Tuesday, December 15, 2009

[ZESTCaste] Donation information

 

Dear donors and friends,
Please visit the following link to see the donations we have received so far.
I am counting you all. Please come forward to donate generously.
 
 
With regards
Ben
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An educated man without character and humility was more dangerous than a beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of poor, he was a curse to society.
-Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar



From: Benjamin Kaila <benjamin_kaila@yahoo.com>
To: Dalit Group <dalit@yahoogroups.com>; AmbedkarScholarshipGroup <ambedkarscholarship@yahoogroups.com>; OfficersForum <officersforum@yahoogroups.com>; Human Horizons <humanhorizons@yahoogroups.co.uk>; ZestCaste <ZESTCaste@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, December 13, 2009 6:14:44 PM
Subject: 2009 scholarship donations

2009 scholarship donations

 

Dear donors and friends,

I apologize for the delay in accepting donations for 2009 scholarships. It is delayed as we were trying to fix Organizational issues in India. I am almost done with it. Following is the progress:

1.       Friends for Education International has been registered under Friends for Education International (India Chapter)

2.       Organizational committee has been established. I will send the info in another mail

3.       Bank Account is opened (Corporate Bank, Nampally, Hyderabad)

4.       Working on getting Income Tax exemption and FRCA clearance

5.       Applications for scholarships have been received

 

So, I request for your donations. We have only 2 weeks in 2009. Please rush your donations.

For donations in USD, we will issue certificate for your tax purposes as ours is a 501(c)(3) org.

For donations in rupees, we may not be able to do so.

 

Remember that we gave more than 100 scholarships last year and I want to see atleast 50% increase this year. Please help us to help the deserving but financially and socially backward children in India. Please let your family members, friends, and colleagues know our work and encourage them to help us.

 

You can donate online or send check to US or India.

Please follow the link for donation information: http://www.friends4education.org/scholarship/0Main/html/donate_address.htm

 

US (Tax exempted under 501(c)(3):
In favor of :FFEI (Friends for Education International)

Bank        : US Bank, La Crescenta, CA

Address:

Benjamin P Kaila
2755 Sanborn Ave

La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel:     818.248.5889  818.248.5889    818.248.5889  818.248.5889       818.248.5889  818.248.5889    818.248.5889  818.248.5889

Email: benjamin_kaila@yahoo.com
Please write to me for any questions

 

India (not yet income tax exempted):
Please contact the following:

Address to send cheque:
In favor of
: Friends for Education International (India Chapter)
Bank:
Corporation Bank, Nampally, Hyderabad

Mr K L Paul
Gayatri Apartments,
Block 1, Flat 407, APIIC Colony, Jidimetla
Hyderabad, India 500 055

Please send this request to your friends, colleagues, and other who you think can help us. Please write to me for any questions.

With regards
Benjamin


 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An educated man without character and humility was more dangerous than a beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of poor, he was a curse to society.
-Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit women more humiliated when raped: Study

 




Dalit women more humiliated when raped: Study


Topics:
NEW DELHI: Dalit women who have suffered caste rapes were subjected to more humiliation than other women similarly assaulted, says a first of its kind research study detailing the psychological trauma of women raped. 

When Dalit women are assaulted, offenders use foul language vilifying the woman verbally, says the survey, invariably calling them prostitutes. "The feeling of being dehumanized, of having been demeaned is far greater for Dalit women," says clinical psychologist Rajat Mitra, who led the study conducted by NGO Swanchetan that works with victims of sexual assault. Mitra notes that in any other rape, the victim is not called a 'prostitute'

Titled 'A research study on sexual assault', it was done through detailed interviews of victims identified by state-level NGOs and government homes as well as by inviting victims to take part in the survey via posters and radio announcements. Of the 122 identified, 66 women agreed to the interview. The questionnaire's themes were identified and built on basis of data collected over the last 10 years and conducted in the last two. The respondents were across 12 states: Delhi, Meghalaya, Assam, Karnataka, Tripura, Maharashtra, UP, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar and Gujarat. Being a first of its kind, interviewers too were thoroughly sensitized to the demands of the survey, says Mitra. Mean and standard deviation for each psychological parameter was calculated; t-test and Duncan's mean test used for comparative analyses. 

The comparative study between Dalits and non-Dalits showed that Dalits felt anguish to a greater degree of intensity. They often see rape as "something ordained" by virtue of a double disadvantage: being Dalit and woman. "Whenever a Dalit woman is raped, it gets connected to all other sufferings and discriminations. Dalits being in a disadvantaged position and there's no resilience, no bouncing back," says Mitra. 

"The women shared that during the attack, the men seemed to have more pleasure in humiliating their origins and background," adds Mitra. The report details their almost-ritualistic ostracism after the rape where older Dalit women also attempt to explain rape as "tradition". 

In a qualitative assessment, the report says girls are almost prepared to expect assault. It says, "Allusions to rape by upper castes begin to appear in subtle conversations and often inflate their anxiety and depressive symptoms that begin to mark (rape) as inevitable in the mind of young Dalit girls." It is extremely important, says Mitra, for a different rehabilitation policy for Dalit women with special training for mental health professionals, judiciary and police sensitizing them to the caste angle. 

The Swanchetan study records trauma on two broad themes: 'mehsoos hona' and 'halat' which include parameters of flashbacks, humiliation, hopelessness, shame, betrayal, loss of meaning, dehumanization, feelings of rage and distrust among a host of psychological measures. The severity and frequency of flashbacks ("My mind gets flooded with violent, unusual images that I can't stop") was measurably much greater for Dalit women. In fact, they notched higher trauma levels on every factor studied except for 'despair' and feeling betrayed. This, concludes Mitra, also demonstrates how rape for Dalits, is an inter-generational trauma and not restricted to a one-time event. 

The study assumes special significance with the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva mooting that caste-based discrimination be recognized as a human rights violation. "When discriminatory attacks are systematic and avenues for redressal are non-existent or ineffective, certainly caste violence is against human rights. To that end, international condemnation will have an impact in forcing the redressal machinery to work on caste crimes as a priority area," says social scientist Shyam Babu, fellow, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. To that end, such a study proves a guide for action.

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[ZESTCaste] Special cell to fight injustice to Dalit women

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/special-cell-to-fight-injustice-to-dalit-women_100289690.html

Special cell to fight injustice to Dalit women

December 15th, 2009 - 5:25 pm ICT by IANS -
New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) A special cell to address the issues faced by
Dalit women is being set up by the National Commission for Women (NCW)
in an effort to fight injustice against this section of society, Women
and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said Tuesday.
"Welfare of Dalit women needs special attention as they have been
discriminated against by other sections of the society for long.
Though many programmes have been drafted by various ministries, there
is a need to create mass awareness so that these women can come
forward to take advantage of these schemes," she said while
inaugurating the Dalit Women's Congress, "Abhaya Jeevan", in the
capital.

"More short-stay homes and help line services will also be arranged by
the Central Social Welfare Board for the Dalit women. Also, self-help
groups of such women will be provided more funding and training for
capacity building through the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh programme,"
Krishna Tirath added.

The women and child devopment ministry is also conducting a study on
the status of Dalit women so that programmes and policies can be tuned
in accordance to their needs, the minister said.

Addressing the conference, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
Mukul Wasnik laid stress on education and better health facilities for
Dalit women.

"By March 2010, all manual scavengers will be rehabilitated," he added.


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[ZESTCaste] Inter-caste marriage spells trouble

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Inter-caste+marriage+spells+trouble+&NewsID=214209

Inter-caste marriage spells trouble
Last Updated : 2009-12-14 2:23 PM
The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)

Pushkar Thapa

DAILEKH: The UML-led coalition has been all for an inclusiveness.


In a bid to do away with the caste-based discrimination, it had
declared to provide Rs 1 lakh to a couple for an inter-caste marriage.
But, the government's announcement is only a paper tiger, which is
umpteenth times removed from the grim reality.


Take the case of Upendra BK and Mina Khadka, residents of Naulekatuwal
VDC-9 and 8, respectively. The duo fell in love, and got married on
November 28. And, now they are in a soup. They have not only been
driven out of their village but also received death threat from
locals, belonging to the upper caste.

Scared, they have taken refuge in the district headquarters.


Mina maintained that the government scheme encouraged them to tie the
nuptial knot. But, trouble started on the very day of the wedding.
They were forced to run away to Nepalgunj to escape their tormentors.


"But, those who opposed our marriage tracked us down at the hotel in
Nepalgunj. They issued death threat," alleged Upendra.


Mina echoed her husband. "My relatives and neighbours turned against
us," she complained.


So, what's the fuss all about? Mina is a Chhetri, which is only next
to the Brahmins as per the Hindu caste divisions. While, Upendra is a
Dalit, and, brings out the rear in the caste hierarchy. Prem Bhurtel,
a Dalit rights activist, supported the couple, speaking out against
caste-based discrimination. He also demanded legal action against all
those who are harassing the newly-wed.


Earlier, in a similar incident, a Dalit youth, who had married an
upper-caste girl, had to cough up Rs 60,000 for the 'breach in social
order'.


Narayan Shrestha, assistant CDO, Dailekh, feigned ignorance about the
incident. He, however, promised to take stern action if complaints
were filed by the aggrieved.


"The authorities are yet to send the funds, earmarked for distribution
to inter-caste couples," he added. DSP Rajendra Singh Khadka pledged
to punish the culprits. He is awaiting the victims to file the
complaint.


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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati’s games (Opinion)

http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_mayawati-s-games_1323757

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 1:15:00 AM

Mayawati's games

DNA


Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo
Mayawati has always played the political game with a certain
ruthlessness. The announcement she made on Friday agreeing to the
formation of the separate states of Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh to
be carved out of India's largest state Uttar Pradesh, followed by the
offer for the creation of Poorvanchal by the additional chief
secretary in the state government on Sunday, is just a quick move to
stump her main rival, the Congress party. If pressed to explain, one
of her aides - she does not waste much time in thinking out ideas -
may argue for the virtues of smaller states. But she is not bothered.
She is focused on the power stakes. The cavalier declaration about
splitting the state is to be seen as a tactical move rather than an
expression of principled intent.

There is not much disagreement about the need to slice backward and
troublesome UP into governable slices. Mayawati herself admitted that
the state is too big to administer. It is not hard to guess that she
has others things on her mind. She is thinking a few steps ahead of
the Congress, which wants to use the credible image of party general
secretary and the Nehru-Gandhi scion, Rahul, to put the party in the
saddle of power once again.

Congress has not been in power in the state for more than a decade.

During the 2007 state assembly election, Congress leader and minister
Kapil Sibal had described it as the 14 years of exile for the
Congress, trying to give it the Ramayana resonance where Lord Ram is
away from Ayodhya for the same period. The Congress did not make much
headway then. It has performed creditably well in this summer's Lok
Sabha election. This has given hope to the Congress leaders in the
state of recapturing power in Lucknow.

By asking for the splitting of the state, Mayawati is daring the
Congress, which is heading the coalition government at the Centre. It
is difficult for anyone to envisage the political fallout of Harit
Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal. It is sure to throw up new power
and caste equations which dumb-witted and slow-footed Congress can
never hope to master. Will Mayawati stand to gain from this? She may
not whatever the caste arithmetic she may work out. That does not
deter her because she feels that what is crucial is an aggressive
approach more than anything else. She understands the advantages of
mind games.


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[ZESTCaste] Rape takes bigger toll on dalit women

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rape-takes-bigger-toll-on-dalit-women/articleshow/5338220.cms

Rape takes bigger toll on dalit women
Nandita Sengupta, TNN 15 December 2009, 02:30am IST

NEW DELHI: Dalit women who have suffered caste rapes were subjected to
more humiliation than other women similarly assaulted, says a first of
its kind research study detailing psychological trauma of women
raped.

When dalit women are assaulted, offenders use foul language vilifying
the woman verbally, says the survey, invariably calling them
prostitutes. "The feeling of being dehumanized, of having been
demeaned is far greater for dalit women," says clinical psychologist
Rajat Mitra, who led the study conducted by NGO Swanchetan that works
with victims of sexual assault. Mitra notes that in any other rape,
the victim is not called a 'prostitute'.

Titled 'A research study on sexual assault', it was done through
detailed interviews of victims identified by state-level NGOs and
government homes as well as by inviting victims to take part in the
survey via posters and radio announcements.

Of the 122 identified, 66 women agreed to the interview. The
questionnaire's themes were identified and built on basis of data
collected over the last 10 years and conducted in the last two. Being
a first of its kind, interviewers too were sensitized to the demands
of the survey, says Mitra. Mean and standard deviation for each
psychological parameter was calculated; t-test and Duncan's mean test
used for comparative analyses.

The comparative study between dalits and non-dalits showed that dalits
felt anguish to a greater degree of intensity. They often see rape as
"something ordained" by virtue of a double disadvantage: being dalit
and woman. "Whenever a dalit woman is raped, it gets connected to all
other sufferings and discriminations. Dalits being in a disadvantaged
position and there's no resilience, no bouncing back," says Mitra.

"The women shared that during the attack, the men seemed to have more
pleasure in humiliating their origins and background," adds Mitra. The
report details their almost-ritualistic ostracism after the rape where
older dalit women also attempt to explain rape as "tradition".

In a qualitative assessment, the report says girls are almost prepared
to expect assault.

It says, "Allusions to rape by upper castes begin to appear in subtle
conversations and often inflate their anxiety and depressive symptoms
that begin to mark (rape) as inevitable in the mind of young dalit
girls." It is important, says Mitra, for a different rehabilitation
policy for dalit women with special training for mental health
professionals, judiciary and police sensitizing them to the caste
angle.


------------------------------------

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[ZESTCaste] Government to launch special programmes for dalit women – Smt.Krishna Tirath

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55909

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Ministry of Women and Child Development

Government to launch special programmes for dalit women – Smt.Krishna Tirath

14:46 IST
The Ministry of Women & Child Development will launch special
programmes for the empowerment and welfare of dalit women across the
country, Self-help groups of such women will also be provided more
funding and training for capacity building through Rashtriya Mahila
Kosh. More short-stay homes and help line services will also be
arranged by Centre Social Welfare Board. This was stated by
Smt.Krishna Tirath, Minister of Women & Child Development inaugurating
Dalit Women's Congress "Abhaya Jeevan" for Peace, Equity and Progress,
here today.

Highlighting the problems of Dalit Women in the country, Smt. Krishan
Tirath said Welfare of such women needs special attention as they have
been discriminated against other sections of the society for a long.
She said Government has very high priority for education, health and
self-employment of such women. Though many programmes have been
drafted by various ministries for this purpose. There is need to
create mass awareness so that these women could come forward to take
the advantage of suchschemes and programmes. She said special cell for
Dalit women to investigate injustice is being set up at National
Commission for Women. The Ministry also conducting study on status of
Dalit women so that programmes and policies can be tuned according to
the needs of these women. National Commission for Protection of Child
Rights has also been asked to develop a road map for welfare of
children of Dalit women. The Central Adopting Resource Agency has been
requested to study challenges in the adoption of these children. Mrs.
Tirath expressed the hope that with the active participation of civil
society, status of Dalit women will see massive change very soon.

Addressing the Conference Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment,
Shri Mukul Wasnik stressed on education and better health facilities
for Dalit women. He said NGOs should work among the Dalit women to
promote education and awareness against social evils like female
foeticide and dowry. The Minister announced that by March 2010, all
scavengers will be rehabilitated. Mr. Wasnik said that his ministry
has successfully started capacity building programme for scavengers
for self-employment.

The one-day Dalit Women's Congress organized by the Ministry of Women
& Child Development is being attended by large number of groups of
Dalit women, NGOs and civil societies. The Congress will have breakout
sessions on different issues related with Dalit women including
economic upliftment of Dalit women, crèche, short-stay homes and help
line services for Dalit women. It will also have discussion on
research, innovation and opportunities for Dalit women.

*****


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[ZESTCaste] Krishna for empowering Dalit women, eradicating discrmination

 

http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-11497.html

Krishna for empowering Dalit women, eradicating discrmination

New Delhi, Dec 15 : Voicing concern over adverse effects of caste
system on the educational and economic status of Dalits in the
country, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna
Tirath today exhorted all women to eradicate this discrimination.

The Women and Child Development Ministry aimed at creating awareness
on various Centre-sponsored schemes meant for the target groups and to
impart them training about the Self Help Groups, Ms Tirath told UNI
after inaugurating the plenary session of the Dalit Women's Congress
"Abhaya Jeevan for Equality, Peace and Progress".

She said, "Dalit women were being exploited and suppressed due to the
lack of education, poverty and malnutrition. We at the Ministry are
going to start a campaign to stop violence against them. Health and
education schemes are, therefore, on the priority list for us. We will
educate them about government-sponsored schemes in six different
sessions so that they can work in Self Help Groups with the help of
NGOs." Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik,
speaking at the function, assured the Dalit women that his Ministry
would provide scholarships, hostel and educational loans.

He said, "If the wings of women are clipped, no nation can achieve its
full heights. We will help the Women and Child Ministry in this noble
cause," he added.

Mr Wasnik said every woman working as a labour will be provided with
loan, scholarship and hostel by March 31 next year.

Mr D K Sikri, Secretary, Women and Child Development Ministry, and Ms
Ruth Manorama, General Secretary of Women's Voice and president of the
National Federation of Dalit Women were also present on the occasion.

--UNI

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit christians demand SC status

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Dalit+christians+demand+SC+status&artid=IVGyiq2nXE0=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=&SEO=

By Express News Service
15 Dec 2009 03:14:00 AM IST

Dalit christians demand SC status

CHENNAI: The National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC) has
reiterated its demand to accord SC status to Dalit Christians as
recommended by Justice Ranganath Misra in his report submitted to the
Central government on May 22, 2007.
Speaking to Express, Dr M Mary John, national president, NCDC, said
most of the smaller parties have already committed their support to
their demand.
"But the two major national parties are the stumbling blocks. While
the BJP has unequivocally opposed the recommendations, the Congress is
dragging its feet." He added: "Dalits, even after converting to
Christianity, faced discrimination by the society. Therefore, an
affirmative action by the government will go a long way in uplifting
their socio-economic status." It may be recalled that the BJP, on May
23, 2007, had opposed the recommendations saying such a move was
divisive.


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[ZESTCaste] Guidelines of Medical Council of India for S.T. Students

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55893

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Guidelines of Medical Council of India for S.T. Students

12:39 IST
Rajya Sabha

In the Medical Council of India Graduate Medical Education Regulations
1997 as approved by the Central Government, relaxation has been
provided in criteria for admission to MBBS course, in respect of SC/ST
students. While 50% of marks has been provided for General category
candidates for qualifying examination as well as entrance examination,
it is 40% of marks for candidates belonging to SC/ST categories.

The MBBS seats are filled up under two categories namely "All India
Quota" and "State Quota". Under All India quota, 15% MBBS seats of the
State are contributed by the respective State Government. In so far as
admission of SC and ST students in the All India quota is concerned,
reservation at the rate of 15% and 7-1/2% respectively has been
introduced from the academic year 2008-09. As per information
available, for the academic year 2008-09, against 164 total seats for
ST students, 111 ST candidates were allotted and for the year 2009-10,
against 202, 75 candidates were allotted.

With regard to State Quota for the remaining 85% seats, the admission
process is conducted by the respective State Government. As such the
Central Government does not maintain any data in the matter. While the
State Governments have not pointed out any problem of shortage of
filling up of SC/ST MBBS seats in the State, in the recent past the
Government of Kerala informed the Central Government that ST
candidates of their State are not able to qualify in the entrance
examination getting admission against the reserved seats due to the
above mentioned MCI norms. In the meanwhile, a Civil Writ Petition No.
393/2008 – Vineeth K. and others versus State of Kerala and others -
has also been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the criteria of
40% marks for ST students. The Court taking a note of the shortfall,
has issued notices to Union of India and eight other States viz.
Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal, U.P., M.P. and
Karnataka. The matter is subjudice.

This information was given by Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Minister of State
for Health & Family Welfare in a written reply to a question in the
Rajya Sabha today.

DS/GK


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[ZESTCaste] Telangana botched up (Neerja Chowdhury)

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Telangana+botched+up&artid=vSDKQ4RMNIo=&SectionID=d16Fdk4iJhE=&MainSectionID=HuSUEmcGnyc=&SectionName=aVlZZy44Xq0bJKAA84nwcg==&SEO=


By Neerja Chowdhury
15 Dec 2009 12:29:00 AM IST

Telangana botched up

The genesis of the T-trouble that has suddenly erupted in the face of
the Congress lies in the vacuum left by the death of Y S Rajasekhara
Reddy, and the intense power struggle that has ensued in the Congress.
The struggle for a separate state of Telangana is not a recent
phenomenon. It first surfaced as a peasants movement against landlords
in the late Forties and early Fifties. Later it acquired the shape of
a demand for a separate state and got new impetus only in the last 10
years.
During this period the Congress graduated from a position of proposing
a Second States Reorganisation Commission which the Pranab Mukherjee
Committee had made to L K Advani — and which was turned down by the
then Union home minister — to a commitment to create a separate state
of Telangana.
These promises were contained in the Common Minimum Programme in 2004,
in the Congress manifesto and election campaign in 2009. Sonia
Gandhi's words in Secunderabad are cited repeatedly, accepting 'in
principle' the idea of a separate Telangana. However, YSR, who had
resisted a separate state assured the party high command that he would
manage the situation at his end. YSR managed to keep Telangana from
boiling over through a policy of carrot and stick. He set up a
committee on the Telangana issue that was headed by K Rosaiah. He also
deliberately picked up ministers from the Telangana region who he felt
would be pliant.
As luck would have it — or he managed it — the Telangana Rashtra
Samithi did poorly in election after election which pushed the issue
off the radar. Frustrated with the non-action by the Congress, with
which it had forged an alliance in 2004, the TRS parted ways in 2006
but fared poorly in the bypolls which followed the resignation of his
MPs and MLAs two years later.
The TRS came a cropper again in the 2009 general elections winning
only two out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 10 out of the 119 Assembly
seats in the Telangana region. This is not to say that there has not
been an under-the-surface feeling in favour of a separate Telangana,
given its continuing backwardness compared to coastal Andhra, and the
domination of the Reddys and Kammas in the state's politics since its
formation which the OBC leaders chafe against — the Telangana region
comprises 60 per cent OBCs. The point is that the 'T' sentiment was
not dominant enough to become an election issue influencing their
outcome in successive polls. Till KCR decided to go on a fast. After
his 2009 poll debacle, he had reportedly quipped to friends whether he
should shut shop. He had not even mustered up courage to contest the
elections last month for the municipal council of Greater Hyderabad.
The timing of the fast was curious and coincided with two other
events, though ostensibly unconnected. One was the confirmation of
Rosaiah as a full-fledged CM. The second was a CBI enquiry initiated
by the Centre against the Reddy brothers for illegal mining
operations. The Bellary brothers were closely associated with YSR and
with Jagan Mohan Reddy, and it is possible that Jagan began to feel
the heat.
Whether it was Jagan's supporters who stoked the fires both of the
Telanganites and later of the Andhraites, so as to embarrass Rosaiah
and bring down his government is a matter of conjecture. But Congress
leaders are openly making these allegations. They point out that those
who had led the signature campaign to make Jagan CM were also the ones
who had tendered their resignations. And it was the Congress MLAs from
coastal Andhra and Rayalseema who took the lead in resigning,
compelling legislators from other parties to follow suit. The draft of
the resignation was also the same.
The Congress has been inept in its handling of the situation and
failed to anticipate the problems the midnight announcement could
throw up. The bandh call by students the next day had pressed panic
buttons in Delhi and it was felt that an immediate announcement could
take the sting out of an escalating situation which threatened to spin
out of control. The deteriorating health of KCR is also cited as a
reason but it could not have been a major consideration for he could
have been force-fed.
The Congress leadership had made some ground preparations once KCR's
fast was underway — like getting the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet and the
Congress Legislature Party to authorise the party high command to take
a decision on Telangana, and instructing the CM to hold an all-party
meet. All parties, except the CPI(M) and MIM, had promised their
support for Telangana and wanted the Congress to bring such a
resolution in the state assembly (but took a U turn two days later).
Congress leaders were in touch with KCR, eliciting a promise that he
would break his fast the moment they made the announcement — which is
what he did. He is also believed to have assured them that if
Telangana was formed, TRS would merge with the Congress.
Where the Congress failed was to anticipate that the (former) empire
of YSR would strike back. That while Jagan may have overtly accepted
the high command's decision to install Rosaiah as CM, neither he nor
his mentor K V P Ramachandra Rao were reconciled to it. They had the
backing of the economically and politically powerful in the state. YSR
had been given a free hand in the selection of tickets in the 2009 Lok
Sabha and Assembly elections, and the MLAs continue to be loyal to his
son.
The high command also failed to anticipate the rash of demands the
grant of Telangana would unleash in the rest of the country, suddenly
making the creation of small states an all-India issue. The Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha got into the act within hours. So did Mayawati who is
making a case for the division of UP into three units.
It is all very well for Pranab Mukherjee to say that Telangana does
not mean that other regions are about to get statehood. But the manner
in which the announcement was made, under obvious pressure, has sent a
message that the government will relent only under pressure. This may
spawn a new kind of street politics in the weeks to come.
The Congress bosses calculated that they would sweep in Telangana and
keep power in the remaining parts of Andhra, given the reality of the
Reddy versus Kamma line-up and Kamma versus Kapu fight. Now the party
finds it can neither backtrack on its promise of Telangana and at
stake here is the very authority of the government of India, nor can
it go ahead with it, given the violence and threatened resignations of
20 ministers.
Postponing the decision could lead to loss of support in both regions.
The Congress has really shot itself in the foot in a state which
brought it to power at the Centre in 2004 and helped to retain it in
2009.

neerja_chowdhury@yahoo.com

About the author:

Neerja Chowdhury is political editor, The New Indian Express


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[ZESTCaste] Savarna Terror Erupts In Kerala

http://www.countercurrents.org/devika141209.htm

Savarna Terror Erupts In Kerala

By J Devika
(with inputs from Mythri Prasad Aleyamma)

14 December, 2009
Kafila

I admit, this title sounds sensationalist. But one can hardly avoid
resorting to it when confronted with utterly stupefying news of
attacks on dalit colonies almost next door to Kerala's capital city
and nerve centre of Malayalee politics, and that too, by a minor
anti-political force that has a legacy of anti-South Indian hatred —
the Siva Sena. And of course when one is confronted with the hard,
stony silence of almost all sections of the media about this. The
mystery of the murder of an elderly, innocent morning-walker in
Varkala, a town close to Thiruvananthapuram (of which I wrote in an
earlier post) still remains a mystery; the police story is so full of
holes that it looks like a sieve. But the Guardians of our Free Press
are still lapping police versions and not conducting independent
investigation. Activists who have dared to do so have been heckled and
hounded, even senior and respected human rights activists like
B.R.P.Bhaskar, by the Siva Sena, and their protests have been ignored.
Meanwhile violence continues to be unleashed against the supporters of
the group that has been accused of murder, the Dalit Human Rights
Movement (DHRM).


The title, then, is meant to shake up those (if any) who may be under
the impression that the time of troubles is past now that the Chengara
land struggle did win some concessions, and that peace reigns in this
sweet season of Christmas and IFFK between the savarna gods and the
people they have condemned to be sinners in God's Own Country. In
fact, the effort seems to be towards ensuring that the will of the
dalits should be broken decisively — so that another Chengara may
never threaten the savarna elite of Kerala.

Not that such repression is new. For some time now, we have seen the
agents of new forms of urban crime take over the dalit colonies of
Kerala and build close links with political forces, on the right and
left, and this nexus has worked well to terrorise the inhabitants of
these settlements, especially those who dare to question. This process
was precisely what remained unseen when, a few years back, members of
sex workers' organisations were driven out of the Bangladesh Colony in
Kozhikode city in northern Kerala. On the surface it appeared to be
'moral cleansing' but it was actually the eviction of those residents
of the colony — sex workers who had gained a public identity through
the sex workers' organisation — who had dared to question the rise of
dangerous crime and drug dealings there. There is also plenty of
report (all this, strangely enough, is rarely converted into news) of
violence against dalits in colonies all over Kerala where people have
left the CPM fold to join the Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabha or the BSP.

But the violence being unleashed against the DHRM by the Siva Sena and
the police differs because it appears to be a direct attack on the
dalit effort to construct the dalit subject afresh in Kerala, breaking
away decisively from the available dominant models in Kerala's history
of social reformism and political mobilization. Activists who have
been regularly visiting the colonies where the DHRM has been working
reported that the Ambedkarite and Neo-Buddhist-inspired DHRM has been
seeking not only to end alcoholism and drug-consumption in these
settlements, but also working to create new models of community and
family life radically at odds with the highly individualized and
atomistic nuclear family unit-model dominant in Kerala. From these
accounts, it appears that the DHRM aims at nothing less than the
transformation of dalit subjectivity, through an array of new
practices, including a new dress-code and this separatism has provoked
much violence. Their practice of group singing, cooking for each
others' family, their introduction of a unisex dress code of jeans and
black t-shirts with Ambedkar's image have led to the circulation of
horrendous stories about sexual excess. In fact, the opposition to the
dress code is strongly reminiscent of the savarna anger against lower
caste women's appropriation of the savarna upper-cloth in early-mid
19th century South Travancore! They have broken from models of
marriage, refusing to call it 'vivaham'(which is a sacrament) and
referring to it as 'cheral' (joining); they view it as an instrument
of breaking down inter-caste differences among the dalits. They also
destabilize given caste identities, referring to members of the pulaya
or kurava caste not with the usual 'pulayanmar' (the pulayas) or
'kuravanmar' (the kuravas), but as 'pulayaraakkappettavar' ('those who
have been made pulayas') and 'kuravaraakkappettavar'('those who have
been made kuravas'). They have refused the dominant mode in which the
dalits have been inducted into the present neo-liberal welfarist
regime in Kerala — as the passive recipient of welfare informed by the
ideology of self-help by remaining sceptical of the virtues of
State-sponsored microfinance. No wonder that the panchayat, the
police, the Siva Sena, and other major political forces, have all
ganged up to strangle the DHRM.

And the Siva Sena is not alone; just the other day, savarna terror has
been unleashed at Kattappana in the Idukki district. Here, a memorial
had been erected many years back to Ambedkar by a dalit on a small
piece of land he had received. Recently, dalit youth in the locality
gathered to renovate the memorial which had fallen into disrepair in
preparation for celebrations on December 6. The panchayat, however,
claimed that the land belongs to it — and erected a barbed wire fence
around it. Dalit youth broke through the fence on December 6 and
garlanded the Ambedkar statue. The retaliation was swift: cases were
slapped on several dalits including the wife and college-going
daughter of the owner of the land, apparently on the complaint that
dalits were squatting on government land. The CPM-run panchayat then
demolished the memorial with a JCB, and carted off the Ambedkar statue
in a waste-collection van before a watching crowd! It appears beyond
doubt that the murderous enmity towards the dalits stems directly from
their efforts to create cultural capital for themselves — and of
course the dominant media is yet to find anything significantly
newsworthy in this.

I think there are important lessons to be learned from these
experiences. On the one hand, any serious effort to shape resistant
subjectivities in Kerala that work against the dominant
individualising logic of neoliberal welfare and depoliticisation,
which do garner some success are bound to face vehement attacks. Dalit
identity politics and dalit public intellectuals have managed to carve
for themselves some space, however limited, in Kerala's political
public. It is important for movements like the DHRM to build active
links with these forces — strategically, the effort to start from the
scratch, which the DHRM has undertaken, needs the support of the
existing sources of strength in Kerala's oppositional civil society.


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[ZESTCaste] A semi-clad demo for reservations in Delhi

http://www.duniyalive.com/?p=79598

A semi-clad demo for reservations in Delhi
Posted on December 14th, 2009


New Delhi, Dec 15 (ANI): A demo-rally demanding reservations in the
private sector, for the people belonging to scheduled caste and
scheduled tribe, was staged here on Monday.

A hallmark of this demonstration was that the participants had
stripped upto to their waist to highlight their demands.
They raised slogans that the persons belonging to the scheduled castes
and tribes were not given the preference in private sector
enterprises, which they claimed as a constitutional entitlement.

"Government has left no option before us and has compelled us to
protest. It is a deaf and dumb government. It is not going to be moved
simply. That is why we took to streets half-naked; things can go
beyond this if our legitimate and "constitutional" demands, like
reservations in private sector are not met by the government," said
Bhagwan Singh Tanta, a demonstrator.

The demonstrators also mentioned that this reservation should be
extended in all the services including the defence and the judiciary.

"One can interpret our protest demonstration in anyway; we are
non-violent people, our main reason for protest is to put forward our
demands in a democratic way," said, Shamsuddin, another demonstrator.

The demonstrators also termed government''s action as one that has
been ambiguous and misleading the nation vis-à-vis the due benefits to
the scheduled castes and tribes. (ANI)


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