The Scheduled Castes Department of All India Congress Committee commemorated the 142nd Birth Anniversary of Periyar’ EV Ramasamy’ and organized a National Executive Meeting on the 17th September 2021 from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Conference Hall, New Maharashtra Sadan, K.G. Marg, New Delhi. Under the leadership of Dr. Nitin Raut, Chairman of SC Department, All India Congress Committee and guidance of Mr. Chandrasen B. Rao, Secretary (Organization) and Mr. SP Singh, Secretary of SC Department, National Office Bearers and State Chairpersons of 21 States participated in the national meeting. Shri Bhakta Charandas, In-charge of Bihar, Manipur & Mizoram Congress and Member Congress Working Committee, and Shri Bajirao Khade, In-charge of Uttar Pradesh Congress and Secretary, AICC also attended the National Executive Meeting. The National and State office bearers shared the progress reports of work undertaken in their respective States and shared their future plan of action. A strategy was discussed and planned for the seven states that are about to undergo Assembly and Municipal elections.
On the occasion of Social Justice Day, the SC Department also launched ‘Samata Chetna Varsh’, a yearlong programme to undertake various national – state – district level activities across India throughout the 75th Independence year. Through this programme, the SC Department, on a mission mode, will remind people of India about the warnings by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, especially of the need to establish ‘Social Democracy’, along with ‘Political Democracy’ in India. The SC Department will also work towards galvanizing Dalit youth and start a movement to end caste-based discrimination and further the Constitutional rights of Dalits and other marginalized communities. The culmination of the ‘Samata Chetna Varsh’ programme will be organized on the 75th Independence Day of India, i.e. 15th August 2022.
This is particularly significant considering the rising atrocity cases against SC/STs and non-implementation of the Constitutional safeguards and measures to protect and empower Dalits and other marginalized communities by the current BJP/RSS government. The members also discussed the caste-based atrocity data for the year 2020 that was recently released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Caste atrocities against Scheduled Castes under the Narendra Modi/RSS regime have increased by 9.4% in 2020. The total number of reported caste atrocity cases has increased to 50,291. The crime rate has increased 25% in 2020. This is not just happening with Dalits but with all other marginalized groups in India. We should also note that atrocities against Scheduled Tribes have also increased to 8,272 cases in 2020. Communal riots registered an increase of 96% in 2020 as compared to 2019, with a total number of 857 communal riots across India under Modi government. Also, a total of 736 caste riots and 2188 agrarian riots were reported across India in 2020. Fake news cases have increased by 214% with a total of 1,527 cases in 2020. To address these issues the SC Department will closely work with the other departments & frontals of the Indian National Congress, along with various other civil society organizations and networks in the coming future.
