Education alone would sink differences among people, destroy caste divisions and ultimately wipe out untouchability, said A. Alexander Mohan, Inspector General of Police, Social Justice and Human Rights.
He was inaugurating a special camp on Social Justice and Human Rights held here on Thursday.
Education will bring a desirable change in the mindset of people and create a casteless society. The government had created lot of opportunities and provided many facilities for the uplift of poor and downtrodden. Still, number of educated persons among scheduled tribe was very low. They should utilise every opportunity and facility offered to them to become educated, he added. “Education is a must for all.”
Untouchability was just an invention of man only. Neither scriptures nor our culture taught such uncivilised thought or action. “Our culture teaches even to respect animals and small creatures like ant. We have a temple for ant at Tiruverambur near Tiruchi. Such is our culture. But inhuman thinking was introduced to the society by some persons who wanted to rule others. It should be curbed, he added.
In his presidential address, Superintendent of Police M.S. Muthusamy stated that shastras did not divide people on the basis of caste but only on the basis of their profession. Today, members of a family belonged to all these four sects. Present societal setup had categorised people like several sections in same class in a school, he said.
The main objective of providing more facilities was to take education to the downtrodden with an aim of uplifting them in the society, he added.
“Untouchability is a utopian concept and wild thinking of man.”
In his special address, Collector M. Vallalar cautioned that caste and religious divisions among people would affect development and growth of the nation. Seeds of untouchability should not be sown in the minds of children. Every one should strive hard to ensure it.
Earlier, divisions among people were made according to their profession. Education would open the doors of casteless society, he added.
Earlier, the IG flagged off an awareness rally.
