NHRC issues notice to Rajasthan Govt. over Dausa humiliating graffiti

Taking suo motu cognisance of the humiliating graffiti on the houses of BPL families in Rajasthan's Dausa district, the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued notice to the state government and asked it to reply with four weeks.

This comes at the backdrop of a report as per which the graffiti was painted in yellow by administration with their names and a message on it saying, "I am poor, receive ration from National Food Security Act (NFSA)."

The commission has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of the state and has asked to submit a detailed report in the matter, along with action taken against the guilty officials, within four weeks.

 

The commission, in its letter, stated that if the reports are true then it amounts to violation of the Right to Dignity of the beneficiaries of the scheme.

"No civilized society would ever appreciate such an imprudent and irrational act of the state authorities," the NHRC wrote in its letter.

Around 70 percent of the total population of this region takes benefit of this government scheme and have this humiliating message painted outside their houses.

As per local administration, this initiative was taken so that only the needy can avail the benefits of the governments' scheme.

"At the time of the Congress, many got themselves registered to avail the benefits of the government's scheme. But the one who deserve to get the right are still deprived of it. The ruling government has taken this initiative for the backward class," said an NFSA official.

Meanwhile, the villagers also claimed that they were told that they will be paid Rs. 750 if they allowed their homes to be marked.

"Even when we opposed, they painted our walls with this message. We feel very humiliated but what can we do. The government is just making fun of us by painting this," said a villager.

The NFSA was undertaken during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, as per which the people belonging to backward classes were given five kilograms of food grains per person per month at subsidised rates.