Dalit representatives welcome government move against untouchability

Biratnagar, March 22 : The Dalit community have thanked the incumbent government for publishing the information about the decision to observe 21st Jeth in the Nepali calendar as the National Day for the Elimination of Untouchability in the National Gazette.     

A gathering of the Dalit representatives from the Koshi Province in Biratnagar welcomed the government move against untouchability. "The decision is highly welcoming," said the Dalit representatives who gathered in Biratnagar to mark the 58th International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination which is globally observed on March 21 each year.     

According to Dalit activist Umesh Bishokarma, 21st Jeth commemorates the Day when Nepal was officially declared the untouchability free nation on 21st Jeth, 2063 BS (June 4, 2006) by the then interim parliament reinstated following the people’s movement in 2006. He hoped the celebration of the day against untouchability from the government level would obviously help restore the dignity of Dalits who had been suffering caste-based discriminations and exploitations since centuries.     

The participants of the programme were univocal that none either they belonged to an old generation or new was expected to discriminate against dalits when the caste-based discriminations and untouchability had been prohibited by the Constitution and had been already criminalized.     

National Assembly former member Khem Nepali said that Dalits were still deprived of their equal participations in the social, culture and political life as the people from the so-called upper class continued to control over the State powers.     

Dalit NGO Federation central vice chair DB Shah Shankar urged people's representatives to become aware and diligent to establish the rights of Dalits at the local level.     

Nepal Dalit Association Koshi Province chair Govinda Darnal complained that the Dalit representatives were yet to be treated equally in the public sphere while Dalit Unity Society, Dhankuta coordinator Kopila Shankar stressed that the Dalits should be make more efforts to exercise their rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws.(RSS)