ATWAL: “Caste divide is widening instead of narrowing down”

New Delhi/Chandigarh, December 6, 2012: Instead of narrowing down, the caste and class divide is widening day by day. It is a sensitive issue, which is ruthlessly being handled by insensitive people, who don’t want this gap to be filled for their own selfish interests.

These views were expressed by Dr. Charnjit Singh Atwal, Speaker, Punjab Legislative Assembly while addressing the 3rd National Conference of Dalit Organizations (NACDORs) at FICCI Auditorium, New Delhi.

Addressing the gathering, Atwal said that there is need to educate not only our own kith and kin but to educate the masses so as to bring a revolutionary transformation in the society, which has been a victim of this devilish divide. To achieve this we have to lay special emphasis on the primary education, which is the basis of formulating a strong base of the society and without primary education no nation can think of becoming great, he added.

He further said, “Although a lot is being done to provide free primary education through various government programs and schemes, however, many difficulties are being faced to enforce them effectively due to economic disparity and social conditions of the weaker sections of the society. He said that due to shortage of resources and lack of political will, this system suffers from massive gaps including shortage of infrastructure, high pupil to teacher ratio and poor levels of teacher training. He said that I appeal to all government agencies, NGOs, NRIs and big business houses to extend their whole hearted support for the effective implementation of primary education especially to the weaker sections of the society.

Atwal said that we need to participate in the social processes and activate ourselves for our social economic and political development for which we have gathered here today. He further said that the basic idea behind the reservation policy was to provide proportionate representation to the people who had long been deprived, suppressed and victimized by the caste and class ridden society, but these job quotas and reservations are facing a great opposition socially as well as politically. Dalits, which form about one fourth of India's population, and make 4 per cent of the world's population have the poorest socio- economic human development indicators. They also pose a daunting developmental challenges and that is why all the efforts have failed to bridge the gap between the socially excluded Dalits and the others in the society. Socially excluded Dalit communities are least able to participate in developmental processes and are not considered accountable as others.

Lewis George Arsenault, Country Head, UNICEF (India), Musa Mohammed, Country Director, CARE (India) and Ashok Bharti, Chairman, NACDOR and other dignitaries have also spoke on the occasion.

Here’s the complete speech of Dr Charnjit Singh Atwal, Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha at FICCI Auditorium, New Delhi during NACDOR conference today:

“Bridging The Divide

Hon'ble Mr.Lewis George Arsenault, Country Head UNICEF (India), Mr. Musa Mohammed, Country Director, CARE (India), Mr. Ashok Bharti, Chairman, NACDOR, Dignitaries, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening!

It gives me immense pleasure to be among my brethren who have made this moment special with their presence in such a big way for a cause common and sacred to all of us.

I appreciate the thoughts and ideas put forth by the worthy spokesmen and their words of  have created a sense of great belief somewhere inside me that we are actually heading towards achieving our larger goals with our demeanors so positive and strong.

Friends, I strongly propound the theory of Self-Belief and Action as now is the time to stand and get going because Hoping alone would not suffice. Hope is a tricky word. It never guarantees anything, but it makes the world go round.

Hope was the only possession of a dark man when he arrived in Columbia University New York, wondering if America had a place for him too. As he pored over his history books, he became sad and angry. He came out of the campus craving for change - not just for himself but for his people who hadn't been free as long as he could remember. The name of this man was BHIMRAO RAMJI Ambedkar and the year was 1913. It is pertinent to mention here that Barack Obama came out of the same University with the same degree 70 years later, with the same Mantra on his lips - 'Change'.

During his years in Columbia he learnt from Abrahim Lincoln - That Freedom is Worth Dying for. So impressed was Dr. Ambedkar with Lincoln that when he launched a political party for Dalits, he called it the Republican Party of India - his tribute to Lincoln.

It is for us to learn that nurturing such thoughts requires knowledge and knowledge has no short cuts. Let us rise and stand to the call of time and educate ourselves to follow the Pugmarks of our great leader Dr. Ambedkar who enshrined his name in golden letters in the history of India through his literary prowess by providing us the Constitution.

Most of us know that one of the foremost and earliest Dalit scholars is Maharishi Valmiki, who is considered to be the oldest and greatest poet in Indian History and we also know the literary contribution of Guru Ravidas whose verses have been enshrined in the Holy Gurbani.  One of the first Dalit writers was Madara Chennaiah, an 11th century cobbler saint who lived in the reign of Western chalukyas and who is considered as the father of "Vachana poetry". And.. the modern era, Dalit literature was energized by the advent of leaders like Mahatma Phule and Dr.Ambedkar in Maharashtra. There are numerous other names and the list may go endless.

Now here the point to ponder is that when we are so deeply rooted to such great scholars and are descendants of the finest literary maestros than why don’t we realize the need of the hour. The need to educate not only our own kith and kin but to educate the masses so as to bring a revolutionary transformation in the society which has been a victim of this devilish divide. To achieve this we have to lay special emphasis on the Primary Education which is the basis of formulating a strong base of the society. Without Primary Education, no nation can think of becoming great.

Although a lot is being done to provide free primary education through various Government programs and schemes, however, many difficulties are being faced to enforce them effectively due to economic disparity and social conditions of the weaker sections of the society. Due to shortage of resources and lack of political will, this system suffers from massive gaps including shortage of infrastructure, high pupil to teacher ratio and poor levels of teacher training. So I appeal to all Government agencies, NGOs, NRIs and big business houses to extend their whole hearted support for the effective implementation of primary education especially to the weaker sections of the society.

We need to participate in the social processes and activate ourselves for our social economic and political development for which we have gathered here today. These days everybody accepts the wisdom and need of people's participation in various state activities. People's involvement in setting the goal and implementing the policies is considered highly essential. The necessity or desirability of such participation by the people has thus assumed much importance and with it, political participation which gives the people a chance to shape their destiny, has also become a matter of utmost importance.

Although the Indian Constitution has duly made special provisions for the social and economic upliftment of the Dalits, comprising the so called Scheduled Castes and Tribes, but these concessions are not sufficient in order to enable them to achieve upward social mobility. There still lies a vast scope for more legislations so as to apply these concessions in a more dignified, constructive

and constitutional manner. Day by day, the caste and class divide is widening instead of narrowing down. It’s a sensitive issue which is ruthlessly being handled by insensitive people who don’t want this gap to be filled for their own selfish interests.

Another political issue is about the affirmative action measures taken by the government towards the upliftment of Dalits through quotas in government jobs and university admissions. The basic idea behind this reservation policy was to provide proportionate representation to the people who had long been deprived, suppressed and victimized by the caste and

class ridden society. But these job quotas and reservations are facing a great opposition socially as well as politically. Dalits which form about one fourth of India's population, and make 4% of the world's population have the poorest socio- economic human development indicators. They also pose a daunting developmental challenges and that is why all the efforts have failed to bridge the gap between the socially excluded dalits and the others in the society. Socially excluded dalit communities are least able to participate in developmental processes and are not considered accountable as others.

The reality, at the end of the day, is that the tale of woes of the Dalits does not seem to have an end right now. At a Time when our arguments are so polarized, what we need is an avid approach that can avoid the extreme ends of the debate.

It is not that we don’t have potential, the problem is that we don’t realize our potential. As current strategies have not properly focussed on mobilizing socio-cultural-political leadership of Dalits, it is important to develop interest of the various community leaderships and organizations to amplify the Govt and Non- Govt. efforts. We have more than 135 members of Parliament and even bigger number of members of Legislative Assemblies. That means we form the strongest ally in shaping the political will of the government.

It is time to realize our strengths, formulate our own duties and set our goals in order to achieve our rights which we have always been vying for. Dalits need respect more than jobs. Let us make respectable Citizens, let us make Vedic Scholars out of them who shall break all the barriers of Casteism. Let there be Schools, Colleges, Hospitals, Vocational Centres in the deprived regions which shall cater to people from all religions irrespective of caste and class. Let there be an urge to acquire higher education and participation in National and International programs.

Let there be women empowerment through education, employment and socio-cultural-political participation. And let there be respect, mutual understanding, mutual responsibility and mutual well being, cutting across our selfish motives.  That indeed would be the ideal way to bring about change in the lives of our brothers and sisters and set the right examples in society.

With a belief to bring about this change, I wish all the very best to all the entrepreneurs who have gathered here from all over India. I tender my whole hearted support to NACDOR. I also extend support to UNICEF for for working together for the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society. In the end I congratulate NACDOR executive committee for organizing 3rd National Conference of Dalit Organisations in such a big and wonderful way and wish them success in all their endeavours."