Progress without bringing Dalits to mainstream impossible:Ansari

New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) Vice-President Hamid Ansari has asserted that faster progress of India was not possible without bringing the dalits into the mainstream of development.

Speaking at a national seminar organised by the National Conference of Dalits Organisations (NACDOR) here last evening, the Vice-President said even though the Constitution regarded all citizens in every part of the country as equal, in reality, all were not taken as equal.

The Government as well as the NGO reports showed that dalit community was far removed from development even today which was deplorable especially after 60 years of independence, he said and likened the dalit community to one of the four wheels of an automobile without which the vehicle could not move forward.

Calling for the development of other backward communities along with that of the dalits, Mr Ansari said, ''The government has to go a long way for the development of the Dalits and other backward communities.'' UNI