A meeting on the Annihilation of Caste took place with the participation of a few scholars and activists, including Daniel Edwin, GaganSethi, Ghanshyam Shah, Manas Jena, Manjula Pradeep, Meenakshi Ganguly, Meera Velayudhan, Prasad Chacko, Priyadarshi Telang, and Rajiv Shah. Stressing on moving from caste based discrimination to annihilation of caste, taking cue from the famous treatise of Dr BR Ambedkar, the meeting began with a note of concern that Dalit identity is getting diluted because of overt concentration of entitlements based on reservation to those who have been identified officially as scheduled castes. While not denying the importance of reservation as a means to empower certain sections of Dalits who are above than other Dalit sub-castes, the meeting believed that there is a need to go beyond reservation, violence and discrimination, towards an approach that takes into account the aim of complete demolition of the caste system, as it exists in India as also in other South Asian countries. A well-planned strategy should be worked out by identifying important factors that keep the caste system alive, keeping in mind both short-term and long-term goals.

Link: http://counterview.org/2014/09/22/redefine-dalit-identity-based-on-principles-of-liberty-equality-and-fraternity-index-vulnerability-across-social-groups/