Thursday, March 1, 2012

[ZESTCaste] Dravidian movement only created ‘neo-Brahmins,' says Ramadoss

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2951428.ece

Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI, March 2, 2012
Dravidian movement only created 'neo-Brahmins,' says Ramadoss
Special Correspondent

PMK to hold conference for exposing 'myth'

Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S. Ramadoss on Thursday rejected the
perception that the Dravidian movement has several achievements to its
credit, arguing that it only created "neo-Brahmins" while alienating
Dalits, minorities and other socially and economically backward
sections of society.

"The leaders of the Dravidian movement used fascinating language aimed
at attracting people. However, the 45-year rule of the Dravidian
parties has not achieved any constructive development. On the other
hand, media houses promoted by the family members of these leaders
have destroyed Tamil culture and civilisation," Dr. Ramadoss told
reporters here.

Reacting to the launch of the centenary celebrations of the Dravidian
movement by the DMK, he said that DMK leaders would talk of
Dravidianism and the bogey of 'Dravida Naadu' whenever they were out
of power but remained silent while in office.

"The DMK derived maximum benefit from the campaign of M. G.
Ramachandran in its favour. But the moment he quit the DMK to launch
the AIADMK, they called him a 'Malayalee'," Dr Ramadoss said. Though
the Dravidian leaders harped on "self-respect and equality," they
continued to keep the people in poverty through distribution of
freebies. "They make a hue and cry about casteism and vow to eradicate
it. But they are not able to remove casteism even from a single street
in the State," he said.


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[ZESTCaste] Ajit Singh targets Maya, calls her 'daulat ki beti'

 

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ajit-singh-targets-maya-calls-her-daulat-ki-beti/918779/

Ajit Singh targets Maya, calls her 'daulat ki beti'
Agencies Posted online: Thu Mar 01 2012, 17:23 hrs
Bhimnagar (UP) : Civil Aviation Minister and RLD president Ajit Singh
today lashed out at BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party President
Mulayam Singh Yadav on the issue of corruption.

Addressing an election meeting in favour of party nominee for Sambhal
seat, Singh termed Mayawati as "daulat ki beti", who has crossed all
limits of corruption.

"She is taking share in everything, in sand mining... she takes Rs
four per quintal in sugarcane, charges Mayawati tax from liquor baron
Ponty Chaddha... she gets sleep only after counting money in the note
counting machines installed in her basement," Singh alleged.

''She has no family where will she spend this money,'' he asked.

Attacking Mulayam Singh, Ajit Singh said that he has this bad habit of
telling lies.

"He is today saying that rape victims would be given jobs... had he
said that rapists would be hanged we would also have voted for
Yadav,'' Singh said adding that Yadav has not changed and still
suffers from narrow thinking.

Referring to the police recruitment scam during the previous Yadav
government, Singh said that though he claims to be the leader of
Yadavs, none of his castemen was given appointment without bribes,
which was fixed at Rs 3 lakh per post.

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[ZESTCaste] There is an elephant in the room (Opinion)

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2951101.ece

Opinion » Op-Ed
March 2, 2012
There is an elephant in the room
Vidya Subrahmaniam


Two conflicting narratives, both built around the BSP, dominate the
Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

A government official in Lucknow says this of the 2012 Assembly
election in Uttar Pradesh: "This is an election where every party
thinks it is forming the government."

This election fairly bristles with paradoxes, starting with the fact
that two strongly opposing currents can be detected on the ground.
Travelling through the State, it is impossible to miss the contempt
for Mayawati who is denounced as a Chief Minister wedded to the
welfare of stone idols (a reference to the Maya statues dotting the
landscape), ignoring the living, teeming millions, and who cares, if
at all she does, only for her own biradari (community). But as
striking is the aggression on the other side with Dalit support for
"our behenji" reaching staggering levels. State government officials,
in fact, attribute the huge increase in voter turnout in the different
poll phases to the Mayawati government's war-like distribution of
voter identity cards to the BSP's potential voters.

'A wave for Mulayam'

Indeed, this is an election where the biggest and the most committed
crowds have been for the U.P. Chief Minister. Yet from east to west,
the common refrain is that there is a "leher" (wave) for Mulayam
Singh. In a further irony, those vouching for the return of the
"cycle" (the Samajawadi Party's symbol), seem equally willing to vote
sundry other parties, making the SP's struggle to get past the post
that much more difficult. This election has also seen Rahul Gandhi
produce the most dazzling fireworks — skewering and outshouting his
rivals, tearing up their manifestos and forcing himself into the
electorate's forgotten consciousness through sheer, dogged
persistence. But all this perhaps for the Gandhi heir only to learn
that while his effort might increase the Congress' share of votes and
seats, the party could still end up nudging the last spot. Voters
speak of him with affection, promising to give him his big break, not
in this "SP versus Bahujan Samaj Party" election, but in the next.

Then there is the contrasting image of Akhilesh Yadav. Very different
from the mutinous Gandhi junior, this affable son of the SP elder has
logged countless miles on his kranti rath, canvassing support for a
party which was booted out in 2007 for its lawlessness, but which he
promises has forsaken its goonish past for a clean, new start. This is
not all. Incredible as this might seem, the congenitally
over-optimistic Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been the underdog of
this election, running a campaign so deceptively and surprisingly
low-key that any improvement it shows — and show it will — must seem a
surprise.

BSP's journey

Political U.P. has changed unrecognisably in the five years since the
BSP swept into office in 2007. The Maya avalanche decimated rivals
even as it smashed the barriers of regions, castes and communities.
The party of Bahujan (or depressed people), which abhorred the forward
castes and built its foundation on muscular anti-manuwadi slogans,
mellowed and metamorphosed into a Sarvajan (or everyone) party
committed to the well-being and prosperity of every citizen regardless
of her social antecedents. Though the BSP forged a rainbow coalition
of castes, what amazed social observers was its new-found chemistry
with the forward castes. Consider this: each time the BJP aligned with
the BSP, it found its core forward caste support shrinking, presumably
because the Brahmins and the Thakurs were deeply inimical to the BSP.
Yet in a few years, these very castes would dump the BJP for a social
pact with the BSP, enabling the latter to form a majority government
for the first time in 16 years.

But only two years later, with the BSP down three percentage points in
the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the Sarvajan pact would start to come
apart. Today, little remains of the once magnificent alliance. If
anything the empathy has been replaced by a hostility that expresses
itself in malicious, intemperate language towards the BSP boss. From
impoverished rickshaw pullers and pavement shopkeepers in Lucknow in
Awadh to entire Brahmin villages in Gonda in the east to Muslim
clusters in Moradabad in the West, hardly anyone has a nice word to
say about the BSP or its supremo. And many of these are the same
people who had enthusiastically lined up behind the party in 2007.

The complaints are endless but some things crop up over and over. The
stone statues of Ms Mayawati and the acres of parks have become
eyesores — a metaphor for a regime that has been obsessively
self-centred. Farmers and Muslims seem particularly aggrieved. Farmers
argue that Ms Mayawati has no intrinsic understanding of kheti
(agriculture) unlike Mr. Mulayam Singh whom they celebrate as zameeni
(rooted) and therefore naturally inclined towards farming.

In Bakshi-ka-Talab on the outskirts of Lucknow city, lawyer Veerendra
Kumar Singh rages against Ms Mayawati, accusing her of betraying the
faith of all those, like his own family and friends, who had risen
above their caste affiliations to vote the BSP. "Farmers are in
distress because there is no electricity and fertilizer is selling in
the black. In Mulayam Singh's time, things were so much better.
Mulayam is a "kisan priya neta (loves farmers)."

An emotional people, Muslims rue the lack of warmth in the BSP's
government's approach to them. "We are harassed at the police
stations, there is nobody to hear us out and sometimes we feel we
don't exist for this government," says Mohammad Hanif, a shopkeeper in
the Chamraua Vidhan Sabha segment in the Muslim majority district of
Rampur. Adds noted Lucknow lawyer Zafrayab Jilani: "We tried to tell
Maya the advantage of supporting Muslims who would make an unbeatable
combination with the Dalits. But she was indifferent." Not
surprisingly, there is a longing for the Mulayam Singh regime among
Muslims. Whether this nostalgia will actually turn into votes for the
SP is difficult to tell given the number of players vying for the
Muslim vote, among them the Congress and the newly ascendant Peace
Party.

The SP's mellowed form has brought in support from other quarters. In
2007, Brahmins and Vaishyas (traders) had a single mission: To oust
the Mulayam regime which was seen as extortionist and lawless.
Shopkeepers claimed to live in fear of SP musclemen, and indeed, that
is why this BSP slogan resonated with the forward castes: "Chad
goondon ke chhati par mohar lagao haathi par (crush the chests of the
goondas and stamp on the elephant symbol)." Five years on, many of the
forward castes have returned to the BJP, some to the Congress, and a
fair section is surprisingly receptive to the SP.

At a dhaba in Ram Nagar in Barabanki, owner Shyam Sundar Shukla, a
Brahmin, is declaiming in favour of the SP, arguing that he erred in
voting the BSP in 2007. The local Vypar Mandal president, Shivram
Gupta, agrees with him. "I have no fear of the SP," he says,
disproving the popular theory that the trading classes can never
countenance the SP.

The logic and reason seemingly evident in the anti-BSP conversations
cannot obscure one fact, though. The Maya baiters are united by their
fear and dislike of what they see as a Dalit upsurge against the
status quo. In villages, as in cities, men complain of being hauled up
under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, referring to Dalits, not as Dalits or even as
Harijans, but as "them." The Chief Minister "indulges them," and a
single (Dalit) household can "wreak terror" on an entire Brahmin
village.

Understandably, Ms Mayawati's core support is furiously consolidating
behind her, with a repartee ready for every barb thrown at "behenji."
Bring up the Maya statues, and Rajbir Singh, a Jatav resident of
Pagbada in West U.P. hits back: The Gandhi family can have samadhis
and name every institution after the clan, but Behenji cannot have her
murtis? If they build parks, it is khoobsoorat (beautiful), but if we
do the same, it is badsoorat (ugly). Why?"

vidyasu@thehindu.co.in


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[ZESTCaste] Progress in a Dalit Village Creates Ill-will in Muslims Nearby

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/03/02/progress-in-a-dalit-village-creates-ill-will-in-muslims-nearby/

March 2, 2012, 11:00 AM IST

Progress in a Dalit Village Creates Ill-will in Muslims Nearby

By Margherita Stancati and Vibhuti Agarwal

DALAUNA, India–Dalauna and Kallipurab, two villages in the state of
Uttar Pradesh, are just a few miles from each other. But for locals
they feel worlds apart.

Dalauna, a village just outside the state capital of Lucknow and home
to a few hundred people, boasts paved roads, a reasonably good
drainage system and a health-care center. Kallipurab has none of that.

Over the past couple of years, Dalauna – unlike Kallipurab – has
benefited from a state government program aimed at developing villages
in U.P. predominantly populated by Dalits, a socially-backward group
that traditionally falls at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. The
state government vows to uplift these villages through improved
infrastructure and by delivering basic services, like drinking water
and toilets.

The headmistress of Dalauna's primary school, Mina Vishu Karma, says
her school has improved significantly thanks to the program, named
after B.R. Ambedkar, the author of India's Constitution and the
country's Dalit hero.

"Before, we didn't have any water tank nor electricity and we didn't
have enough money for uniforms for the boys," Ms. Vishu Karma said in
a recent interview.


The school is by no means perfect. It has electricity for half a day
only and there are no desks – children sit cross-legged on bamboo mats
instead. But it's better than many other state-run schools. For
instance, teacher attendance is not a major concern. Inspectors from
Lucknow visit the school up to five times a month to make sure that
teachers don't skip class, that the teaching method complies to
government-set standards, and that the funds the school receives are
used to improve its infrastructure.

From the school's dusty courtyard, Ms. Vishu Karma points at a water
tank that has been recently installed on a rooftop and at a new eating
area where the school's roughly 110 children, boys and girls in
blue-and-gray uniforms, have lunch.

The program was first implemented in 1995 during the first term in
power of the Bahujan Samaj Party, which runs on a pro-Dalit platform.
So far, around 10,000 villages have benefited from it.

This is one of the initiatives the BSP, led by Chief Minister Kumari
Mayawati, can point to in order to hold the support of its core voter
base, Dalits, as the state braces for the seventh and final round of
local elections on Saturday.

The state government tends to boost development efforts in "Ambedkar"
villages ahead of elections, says a senior state government official
involved in the program. Over the past year alone, as election fever
was rising, Ms. Mayawati's government spent $600 million to extend the
"Ambedkar village" status to a further 2,000 villages, the official
said.

Even though Dalauna has benefited from its Ambedkar village status,
there is still plenty of room for improvement. Although it boasts its
own health-care center, residents rarely find it open. On the
Wednesday we visited – the one day in the week when it's meant to be
open – its doors were firmly shut.

At a time when the party's support among other key groups such as
Brahmins and Muslims is uncertain and the BSP's ability to count on
its Dalit voter base is crucial.

For many in Dalauna, the BSP is the obvious voting choice. "Why would
I not vote for Mayawati?" says Phool, a middle-aged woman who goes by
only one name.

As in other poor areas of U.P., in Dalauna the concerns of voters are
fairly basic. Ms. Phool is pleased her village now has public toilets.
Her neighbor, Naina Devi, is grateful for the paved roads, which
solved the problem of water-clogging near her house, and for the new
electricity pole that has been set up near it.

These are just some of the services promised under the Ambedkar
village program, which are granted on a priority basis and vary from
village to village.

None of them apply to Kallipurab, a village that is a five-minute
drive from Dalauna. It has never been granted "Ambedkar village"
status though it is unclear precisely why not.

Mohammad Shareef, 33-year-old Muslim laborer who lives with his wife
and two kids in Kallipurab, said he does not have basic facilities
like a proper house (his is made of mud), clean drinking water or
electricity.

"We have to walk at least one kilometer for safe drinking water," says
Jamuniya, who goes by one name. She says she makes at least five trips
a day to get clean water for her 10-member family in Kallipurab. The
dirt roads in the village turn into mud during the rainy season.

Many Muslims, who fall at the bottom of the state's social strata, see
efforts such as the Ambedkar village program as evidence that the
state government is favoring Dalits over them. This is an issue that
experts say will likely mean fewer of the state's Muslims, who make up
18.5% of the population, will vote for the BSP compared to the
previous state elections. Mr. Shareef voted for the BSP at the last
elections in 2007 but he says he has since reconsidered his support
for the party.

You can follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.


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[ZESTCaste] No escape for Dalits from caste discrimination

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article2953263.ece

Andhra Pradesh
HYDERABAD, March 2, 2012
No escape for Dalits from caste discrimination
K. Venkateshwarlu


A gritty fighter, Dalit cloth vendor, Ammulu and her two teenaged
daughters managed to escape from the ferocity of the tsunami that
swept away her humble dwelling and a wayside shop in Andamans.

When they reached Sarpavaram in Kakinada after a long arduous journey
from the islands they heaved a sigh of relief having survived nature's
fury, though it meant picking up a shattered thread of life. The
relief proved to be short-lived as they soon found themselves caught
in tsunami of the caste kind.

"After six years of hard work, when we started building a house in
2010 on a six-cent site, we faced the wrath of the Kapus," she
narrated at a public hearing organised by Dalit Shree Sakthi here on
Thursday. They started harassing her, denied her access to a common
pathway, saying it belonged to Kapus. After holding out threats they
demanded Rs. 30,000. She managed Rs. 10,000 but the harassment and
hurling of abuses naming her by caste continued leading to assault on
June 2. A case of atrocity was registered but there was no further
progress.
Suicide

Another Dalit, Hanumanthu of Miyapur, Ranga Reddy district, recounted
how his long cherished dream of seeing his 14-year-old daughter,
Renuka becoming an IAS officer was shattered when two upper caste
teachers humiliated her so much that she set herself ablaze. Miyapur
police registered it as a case of suicide and not under Prevention of
Atrocities Act. G. Jhansi of DSS recalled that police in RR district
showed no interest in investigating cases of atrocities on Dalits as
the perpetrators often brought pressure invoking name of the Home
Minister.
Raped by relative

A modest crowd of families of victims, activists and the jury members
was stunned when Chellapu Sesha Rao of Devavaram in Visakhapantam
district narrated how his mentally challenged daughter was raped by a
relative. When the case came to light, the 18-year-old was three
months pregnant. She delivered a baby boy but does not know how to
take care of him now.

The jury members included former Supreme Court Judge K. Ramaswamy,
former IAS officers -- K. R. Venugopal and K. Madhava Rao -- and
president of RPI Bojja Tharakam.


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[ZESTCaste] Film on dalit atrocities kicks up hot debate on Modi

 

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/GUJ-AHD-film-on-dalit-atrocities-kicks-up-hot-debate-on-modi-2930356.html

Film on dalit atrocities kicks up hot debate on Modi

Source: DNA | Last Updated 04:52(02/03/12)

Ahmedabad: A discussion launched on Chief Minister Narendra Modi
during the question and answer section after the screening of the film
'Jay Bhim Comrad,' saw vitriolic attack about the portion of the film
which showed Modi's visit to Mumbai for election campaigns. The film
is mainly focused on the cultural movement by dalit youths called
'Kabir Kala Manch' and deals about atrocities on dalits and their
struggle to sustain cultural revolution in Maharashtra.

However, the acrimonious attack on Modi soon ebbed to allow discussion
on the dalit atrocities. The film, made by award winning documentary
filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, was screened at The Ravi Matthai
Auditorium at IIMA on Thursday under the programme 'Insaf Ki Dagar
Par' to mark the decade of Gujarat Carnage-2002.

The film is focused on the songs, poems, ghazals written and performed
on Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar in Maharashtra and his increasing acceptance
among the dalits. The film is focused on three main aspects of dalit
politics - the case of suicide of Vilas Ghogre, a dalit poet; delayed
justice to the Kherlanji mob lynching case of Maharashtra; and the
police pressure on a cultural group run by dalit youths, Kabir Kala
Manch (KKM).

Disturbed with illegal police firing on dalits at the Ramabai Colony
in Mumbai, Ghogre committed suicide. The poet felt: 'The country is
not worth fighting for anymore' as had been witnessed by his friend,
singer Sambhaji Bhagat.

"When I learnt that the members of KKM were under police scanner and
are threatened to be declared as Naxalites, I decided to complete the
film as soon as possible and screen it across the country," Patwardhan
said while answered a question. "Raising a voice, does not mean
Naxalism, the members of KKM are forced to remain underground," he
lamented. KKM members, mainly educated dalits and professionals, were
working to raise awareness among people on various social issues
through their forceful street plays, songs and sahiris. "They are
harassed by the police for doing nothing, the group members have not
seen their houses since many months," Patwardhan said.

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[ZESTCaste] Anand Patwardhan’s docu on Dalits to compete at 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival

http://dearcinema.com/news/anand-patwardhans-docu-on-dalits-to-compete-at-36th-hong-kong-international-f/5254

Anand Patwardhan's docu on Dalits to compete at 36th Hong Kong
International Film Festival
By NewsDesk | Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Jai Bhim Comrade, a 198 minute documentary directed by Anand
Patwardhan will compete at the 36th Hong Kong International Film
Festival.

Shot over 14 years, this documentary follows the music and the
tradition of activism of the Dalits in India. It won a Special Mention
at the Dubai International Film Festival 2011 followed by an award at
the 12th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and
Animation films.

Bitter Seeds, a documentary by Micha X. Peled of USA on the plight of
a cotton farmer in India will be screened at the festival. The
documentary questions how crops are grown and how they reach the
consumers and the real human cost involved.

Lucky (South Africa) directed by Avie Luthra will also be screened at
the festival.

The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival will be held from March
21-April 5, 2012.


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[ZESTCaste] Move to sack 22 ministers before assembly polls laughable: Rajnath

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Move-to-sack-22-ministers-before-assembly-polls-laughable-Rajnath/articleshow/12091918.cms

Move to sack 22 ministers before assembly polls laughable: Rajnath
TNN | Mar 1, 2012, 06.06AM IST

LUCKNOW: Hitting out at the feeble attempts by chief minister Mayawati
to project a clean image, former Bharatiya Janata Party president
Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that the "transparent exercise to dupe
masses" would not continue any longer. The public is too clever and
seasoned to be misled by the image- building exercise he said.
"Mayawati headed the gang that looted and plundered Uttar Pradesh for
last five years and now her desperation to appear honest is nothing
short of pathetic," said Rajnath.

Every one knows that no one in Mayawati's cabinet had the courage to
do anything without taking due permission from the CM first, therefore
the move to sack 22 ministers before the assembly election is
laughable. Each of the ministers shown the door by Mayawati was only a
small cog in the wheel and has only carried out what she had ordered,
Rajnath said. He also questioned Mayawati's bid to give a clean chit
to her closest and most trusted associate Naseemuddin Siddiqui who
continues to preside over more than half the departments in the state
despite recommendation of a CBI probe by the Lokayukta. The BJP he
promised will set up a special investigation commission to probe all
scams committed during the BSP regime.

Rajnath also claimed that the number of atrocities against dalits had
registered an all time high during Mayaraj. "Maya government had also
failed on the front of law and order as its own MP, MLAs and ministers
turned out to be the biggest law breakers," the BJP leader said. He
also put the Congress in the dock for its minority appeasement and
said that it only shows the dangerous streak of divide and rule. The
quota within quota poses a grave threat to the unity of the nation and
therefore BJP is committed to oppose it with all its might.

Meanwhile, national vice president of the BJP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
charged the Congress with "plotting to come to power not by democratic
means, but by sneaking in through the back door". The party's latest
strategy and slogan "Yuvraj nahi to governor raj" shows it's
desperation to force their way to force themselves on the people of
UP. "The move would not pay off and the party will eventually be
ousted from Delhi throne as well," said Rajnath.

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[ZESTCaste] Tension prevails as Dalits demand equal rights

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Tension-prevails-as-Dalits-demand-equal-rights/articleshow/12091822.cms

Tension prevails as Dalits demand equal rights
TNN | Mar 1, 2012, 05.52AM IST

COIMBATORE: Tension prevailed at Ammapalayam near Uthukuli in Tirupur
district on Wednesday as caste Hindus remained adamant against local
dalits burying their dead in the same village. With conciliatory talks
initiated by district collector and district SP proving to be
unsuccessful, the body of 70-year-old C Maral, who died on Tuesday, is
yet to be buried. Over 1000 dalits from the Tirupur region remained
awake on the road side with the body.

Early on Wednesday morning, thanks to the efforts of Tirupur sub
collector, the dalits agreed to cremate the body at the electric
crematorium in Tirupur. However, the Gounder who owned the ambulance
was reluctant to provide his vehicle to transport the body to Tirupur.
This created further tension. Eventually, the dalits managed to avail
an ambulance from Tirupur to transport the body.

According to Adi Thamizhar Peravai leader NSA Parameswaran, the
district administration had promised to allocate a burial ground for
the dalits within seven weeks. A burial ground proposed two km away
from the village was rejected by them as they did not have the
resources to carry their dead for such a long distance. Parameswaran
accused officials of dancing to the tunes of the upper caste Gounder
community. He questioned the rationale behind permitting the burial of
a Gounder last week on government owned land.

For decades, dalits have been burying their dead on the roadside.
However, last week, they got some relief when the Madras High Court
ordered the allocation of a permanent burial ground in their village.
The village has been in the news for several months because of the
oppression and untouchability that dalits are subject to. They have to
walk more than ten kilometers just to get a hair cut. Local barbers
are prevented from servicing dalits by caste Hindus.

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[ZESTCaste] Web portal launched for payment to SC/ST girl students

 

http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-165425.html

Web portal launched for payment to SC/ST girl students

New Delhi, Feb 28 : A web portal for online processing of payment to
girl students who have passed 10th class under a government scheme was
launched here today by Minister of State for Human Resource
Development D Purandeswari.

About 1.05 lakh girl students, who have become eligible to receive
such payments, would benefit immediately from the portal set up by
state-owned Canara Bank, which is the implementing agency for the the
National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education
(NSIGSE).

Under the scheme launched in May 2008 to check the dropout rate among
girl students in secondary schools, particularly of scheduled castes
(SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs), the government makes a fixed deposit
of Rs 3,000 in the bank in the name of eligible girl who can withdraw
it along with interest on reaching 18 years of age and after passing
out the 10th class examination.

All SC/ST girl students who have passed 8th class and all girl
students who have passed 7th class from Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalayas and enroll in 9th class in government, government-aided and
local body schools are eligible for the 100 per cent Centrally-funded
scheme.

HRD Ministry today said of the 8,43,026 girl students from 26 states
and union territories covered so far under the scheme at a cost of Rs
252.90 crore since its inception, about 1,05,000 have become eligible
to receive the maturity amount along with interest and are being paid.

Operationalising of the web portal, the Ministry said, will ensure
error-free entry of data and timely release of funds by eliminating
possibility of feeding incorrect data and bank account numbers which
was the major cause for delay in the processing of the proposals.

The online system will also ensure transparency and quicker
disbursement of payments to the beneficiary girls and on time
submission of proposals by state governments. (UNI)

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[ZESTCaste] Two more special courts to deal with SC/ST Act cases proposed: ADGP

 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2947407.ece

TIRUCHI, March 1, 2012
Two more special courts to deal with SC/ST Act cases proposed: ADGP
Staff Reporter

A proposal to establish two more Special Courts to deal exclusively
with cases booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989 and Protection of Civil Rights
Act has been forwarded to the State government, the Additional
Director General of Police, Social Justice & Human Rights T.
Radhakrishnan said on Wednesday.

The proposal for establishing Special Courts at Villupuram and
Sivaganga is under the active consideration of the government, ADGP
Radhakrishnan told reporters here. At present, there are four such
Special Courts functioning at Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli and
Madurai.

One of the reasons for forwarding the proposal was the significant
number of cases being registered under the SC/ ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act in Villupuram, Sivaganga and Tirunelveli districts,
Mr. Radhakrishnan said. He said 3,000 cases across the State were
pending trial at various stages adding that special public prosecutors
had been appointed to deal exclusively with SC / ST Act cases in a bid
to expedite the trial process.

As many as 600 cases were under investigation and the cases were
pending because community certificates were awaited from the
complainants to prove that they belonged to any SC or ST community.
Some were pending because legal opinion was awaited. A few more were
pending with the Monitoring and Vigilance Committees in various
districts.

In a bid to create awareness among people, the Social Justice and
Human Rights wing had organised social justice tea parties in around
24,000 villages over the last three years alongside mass awareness
programmes at district headquarters.

The law enforcers were getting more complaints and information
regarding disparities and inequalities due to the sustained awareness
campaign. However, 30 to 40 per cent of the complaints were motivated
or had no evidence to substantiate the allegations, the ADGP said.

The conviction rate in SC/ST and Protection of Civil Rights cases was
14 per cent, a figure that was on a par with the national average, he
said.

Later, Mr. Radhakrishan held a meeting with the Superintendents of
Police of Tiruchi Range, comprising Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Karur,
Perambalur and Ariyalur districts, and reviewed the cases under trial
or under investigation.

The Inspector General of Police, Central Zone, Alexander Mohan,
Superintendent of Police, Tiruchi R. Lalitha Lakshmi; SP, Perambalur
Rupesh Kumar Meena; SP, Ariyalur Jaya Gowri, SP, Pudukottai
Tamilchandran; SP, Karur Santhosh Kumar and senior police officers
attended the two-hour long meeting.

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[ZESTCaste] SC/ST Commission notice to police in Kartarpur rape case

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/scst-commission-notice-to-police-in-kartarpur-rape-case/969561.html

SC/ST Commission notice to police in Kartarpur rape case
PTI | 11:02 PM,Feb 29,2012

Jalandhar, Feb 29 (PTI) The Punjab State SC/ST Commission has issued a
notice to police and sought a report in the alleged gangrape case of a
minor student in Kartarpur area here. "Taking cognisance of the
minor's gangrape, a notice has been issued to the SSP Dehat district
seeking a report on the incident within 15 days," Punjab SC/ST
Commission Chairman Rajesh Bagga told PTI. On February 26, the girl of
Sekhwan Khoo locality in Kartarpur was allegedly raped by three
youths. PTI COR HMI

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[ZESTCaste] Uttar Pradesh: The caste inertia

 

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/02/29/271537-Uttar-Pradesh-The-caste-inertia-.html

Uttar Pradesh: The caste inertia
Lucknow , Wed, 29 Feb 2012 ANI

Lucknow, Feb.29 (ANI): In Uttar Pradesh, you can spot an anti-Dalit
(socially backward Hindu caste) village from a distance.

In a state where 21.5 percent of the 35.1 million population consists
of Dalits, and all political parties beg for their votes, this caste
should have been able to rise above abject poverty and deprivation.

There is almost never a functional road leading to a village in UP,
and more so to a Dalit village. I walk half-a-mile on the dirt track
and head to an Ambedkar village where a transformation of sorts is
supposed to have taken place.

A water tank, which has never been cleaned, is the primary source of
drinking water. Next to it, women in bright coloured synthetic saris,
wash clothes, the dirt water flowing into the tank.

The stench of rotting garbage, animal and plant waste is overpowering.

Young children in shoeless feet and uncombed hair play on the
outskirts, instead of being in school. Dilapidated huts are
illuminated by cobwebbed light bulbs, as there is no electricity in
the village due to a broken transformer, and no washrooms.

The only house that has a gas cylinder belongs to the pradhan (village
headman). Goats are tied at random corners in the village. Only two
families own buffaloes, none own land. They work in the farms and
orchards of Pathans or Yadavs. Some have moved up a level to work in
lands owned by upper caste Rajputs. Their nails are chipped, as they
are farm labourers.

There is a small 'prathamik vidhyalay', a primary school in the
village, set up a few years ago under an Ambedkar Gram Sabha
Integrated Development Scheme introduced by Chief Minister Mayawati.

There are forty children who study here at any given time. There is
just one class for all of them from age four to ten, one teacher for
all subjects. A mid-day meal is cooked in a shed on a 'chullah'. The
kids bring their own plates. There is a mound of garbage in one corner
of the yard .On seeing my camera team; the headmistress gets around to
getting it cleaned.

Rukayya Khan, the teacher here, says, "it is very difficult for us to
keep the children interested in studies. They come from very poor
homes where both parents are uneducated. Some suffer from alcohol
abusive fathers. Very few of them go forward to middle school. They
drop out after the fourth grade. Some of the kids are sent to school
just because they get mid-day meals. Hopefully, with the 'Right to
Education Act', more funds will come into this sector and more middle
schools will be built closer to rural areas. I might get better
teaching aids."

Saroj Kumar Gautam is a Shiksha Mitr or "Education Friend" who is a
government appointee, and his sole job is to go from house to house,
everyday, urging reluctant parents to send their children to school.
He also helps children with their studies and chips in to do odd jobs
in the primary schoolhe disinterest is evident in the village.
Mithibai, a grandmother, thinks education is a waste of time. She
tells me that it gets them no jobs. Ultimately, the kids can only grow
up to be landless labourers, a fate similar to their forefathers.

I walk half a mile from the village to a mangrove where some men are
digging up a hard stone-covered ground. They are building a 'catch
road' under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. They
earn Rs.125 per day. Two of them have headphones on and are listening
to Bollywood songs on their cell phones. None of them have been to
school or held jobs.

I am warned not to venture further into the mangrove as there are wild
dogs there and a tiger was spotted in the area some weeks ago.

I hastily head back to the village and catch up with the Shiksha Mitr
who is doing his final lap before reporting for election duty.

In the kuccha homes that I visit with him, there is no furniture, no
rugs, no books, and no toys. Some have stringed cots (charpoys), and
aluminium vessels. The job cards and voter ID cards are kept locked in
a trunk. Those are prized possessions.

Has there been any change in their lifestyle in the past five years?
No. Who do they blame? Government and fate. Who will they vote for?
Mayawati. Why? Because the Thakur and the Brahmin don't harm them
anymore. Is that because they fear Mayawati? Could be. Why not
Samajwadi Party? No particular reason. And the Congress? So long as
Indira Gandhi was around, not any more. BJP? They only take care of
Swarn Jaati (upper caste).

Mayawati, the Dalit icon, is in her fourth term as chief minister, yet
U.P. still tops in crimes against the backward castes and communities.
Atrocities continue; development is at a snail's pace. Uttar Pradesh
is a state where caste is the single most dominant factor in society.
Inter-caste marriages are rare even in towns and cities. In
classrooms, everybody is aware of each other's caste.

Political parties promise change and development, but in its villages
and towns, Uttar Pradesh seems to have given up.

In the India Shining, India Emerging, India Growing story, this state
has lagged behind and shows no signs of picking itself up and joining
the rest of the country. By Smita Prakash (ANI)

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