Nagpur, 13

Feb (HS): For the first time in India a small village Soundala in Nevasa tehsil

of Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar) district of Maharashtra has been declared free from

boundaries of caste and religion The Gram Sabha passed a resolution to shed the

burden of caste and adopted a principle ‘My Caste is Humanity’.

Soundala has

presented a model for the entire society, where caste is the strongest point of

discrimination. The village claims to be

the first in India to have realised the dream of caste-free society. This is in

the true sense the spirit of the Constitution of India of equality, liberty and

fraternity, followed by people of a small village in Maharashtra.

The resolution

also provides for penalty for violation of the resolution, which demonstrates

the determination of villagers.

Soundala has

also taken revolutionary decisions including those for gender sensitization,

banning child marriage, remarriage of widows, taking action against domestic violence,

dowry practice, encouraging girls’ education and their participation in

decision making process and politics.

The initiative

was taken by social worker Pramod Zinjade, who founded Mahatma Phule Samaj Seva

Mandal and has been generating awareness among villagers for the last several

years.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar