The samithi will hold a protest on Dec. 21 at Freedom Park.
Karnataka Dalitha Sangharsha Samithi (DSS) (Bheemavadha) state committee demanded that the state government accept H. Kantharaj Commission report on caste-based reservation and release the social and educational survey immediately. They also want the central government to conduct the census. They will hold a protest on Dec. 21 at Freedom Park to raise various issues.
D. Narayana, State Organizing Coordinator, DSS, said that the protest will be to condemn the anti-Dalit attitude of state and central governments, demand social justice and constitutional rights of Dalits.
He added that the government has failed to implement the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Amendment Act, 2023. The act removed the time limit for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) to reclaim their land. “The High Court or Supreme Court is not passing orders to solve the pending cases that were filed before the amendment was passed,” he said.
“They asked us to vote in the name of Ambedkar. The politicians who have taken our votes are not working for us,” he added.
M. C. Narayana, State Convener, DSS, said that Dalits who have been residing in areas of Kannamangala for over 15 years houses do not have a legal right to the land they have been living on. “Those people should be given legal rights and documents for their land,” he said. He also demanded that the land of Buddhist Vihara in Bagalkote run by Buddhabhumi Trust should be allotted to the trust.
DSS also raised the issue of graveyards for Dalits. They demanded that land for Dalit graveyards should be allocated immediately and funds should be released for its development.
“Justice A.J. Sadasiva Commission report on internal reservation should be recommended to the centre and the increase in SC/ST reservation recommended by Justice H N Nagamohan Das Commission should be implemented properly,” he added.
DSS also demanded reservation for theoppressed Dalit communities in the private sector. In the press release DSS demanded, “In all departments, Dalit and backward class employees working on outsourcing basis should be made permanent.”
Alluding to a bigger problem they also alleged that Dalit officers in the Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) are not appointed to any strategic positions.
Dr. S. Jyothis, a professor at National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDP) said that many Dalit communities do not have a land of their own. The government should redistribute the revenue land to Dalits to adopt a policy of zero landlessness, he added. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which allotted land to tribal community and forest dwellers which mainly included SCs was ineffective all over the country, he said.
