National Highway

[An edited version of this article by me has appeared today in Outlook magazine.]

Sitting in Los Angeles, working as an IT professional, Benjamin Paul Kaila co-ordinates an annual scholarship scheme for Dalit students in Andhra Pradesh.

As a child in a Dalit settlement in one of Guntur district’s villages, Kaila would walk four miles to reach a Telugu-medium school. Living without electricity, water or sanitation, he eventually rose to obtain a postgraduate diploma in computer science and worked in the IT industry in Hyderabad and Mumbai for some years. His earliest memory of caste discrimination is when he was nine years old: a teacher caned him for accidentally touching him. Being Dalit acquired another meaning for him at 26 when a relative gifted him a biography of BR Ambedkar, Dalit icon and a key architect of the Indian Constitution.

“The book changed my lifestyle, habits, thinking,” he says, “I became an avid reader, developed critical thinking, a thirst for knowledge and a desire to help others like me.” An association with the Bahujan Samaj Party, meetings with Kanshi Ram, and voraciously reading about Jyotiba Phule, Sahu Maharaj and Periyar followed. In Mumbai he briefly started a Telugu Bahujan Welfare Society, but it did not last long.

In 1999, he shifted to the United States, and decided it was time he gave shape to his desire to make a difference to the Dalit community. Starting a scholarship for bright students seemed easier than starting a school. The Ambedkar Scholarships were born in 2003, with two scholarships of Rs 5,000 each for Dalit students who passed class X with first class marks. The scholarship is advertised in all government-run and social welfare schools in Andhra Pradesh. “We don’t advertise in private schools because the government school-going Dalit tends to be poorer, more excluded,” he says. Applicants are judged on the basis of their marks, economic status, and answers to three questions: “What do you know about Babasaheb Ambedkar, his life and mission? What do you plan to achieve in life? How do you plan to help others in your adult life?”

In 2004 the number of scholarships increased to 24, and in 2005 to 37. Many around the world heed the call for a donation of Rs 5,500, and all of the Indian media ignores press releases about the award ceremony. The scholarships are named as desired by a donor and are granted along with a certificate of achievement and a biography of Dr Ambedkar – the latter’s purpose being “to plant the seeds of Dr Ambedkar’s message in young minds.”

The groundwork for the scholarship is done by Devdas Adidela and PVV Rao in Hyderabad . Half the scholarships are reserved for girl students, and it is ensured that the Mala and Madiga sub-castes amongst the Andhra Pradesh Dalits are equally represented. This year there will be a special scholarship for children from scavenging families. “I am willing to expand the scholarship to other states provided I can find reliable volunteers,” he says.

Kaila hopes that the small initiative will help its recipients study better. “Primary education in government schools is painfully bad,” he says, “I know children who can not read and write in their native language even after the 10th grade.”

For some Dalit students about to enter college, the scholarships are not so much financial support as encouragement to succeed in life and reject the shackles of caste. The subtle and not-so-subtle forms of discrimination that Dalit students face in going to school have been a prime motivation behind the exercise. “I was discouraged to go to school by my high school teachers,” says Kaila, “and I still remember those incidents and tell my children about them to their utter disbelief.”

Prof Kancha Iliah, who was the chief guest in the 2005 award ceremony in Hyderabad, says that he saw that these students came from very poor backgrounds but high marks. “Such a scheme supports a conscious yearning to succeed against all odds,” he says.

Being a Dalit Christian, Kaila did not benefit from reservations, but recognises their importance: “Without reservations Dalits would not be in the position where there are now. But if Dalit children are imparted good education, there would be no need for reservations. Until then, reservations are important for Dalits to become part of the elite.”

He has also raised a little over Rs 2 lakhs for Bant Singh, the Punjabi Dalit poet whose was rendered limbless by a Jat mob in Mansa early this year, and is trying to organise artificial limbs for him.

“Dalit is dignity,” says Kaila, “I believe it is my duty to give back to society what society has given me.”

(To contribute to the Ambedkar Scholarships, write to ambedkarscholarship@yahoo.com or visit www.ambedkarscholarship.org. Donations in the favour of “Ambedkar Scholarships, A/C 6535, United Bank of India, Hyderabad” may be sent to Devadas Adidela #302, Chandra Ganga Enclave, Brundavan Colony, Dr. A.S. Rao Nagar, ECIL Post, Hyderabad – 500 062. Phone: 09246203884.)