MP from Punjab, Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal expressed his views in support of the Scheduled Tribes (Fourth Amendment) Bill presented in the Rajya Sabha, saying that he supports the reservation brought for the people involved in saving water, forest and land. Sant Seechewal thanked Union Minister Arjun Munda for introducing the amendment bill and said that he has brought this bill for those people who have been looked down upon in the society till date. Significantly, this bill will provide reservation benefits to the Scheduled Tribes living in the tribal areas of Karnataka.
He said that even today when we have reached the scientific age, we have not been able to end caste discrimination and inferiority complex. He said that even after 7 decades, poverty is still visible because these people have been neglected for centuries. Attacking the system, Saint Seechewal said that the system has considered these downtrodden people as part of just a vote bank.
Sant Seechewal demanded that by this bill these people should be given due respect in the society and priority should be given to education and employment of their children, because these people neither agitate nor express protest because they are happy with their family in what nature gives them. These people live closest to nature and also respect nature. Saint Seechewal said that poor people are honest and hardworking. But till date these people have always been exploited by money, power and politics. Saint Seechewal quoted from Gurbani and said that these people should be given due respect as the principle of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji gives right to equality.
Sant Seechewal said that he hopes that these laws will reach the people for whom they are being made and they will also be included in the facilities of health and education. If they get complete satisfaction then only this bill is beneficial. Poverty in the country will end only when these people start getting facilities in reality.