Dalit youth beaten up in Odisha, Congress demands action
Two Dalit youth were stripped and beaten up mercilessly in Kadab village of Khurda district of Odisha a few days ago, according to Hitendra Pithadiya, National Coordinator of the Scheduled Caste (SC) Department of Indian National Congress.
Pithadiya told Muzzled Voices after visiting Kadab and meeting the victims’ families, that the Dalit in the village are living in fear and the Odisha Government under the leadership of Naveen Kumar is not able to protect the marginalised people in the state. He added that one of the victims succumbed to the injuries received following the beating with sticks and being kicked around by the attackers. He has also sent a video of the attack on the Dalit youth to Muzzled Voices.
Pithadiya has sought an appointment with the Odisha Director General of Police to demand a proper probe in the incident, action against the attackers and protection to the Dalit in Kadab village as well as to the marginalised people in the state.
Pithadiya led a delegation to State Governor Ganesh Lal to present him a memorandum throwing light on the situation of the Scheduled Castes in the state and to demand social welfare facilities for them. Bankanidhi Behera, Chairman SC Department, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee was part of the delegation to the Governor.
According to the memorandum, Scheduled Castes constitute 17.13 per cent of the total population of the state, yet the community is backward in socio-economic terms.
Pithadiya said that the SC community lacks basic facilities and amenities. “It is painful to see people living in poverty and not having proper clothing too. Most men I met in the villages were semi-naked or had tattered clothes,” he said.
The memorandum to the Governor stated, “There has been no reduction in the atrocity and social discrimination against the community. Moreover, the State Government has been setting the failure to provide justice to the victims of atrocities, particularly in a number of rape cases against Dalit Girls. More than 30 lakh of Dalits have no homestead lands so they are ineligible to get caste certificate and houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.”
The Congress has demanded that the SC villages should be provided with basic amenities such as drinking waters, roads, toilets and electricity by the State Government.
The party has also demanded free education for SC/STs (Scheduled Tribes) till graduation; backlog of vacancies of SC/STs should be filled up by a special recruitment drive; adequate steps be taken to SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act to reduce atrocity against Schedule Caste; reservation in private and government-run English medium schools; certain numbers of M.Phil/Ph.D. research fellowship for the SC/ST students by the State Government on par with UGC fellowship.
The memorandum has also demanded the abolition of manual scavenging and the rehabilitation of those involved in such work, through the proper implementation of the prohibition of employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013.