Run for caste-free India held
Necklace Road: A run for caste free India was held recently to mark 127th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar at People’s Plaza in Necklace Road. The run commenced at People’s Plaza and concluded at Ambedkar Statue near Tank bund. The motive behind the run was to promote inter caste marriages and help eradicate caste system from the society.
Hundreds of participants took part wearing blue, green and yellow t-shirts with slogan “We are humans, we are not to be divided by caste.” The run was jointly organised by Prabuddha Bharat International (PBI) and Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI). A casteless marriage bureau found by Dr Ramadevi and Dr Omprakash Sama was launched during the event.
Chairman of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) Ghanta Chakrapani and Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, Founder of Loksatta, flagged off the run and also participated. Dr Jayaprakash Narayan said “Caste is an inhuman face of Indian Society. Modern humans originated in Africa sometime around 200,000 years ago.
Traces of earliest human beings found in excavations at Jwalapuram in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh, which means we have a history of 74,000-year. Our ancestors have common roots, all our ancestors are one. Then why do we see these differences. If we practice inter-caste marriage, the caste system will come to an end in the next few generations.”
Ghanta Chakrapani said that the future generations must strive hard to build a casteless India. Though we are technically advanced living in the digital age, India is still unable to cross the barriers of caste. The progressive Indian youth consider the caste as the mother of all evils, deadlier than cancer and AIDS, dangerous than pollution and disastrous than corruption.
The run is not for physical health but mental health. Many reformers from hoary past like the Charvakas, Gauthama Buddha and the modern thinkers like Mahatma Jyothirao Phule till Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar, fought against the caste, the mother of all evils, he added
Dr Om Prakash Sama shared the details of the survey which were conducted by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). “Marrying with the same ethnicity, community and caste are prone to genetic diseases.
The study has analysed samples from more than 2,800 individuals from 275 distinct South Asian groups. Over 1.5 billion people of South Asia were vulnerable to rare genetic population specific diseases than elsewhere in the world because of the endogamous marriages or marrying with the same ethnicity, community, and caste,” he added.
President of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) Rahul Kiran said, “The idea of Dr B R Ambedkar whose birthday we are celebrating had thought for a caste-less society. The best tribute to him would be to demolish the caste system.”