As many as 40,000 atrocities are being committed on Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes every year in the country. In Odisha, 3,000 to 3,500 atrocities are committed, out of which only 60 per cent cases are being heard and disposed of, said Odisha Dalit Adhikar Manch ODAM president Manas Jena quoting National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statics, at a State-level convention on the present scenario of dalit rights here on Wednesday.
Jena said the Supreme Court judgement on March 18, 2018 has sealed the rights guaranteed by the Constitution on the future protection of dalit and Adivasi people from the oppression.
He also referred to the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and Rules, 1977 and SC and ST (PoA) Act 1989 and SC and ST (PoA) Amendment Act 2015 and gave a total picture on their implementation in true sense in defence of crores of dalits and Adivasis in the country during the period.
AAP State coordinator Nishikanta Mohapatra, CPI(M) State committee member Santosh Das, CPI(Ml-Red Star ) State secretary Sibaram, FPI general secretary B Ramachandra CST Voltaire, OCP State president Ajeya Rout, former MlA and CPI (Ml-liberation Central Committee memb Radhakanta Sethy, Adivasi Daravar’s Chandray Hansda and laxman Murmu, Prof Golekha Bihari Natha, Jiauddin Ahamad and Hemanta Naik, eminent social activist and ODAM advisor Madhusudan Yadav expressed their deep anxieties on the spirit of the judgement of Supreme Court which has virtually defuncted the basic essence of the Article 17 of the Indian Constitution and by that the constitutional rights guaranteed to the SC and ST people for their safeguard have been a question mark for them thereby strengthening the hands of the oppressors in general.
They did not appreciate the judgement for its general applicability.
They all agreed to the proposal that let the Union Government of India come forward to restore the SC and ST (PoA) Amendment Act 2015 as it was prior to the pronouncement of the judgement through an ordinance and recommend the same for its safety placement in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution. ODAM coordinator Prasant Mallick also spoke.