Social legislations and civil rights of scheduled casts in India

The book "Effectiveness of Protection of Civil Rights Act" is the first of Its kinds in the country. Though the PCR Act has a clear mandate that there should be periodical surveys to assess the working of the various provisions of the Act, until now there was not even a single survey. The Min istry of Social Welfare sanctioned this Project and the present book is based on the field work.

The data were collected from four Southern States, namely Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The book exposes the wide gaps between the professed policies of the Government and the actual implementation. It makes a critical and frank asessment of the soial situation.

The Book is divided into six chapters with eighty two tables. Chapter I deals with the intro ductory remarks about the problems, Civil Right Enforcement cell, Research design, etc, Chapter II has important material on the awareness and participation of the S.castes in implementing the provisions of the Act. The role of the activists in so far as the problems of the victims are concerned is presented in Chapter III. The Role of the Police is presented in Chapter IV. What role the lawyers, judges play in implementing the provisions of the Act is presented in Chapter V and the last chapter deals with Conclusions and recommendations.

The book is an eye opener to all those who have faith in human righrs. Despite the constitu tional guarantees and the social legislation framed ther under, the rural social scenario remains al most unchanged. The enforcement authorities have failed in their duty by and large. The book makes and impartial attempt to expose the merits and demerits of the Civil Righs Enforcement cell, the Poice and the judiciary.

The book presents a comparative analysis of the situation in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It is evident form the book that while Kerala has shown the best results, other states have miserably failed. Lack of determined political will and social action have stalled effec tive implementation of the Act.

The book presents radical recommendations to arrest the growing injustice to the S. castes and to enthus confidence and effective in..plementa tion of the Act.