Are Dalits still mentally living in the decades of 70s and 80s, while the country and the world have moved on to the 21st century?

While interacting with students and parents, it is found that out of 10 people one interacts, 9 of them want to pursue a career in UPSC and MPSC civil services, PSU Banks, other PSUs and government jobs.

Dalits seem to be totally out of sync with the national and international economic and industrial developments. The Indian government is on spree of privatising the government enterprises like Railways, Air India, RCF, Defence production, etc. The government is trying to shrink its role in many of the sectors. But this isn’t a factor under consideration of people while planning for a career. It’s not only the people from rural or semi-urban areas who are running after the government jobs, even in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, the situation is no different. Wherever there are some career guidance programmes organised, these are invariably about UPSC/MPSC.

It’s also observed that among government jobs, people want to pursue an exam or career only if there is a reservation. I haven’t met a student who is seriously preparing for NDA or CDS exams for officers posts in the military, both conducted by UPSC, just because there is no reservation. Why is reservation or absence of it becoming a limiting factor?

We will defend our rights to representation at all cost but Dalits need to get ready to grab positions in private sector also. We understand there are huge caste barriers at the private companies’ doors but we need to devise plans to break those barriers and climb high. Further to that Dalits need to get organized to demand representation in private sector. Representation in private sector is another issue that is not in the scope of this article so I will reiterate that it’s a time for Dalits to grab positions in private sector.

Support your friends and family members and help them get jobs in private sector in the same way so-called upper castes do. If links and contacts matter in private sector, try to build your own contacts and links through your friends and family members working there. Sooner we learn to fight and get positions in private sector better for us.

How long will it take Dalits to come out of this time warp?

Author – Jayant Pathri and Velivada Team