KATHMANDU, JUNE 4

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has called one and all to devote themselves to nation building by ending all sorts of discrimination.

Discrimination meted out against Dalit community must end in practice, PM Deuba said this while addressing a programme organised by the Inter-Party Dalit Women Network, and Dalit Women Centre on the occasion of the 17th National Day for the Elimination of Caste-based Discrimination here today. Discrimination against Dalits is against social justice, he stressed.

'Caste-based discrimination is inhuman, immoral and criminal activity. It is the shared responsibility of all to make a civilised society by ending all sorts of discrimination and implementing laws effectively,' he said, reminding that the voice against caste-based discrimination and untouchability had been raised in Nepal for the last seven decades.

The PM also reminded that Nepal was declared untouchabilty-free country and Dalits' rights were mentioned in the constitution in 2006 while the National Dalit Commission was set up in 2001 with the resolution to end untouchability. He claimed that the movement launched by the Dalit community had helped the government in making relevant policies and laws.

PM Deuba further said that caste-based discrimination and untouchability were social ills. Every citizen must be ensured equal rights to live a dignified life, PM Deuba emphasised.

According to him, the government is committed to ending the situation where Dalits had to lose their lives while fighting for their rights.

Today itself, making of a movie 'Sarbajeet' based on the life of trailblazer of Dalit movement, Bhagat Sarbajeet Bishwokarma, has begun in the federal capital.

On the occasion, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Ale expressed commitment to provide his five months' remuneration for making the film 'Sarbajeet'.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.