The Dalit community yesterday demanded the government put aside special allocation for the downtrodden section of the population in this year’s budget. The Dalit community yesterday demanded the government put aside special allocation for the downtrodden section of the population in this year’s budget.
The Dalit community yesterday demanded the government put aside special allocation for the downtrodden section of the population in this year’s budget.
Drawing upon the fundamental rights they are deprived of, leaders of the country’s excluded communities placed a 10-point demand at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club.
The speakers reiterated that the Dalit population, numbering around 70 lakh in the country, continued to live in a subhuman condition and had been stigmatised as the “untouchables”, who were neither respected nor given an opportunity to improve their condition.
They want better accommodation, healthcare facilities and equal right to primary education, they said.
“We think our demands would reach Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Planning Minister Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker”, said Antara Biswas, a student from Dayaganj sweepers’ colony in the capital’s Sutrapur, who read out the demands.
The conference was jointly organised by Bangladesh Dalit Rishi Panchayet Forum and Bangladesh Harijan Oikya Parishad in association with Self Help Association for Rural People through Education and Entrepreneurship (Sharee) and Oxfam.
Dalit leaders urged the government to introduce SME loan and ensure opportunities at Bangladesh Institute of Small Industry and Cottage (BISIC) for the Rishi community people, who specialise in handicrafts.
They expressed fear that in recent times, industrialisation of handicrafts and small businesses were causing destruction of their last resort for decent survival, as for Dalit people, who work only as sweepers and cleaners, it was hardly sufficient for a decent living.
Ensuring special quotas and budgetary allocation in education and job sector in line with article 29(3) of the constitution, bringing the Dalit community under safety net programmes, incorporating the community into the development process and formation of a Dalit Commission, which may administer their development, were other key points of their demand.