by students due to the lack of caste certificates.
As a result, out of approximately 10,000 caste certificates, 4,000 have already been processed and sent to the janpad education centre for distribution to schools. Janpad education centre caste certificate in-charge Anokhilal Chaudhary said that public service centres have processed 4,000 caste certificates, which are being distributed to local schools. The remaining certificates were being processed, although some delays are attributed to missing documentation from the schools.
