We support BHIM YATRA

भीम यात्रा के समर्थन में

हम न्यायधीश, कानूनविद्, वैज्ञानिक, इतिहासकार, फिल्मकार,  बुद्धिजीवी, लेखक, रचनाकार, रंगकर्मी, सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता और देश के प्रबुद्ध नागरिक सीवर में मौतों को रोकने और मैला प्रथा के खात्मे के लिए निकाली जा रही भीम यात्रा की मांगों के साथ एकजुटता घोषित करते हैं। हम मानते हैं कि सफाई कर्मचारी आंदोलन द्वारा भीमराव अंबेडकर की 125वीं जयंती के अवसर पर निकाली जा रही भीम यात्रा बेहद अहम सवाल उठा रही है। सरकार को इसकी मांगों को तत्काल मानते हुए, तुरंत सीवर-सेप्टिक टैंक में मौतों को रोकने के लिए कार्रवाई करनी चाहिए। सरकार को मैले प्रथा में फंसे लोगों को तुरंत मुक्त कराना चाहिए और उनके संपूर्ण पुनर्वास की गारंटी करनी चाहिए। सरकार को भारत को तुरंत मैला प्रथा मुक्त देश बनाना चाहिए।

हम यह कहना चाहते हैं कि वर्ष 2016 में देश भर मैला प्रथा का होना इस बात का प्रमाण है कि जातिप्रथा आज भी अपने बर्बर रूप में मौजूद है और लाखों नागरिकों को अमानवीय जीवन जीने पर मजबूर कर रही है। हम भीम यात्रा की इस मांग से पूरी तरह से सहमत हैं कि सरकार की प्राथमिकता देश को मैला प्रथा से मुक्त करना और सीवर और सेप्टिक टैंक में हो रही मौतों को रोकना होना चाहिए। सीवर के आधुनिकीकरण को समयबद्ध ढंग से पूरा करने और सफाई कर्मचारी समुदाय को सुरक्षित-सम्मानजनक-जातिभेद से मुक्त जीवन तथा रोजगार मुहैया कराने के लिए एक राष्ट्रीय मिशन की घोषणा होनी चाहिए।

हस्ताक्षरकर्ता---

जस्टिस वी.एन.खरे (भारत के पूर्व प्रधान न्यायाधीश)

रोमिला थापर (इतिहासकार)

प्रो. पी.एम. भार्गव (वैज्ञानिक)

एन युगंधर (आईएएस रिटायर्ड)

के.आर.वेणुगोपाल (आईएएस रिटायर्ड)

जस्टिस एपी. शाह (पूर्व जज)

जस्टिस राजेंद्र सच्चर (पूर्व जज)

इंदिरा जयसिंह (पूर्व एएसजी)

गोपाल सुब्रहमणियम (पूर्व एएसजी)

आकार पटेल (एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशनल)

मल्लिका साराभाई (नृत्यांगना, मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ता)
प्रो. डी.एन. झा (इतिहासकार)

ज्यां द्रेज (अर्थशास्त्री)

के. बी. सक्सेना (पूर्व आईएएस)

पी.एस. कृष्णन (पूर्व आईएएस)

असगर वजाहत (रचनाकार)

डॉ. सुबोध महंती (वैज्ञानिक,पूर्व निदेशक विज्ञान प्रसार)

प्रो. एस. इरफान (पूर्व न्यूपा फैक्लटी)

मंगलेश डबराल (कवि)

त्रिलोचन शास्त्री(एडीआर)

डॉ. अनूप सराया (एम्स)

हर्ष मंदर (एनएसी के पूर्व सदस्य)

कमला भसीन (संगत)

पंकज बिष्ट (रचनाकार, संपादक, समयांतर पत्रिका)

असद जैदी (कवि, प्रकाशक, थ्री एसेस)

आंनद स्वरूप वर्मा (लेखक, संपादक, तीसरी दुनिया)

दूधनाथ सिंह (कथाकार)

अजय सिंह (कवि, लेखक)

प्रो. दिनेश अबरॉल (वैज्ञानिक, जेएनयू)

मैत्रेयी पुष्पा (उपाध्यक्ष, दिल्ली हिंदी अकादमी)

शांता सिन्हा (पूर्व चेयरपर्सन, एनसीपीसीआर)

अरुणा राय (एमकेएसएस)

गौतम नौलखा (मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ता)

उमा चक्रवर्ती (इतिहासकार)

फराह नकवी (पूर्व एनएसी सदस्य)

एस.आर. दारापुरी (पूर्व आईजी, उ.प्र)

निखिल डे (पेंशन परिषद)

वी.सुरेश (पीयूसीएल)

अपूर्वानंद (प्रो. डीयू)

आनंद तेलतुम्डे (लेखक)

सतीश देशपांडे (प्रो. डीयू)

नंदिता नारायण (अध्यक्ष, ड्यूटा)

आनंद पटवर्धन (फिल्मकार)

विमल थोरात (लेखक)

पॉल दिवाकर (एशिया दलित राइट्स फोरम)

अशोक भारती (नेकडोर)

पी.साईनाथ (पत्रकार)

मंजूर आलम (महासचिव, मिल्ली कांउसिल)

कविता श्रीवास्तव (पीयूसीएल)

मो. शोएब (अध्यक्ष, रिहाई मंच)

जयप्रकाश कर्दम (लेखक)

अनामिका (कवि)

किरन सिंह (कहानीकार)

शोभा सिंह (कवि)

शबनम हाशमी (सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता)

सिद्धार्थ वरदराजन (पत्रकार)

नीलाभ मिश्रा (पत्रकार)

रितिका खेरा (अर्थशास्त्री)

अचिन विनायक (सीएनडीपी)

जॉन दयाल (सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता)

हफीज अहमद हवारे (अध्यक्ष, ऑल इंडिया जमाएतुल हवारीन)

फ्रैंकलिन सीज़र (सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता)

We support BHIM YATRA

We, the Judges, members of the legal fraternity, scientists, historians, filmmakers, intellectuals, writers, artists, social activists  and other concerned citizens of the country fully support the demands of the nationwide Bhim Yatra undertaken to stop deaths in sewers and sewage pits and to completely abolish the practice of manual scavenging from the country. We whole heartedly believe that Bhim Yatra organised by Safai Karmachari Andolan on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar has raised some very important questions and the government of India should immediately accept the demands, stop deaths in the sewers and septic tanks, liberatre and rehabilitate all manual scavengers and declare India a manual-scavenging free country.

We feel that even after 68 years of independence and in this era of development if the practice of manual scavenging still exists in the country than it clearly proves that caste system still prevails in its most inhuman and barbaric form and forces millions to live an undignified life. We also fully agree with this demand that priority of our government should be to bring immediate end to practice of manual scavenging and stop human deaths in sewers and sewage pits. The Government should immediately declare a national mission to modernise the sewage system within a fixed time-frame and to provide safe, dignified and casteism free life & livelihood to the Safai Karmachari community.

Signatories:

Justice V.N. Khare (Former Chief Justice of India)

Romila Thapar (Historian)

Prof. P.M. Bhargava (Senior Scientist)

Justice Prabha Sridevan (Former Judge)

N. Yugandhar (Retd. IAS)

K.R. Venugopal (Retd. IAS)

Justice A.P. Shah (Former Judge)

Justice Rajinder Sachar (Former Judge)

Indira Jaising (Ex ASG)

Gopal Subramaniam (Ex ASG)

Aakar Patel (Amnesty International)

Mallika Sarabhai (Dancer, Human right activist)

Krishna Sobti (Writer)

Prof. D.N. Jha (Historian)

Jean Dreze (Economist)

K.B. Saxena (Retd. IAS)

Asghar Wajahat (Writer)

Dr. Subodh Mohanty (Scientist, Ex. Director Vigyan Prasar)

Prof. S. Irfaan (Ex NEUPA Faculty)

Manglesh Dabral (Poet)

Trilochan Shastri (ADR)

Dr. Anoop Saraya (AIIMS)

Harsh Mander (Ex-member NAC)

Kamla Bhasin (Sangat)

Pankaj Bisht (Writer, Editor, Samyantar magazine)

Asad Zaidi (Poet, Publisher, Three Essays)

Anand Swaroop Verma (Writer, Editor Samkaleen Teesri Dunia)

Doodhnath Singh (Writer)

Ajai Singh (Poet, Writer)

Vimal Thorat (Writer)

Prof. Dinesh Abrol (Scientist, JNU)

Maitreyi Pushpa (Vice chairperson, Hindi Academy, Delhi)

Shanta Sinha (Ex Chairperson, NCPCR)

Aruna Roy (MKSS)

Gautam Navlakha (Human right activist)

Uma Chakravarti (Historian)

Farah Naqvi (Ex-member NAC)

S.R. Darapuri (Ex IG, UP)

Nikhil Dey (Pension Parishad)

V. Suresh (PUCL)

Usha Ramanathan (Jurist)

Jayati Ghosh (Economist)

Prof. Apporvanand (DU)

Anand Teltumbde (Writer)

Prof. Satish Deshpande (DU)

Nandita Narayan (President, DUTA)

Anand Patwardhan (Filmmaker)

Paul Divakar (Asia Dalit Rights Forum)

Ashok Bharti (NACDOR)

P. Sainath (Journalist)

Manjoor Alam, (General Sec. Milli Council)

Kavita Srivastva (Pucl)

Reetika Khera (Economist)

M. Shoaib (Chairperson, Rihai Manch)

Anamika (Poet)

Jayprakash Kardam (writer)

Shobha Singh (Poet)

Kiran Singh (Writer)

Shabnam Hashmi (Social Activist)

Siddhartha Varadarajan (Journalist)

Neelabh Mishra (Journalist)

Achin Vanaik (CNDP)

John Dayal (Social Activist)

Hafeez Ahmad Hawaree (President, All India Jamiatul Hawareen)

Franklin Ceasar (social activist)

सुनिए, यह बच्ची आपसे कुछ कह रही है!

                                         हम भीम यात्रा में शामिल हैं और आप?
                                           हम चुप नहीं रहेंगे, चुप्पी को तोड़ेंगे

Stop Killing Us

We want you to invite you to come in solidarity. To commemorate 125th Birth Anniversay of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Safai Karmachari Andolan's National Bus Yatra, BHIM YATRA, is coming to delhi. demanding –Stop killing us, stop deaths in sewer- septic tank and end manual scavenging.This Yatra has travelled more than 35,000 kilometers across the country from Dibrugarh to kanyakumari to Mumbai to delhi. Families of 125 people who were killed in sewer-septic tanks will also be addressing along with others.

Please come

Bezwada Wilson

National Convenor

Safai Karamchari Andolan

delhi

9311234793

BHIM Yatra culmination on 12th April

at Ambedkar Bhawan, Rani Jhansi Road,(near Jhandewalan metro station)  Delhi at 4 p.m.

and public meeting and demonstration 

On

April 13, 2016 at 11 a.m - 2 p.m.

 at

 Jantar Mantar 

125 people from across country will be speaking out the ordeal of sewer deaths of their near and dear ones with a message loud & clear

Stop Killing Us 

Bhim Yatra

Jai Bhim

We, the safaikaramcharis, have launched a country wide yatra – The Bhim Yatra, a journey of pain and anguish, to tell the country and the government to ‘STOP KILLING US’ in dry latrines, sewers and septic tanks. The Bhim Yatra will criss-cross across the country for 125 days in 500 districts in 30 states from  10^th December 2015 and end in Delhi on 13^th April 2016, on the eve of  the 125^th birth centenary of our great leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Our honourable parliamentarians are “celebrating” while millions of us across the country are being forced into manual scavenging and sewer holes to die. We have been denied the right to dignity in both life and death.

Why, The Bhim Yatra ?

Since 1982 we have been raising our voice against this violence and discrimination. We organised, mobilised and campaigned against this atrocity and for the demolition of the dry latrines, the visible structures of the inhuman caste system and its link with this dehumanising occupation.

In 1993 the parliament passed the “The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (prohibition) Act 1993, with imprisonment for up to one year and/or a fine of Rs 2,000. This law was never implemented and no convictions were made during the 20 years it was in force. The government made many false promises to eliminate this heinous practice. Nothing happened. We consistently exposed the lies and hypocrisy of the government surveys and schemes. In 2000 when the government counted only 679,000 manual scavengers, we came out with 1.3 million in randomly selected states and districts. The Prime Minister and chief ministers made token statements of setting deadlines. 1995, then 2000, then 2003, then 2005, then 2010, and then 2012… Nothing changed!

In 2003 we filed the Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court. There was an ironical pattern in the government responses. First, a total denial of existence of manual scavenging, next partial admission when we produced photographic evidence and finally, faking compliance by dubiously destroying only those places, presented in our evidence.

In 2007, with the solidarity and support of civil society groups and public leaders, we launched the Action 2010 campaign to end manual scavenging by December 2010. Nothing moved. So we started out on the historical bus yatra in October 2010. This Samajik Parivartan Yatra which was the first of its kind, journeyed the entire country. Many Women and men came out from manual scavenging and led the Yatra which ended in Delhi with a mammoth public meeting. The women in the Yatra took the stage and their powerful speeches shook the nation.

Apart from these social actions, we submitted memorandums to the President, Prime minister, ministries, statutory bodies and National Advisory Council. The memorandums demanded for the implementation of the 1993 Act and a rehabilitation package. The NAC passed a resolution on 23 October 2010 to end manual scavenging by 31^st March 2012.  After the Yatra, the then Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment invited us for a discussion. We met him on 30^th December 2010 and submitted the nationwide data that we collected during the yatra. Following this meeting, the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment convened the national consultation on 24^th and 25^th January 2011 which resulted in the setting up of four task forces - to review the act, conduct a national survey, revise the rehabilitation package and sanitation solutions. The President of India in her speech to the parliament at the start of the budget session, in March 2012 announced the draft for a new bill for prohibition of manual scavenging. The Government of India passed the new ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013’ in September 2013 and issued Government notification in December 2013.

Further, after 12 long years, the Supreme Court passed the Judgment order on 27^th March, 2014 on the writ petition (civil) no. 583 of 2003, Safai Karamchari Andolan & Ors Versus Union of India & Ors., directing all the State Governments and the Union Territories to (i)fully implement and take appropriate action for non-implementation as well as violation of the provisions contained in the 2013 Act, (ii) to prevent deaths in sewer holes and septic tanks and make the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks a crime even in emergency situations and (iii) to give compensation of Rs.10 lakhs to families of all persons who have died in manholes and septic tanks since 1993. But even one year after, many deaths have occurred in sewer holes across the country.  Safai Karamchari  Andolan has reported 1327 sewer and septic tank deaths. Less than 3 percent have received compensation.

            The government is absolutely negligent in implementing the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 and the Supreme Court order. When deaths occur, FIRs are never filed. Only after heavy pressure and agitation, FIRs are filed, as death due to negligence and never under the Manual Scavenging Prohibition Act and SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. This blatant violation of the constitution is taking away the lives of the safaikaramcharis in sewers and septic tanks.   It is extremely disturbing that these deaths which are increasing day by day seems to be intentional.

The parliament held a discussion on "commitment to the constitution" to mark the 125 birth centenary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar when they have utterly failed in protecting the constitutional rights of the manual scavengers. They are just empty rhetoric devoid of all meaning and purpose. It is a scandal and shame that such events are held within the sanctity of the parliament.

 The Bhim Yatra is a journey of intolerance of the violence, discrimination and  violation of our constitutional and fundamental rights. This journey is to expose the hypocrisy in the speeches and actions of the leaders and the shame of manual scavenging still rampant in the 21^st century. The Bhim Yatra will simultaneously spread Ambedkar’s ideas of social justice, liberty, equality and fraternity while proclaiming his war cry ‘educate, organise and agitate’.

            The Bhim Yatra was launched from Vishva Yuvak Kendra, Delhi on 10^th December, 2015 and started from Dibrugarh, Assam on 11^th December, 2015. The journey will move continuously for 125 days from one state to another, covering 30 states and 500 districts and will end on April 13^th 2016 in Delhi. Please be part of this yatra.

“ Ours is a battle not for wealth; nor for power, ours is a battle for freedom; for reclamation of human personality.” Dr.B.R.Ambedkar

Jai Bhim!

P.S We will send you updates on the Bhim Yatra.