http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Can_child_be_Dalit_if_father_is_not/articleshow/2912383.cms
Can child be Dalit, if father is not? 31 Mar 2008, 0024 hrs IST,Subodh Ghildiyal,TNN NEW DELHI: The social justice ministry wants Dalit status for a child born to a non-SC father and a Dalit mother, despite the law ministry terming the move illegal on technical grounds. The social justice ministry is looking to overturn an apex court order which had ruled that a child of a non-SC father would be ineligible for SC status because, by convention, caste is inherited from the father. The ministry, however, feels that the principle making the father the sole determinant of a child's caste status militates against the idea of "gender equality". In the process, it has chosen to ignore objections from key ministries against the idea and its implications, as well as the proposal's technical soundness. The law ministry has observed that the proposal seeks to include children of inter-caste Dalit marriages in the notification issued under Article 341 (2) of the Constitution, even though its mandate was inclusion or exclusion of a community in the list of caste, race or tribe. "As such, it appears the proposal is not in the spirit of the provisions of Article 341 of the Constitution," the opinion from the department of legal affairs said. The social justice ministry, however, has rejected this view, saying the proposal only looks to widen the scope of the Constitution's provisions about Scheduled Castes under Article 341 (1), which has a precedent in the inclusion of Sikhs and Buddhists in the Scheduled Caste list. The proposal has also invited strong opposition from National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which has expressed apprehension that granting of SC status to a child born to a non-Dalit father would be prone to misuse by general categories.
