14 June 2011

Regional consultation with CSOs working on dalit rights at Kushinagar

A day-long regional consultation on Dalit human rights and entitlements issues was organised by PACS in Kushingar, Uttar Pradesh, on 14 June 2011.

Prominent dalit activists, national and state level networks on Dalit rights, CSOs, media persons, academia and community based organisations of schedule caste groups from different parts of Uttar Pradesh participated in the consultation.

The day long discussion and presentations generated a rich dialogue among participants. CSOs shared their experiences of working with the schedule caste groups and the challenges they face daily.

Key objectives of the consultation:

• To build rapport with the groups and civil societies working on the issues of Dalit human rights and know their areas and ways of working.
• To understand the issues of access to livelihood and basic services by dalit communities.
• To generate a discussion around the experiences of CSOs in the same and gather learning.
• To identify key areas of advocacy vis-à-vis dalit communities and access to basic services that can be taken up by PACS through scale up programmes.

Some of the key action points proposed by the groups were that:

• Civil society organisations, networks, community based organisations (CBOs) and activists working for dalit rights should work in camaraderie to raise their voice and share their key learning.
• PACS can facilitate a platform for groups working both at grass roots and national level so as to strengthen their advocacy initiatives.
• These groups should take up evidence based advocacy initiatives based on their field research and studies.

The consultation was attended by about 30 representatives from 24 CSOs, including: 

• national and state level networks;
• dalit activists - largely representing Dalit Action Group (DAG), DARSHAN, NCDHR, NACDOR;
• dalit Mukti Morcha;
• and community based organisations of Mushahar community. Namely Mushahar Vikas Samajik Sansthan and Mushahar Sewa Sansthan coming from Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mau, Azamgarh, Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur districts of Uttar Pradesh.