The Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday witnessed discussions about having a special reservation category, modelled after the disability quota, for children living in orphanages across the state. There are 17,049 such orphans, as per data shared by Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.
“We wanted all these children to be included either as backward classes or SC/ST. Though my department had requested the social welfare department to include them under one of these categories, they replied that it could not be done. If these children are included in the SC/ST category on humanitarian grounds, it will benefit them,” Hebbalkar said.
The minister cited the difficulty that orphans face in producing caste certificates to apply for documents such as PAN and driving licences. She added that the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes had recommended that orphans be listed under Category 1, more backward classes.
The discussion took place during Question Hour after Congress MLA Nayana Motamma pointed out the challenges faced by orphans in getting admission to institutes of higher education. She said that an orphan seeking admission to a nursing college had run into problems for want of a certificate of family income.
As Hebbalkar requested Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa to include orphans in a special category, Congress MLA P M Narendraswamy said that the department could not issue SC/ST certificates to orphans, as the state was not empowered to do so. There should be a provision made by the Centre, he added.
Speaker U T Khader then advised the Government to hold consultations with stakeholders to make recommendations to the Centre in this regard, as well as take steps at the state level to benefit orphans.