Social Justice Minister says Punia should resign

Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes PL Punia should resign on moral grounds as he was nominated by the previous government, Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot today said.
He stressed that a person nominated by the previous government should not continue.
"After there is change in the Government, the appointees and nominees of those parties should not continue as the chairman of the Commission on moral grounds," he said on the sidelines of a Conference of Ministers of Welfare in States and Union Territories here.
"The Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes is a Congress man. Henceforth, he should not continue as the Chairman of NCSC," he said.

Addressing the gathering, he said his Ministry was catering to over 70 crore population in the country comprising SCs, OBCs and differently-abled people.
Gehlot also said that a survey would be conducted to enumerate the number of transgenders in the country to list them as a third gender.
Expressing concern over non-utilisation of funds by some State Governments, he said, "People are under the impression that one should bribe to avail benefits of Government schemes, particularly, those implemented by the NGOs. I appeal to all to increase the monitoring system on implementation of schemes".
In his address, Sudhir Bhargava, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment said 90 per cent of the ministry's funds are being spent through state governments.