Caste on your birth certificate?

Mumbai: Your birth certificate may soon carry your caste. And getting a caste and domicile certificate will no longer entail multiple trips to various government offices.
In a radical move, the central government has proposed an annual exercise of issuance of caste and domicile certificates to students while they are in school. The Centre is also mulling over the possibility of issuing 'Caste Certificate' and the 'Residence /Domicile Certificate' of the students from SC/ST communities all over the country when they are in Class V or Class VIII.
The proposed procedure is such: the school principal collects the necessary documents from class V/VIII students, submits them to the state authorities who in turn scrutinize them and issue the certificates within 30-60 days.The certificate would be handed over after laminating it.
“With a view to ease the difficulties faced by the SC/ST students, it is proposed that caste or tribe certificate and also the residence certificate may be issued to SC/ST students, all over the country, while studying in Class V/Class VIII, as an annual exercise,” said a notification sent to all the states by the department of personnel. “The possibility may also be explored to indicate the SC/ST status in the birth certificate,” the proposal added.
The notification comes in the light of various representations received by the Centre regarding difficulties faced by SC/ST candidates and other than them, in obtaining caste /tribe /residence certificates, while applying for admission, posts and services under the Central government, said an official.
This matter was earlier deliberated and the department of school education, ministry of human resources development supported it and stated that caste certificate could be prepared and distributed when students were in Class V. “Several students drop out after school for lack of cast certificates, many others miss out on benefits extended to them and some others can’t avail of the reservation in employment because of lack of a caste certificate,” said the principal of a school.
Last month, this matter was discussed with the principal secretaries of various state governments in a meeting chaired by the minister of state for personnel (Public Grievances & Pensions).