Wednesday, December 9, 2009

[ZESTCaste] Push for separate Telangana acquires a caste colour

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Push-for-separate-Telangana-acquires-a-caste-colour/articleshow/5316980.cms

Push for separate Telangana acquires a caste colour
ARUN KUMAR, TNN 9 December 2009, 02:32am IST

HYDERABAD: The Telengana campaign is fast acquiring the dimensions of
a spontaneous caste upsurge. Although the present agitation was
kickstarted by a political party —the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) —
the movement's base is now gravitating to the numerous backward castes
(BCs) who form the bulk of the population in the region.

Left out of the political matrix and in the market for job and
business opportunities, many among the BCs are looking at the campaign
as a golden opportunity to gain from. "Students, women from
self-employed groups, lawyers and intellectual are all jumping into
the movement, though as of now it is still on the surface and cannot
be said to have attained a self-sustaining dimension," an inspector
general of police told TOI.

As of now, there is no political outfit which represents agitators —
the TRS' organisational base being not strong and K Chandrasekhar Rao,
being at best a symbol. But in coming days, representatives of
Congress in the region are expected to rush in to fill the vacuum. The
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that is mum now will also want to take
advantage of the situation. The BJP, non-existent in this part of the
world, wants to push energetically to expand its southern base.

"A flip side to liberalisation has been that the well-to-do today send
their students to private universities and private engineering
colleges. The majority of those who study in the state run
universities are the BCs, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. In
this slowdown there are no jobs and these students feel that a
separate Telangana will be the panacea," a professor of the Osmania
University (OU) said.

That is the reason why the Osmania University in Hyderabad and
Kakatiya University in Warangal are the hotbeds of the agitation. This
is also the reason why the government is trying to forcibly vacate
hostels of both these universities using anti-naxalite forces,
commandos and central forces.
The proliferation of the TV channels is helping spread the movement
fast and dissiminate the message of Telangana, protest leaders say.

The last major Telangana movement in 1969 in which 380 students died,
was led by students and intellectuals. "These were students from the
higher castes and intellectuals from the liberal establishment. But
this time boys from the community of weavers, masons, potters,
barbers, washermen and tailors all have joined. This makes them a
potent force," a professor from the University of Hyderabad said.

Members of the numerically small higher castes like Reddy would not be
for a separate Telangana at a rational level, yet the feeling of
exploitation by coastal Andhra migrants has grown so strong in the
last fifty years that they too have back a separate state.

"Its no longer an idealistic movement like that in 1969. It is now an
in-your-face kind of agitation", said Janaki of Rani Rudrama Samkhya,
a women's self-help group in Warangal.

"We are covering 10-15 km in villages, mandal headquarters and towns
by going on two-wheelers, tractors, autos to spread the separate
statehood message. It's now or never," said backward caste Aikya
Vedika leader Banda Prakash. "We have overwhelming support from
students, government employees of all departments, advocates, private
schools associations, coolies, teachers and women of selp groups," he
added.

"Telangana is sitting on a volcano now and the separate state issue
cannot be dodged anymore," said associate president of Telangana Non
Gazetted Officers Forum Paritala Subba Rao.

"There is an emotional integration amongst the people of this region.
It could lead to a major upsurge if no assurance is given," warned V L
Narasimha Rao, who took part in the '69 movement.

Is the demand for a separate state of Telangana justified?

Should smaller states be created for easier and better administration?


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[ZESTCaste] Affirmative action (ET editorial on Tata Group's initiative)

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Affirmative-action/articleshow/5312444.cms

Affirmative action


8 Dec 2009, 0301 hrs IST, ET Bureau


It's welcome news that a clutch of companies, led from the front by
the Tatas, are putting in place policies to diversify the social base
of their
workforce, by trying to give preference to those from the deprived
sections of society, other things being equal. This is all to the
good, but falls short of either what accelerated social change
requires or what politicians hankering to represent the deprived
sections would find as acceptable levels of corporate commitment to
their cause. While reservations in the private sector would be a bad
idea, it would make sense for the private sector to ward off populist
pressure to bring these in.

This is indeed why our industry chambers have set up committees on
affirmative action. It is important for industry, as much as for the
political class, to appreciate that the present era is special when it
comes to tackling social discrimination on the basis of caste. This is
because of the rapid economic growth and concomitant structural
diversification in the economy arising from globalisation.

In the pre-Independence days when anti-caste movements and related
ideas of social reform were most forceful, the material condition for
linking social reform with economic change did not exist: economic
growth was at a snail's pace, agriculture remained predominant and
primordial and the scope for inter-generational social mobility was
close to zero. High correlation between birth and occupation forms the
material basis of caste.

If the hewers of wood and scavengers of nightsoil could hope to see no
occupation for their next generation other than their own, reform of
caste remains some minor reshuffling of ritual hierarchy. And this is
what came about from social reform movements unrelated to economic
change. Today, when economic change is vibrant, the anti-caste agenda
is virtually dead. What we do have are caste solidarity movements that
reinforce, rather than degrade, caste distinctions.

The challenge is to revive the anti-caste agenda of social reform, and
marry it with globalised growth and economic diversification. It must,
of course, have political leadership. Companies can help through
community outreach that nurtures, educates and empowers people at
levels of engagement several steps prior to hiring.


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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Solar panels for Khotang dalit people

 

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Solar+panels+for+Khotang+dalit+people&NewsID=212775

Solar panels for Khotang dalit people

Last Updated : 2009-12-08 11:49 AM
The Himalayan Times

Rastriya Samachar Samiti

KHOTANG: With a view to improving the living standards of dalit
families in Sungdel VDC of Khotang district, Lejarsan Energy
distributed 23 solar panels to them amid a function yesterday.

Distributing the solar panels, local development officer Basanta Kumar
Bhandari said the solar panels will help them for their better
livelihood. On the occasion, technician of Lejarsan Energy Bal Ram
Dhakal said

those solar panels were distributed with financial and physical
assistance of the government, Rural Reconstruction Nepal, and others.

Bishnu BK, 15, who came to take the panel walking for two days,
expressed her happiness and said now the villagers will have access to
solar power.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit kids shamed at mid-day meals

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dalit-kids-shamed-at-mid-day-meals/articleshow/5316960.cms

Dalit kids shamed at mid-day meals
Vijaysinh Parmar, TNN 9 December 2009, 02:07am IST

MODHVANA (SURENDRANAGAR): As a part of Gunotsav, about 3,000
government officials had fanned out across Gujarat last month to
ensure quality education in primary schools.

They perhaps missed out on the untouchability practised in schools. As
per the 'Census on Untouchability', a study representing 98,000 Dalits
across 1,655 villages in Gujarat, 53.78% Dalit children studying in
primary schools are discriminated against in mid-day meals.

"We are made to sit separately during the lunch hour," says Vijay
Sitapara, 9, who belongs to the Valmiki caste, the lowest of the
socially downtrodden. Vijay, who studies in class IV at the government
primary school in Modhvana, says schoolmates from other castes avoid
having food with them.

While other backward class children would still have food, though
seated separately from the Dalits, higher caste pupils stay away
altogether from mid-day meals at this school because the food is
cooked by a Dalit. "I come from a Dalit family. Naturally, higher
caste members will not eat what I cook," says Gauri Vankar.

Even as the syllabus teaches equality, students learn lessons in
untouchability in practice. All Dalit students are forbidden from
participating in cultural events. Valmikis have to also clean up
school toilets. Dharmendra Sitapara cleaned up the toilets since he
was in class IV. Now, he is in high school which has a sweeper.

"It is shameful that we are nurturing these prejudices at such an
early age in the temples of learning," says Ganshyam Shah, a social
scientist who assisted the study carried out by Ahmedabad-based
Navsarjan Trust with three US-based organisations - the Kroc Institute
for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame,
Indiana, Dartmouth College at the University of Michigan and Robert F
Kennedy Centre for Social Justice and Human Rights, Washington, DC.
"Sadly, the very tools to eradicate discrimination have become
carriers. They are helping sustain age-old caste systems," says Martin
Macwan, a Dalit rights activist.

Hair loss!

Shyam Sitapara, 8, of village Modhvana, Surendranagar, dropped out of
the government primary school after class II because students, mostly
from upper castes, started taunting him for his long hair. Shyam lost
his mother an an early age and his father is a landless labourer.
Valmiki kids grow their hair till a special ritual is performed at a
community temple. But his father does not have the money to perform
the ceremony and host a community feast. He now just roams around the
school, longing to go inside, but afraid of the humiliation he may
face.

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[ZESTCaste] In Maya’s fort, Rahul ‘stones’ her monumental plans

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/in-mayas-fort-rahul-stones-her-monumental-plans/551760/

In Maya's fort, Rahul 'stones' her monumental plans
Press Trust of India,Express News Service Posted: Dec 09, 2009 at 0214 hrs

Ambedkarnagar While interacting with around 3,000 Dalit youths from 26
parliamentary constituencies of UP in Ambedkarnagar on Tuesday,
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi made an oblique attack on
Chief Minister Mayawati's statue-making spree saying, "The money
allotted for development is being spent on stones."
Gandhi, who visited Ambedkarnagar district, a pocket borough of
Mayawati, garlanded the statue of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar installed at
the air strip.

During the interaction, Rahul asked the crowd to name five Dalit
leaders below 35 years of age. When the crowd failed to name them, he
urged the youths to take active interest in politics so that young
faces from the community could come forward. He also enquired if
people were getting proper NREGA benefits.


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[ZESTCaste] Plea for execution of Ranganath Mishra Commission

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Plea+for+execution+of+Ranganath+Mishra+Commissio&artid=FQcDDhyczDE=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=X7s7i%7CxOZ5Y=&SEO=


By Express News Service
08 Dec 2009 01:38:00 AM IST

Plea for execution of Ranganath Mishra Commission

KOTTAYAM: The Adi Dravida Dalit Sanghom (ADDS) has made a strong plea
for implementation of the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report
without further delay. The outfit has also decided to lodge a
memorandum with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in this regard.
Adi Dravida Dalit Sanghom president J George Glen Mary, general
secretary K A Chellapan and treasurer M G Thambi pointed out at a news
conference here on Monday that the long pending demand of landless
Dalits in the state for allocation of a minimum one acre of cultivable
agricultural land through re-distribution of excess land in the
possession of land sharks has not been effectively addressed so far.
Adi Dravida Dalit Sanghom members also demanded measures for
facilitating higher studies for all eligible SC/ST / Dalit X'ian
students, strict implementation of a policy for job reservation for
Dalits and weaker sections in the public and private sectors alike,
proportionate reservation for Dalit Christians as well as 15 percent
additional special reservation for Dalit Christian women.


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