The second national conference of Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch, which is an umbrella body comprising at least 22 organisations across India fighting against caste oppression, commences in Madurai on Saturday.
The three-day conference will deliberate on a number of caste-related issues, including atrocities against Dalits and religious minorities for consuming beef, discrimination faced by Dalit students in educational institutions, non-filling of vacancies reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in many government departments and the decline in fund allocation for uplift of Dalits and the issues in ensuring the rights of Dalits over lands allocated to them.
The conference is being hosted by Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front. K. Samuel Raj, general secretary, TNUEF, said that Kerala Chief Minister Piarayi Vijayan, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol. Thirumavalavan, Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Amedkar, All India Democratic Women’s Association president Subhashini Ali and many other eminent people would address the conference.
As a precursor to the event a four-day art exhibition on the theme ‘Towards freedom’ was inaugurated on Friday at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary.
