{{use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} The '''Bhopal Conference''' was held at [[Bhopal]] in the [[Hindi Belt]] state of [[Madhya Pradesh]], India, on 12–13 January 2002. Its purpose was to address issues relating to improvement in the circumstances of the economically- and socially-deprived [[Dalit]] and [[Tribals in Madhya Pradesh|Tribal communities]] of the state. The immediate outcome was the Bhopal Declaration{{sfnp|Narayan|2002|ps=}} which included a Dalit Agenda that has been described by Sudha Pai as "... a new effort to address the problems faced by Dalits and Tribals in keeping with liberalisation and the emergence of a competitive market economy." The results significantly influenced the policies of the then [[Chief Minister (India)|Chief Minister]], [[Digvijaya Singh|Digvijay Singh]], and caused the state to experience a markedly different style of [[Dalit politics]] to that which was typical in the neighbouring Belt areas, such as [[Bihar]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]].{{sfnp|Pai|2013|pp=2-3|ps=}}
==Background== There were many expert attendees of the Conference, which was held in the [[Vidhan Sabha]] building of Bhopal, the state capital of Madhya Pradesh, and was organised by the state government. A key aim, as set out in the pre-Conference working note known as the Bhopal Document, was to examine how to uplift Dalit people by recourse to new ways of thinking that relied less on the prevailing concept of [[Reservation in India|job reservation]] as a remedy for socio-economic depression.{{sfnp|Menon|Nigam|2007|p=100|ps=}} That concept had been promoted by [[B. R. Ambedkar]] and other Dalit intellectuals around the period when [[Independence of India|India became an independent nation]] and it was reliant upon a [[Marxist]]-based model of government economic intervention with a large [[public sector]] that, by the 1990s, was not sustainable and was being replaced by [[neoliberalism]]. Modern Dalit intellectual activists — notably, the journalist [[Chandra Bhan Prasad]] — had realised this and were campaigning for a strategy of "Dalit capitalism" that extended the requirement to reserve jobs into the [[private sector]] and also sought to empower Dalits by promoting an environment that would enable them to be business owners rather than reliant on others for employment. While some Dalits were already non-reliant because of their involvement in traditional occupations such as [[toddy tapping]], those roles were under threat from [[globalisation]].{{sfnp|Menon|Nigam|2007|pp=97-100|ps=}}{{efn|[[Kancha Ilaiah]], a Dalit activist, had noted how the effects of globalisation were impacting on traditional Dalit occupations when he pointed to the use of slogans such as "down with Coca-Cola, up with coconut-water" and "down with toothpaste, up with [[Neem#Other uses|neem stick]]."{{sfnp|Menon|Nigam|2007|p=99|ps=}}}}
==Outcome== The Declaration that was agreed by the Conference proposed that the state "democratise capital" by allocating funds for the Dalit and Tribal communities that would enable them to invest both in developing their skills and their opportunities to enter the [[free market economy]]. It wanted compulsory, free education and a rearrangement of land ownership so that families had sufficient for sustainable cultivation. Furthermore, it appealed for both the public and the private sector to embrace the concepts of "Supplier Diversity" and "Dealership Diversity" that would ensure a market for the output of Dalit capitalism. Other aspects included a desire to see the job reservation scheme extended to encompass the Indian judiciary, an end to manual [[Waste picker|scavenging]], a full application in spirit as well as law of the 1989 [[Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989|Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act]], and recognition of the particular problems faced by women of the [[Scheduled Castes and Tribes]].{{sfnp|Keane|2007|p=260|ps=}}
The 21 points that formed the Declaration were subsequently examined in more detail by specialist committees that were established for that purpose. Their remit was to propose strategies based upon the principles that had been declared. Those proposals were submitted to the [[Government of Madhya Pradesh]], which accepted them on the first anniversary of the Conference in 2003.{{sfnp|Pai|2013|p=108|ps=}}
Recent research shows that Dalit entrepreneurs have benefited from the Bhopal Conference, as it offered them opportunities to establish businesses, mainly through reservations in public procurement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anand |first=Pankaj |last2=Attri |first2=Pardeep Singh |last3=Sahasranamam |first3=Sreevas |date=2025-12-31 |title=Invisible Inequality in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: The Micro-Foundations of Navigating Marginalization |journal=Business & Society |language=EN |article-number=00076503251407016 |doi=10.1177/00076503251407016 |issn=0007-6503|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Recognition== The principles contained in the Declaration had already been acknowledged by [[K. R. Narayan]], then [[President of India]] and himself a Dalit, in his official Address to the Nation on the eve of [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]], 25 January 2002, when he said {{blockquote|[The Declaration was] charting out a new course for Dalits and the tribal people for the 21st century. After calling for the implementation of the policies enshrined in our Constitution for their development, the Declaration emphasizes the importance, in this present era of privatisation, of providing for representation for these deprived classes, not only in Government and public institutions but in private corporations and enterprises which benefit from Government funds and facilities. Indeed in the present economic system and of the future, it is necessary for the private sector to adopt social policies that are progressive and more egalitarian for these deprived classes to be uplifted from their state of deprivation and inequality and given the rights of citizens and civilized human beings. This is not to ask the private enterprise accept Socialism, but to do something like what the Diversity Bill and the affirmative action that a capitalist country like the United States of America has adopted and is implementing.{{sfnp|Narayan|2002|ps=}}{{sfnp|Keane|2007|p=259|ps=}}}}
==References== '''Notes''' {{notelist}} '''Citations''' {{reflist}} '''Bibliography''' {{refbegin}} *{{citation |title=Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law |first=David |last=Keane |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4094-9593-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beJP_BOIhEcC}} *{{citation |title=Power and Contestation: India Since 1989 |first1=Nivedita |last1=Menon |first2=Aditya |last2=Nigam |publisher=Zed Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84277-815-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vujXq2dA6YAC}} *{{citation |title=Address to the Nation by the President of India Shri K. R. Narayanan on the eve of Republic Day - 2002 |first=K. R. |last=Narayan |author-link=K. R. Narayan |date=25 January 2002 |publisher=Ministry of External Affairs |url=http://meaindia.nic.in/event/2002/01/25event01.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050427220651/http://meaindia.nic.in/event/2002/01/25event01.htm |archive-date=27 April 2005 |access-date=5 August 2013}} *{{citation |title=Developmental State and the Dalit Question in Madhya Pradesh: Congress Response |first=Sudha |last=Pai |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-19785-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tTeF4sMIlZQC}} *{{citation |title=Report on prevention of atrocities against scheduled castes|publisher=India. National Human Rights Commission |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHzaAAAAMAAJ}}
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[[Category:Dalit politics]] [[Category:2002 conferences]] [[Category:Bhopal]] [[Category:Politics of Madhya Pradesh]]