Read the passage given below and answer the following questions :
Kumar embodies the spirit of the dalits of Gohana. In his early 30s, he isnot the scavenger the caste society ordered him to be, but a senior assistant in an insurance company. Most dalits have embraced educationand stepped across the line of control of the caste system. “There are many of us who have a Masters Degree and work in private andgovernment jobs. Most of our boys go to school and so do the girls,”‖‖ hesaid. [...] The young men of the Valmiki Colony are not the stereotyped, submissive, suffering dalits that one would traditionally expect toencounter. Dressed in imitation Nike shoes and Wrangler jeans, their body language is defiant. However, the journey of upward social mobility remains tough for the vast majority of landless dalits in Haryana. “Most boys drop out after high school because of acute poverty,”said Sudesh Kataria, an assistant engineer working for a multinational company. He has a diploma in electrical engineering from the Industrial Training Institute, Gurgaon. Kataria’s best friend at ITI, a Jat, once invited him toa family wedding but insisted that he shouldn’t reveal his identity. “Atthe wedding a guest asked me about my caste and I lied. Then he asked me about my village and I told him the truth. He knew my village was adalit village.”A fight broke out between the hosts and the guests — how can they let a dalitin ? “They washed the chair I sat on and threw me out,”Kataria recalls.
Kataria wants a new life for the dalits — he campaigns throughout the villages of Gurgaon with other educated dalits. “Our people will rise, stronger and powerful. We need to unite. And once we unite and fightback, there will be no Gohanas or Jhajjars. Not any more.”
(a) What is the meaning of Dalits?
(b) Highlight the initiatives taken by the State to abolish caste discrimination.
