Overview

• The two-day meeting in Odisha ended with the Bhubaneswar Declaration 2025 adopted as a common Centre–state agenda for SC/ST welfare.
• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked states without legislative SC/ST committees to constitute them and said the parliamentary panel will take the conference suggestions to governments.
• Birla noted that governments accept roughly 70–80% of parliamentary committee recommendations and called for tighter budget reviews and stronger monitoring of schemes.
• Organisers cited about 200 delegates from Parliament and 19 states, with attendees including Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi and Union ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan.
• Speakers emphasised non-partisan committee work, better fund utilisation, field oversight and technology use to accelerate socio-economic development for SC and ST communities.