Friday, June 10, 2011

[ZESTCaste] SC/ST funds should be used fully: Minister

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/scst-funds-should-be-used-fully-minister/158199-60-115.html

Karnataka
SC/ST funds should be used fully: Minister
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Posted on Jun 10, 2011 at 03:24pm IST

BANGALORE: Funds meant for welfare schemes of the scheduled castes and
tribes (SC/STs) remain unutilised in gram panchayats and CMCs,
disclosed Minister for Social Welfare A Narayanaswamy."I fail to
understand how the officers can afford to be so casual in spending
money when it has been earmarked for the welfare of the SC/STs, which
is rampant in CMCs and gram panchayats. So, I have decided to direct
the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement to probe the matter and
submit a report in two months," Narayanaswamy told the media on
Thursday. He refused to admit that the elected representatives too
were responsible if the funds meant for SC/STs remain unutilised. "It
is the direct responsibility of the officers, as elected
representatives have their limitations. Ultimately, it is the
bureaucracy which should prepare the action plan whereas ministers
only draw the policy," the minister asserted. He said he has already
completed one round of discussion with the officials of the DCRE and a
GO will be issued shortly.

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[ZESTCaste] Sacred Institutions, Demonic Practices

http://pd.cpim.org/2011/0612_pd/06122011_9.html

June 12, 2011

Sacred Institutions, Demonic Practices

G Mamatha

"When we look at modern man we have to face the fact that modern man
suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring
contrast to his scientific and technological abundance, we've learned
to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish,
and yet we haven't learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters."

- Dr Martin Luther King

ON November 25, 1949, Dr BR Ambedkar sounded a grave warning in the
Constituent Assembly: "On January 26, 1950, we will have equality in
politics and inequality in social and economic life. We must remove
this contradiction at the earliest moment, or else those who suffer
from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy
which this Assembly has so laboriously built up." Unfortunately, our
rulers have since then failed to heed this warning and initiate
remedial measures.

Thus, even after nearly 62 years of declaring ourselves 'secular,
democratic, socialist republic', social and economic inequalities are
not just there, but appear to be growing by leaps and bounds. It seems
not a single institution in our country escapes its evil embrace. The
most revered judiciary, which is considered to be a sacrosanct
institution that applies principles of justice to one and all,
irrespective of considerations of socio-economic status, unaffected by
caste, religion, gender and regional considerations, too, was unable
to escape the smear of caste discrimination. Just recently, on March
26, 17 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe judges were ordered to take
compulsory retirement in Chhattisgarh. In this unprecedented decision,
these judges, who had either completed 20 years in service or were
more than 50 years old, were ordered to retire compulsorily. The
recommendation was made to the state government by the legal
department, which is since trying to mask it saying that this decision
was based on their performance. The recommendation, of course, was
accepted by the state government and orders on their retirement
issued.

This, in fact, vindicates what a member of parliament had stated
during the course of debates on the atrocities against SC/STs in
parliament in August 2010: "Dalits are being discriminated against, as
far as appointment in the judiciary is concerned. When advocates are
chosen to fill the posts of judges, dalit advocates are dubbed as 'not
suitable'. Even at the time of promotion in judiciary, they are
discriminated against. General category people get 'outstanding'
reports and remarks whereas the ACRs of dalits are spoiled. This is
the harsh reality of the judicial set-up where justice is not granted
to the dalits".

This is stated as much by the judges whose services were forcibly
terminated in Chattisgarh. Paikra, who was serving as an additional
district judge in Durg, has nine more years of service remaining.
Until last October, he worked as additional district judge (ad hoc) at
a fast-track court and was soon regularised as additional district
judge in Durg district court. "They regularised me for my performance,
usefulness and integrity. I don't understand what happened in a few
months that I was considered unfit for the task," he says. While he
might be diplomatically stating that he does not 'understand what
happened', another judge citing examples of several other judges from
the general category, does not mince words when he states, "they
(general category judges) have been granted extensions despite 'poor
grading'. I still had six years of service remaining but my caste
proved unfavourable for me as well as others" (emphasis added).

If this happens to judiciary and this 'sacred institution' is coloured
with caste bias, can anyone expect unbiased justice – judgements not
influenced by the considerations of caste of the litigants? A truthful
answer to this question certainly sounds warning bells to our
'secular, democratic, socialist republic'.

Of course, these developments might not surprise any rational observer
of the socio-economic, political situation in our country. No
institution can be expected to be 'clean' when its surroundings are
murky. Forgetting all the studies conducted by the 'ideologically
coloured' organisations, let us take a peek at a recent report
published by the United Nations. As per the study conducted by the
United Nations Organisation regarding untouchability in 565 villages
in 11 states of India, health workers refuse to go to the homes of
dalits in 33 per cent villages, children of dalits are made to sit
separately during mid day meal in 38 per cent government schools,
dalits do not get their letters in 33 per cent villages, dalits cannot
draw water from public water facilities in 48 per cent villages and
dalits are not allowed to approach police stations in 27 per cent
villages. Out of 1000 dalit children, 83 die during birth and 119 out
of 1000 die within first five years. Every day more than three women
are being raped and every week five dalit houses are turned to ashes,
11 beaten, 13 killed and more than 6 dalits are kidnapped. Every 18th
minute there is oppression and atrocity committed on a dalit. The
figures provided are just those who had registered their complaints,
while many do not file their complaints at the police station. The
report published by UN in 2010 observes that the dalit and the tribal
people have been leading a pitiable life in India. Might be nothing
new for many, but what is new is the mouth that is uttering these
facts – the UN!

And now let us train our attention to the education system that builds
the 'future India' in its classrooms. Consider this: Jaspreet, a
medical student, was in the final year at the Government Medical
College in Chandigarh. He was an excellent student throughout, and had
never failed in any subject until he reached the fifth and final year.
There, a professor whose criteria of merit was not Jaspreet's
performance but his 'caste', not only humiliated him on caste lines
but failed him twice in the same paper and threatened to further keep
on failing him. Unable to tolerate this humiliation any longer,
Japreet killed himself in his college library. The suicide note
recovered from his coat pocket charged his Head of the Department
(HoD). Seven months later, a three-member group of senior professors
re-evaluated his answer sheet and found that he had in fact passed the
test. Seven months later! That is the sensitivity our system has
towards its sons and daughters and that too in such a noble profession
like medicine. Doctors are expected to take an oath on Hippocrates
stating that they would not be in any way influenced by the
socio-economic conditions of the patient, while discharging their
noble duties as a doctor. And so much nobility have they shown, by
coercing one of their own kin to take his precious life, just because
he is not of their caste!

We have just seen how two of the noblest professions are being
corrupted by the social evil of caste discrimination and also the
study of another 'reputed' institution on this subject. It is a shame
that out government is eager to sit in the UNSC as a permanent member,
but not half as much eager to eradicate the centuries old social
stigma rotting our system. More than this, it itself is gullible of
failing to stand by its constitutional obligations of ensuring social
justice and remain a role model. Just recently, it has diverted the
money amounting to Rs 678.91 crore earmarked for the SC/STs to the
Commonwealth Games. This shows the priorities of the governments and
its commitment to social justice.

So what needs to be done to cleanse our society from this rot? Let us
end with the words of Martin Luther King once again. "Injustice
anywhere is a danger to justice everywhere...Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent about things that matter". So, come let us
together break the silence and join our fists!


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[ZESTCaste] More than 1.5 lakh turn up for Sena-BJP-RPI rally

http://www.hindustantimes.com/More-than-1-5-lakh-turn-up-for-Sena-BJP-RPI-rally/Article1-707758.aspx

More than 1.5 lakh turn up for Sena-BJP-RPI rally
Sayli Udas Mankikar, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, June 10, 2011

The heavy rains on Thursday couldn't dampen the rally of the newly
forged alliance of the Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and
the Republican Party of India (RPI) where the leaders launched a
scathing attack on the government. While their opponents — the
Congress and the Nationalist Cong
ress Party (NCP) — were hoping that the rains would result in a lower
turnout, over 1.5 lakh supporters showed up at the venue.

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, RPI chief Ramdas
Athawale, BJP leaders Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde spoke about
corruption, price rise and dalit atrocities.

"Till now we were protesting against the same issues, but separately.
Now we will come together and fight to clean the system," Uddhav said.

"It was the Janata Party not the Congress that gave Babasaheb Ambedkar
[dalit leader] the opportunity to go to Parliament. And now when
Athawale's house at Delhi was vacated, the Congress threw out all his
belonging and Babasaheb's statue was kept on the road. This is the
respect Congress has for dalits," Tawde said.

However, Athawale seems to be testing the waters. "We were with the
Congress for 20 years. We will stay with you for 10 years and see how
it goes," he said.

Athawale claimed the alliance was not for political purpose. "We have
come together to fight issues. Discussion on civic polls have not yet
started," he said.

Despite the presence of prominent leaders, BJP leader Gopinath Munde
did not turn up for the rally. While BJP leaders said he was ill,
sources said Munde was upset with BJP chief Nitin Gadkari over the
selection of the Pune city unit chief.

Meanwhile, Congress criticised the saffron speakers. "What
alternatives are they going to offer to the people when their own
house is in disarray?" asked party spokesman Sanjay Dutt.


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[ZESTCaste] Photography exhibition on India’s Dalits opens in London

http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news.aspx?action=view&id=5444

Photography exhibition on India's Dalits opens in London

St Paul's Cathedral is to host a rare and intimate series of portraits
of the lives of Indian Dalits in a photography exhibition by Marcus
Perkins, for Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

India's Dalits (previously known as "untouchables") are a people whose
history reverberates with oppression, exploitation and injustice.
Being Untouchable exposes the present-day impact of these centuries of
oppression, and explores how although "untouchability" was abolished
by India's Constitution, it continues to be practised today.

Three Meditative Eucharists will be held on Sundays during the
exhibition (19 and 26 June and 3 July). These will explore the theme
of untouchability and focus on the Dalits of India, the untouchable
within our own society, and ultimately the untouchable within
ourselves.

'Being Untouchable: an exhibition of photography by Marcus Perkins for
CSW' runs from Tuesday 14 June to Wednesday 6 July 2011 at St Paul's
Cathedral from 8.30am – 4pm. Normal admission charges apply.

(Photo: Marcus Perkins for CSW)


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[ZESTCaste] Saffron parties go all out to propitiate Ramdas Athavale

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_saffron-parties-go-all-out-to-propitiate-ramdas-athavale_1553231

Saffron parties go all out to propitiate Ramdas Athavale
Published: Friday, Jun 10, 2011, 1:49 IST
By Alok Deshpande | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

The BJP-RPI-Shiv Sena Maha-morcha on Thursday was supposed to be a
show of strength and was meant to take on the government over issues
of inefficiency and corruption. Instead, it ended up as an exercise in
assuring the state's Dalits of an alternative alliance that they can
vote for.

Leaders of the saffron parties heaped praises on RPI chief Ramdas
Athavale, listing all that he has done for the Dalit community. They
also reminded him of the injustice meted out to him by the Congress
and the NCP. They used the occasion to assure him that he would be
"taken care of" better than before.

Leader of the opposition and BJP leader Eknath Khadse used his entire
speech to recite a list of schemes started by the Sena-BJP government
for the benefit of Dalits, tribals and the backward classes.

"The Congress and the NCP used the RPI's votes but gave it nothing in
return. Money which was supposed to be used for various Dalit welfare
schemes was diverted elsewhere," he said.

Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, too, did his bit to put
Athavale on a pedestal. "The Congress and the NCP will now understand
your importance," he said to Athavale. "The parties consist of people
who will not hesitate to betray even their parents. They disrespected
you by backstabbing you during the Lok Sabha elections. Bheem sainiks
and Shiv sainiks will jointly teach them a lesson."

He blamed the Congress and the NCP for the long-time antagonism
between the RPI and the Sena. "They created such situations that
forced us to be on opposite sides. But this approach will no longer
work. We have to unite and work as a cohesive unit," said Thackeray.

Athavale, in his trademark poetic style, sent out a message to the
Congress and the NCP that he had joined hands with the Sena to avenge
the wrongs done to him by his earlier partners. "This alliance is not
only for electoral gains, but it's a process of social integration.
After my meeting with the Sena chief, all my doubts about the party
were cleared. We are sure that our flags will fly high on the state
assembly after the 2014 elections," he said.

Refuting claims that he does not enjoy the support of the entire Dalit
community, he said that the support he has is enough to change the
government.


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[ZESTCaste] Sharad Pawar slams Ramdas Athavale

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_sharad-pawar-slams-ramdas-athawale_1553443

Sharad Pawar slams Ramdas Athavale
Published: Friday, Jun 10, 2011, 15:38 IST | Updated: Friday, Jun 10,
2011, 16:03 IST
By Surendra Gangan | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday blasted
Republican Party of India chief Ramdas Athavale for joining the Shiv
Sena-BJP alliance and said the dalit leader was shying away from the
principles laid down by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The NCP succeeded in pulling a crowd that crossed the 50,000-mark.
Nearly 12 special trains and hundreds of buses were arranged from
various parts of the state for the 'Samajik Hakk Parishad' organised
at Somaiyya Grounds today to mark NCP's 12th foundation day.

The party has vowed to change the name of Dadar station to
Chaityabhoomi. Its charter demands the BPL income limit to be raised
to one lakh.

Other demands include the formation of Annabhau Sathe Academy for the
promotion of folk art.

Caste verification certificates be given during the last
year of school is another demand.

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[ZESTCaste] Will a political tantric twist India’s destiny? (Kancha Ilaiah)

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/dc-comment/will-political-tantric-twist-india%E2%80%99s-destiny-379

Will a political tantric twist India's destiny?

June 10, 2011
By Kancha Ilaiah
DC

The movement against black money, including that which is stashed away
in safe havens like Swiss banks, is more difficult than the movement
against corruption and putting a Lokpal Bill in place.

Baba Ramdev, a Hindu spiritual and yoga guru, has taken up this issue
with a long-term political objective.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seems to be more
scared of him than of Anna Hazare because Baba Ramdev has a large
network of followers. In addition, Baba Ramdev has the backing of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his campaign, which is likely to
widen its base.

Baba Ramdev's rise is rather miraculous. Having been born in a lower
middle-class Yadav family of Haryana, he built a yoga empire by
teaching it to health-conscious people of the middle and upper middle
class.

He combined yoga with a bit of science and an interesting mix of
Buddhist dialectics and Hindu tantra.
Though formally educated only up to the eighth standard, in an
ordinary government school, he learnt Sanskrit and English to
communicate his yoga techniques. His body movements and the skills he
employs to explain yoga made him very popular rather quickly.

In fact, Baba Ramdev's yoga empire expanded at a rate much faster than
Sathya Sai Baba's spiritual empire, and he now commands the loyalty of
millions of people who are ready and willing to be converted into a
cadre for a movement against corruption and also for mobilisation of
votes when the party he is to set up contests elections.

Unlike other gurus, Baba Ramdev combines politics, morality and Hindu
idiom. Apart from his yoga followers who cut across caste, parties and
religion lines, a vast number of other backward castes (OBCs) in the
country see him as "prime ministerial material".

The Anna Hazare team emerged from the middle-class brahmanic morality
of non-corruption without any mass base. Baba Ramdev is the opposite
of that. He has a massive middle-class mass
base.

This mass base can shake the system big towns upwards, if not from the
village upwards. His on-going hunger strike will take his image even
further, to villages. Baba Ramdev is Gandhi in saffron, with a
handsome body, black hair and a beard.

Anna Hazare looks like a farmer of the outmoded type. More people want
to see Baba Ramdev than Anna Hazare. If his movement clicks, Baba
Ramdev's party will have a head start.

However, the key question is whom does the anti-black money movement
rattle — the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? It would be
a headache for both.

The supporters and leaders of both the parties have black money.

If Baba Ramdev turns into a political leader, one does not expect him
to win the Parliament elections straightaway. But his party will be a
potential force, like what Kanshi Ram's Bahujan Samaj Party used to be
for a long time in Uttar Pradesh.

At one place it could harm the Congress and at another it could harm
the BJP as Baba Ramdev's middle-class followers are likely to be the
BJP's traditional voters.

While the RSS is supporting him, the BJP has to keep its fingers crossed.

As far as the RSS is concerned, Baba Ramdev is a better all-India
package than Narendra Modi, because Ramdev is a very credible OBC
Hindu. If he aligns with the BJP, the Congress will have a serious
problem.

The fact that a four-member Cabinet team, headed by none other than
finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, waited for him, received him and
talked to him at the airport on June 1 shows the amount of fear he
generated.

Baba Ramdev is a good example of tantric modernity. If he can twist
the arms of the state like this today, he can twist the destiny of the
nation tomorrow.

We do not know in which direction the nation would go under the
leadership of such yoga leaders. But one thing is certain. We produced
a Gandhi and we have produced an Ambedkar. We now seem to be on the
way to produce a Baba Ramdev.

If Gandhi and Ambedkar were spiritual politicians who shaped the
destiny of the nation in two different modes, Ramdev is a tantric
politician who might take it in an opposite direction altogether.
Good luck, Baba Ramdev.

Kancha Ilaiah is director for the study of Social Exclusion and
Inclusive Policy, Maulana
Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad


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