Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Dalits in want of basic needs



BAITADI: More than 65 per cent Dalits living in Baitadi’s Dasharath Chand Municipality are deprived of the basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, education and health facilities.

Dalit activists say that there are more than 180 Dalit families residing in Dasharath-1 alone are deprived of drinking water and electricity. Dalit rights activist Saraswati Nepali said that there

are 5,500 Dalit families in 13 wards of the municipality and among them 65 per cent have a shelter while others are deprived of all basic needs.

She said that the only alternative for Dalits was to spend their life working on others’ farm as labourers. Dalits in the district have been working as haliyas for the rich people as well.

Nepali said that though the government declared the Haliyas free but only few haliyas have received identity cards and most of the them have been compelled to return to their old profession. “The declaration has stranded many haliyas as it was made without thinking of alternatives,” she added.

There are 4,436 haliyas in Baitadi alone as per the figures from the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry. Among them, only 301 have received identity cards.

source:thehimalayantimes

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