Dr. Charu WaliKhanna, Member, NCW was Guest of Honour at Dalit Chintan Sabha at Chandigarh on 21.04.2013. The Programme was organized by Dalit Welfare Association, Chandigarh. 

Dr. Charu WaliKhanna said that the vision of Dr. Ambedkar about women is explicitly reflected in the Constitution of India through Articles 14, 15 and 16. The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. She proudly said that Dr. Ambedkar laid the foundation of social justice and said there can be no social justice without gender equality. Dr. Ambedkar motivated women to participate in the struggle for eradication of caste system. At the Women’s Conference at Nagpur on 20 July 1942 he told women to be progressive and abolish ritualism and other habits detrimental to progress. 

Dr. Charu WaliKhanna emphasized that there is an interconnect between caste and gender and need to address the human rights violation faced by Dalit women. She said that there was a need to analyse the severe nature of the intersection between gender based violence and caste discrimination, including exploring ways forward to address caste based violations against Dalit women; who are at the bottom of the pyramid and suffering due to structural inequalities and exclusion. 

The Chief Guest of the programme was Dr. Raj Kumar Verka, Vice-Chairperson, National Commission for Schedule Castes. The other guests included Shri Hari Ram Sood, Member, National Commission for Safai Karmachari, Shri Harnam Singh, Chairman, Delhi Commission for Safai Karmacharis and other dignitaries from various political parties cutting across party lines.

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