He was speaking after inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Human rights and unorganised labour in India’ organised by the Department of Political Science of the St Aloysius College in association with the Human Rights Cell and Pathways Cell here on Monday.
“The Amnesty International had already listed India as the fifth worst country with large number of human rights violation cases. It is disappointing that there is no institution or mechanism to ensure human rights to farmers, fishermen, forest dwellers and other workers in the unorganised sector in the State.
The government too is not bothered about the protection of human rights of labourers in the unorganised sector,” Saldanha noted.
He said that the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) headed by Justice S R Nayak has not been provided with adequate infrastructure. Also sufficient funds have not been released for it.
“The government did not take corrective measures despite the Commission’s submission of several recommendations and orders related to human rights violations across the State. To ensure protection of human rights, the government needs to set up SHRC units in each taluks in the State,” Saldanha observed.
“The present administrative mechanism helps only the fittest to survive. The system should be changed that even weakest in the society should also survive,” he added.
Centre for Political Studies Jawahar Nehru University, New Delhi Professor Valerian Rodrigues said that civil organisations and individuals should be made duty-bound to protect the human rights.
The State government is meant to protect the human rights.
Let the ministers quit if they fail to ensure human rights to citizens,” he asserted.