Tuesday, November 24, 2009

[ZESTCaste] Rajya Sabha adjourned over Misra panel report on reservations

 

http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/568999

Rajya Sabha adjourned over Misra panel report on reservations
Calcutta News.Net
Tuesday 24th November, 2009 (IANS)

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for a while Tuesday over demands that
the Ranganath Misra Commission report on reservation for Dalits and
Muslims be tabled in parliament.

Ali Anwar Ansari of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) raised the issue just
as the house assembled. He flashed a Hindi newspaper in which he said
the report had been leaked.

Chairman Hamid Ansari tried to restore calm by saying that the issue
could be raised at 12 noon but Ali Anwar Ansari and two or three other
MPs advanced towards the podium. At this, the chair adjourned the
house for 10 minutes and asked leaders of all political parties to
meet him in his chambers.

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[ZESTCaste] Fwd: Naked Parading of Women----India's NATIONAL passtime ?

 

FYI. I got this message from another source.
 
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur@gmail.com>
Sent: Mon, November 23, 2009 9:16:38 PM
Subject: Fwd: [ANN:2248] Naked Parading of Women----India's NATIONAL passtime ?

Incidentally,these innumerable links generating every day , related to outrageous patterns of women's oppression in entire rural India question the credibility of theorizing them by certain quarters only on the basis of caste and holding that feminist and queer theories are biased against dalits and that they are not relevant to this country.
(Venu)

>
>Pregnant UP woman beaten up, paraded nakedhttp://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/pregnant-woman-beaten-paraded-naked-889
>
>
>November 23rd, 2009
>IANS
>
>
>
>A group of locals thrashed a pregnant woman and paraded her naked through a village in Uttar Pradesh after she objected to encroachment on her land, police said on Monday.
>
>The incident took place on Sunday evening at Karnawala village in Bijnor district, about 400 km from Lucknow.
>
>Of the four people who were primarily behind the incident, two have been arrested, police said.
>
>"In the incident, the woman suffered a miscarriage. She is undergoing treatment at a hospital," police inspector Rajesh Kumar Gautam told reporters.
>
>According to police, some residents of the village wanted to occupy a plot that belonged to the 25-year-old woman's husband. They started to set up a makeshift establishment on the plot on Sunday.
>
>When the woman, who was alone at home, protested, the encroachers barged into her residence. They hit her with wooden sticks, dragged her by the hair and stripped her, police added.
>"Efforts are on to nab the other villagers involved in the incident," said Guatam.
>
>---------------------
>
>Son caught with girl, mother paraded naked
>July 9th, 2009 - 2:19 pm ICT by IANS  -
>
>
>Lucknow, July 9 (IANS) A 50-year-old woman was assaulted and paraded naked through an Uttar Pradesh village because her son was caught with a girl, police said Thursday. Five members of the girl's family caught the woman by her hair and forced her to walk naked through the village in Aligarh district's Padiawali village, about 300 km from here.
>
>Although the incident took place Monday, police registered a case only Thursday. A police inspector has been suspended for the delay.
>
>Describing the events leading up to the incident, Superintendent of Police Hridesh Kumar (rural) told IANS over phone: "The boy and the girl were spotted together in the village fields by some locals. They informed the girl's father, who along with his four sons started beating him with wooden sticks."
>
>When the mother intervened to try and rescue her son, they turned on her, he added.
>
>All the five suspects are absconding.
>
>Read more:
>http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/son-caught-with-girl-mother-paraded-naked_100215489.html#ixzz0Xk19tR2F
>
>-----------
>
>
>Dalit woman paraded half-naked in Uttar PradeshJune 25th, 2009 - 2:55 pm ICT by IANS -
>Lucknow, June 25 (IANS) Five people allegedly thrashed a 40-year-old Dalit woman, chopped her hair and then paraded her half-naked through an Uttar Pradesh village alleging that her husband was involved in a theft, police said Thursday.
>"The incident took place Wednesday in Sirsia village of Kushinagar district where a group of locals ill-treated Barfi Devi alleging that her husband was involved in a theft," police Inspector Om Prakash Chauhan told IANS by phone.
>"A group of five villagers first tied Devi to a cot and beat her black and blue. Later, the villagers cut her hair and forced her to parade half-naked in different localities of the village," Chauhan said. Kushinagar is about 300 km from state capital Lucknow.
>A case has been registered against the five villagers, he added.
>"While we arrested two men involved in the incident, the other three are absconding," said Chauhan.
>
>Read more:
>http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/dalit-woman-paraded-half-naked-in-uttar-pradesh_100209316.html#ixzz0Xk1wRP7l
>
>-------------
>
>Five women stripped, paraded naked in JharkhandOctober 19th, 2009 - 11:18 am ICT by IANS  -
>Ranchi, Oct 19 (IANS) Five women were stripped and paraded naked in Deoghar district of Jharkhand after being charged of witchcraft, police said Monday.
>Five women, including three widows, were forcibly brought to a field Sunday in Patharghatia village in Deoghar, about 350 km from state capital Ranchi. They were stripped and paraded naked and two of them were forced to eat excreta, police said.
>"Sushila Kumahrin, Sagiran Beebi, Hafijan Beebi, Sujan Beebi and Gulnar Beebi were tortured to accept that they were witches and practise black magic. The incident took place at the instruction of a witch doctor. The witch doctor said that these women were practising black magic and were causing problems in the village," a police officer told IANS.
>The women were rescued when local government officials and police reached the spot. However, the perpetrators managed to escape.
>According to reports, hundreds of people witnessed the incident.
>"We have lodged an FIR (First Information Report) against 11 people, including six women. We will soon arrest the perpetrators," the officer added.
>Majority of perpetrators were Muslims and four of the five victims belonged to the same community.
>In Jharkhand, women are subjected to different forms of torture after being branded witches. There are instances when women have been paraded naked, forced to eat human excreta and even killed.
>According to official data, more than 700 people, majority of them women, were killed after being branded witches. The witch doctors manage to escape as people fear black magic if they are named.
>
>http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/five-women-stripped-paraded-naked-in-jharkhand_100262389.html
>
>-------------
>
>http://www.indiatime.com/2008/09/24/stripped-and-paraded-naked-in-india/
>
>1. September 2006, Maharashtra
>Surekha and Priyanka Bhotmange, mother and daughter from Khairlanji were stripped and paraded naked in public by a mob of 20 men, angry at the women for having given testimony in a previous case. The mob later assaulted and murdered both.
>2. January 2006, Punjab
>Darsho, a woman from Jalandhar was stripped and paraded naked by her neighbors with whom she had had an altercation about constructing a fence between the properties.
>3. April 2008, Jharkhand
>Kalawati, a widow from Ranwatand village, was stripped and paraded naked for having visited the temple of Kali and putting a red dot on her forehead. Before the parade, the town people put a garland of shoes around her neck.
>4. March 2006, Maharashtra
>A 30-year old woman from Chausala village was stripped, beaten and paraded naked in public.
>5. September 2005, Orissa
>Six women from Bhubanpati village were stripped and paraded naked, because their husbands refused to wash the feet of a bridegroom and his guests.
>6. September 2002, Uttar Pradesh
>A woman from Pratapgarh, was stripped and paraded naked by the police and the town tehsildar, angry at her having lodged a complaint in a land dispute case.
>7. June 2006, Madhya Pradesh
>Indira Kushwaha, herself head of the Mahoikala villagewas stripped and paraded naked, when she refused to fund some of the government allotted money to a local family.
>8. June 2006, Madhya Pradesh
>Shyama Tomar, head of a local village council was stripped in public when she shut off illegal water connection to a hotel facility.
>9. September 2008, Bihar
>Bharati Devi, of Kishanganj village, was stripped and paraded naked in public for not giving up her claim on a piece of land. The local police chief has told the press that the woman's story is `bullshit and concocted'. He admitted however, that she had been `physically tortured and tormented'.
>10. December 2006, Bihar
>Besra Devi, a 55-year old woman from Balua Basant village, was stripped and paraded naked as a punishment for having stolen a few bananas.
>11. July 2001, Karnataka
>Yerramma of Vanenur village, was stripped and paraded naked by a local mob, over suspicions of having helped a local teenager elope with another boy.
>12. May 2005, Bihar
>Nirmala Devi, 40, of Purnia village, was stripped, beaten and paraded naked for having refused to continue doing household chores for her employer.
>13. January 2008, Andhra Pradesh
>Hemli, 28, of Jalli Tanda village, was stripped and paraded naked by a mob of 200 who later threw chilli powder on her naked body. The mob suspected her of having killed her husband with the help of her lover.
>I can go on and cite a dozen more of these just from recent years. The perpetrators of Khairlanji got death sentences only because they murdered the women after the insults and the torture. I bet most of the perpetrators in most of those other cases got away scot-free.
>

http://venukm.blogspot.com

http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur

http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com

--

You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.
-AMBEDKAR

http://venukm.blogspot.com

http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur

http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com

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[ZESTCaste] Tension over removal of board

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubli/Tension-over-removal-of-board/articleshow/5261915.cms'

Tension over removal of board
TNN 23 November 2009, 09:44pm IST

HUBLI: Tension broke out at some parts of Old Hubli area here on
Monday following the removal of an unauthorized board carrying the
name of Dr B R Ambedkar from a public playground at Heggeri.

The board, put up by dalit organizations about a week ago, was removed
by the officials of Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation under police
security on Sunday midnight.

The agitators, led by Congress leader F H Jakkappanavar, hurled stones
on at least 20 vehicles which included KSRTC buses, trucks, cars, etc,
burnt tyres and blocked the road near Indi Pump Circle for more than
three hours. The traffic was diverted via bypass road, Gokul Road and
other roads.

The agitators were adamant that the board be put up again. The protest
was withdrawn after all efforts of the police officials to pacify the
agitators yielded no results and the board was put up again. The
police said they have registered a case of damage to public property
and are investigating.

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[ZESTCaste] Women As Hindu Priests Have An Edge

 

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49389

INDIA:
Women As Hindu Priests Have An Edge

Daksha Warty

PUNE, India, Nov 24 (IPS) - Defying Hindu orthodoxy and intolerant
male priests, women in Maharashtra state, western India, have revived
a Vedic tradition and become priests.

Approximately 700 women, most of them from Pune, a busy metropolis,
164-km south of Mumbai (previously Bombay), have undergone the
necessary training since the seventies, and many of them are
practicing.

"Women priests perform all kinds of rites - upanayana (thread
ceremony), adoption, engagement, marriage, remarriage, conversion,
reconversion, house warming, ancestor worship and last rites," says
Arya Joshi, 29, a researcher and instructor at the Pune-based Gyan
Prabhodini.

Arya told IPS that researchers at the institute are working on
simplifying the rites and rituals of the Hindu dharmashastra (code of
conduct including moral and social obligations).

"The institution is addressing the spiritual needs of the progressive
Hindu who wants to break away from difficult ritualistic offerings,"
she says.

As priests, the women challenge many stereotypes including caste.
Training is open to women from all castes (Brahmins claim they are the
only priestly caste), and whether they are single, married, widowed or
divorced.

"Our society never asks a male priest whether he is a widower or a
divorcee, or single. He conducts the prayers and rituals. So why
should women be treated differently," says Arya, who is married and
was introduced to Hindu theology by her father, a preacher.

Sunanda Joshi, 64, is a multi-lingual priest. She conducts pujas
(prayers) in Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. She says that her early
years were hard, as she had to constantly prove herself. Now, although
a widow, she is one of the most sought after women priests in Pune.

She observes a change, over the years, in people's expectations and
wants. Many Hindus now prefer to keep the religious rites and rituals
short, she says. Also, there's a new concern for the environment -
people do not want 'havans' or 'yagnas' where firewood has to be
burnt. "They don't want to waste wood nor do they want to create
smoke," she says.

In addition, at some of the marriages she has conducted, brides have
refused to wear the mangalsutra (a pendant worn on a gold chain or
thread to symbolise marriage), she says, because there are no such
equivalent ritualistic demands on men. "The girls feel that husbands
too must have such customs," she says.

Historically the earliest mention of women participating in
ritualistic offerings or Brahmavadinis (those who interpret the
scriptures) is in the Rig Veda (between 3300 and 1300 BC, in chapters
5.28 and 10.125). There were 27 Brahmavadinis, who performed rituals
and were also acharyas (teachers).

"At the Prabhodini we encourage everyone to participate and read from
the text. A copy of the chants is given to everyone," says Arya who is
working towards a doctorate on the concept of shraddha (charity) in
last rite rituals.

So, does the Hindu laity think a woman priest is different to the
traditional male priest? "Women priests are very committed," writes
Mahesh Madhukar Prabhudesai who hosted a prayer recently, in a letter
of appreciation to the Prabhodini. "They explain all the (steps)
offerings during the pujas."

Girish Manohar Mokashi who had a woman priest conduct his mother's
last rites says, "The eleventh day rituals were performed. It was a
very satisfying and a noble experience. The rituals were explained to
us. All (the) family members were made a part of the rituals. We thank
the priest for making us feel very close and one with our mother."

A priest has to be fluent in Sanskrit to be able to interpret the
rituals to worshippers.

Madhuri Karvade recalls the most difficult part of her training was
mastering Sanskrit. She told IPS: "It took me nine years to learn and
pronounce the words in Sanskrit. I tried hard specially for the last
rites. An old lady was so impressed that she has fixed my services for
her last rites!"

What is the reaction of male priests to the invasion of their
territory by women?

"It appears we (male priests) are not doing our job properly," says a
defensive Rajesh Khodke, 32, a journalist-turned-priest who is the
rector of the boys hostel at Gyan Prabhodini, which is located off
Tilak Road in the city. "Only women priests are grabbing attention. We
too want to be noticed," he complains.

Pradeep Deo, 55, who previously worked in a pharmacy, feels that too
much is being made of the women priests. "Whether male or female, we
just have to do our job," he says.

Male priests still dominate the profession. "Societal attitudes are
changing towards us, but the process is slow," observes Arya.

According to Sunanda, whose 42-year-old divorced daughter is training
to be a priest, the few times there has been scepticism about her
capabilities, it has been from women. "When we are approached by
families, everything goes well till the lady of the house sees us and
says a polite no!"

"Women priests are committed and their expertise in conducting the
pujas is widely acknowledged," says Arya. "Yet they remain the second
choice (after male priests), something that is going to take a long
while to change." (END/2009)

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[ZESTCaste] An ancient hierarchy

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/journalismcompetition/professional-ancient-hierarchy

An ancient hierarchy

Mary Griffin The Guardian

The caste system originates from the Hindu creation beliefs that the
first man split himself to form four castes from different parts of
his body.

The main castes - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras - are
determined by birth and may influence a person's status and
occupation. Outside this system, the Dalits are descendents of
feudal-era outcastes. Within the Dalit "caste" there are around 45
sub-castes, further complicating status and boundaries.

While the caste system originates in Hindu scriptures, there are an
unknown number of Christian Dalits in Bangladesh, and the
International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) claims the practice of
discriminating against Dalits has also been adopted by the country's
Muslim majority. Many lower-caste Sikhs - whose religion was borne of
a rejection of caste hierarchies - also suffer oppression.

Caste discrimination extends beyond south Asia. CasteWatchUK claims
the system still has a powerful influence over the lives of millions
of Britons of south-Asian origin.

After extensive research, two special rapporteurs of the Human Rights
Council have drawn up the first UN framework for the "effective
elimination of discrimination based on work and descent".

Bangladesh Dalit Human Rights and the IDSN are now pushing for the
government of Bangladesh to use the framework to address the country's
caste discrimination crisis.

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[ZESTCaste] How the Dalit women of Bangladesh are struggling to end generations of oppression

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/journalismcompetition/professional-we-are-not-thought-of-as-human

We are not thought of as human

How the Dalit women of Bangladesh are struggling to end generations of
oppression
Mary Griffin The Guardian

'Dalit people wash their clothes and bathe in the same place, with no
privacy. Photography by: Abir Abdullah/EPA

'If you are not considered to be human, human rights do not apply to
you," says Moni Rani, walking under lines of brightly-coloured laundry
decorating dilapidated buildings like bunting.

The kaleidoscopic colours of this cramped south Dhaka community
disguise the dark reality that its 4,000 residents live apart from the
rest of the city's citizens. As a Dalit, Moni inhabits one of the
capital's 27 so-called "colonies", reserved for the men and women
destined to do Dhaka's dirtiest jobs. These people, whose ancestors
were left out of the four-tier Hindu caste hierarchy, are literally
outcasts. Known as "untouchables" because they are shunned by the rest
of society, and labelled Harijan (children of God) by Gandhi, they
have adopted the name Dalit, from the Sanskrit for "downtrodden".

Based on a notion of purity and pollution, the caste system has led
Dalits to be considered unclean and historically, in some communities,
they were forced to wear a bell alerting others of their approach.
Today, they still face resistance - and often outright refusal - when
attempting to enter temples, restaurants and schools, for fear they
will contaminate the higher castes.

Reminiscent of apartheid-era South Africa, Dalits - distinguished by
their names, sari style, language and accents - are assigned the jobs
nobody else wants, including sweeping the streets, burying the dead
and manual scavenging (cleaning human excrement from dry toilets by
hand). The estimated 5.5 million Dalits in Bangladesh are among 250
million across south Asia. In neighbouring India a successful civil
rights movement has gained political representation for the country's
170 million Dalits, but in Bangladesh - where the former British
colonial rulers lured Indian Dalits on the broken promise of better
jobs, homes and prospects - they are not only a caste minority, but a
religious minority in a predominantly Muslim country. In a nation of
Bengali speakers, their Hindi and Telagu mother tongues mean access to
education, housing, the justice system and the political arena is
severely suppressed.

Gabtoli colony sits at the end of a long potholed road; a grey slum
stuck on the western edge of the city. Living in a no-man's land of
rusty corrugated iron and old bamboo, with no facilities and no
privacy, the women of Gabtoli bathe fully clothed at the banks of the
Turag - just 200 metres from a large pipe spewing sewage.

In a country where 80% of the population lives on less than $2 a day,
Dalits shoulder the further burden of exclusion and entrenched
discrimination. Munni Rani Das raises her hand to shoulder-level when
describing the floods in rainy season. "When the rains come it brings
snakes and dangerous insects to our home," she says. "We try to get
away but the rickshaw pullers and bus drivers won't carry us."

Discrimination

Munni, her husband and three teenagers were moved to this flood-prone
colony after developers planning to build apartments evicted them from
their central Dhaka home. "We protested," she says, "but the army and
police came and said, 'If you don't leave we will beat you and shoot
you'."

Proffering a cup of murky chemical-scented water, Munni adds: "There,
we had safe water and a market. We were near jobs and my children went
to school. Now, school is too far away."

The International Dalit Solidarity Network estimates that 96% of
Dalits in Bangladesh cannot read or write. Dalits say they need
political representation from leaders who understand the extent of the
problem, but of Dhaka's 90 elected commissioners, not one is Dalit.

Sitting behind his desk, the commissioner for Dhaka's Ward 85, Alhaj
Badal Shardar, says: "I love Dalit people because they are sincere and
very simple." When a typical Dhaka power cut kills the lights and the
fan, one of the commissioner's men hurries to his side, wafting his
boss with a giant fan of palm leaves. "I have never seen any
discrimination against Dalits in my community," Shardar continues, "I
am 100% sure there is no discrimination."

But, born and brought up in the Telagu colony in the commissioner's
ward, Prokashamma Bhodanki insists caste discrimination is rife. The
23-year-old daughter of the late BG Murthy, who seven years ago
founded the Bangladesh Dalit Human Rights movement, Prokashamma hid
her Dalit identity at secondary school by speaking Bangla, each term
taking her Bangla-speaking sister instead of her Telagu-speaking
mother to collect her exam results - an event similar to parents'
evening at British schools. She recalls: "One time my sister wasn't
able to come. When the other students heard my mother speak they said
terrible things."

Wiping her tears with her pink shawl, she adds: "For four years I hid
my identity from my friends but when they knew I was a Dalit girl they
wouldn't eat with me or speak with me. I swore I would never go back
to school."

But she did. After finishing her two remaining years, Prokashamma
passed her exams and is now teaching English and Bangla to young
Dalits. She said: "Now I understand that so many of us are facing that
kind of discrimination. I want to fight for my rights and do something
for my community and myself."

Prokashamma belongs to a new wave of young Dalit women in Bangladesh
who, having swum against the tide to finish school, are now role
models, being elected as leaders in their communities and teaching
under the Dalit Women's Forum to give the younger generation a
fighting chance.

Launched two years ago, the forum provides training in making and
selling candles and garments for its 150 members as a first step to
financial independence.

Back at her brightly coloured home, forum leader Moni Rani says her
father ensured she was the first girl in her community to finish
school - and she intends to be the first of many.

"All Dalit women are now conscious of their situation and demanding
change," says Moni. "When I was a girl I couldn't get the chances our
girls are getting now. Our young women are smarter than me and I feel
that is my success. My vision is for hundreds of smart Dalit women
coming together and I will gather them under my banner."

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[ZESTCaste] Empowerment of Dalit Community

 

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=54413

Monday, November 23, 2009
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Empowerment of Dalit Community
16:11 IST
Lok Sabha

The Government is already mandated to empower the Scheduled Castes
through, educational, social and economic development. Broadly,
educational empowerment is achieved through scholarship schemes and
construction of hostels for them, including in Andhra Pradesh.
Economic empowerment is achieved through reservation in Government
jobs and for self-employment through concessional loans. Some schemes
for empowerment of SC women are as follows:

(i) Hostels for SC Girls

100% central assistance is provided to the State Governments/UT
Administrations and the Central & State Universities/Institutions;

90% central assistance is provided to NGOs and deemed Universities in
the private sector, only for expansion of the existing hostel
facilities.

(ii) National Overseas Scholarship

Under the Scheme of National Overseas Scholarship for SC etc, 30% of
the awards for each year is earmarked for women candidates.

(iii) Mahila Samriddhi Yojana of NSFDC provides loan under Mahila
Samriddhi Yojana for units costing upto Rs. 30,000/-.

(iv) Mahila Kisan Yojana of NSFDC provides loan under Mahila Kisan
Yojana for project(s)/unit(s) costing upto Rs. 50,000/-. Under this
scheme loans are provided to rural women beneficiaries to take up
Income Generating Ventures in Agriculture and/or Mixed Farming related
economic activities.

(v) Under Mahila Samriddhi Yojana of NSKFDC loan upto Rs. 25,000/- is
provided to each beneficiary.

This information was given by Shri. D. Napoleon, the Minister of State
for Social Justice & Empowerment, in a written reply to a question in
Lok Sabha today.

SB/AP

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[ZESTCaste] No headway in rape case

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=No+headway+in+rape+case&artid=b47qzTQfQh8=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5ZA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=

No headway in rape case

Express News ServiceFirst Published : 24 Nov 2009 07:29:28 AM ISTLast Updated :

BALASORE: Even a week after the alleged gang-rape and brutal killing
of a Dalit girl in a temple in Balasore district, the police are
clueless about the accused. Several Dalit leaders today demanded Crime
Branch probe into the incident and compensation to the victim's
family.


On November 14, the girl Swarnalata Dalai (23) was allegedly found
gang-raped and murdered inside the campus of a temple in Banpur
village under Nilagiri police limits. Though a special police squad is
investigating, no breakthrough has been made yet.

The police seem to be in a tight spot after former Nilagiri MLA Chitta
Ranjan Sarangi alleged the involvement of a few students of a local
technical school and demanded their arrest.


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[ZESTCaste] Govt seeks Mahadalit panel's opinion on Dusadhs

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Govt-seeks-Mahadalit-panels-opinion-on-Dusadhs/articleshow/5262672.cms

Govt seeks Mahadalit panel's opinion on Dusadhs
TNN 24 November 2009, 02:05am IST

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar said on Monday that he has suggested to the
Mahadalit commission to study the condition of the Dusadh caste and
give its recommendations. Dusadh or Paswan is now the only scheduled
caste which is in Dalit category since all other Dalit castes have
been accorded the status of Mahadalit.

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan has strongly resented the move of the state
government in isolating the Dusadh caste by not including it the list
of Mahadalits.

Nitish said that the panel has already submitted three reports and on
the basis of those reports the government has acted and accorded
facilities for the development of the deprived SC castes. However, he
reiterated that his government did not interfere in the SC list, but
at the same time the state governments are empowered to initiative
special measures for the depressed SC castes.

Nitish, however, refused to say whether the government would accord
Mahadalit status to Dusadh caste. "Let's see what the panel
recommends," he told TOI.

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[ZESTCaste] Quota in PhD a reality in all universities

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Quota-in-PhD-a-reality-in-all-universities/articleshow/5262469.cms

Quota in PhD a reality in all universities
D Suresh Kumar, TNN 24 November 2009, 12:51am IST

CHENNAI: Community based reservations in admission into PhD and M.Phil
courses are a reality now in all universities and higher educational
institutions in the country.

The University of Madras syndicate had set the ball rolling in this
direction on Friday last when it approved the implementation of the
quota system in the highest levels of academic programmes offered by
the university. Soon universities across the country would be
replicating this model in their respective states as the University
Grants Commission (UGC) has already recommended quotas in research
studies.

In a policy decision notified in the gazette in July this year, the
UGC has laid down that: "While granting admission to students to
M.Phil/PhD programmes, the department/institute/school will pay due
attention to the national / state reservation policy." This mandate
forms part of the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of
M.Phil/PhD Degree) Regulation, 2009.

Hitherto, higher educational institutions including state universities
had largely confined communal quotas in admission of students into
undergraduate and postgraduate courses alone. Earlier, the Supreme
Court had ruled that reservations cannot be extended to students
seeking admission into super-specialty academic programmes in
professional courses.

Research studies in the field of arts and science, incidentally, are
not considered to be super-specialty courses. Besides, the number of
postgraduates who choose to pursue an M.Phil or PhD degree is
abysmally low in India. Academics have often opined that there is a
need to encourage more students to pursue doctoral studies,
particularly in the field of basic sciences. In that context,
introducing quota for the OBCs could help in increasing the number of
research scholars in universities.

The UGC, however, has not directed the universities to extend any
concession to students belonging to the reserved categories, namely
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Most Backward Classes and Backward
Classes (OBCs). "Therefore, the usual argument of anti-quota activists
about merit being affected due to reservations would not arise,"
reasoned a professor of a government-aided college in Chennai.

The 2009 regulations make it clear that all universities including
deemed universities and institutions of national importance "shall
admit M.Phil doctoral students through an entrance test conducted at
the level of individual university." However, the institution
authorities can decide on setting separate terms and conditions for
students who qualify the UGC/CSIR (Junior Research Fellow)
examinations, National/State Eligibility Tests.

Admission will be based on the performance of aspirants in the
entrance test and an interview to be conducted separately.

"These regulations have come into effect and therefore every
university must adhere to it. The University of Madras has taken the
lead by setting up a committee to work out the nitty-gritty for the
smooth implementation of the communal reservations. It would be a
matter of time before other universities adopt the regulations," the
professor argued.

This quota is unlikely to kick up dust unlike the stormy protests
witnessed when OBC quota was implemented in IITs and IIMs.

suresh.kumar3@timesgroup.com

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