Skip to main content

Gujarat Dalits to begin anti-untouchability brass coin yatra to Parliament on Aug 1

By Our Representative 

Gujarat’s top Dalit rights leader, Martin Macwan, is all set to carry a unique 2047 mm diametre brass coin, with the question: “Will the 1947 dream of untouchability-free India be a reality in 2047?” engraved on it, to Parliament in the first week of August, along with hundreds of his supporters.
Said Macwan, “A special letter will be sent to the President of India, the speaker of the Lok Sabha and the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha to collectively accept the brass coin and to place it in the new house of Parliament as a reminder to abolish untouchability.”
Minted from donations received mainly from Dalits from various states of India, consisting of brass and copper utensils, the coin has the image of Dr BR Ambedkar, on one side, and Lord Buddha in his bhumisparsh mundra, on the other.
In a media communique, Macwan said, the purpose of the coin is to raise an uncomfortable and painful question before the Indian Parliament: “Why as a nation we have failed to abolish untouchability de facto?” He added, “The programme raises the question before Parliament, since it is the collective failure to abolish untouchability of all Indian political parties.”
Apart from brass utensils, said Macwan, “People have also contributed Re 1 per member per family as a donation to the Indian Parliament. This donation is not towards the construction of the new house but to strengthen its resolve to abolish untouchability. Thus far, about 25,00,000 such coins have been collected, and more keep on pouring in from different parts of India.”
Navsarjan Trust, the NGO founded by Macwan, is navigating the initiative, said Macwan, adding, “The entire campaign has been funded by the community.”
According to Macwan, “The coin brings together the 12th century story of Veer Megh Mahya, the Dalit who sacrificed his life to remove untouchability, and the 1947 promise of independent India to itself to become a nation free of untouchability.”
The seven-day long March with the coin and the donations from the citizens of India, he said, will begin on August 1, 2022 at 8 am from the Dalit Shakti Kendra, an ITI-type institute founded by Macwan in Ahmedabad district’s Nani Devti village with the aim of empowering Dalits, and will reach Delhi on the evening of August 7, 2022.
At the same time, said Macwan, “A copper replica of the coin, weighing 72 grams and a diametre of 60 mm will be sent to all the members of Parliament, along with the letter asking them to support the demand for untouchability-free India.”
He added, “We will also personally take a brass coin replica to all the chief ministers of India in the next few weeks before the march.”
Giving details of the programme, Macwan said, “There will be 312 people joining the march in six buses. We are having six night halts on the route holding several meetings in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. The food and the night stay is taken care of by the rural communities, and in Delhi by a Gurudwara.”
“All the people joining the march are contributing Rs 1,100 and some who can afford to pay the full cost of their travel (Rs 3,250 per person)", he said, adding, “We will be in Delhi for 24 hours. If the coin and the donations from the community in the nature of Re 1 coins (about 25 lakh) is not accepted, we will return to Gujarat.”

Comments

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

'Pro-corporate agenda': Odisha crackdown on tribal slum dwellers fighting for land rights

By Our Representative  The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning what it calls “brutal repression” on the Adivasi slum dwellers of Salia Sahi in Bhubaneshwar by the Odisha police, has said that the crackdown was against the tribals struggling for land rights in order to “stop the attempts at land-grab by the government.”

Deplorable, influential sections 'still believe' burning coal is essential indefinitely

By Shankar Sharma*  Some of the recent developments in the power sector, as some  recent news items show, should be of massive relevance/ interest to our policy makers in India. Assuming that our authorities are officially mandated/ committed to maintain a holistic approach to the overall welfare of all sections of our society, including the flora, fauna and general environment, these developments/ experiences from different parts of the globe should be clear pointers to the sustainable energy pathways for our people.

Hazrat Aisha’s age was 16, not 6: 'Weak' Hadith responsible for controversy

Sacred chamber where Prophet and Aisha used to live By Dr Mike Ghouse* Muslims must take the responsibility to end the age-old controversy about Hazrat Aisha’s age at the time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh) – it was 16, not 6 (minimum was 16, Max 23 per different calculations). The Hadiths published were in good faith, but no one ever checked their authenticity, and they kept passing on from scholar to scholar and book to book.  Thanks to 9/11, Muslims have started questioning and correcting the Hadiths, Seerah, and mistranslations of the Quran. Now, the Ulema have to issue an opinion, also known as Fatwa, to end it and remove those Hadith entries. Mustafa Akyol, a scholar of Islam, implores Muslims to stop deifying “the received traditions” and critically study their religious past, shedding rigid legalism and close-mindedness. Someone else used the phrase “copycat Muslims” to identify scholars who copied what was given to them and passed it on without researching or questioni