‘Dalit upliftment must for MDG progress’

society members have pointed out the need to uplift the marginalised Dalit community to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015. Although the government has made some progress in the fields of health, education and poverty reduction, more efforts and initiatives are necessary.

Dalit rights activists, representatives of political parties and civil

“Talking about poverty reduction, 25 percent Nepalis are below the poverty line whereas the Dalits’ percentage is 42,” said Dalit rights activist Hira Bishwokarma.

Speaking at an interaction on ‘MDGs and Dalits,’ jointly organised by the Dalit NGO Federation and the Nepal Dalit Human Rights Organisation on Saturday, Hira said Dalits will have to wait at least 17 more years to meet poverty reduction goals. Dinesh Chandra Devkota, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, said that the government would not meet the MDG targets without policy reforms and strategic interventions for the upliftment of the Dalit community.

Limited investment from the donor community   is  widening the gap between the Dalit and the non-Dalit community, said Devkota. “Donors allocate only 0.9 percent of their funds to Dalits in Nepal,” he said.

Presenting a paper on MDGs and Dalits, researcher Amar Bishwokarma said that the government should give first priority to Dalits in reducing poverty, gender discrimination and child and maternal mortality.

Nepali Congress leader Min Bishwokarma said the incumbent government’s decision to scrap Madhav Kumar Nepal’s Dalit-friendly programmes like inter-cast marriage incentives and peoples’ residence programmes had “pushed Dalits backward”.

source:ekantipur