Dear concerned individuals/organizations,

I hope you all agree with me when I say that Dalits (also know as untouchables, scheduled castes etc) of India are the people who suffered most for so long in the entire world. Their suffering goes back to centuries. Even six decades after Indian Independence, they still suffer due to age old prejudices and lack of empathetic attitude towards them. According to one study, Every hour 2 Dalits are attached; every day 3 Dalit woman were raped, 2 Dalits are murdered and 2 Dalit houses are burned. This is not the situation in the barbaric medieval age but in the technologically advanced 21st century. The statistics are based only on the cases reported in the media. The number of unreported cases may be far greater in number. All these sufferings are not due to any crime they have committed or due to a flaw in their character, but only due to their birth in a particular caste in the compartmentalized caste system in India. Their alienation from the mainstream society starts from the time they were born and continued till death. It may be unbelievable to say that untouchability is still practiced on them in most of the villages and Hindu temples. Not even the educated among them or elected representatives of Indian democracy escape the scourge of untouchability from time to time. Untouchability is worse than any other oppressive social system that the world had witnessed so far – all types of slavery practiced in many countries at various ages, South African apartheid etc. It is robbing of social, economic, educational, moral and intellectual capabilities of human beings and making them fit for nothing. Many mahatmas and right minded Hindus tried to curb this inhuman practice by urging Hindus moral and spiritual conscience, but failed as untouchability was sanctioned by the Hindu scriptures (notably Laws of Manu) themselves. According to Hindu scriptures, an untouchable can not be seen, heard or touched. Doing so is a defiling act and needs purification. As Dr Ambedkar aptly put “Mahatmas have come, mahatmas have gone but the untouchables have remained as untouchables." As evil spreads much faster and easier than the good, it contaminated even the egalitarian religions like Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. And the result is that these religions too practice untouchability (though in milder form) unabashedly making their lives more intolerable.

Though Affirmative Action in the form of reservations in Indian public sector helped a miniscule of Dalits, a large majority of them are still living marginalized life at the outskirts of Indian villages and cities engaging in most filthy and unrewarding occupations like human scavenging and landless laborers. Their children suffer humiliations every day for one reason or the other. They are prevented from attending schools in some cases with violent means. They are the high among the dropouts in Indian educational system. They become child laborers, beggars and so on, not because of their lack of intelligence but because of the criminal negligence of the society around them.

But still all is not lost. There are a few among these children who glitter as bright stars in the dark sky despite their economic and social handicaps. They are proving that intellect is not the monopoly of any particular class, caste, race or religion. It is not caste deep but given a right opportunity anyone can prove his/her capacity as an intelligent being. They are proving it emphatically whenever a right opportunity is given. They are becoming better citizen and help in the growth of the nation. We have several such examples.

But Dalit children lack support, motivation, encouragement due to their illiterate and oppressive social background and poor economic background. They need a pat on the back. They need encouragement. They need support.

With this in view, we started “Ambedkar Scholarships” in 2003 with a desire to encourage the bright among these children when they are about to enter college after their 10th grade. We started it with just two scholarships in 2003 and distributed 37 in 2005. We wish to do more and more every passing year as the response is so great and the help is two little.

We also started a new sub category of scholarships starting from this year exclusively for children from manual scavenging families. I am sure you all aware of their socio-economic status in the present day India and the handicaps they face. To have glimpse of it, I encourage you to watch a video “Lesser Humans” or “CBS 60 Minutes documentary on Untouchables” or read “India Stinking” by Gita Ramaswamy. Safai Karamchai Andolan (SKA), an organization that works among manual scavengers is helping us to identify the beneficiaries for this category.

Dalits form one-forth of one billion Indian population. In this technologically advanced age, none can ignore the talents inherently possessed by them. Who knows how many scientists, researchers, Nobel laureates India is or have been losing as most of them come from such impoverished backgrounds in other parts of the world. A lose to any particular country (in this case India) is not only a lose to that country, but to the entire world and to the humanity as a whole. No civilized nation can ignore these vast masses of people with skills that are very important to the sustenance of human life on earth.

Have we ever sit and think why one-forth of Indians are discarded as human waste and discriminated so much? Have we ever pondered on reasons for their suffering? Is it their fault to be born as Dalits? Are they lesser humans? Are they devoid of merit? Are they not fit for anything except menial and degraded work?

I am sure, some may say unashamedly YES to all the above questions as Acharya Giriraj Kishore of VHP quoting Hindu scriptures said about the 5 Dalits lynched for skinning a dead cow in the state of Haryana in October 2002. My appeal is not to such degraded humans. But to an educated man/woman living in a most civilized times of human history with human and moral values and who can think critically. I am sure they say NO.

Then, is it not our responsibility and duty, as conscience humans and global citizens, to help these people to unearth the innate capabilities in them and to become useful to the society? Is it not the mental sickness that makes anyone to treat a fellow human as an outcaste? Can we close our eyes and ignore their degradation? Can we leave their fate to God and dust our hands? Can we leave them to get exploited in the dark alleys of Indian villages and live in our cozy mansions? Can we allow the bright among them become beggars and anti-social elements? Can we allow them to grudge and become tools in the hands of anti-social elements as this is the perfect and fertile ground for breeding terrorism? We must thank them for not falling into such hands so far though they suffered more than any community –both in intensity and duration -in the whole world.

Can we (especially educated Indians) realize our mistake and take responsibility, though in a small way, to correct the historical errors committed on them? Can we have moral courage to help one or two Dalit children to better in their education? Can we encourage them by patting their backs to come up in life?

There are so many ways to help them. Ours is one, if you are interested to help us to help them.

Of course, our little assistance may not help them break the chains of their centuries old deprivation but encourage one or two to come up in life. Our little help may ignite the hope for a better life in some.

With as little as $150 or Rs. 5,500, you can sponsor a scholarship. The beneficiaries will be selected through an advertisement sent to the schools run only by the Government bodies as this is where you find the poorest of the poor among Dalit children. You can name the scholarship after anyone you like (parents, grand parents etc).

So, I am writing to the conscience of concerned people to help us to help them. For details, please visit our website www.ambedkarscholarship.org or write to me at ambedkarscholarship@yahoo.com.

Please let others know about our project and help us to spread the word.

With regards

Benjamin