Bhubaneswar, Aug. 29 -- The National Conference of Chairpersons of Committees of Parliament and State Legislatures on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes began on Friday in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The two-day conference, inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. On this occasion, addressing the conference, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh said that Parliament and its committees serve as a powerful platform to realise the ideals of social, economic and political justice enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.

He said that the Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, constituted in 1968, studies the reports of national commissions and examines the steps taken by the govern...