The caste system, which has existed for more than 3000 years in India, is a traditional system of social segregation, which works on the principle of purity and pollution. The Dalits are placed at the bottom of this hierarchical ladder. Dalit Foundation is a non-government organisation, which is the first grant-making institution in south Asia working for the empowerment of Dalit communities. Established in June 2003, the Foundation’s mission, vision and programme objectives focus exclusively on empowerment of Dalit communities. It is committed to support individuals, community-based organisations, and networks that work to secure social change and protect the rights of Dalits. Dalit Foundation defines Dalits as all those who are committed to the ideology and belief of equality against the traditional caste based identity.
Dalit Foundation provides group sholarships to individuals working among all the marginalized communities including Dalits in India. The informal group of four persons having the religious, gender and social diversity adopt to a common minimum program which includes combating caste discrimination and untouchability in public schools and the local self-governments. The fellows organize youth and women across castes to ensure that such organization can combat caste and gender prejudices and practices. The fellows also work with the children of all poor communities to ensure quality education.
We are also committed towards building a strong line of leadership for the Dalit movement. Hence, through our group scholarship programmes, we train one young man and a woman both in vocational skills, leadership and social justice perspective to ensure that while taking care of their own employment they become the local leaders in their own village. For the current year we have awarded scholarships to 72 individuals including 38 women and trained 175 village leaders including 123 young women. At the end of 2016 we will train additional 200 village leaders. In addition, Dalit foundation also provides scholarships to Dalit artists with the aim of promoting Dalit art and culture and utilizing Dalit culture as a tool for liberation.