Bhopal Declaration

Bhopal Declaration was unanimously adopted by the “The Bhopal Conference” held at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 12-13 January 2002. The Bhopal Declaration is to chart the new course for Dalits in 21st century. This blog emphasizes the action mechanism to be accelerated by the State and Central Governments in India for the noble cause.

The conference declares its belief in Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s ideal of Social Democracy and his prophecy that, “A democratic form of Government presupposes a democratic form of society. The formal framework of democracy is of no value and would indeed be a misfit if there was no social democracy”.

The intellectuals and activists gathered in Bhopal deliberated the issues concerning the 250 million Dalits in India. They solemnly proclaimed to rededicate themselves to work in unison to achieve the basic rights of Dalits. They carved out a 21-point agenda to liberate the Dalits from scourges of untouchability and exploitation.

The significant observation in the agenda is to ensure the National and State budgets to provide the appropriate allocations according to the population of SC and ST and demands a stringent penalization measures for the Governments which not utilize and diversify the funds allocated for the Dalits. The forum eventually claims the essentiality of installing the Dalit Capital for the empowerment for Dalits.

The subtle employment opportunities occupied by the Dalits in Government and Public sector is vanishing rapidly due to market economy and privatization. As the Government has not ready to show any form of reluctance towards the disinvestment and corporatization, it mandates the focus on Dalit Capital.

The creation of Dalit Capital enables the country to produce Dalit entrepreneurs after 48 years of Independence which has the potential to open the gates for thousands of Dalits to be employed in the industries own by them. The emergence of Dalit Capital has the capacity to tap the inherent talents of the Dalits who have witnessed all possible sorts of discrimination so far. The Dalit capital is the threshold to subsume the innate ability of the Dalits for the Nation’s mainstream growth.

The concept of Dalit Capital should not be conceived or perceived to be the magnanimity shown to Dalits instead it is the affirmative action which they have been denied all the time. The Central Government should conciliate the recommendations and should frame a standing committee which comprises of legislatures across political spectrum to contemplate and debate the Dalit Capital concept.

The committee should not incline itself to hear the noises come from sections which vociferously oppose the social justice. The committee members should commit themselves to roll out the process in top gear to draft the impeccable action plan. The action plan should be made as legislation rather than the G.O. so that it cannot be misinterpreted or put in deep freeze through the judicial machinery.

Millions are anticipating the positive reciprocation from the State and Central Governments.