Rajasthan Govt Launches Annual Free Ambedkar Tirth Yatra For Scheduled Castes

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government will organize free Ambedkar Tirthyatras for the Dalits of the state. This pilgrimage trip will cover four prominent places related to the life of Dr. BR Ambedkar. One group of Dalits was sent on this Tirthyatra a couple of months ago, and now detailed guidelines have been issued by the government to organize such visits every year.

The announcement of the Ambedkar Tirthyatra was made in the state budget where the government has said that the people of the schedule casts will be sent to the Panchtirths relaxed to the life of Dr. BR Ambedkar and the state government will bear the entire cost of this pilgrimage. Rs One crore was allotted in the state budget for the scheme.

As per the guidelines issued by the government, this Tirthyatra will be of 3596 kilometers and will cover Ambedkar's birthplace, Mahu in Madhya Pradesh, Keesha Bhoomi Nagpur in Maharashtra, Mahaparinirvan Bhoomi Alipur in Delhi and Chaitya Bhoomi Indumil in Mumbai.

"The beneficiaries of the scheme will be the non income taxpayer natives of Rajasthan who belong to the Scheduled Caste community," said the officials.

Every year, a committee headed by the Director of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment will decide the number of pilgrims. The quota of each district will be decided according to the determined number. After the quota is decided, applications will be invited and in case the applications are more than the quota, then the selection will be done by lottery.

The Ambedkar Panchtirths includes his house in London where he studied law as well, but this has not been included in this scheme for now as the place is in abroad, however as per sources, the proposal to include this is under consideration by the state government.

Notably, the Rajasthan government is running a free pilgrimage scheme for elderly people as well, in which the people below the income of Rs Two lakhs per annum are sent to prominent religious places of Hindus.