Odisha Govt Asks Departments To Stop Using 'Harijan' Word In Official Communications

The Odisha government on Monday directed all its departments and institutes to stop using the word “harijan” in communications, PTI reported citing officials. The letter was issued on August 12 by the commissioner-cum-secretary of the ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Class Welfare Department and was sent to all the additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, and commissioner-cum-secretaries. 

The government asked all employees to employ words like “scheduled caste” in English and “anusuchita jati” in Odia or other national languages to “denote persons belonging to scheduled castes as notified under Article 341 of the Constitution".  

The authorities have also asked for educating the staff and updating the records pertaining to this. The action was prompted after the guidelines issued by the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC), prohibiting the use of the word “harijan”. 

"They have been instructed to ensure that the word 'harijan' does not appear in any official communications, records, transactions, caste certificates, publications, departmental names, or any other form of use," one of the officials told PTI. 

Guidelines on using the word “harijan” have been issued in the past as well. In 1982, the Centre had asked all state governments not to use the term 'harijan' to refer to Dalits. 

A similar order was issued to all states in 2013, following fresh guidelines by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, instructing them to ensure non-use of the 'harijan' word not only in caste certificates but also in official communications. 

What is the origin of the word Harijan?

The term “harijan” was coined by Narsinh Mehta, a Gujarati poet-saint of the Bhakti tradition, which translates to “children of god”. Mahatma Gandhi, an admirer of Mehta's work, first used the word in the context of identifying Dalits in 1933. 

With PTI inputs