E-Paper
Seminar focuses on Dalit contributions
A THREE-DAY village conference organised by Dalit Resource Centre, Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute (GBPSSI) at Ajuha village of Kaushambi district concluded on Saturday.
A THREE-DAY village conference organised by Dalit Resource Centre, Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute (GBPSSI) at Ajuha village of Kaushambi district concluded on Saturday.
Jeane Dreze, a renowned economist and a visiting faculty at GBPSSI from Belgium was a guest of honour while K Nath presided over the session on the last day on topic ‘Struggle for freedom and the role of popular literature and culture’. Guru Prasad Madan conducted the proceedings of the day.
Raj Kumar Itihaskar and K Nath expressed concern for the uplift of the Dalits in every sphere of life. They praised the efforts of the DRC to look after the concerns of the Dalits.
A cultural programme was also organised followed by the final session on Dalit women. A large number of women participated and shared their experiences on the occasion.
Earlier, on the second day of the conference Ram Kishore, a popular Dalit writer from Barabanki, presided over the session while Madan Ji highlighted the role played by Swami Achootananda towards awakening consciousness among Dalit masses. He said along with Mahashay Bikhu Lal, Swami Achootanand started numerous revolutionary movements for emancipation of the Dalits.
Devendra Chaubey from JNU, New Delhi, said it had been seen that whenever there was about freedom, the common perception was political freedom. For Gandhi and Jinnah freedom had different connotations, limited to political sphere but for Ambedkar it was something more than political freedom. For him social and economic freedom were equally important.
He said education and power were the most important aspects of any caste’s development and Dalits had been kept away from this very essential aspect.
Mohandas Nimisharay said the fabric of Indian society was such that one community could not live without the other and the concept of untouchability was surperfluous. He advocated for female education because until women were not educated, future could not be secured.
Other speakers such as Avinash Choudhary, Sohanlal, Vijay Shankar and many others also expressed their views on the occasion.
