"Caste-based discrimination and untouchability practices cause suffering for 160 million people in India and another 80 million in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka," says Martin Macwan, one of the founders of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights.

I am 46, and have been actively engaged in the social movement to eradicate caste based discrimination and untouchability practices in India for the past 25 years.

Caste-based discrimination directly impacts 160 million persons in India and another 80 million in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

I am one of the founding convenors of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), a collective of organizations and individuals based in India and many countries of South Asia and Europe.

NCDHR  is the largest campaign in the country addressing the issues of Dalit Human Rights and was instrumental in raising for the first time the issue of caste and descent based discrimination in the World Conference against racism.

I am also a founding director of Navsarjan, an organization working on human rights issues adversely affecting Dalits and women in 3,000 villages in Gujarat, since 1989. 

We have been addressing the issue of manual scavenging, land alienation and non payment of minimum wages to agricultural workers. More importantly, we are addressing the issue of caste discrimination in the education system.

Pressure from Navsarajan has resulted in the elimination of manual scavenging practices and the rehabilitation of manual scavengers through national legislation on the Prevention of Manual Scavenging.

Our work on land reforms has ensured the reversal of over 6,000 acres of agricultural land to landless Dalits in Gujarat.

In an effort to mobilize people and their action on the issue, and to hold the state to count, we walked for over 100 days, covering nearly 500 villages. 

I have received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award the Gleitsman Activist Award, and have also been honoured by the Human Rights Watch. 

I am also the Chairperson of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, the first national institution of its kind supporting research and advocacy on issue of caste and injustice, and the Secretary of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies.