The Odisha Dalit Adhikar Manch organised a ‘Swabhiman Samavesh’ (self-esteem rally) here on February 7 demanding fulfilment of 11 demands, including implementation of the Odisha land Reforms Act and adoption of Homestead land Rights Act and Sharecroppers Security Act.
Hundreds of landless, sharecroppers, Dalits, Adivasis and other people from rural areas of the State participated in the Samavesh. They all came in a rally from the Ram Mandir Square to the lower PMG Square and joined the meeting there held under chairmanship of Manch president Manas Jena.
Many Manch activists, intellectual persons and political party representatives spoke on the occasion supporting all 11 demands of the Manch.
The other demands of the Manch include utilsatio of all funds that are allocated in the Budget for welfare of the SC and ST people and adoption of special schemes for them, reservation in jobs at Panchayat level and private sectors for the two categories, steps for providing self employment to them, strict implementation of laws for stopping caste-related issues, utilsaton of Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund and Mining Area Development Fund on time.
Among others, Prof Manoranjan Mohanty, Ajeya Rout, former MlA Radhakant Sethi, senior journalist Ramesh Mohanty, Banshidhar Parida, B Ramchandra CST Voltaire, Jiauddin Ahamad, Mahamad Sukur and Sudarshan Chhotray spoke.
later, a team led by Prasant Mallick and Madhusudan Yadav went to the Governor’s House and the Secretariat and held discussions with the Governor and the Chief Secretary over their demands, informed Jena in a statement.