Dalits demand ban on Made Snana at DC’s SC/ST meeting

Dalits demand ban on Made Snana at DC’s SC/ST meeting

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 15, 2011 : A number of Dalit organizations have urged the deputy commissioner to ban Made Snana and the caste discrimination practiced while serving food to devotees in various temples.

DC Dr. N. S. Channappa Gowda had called an SC/ST leaders’ meeting on Wednesday after one year. It was during this meeting that the Dalit leaders had expressed their displeasure over the age-old Made Snana ritual and the sanctioning of DC manna land to an individual in Dharmasthala.

Shekhar Belthangady, the president of the Dalita Hakkugala Horata Samithi, said that Made Snana is a shameful practice and that the DC will be held responsible for the attack on a backward class leader who opposed it since he was attacked because the DC had withdrawn the ban on the ritual.

In response, the DC said that the ban was revoked because the devotees had requested it. The Dalit leaders responded that even the ban on Bettale Seve and Sathi was opposed initially and that Made Snana should be banned despite opposition.

Bhanuchandra, the Dalit leader, said that Dalits are made to remove banana leaf plates after meals in temples that are under the control of the government and wanted to know why they are not permitted to serve rice instead. He demanded that Dalits should also be appointed as trustees of temple. He pointed out that only people belonging to the Marati Naik community are appointed as trustees and not Koragas or members of other backward communities.

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Dalit leaders also protested against the presenting of DC manna land to an educational institution run by the Nagarika Seva Trust in Belthangady. The DC responded that the said land has been sanctioned to private individuals according to a government order. He said that 92 acres of land has been identified in DK to be given to landless Dalits. He also promised that he will conduct SC/ST leaders’ meetings one in 3 months at the district level and once in 2 months at the taluk level.

Sarvottam Pai, the superintendent of police (Civil Rights Enforcement Cell); Sundar Bhat, the assistant commissioner of Puttur; Venkatesh, the assistant commissioner of Mangalore; Dr. Harish Kumar, the commissioner of Mangalore City Corporation (MCC); and many others also participated in the meeting