JAIPUR, April 1, 2011
'Dalit women sarpanches a harassed lot'
Special Correspondent
A State-level consultation on empowerment of Dalit women elected
representatives in progress in Jaipur on Thursday. Photo Rohit Jain
Paras
A State-level consultation on empowerment of Dalit women elected
representatives in progress in Jaipur on Thursday. Photo Rohit Jain
Paras
Speakers at a State-level consultation on empowerment of Dalit women
elected representatives here on Thursday expressed concern over the
women sarpanches belonging to Dalit communities being harassed,
intimidated and even subjected to violence and not being allowed to
perform their duties by influential people in villages.
Dalit campaigners, women activists, academicians, legislators and
lawyers taking part in the consultation said the panchayat secretaries
and staff often do not cooperate with Dalit sarpanches in the
execution of development works because of caste prejudices. This
attitude defeats the spirit of Panchayati Raj implemented with "much
fanfare" in Rajasthan, they said.
The consultation was organised jointly by the National Campaign on
Dalit Human Rights and the Jaipur-based Centre for Dalit Rights at
Kisan Bhavan here. The participants noted that the violence against
women made up 14.8 per cent of the crimes against Dalits registered
under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Minister of State for Revenue Murarilal Meena, releasing a report
prepared by Dalit groups on the completion of 20 years of the SC/ST
(PoA) Act, said the budget sanctioned for development of the Dalits
was generally spent on other heads in several States: "This situation
calls for immediate intervention by civil society and elected
representatives".
National Dalit Movement for Justice general secretary Sirivella Prasad
in his keynote address said despite the SC/ST (PoA) Act completing
over 20 years of existence, the police in the atrocity-prone States
like Rajasthan are not trained to register the cases under correct
penal provisions. Consequently, the perpetrators of crimes against
Dalits are not brought to justice.
Providing the figures of cases registered under the Act in 2007-08 as
an illustration, Dr. Prasad said 24.7 per cent of the 2,307 cases
booked during the year pertained to untouchability, 18.8 per cent were
land disputes and 13 per cent were about the mob violence against
Dalits and tribals.
"It is the [collective] responsibility of civil society to end
discrimination against the Dalits," he said.
While CDR patron P. L. Mimroth said the prejudices prevailing against
the Dalits in Rajasthan had their roots in the State's "feudal past",
CDR chairman R. K. Ankodia said the protest by Dalits against
discrimination was often given a political twist to either force the
victims to remain silent or drive them away from their native
villages.
Kathumar MLA Babulal Bairwa, former civil servant Satyanarain Singh,
former Inspector-General of Prisons Radhakant Saxena, woman activist
Nishat Hussain and representatives of United Nations Development
Programme were among those who addressed the consultation.
The demands raised at the end of the consultation included regular
meetings of the Monitoring and Vigilance Committees at the district
and State levels, stringent action on the complaints of violence
against Dalit women elected representatives, initiation of land
reforms to give land rights to Dalits and prompt utilisation of budget
earmarked for welfare and development of the Dalits.
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