Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday said as the social justice minister, she had wished to scrap the SC/ST Atrocities Act in the interest of casteless society but had to defer to the reality that society had not changed. I believe in my fathers dictum that there be a classless and casteless society, she said, However, much against my wishes, I had to tell my officers to make the Act more stringent as society has not been able to transform itself.Laws cannot legislate attitudes. Therefore, these laws continue to exist and we need to change our mindsets. Kumar was speaking at a function to commemorate the 103rd birth anniversary of her father Babu Jagjivan Ram.She recalled how he often wondered why there was never a renaissance in India. I feel this was because we never ever opened windows of our minds towards change, she said.Kumar said the persistence of class and caste was a hindrance to building a modern society and a revolution within minds was required. Earlier, poets and saints tried to change social mindsets regarding caste and class but they could not succeed. Today, in a free India, we should try again, she said. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee gave the Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial lecture where he said, Indias dream should be to ensure that no person is discriminated upon on the basis of caste and creed.
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(source-toi)
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