In his inaugural address at Civil Services Day on April 21st in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned civil servants that there was no room for relaxation of vigil when it came to dealing with violence in India. He pointed out the violence committed against Dalits was a priority and stressed that the Government would work for the development of far-flung areas in order to strengthen internal security.
India’s Supreme Court is pushing local law enforcement and state Governments to stop caste discrimination by clamping down on discriminatory practices. Recent verdicts include a ban on using different cups for Dalits in tea shops in Tamil Nadu, cracking down on caste-based violence across the country and outlawing the use of derogatory caste names.
IDSN have launched a YouTube Channel on www.youtube.com/IDSNVideo
On the 23rd of March the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) bulldozed 750 houses in the Gayatri colony - 80% of which belong to Dalits.
In the new National Budget of India, presented last week, only 4% of the total budget has been allocated to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/STs)- Dalits and Tribals - who make up more than 24% of the total population.
In a statement concluding her January visit to India, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, raised particular concern for the situation of Dalit human rights defenders and noted widespread deficiencies in implementation of laws to protect human rights defenders.
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown recently visited a project in India that seeks to end discrimination against dalits – and was shocked at the living conditions he saw in the poor Delhi neigbourhood - Bhalswa.
The IDSN January 2011 newsletter includes news that: Campaigners for Dalit rights finished 2010 on a strong note with lots of activities around Human Rights Day on 10 December and participation in various international events. In India, terrible atrocities against Dalits continued to make headlines, and in Nepal, the efforts to include strong provisions against caste discrimination in the constitution gained further momentum. The United Kingdom move closer to making caste discrimination illegal, as government commissioned research provided evidence of this form of discrimination in British society.
In the run up to human rights day 2010 Dalit activists have been mobilising through marches and awareness raising activities from activism in Nepal, a march in India, and human chains in Bangladesh to an exhibition in the UK to highlight the plight of Dalits. These are great initiatives, but the battle for securing human rights for more that 260 million Dalits, discriminated against on the basis of their caste, is fought every day in the communities by Dalit men, women and children who speak up to stop discrimination against them despite the risk of violence, rape, public humiliation, destruction of property and other acts of reprisal.
Manual scavengers from across India gathered at a mass rally in New Delhi Monday 1 November and demanded immediate government action to end manual scavenging once and for all, rehabilitate former manual scavengers and apologise for decades of suffering imposed on this group.
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery