BANGALORE: Dr B R Ambedkar’s 55th ‘Parinibbana’ (death anniversary) was observed at various places in the city by a number of dalit organisations in the city on Tuesday. At one of the programmes organised by Karnataka State Government SC/ST Employees Coordination Committee at Yavanika, State Information Commissioner D Thangaraju said, “Disparity still exists on dalits at all levels right from peon till president. Dalits who get government jobs through reservations must do something towards the development of the society. Atrocities and discriminations should be fought through dalit associations and every dalit should fight for his rights.”He also said that as per the Supreme Court’s judgement delivered in August 2011, government heads who fail to address and prevent the atrocities on dalits will be prosecuted. Many dalits working in government sector try to hide their castes and that attitude must be changed.Stating that even after so many years of independence along with reservation, the state of dalit has not witnessed any chances at large. N Manjula, District Collector of Chikkaballapur said, “Even today, dalits are not aware of their rights and they are exploited. Except at cities and towns, their situation is more or less the same. We are doing our best within our limits to stop the exploitations.”She also said that many atrocities on dalits do not come to the limelight. Also at the occasion official website of the association www.bhimasamanvaya.org was inaugurated.‘Made Snana Debate in Council’“It is an shameless act by the opposition parties- Congress and JD(S). They have not raised any objection to the superstitious practise of ‘Made Snana’ at Kukke Subramania temple,” alleged former president of Backward Class Commission Dr C S Dwarakanath.He was delivering the inaugural speech at the 55th death anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar organised by Karnataka Dalitha Sangarsha Samiti (Bheemavada) here at Senate Hall.“Congress party has not raised any objection to ‘Made Snana’ and it is as dangerous as the ruling BJP which is justifying the superstition. It is pity that the Congress party inspite of having many dalit leaders to its credit have kept silent. This silence indicates that even Congress is in line with the BJP in this regard. If Ambedkar would have been alive, he wouldn’t have tolerated this kind of act and would have taken measures to stop this,” Dwarakanath added.He even opined that JD(S) party which has the word ‘secular’ to its party’s name had never attempted to raise their voice against the act. Justifying her party’s stand on ‘Made Snana’, leader of Opposition at Legislative Council Mottamma said, “We will take up this issue in the Council and that is the reason why our party has maintained silence till now. Dalit associations have failed to kindle the fire in all dalits across the state to fight for their rights. The power of dalits is limited only to conferences and meetings.”The Opposition leader in the Legislature Council also alleged that the State government is conspiring against the education of Dalits by the move of shutting down Kannada medium schools which have less number of students.‘Effective Audit of Welfare Funds is Must’ There is a need to carry out effective audit on the funds reserved for the dalits and its implementation in the state, called Kannada and Culture Minister Govind M Karjol here at the celebration of ‘Dr B R Ambedkar’s Parinirvava Day’, organised by the Department of Kannda and Culture here at Kannada Bhavan on Tuesday.“Dalits have not seen any development even after 64 years of independence. Dalits are used as mere vote banks and the politicians just see them as number of votes and do not concentrate on the developmental works on them. Untouchability is still in practice and many schemes dedicated for the development of dalits have not been implemented properly,” he observed.He also alleged that many upper castes are preying over the reservations of dalits and questioned, “How can the Dalits improve their conditions in this scenario?”
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