What’s in a name? Error creates hurdles for Nayaka community

Thousands of members of the “Nayaka” caste have been left high and dry: They are not getting ST certificates as the caste name has been erroneously written as Nayika in Hindi in government records. Moreover, no immediate reprieve seems possible as the matter is currently pending in court.

The issue of this goof up, owing to translation in Hindi, was taken up in the assembly by Pooranmal Saini, MLA of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from Khetri, during Zero Hour on Friday. Saini informed the house that this happened since the name was translated and it has also been uploaded on the department’s website.

He said that because of this, people of the Nayaka caste who go to government offices are not given caste certificates. They are told that they will be classified as Scheduled Castes. Parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Singh Rathore had given the reply as social justice and empowerment minister Arun Chaturvedi had not come to the assembly. Rathore said that the matter is pending in high court and said that state government was in constant touch with the Centre regarding the issue. In this case, the state government has no right to make changes. He also informed about various commissions which were established for inclusion.