HYDERABAD: Reasons for the unemployed from Dalit communities in urban and semi-urban areas not able to find jobs were deliberated at length at the second meeting of the series of meetings on ‘Aspirations of Urban and Semi-Urban Dalit Communities - Role of State’ organised here Wednesday by the Centre for Dalit Studies.
Most of the participants opined that lack of proper awareness among Dalit youths about various schemes and opportunities was the main reason for the mismatch between the demand and supply when it comes to jobs in various sectors.
Making a power point presentation, B Jyothi from Gana Computers and G Ravinder from Datapro explained that though job opportunities exist in different sectors, particularly IT and ITES, the youth from Dalit communities, even those from the cities are unable to grab the opportunities for the want of requisite skills.
They said though several programmes and schemes have been introduced from time to time for imparting different skill sets, lack of awareness among the beneficiaries is proving to be a stumbling block for the effective implementation.
Anuradha from Shaheen, an NGO working in Sultanshahi slums of Moghulpura area in Hyderabad, said that hardly 7 per cent of the intended beneficiaries knew about different schemes meant for their empowerment and there by improving their living standards. ‘’We had conducted random surveys and found that apart from lack of awareness, low levels of education, high rate of school dropouts are the other reasons,’’ she said. She agreed that the menace of the middlemen is the reason for different programmes meant for the Dalits not reaching them.
Telangana Vidyavanthula Vedika president Mallepalli Laxmaiah, retired bureaucrat Kaki Madhava Rao, experts Ramachandra Murthy and others, emphasised the need for target-oriented approach for filling up the skill gap.