A factual and complete picture of how truly castes and communities of Kerala are represented in government service can be obtained only when the caste/community details of employees in various government departments are uploaded in the e-CDESK web portal of Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes and when these details are checked alongside the socio-economic caste census data, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, O.R. Kelu said in the House on July 10.
He was replying to a calling attention motion by T.V. Ibrahim on the need for adequate representation of minorities and backward classes in government service. Caste/community details of all permanent employees in every government department and institution are being entered into the e-CDESK web portal by trained nodal officers in departments/institutions since August 2017 . The process is ongoing, Mr. Kelu said.
Meanwhile, the government abides by its policy of giving 40 % reservation to minorities and backward classes in government service to ensure adequate representation of all communities. At present, Muslim community, which should rightfully get 11% representation, is getting 13.5%.
The government has also taken all measures to ensure that the representative reservation set aside for one community is utilised only for that particular community. It is also running special training programmes to train candidates from backward communities to enter government service through competitive exams and this facility has been utilised by some 34,000 candidates so far. The government has also set aside ₹20 crore in the Budget to provide scholarships to SC/ST students, Mr. Kelu said.
