Under the Odisha Dalit Adhikar Manch (ODAM) banner, social activists, intellectuals and supporters of reservation from across the State organised a meet here on Saturday.
Odisha has a major proportion of SC and ST population, said ODAM president Manas Jena. He also said there should be laws for reservation for the backward classes in the private sector jobs as it would help in the development of backward classes, SCs and STs.
The ODAM has demanded reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in private sector jobs and resolved to launch a campaign to bring pressure on the State Government from next month Jena added.
Attending as chief guest, former Chief Secretary Sahadev Sahoo said that with development SC, ST and OBC people and women, an overall development of the country would materialise. Many facilities are yet to reach some of them, he observed. Reservation in private sector jobs should be made, he added.
Even after 68 years of Independence, the State Government has not implemented the Constitutional rights of SC and ST people, resented Manch State coordinator Prashant Mallick.
Former IAS officer Kalyan Ray said, “We want that the private sector should realise the importance of the issues. They should give opportunity to the backward class people with reservation.” The reservation should not be limited in the Government sector only, he added. The speakers said that if reservations are made in private sector jobs then there will be no place for casteism in the society.
Santosh Das from the CPI(M), Prof Basant Kumar Mallick, ODAM adviser Madhusudan Yadav, Samajwadi Party State president Rabi Behera and writer Husain Rabi Gandhi also spoke, among others.