INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Janakpurdham, December 22Governor of Madhes Province Hari Shanker Mishra has said effective implementation of acts and
laws against caste-based discrimination and untouchability is still awaited.
Oath in Madhesi riles Madhesi Commission
More liquidity pressure next month, says Guv Adhikari
Inaugurating the Madhes Province-level Dalit Convention-2022 here today, the
Province governor said Dalits and those at the bottom of the castebased system continued to be subjected to various kinds of discrimination
due to lack of effective enforcement of relevant acts and laws.
The objective of the event is to advocate elimination of
castebased discrimination and untouchability and bring about economic, social and political transformations in society."It has been long
since Nepal illegalised and criminalised untouchability, but it is still in practice," he said
He termed castebased discrimination and untouchability as a social evil and underlined the need to make combined effort to abolish
it.Accusations and counter-accusations will not help remove the practice, but collective efforts and transformation in our thinking are
necessary to achieve the goal towards achieving social parity, according to the Province chief.He was of the view that the fight for rights
should be bases on fulfilling given duties and responsibilities instead of pleading for it.Newly elected Madhes Province Assembly member
Lakhan Das said, "The existing electoral system is capable of preventing the Dalit community from engaging in parliamentary politics.That's
why, full proportional representation electoral systems is needed to bridge the wide gap."Province Assembly member Das said, "Political
parties do not give tickets to Dalits
There is no condition enabling the Dalits to win the election even after getting ticket
Dalits do not have money and political access
So, the election system should be changed.""Although the country witnessed a myriad of political changes, oppression of the Dalit community
has not been reduced," said Binod Bisunkhe, executive director of Dalit Public Welfare Youth Club
He emphasised that Dalit movement should be made a common movement
He further said the province-level Dalit conference was organised to carry out review of acts and laws brought by the federal, provincial
and local-level governments for the Dalit community.On the occasion, Madhes Province Coordinator of INSEC Raju Paswan, and Professor Bijay
Mishra presented separate working papers on the issue of situation of the Dalit community in Madhes province.Leaders of the Dalit community
of eight districts of Madhes Province have been participating in the conference organised by Dalit Public Welfare Youth Club, Lahan, Divya
Youth Club, Parsa, Women Empowerment Campaign, Mahottari, and Dalit Journalist Association of Madhes Province with the support of Action Aid
Nepal.A version of this article appears in the print on December 23, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com