Maharashtra government decides to rename localities with caste-based names

In keeping with Maharashtra’s reputation as a progressive State, its government has decided to rename settlements and localities that have caste-based names. In March 2018, the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre asked the State and Central government departments to stop using the word Dalit in official correspondence while describing the Scheduled Castes. The March 2018 letter from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, addressed to all Chief Secretaries, said: “All the State governments/Union Territory administrations are requested that for all official transactions, matters, dealings, certificates etc., the constitutional term, ‘Scheduled Caste’ in English, and its appropriate translation in other national languages should alone be used for denoting the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes notified in the Presidential Orders issued under Article 341 of the Constitution of India.” The letter cited an order passed by the Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on January 15, 2018, which said “…that the Central government/State government and its functionaries would refrain from using the nomenclature ‘Dalit’ for the members belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as the same does not find mentioned in the Constitution of India or any statute”. The order was passed in a public interest litigation petition filed by a Gwalior-based social worker named Mohanlal Mahor, who wanted government and non-government organisations to stop using the word Dalit because he said it had no constitutional standing and was used in a derogatory manner. In September 2018 the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting sent out an advisory to all private satellite TV channels asking them to cease using the word Dalit for people belonging to the Scheduled Castes, in compliance with the Bombay High Court directive.