“If men and women are equal, why are my documents not accepted for my children’s scholarship and only their father’s transfer certificate (TC) is sought,” questioned Saraswati M., a sanitation worker and single mother from Bhangi Colony in Bengaluru.
Her husband passed away eight years ago. “How am I supposed to get a document from someone who is no longer alive and never received formal education?”
She has a daughter in class 7 and a son in class 5. Neither she nor her late husband had formal education, but she is determined that her children should not suffer the way she has.
Saraswati’s struggles are shared by families across 38 slums in seven wards in Bengaluru, home to nearly 18,000 families, most belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, according to a survey conducted by the Slum Mahila Sanghatane.
Many households are headed by widows, separated or abandoned women, many of whom work as sanitation workers, domestic workers, or on seasonal contracts.
The women explained that while income certificates are routinely approved, caste certificates and scholarship applications are rejected due to rigid documentation rules. The insistence on the father’s TC, they say, erases women as legal parents and denies children benefits solely because of family circumstances beyond their control.
Father’s lineage
In Karnataka, children need a caste certificate in their own name, verified using a father’s TC and caste certificate. Without these, applications and linked scholarships can be rejected. The caste is determined by the father’s lineage.
When The Hindu reached out to women across slum areas like Jai Bheem Nagar, Old pension Mohalla, Cheluvadipalya, Vel Murugapuram, they said that even when they managed to submit a father’s TC, applications were rejected for other reasons. For example, in a few cases, the TC showed that the father had studied in Tamil Nadu, which officials said was not acceptable, maintaining that only a TC from Karnataka will be considered valid.
Vijaya L., another woman said, “My husband works as a daily-wage coolie and studied only till class 5. He does not have a TC, while I have studied till class 10 and have my educational records. As per the rules, my documents are invalid,” she said.
Moreover, many women in these settlements are themselves illiterate. In such cases, they ask, where will documents like TC come from? By making parent’s education-linked documents mandatory for accessing scholarships and caste-based benefits, they argue, the system ends up punishing children for their parents’ lack of schooling, and continues exclusion.
Several women pointed out that officials often claim that if the father is alive and is uneducated, verification can be done through local revenue officials, but this rarely happens in practice.
“Welfare schemes meant for SC communities never reach the families they are intended for. There is no awareness about these schemes. The problem is beyond documentation, SC communities are being further divided during the certification process, officials subject certain sub-castes to greater scrutiny than others. First, they discriminate against SC people, and then they discriminate again within the community,” alleged Kamala, a resident of Jai Bheem Nagar.
Officials acknowledge the problem
Officials from the Revenue Department acknowledged the issue and said that there have been discussions within the government of Karnataka on revisiting this approach in cases where women have been abandoned or are raising children on their own.
“There was recognition that children of abandoned or single women should not be denied access to certificates or welfare benefits. However, any such change would require a clear policy decision by the government, as officials fear the provision could otherwise be misused,” the official said.
The official revealed that the system is heavily dependent on software-driven processes that mandate specific documents. “When the software is designed to make certain documents compulsory, it ends up troubling people on the ground. Even cases involving the death or absence of the father often get stalled because the system does not adequately accommodate such situations,” the official added.
Exceptions
Such rules, however, are not universal.
In Rajasthan, the government allows children of single mothers to obtain caste certificates solely on the mother’s name. Delhi has similarly issued caste certificates based on the mother’s credentials after years of struggle by single mothers. At the national level, the Supreme Court has affirmed that minors can receive SC certificates based on the mother’s caste, even if the father belongs to a different community.
Published – December 16, 2025 10:56 am IST
