Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has directed all public institutions, educational bodies, and departments to stop using the term “Harijan”.
Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Commissioner-cum-Secretaries have been instructed to ensure that the word “Harijan” does not appear in any official communication, records, transactions, caste certificates, publications, departmental names, or any other form of use.
According to a notification issued by the ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, the term ‘Scheduled Caste’ (in English or its equivalent in Odia or other recognised national languages) must instead be used to refer to communities listed under Article 341 of the Indian Constitution.
Authorities are also directed to educate staff on this change and update existing documents and records accordingly.
It followed guidelines issued by Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC), prohibiting the use of the word ‘Harijan’, These guidelines will be strictly enforced in all government offices.
The word ‘Harijan’, Mahatma Gandhi’s name for the “untouchables” of his time, has long been seen as derogatory, depreciating the status of the under-privileged sections of society. A similar order was passed in 2013 following fresh guidelines issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to all the states directing to ensure non-use of Harijan word not only in caste certificates but also in official communications.