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DELHI CENTER
01-01-2001
SSC NEWS
PRESS RELEASE
ON
BHOPAL
DECLARATION
1.
WE commend all those who
had spent their time energy and money, in organising an exclusive Conference at
Bhopal on Dalit Issues, reportedly to Chart a ‘New Course for Dalits for the 21st
Century’ and in preparing and publishing the Bhopal Declaration and Document.
2.
While WE congratulate them
for this, WE will be failing in OUR Duty and Commitment to the SC&ST Dalits
and Dalit Cause, if WE do not speak honestly about the failures and gaps, in
the otherwise beautifully printed Bhopal Declaration and Document, their
shortcomings and limitations.
3.
It is sad that the
Conference had remained exclusive, to a select few or many co-opted elements,
looking for some awards or select placements, excluding many real SC&ST
Dalit Representatives. Particularly
left out, perhaps deliberately were senior Parliamentarians, Intellectuals,
Scholars, Ambedkar Chair Professors and all those associated with the Ambedkar
Foundation, recognised grass root workers, selflessly working silent Dalit
Activists and the few committed officials.
4.
WE must confess that the 21
Point Action Agenda for the 21st Century, released at the Bhopal
Conference sure makes an interesting reading.
But it appears to be slip-shod, repetitive, confused and verbose, with
each point covering multiple issues.
Though We must concede that many Dalit Issues and Problems have been
covered by the Action Agenda, there appears to be a lot of confusion and hurry
in drafting and finalising the Agenda.
Not all the Dalit Issues have been touched upon.
5.
WE find that those in the
Conference at Bhopal had exhibited a clear lack of understanding of the
Constitutional Mandate of Reservation, as evolved in this Country. The participants had failed to keep in their
mind or remember that Reservations for SC&ST Dalits today, is the direct
result of the endless Struggles of the Dalits, particularly under the great
leadership of Baba Saheb Dr BR Ambedkar.
The Reservation, which is distinctly different from the Affirmative
Action of America for the Blacks, is a Fundamental Right, enshrined in the
Constitution. On the other hand, the AA
in USA was adopted there for Political Reasons, in the face of Internal
Pressures and International Criticisms.
It is a Political Right there, but neither is it a Fundamental Right,
nor has it a Constitutional Mandate.
6.
Be that ignorant others or
shallow dalit writers, let none belittle the Great Concept of Reservations as
agreed by Baba Saheb Dr BR Ambedkar, and signed as the Poona Pact 1932. Baba Saheb inked it then at Yerawadha, in
Pune, after a massive long struggle.
That all must remember, in the face of great threats to his person, life
and safety. That was and still is, a
solemn Agreement that remains so. It
has not ever been abrogated by any one.
So it remains, the basic Agreement of Nation Making and Constitutional
Process in this Country - between all the Dalits who number more than 260
million in the Country today, and the few Dominant Caste Hindus. That was signed by Baba Saheb on behalf of
all the Dalits of this Country, after a tenuous but tense long and protracted
negotiations - frustrating most of the times; with Gandhi standing for the DCHs
in the Yerawadha Jail, many of his followers and Congress. And hence, it was built into the
Constitution of Free India, by Baba Saheb right in the Chapter on Fundamental
Rights of the People of this Nation.
7.
Equating or loosely using
AA, while talking about or referring to Reservation for SCs&STs in this
Counry, betrays the shallow understanding and hollowness of Bhopal
Conference. That is the major Weaknes
of those who had organised the Conference, all those who attended and
participated in the discussions; drafted, finalised, accepted and brought out
the 21 Point Action Agenda, and the other Declarations of the Bhopal
Conference.
8.
The documents had also been
prepared so callously and haphazardly that there is neither any sequence and
order nor any priority in the way the Agenda Points have been ordered. These, thus appear to be only a
short-sighted Wish List, to be taken around by the Dalits before various
Authorities and Govts as one more New Petition.
9.
Those behind the
Declarations, had apparently not done their home-works. They had comfortably neglected the
designated role and failures of National Institutions like NSFDC, TRIFED,
Ambedkar Foundation, Ambedkar Chairs in various Universities; and the Ambedkar
Fellows who had been to various Western Universities of repute. They also appear to have been interested in
avoiding the Parliamentary Forum of SCs&STs, and the Parliamentary
Committees on SCs&STs.
10. The major failure of the Conference and its Declarations
is that it had for reasons not stated skirted all the sensitive issues and
burning problems in the Country. They
are either oblivious or did not want to come to grips with those that are
threatening the Future of SC&ST Dalits and also the Nation. And those that
would undo whatever progress the Dalits had made so for, the benefits of
Reservations that had reached the Dalits, and the achievements of Dalits till
date, have been avoided. What would
ruin the future of almost all the hundreds of millions of SC&ST Dalits,
much more and much rapidly have been neglected. Thus silently left out without any discussions are all the
potentially dangerous hot issues like:
·
Changes in Labour Laws to
empower Business, directly against the Interests and Welfare of the Workers,
most of whom are SC&ST Dalits
·
Privatisation instead of
Employment, at the lowest levels of Sweeping and other Labour Intensive or
Dangerous Jobs, traditionally and continuously being forced upon the SC&ST
Dalits
·
Large Scale Transfer of
Institutions, Assets, Infrastructures, Public Community Facilities and Land of
SC&ST Dalits to private hands
·
Concentration of Economic
Assets, Wealth and Power in the Private Hands of a small number of Individuals,
from a few exclusive Caste Groups that have nothing in common not only with the
SC&ST Dalits, but also with the rest of the Country
·
Emergence of MNCs as big
and very influential States with in the Indian State
·
Allowing super and major
Powers to take a foot-hold in the Country, by way of free access to Foreign
MNCs
·
Facilitating super and
major Powers to take roots in the Country, through their Compradore Agents of
Indian Business Houses, and high flying Managerial Experts
·
Permitting Foreign MNCs, to
savour up the successful PSUs that have remained as the backbone of the
Nation’s Economy and Development
·
Dismantling all major
Centers of Economic Self-Reliance, Self-Sufficiency in Food
·
Systematic undoing of
Indigenous Production Capacities
·
Destruction of the Native
Skills of the Rural People, particularly the SC&ST Dalits
·
Promoting and Accelerating
Arms Race in the Sub-Continent and the surrounding Region, that leaves
SC&ST Dalits impoverished, emancipated, and bruskely crudely pushes them
out of any reckoning as people of no consequence
·
Drafting silently
SCs&STs in fundametalist fascist pits, as fodder for their guns, and pit
them as the remote controlled tools against the Minorities like Buddhists,
Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs etc
·
Dumping off crudely the
SC&ST Dalit Interests as dispensable ones.
That, in the guise of solving the administrative failures such as,
adulteration, corruption, inefficiency, inability to control DCHs’ own
white-collar and criminal law breakers.
And that in the name of economy measures, internal pressures,
liberalisation, globalisation, market forces, international pressures or
compulsions. Also put forward in
justification of these reckless DCH Games or the mutually exclusive
contradictions of - cutting down expenditure, need to effect savings even while
internationalising the salaries and prices.
These to bring the at par or in phase with international trends in a
poor backward and developing Nation of massive Illiteracy and unfathomable
Poverty
AN ANALYTICAL
PRESENTATION
OF
BHOPAL
DECLARATION
and
the 21 Point
Action Agenda for the 21st Century
1. Distribute Cultivable Land to each SC&ST Dalit Family
for their Socio-Economic well being, that –
·
each SC&ST Dalit Family
will own enough Cultivable Land
·
the Govts should pursue all
possible measures including Distribution of Surplus Land, Govts’ Revenue Lands
and Temple Lands within a specific time frame
·
if need be, the Govt should
Purchase Cultivable Land and Distribute them amongst the SC&ST Dalits
2. A. Legislate and enforce to ensure SC&ST Dalits have
Equitable Share in Rural and Urban Common Resources
B. Amend
Laws to curb long litigations to deny legal-relief to SC&ST Dalits
3. A. Legislate and enforce to assure Living Wages to
SC&ST Dalit Agricultural Labourers
B. Gender
Parity in Wages
C. Job
Security, better Working Conditions and Welfare Measures to SC&ST Dalits
D. Punitive
Measures for Violations
4. A. Appoint Statutory Committees at the National and Sate
levels to identify within a specified time-frame all SCDalit Lands taken over
by others from them
B. Assess
the Quantum of Compensation to be paid by the non-Dalits for illegally
utilising the SCDalit Lands
C. Identify
the original SCDalit owners of the Lands and their kith and kin, to Restore
back to the SCDalits, their Lands taken over by others
D. Expedite
Legal Proceedings against the illegal occupants of SCDalit Lands
E.
Prosecute and punish those who have taken over the SCDalit Lands
5. A. Restore the Land of the Tribal Dalits grabbed by
others
B. Restore
the Tribal Dalits Right over Forest and Forest Produce
C.
Rehabilitate and Compensate the Tribal Dalits
D. Provide
Resources and Build Capacity of Tribal Dalits for gainful utilization of their
Lands and Forests
E. Make
SC&ST Dalits displaced by Dams, Mining Complexes and other Projects
Share-Holders of such enterprises
6. A. Proportionate Share of Capital to SC&ST Dalits
B.
Budgetary Allocations for SC&ST Dalits to enter and invest in Market
Economy
C. Develop
SC&ST Dalits’ Capacity and Skills to enter Market Enterprises
7. A. Strict enforcement of Bonded Labour System (Abolition
) Act 1976
B. Abolish
Child Labour forthwith
C. Freedom
and Dignity to all SC&ST Dalits
D. Suitable
Amendments to Legislations
8. Rights to all Citizens and SC&ST Dalits, on the basis
of Low-Economic Income Groups without any Religious Discriminations, by
Amending Article 21 of the Constitution, to ensure –
A. A
standard of living of adequate Health to both men and women with adequate food,
safe drinking water, clothing, housing, public health, medical care, social
security and social services
B. Living
Wages
C. Five
acres of Cultivable Land or gainful Employment
9. A. Education – compulsory, free and high quality for all
SC&ST Dalits
B.
Allocation of Funds for SC&ST Dalit Education, proportionate to the numbers
and levels of SC&ST Dalit Illiteracy
C.
Compensation to SC&ST Dalit Families sending Children to Schools,
forfeiting their income from their Childrens’ Labour
D. Increase
the rates and number of SC&ST Scholarships
E. Better
Infrastructure in SC&ST Dalit Schools
F. Market
oriented Vocational and Technical Education to SC&ST Dalits
10. A. Reservation in all Public and Private Educational
Institutions, right from Primary Classes to Technical and Professional
Institutions
B. States
should Finance, Free Quality Education to SC&ST Children of Low Income
Families
C. Enforce
Diversity in Admissions in all English Medium Schools
11. A. Recognition of SC&ST Dalit Women as a Distinctive
Category, different from others
B. Provide
separate Data on SC&ST Dalit Women in all Action Taken Reports, Progress
Reports< Census Reports etc
C. National
and State Plans with adequate financial allocations to Develop SC&ST Women
into mainstream, market enterprises
D.
Reservation for SC&ST Dalit Women in Education, Employment and health
facilities
E. Mandate
National and State SC&ST Commissions, Women Commissions to Study and Report
the Status of SC&ST Dalit Women separately, in their Annual Reports
12. A. Effective Implementation of SC&ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act 1989 and Rules 1995 in letter and spirit, to Prosecute the
guilty in SC&ST Dalits
B. Prosecute the leaders, their minions stoking Caste Clashes, and the Police Officials guilty of conniving
C. Collective Punishment in all cases of
Atrocities against SC&ST Dalits
13. A. Ensure SC&ST Dalit Representation in all
Institutions, without any exception
B. Withdraw
Recognition of Institutions, failing to ensure SC&ST Dalit Representation
C. Stop
Funds to Institutions, failing to ensure SC&ST Dalit Representation
D. Private
Corporate Houses and Industries must accept a implement Reservations in their
Employment
14. A. Center and State must make proportional allocations
for SC&ST Dalits in their Budgets
B. Penal
Action for Non-Utilisation or Diversion of SC&ST Dalit Funds
15. Govt and Private Institutions should Implement
Reservation in allotting Agencies, Dealerships and Distributorship of both
goods and services
16. A. States should be responsible for protecting SC&ST
Dalits
B. States
must identify atrocity-prone areas and deploy forces to protect SC&ST
Dalits
C. Provide
Arms Licenses to SC&ST Dalits for Self-Defence
D. Self-Defense
Groups amongst SC&ST Dalits be made mandatory right from the Village Levels
E. Special
Arms Training to SC&ST Dalit Women for Self-Defence
17. A. Eliminate all forms of Manual Scavenging
B.
Effective Rehabilitation of Scavengers, with alternative and sustainable
employment measures, and development programmes
C.
Prosecute those constructing dry latrines, and employing manual scavengers –
especially the Gross-Violators of Railways, Defense, Local D. Bodies etc
18. A. Statutory Discussion of the Reports of National and
Sate SC&ST Commissions, and the Safai-Karamchari Commissions, by Parliament
and State Assemblies, within a year of the Reports
B. The
SC&ST Commission and Safai-Karamchari Commission Reports must be made
public
C.
Statutory Action on the SC&ST Commission and Safai-Karamchari Commission
Reports, must be made
19. A. All Private Institutions, receiving any State Support
must enforce Reservation
B. Develop
the necessary Capacities and Skills of SC&ST Dalits
20. A. Implement Reservations at all levels of Judiciary and
Defense Forces
Judicial
Appointments must all be made Transparent
The present
System of Judicial Nominations must be scrapped
21. A Truth (White) Paper on Reservations in the last 25
years be brought out within two years, and be discussed in the Parliament and
State Assemblies
B. All
back-log of Reserved Posts be filled immediately with SC&ST Dalits, on a
war footing
IN THE LIGHT OF THE BHOPAL DECLARATION, WE want to make
it clear without any ambiguity that -
1.
RESERVATION is the Result
of an hard earned battle for Justice, Dignity, Equality and Liberty, fought in
an organised way by the then SCs from the 30s and 40s of the last Century,
under the Leadership of Baba Sahib Dr BR Ambedkar.
2.
WE SC&ST DALITS don’t
want to loose or Dilute it, or lay it at the feet of any cunning manipulators.
3.
TODAY, we can not afford to
even discuss Reservation with any.
4.
WE can not at any cost
afford to loose Reservation, even before the Aims and Objectives of Reservation
are in sight, and the Goals and Targets have not been reached.
5.
WE MUST NOT ALLOW the
Reservation, to be reduced to a Political Patronage spurred by the street
forces at the times of hustings.
6.
WE MUST DEVELOP
Reservation, and take it into its logical Dynamics of a true Democracy in a
living Republic, between Equal Groups of People - with Human Dignity, sharing
the Benefits of Development, and making the Destiny of the Nation for a Better
Future.
7.
WE MUST BE CAREFUL,
therefore not to allow any SC/ST Dalit, to be reduced as the –
8.
TARGET of the Public Show
of shallow surface Sympathies of subversive brahmin academicians, activists,
bureaucrats, businessmen, entrepreneurs, industrialists, journalists,
politicians, ‘intellectuals’ etc
9.
BENEFICIARIES of the Public
Drama of false Patronage of the erstwhile exploitative kshatriya rulers,
stepping into public realm to protect their own unfair undemocratic past
privileges, and all their illegally grabbed properties by force and coercion
10. RECEIVERS of Tit Bits, Crumbs, and Leftovers, thrown out selectively by the swindling baniyas,
wishing to wash their sins against the society
11. WE SHOULD therefore not allow Reservations to be reduced
into a poor copy of the Capitalistic Gift, but retain it as mandatory
Reservation, in all spheres of the society.
12. RESERVATIOS MUST BE MADE applicable in all walks of life,
and not bargained away for a silent entry of the American Concept of
Affirmative Action, which stops short of conferring an enforceable
Constitutional Guarantee, or make it a Fundamental Right.
13. WE MUST UPHOLD, Baba Saheb’s Ideas of Reservation as a
Fundamental Political Right of all Dalits and enshrined as a Constitutional
Guarantee, for a Dynamic Display in a vibrant Democratic Republic.
14. WE MUST ENFORCE RESERVATIOS in all public dealings, not
confined to bureaucratic spheres or influence as it is - only in certain Govt
Activities, that too in a very limited way, due to the manipulations of DCH
Politicians and their co-conspiring DCH Bureaucrats
15. WE MUST OURSELVES implement Reservations in its true letter
and spirit, as per the Poona Pact of 1932, based on the Constitutional Base,
whatever the elite old people in the courts may try from time to time, to
distort damage and destroy the Reservation and Constitution.