The representatives of the Provincial Dialogue Group and Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), Madhesh Province, have drawn the attention of Madhesh Province Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav to implement the Dalit Empowerment Act on 20 March. Acknowledging the attention letter submitted by Provincial Dialogue Group and INSEC Madhesh Province for the implementation of the Dalit Empowerment Act, Chief Minister Yadav said that preparations are being made to convene a meeting to inform the local level chiefs and administrative officers in eight districts about the implementation of the Act.
Yadav said that in the first stage, meetings and in the second stage correspondence will be sent to all local levels for the formation of local caste discrimination and untouchability monitoring committee. In the Dalit Empowerment Act passed by the provincial assembly, there are provisions for four types of committees, but the committee has not been formed at the local level and the provincial level committee is not active.
The dialogue group drew the attention of Chief Minister Yadav to the inactive provincial-level committees and the lack of formation of the committees, as specified under the Act. The dialogue group has demanded the formation of the Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Monitoring Committee chaired by the Chief Minister, the Dalit Development Committee chaired by the Minister of Social Development, and necessary arrangements made regarding it. Out of the 136 municipalities in the province, 13 local Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Monitoring Committees have been formed at the local level on the initiative of the dialogue group, and the dialogue group has demanded that the provincial government aim to form committees at the rest of the local levels.
Although the Madhesh province government enacted the ‘Dalit Empowerment Act, 2019’ for the development of the Dalit community, the implementation is not effective even after three years. On 6 November 2008, the Ministry of Social Development tabled the Act in the Provincial Assembly. A year after that, the Act was ratified on 10 December 2009. The government had given high priority to this Act.
To make the Dalit community economically, socially, and culturally strong in the province, in addition to getting their rights, the Madhesh province government has provided ration cards for Dalits, enacted provision of alternative education, and monthly subsistence allowance for Dalit students under this Act. However, the non-implementation of the Act has deprived the Dalit community of the envisioned facilities provided by the law. The Act envisages the establishment of the Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Monitoring Committee, chaired by the Chief Minister, the Local Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Monitoring Committee and Dalit Development Committee at the local level, and Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Control Unit at the Provincial Police Office.
Eighteen percent of the total population of the Madhesh Province is comprised of the Dalit community. The presence of that community in the politics and governance of the province and local levels is negligible. Stakeholders stated that the implementation of the Act will ensure the rights of the Dalit community in that region.