Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to
begin with, I am not saying this is a historic day of Indian Parliament. But we
are waiting for action from the Government. We have discussed something
that may not be a matter of concern for the Government of our
country, but that does not mean it will act accordingly. Sir, this is the
centenary year of Sri Narayana Guru as you know very well. His historic
proclamation that we do not belong to any particular caste or religion has
played a prominent role in defining Kerala over the last 100 years. I happen to
come from the same Taluk as that of the first dalit President of India Dr. K.R.
Narayanan. I happen to be a Member representing the same Constituency. And the
first dalit CJI in our country Justice K.G. Balakrishnan belongs to140
the same village. So, I am very proud to open this discussion under Rule 193 on
atrocities against dalits in our country.160 The National Human Rights Commission said
in its report on prevention of atrocities against Scheduled Castes that
every 18 minutes a crime is committed against dalits, every day three dalit
women are raped, two dalits are murdered, two dalit houses are burnt and 11
dalits are beaten. Every week 13 dalits are murdered, five dalits’ homes or
possessions are burnt, and six dalits are kidnapped or abducted. This is a
shocking report given by the NHRC.
In terms of their social and
economic status, 37 per cent of dalits are living below the poverty line, more
than 54 per cent of their children are undernourished, 83 per cent of 1000
children born in dalit communities probably die280 before
their first birthday, 45 percentage of dalits do not know how to read and
write, dalit women are burdened with double discrimination of gender and caste
in India, only 27 percentage of dalit women give institutional deliveries in
India.320 About one third of dalit households do not have basic
facilities. Public health workers refuse to visit dalit homes in 33 per
cent of villages. Dalits are prevented from entering police stations in 27.6
per cent of villages. Dalit children have to sit separately while eating in
37.8 per cent of government schools in this country. We have passed the Right
to Education Bill in this very House in 2009 wherein it is the right of
children in the age group of 14 to 16 years to have compulsory schooling
without having to pay any fee. But 37.8 per cent420 of the
dalit students in government schools sit separately. What does this mean?
Dalits do not get mail delivery services in 48.4 per cent of villages
because of practices like segregation and untouchability, half of the Indian
children are undernourished, 21 per cent are severely underweight, and 12 per
cent of children die before their 5th birthday. Literacy rate of 480
dalit women is 37.8 per cent in rural India .
This is all stated in a report given by the Human Rights Commission of our
country.
In this backdrop, atrocities
against dalits are increasing day by day. As per the National Crimes Records
Bureau data, there has been a 44 per cent increase in violence against dalits
in the last three years from 32,712 in 2010 to 47,064 crimes in 2014. I can
cite any number of such examples in this560 august House. I
have taken only a few examples before the House regarding atrocities against
dalits. In Bihar , two dalit youths were beaten and
urinated upon by some men allegedly for stealing a motor vehicle in
Muzafffarpur district of Bihar according to FIR filed by the mother of one of
the victims. I have mentioned
a number of incidents. One day before the Gandhi Jayanti i.e. on 1st October, a
seven year old boy picked up a plate coloured green640 and
reserved for the upper castes for his mid-day meal at the Government school at
the Osian tehsil near Jodhpur . He
was thrashed till he started vomiting. That dalit student said before the
media, “I picked a plate reserved for upper caste students mistakenly and
started having rice on it. When the teacher saw this, he started hitting me
badly700 on my head. I started vomiting.” This is the
situation that dalit student explained before the media. We have introduced
mid-day meal scheme for helping the poor sections of this country. They come to
school with empty stomachs. We have realized this and that is why we
have extended this scheme from LP level to UP level to reduce under-nourishment
in our country.
We are far behind
international standards in nutrition. Forty per cent of the under-nourished
mothers and children are from India .
We always say that we are a growing economy. But we contribute 40 per cent 800
of the under-nourished mothers and children. We have to reduce this per
centage. That is why we have introduced mid-day meal in the country. But in
some schools, the upper class people are having coloured plates to
differentiate between dalits and non-dalits.840 I have so
many personal experiences. My mother took me to a private school nearby my
village for admission in 1st standard. But they refused to give admission to
me. At that time, I had no idea why my mother was crying. She took me back to a
Government school and got me admitted in the 1st standard. Without that
Government school, how could I have studied? Now I am doing my Ph.D. in Mahatma
Gandhi University Hyderabad in
Telangana State
One incident happened last
month in Una, Gujarat . I went there. That dalit colony
is 50 kilometres away from Una. I went there and met the victims and their
family members. It was shocking. They were living in a separate place divided
by a big wall. The upper class people were not to be seen with the dalit
people. For the first time, people from the upper classes went and met them. It
was very much shocking. ‘Gujarat is a prosperous State’,
the Government1260 always says. Petroleum industry
is flourishing in Gujarat but the dalit community houses
were using cow dung for preparing food 1280 in their kitchen.
This is the alarming situation in Gujarat . I request the
Prime Minister not to make any statement. He has to take strong action. Who is
behind all these atrocities? You strongly mentioned about gaurakshak sena. In
our Prime Minister’s statement, he said, “These gauraksha people are
anti-social. They are not doing it for the sake of the cows but they are doing
some anti-social activities.” I request the Prime Minister, since he has such
understanding and has got such information and feedback from his people, why
should he not stop such atrocities. We would like him to take very strong measures
so that such incidents would not happen in the future, to put a ban against1400
these gaurakshak samitis throughout the country. If you bring a Bill for that,
that will reduce the atrocities in our country. The founding father of our
Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said, “Democracy is an instrument of bringing
about change peacefully.1440 Democracy does not merely mean
rule by majority or government by the representatives of the people. This is a
formalistic and limited notion of democracy.” It is not about the numbers but
we will have to see the welfare of all citizens in this country. Sir, we have
the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. This
Act was formulated in 1981 and was updated in 2015. There have been a number of
incidents of atrocities but they go unregistered. Sir, 23.5 per cent of dalits
are not allowed to even enter the police stations. So, how can1540
they meet the police officer and submit their petition? It is shocking that
such a situation is prevalent in our country. In my State of Kerala
a shocking incident took place three months back. A dalit law student was
brutally raped and killed in her house. The Congress Party was ruling the State
at that time. An inquiry was initiated1600 but with no
result. We raised this issue during the last elections and we gave a commitment
to the people of Kerala.
