NEW DELHI: Hundreds of people on Monday marched to Delhi from different states and gathered at Jantar Mantar on the issue of Dalit rights and social justice. The people were carrying with them lakhs of signatures supporting a charter of demands addressed to the President of India, which included strict implementation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, distribution of land to the landless, ending of privatization of the public sector, revoking of the new education policy among other prominent issues. Talking to this correspondent, Subhashini Ali, ex-MP, said,
“The existing laws like SCs/STs (prevention of atrocities) Act, bonded labor act and other acts regarding Dalits should be implemented properly”. She emphasized that manual scavenging has been outlawed in the country but it is still being practiced. “If Kerala can abolish it, why can’t other states do it?” she said.
Vikram Singh, joint secretary of All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, said that the agenda of the event was to let people know about govt atrocities towards the Dalits. He added that they are demanding stringent punishment for those guilty of assaulting Dalit women and girls etc. One of the participants, Sukhdarshan Singh, who came from Punjab, said that they want govt to increase outlay for MGNREGA, ensure a daily wage of 600 per day and 300 workdays, so that they can support their family.
Sunita Devi, another participant from Bihar, said, “We do not have a proper house to live and land to cultivate. Till when will we survive like this?” A standing executive committee, consisting of A Vijayaraghavan, N Periasamy, A Ramamurthi, Sri Ram Chaudhary also presided over the meeting, which was addressed by several Members of Parliament including John Brittas and Sivadasan of CPI-M, M. Selvaraju and Benoy Viswam of CPI and Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD.