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Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

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Call to protect basic rights of Dalits in Rajasthan

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, JAN. 8. Dalit organisations of Rajasthan -- which took up the issue of continuing caste-based discrimination in the State with the Governor, Pratibha Patil, recently -- have now approached the higher echelons of bureaucracy to demand that the administrative machinery be sensitised about protection of Dalits' basic rights.

A delegation of Dalit bodies, led by the chairperson of the Centre for Dalit Rights, P.L. Mimroth, met the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Surendra Kumar, and the Law Secretary, G.S. Hora, here over the week-end and sought strict implementation of the laws against atrocities on Dalits.

A memorandum submitted to the two officials called for ensuring effective functioning of the State-level high-power Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, headed by the Chief Minister, under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, to review the "prevailing human rights violations'' against Dalits.

The State convenor of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights and former MP, Than Singh, said the State Government had shown no willingness to identify the untouchability-prone and atrocity-prone areas and take remedial measures. "On the contrary, Rajasthan is ranking first in the country in the practice of all kinds of discrimination against Dalits,'' he said.

The memorandum stated that the State Government should recover all lands of Dalits illegally possessed, encroached upon, grabbed, or forcibly occupied by the "people belonging to dominant castes, feudal lords and erstwhile rulers'' defeating the ceiling laws.

It also sought an end to the practice of filling up the reserved vacancies in Government services by general candidates through the "back door methods'' and called for filling up all backlog posts meant for Scheduled Castes and Tribes without delay. The prescribed quota for SC and ST in the subordinate judiciary should also be filled up through a special recruitment drive, it added.

The representatives of Dalit Advocates Forum and Dalit Mahila Manch accompanied Mr. Mimroth and Mr. Than Singh in the meeting with the two Secretaries.

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