Dalits demand 20 percent seats in CA

Dalit rights activists have demanded the government reserve 20 percent seats for their community in the Constituent Assembly.

In talks with the government team headed by Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday at Singha Durbar, the Joint Dalit Struggle Committee (JDSC) also demanded at least 20 percent representation of the community in all organs of the state, among other things.

“We listened to their demands and discussion is going on in it,” said Minister Poudel who is also coordinator of the government talks team. He said they concluded the meeting with an agreement to sit for the next round of dialogue with selective talks team in a more managed way.

“Although we did put forward our genuine demands in the talks, we found them (government talks team) not taking it very seriously,” said Maoist nominated lawmaker Padma Lal Bishwokarma, a member of the JDSC talks team. He said they would discuss the issues more seriously in the next meet, the date for which, however, has not been fixed so far. nepalnew.com ag Aug 18 07

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