02 June,2014 07:09 AM IST | | Priyankka Deshpande
At a time when atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are on the rise and the lack of knowledge hampers deliverance of justice to them, city-based DR Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI) has started an innovative campaign to address the problem
At a time when atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are on the rise and the lack of knowledge hampers deliverance of justice to them, city-based DR Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI) has started an innovative campaign to address the problem.
In a bid to create awareness of the RTI and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, among SC/ST citizens in the rural parts of the state, BARTI will appoint samata doots (equality mediators) from August.
A discussion was held yesterday to prepare the final draft of the scheme, which had state chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad in attendance.
Gaikwad said that discrimination on the basis of caste still exists and people from schedule castes and tribes are ill treated. "According to a survey, an incident of atrocity against SC/ST citizens is registered in the state every 18 minutes. But since they are unaware of the Prevention of Atrocities Act, they are unable to fight against back," ha said.
Elaborating on the initiative, which will kick off on August 26, BARTI Director Dr Parihar said, "Under this scheme, training will be provided to citizens who voluntarily come forward to work for the deprived sections of the society. They will be later appointed as samata doots and will spread awareness among ST tribes like Katkari and Paradhi," he said.
