Sir — I was in a state of shock after reading the report that a Dalit ragpicker was lynched when he and his wife were picking garbage near Radadiya Industries located in the Gujarat Industrial Corporation area in Rajkot. When a crime is committed against a Dalit every 15 minutes in our country, must not we admit that Dalits need special legal protection for their survivalIJ How can we ignore the fact that we have totally failed the DalitsIJ There has been a 66 per cent growth in crime against Dalits during the period from 2007 to 2017.
In such a scenario, must not we ensure that there should be stringent act to protect themIJ Must not it be ensured that there should be sizeable presence of Dalits in Government administration, especially in the police force so that such laws are properly executed without any hatred towards themIJ
Dalits have been exploited and tortured for thousands of years. Now, it is too much to expect that there will automatically be enough presence of them in public administration. So, reservation is the only way to ensure their participation and to make the administration free from caste hatred and caste bias.
As a matter of fact, absolute equality means no equality at all or just equality of “might is right” in a jungle raj. So, laws have been enacted to do positive discriminations in favour of some who need protection for survival.