HYDERABAD:Dalit employees, entrepreneurs, leaders and activists pledged to stay united and pay back to society by lending a helping hand to the downtrodden people belonging to Scheduled Castes on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of BR Ambedkar’s Agra Declaration.
“BR Ambedkar had wished politicians and employees who had benefited from the reservation will support and work for uplift of the underprivileged in their community. We have to stand up to Ambedkar’s aspirations and carry forward the great work done by him,” said former bureaucrat Kaki Madhava Rao here on Wednesday.
Madhava Rao, along with Dalit intellectuals Mallepalli Laxmaiah, YB Satyanaryana and others, formed BR Ambedkar’s Agra Declaration Karyacharana Committee to commemorate Ambedkar’s public speech in Agra in 1956. The committee aims to unite Dalits in influential posts and motivate them to work for the cause of Scheduled Caste (SC) people.
Many Dalit employees are striving to educate and develop the youth and children of the community by setting up Ambedkar Vignan Kendras and creating awareness about various education and career opportunities. Slowly a feeling is growing among Dalit employees that they should strive to turn Dalit children into successful professionals, said RS Praveen Kumar, secretary of TS Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society.
Praveen Kumar urged SC leaders and activists to enrol SC children in TSSWREIS schools.
Mallepalli Lakshmaiah stressed the importance of education and skill development for SC youth. He exhorted to his community men to to join hands with like-minded people of other communities and strive for achieving equality and development.
Besides education, the importance of land for Dalits was also stressed by the speakers.
“Forget giving land to Dalits. Governments are taking away land from Dalits in the name of development. Mostly, it is Dalits’ land which is being acquired by government for SEZs and projects,” academican and activist S Vijaya criticised.
Popular balladeer Gadar appealed to the government to nationalise land and industries for achieving equality.
Dalit activists Chalam, YB Satyanarayana and Jhansi, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (South) president Ravi Kumar were also present.