~Joseph

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/article523817.ece

The Indian intelligence agencies say that some of the extremist RSS leaders were directly in bomb attacks in the recent past in Muslim areas.

News stories on extremist hindu groups involved in terrorist activities continue in the national media. These same groups have been accused for carrying on violent attacks against Dalit Christians in different parts of India. Religious extremism of any kind that indulges and condones violence against others is not permissible in democracies.

~Joseph

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/105552/42/saffron-brigades-terror-plots-exposed.html

View these video clips that expose the terrorist activities of these extremist groups. Members of these groups have now attacked the TV channel that broadcasted this expose.

~Joseph

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article523904.ece

~Joseph

Dalits withdraw kids from school in Kendrapada village

http://www.dailypioneer.com/263528/Dalits-withdraw-kids-from-school-in-Kendrapada-village.html

Pioneer News Service | Kendrapara

The innocent Dalit children have also to bear the brunt of the ongoing tussle between their elders and the upper caste fellow villagers of Karandiapatana Jenasahi under Mehendipur GP of Marshaghai block as their parents have been forced to withdraw their children from the local school fearing the wrath of the upper caste people.

The Dalit students were allegedly abused and misbehaved by the upper caste people recently when they were crossing the village road on way to school.

Sources informed, about 20 Dalits children were forced to take their School Leaving Certificates (SLCs) from Surendra Bidyapitha of Rankal.

The Dalits alleged that their children were debarred from using the road that passed through the houses of upper caste villagers.

Notably, the Dalits are leading a socially boycotted life meted out to them by both the fellow upper caste villagers and its adjoining Rankal village for the last couple of months following a group clash over the digging of earth from a gochar land for construction of a Hanuman temple on February
18.

The police had nabbed 10 upper caste persons for allegedly creating the mayhem, ransacking the houses and injuring 23 Dalits.

Later, the upper caste of Karnadiapatana and Rankal made a decision to socially boycott the Dalits by restricting them from working in their fields. Even they were allegedly debarred from using the road in the area and were threatened with dire consequences.

The Dalit students, having taken SLCs from the Surendra Bidyapitha are said to be Rina Jena Class, I, Ritun Jena, Litu Jena and Jhunubala Jena of Class II, Pradip Jena of Class III, Hemanta Jena, Aliva Jena, Sanghamitra Jena, Purnima Jena and Puspalata Jena of Class IV, Rajalaxmi Jena of Class V, Bhajahari Jena, Tanuja Jena, Lopamudra Jena, Jyotishree Jena, Bikram Jena, Sushil Jena and Biswanath Jena of Class VI.

Some Dalit parents have taken SLCs and have reportedly started admitting their children to Japada School, one-and-half km away from the village, informed a Dalit and Karilopatana ward member Sudhanshu Jena.

When contacted, Surendra Bidyapitha teacher Khageswar Parida admitted that some Dalit students of the Jena Sahi hamlet of Karilopatana village sought SLCs to study in other schools, recently.

Recently, Jajpur MP and Dalit leader Mohan Jena visited Karandiapatana and listened to the grievances of the Dalits.

He has brought the said matter to the notice of the local Tehsildar and district administration to take necessary actions against the upper caste persons for allegedly denying the basic right to education of the Dalit children.

Meanwhile, the Dalits have brought the matter to the notice of the Patkura PS IIC for justice.

When contacted, IIC Alok Ranjan Roy stated he has been conducting investigation.

~Joseph

http://www.sfexaminer.com/world/what-is-your-caste-potential-census-question-exposes-sensitive-divide-in-indian-society-95006229.html

~Joseph

*** From Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Dear friends,

Time has come to launch a fullfledge war against India's hidden apartheid against the Dalits.
A teacher who happened to belong to a Dalit community committed suicide today in Himachal Pradesh after humiliation from his upper caste colleague. Here is a Times of India Report..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dalit-teacher-kills-self-after-insult-by-colleague/articleshow/5959413.cms

The first point is to expose and express outrage at such assault which are regular..Ask for special trial even when media will not give it much importance like Jessica Lal and Ruchika Girhotra case as here the culprits are caste Hindus..

regards,

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Dalit teacher kills self after insult by colleague
Anand Bodh, TNN, May 22, 2010, 03.05am IST

CHANDIGARH: At a time when caste-based census is still being debated, a 50-year-old dalit school teacher ended his life after being allegedly humiliated by an upper caste employee of a school in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. His body was recovered on Thursday.

Chandan Lal of Rinj village was posted as a physical education teacher at a government school and was deputed for census survey. On May 13, Lal along with Kesaru Ram, a lab attendant in the school, had gone for the census survey. Ram belongs to an upper caste community.

According to the police, Kesaru Ram, unaware that Chandan Lal belonged to the scheduled caste, had asked him to spend a night at his house. When he came to know about it, Ram allegedly insulted Chandan Lal for not revealing his caste.

DSP (headquarter), Mandi, Narinder Kumar said according to Chandan Lal's suicide note addressed to a tehsildar, he was not able to bear the humiliation and committed suicide by allegedly consuming some poisonous substance.

"The police will be directed to register a case under the Prevention of Atrocities Act if it is confirmed that there is a caste bias in the case," said Himachal Pradesh secretary for social justice Prem Kumar. "We'll verify the allegations and will take stern action," said Himachal Pradesh minister for social justice and empowerment Sarveen Chaudhary.

See this link from our local Hyderabad newspaper, the Deccan Chronicle:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/dc-comment/goa-chargesheet-wake-call-281

~Joseph

Yet when Mr. Bachchan told the census enumerators that he does not believe in caste and is an Indian first, did he unwittingly reveal the discomfiture the privileged castes feel in coming to terms with the caste issue in modern India? Surely it is the oppressed people who have the first right to determine if there should be a caste census or not. Their interpretation of present day life vis-à-vis caste discrimination needs serious consideration.

In his defense Mr. Bachchan pointed out that he was married to a Bengali, his brother a Sindhi, his daughter to a north Indian and his son to a south Indian. That qualifies Mr. Bachchan for being a pan Indian. We have not heard anyone in the Bachchan family marrying a low caste or a Dalit!

But he is right about marriage being an important indicator of caste bias. How many forward caste families in the nation can boast of marriage to a low caste or a Dalit or a Scheduled tribe? Dr. Ambedkar saw inter-caste marriages as one final way of doing away with the caste system. Are we embarrassed about the caste question in the census because there is nothing to show in our family line in relation to inter caste marriage?

For now the vision of an inter-caste married, mixed India of Ambedkar is a far away dream. We will wait and see when caste based matrimonial columns cease to exist. Till then caste enumeration should continue to protect those who are constantly humiliated and discriminated.

Read more of my article at the Spero News Forum:

http://www.speroforum.com/a/33198/Bollywood-star-reveals-discomfiture-over-Indias-caste-system

~Joseph

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Caste-in-the-stone-age-/articleshow/5906263.cms

Check it out

~Joseph

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Debate/Caste-discrimination-has-racial-overtones/articleshow/5753231.cms

See the link below.

~Joseph

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/28/stories/2010032864051200.htm

~Joseph

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/tina-edwin/Inequitable-development/articleshow/5749202.cms

On April 1, 2010, India established the "Right to Education", but the question remains "What kind of education?" Will it be third class education for third class people and private English schools for the elite classes? It is time the Indian government delivers on English medium education for all people everywhere because that is what the Indian masses, the poor and the Dalits want!!!

Read on...

~Joseph

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=hub030410the_trouble.asp

Here's a story from Tehelka Magazine.

~Joseph

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne270310first_the.asp

First The Sorrow Now The Shame

Fast track courts. 123 cases. 89 convictions and 303 acquittals. SANJANA travels to Kandhamal to find the wounds of an anti-Christian violence still festering

Debris The church at Beheraga village, which was destroyed in 2008, lies untouched

Solemn prayers Worshippers at Divya Jyothy’s chapel at K Nuagaon. The centre was burnt down in 2008

Moving on A volunteer cleans up at Jana Vikas head office 18 months after it was burnt down
THE FIRST look is deceptive — Pira Digal seems unusually calm as she walks the dusty road, her bright blue sari primly tucked in place. There is no frown on her face despite the blazing sun. A second later, she offers to take us to her colony. In the colony, amid scattered rags and pitched plastic tents, she introduces herself as the widow of Kanteshwar Digal who was hacked to death in August 2008 during the communal violence that ravaged Orissa’s Kandhamal district.

“I am no longer angry because I lost my husband. I have come to terms with his death. But how can I forget that the court set the men who killed my husband free? Will someone tell me what the word ‘justice’ means?” asks Pira. As her composure crumbles, giving way to angry tears, Pira flings a file of papers to the ground. Among the papers that fall out are copies of the First Information Report (FIR) relating to Kanteshwar’s death, court affidavits and death certificates — clear indicators of Pira’s engagement with the courts and the police as she fought to bring her husband’s killers to book.

FACT FILE

FAST TRACK COURT 1
(117/42/2009)
18 people acquitted

“... Occurrence is true but no convincing, credible and satisfactory evidence... to eradicate suspicion that witnesses recognised accused during dark night by staying at some distance... hence (presence of)... accused at scene of occurrence is doubtful”

FAST TRACK COURT 2
(23/2009)
Manoj Pradhan and 1 other acquitted

“Witness had no acquaintance with accused prior to incident and hence cannot say that he was also present amongst the mob...”

FAST TRACK COURT 2
(08/2009)
4 people acquitted

“... Overwhelming evidence of homicide”... taking place “in course of the riot by members of an unlawful assembly...” but prosecution failed to connect accused to scene. “... accused passed through spot but did not cause any harm...”

FAST TRACK COURT 1
(48/16 of 2009)
Manoj Pradhan acquitted

“Informant is aged 35 years at time of examination. But during course of trial it was found that he is aged 60 years... doubtful if investigating agency has examined the right person...”

On March 2, 2010, when the news broke that fast track courts had acquitted 52 people accused of involvement in the Kandhamal anti-Christian violence, nobody was surprised. A quick glance at the figures explains why. The two fast track courts were set up in 2008 to look into 123 cases. Sixty-three cases have been disposed of since, with 89 people being convicted. As many as 303 people have been acquitted of charges like murder, rape and burning down houses. Against this figure, news of 52 people going home — cleared of all charges — understandably evoked little interest.

Among those acquitted were key district BJP leaders, including Manoj Pradhan — Kandhamal’s elected representative to the Legislative Assembly. A first time MLA, Pradhan was the primary accused in eight cases with charges of murder, abetting murder and arson against him. But he was acquitted in all of them by the fast track court which pointed to the lack of conclusive evidence against him. Even if the extraordinarily high rate of acquittals triggers no alarm bells, the fact that nothing could be found to nail the district’s elected representative in eight cases makes one wonder if justice is coming undone in Kandhamal. TEHELKA travelled to the region to take a closer look at the judgements and to speak to the various stakeholders. The journey raised far more questions than expected.

Consider Pira’s account. Her husband Kanteshwar was found dead on September 16, 2008 — 14 days after he was dragged off the bus he and Pira were travelling in. The post-mortem report recorded grievous injuries to Kanteshwar’s body as well as severe internal bleeding — he had been hacked to death and strangled by a rope. Police registered a case of homicide and, during the course of investigations, recorded Pira’s statement where she said Pradhan and his associate, Mannu Ganda, had dragged her husband off the bus. The police chargesheet named Pradhan, Ganda and six others as prime accused in the case. Almost a year later, the fast track court acquitted Pradhan and Ganda of all charges by “extending the benefit of doubt”. It said there was no credible witness to the murder, and nothing to conclusively establish that the accused had committed the murder, since there was a 14-day delay between Kanteshwar’s disappearance and the discovery of his decomposed body.

Ask Pira about the judgement and why Pradhan and Ganda were released and she minces no words. “Right from the time the FIR was filed, I knew that Pradhan would get away scot free. Neither the police nor the courts are blind to the power he wields in this region. Not everyone can withstand the harassment,” she says.

Pira should know. For a year now, Pira and her family have been harassed and threatened with dire consequences by Pradhan’s associates if they proceeded with the case. She stood her ground — only to have the judge dismiss her testimony as questionable. Pira adds that the police investigation has been shoddy and incomplete. When she approached police, hours after Kanteshwar was dragged off the bus, Pira was packed off and told to return if her husband did not return home. Five days later, when her brotherin- law went to the police station, police recorded Kanteshwar as “missing”, even though Pira and others insisted that he had been dragged off the bus and killed. In his judgement, Judge CR Dash pointedly referred to this “change” in the witness’ statement. He also cast doubt over Pira’s ability to identify Pradhan in the crowd since she had never met him previously. Pira responds in a tone that barely conceals her anger: “Do I have to meet Rahul Gandhi to recognise him?”

Pira’s case is not an isolated one. Of the eight cases that TEHELKA tracked, the judgments in each cast doubt over the witnesses’ statements and the shoddy police investigation. In another case against Pradhan, the MLA was acquitted on charges of rioting and setting Butia Digal’s house ablaze after the judge, SK Dash, questioned the credibility of Butia’s testimonies and that of seven other witnesses. The judge found it incredible that the witnesses had recognised Pradhan, even though the incident took place “during the dark night and in an area without electricity”. The homes, in this case, were completely burnt down — they were doused with kerosene before being set alight. The fact that the witnesses could see the faces of the people because of the flames went unquestioned.

‘How can I forget that the court set my husband’s killers free,’ says Pira, a widow
ANOTHER FACT that Justice Dash brought up to cast doubt about the police investigation was Butia’s age. At the time of recording statements, the investigating officer at Raikia police station noted Butia’s age as 35 when he was actually 60. The judge added that the investigating officer did not mark the exact location of the bush behind which the witnesses hid and watched their homes being burnt down. These facts were sufficient for the judge to give Pradhan the benefit of doubt and acquit him of all charges.

These acquittals come amid several instances where witnesses filed affidavits before the same courts alleging threats to withdraw their cases or to give false testimonies during cross-examination. In the affidavits that TEHELKA accessed, the witnesses clearly name the case accused as the ones issuing the threats. In Bodimunda village that falls under Tikabali police station, the threats went a step further. Last month, Hindus attacked Christians who continued to attend court hearings, unmindful of the threats they had been issued. The plastic tents that the Christians had pitched just outside the village were torn apart and a series of cases filed against them. The police registered five cases — three against Christians and two against Hindus in the village. Fearing for their lives, the Christian residents of Bodimunda fled to Bhubaneswar.

Witnesses have been threatened to withdraw their cases or to give false testimony
When TEHELKA approached Pradipta Panigrahy, the police inspector in charge of Tikabali police station, she admitted on record that the situation in the village had gotten out of hand since “there were four or five Hindus — members of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) — who paid no heed to the police or the district administration reconciliation efforts”. She added: “The police have no control over them and in any case, bail is accorded to them in all the cases we register against them.” (A month after the violence broke out, the case in which the Bodimunda villagers were appearing as witnesses was disposed of by the fast track court. All the accused were acquitted.)

In November 2009, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik filed a written admission in the Assembly where he said “85 persons of RSS, 321 persons of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and 118 persons of Bajrang Dal had been arrested for their involvement in the Kandhamal riots”. The question is: will the fast track courts set up by Patnaik’s government deliver the justice due to those affected by the violence? On last count, there were 71 cases waiting for that justice to be delivered.

WRITER’S EMAIL
sanjana@tehelka.com

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 12, Dated March 27, 2010

Lord Alton who is one of our big advocates has some great examples of British Christian stalwarts who spoke up against social and structural evil and Wilberforce on caste!!

Following is the victorious email forwarded from Lord Alton on this very topic.

~ Joseph

Begin forwarded message:

From: "ALTON, Lord"
Date: March 5, 2010 3:57:05 PM GMT+05:30
Subject: Dalits In india

Second Reading of the Anti Slavery Day Bill: Debate March 5th 2010

It is with great pleasure that I add my voice to those supporting the terms of my noble and learned friend’s Bill to inaugurate an Anti Slavery Day.

In 2007, the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, I ran a series of Roscoe Lectures on behalf of Liverpool John Moores University, where I hold a chair, commemorating the passage of William Wilberforce’s Bill to abolish the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and highlighting the nature of contemporary forms of slavery. For those who may not have read it, William Hague’s magnificent biography of Wilberforce cannot be bettered.

Liverpool was at the epicentre of the trade. Even so, brave men, like William Roscoe, the city’s Member of Parliament, would not countenance support for slavery and he voted with Wilberforce.

Sir James Picton, Liverpool's greatest historian, said of William Roscoe:

"No native resident of Liverpool has done more to elevate the character of the community, by uniting the successful pursuit of literature and art with the ordinary duties of the citizen and man of business."
In Roscoe’s epic poem, The Wrongs of Africa, published in 1787, he wrote of the iron hand crushing the people of Africa. He devoted the proceeds of the poem to the London Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

"Blush ye not
To boast your equal laws, your just restraints,
Your rights defined, your liberties secured,
Whilst with an iron hand ye crush to earth
The helpless African; and bid him drink
That cup of sorrow, which yourselves have dashed,
Indignant, from oppression's fainting grasp."

With great strength and clarity the final stanza of Part One of this 35-page poem warns its readers:

"Forget not, Britain, higher still than thee
Sits the Judge of Nations, who can weigh
The wrong and can repay. Before His throne
Confess they weakness; nor with impious voice
Arraign th' immutable decree, that fix'd
The bounds of wrong and right; that gave to all
Their equal blessing, and secures its ends
By penalties severe; which often slow,
But always certain, on the guilty head,
Pour down the terrors of the wrath divine."

Hansard records, on February 23rd 1807, that Roscoe told the House of Commons that:

the slave trade had “disgraced the land” and continued:

"I have,” said the hon.gentleman, “long resided in the town of Liverpool; for 30 years I have never ceased to condemn this inhuman traffic; and I consider it the greatest happiness of my existence to lift up my voice on this occasion against it, with the friends of justice and humanity."

For so lifting up his voice, Roscoe was assailed by the mob on his return to Liverpool and never returned again to Parliament. It is important that stories like this are not forgotten. The courage and determination of men like Roscoe and Wilberforce should remain an inspiration to future generations. The stories matter because many of the same battles remain to be fought in our own generation.

Just a week ago I was in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

At several events I spoke about the plight of India’s untouchables – the Dalits – and the forms of exploitation and slavery which stem from the caste system. Dalit is a term which derives from a Sanskrit word meaning “broken” or “crushed.” One in forty of the world’s population is a Dalit living in India - a quarter of India's population.

I recalled that on June 22nd 1813, Wilberforce made a major speech in the Commons about India. In his remarks he said that the caste system:

“must surely appear to every heart of true British temper to be a system at war with truth and nature; a detestable expedient for keeping the lower orders of the community bowed down in an abject state of hopelessness and irremediable vassalage. It is justly, Sir, the glory of this country, that no member of our free community is naturally precluded from rising into the highest classes in society.”

Two centuries later India’s President, Dr.Manmohan Singh has trenchantly argued that “untouchability is not just social discrimination; it is a blot on humanity”

Yet, in 2010, while India is a rising world power and is rightly gaining a reputation for innovation and excellence in many fields, this “blot on humanity” disfigures India’s reputation and has become one of the world’s greatest human rights challenges. Hundreds of millions of people remain imprisoned by the bondage of what Wilberforce called “the cruel shackles” of the caste system.

Those shackles inevitably lock their prisoners into the most menial forms of labour, trap them in servitude, and leave them susceptible to innumerable forms of exploitation.

In fairness to the Indian Government it must be said that growing social mobility and a series of remedial measures introduced since independence have provided some amelioration. Some individual Dalits have reached high positions in Indian society, not least Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, the senior judge of India’s Supreme Court and Ms Meira Kumar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. Yet, as I heard first-hand, even where Dalit people are securing elementary education, in some cases further educational progress and employment opportunities have been blocked to them.

Few would surely disagree that the caste system, with all the social prejudices and hierarchies which it entails, continues to enforce and compound servitude and exploitation. The perpetuation of humiliating descent-based occupations is the natural and inevitable consequence of the caste system. The rationale for caste was the division of labour, but to paraphrase Dr B.R. Ambedkar, architect of India’s constitution and hero of the Dalits, caste came to enforce a division of labourers.

I illustrate this point with reference to one of the most appalling and disgraceful forms of labour anywhere in the world, known euphemistically as manual scavenging: it involves cleaning human excrement from dry latrines, and is uniquely performed by Dalits as a consequence of their caste. The number engaged in this occupation is not known for certain, but it may be as high (or higher) than the equivalent of the population of Birmingham. An article in The New Statesman explained the link between this occupation and caste exploitation:

“Every society needs its sanitation workers, and no doubt those in any context may face some stigma. However, the deeper reality in India is that this job is reserved for Dalits, the ‘untouchables’ of old, and it is their job for life. As members of the Thoti sub-caste”,

the subject of the article,

“they were destined for this work by their birth, with no right of appeal. Members of equivalent sub-castes endure similar work across numerous districts of India: perhaps as many as 1.3 million of them. The nature of the caste system is that it generates a powerful combination of social and psychological pressures, constraints and expectations, which means that they cannot simply walk out of this work into another job of their choice. Because the scavengers do this work, there is little incentive to bring about change by introducing proper toilet facilities into the areas they work. Yet as long as the scavengers do it, they will be treated as untouchables. Theirs is a story of institutional dehumanisation and the flagrant abuse of their human rights.”

Tens of millions of India’s citizens are subject to highly exploitative forms of labour and modern-day slavery. This often plays into the problem of debt bondage and bonded labour, which affects tens of millions: it perpetuates a cycle of despair and hopelessness, as generations are bonded to the family debt, unable to be educated, unable to escape. Tragically, the debt is often the result of a loan taken out for something as simple and essential as a medical bill.

The caste system also plays into people trafficking - another form of slavery which affects millions in India. According to a report in CNN Asia last year, India’s Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta “remarked that at least 100 million people were involved in human trafficking in India”, whether for sex or for labour. The head of the Central Bureau of Investigation said that India occupied a unique position as a source, transit and destination country for trafficking, and that India has more than three million prostitutes, of whom an estimated 40% are children. These statistics are hugely significant: the situation in India simply must be at the heart of the fight against trafficking globally.

The Dalit Solidarity Network UK, which has been calling for an end to the caste system before this year’s Commonwealth Games, also highlights devadasi - a system of ritual prostitution of almost exclusively young Dalit girls.

During their time in India the British failed to heed Wilberforce and resisted the calls to abolish caste. Although untouchability was barred by the constitution when India secured independence, in 1947, the caste system was not dismantled. Most of the worst forms of exploitation are proscribed by Statute but all too often, the laws are simply not implemented, and the police further entrench, rather than protect against, caste prejudice. This point was made repeatedly in the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in May 2007.

A damning verdict is reached by a recent, in-depth report by the Robert F. Kennedy Centre entitled ‘Understanding Untouchability: A Comprehensive Study of Practices and Conditions in 1,589 Villages’: it describes “the Government of India’s continued ignorance about the depth of the problem and inadequacy in addressing untouchability and meetings its legal obligations in regard to the problem of untouchability”.

Caste discrimination is usually associated with India but, in parenthesis, I might add that there are also an estimated 3.5-5.5 million Dalits living in Bangladesh (2.5-4% of the total population). The majority are landless, and live in chronic poverty in rural areas or urban slums. They are deprived or actively excluded from adequate housing, health care, education, employment and participation in public life. Approximately 96% are illiterate.

To conclude, then, My lords, let me commend the attempt of my noble and learned friend, Lady Butler-Sloss, to remember and highlight the campaign against modern-day forms of slavery.

In my study I have a small terracotta pot given to me by Dr. Joseph D’souza, President of the International Dalit Freedom Network. Such pots must be broken once a Dalit has drunk out of it – so as not to pollute or contaminate other castes. This, in the 21st century. It's not the pots which need to be broken, nor the people, but the system which ensnares them.

Dr. D’souza rightly says: "If we are not intentional about bringing change and transformation in lives and society it will not happen. To love people is to act on behalf of them.”

My learned and noble friend’s Bill will be a stimulus to act on behalf of people like the Dalits and I readily support it.