Kochi: Though India had made rapid strides on the social justice front in the last 60 years, it still needed to do a lot to make a complete success of it, said President Pranab Mukherjee here on Friday.
Inaugurating the valedictory function of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Ayyankali, organized by the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha, he said that though there was no legal discrimination members of the Scheduled Castes were yet to get full social integration.
“Inclusion and equal opportunity for all communities is the foundation of a free, progressive, modern India’’, he said, adding that ensuring equal opportunity to all would help develop their talents to the full.
Terming Ayyankali as the first labour leader of India, the president also noted his contributions towards the abolition of untouchability. “It is perhaps difficult for the younger generation to even imagine the courage and heroism with which he confronted the forces of caste supremacy and discrimination’’, he observed.
Speaking at the function, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy expressed the state government’s willingness to assist the KPMS in establishing new educational institutions across the state. Further, he also said that the government also proposed to raise the loan waiver limit for SC/STs to Rs 1 lakh.
