GenNext Dalits want economic empowerment
Published: Wednesday, Dec 7, 2011, 8:38 IST
By Shubhangi Khapre | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
The massive Dalit conglomeration at Shivaji Park for the 55th death
anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar mirrored the pragmatic approach
to life with the GenerationNext stressing on economic empowerment.
"I am no longer a prisoner of communal and secular politics. What is
weighing on my mind is economic empowerment. Even our peers are less
nagging and allow us political independence," said 18-year-old Kishore
Gaikwad.
Gaikwad and 20 others from Nashik made the annual pilgrimage to
Chaityabhoomi for Mahaparinirvan Din.
The faction-ridden Dalit organisations no longer provide the same
emotive attraction to the youngsters whose aspire for self reliance.
"There is no denying that self reliance among Dalits will come through
economic empowerment. How long are we going to be at the mercy of the
government and private sectors to provide us opportunities through
reservations? If individuals transform into small entrepreneurs,
Dalits will soon become job givers and not job seekers," said Milind
Kamble, chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries
(DICCI).
"In Maharashtra, 400 members are registered with the DICCI and their
annual turnover is around Rs5,000 crore. There are 2,000 others who
will be made members."
There are 30 crore Dalits in India and 15 crore are empowered to make
a few purchases from the market, pointed out Kamble. This means,
individual Dalit entrepreneurs already have a ready market to exploit.
Until a few years ago, there would be a few vendors selling books and
pamphlets on Ambedkar near Chaityabhoomi. On Tuesday, there were
stalls selling a variety of products — clothes, furniture, kitchenware
and Ambedkar statues.
"There has been a drastic change in the last 15 years. Earlier, a
majority of the stalls were related to health check-ups. Now,
individual Dalits have set up stalls and generate awareness about
social and economic issues," said Dr Tusshar Jagtap, a Dalit activist.
"December 6 is no longer politically dominated... To some extent it
has become a people's movement who are looking for the right answers
and confronting the new socio-economic challenges in society."
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