The dalit village panchayat presidents are no exception from caste discriminations if one goes by a study conducted in 10 districts of the state.
According to a study by Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO, 171 panchayat presidents have gone on record admitting caste discrimination against them by caste Hindu vice-presidents and officials.
The study came in the wake of reports of a dalit woman panchayat president in Pudukottai being prevented from hoisting the national flag and another president in Erode district lodging a complaint with the National Commission for SCs alleging caste discrimination by the panchayat vice-president.
The survey covered 171 village panchayats in Madurai, Sivagangai, Dindigul, Theni, Coimbatore, Erode, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur districts.
The study states 85 per cent of the presidents were facing caste-based discrimination while 82 per cent of them were affected by work related interferences. It also reveals over 30 forms of discrimination has been practiced against the dalit panchayat presidents.
M. Shanmugha Sundaram, president of Pulliyur Natham panchayat in Dindigul, said that after he won the elections, he was not allowed to occupy the chair allotted for the elected president even once by the Caste Hindu vice-president. “If I complained against him, the upper caste people in village will create unnecessary problems against us,” he said.
The study recommended that the dalit presidents should be given training on administration, economic development and developmental projects. “District collectors should chair a grievance meeting of dalit village panchayat presidents once in three months,” it said.
A Kathir, executive director of Evidence, said these study reports had been submitted to chief secretary and social justice ADGP, among others, for action.