Illiteracy main cause of backwardness of ST/SCs: Sociologist

Eminent sociologist TG Jogdamb today said that illiteracy was the main cause of backwardness of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India.

"Successive governments have taken several populist measures to uplift the Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the country but illiteracy remains the main cause for their backwardness", Jogdamb said while delivering the key-note address of an UGC National seminar on 'Scheduled Caste in India dimension of their socio-economic mobility, inequality and discrimination'.

Emancipation of Dalit, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) should not be just a political slogan but should be earnestly implemented by the authorities by primarily focussing on eradication of illiteracy, he said.

"Dr Ambedkar has emphasized on education among all sections of people in free India's constitution", he added.