Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)
Pic: Dayanand Kukkaje  

Mangalore, Mar 17: 'Dalita Abhivridhi Samavesha' (Dalit development convention) was organized by the city committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) here on Sunday, March 16.  

Speaking on the occasion DK member of CPI (M) and state convener of the Jathi Dourjanya Virodhi Samiti, Maruthi Manpade alleged that the 18% state budget allocation available for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) was not utilized properly.  

Manpade informed, 'SC/STs constitute 23% of the state population, and funds must be utilized properly for the purchase of land, providing nutritious food for their children etc.' Moreover, according to him the need of the hour is for social consciousness and collective struggle on the part of the members of ST and SC communities to achieve their emancipation. Both these communities should learn to assert their rights. They should utilise the tools such as Right to Information Act to achieve this end, he advised.  

Further Manpade touching on their status informed, 'The state of members of these communities is pitiable even after 60 years of Independence. The ruling class has made little effort to eradicate caste system and it has fostered the system for narrow political gains.'

He claimed that there was a fair degree of success in this regard in Left-ruled states such as West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala. Karnataka, under the then chief minister Devaraj Urs, tried to help their cause by ushering in the Land Reforms Act. However, people from the SC/ST community failed to take advantage of it and continued to live a life of abject penury and neglect, he rued.  

Moreover according to Manpade the uplifting of Dalits would not be possible without the support and cooperation of the upper class and therefore exhorted the people cutting across caste barriers to come forward and strive to bring Dalits into the mainstream of society. He said nearly 86% of the child labourers in the state were Dalits and urged for reservation in private sector which he averred would help enhance the socio-economic status of the Dalits.  

According to him the only place where the mandatory 18% reservation for SCs/STs was carried out was in the Group-D jobs with leaders of many organizations and political parties against the idea of providing job reservations to SCs and STs, especially those parties owing allegiance to Sangh Parivar paying lip sympathy to the cause, he alleged.

DYFI leader J P Vasudeva presided over the function. CPI (M) district secretaries B Madhava, members Krishnappa Konchadi, Sunil Kumar Bajal and Vasantha Achari were present at the meet.