Karnataka anti-untouchability scheme named after Dalit boy, family displaced

Karnataka social welfare minister Kota Shrinivasa Poojary told the state Assembly Monday that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will launch Vinaya Samarasya Yojana on April 14 on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, and that they were also checking the availability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its virtual inauguration.

Poojary told the House that Vinaya Samarasya Yojana has been named after the Dalit boy Vinay. The scheme was included in the recently announced Karnataka Budget for 2022-23 with an objective to eradicate untouchability in the state.

The plight of the Vinay family seems to have turned more abysmal, though. As reports about the imposition of fine on them made headlines, the village leaders, belonging to the locally dominant Ganiga community, stepped up “social boycott” of the victim Dalit family. Reeling under it, the family was forced to escape from the village in November, leaving behind their house and agricultural land.

Miyapur has a population of 1,500 people, mostly Ganigas, with only about 91 villagers belonging to the Dalit community.

“Naming a government programme after my son will not change anything but this evil practice (untouchability) must be eradicated,” said Vinay’s father Chandrashekar Shivappadasara while speaking to The Indian Express.

“After the incident made headlines, we were facing social boycott and I withstood it for many days so that things may change. But every bad thing that happened in the village was attributed to our family and we were abandoned. Even if some emergency help was required, we would not get it. I then made the decision to shift to Yelburga (in Koppal district), which is my wife’s hometown,” Chandrashekar said.

“If law was properly implemented, the situation would have been different. The annual festivals in the village have also been cancelled fearing Dalits would enter the temple. How can I live or allow my son to grow under such circumstances,” he said.

Chandrashekar was fined Rs 25,000 after Vinay strayed into the village temple, located behind his house, while it was raining.

After the incident came under spotlight, the social welfare department of Koppal district registered a complaint. Local police then intervened, filed an FIR, and arrested several accused who, however, were out on bail soon. And then the villagers’ alleged wrath against the Chandrashekar family of three intensified, forcing them to leave their home and land in Miyapur.

“The people who were arrested came out on bail and continued to rule the village. The police who were deployed left after sometime but the situation remained the same. The government needs to enforce law and uphold the rights of Dalits,” Chandrashekar said.

He got Rs one lakh subsidy from the state government and is planning to set up a car washing centre in Yelburga. “I pooled around Rs 5 lakh and need some more money to set up the car washing centre, which I will do. I made several rounds to government offices, hoping to protect my Miyapur land or to get an alternative land in my wife’s place. But there was little help. I will not go and beg again before government officials as I am tired of it now.”

Naveen Shintre, deputy director of the social welfare department of Koppal district, told the Express that he was not aware of annual temple festivals being cancelled in Miyapur village. “We have provided Rs 75,000 compensation and Rs one lakh subsidy from Dr BR Ambedkar Development Corporation to the Chandrashekar family.There have been efforts to provide them land and help them in house construction (in Yelburga),” he said.

The conviction rate in cases of atrocities against the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) has stood at barely 7 per cent in Karnataka, as per recent data. Poojary informed the Assembly last week that of the 23,095 such cases registered in the state since 2019,19,057 cases have been pending before various courts.

Poojary also said that such cases were being reviewed regularly at the state level and by the deputy commissioners of districts as well. He said CM Bommai will soon convene a meeting to examine the pendency of these cases and that the government has also appointed a special public prosecutor to handle them.