State level youth convention

On 29th and 30th October, 2018 State level youth convention was organized by Ambedkar Yuva Manch under the guidance of Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti together with Dalit Mukti Mission and Mithlanchal Dalit Mukti Mission. The convention was organised at Sant Merry Church Ground, Chakaram on the theme own initiative and own development “Apni Pahal Apana Vikas”. Around 600 youth, women and workers participated in the convention.

Way back in 2016, Ambedkar Yuva Manch was established by Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti (B.D.V. S) together with its associate organization Mithilanchal Dalit Vikash Samiti (MDVS) and Dalit Mukti Mission (DMM). From the start the objective of this Yuva Manch was to work for the development of Dalit tribal communities, participating in the formation of a well-intentioned, equitable, good-natured democratic and human-based society.

This dynamic stage of tribal youth established in the form of "Youth Resource Center" in Panchayats of Patna, Jamui, Banka, Sheikhpura and Samastipur Districts. Through this center, almost thousands of young people - youth got the benefit of the library, computer and group studies etc. At the same time, quality education, personality development, organization self-employment and village level development programs are contributing in poorly disadvantaged communities.

On 29th all the participants -Youth, women and the workers reached the venue at 11:00 and took their seats. The program started with the burning of Olympic by the guests including Fr. Jose Chirakar, Fr. Anjani Swami, Fr. Antony Sami, Sr. Devarti, Ms Kamainee, Ms Sunita Munda, Mr Radheshyam, Mr Satyendra and Mr Anil Kishore. This was followed by a song ‘ Koi yaha bhukha rah jaaye’ sung by Mr Sukar and Mr Sanayi Nayak, the program coordinator of BDVS presented the progress report of Ambedkar Yuva Manch. After that all the guests gave their messages on ‘Apni Pehal Apna Vikas’

Sr. Devrati Fernandis, Secretary of Aashrye Abhiyan said youth have to recognize their power, and then only India’s face will change. She gave an example and tried to explain that every person has some weaknesses that people are watching. They shouldforget their weakness and come together to move forward. She motivated the students and told them to work hard.Then Ms Kamainee from Janjagran organization presented an awareness song ‘Manjil Sahnewala Buniyadi Chahiye’. She said there is a need to unite and make a strong foundation for empowered community then only our destination of equality will be reached.

Ms Sunita Munda, program officer of Dalit Wing Oxfame India shared her life experiences and also shared a story based on Dalit female; after looking at the small ratio of girls participants. She said being a female, dalit female and poor is a curse and our family is responsible for it. Girls should come together to fight for their rights and it should be started from our own house.

After that Mr Anil Kishore Yadav an IPS, IG of Police Training Patna talkedabout the structures of the society and on the discrepancies of the bureaucracy. He said “From the beginning itself the higher class people were history writers. They have been partial in writing and the media is also doing the same thing. Everybody talks about Nehru, Gandhi and Tagore but no one talks about Savitri, Phule and Ambedkar.”He added “Nowadays there is a debate between the government and the administration on crime such as how the increasing crime be stopped, how much punishment and how the law be reformed but this is not the issue. There is a need to debate on the thoughts of criminals”.

Followed by him Father Anto Joseph, the Director of BDVS said despite the fact that women's role in the family is greater than that of men still less opportunities are given to girls; this can also be seen in our convention. We will try to bring equality in future. He added that thoughts and spirit of great men like Gandhi, Ambedkar are with us today also; we need to fulfill their dreams. For this we don’t have to hold the guns but we have to fight with our mind and conscience. We need to build confidence and believe on youths.

After the speech the students team presented an awareness song “Hal chalakar maine hi” and then another awareness song was presented by Mr Virendra of BDVS.

After the lunch break the session again started from 4 P.M where different resource persons were talking on different themes.

Dr. Fr. Antony Sammi spoke on the theme “Dimensions of development of human instrument” he started with a story related to this theme and then Describing the annual figures of birth and death of his country, he said that there is ample opportunity to become a doctor in the country. People are also getting education abroad. There are scholarships available for these. He also mentioned the wrong policies of the government and said that the country’s GDP is falling. The economy is getting worse. Education is being given on the basis of money, poor are being deprived. Talented people are going away, governmental schools and hospitals are in very bad condition. Human capital will increase when all these will get better.

Mr. Radhey Shyam - Employment Generation and Freedom - Challenges and Opportunities - On this theme he said that human resources are of two types - one education and second training. Whereas economic growth is needed as a natural resource - land and skill equipmentCooperation is a safe medium to be self-supporting. As far as the challenges are concerned, I am a trainer, not a Dalit thinker. But I believe that for five thousand years, it has been trying to erase the personality of this lower classes. In a survey of Bihar, every family has five people. In which seventy percent of the family's average income is five thousand. A special cast of ours - Ravidas woman gave birth to one kg of grain and gave her 15 days. Today, other people have made the same work as a traditional and snatched it, which is getting 25 thousand salaries and against which the women of this community did not even upstairs. There is a social problem in the milk business thatonly yadav's will do it, not from others. Even in our cooperative, other classes are occupied. Regardless, our organizations can face these challenges through a cooperative society.

Satyendra Kumar (Founder, Ambedkar Student Forum) Theme- Overview of leadership such as Ambedkar and Phule – He first energized the audience with the theme related slogans. ‘Baba teri soch par – paharaa denge thok kar’ second ‘ Adhi roti khayenge’ yah nhi –‘puri roti khayenge- khakar school jayenge’ Need to add this slogan. With Social change thinking also have to be changed. Slogans have to be changed. He told the youths to raise their hands who had been the first generation in their family who went to school. Almost all the youths raised their hands. Mr Satyendra said The history of dalits is very old, but the history of Dalit youth is only 10 years old. We are kept away from the real history of our ancestors.So today people celebrate Teacher's Day on 5th September. Appeal that since now on the birth anniversary of Mother Savitri Bai Phule, the first Indian teacher is to celebrate Teacher's Day on January 3.

He informed about the progress and benefits of educations. The Ministry of Human Resource Development specializes in the field of special education in the center and at the state level. Under which there is a system for achieving higher education for Dalit students. Student credit card scheme is applicable in Bihar. He has done his 10thin JNU on scholarship. In this way the understanding was developed with the answer to the questions made by the youth.

Kala Jattha, Maharastra team presented a skit on a story of Ambedkar’s life after that a PG student Raju Ranjan of Ara presented different folk songs.

On the second day of the convention all the participants came togetherat 9:00. Then they all cleaned the ground. At 9:30 they came to the stage for revision. Followed by this, Mr Virendra presented a song “Aa gye yaha jawa kadam- jawa kadam manzilo ko dundhte huye” Then Mr Ragav took the feedback of the first day program.

All the directors of Ambedkar Yuva Manch were called on stage. Mr Virendra presented the brochure. Then the topics were given to the groups. The topics were – To make the youths as leader, Youths and community participation in Panchayati Raj, To encourage youths towards studies.

Mr Santosh, Ms Suman, and Mr Vivek presented songs on present situation. After that Dr. Fr. T. Nishaant, principal of St. Xavier’s College, Patna said We generally think about ourselves but there were only two people who thought about others Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Dashrath Manjhi. He also talked about the struggles of these two great men.

The professor of St. Xavier’s College Patna, Dr. Fr. Sushil Bilung said There is a difference between living and living good life, clearing exam and getting good marks in exam. Thoughts brings revolution, revolution brings changes. He also quoted saying of A.P.J Abdul Kalam “ Keeping a small goal is like a crime”. Through this saying he motivated the people present there. He added youths have to make their identity. They should have Self-confidence,it is their power. The same power becomes a first identity as a personality. He ended with a motivational story.

Ms Meena Tiwari, General secretary AIPVA- Talking about the current social evil. Ms Tiwari spoke about the contributions of Baba Ambedkar towards women’s upliftment. She said Ambedkar was not only a leader of Dalits but also a leader of women community. She appealed to the youth to walk on the paths of their great men and face challenges and take the initiative to save their history and constitution.

Presentation of group discussion

1. Educating and training youths mentally to fulfill the dreams of great men
2. Linking the youths and children of Ambedkar yuva Manch to education and field of work.
3. Youths should move towards own initiative and own development
4. Linking the community to all government and non-governmental organizations for community development

All the Leader of the Ambedkar Yuva Manch, operated in 21 panchayats of 6 districts, was honored with the Ambedkar strap on the platform from the administrative office of Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti. This honour was given to the team for their excellent works such as right usages and conserving of the resources available in the team , group studies, adding new youths to the team, Linking the community to various government and non-government schemes and developing resources through the initiative of Yuva Manch.

Mr. Naval Kishore director of MDVS said that youths and the Dalit community should come together with blue flag to fight with the opposite situation. He demanded from the government to nationalize education, land and factory.

With this the program came to its end and the closing speech was given by Father Anto Joseph – He congratulated youths for their discipline and thanked to all the guests and participants for coming in the convention. He accepted the suggestion given by the two conference (Students Conference and Youth Conference) removing the word Mahadalit and giving equal opportunities to the girls and boys. At the end he said the convention was successful and thanked all of them and the vote of thanks was given by Mr Virendra of BDVS.