Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 10: Gandhi Global Family (GGF), J&K, in collaboration with UNIC New Delhi, celebrated International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples here today. To mark this day a colourful function organized in the premises Lawrence Public School, Sidhra in which students, their parents and grandparents representing different indigenous communities in Jammu and Kashmir participated.
Padamshri S P Varma, President GGF, J&K, who was key keynote speaker threw light on significance of day with a special focus on the theme for 2016 that is Indigenous Peoples' Right to Education.
While quoting UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon's message: We will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if we fail to address the educational needs of indigenous peoples, Varma said that right of indigenous peoples to education which is protected by Article 14 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and which is Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has not been fully realized, and it should be addressed by the member states.
He called for ensuring equal access to education and vocational training for the vulnerable people, including indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and children in vulnerable situations and reminded the historical abuses, discrimination and marginalization suffered by indigenous peoples. He also emphasized upon the need to minimize the gap between indigenous peoples and the general population by raising their standards by one and all.
While referring to Jammu and Kashmir, he said that there are several governmental schemes for the upliftment of indigenous people however, there is need of greater awareness to fully implement and take these schemes to the real stakeholders.
Manish Joshi, GGF Youth Co-ordinator, Zakir Hussain, Hafiza Akhtar, Waheeda Kazmi, Ajay Sharma, Shakela Bano, Sobia Bukhari, Said Akbar Khan, Basharat Hussain, Surjeet Singh, Mohd Sadiq, Shamas Din, Mohd Rashid, Fayaz Mohd and B S Jamwal were also present on the occasion.
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