Tuesday, March 8, 2011

[ZESTCaste] 2012: Maya banks on Kanshiram to keep her Dalit flock

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2012-maya-banks-on-kanshiram-to-keep-her-dalit-flock/759827/

2012: Maya banks on Kanshiram to keep her Dalit flock

Sanjay Singh Posted online: Wed Mar 09 2011, 03:48 hrs
Lucknow : Ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections, Chief Minister
Mayawati has started giving special focus on her party's core votebank
of scheduled castes. After making it a point to visit Ambedkar
villages — the villages having a substantial Dalit population — during
her recent inspection tour across the state, Mayawati now wants to
reassure the Dalits the party has not deviated from the path of its
founder Kanshiram.

For this purpose, the BSP this year will organise celebrations on the
event of the birth anniversary of Kanshiram on March 15 at district
headquarters. "Keeping in mind the 2012 Assembly elections, the chief
minister has deliberately preferred to celebrate Kanshiram's birth
anniversary in districts, instead of holding a big rally in the state
capital as in the past," said a BSP leader.

The main concern of the BSP leadership is to remove the confusion, if
any, in the minds of party voters regarding party's efforts to pursue
Kanshiram's policy.

BSP sources said the party leadership is worried over the efforts by
Opposition parties, particularly the Congress, to make dents in the
BSP's core votebank by highlighting atrocities on Dalits, including
rape of Dalit women, and alleging that Chief Minister Mayawati had
deviated from the path of BSP founder Kanshiram.

The BSP cannot take it lightly as, earlier in the 2009 Lok Sabha
election, the party had seen its hold on certain Scheduled Communities
like Sonkar, Pasi, Balmiki and Nishad weakening. As a result, it could
win only two of the 17 reserved Lok Sabha seats in the state.

After that setback, to reassure the Dalits, the government had taken
several measures like quota for SCs/STs in government contracts and
special housing scheme for them. The BSP would use Kanshiram's birth
anniversary to remind the Dalits of these and other measures it has
taken for their welfare, said a BSP leader.

Besides the Opposition attacks, another factor that has troubled the
BSP leadership is reports about party MLAs not paying attention to the
problems faced by Dalits. "The MLAs who represent general seats tend
to take the SC support to the BSP for granted. In many constituencies,
there is resentment over this neglect," said a party leader. Zonal
coordinators of the party have been asked to identify such areas and
initiate corrective measures.


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[ZESTCaste] Khap lifts ban on women to attend its meetings

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Khap-lifts-ban-on-women-to-attend-its-meetings/articleshow/7653374.cms

Khap lifts ban on women to attend its meetings
Deepender Deswal, TNN | Mar 8, 2011, 12.39pm IST

SISANA (SONIPAT): On the eve of first International Women Day, in
1911, a panchayat of Dahiya khap (a Jat clan) held in Barona village
of Sonipat district to take steps for spreading education in society.
But in the same meeting, it also took a retrograde decision to impose
ban on venturing out of women in bazaars and attending the panchayats.

Later, it became a social norm in Haryana that no woman could attend
any panchayat and even enter in a chaupal (a village commonplace where
panchayat used to be held).

It took exactly a century for the Haryanavi women to break free the
age old shackles prevailing in the male dominated society when same
khap panchayat reverted its earlier diktats.

The Dahiya khap convened a panchayat on the eve of women day, to mark
1000 years of earlier panchayat, has made the participation of women
in decision making in every meeting of khap panchayat mandatory.

"The decision to engage women in the decision making process could
bring about a paradigm shift in the status of women in the state which
is notorious for skewed sex ratio due to social bias against the
girlchild and the honour killings," women activists reacted.

Tuesday's panchayat was presided over by the Pratap Singh and was
attended by 160 leaders of different khaps and tapas (clans and
regions) besides thousands of khap members mostly from the rural parts
including women.

Santosh Dahiya, a professor in the Kurukshetra university who had been
making efforts for ensuring the participation of women in khaps, while
addressing the gathering stated that without the involvement of women,
khap panchayats could not succeeded launching any kind of social
reforms. Proposing that the khap panchayats should register themselves
as NGOs, Dahiya stated, "The khap panchayats must evolve its decision
making process by taking women on its board. The diktats being issued
by any khap panchayat other than the registered one should be
condemned and rejected."

Another women speaker, Suresh Boora, principal of a government women
college in Kharkhoda town stressed, "Gender bias has been inherent in
the decisions taken in the khap panchayats so far. The khap panchayats
could get wider acceptability and validation only if women are
involved in the process."

Madhu Kishwar, a women rights activist who was present in the
panchayat maintained it could be a positive initiative towards
empowerment of women. "The khap panchayats are better than the NGOs in
the present context. If it works with honesty and give equal status to
women in its process, khap could very effective. It's good that they
have taken up issues like female feoticide, honour killing, dowry
harassment and oppose lavish show of money in marriage functions,
which are all related to women."

Surender Dahiya, convener of the panchayat informed that the meeting
had adopted 25 resolutions in the meeting comprising stress on
education and employment in youths, awakening youth against drug
addiction, spreading brotherhood among all the communities and castes
besides the women related issues. "The meeting had resolved to form
village-wise committees in every khap to awaken the society against
the prevailing social evils. These committees would have equal number
of men and women representation," he informed. He, however, added that
so far the proposal of registering the khaps as NGOs have been kept
pending which will be discussed in the next meeting at a wider scale.

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[ZESTCaste] Casteist remark against Dalit can't be compromised: SC

 

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/casteist-remark-against-dalit-cant-be-compromised-sc/759054/

Casteist remark against Dalit can't be compromised: SC

Agencies Posted online: Mon Mar 07 2011, 21:02 hrs
New Delhi : Calling a Dalit by his caste is a serious offence that
cannot be condoned even if both the accused and the complainant arrive
at a compromise, the Supreme Court said.

A bench of justices Markandeya Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra said the
only way of ending the feudal mentality of those insulting the Dalits
would be by sending them to the jail so as to act as a deterrent for
others.

"The only way is to send you to the jail. This is modern age. The days
of feudalism are over," the bench said while refusing to compound
(close the case by way of fine) the dispute as sought by counsel S D
Dwaraknath.

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[ZESTCaste] Mirchpur Dalit killings: Name those who led stir after accused booked, SC tells Haryana govt

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mirchpur-Dalit-killings-Name-those-who-led-stir-after-accused-booked-SC-tells-Haryana-govt/articleshow/7651247.cms

Mirchpur Dalit killings: Name those who led stir after accused booked,
SC tells Haryana govt
PTI | Mar 8, 2011, 06.25am IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Haryana government to
identify the persons and organisation responsible for holding
demonstration in December last against booking of some upper caste
people in connection with the Mirchpur Dalit killings case.

A bench of justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly also directed the
government and the Railway Board to spell out steps taken by them to
recover financial loss caused following the 11-day stir organised by
12 khap
panchayats.

"Who are the persons behind it? You must tell us the names of the
persons and the party who were behind all these agitations. There must
have been some kind of political backing behind it," the bench said
while granting two weeks' time to reply.

Not impressed by the response of the state government that cases have
been filed, the court said, "Forget about cases. We know what happens
after case is registered. State must tell us who is responsible for
this (agitation)." Villagers had been protesting the booking of 98
members of their community in the case relating to the killing of
70-year-old Tarachand and his physically challenged teenaged daughter
Suman at Mirchpur village in Hisar on April 21 last year.

Demanding a fresh probe into the Dalit killings, upper caste people of
Mirchpur and adjoining villages had brought the rail and road traffic
to Delhi via Jind to a grinding halt earlier this month.

On the last hearing the state government had informed the court that
loss of Rs 45.92 lakh was caused to the transport department due to
agitation and Rs 90,000 were spent by forest department in removing
3130 trees which were uprooted by protesters.

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[ZESTCaste] Haryana police pulled up by Delhi courtfor "discrepancies"

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/haryana-police-pulled-up-by-delhi-courtfor-discrepancies/600705.html

Haryana police pulled up by Delhi courtfor "discrepancies"
PTI | 09:03 PM,Mar 07,2011

New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) A Delhi court today pulled up the Haryana
police for "discrepancies", including the number of accused, in
records relating to the killing of two Dalits at Mirchpur village in
the state last year. "There is a lot of confusion about the records
which are placed before this court. Something is missing as the
records do not even show the date of arrest of some of the accused.The
Investigation Officer shall clarify the discrepancies in the records
on March 9," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said. The court said
the records did not suggest various facts relating to the number of
accused and how some of them were discharged by a judicial magistrate
that too in a murder case. "Out of 49 accused, charges were framed
only against 37 and rest 12 were discharged by the judicial
magistrate. There is no judicial record regarding their date of
arrest, filing the chargesheet and subsequent framing of charges," it
said. The court also said the records do not reveal that apart from
those 49 accused, when others joined the investigation and judicial
proceedings. "Whether the rest of the accused joined the proceedings
after framing of charges on September 6, 2010 or not, it is not clear
from the records," the court said. Earlier, the court had asked the
Haryana government to deploy CRPF at Mirchpur village to protect the
witnesses till they record their testimonies in the case. It had taken
exception to the belated deployment of CRPF at the village where the
community members of the accused are protesting against the shifting
of the trial from Haryana to Delhi. The Supreme Court had earlier
directed that the case relating to the killing of a 70-year-old Dalit
man and his physically-challenged daughter allegedly by a mob of over
100 upper caste people be transferred to the special court here to
ensure a free and fair trial. 97 accused were transferred to Tihar
from a Hissar jail this month on a direction of the court. Out of 103
accused, five are juveniles and one is out on bail. On April 21 last
year, a Dalit man and his daughter were burnt alive in violence
against the community allegedly by members of an upper caste, forcing
about 150 families to flee Mirchpur village in Hissar.

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[ZESTCaste] Haryana hauled up for not identifying Jat stir leaders

 

http://www.sify.com/news/haryana-hauled-up-for-not-identifying-jat-stir-leaders-news-national-ldhxahigadj.html

IANS
Haryana hauled up for not identifying Jat stir leaders
2011-03-07 23:00:00

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday pulled up the
Haryana government for its failure to identify leaders of the Jat
agitation, during which rail and road traffic was blocked for 11 days
in January, to protest arrest of community members allegedly involved
in Mirchpur village attack on Dalits last year.

The apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar
Ganguly expressed their displeasure after the Haryana government told
the court that the Jat agitation was spontaneous and thus, it was
difficult to pinpoint their leader.

'You people are saying that you cannot identify the leaders of the
agitation. As democracy is run by some leaders, similarly mobocracy is
also run by some leaders. How it is possible that they cannot be
identified?' the bench said, in the course of the hearing of a
petition seeking to bring to book all those involved in April 21, 2010
attack in Haryana's Hisar district.

A 70-year-old man and his 18-year-old physically-challenged daughter
were killed in the arson attack in Mirchpur village, about 300 km from
Chandigarh.

The Jat agitators were protesting against the arrest of their 98
people allegedly involved in attack. The blockade was ordered by the
mahapanchayat of 12 khaps (caste councils).

At the very outset of the hearing, Justice Singhvi, referring to the
news reports on the blockade of rail traffic in Uttar Pradesh's
Moradabad district, asked: 'What preventive steps are being taken? Do
you take any preventive step to avoid such situation and destruction
of public property?'

'The government will have to apply its mind that such things never
happen again,' the court said, also wanting to know what steps have
been taken by Northern Railway and the Haryana government to recover
the losses it suffered on account of 11-day-long agitation. It gave
them both two weeks time to file affidavits stating the steps taken by
them to recover the losses and action taken by it against the
agitation's leaders.

The court said that there were elaborate guidelines issued by the apex
court on the steps to be taken by the state to recover the loss to the
public property in the course of an agitation, and there was no point
in restating them.

The matter will come up for hearing on March 28.

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[ZESTCaste] Jat agitation hits trains in Uttar Pradesh

 

http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/131688/india/jat-agitation-hits-trains-in-uttar-pradesh.html

Jat agitation hits trains in Uttar Pradesh
ITGD Bureau | Lucknow, March 7, 2011 | Updated 09:45 IST

Jat agitation
Members of Jat Sangharsh Samiti squat on a train track to block
Delhi-Lucknow rail route near Amroha in support of their demand for
OBC reservation.
The ongoing agitation by Jats in Uttar Pradesh over reservation in
central jobs under the OBC category has forced a severe disruption in
railway services between Delhi and Lucknow.

At least 12 trains were cancelled and the routes of 30 trains between
Lucknow and New Delhi diverted as the agitation intensified on Sunday.

Trains on the Mathura-Mumbai route were disrupted as protesters took
to the tracks, demanding 27 per cent quota in central jobs under the
OBC category.

Railway official A.K. Singhal said the Kashi Vishwanath Express and
Lucknow Mail were among the trains cancelled.

"We have opened special counters at various railway stations for those
who want to suspend their journey. The protesters have tied their
domestic animals to the tracks and are on a dharna," he said.

The protesters also conducted a public meeting near Bharatpur and
subsequently decided to enforce road blockades. They have threatened
to intensify the agitation if their demands are not met.

Yashpal Mallik, a leader of Jat Arakshan Samiti, said: "Our protest
will continue till the government agrees to our demands. There are
many states where Jats are treated as OBCs. The Centre too should
accept us as OBCs and extend reservation accordingly."

Detailing about the delay of trains due to agitation at Kafurpur
station in Moradabad division, Northern Railway chief public relations
officer said Ernakulam-Hazrat Nizamuddin Mangla Express (12617),
Trivandraum-New Delhi Kerala Express (12625), Rajgir-New Delhi
Shramjeevi Express (12391), Varanasi-New Delhi Kashi Vishwanath
Express (14257), Lucknow-New Delhi AC Express (12233) Pratapgarh-Delhi
Padmavat Express (14207), Lucknow-New Delhi Lucknow Mail (12229) were
running late.

- With inputs from Headlines Today and Mail Today

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[ZESTCaste] Tension in Hisar as Jats protest for quotas

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tension-in-Hisar-as-Jats-protest-for-quotas/articleshow/7652886.cms

Tension in Hisar as Jats protest for quotas
IANS | Mar 8, 2011, 11.10am IST

HISAR: Tension prevailed in Hisar district of Haryana on Tuesday as
tens of thousands of people from the Jat community protested for
reservations in government jobs and educational institutions.

Hundreds of Jat community members have been squatting on the
Hisar-Rewari railway line here since Monday, blocking the crucial
stretch. Various passenger trains had to be cancelled or diverted to
alternate routes by the railway authorities.

The Jats were responding to a call by the All India Jat Aarakshan
Sangarsh Samiti, which is demanding reservations and inclusion in the
OBC (other backward classes) category. They had given a 48-hour
ultimatum to the Haryana government to meet their demands that expires
on Tuesday afternoon.

"We have formulated a special committee to decide our further course
of action. So far we have not got any satisfactory reply from Haryana
government and now we would certainly intensify our campaign," Hawa
Singh Sangwan, state president of the All India Jat Aarakshan
Sangharsh Samiti, said here on Tuesday.

He added: "Though we do not want to harass the public, we are left
with no option to make our voice heard. We would block various rail
tracks and important national highways in Hisar district. The chief
minister said he has forwarded our demand to centre but this is not
enough for us."

In the meantime, Haryana police and GRP (government railway police)
have deployed heavy forces in this district to tackle any kind of
emergency situation.

"We are observing the situation and trying to convince Jat protestors
to end their agitation. Police have made sufficient security
arrangements and we will not allow anyone to take law into hands,"
said a Haryana police official here on Tuesday.

Jats, who are the major vote bank in Haryana, have been protesting for
reservations. A two-day curfew was imposed in Hisar in September last
year, after large scale violence and arson at Mayyar village here by
members of the Jat community.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit Capitalism And Pseudo Dalitism

http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde070311.htm

Dalit Capitalism And Pseudo Dalitism

By Anand Teltumbde

07 March, 2011
Countercurrents.org

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels had stated "The history of
all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." In
capitalism this history comes alive in its pristine form through the
contention of two antagonistic classes, bourgeois and proletarians.
They prophesied that proletarians would emancipate themselves by
intensifying class struggle so as to bring about revolutionary
transformation into socialism. Alas, it did not occur to them that
proletarians could themselves become bourgeoisie and subvert the
history. Why slave had to wage uninterrupted fight against freemen,
plebeian against patrician, serf against lord, oppressed against
oppressor; they could have themselves become freeman, patrician, lord
and oppressor and solved their problem. Indeed, why even struggle
against Brahmanism as did Ambedkar; dalits could themselves become
Brahmins and end the problem of castesim. The proposition may sound
preposterous but then that is what is precisely suggested by a section
of Dalits who have been propagating Dalit capitalism.

Deflecting Dalit Agenda

If one looks at the profile of Dalits as the predominantly (81
percent) rural people, linked with land as landless labourers and
marginal farmers with a small (19 percent) section living in urban
areas, a large part of which lives in slums and works in informal
sectors, one surely finds that the historical Dalit discourse
revolving around reservation has always been unrelated with the
majority of people, because it was articulated by upwardly mobile
urbanite Dalits, who detested stereotypical Dalit description and
aspired to see themselves as 'arrived'. It is this section which has
been having five star conferences and international conclaves and had
even planned a Dalit Capitalism March in 2006 of 5000 Dalits in three
piece suit and an umbrella in hand on the roads of Delhi to
demonstrate their progress. It is a different matter; they could not
do the latter. Since, globalization was opposed in the name of
downtrodden; they tended to support it to stress their difference from
the common stock. The concerted propaganda from them in favour of
globalization and capitalism in various newspapers and even scholarly
journal such as this one should be seen in this light.

It claimed how Dalits have prospered by migrating out of villages
during the period of globalization. It is forgotten that Dalits, with
little stake in village, have always been migrating out. As for the
claim that they are better off today than before globalization
(contrary to the tons of macro evidence), it suffers methodological
fallacy basing itself on some superficial observations. Secondly and
more importantly, the state of Dalits, better or worse needs to be
established in relation to that of non-Dalit population. The
celebration of Dalit capitalists and their Chamber of Commerce on the
basis of some hundred odd individuals (out of more than 17 crores) in
businesses, the cumulative value of which may not even be a droplet in
the corporate ocean will certainly elate the neoliberal propagandist
but in itself it is not a great development. There have been such
'capitalists' and such 'chambers' many times before. Although, any
achievement by Dalits may be laudable, when it is projected over the
entire community overlooking its woes, it becomes seriously
problematic.

Ambedkar on Capitalism

In the Dalit universe, Ambebdkar constitutes supreme ideological
authority and hence he is invariably invoked by people in support of
their viewpoint, particularly when it is unfamiliar. The protagonists
of globalization had tried to show him as free-marketist neoliberal
and even gone to the extent of painting him as monetarist (monetarists
are supposed to be the initiators of neoliberalism) to get him in
support of their propaganda. In any case how many Dalits, even among
the educated ones, knew what monetarism was? Ambedkar who publicly
professed his opposition to capitalism throughout his life was thus
willfully distorted to be the supporter of ultra capitalism, which
globalization is! Way back in 1938 Ambedkar, while addressing the
railway workers in Manmad, had famously declared that the Untouchables
had two enemies: Brahmanism and Capitalism. His first political party,
the Independent Labour Party (ILP), was fashioned on the lines of
British labour party, which followed the Fabian line of peaceful
transition to socialism but abhored capitalism. Ambedkar's ILP was not
only the first but true leftist party of India, the communist party
then being the socialist block of the Congress, which had borrowed the
moulds of class analysis that left caste, the pervasive reality of
Indian life, out. ILP, on the other hand, demonstrated on road how to
embed caste and class in people's struggle.

Although, he had to dissolve ILP and form the Scheduled Caste
Federation (SCF) in response to the Cripps Mission Report in 1942, his
leftism and anti-capitalism remained unaffected. The States and
Minorities, a memorandum submitted to the Constituent Assembly in 1947
on behalf of the SCF had proposed a radical model of state socialism,
to guard against unbridled grid of capitalists. As a abiding lover of
democracy, he termed capitalism "a dictatorship of private employer."
(17/1/381). Elsewhere he rationalized his choice saying that
"capitalism appeals to the rich and does not appeal to the poor. On
the contrary socialism appeals to the poor but does not appeal to the
rich." (5/444). In fact, even at the very fag end of his life, while
explaining why he embraced Buddhism, his love for socialism (and hence
hate for capitalism) comes out starkly. In his "Buddha or Karl Marx"
he comes closer to accept Marx but for his methods, which according to
him were overcome in Buddhism.

Caste of Capital

Capitalism emerged as a distinct mode of production from the ruins of
feudalism, which was the system of preordained privileges. It came to
India under colonial cover and did not have to contend with the feudal
forces for its growth. It rather made skillful use of some of its
components and let live others. For example the caste identities came
handy to keep the working class divided. Still its advent and spread
did impact the complexion of the castes which have internalized its
accumulation logic. In that sense the general lament over Marx's
prophesy at the time of the introduction of railway network that it
would entail collapse of castes is misplaced. The ritual aspects of
castes did collapse among the dwija castes which adopted capitalism.
These castes used their caste networks to mobilize investments, mop up
credit, collect and conserve information and secure political
patronage, which impelled some to characterize capital by their caste,
such as Marwari, Gujarati, Kutchhi capital and so on.

The same phenomenon is noted in its pronounced form in relation to the
successful entrepreneurship of the middle castes. During the early
post-independence decades, these farming castes were hugely enriched
by the Nehruvian modernist policies of land reforms, which were
immediately followed by the green revolution. The surplus coming from
capitalist agriculture found ways into capitalist enterprises, which
prospered primarily using the caste resources. Tirupur, a world leader
in the knitted garment industry, set up by the Gounders, a typical
middle farming caste in Tamilnadu, is by now famous exemplifying caste
as social capital. Gounders made use of their community and family
network for mobilizing capital, credit, information and as a mechanism
for enforcing contract far more cheaply than competitors. The same is
true of the Nadar community in Virudhunagar area entrenched in the
matches and printing industries as also of the Marwaris, Sindhis,
Katchis, Patels, etc, who have global networks of their castes aiding
their businesses.

While it is true that caste acts as social capital, in societies sans
caste, other community ties have performed the same role. The real
question is while capital is created using caste networks, can that be
characterized as caste capital. Going by the logic of capitalism, the
answer has to be in negative. The caste can obfuscate contradictions
between capitalist and workers belonging to the same caste but cannot
eliminate them, nor can they foil trans-caste formation of class of
capitalists. As a matter of fact, capital does not have race,
religion, caste, creed or even country. Capital has intrinsic tendency
towards globalization. Today, it comes out in its true character as
global capital.

Dalits as Capitalists

The Nehruvian modernist project spread capitalist relations in the
countryside, and hugely empowered a section of middle castes
economically and politically. As a fall out, the jajmani relations,
which characterized village life for most parts of the country, were
uprooted rendering Dalits hopelessly dependent upon middle caste
farmers for their survival as wage labourers. As the villages were
vacated by the upper caste landlords, the baton of Brahmanism also
came into the hands of the middle castes, which in caste terms joined
the dwija caste block, reducing the caste system to its classical
divide: caste and non-caste or non-Dalits and Dalits. The
contradiction between Dalits and these castes, mostly stemming from
capitalist paradigm, however manifested into caste atrocities. Since
mid-1980s, with elitist neoliberal policy thrust, they were further
adversely impacted vis-à-vis others. The odds have thus multiplied
against the vast majority (more than 90 percent) of Dalits, the caste
being neatly intermingled with the modern secular institutions. In the
face of this pathetic dalit reality, citing stray examples of Dalit
petty capitalists as the marker of progress is nothing short of a
cruel joke.

One fails to understand the real motive behind such projections. If it
is to highlight the riches of Dalit individuals, such cases of
individual richness existed even before. Somewhat inexplicable, but
there have been Dalit individuals who were extremely rich even in
colonial times. That did little difference to their status as Dalits,
least to their community. If it is to underline the capability or
merit of Dalits, it is a hackneyed statement. During the colonial
times (and even before), Dalits have displayed ample entrepreneurial
prowess by accepting new vocations, setting up petty businesses, or
modernizing their caste vocations and made huge progress. In fact, the
Dalit movement was actually the byproduct of this process. If it is to
praise the government for its policies of globalization, which appears
to be the case in view of this section belaboring to show how Dalits
made progress during globalization period, it would be condemnable as
not only dishonesty but also as betrayal of Dalit interests. There
have been a plenty of Dalit intellectuals seeking favours of ruling
classes by singing praises of their policies. Let Dalit individuals
become big bureaucrats, big bourgeoisie or any big gun, he or she
cannot count much in the emancipation project of Dalit community,
which lies only in thoroughgoing social transformation.

Dr Anand Teltumbde is a writer, political analyst and civil rights
activist with CPDR, Mumbai


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