Karnataka Vinaya Samarasya Scheme Untouchability In India (In English)

Table of Contents

The Observation

The Karnataka government is set to launch Vinaya Samarasya, an awareness programme to eradicate untouchability across Gram Panchayats in Karnataka.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will launch the initiative, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lend his voice for the campaign to be launched on April 14 2022.

Vinaya Samarasya Yojana will be an awareness programme meant to eradicate untouchability in all Gram Panchayats across the Karnataka state.
Guidelines will be framed for all panchayats. If villagers use the same tap/well to collect water, if they allow all castes inside temples, if there is harmony in villages, and based on these questions govt will decide if villages are free from the practice of untouchability. The government will also provide more grants to panchayats that are free from untouchable practices in Karnataka.

The scheme has been named after a three-year-old Dalit Vinay, whose family, residents of Miyapur village in Koppal district, was slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 by the village leaders in September 2021 for the boy’s “offence” of straying into a local temple.

Miyapur has a population of 1,500 people, mostly Ganigas, with only about 91 villagers belonging to the Dalit community.
After the incident came under spotlight, the social welfare department of Koppal district registered a complaint. Local police then intervened, an FIR was filed and several accused were arrested who, however, were out on bail soon.
And then the villagers retaliated by socially boycotting the family. Vinay’s family was forced to leave their home and land in Miyapur. They shifted to Yelburga in Koppal district, which is the mother’s hometown
The plight of the Vinay’s family has turned more abysmal since FIR was filed

The govt has provided Rs 75,000 compensation and Rs one lakh subsidy from Dr BR Ambedkar Development Corporation to the Vinay’s father Chandrashekar.
There have been efforts to provide them land and help them in house construction in Yelburga in Koppal.
The govt said that Vinay’s entire educational expense will be taken care of by the department of social welfare.

Is it enough?
The conviction rate in cases of atrocities against the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) is barely 7 % in Karnataka.
Of the 23,095 such cases registered in the Karnataka since 2019, 19,057 cases have been pending before various courts.