Dalits – Socio-Economic Empowerment and DICCI

 

Dalits – Socio-Economic Empowerment and DICCI

Chairman of DICCI, Dr. Milind Kamble

Right from the dawn of Independence of India in 1947 and the Constitution of India came into force in 1950, many provisions to empower and uplift the socially marginalized sections of the society, called Scheduled Castes and Tribes and in general parlance Dalits, have been incorporated and stipulated in the relevant and concerned statues of India and rightly so. Over the years much has happened on the positive side but still we are to go a long way to get a due share for Dalits in the economic development of the country. From time to time GOI has introduced many schemes and programmes to involve Dalit businessmen and entrepreneurs in the process. But due lack of awareness and much needed access to avail of these schemes, Dalits could not take full advantage of these affirmative actions of the
Governments both at the Center and the States.  It was felt, of late, a specific and particularly designated agency was needed to help the young Dalit entrepreneurs and businessmen.  Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) was established in 2005 by intellectuals and awakened Dalit businessmen led by Milind Kamble in association with others. It was a thoughtful initiative which was well received and supported not only by the decision making authorities in the business and administrative circles but also interested Dalit community. DICCI’s website would provide more details on their mission and activities: www.dicci.in

I have written about DICCI a couple of times earlier too in my blogs. My current motivation came from the recent, March 12, State Level Special Vendor Development Programme hosed at Jalandhar jointly by DICCI, NSIC and National SC & ST Hub (Ludhiana) in cooperation with other stake holders like: Power Grid Corporation, BHEL, Exim Bank, GeM, UCO Bank, FIEO, NIT Jalandhar, RCF
Kapurthala among others. I was invited to the function as a Guest of Honour by Tilak Khinder, Managing Director of one of the successful and established business houses of Jalandhar; Rattan Brothers – Manufactures and Exporters of Sports Goods in his

MD of Rattan Brothers, Tilak Khinder

capacity as the Mentor-Member of the Punjab Chapter of DICCI. Though I have been interacting with DICCI and other hosts of the function in past too yet the function of March 12 provided me another opportunity to learn and get updated with regard to the initiatives and programmes to empower Dalits economically with a view to make them as ‘Job givers rather than Job seekers’.

It was a very well hosted and arranged show to motivate and encourage Dalit entrepreneurs to participate in tenders to tap the supply Lines of Government procurement as aware and alert vendors. All the participating PSUs and others made very informative and useful presentations at the Technical Session of the programme. The audience comprising of mostly Dalit entrepreneurs
was much attentive and interested. The interactive phase of the function fully justified the beneficial outcome of the exercise. National President of DICCI, Ravi Kumar Narra, a business magnet of the community based in Hyderabad in his Key-Note address appreciated the good work being done by NSIC and National SC & SC Hub in coordination with DICCI and added that It was a matter of satisfaction that before the advent of DICCI, participation of Dalit suppliers in government procurement was only 0.5% which has now reached 3% amounting to 62 thousand crores of Rupees. He urged the Dalit businessmen to shed their inherent inhibitions and join the DICCI bandwagon to exploit the opportunities for our own progress and prosperity and also to join the process of nation building as visualized by our forefathers led by Babasaheb Ambedkar. Appreciating the role and contribution of Tilak Khinder in cooperating with DICCI, he cajoled the Punjab Dalit community to rise to the occasion and join hands with DICCI to join the main stream of economic life of India as Punjab was the home of more than 35% of the population, the biggest as compared to other states of India. Narra Sahib also informed the audience that to supplement and support the initiatives to make ‘Vikshit Bharat’ by 2047, DICCI has decided to empower Dalits as equal partners in development by 2047. He also added that DICCI would prepare the roadmap in this regard and submit it to the Niti Aayog in due course.

With a view to revamp the Punjab Chapter of DICCI, he appointed Mukesh Bassan of Belco Sports, a young and successful entrepreneur of Jalandhar as the President of DICCI in Punjab. My brief interaction with Ravi Narra was very useful and gratifying. I found him a sound and steady personality of vision with clear headed thinking and approach.

I take this opportunity to wish all the best to Mukesh Bassan, Tilak Khinder and DICCI under the stewardship of Ravi Kumar Narra and Milind Kamble.

Paron Ko Khol Zamana Udan Dekhta Hai

Zameen Per Baithkar Kya Aasmaan Dekhta Hai