Mumbai, March 3 The Maharashtra government has decided to rename 416 hostels run by the Social Justice Department after the eminent social reformers, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Savitribai Phule, officials said on Tuesday.
According to a government resolution (GR) issued by the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, the hostels for boys will be named after Dr Ambedkar, while those for girls will be named after Phule, the 19th-century pioneer of education for women in India.
The decision applies to 416 of the total 449 hostels functioning under the department across the state. In addition, all newly established government hostels for boys and girls will also bear the names of Dr Ambedkar and Phule, respectively, according to the GR.
Currently, several of these hostels use the term 'backward class' in their names.
The government said that the term refers to socially disadvantaged sections and reflects social inequality, thereby limiting the identity of institutions to a specific group. Therefore, the state government has decided to remove the term and rename the hostels after eminent personalities.
There are 449 government hostels in the state – 231 for boys and 218 for girls – with a total intake capacity of 46,673 students – 24,958 for boys and 21,715 for girls, according to the GR.
These hostels are equipped with a range of amenities, including television sets, water purifiers and coolers, and fire-fighting systems, it added.