Shameful that untouchability still exists in TN, says Guv

CHENNAI: Governor RN Ravi on Monday said it is shameful to say that untouchability still exists in the state, which claims to be a more progressive state.

“In the name of power politics, we forgot the reality of the society and how the larger section of the society is deprived,” said the Governor, while inaugurating a girls’ hostel built by Harijan Sevak Sangh.

In a veiled attack on Dravidian parties, the Governor elaborated how the development model in the state has failed to eradicate the social injustice of untouchability.

On education and employment fronts, the Governor said that the gross enrolment ratio (GER) of SC communities is half of the national average. Similar trend prevails in the state of Tamil Nadu, said the Governor.

“We won’t talk about social justice and we will talk about models of development. It is all noise. Let us be compassionate and look at the data how it is. When it comes to jobs, the SC representation in the top category of the government is less or oddly any,” he said and noted that all these years, the SC have been deprived of their rights.

On crime against SC, the Governor said the conviction in SC atrocity cases is only 25 per cent convicted and the remaining 75 per cent are scot-free. “When it comes to the crime against women, rape, outrages to the modesty, it is painful to say that the conviction against the crime against SC women is only about 14 per cent. It means 86 per cent who commit crime go scot-free,” he added.