Delhi will soon issue a notification to replace the word “Harijan” with “Dr Ambedkar” in the names of streets and colonies in the national capital, social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said on Thursday.

Delhi has several “Harijan Bastis”, including in Vikaspuri, Palam and Kondili. Harijan Colony is a street in south Delhi’s Kalkaji locality.

Delhi will be one of the first states in the country to curb the use of the word which many people claim is “offensive and derogatory”, Gautam told PTI.

He said a parliamentary committee had recommended that the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment issue fresh guidelines to all departments and the state governments, asking them to not use the term.

In April 2018, the ministry wrote to all states and Union territories to avoid using the words “Dalit” and “Harijan” when referring to people belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. It asked them to use “Scheduled Caste” and its translation in other languages for official communication.

“We have been working in this direction since 2019. The Delhi SC/ST/OBC Welfare Department wrote to the urban development department, emphasising that it is a derogatory word and people belonging to Scheduled Castes do not like it,” Gautam said.

Bihar census

Patna: The Bihar cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to caste-based census and set aside Rs 500 crore for the exercise that, according to the government, would be completed by February 2023.