Resolution on Power to the Powerless, and Dalits

The International Dalit & Minorities Conference held on 27th & 28th December 2006 at New Delhi

took into account the problems of SCs and STs who constitute about a quarter of the Indian population and a majority of the country’s Agricultural & Other Wage Labour force;

studied the road map of solutions detailed in the Theme paper on Dalits and the various documents mentioned therein of the period from 1996 to 2006, all made available to Govt of India from time to time;

made an agonizing appraisal of the mismatch between the sympathy expressed by political parties and governments and their CMPs on the one hand, and policies, plans, programmes, Plan and financial allocations and delivery systems made available on the other hand, and of the stagnancy and deterioration in the objective conditions of Dalits and the threats faced by them from the economy as well as the serious deficiencies in Plans and Plan budgets, and the absence in the approach to developmental planning for Dalits of the vision of their economic liberation, educational equality and parity with the advanced sections at all levels and in all fields, and social dignity, as brought out in the Theme Paper;

deliberated on the overall gloomy situation in which they are now placed, and on the discouraging prospects for them, and the growing feeling of frustration and resentment among Dalits and its adverse effect on the nation’s optimal development and the stability of its polity;

and resolved to call upon the governments of India and the States to urgently take the following essential steps, as detailed in the Theme paper which should be read with this Resolution

Right to Life in its elementary sense is not available to Dalits, as Atrocities on Dalits are rampant and get encouragement from weakness of and delays in investigations, delay in trials, rarity of convictions and punishments, and massive acquittals; the deficiencies in the pioneering SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (POA Act) and its implementation have reduced the Act to a farce. To remedy this, it is essential to establish an exclusive sessions court in every district to try only atrocities cases, conduct trials on day-to-day basis and complete them expeditiously, along with exclusive special investigators and prosecutors; Section 14 and 15 of the POA Act should be amended along these lines. New Section 15 (A) should be introduced to provide for careful selection of special judges, special investigators and exclusive special prosecutors. Also to be amended are Section 3(2) to cover social and economic boycott etc., and to provide for death sentence and, in the case of massacres and mass rapes and mass arsons, to provide for mandatory death sentence; and Section 10 to provide for externment of potential offenders. Rehabilitation should be made comprehensive and instantaneous; Special Wing of Rapid Action Force to deal promptly only with atrocities and special scheme to prevent disrespect to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s statues are necessary. Protection of complainants, witnesses and victims/ kin of victims is extremely important in POA Act-related cases.

Right to Life with Dignity, which is of the essence of the Right to Life, is negated by widespread continuance of untouchability and reduction of the Protection of Civil Rights Act (PCR Act) to a farce. To remedy this, special mobile courts should be set up in every district and Section 15 (A) (2) (iii) should be made mandatory; the Act should be got implemented seriously; government should deal with offenders firmly; massive democratic movement should be built up and political parties must take the initiative in this regard; District Collectors and SPs/SSPs should be made responsible to pro-actively ensure fulfilment of Section 15 (A) of the Act. Protection of complainants and victims is extremely important in PCR Act-related cases.

Right to Educational Equality and Parity at all levels and in all fields, which is a necessary part of Right to Life, is seriously marred by inequalities and disparities, thereby denying Dalits a level playing field and real Equality of Opportunity, In order to remove these inequalities and disparities and to create a large reservoir of highly qualified Dalits in every field, who can provide leadership in every field, a high quality residential school from Class VI to Class XII one each for boys and for girls of SCs and for boys and girls of STs should be set up in every district now and extended to Tehsil and Panchayat levels subsequently, and the Kasturba Gandhi Balika (Originally Swatantrata) Vidyalaya Scheme should be restored to this original purpose by extending it up to Class XII; reservation for Dalits in high-quality government and private schools, colleges, and professional institutions should be introduced; good hostels should be set up in every centre of school and college education; and SC and ST boys and girls should be sent to foreign universities at full government cost in numbers equivalent to reservation percentage compared to the number of general category students who go to foreign universities each year.

Right to Life with economic freedom and self-reliance is not fulfilled because Dalits are placed in a position of economic dependence by the centuries old caste system and the decades of Independence have not altered this except marginally. In order to secure their economic liberation and self-reliance, the unfulfilled NCMP promise of a national comprehensive minor irrigation programme through community bore wells for all SC and ST lands should be launched without further delay with adequate outlays in the budget 2007 2008 and subsequent budgets and completed quickly with Centre taking a pro active role; agricultural land should be given to every rural Dalit family and developed with irrigation to blocks of lands/individual lands, etc.; real possession of all previously assigned/ allotted lands should be given to Dalits; lands assigned/ allotted to Dalits in the past and now in the hands of others should be identified and restored to Dalits. Other measures required are enforcement of minimum wages by beginning with big land holders; establishment of Bhumi Sudhar Nyay Adalats and Khet Mazdoor Nyay Adalats; total liberation and full rehabilitation of bonded labourers and safai Karmacharis; activation of central monitoring committee for liberation and rehabilitation of safai Karmacharis; establishment of bandhua mazdoor, bal mazdoor evam Pravasi Mazdoor Nyay Adalats; strengthening of Dalits in self-employment and entrepreneurship; population-equivalent share for SCs and STs in supply contracts, dealerships and agencies of public as well as private sector; reservation in private sector; food for education on national scale; restoration to STs of lands of tribals in non tribal hands in tribal areas and strict enforcement of Tribal Land Regulations; harmonious protection of STs and Forests and removal of weaknesses in the landmark ST and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act; and placement of Report of Second Commission for STs and Scheduled Areas submitted in July 2004 in Parliament in budget session 2007 and in public domain and immediate implementation thereof; avoidance/ minimization of displacement on account of projects and, where displacement is inevitable, consultation, consent and total, comprehensive, long-term rehabilitation of all the displaced without omitting landless labourers and workers, share in subsequent value appreciation of property for the displaced and best education for their children; conversion of all Fifth Schedule Areas and unscheduled tribal areas into Sixth Schedule Areas; special focus on, and fullest autonomy for tribal areas in Tribal-minority States of North East; abolition of still existing exploitative systems like Mahal and Mahaldars in Manipur.

The Planning process and Planning Commission have not had the vision or served the purpose of economic liberation, educational equality and parity, and social dignity of Dalits, and the Special Component Plan for SCs and Tribal sub Plan have been largely reduced to mere formalities. To remedy this and revitalise the SCP and TsP, and to align planning and implementation with Dalits’ own developmental needs and priorities, and to provide Developmental Autonomy for the SCs along with Developmental cum Territorial Autonomy for the STs, a network of new, Dalit-relevant institutions should be set up consisting of National Development Council for Development of SC and ST, National Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Authority (NSDA), State SC and ST Development Authorities (SSDAs) and District SC and ST Development Authorities (DSDAs) should be established and the first two entrusted with the task of formulating and approving Central and State Annual and Five Year Plans based solely on the developmental needs of SCs and STs, keeping in view the vital dimension of socio-economic liberation and socio-educational equality and parity; the population equivalent proportion of total Plan provision of Centre and of each State and UT should be set apart as SCP and TsP before sector-wise allocations are made and placed at the disposal of NSDA and SSDAs; before such structure is created, Planning Commission should start functioning on basis of these principles and during transitional period ensure full SCPs and TsPs by all Ministries & States; earmark shares for SCs and STs in every item of Bharat Nirman and other such Schemes and Programmes; restore National Scheme for Liberation and rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis as Centrally Sponsored Scheme; avoid truncation, transfer, abolition or starving of any CSSs for or beneficial to SCs and STs; National legislation(s) for agricultural labourers and other unorganised sector labourers should be enacted in Budget Session 2007; NREGP should have a condition of undertaking only works directly beneficial to Dalits and other workers; and contract system should be eschewed in SC- and/or ST-predominant services like safai.

Reservation, which is one of the important instruments of Social Justice and one of the Rights of Dalit, has not been implemented satisfactorily. To correct this, are required a comprehensive legislation for SC and ST reservation in appointments and in educational seats, including provision for Arakshan Nyay Adalats and penal provision; continuance of reservation in PSUs that are privatised and retrospectively in past cases, suitably amending the MoUs; Reservation in private sector by legislation and in preparation for it enabling Constitutional amendment in budget session 2007; proper follow up and implementation of 77th, 81st, 82nd and 85th Constitutional Amendments; removal of restriction of reservation in promotion only to first level of Group I; restoration of pre 1997 Roster; and extension of reservation to hitherto excluded areas including the Judiciary and the Armed Forces; “Backlog”, correctly interpreted as the difference between the numbers of SC and ST required by the percentage of reservation and the actual numbers present in each cadre, should be and can be completely filled in each cadre by a real special drive planned with precision and executed efficiently

Reservation in private sector is important in the context of shrinkage of government and public sector and the rapid expansion of the private sector benefiting from the infrastructure and other facilities provided by the State and Society. Reservation in higher Judiciary, which is possible without any dilution of quality, is necessary to ensure due presence of Dalits in the highest fora which determine the validity and constitutionality of all statutes and executive decisions. It is also necessary to introduce the long over-due Indian Judicial Service with reservation built into it as in other Central Services.

Dalit women share all the burdens and sufferings as Dalit Males, and in addition they have an extra dimension of suffering in many respects as women – the burden of scavenging is mainly on them; they are also the victims of the Devadasi system in some parts of the country. Therefore, in the Special Component Plan for SC (SCP) and Tribal sub-Plan (TsP) and in all Centrally Sponsored and State Schemes and programmes pertaining to SC and ST and in reservation there should be built-in mechanisms to empower Dalit women, like sub-quota or shares for Dalit women in funds and schemes, registration of new assets jointly in the name of both spouses, etc.

In order to align the functioning of the official administrative machinery with the Constitutional goals and mandates, a Dalit friendly personnel policy should be ushered in with incentives and deterrents, and institution of Social Justice Clearance as condition for promotion.

The Conference urges the government to realize that generalities and mere expressions of sympathy are no more acceptable to Dalits; delivering justice to them on all fronts will enable them to fully participate in the efforts for the nation’s over all development and growth and help that process measure up to its full potential. Any further delay or temporization will jeopardize the achievement of the nation’s optimal growth.

The Conference calls upon Dalit communities to mobilize and build up a powerful movement for Social Justice and build up sustained democratic pressure on the State and on Central and State Governments to secure the implementation of these measures, against delays and compromises in this regard, against dilutions of plan schemes and against Atrocities, while also utilizing all available Parliamentary, Legislative, Panchayati Raj and other Fora and thus put into practice Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s three fold formula of Educate, Agitate, Organize.

The Conference also appeals to the Civil Society and its eminent representatives dominating every field and institution to eschew the path of confrontation against Dalits, give up denigration of Dalits and their rights and struggles, and cooperate with the Dalits in the achievement of their rights, laying the foundation for joint efforts of Dalits and non-Dalits to take the country and its economy forward, widen opportunities maximally so that the share of every section increases and the foundation is laid for the annihilation of caste, creation of a caste less society and building up of an integrated egalitarian nation.