National Conference – Re-framing Budgets for Dalit Women in India | Oct.31, 2013 | Constitution Club, New Delhi
Asha Kowtal
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch, it is our pleasure to invite you to the “National Conference – Re-framing Budgets for Dalit Women in India” scheduled to be held on the 31st October 2013, Constitution Club, New Delhi.
We request your honorable presence for this conference, which is aimed exclusively at bringing Dalit women representatives closer to the work on Budgets and economic rights in this country. The objective is to collectively analyse the policies designed for development of Dalit girls and women and bring out a set of recommendations based on the experiences on the ground.
Hence, we seek your expertise; to participate and provide valuable inputs on defining the agenda of Dalit Women in the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP). The Special budgetary planning and allocations for specific targets populations are aimed at closing the development gaps between the target population and the rest. In case of Scheduled Castes, the SCSP aimed at bridging the development gap between the SC’s and the Non-SC communities. In case of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), it aims to address the inequity experienced by women over the years.
For Dalit women, the intersections of SCSP and GRB are crucial to address the specific needs of Dalit women. This exercise of bringing out the specific requirements of Dalit women and economic rights is critical at this juncture since the process of building legislation on SCSP is in progress.
A policy framework to address these specific needs of Dalit women and other most marginalized groups does not exist in India. Inspite of progressive approaches of dealing with exclusion, the need of the hour is to recognize the multiple forms of discrimination experienced by some social groups, which need a modified, and more focused response.Only by a generic approach, we fail to address the specific needs and hence the primary aim of closing the development gaps will never be achieved.
Therefore we have planned to organize a National Conference to discuss the specific needs of Dalit women and bring out clear recommendations both for the SCSP legislation as well as the programmes and schemes aimed at bridging the development gap.
The National conference also attempts to highlight the implementation gaps and design flaws in the existing schemes with special focus on our research study in association with UN Women on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s scheme to address the skewed literacy rates among marginalized women – Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalya.
The ‘National Conference on defining the agenda of Dalit Women in the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan – Legislate, Allocate, Implement, will bring in experts, activists, community leaders and Dalit women from across the country.
We are hopeful that this interaction will strengthen the perspectives and outcomes of legislation on Scheduled Caste Sub Plan. This is also an opportunity for us to meet, share and strengthen our relations.
We sincerely hope you will attend the conference. Do write to us if you would like to participate.
Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely
Asha
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