Friday, December 4, 2009

[ZESTCaste] Interview with Kancha Ilaiah on his latest Book - Post Hindu India. 'All spiritual texts will have to be re-edited'

 

|'All spiritual texts will have to be re-edited'

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/All-spiritual-texts-will-have-to-be-re-edited/articleshow/5296921.cms
Kancha Ilaiah, professor of political science at Osmania University, is known for his outspoken views on the caste system in India. In his first



and most famous book, Why I Am Not A Hindu, he dissected the Hindu social system in an earthy style, though often taking liberties with historical validity. In Delhi recently for the release of his latest work, Post-Hindu India, he spoke to Subodh Varma:

What do you mean by post-Hindu India?

Hinduism is in a state of crisis, facing a kind of civil war within. The primary reason for this is the stranglehold of the varnashram system which keeps 750 million Hindus subjugated and humiliated. These are the Dalits, tribals and the backward classes. Hinduism has failed to convince them that they are part of it, despite the fact that they were the carriers of all science and technology for centuries. Hinduism is the only religion that has failed to negotiate and engage with reason and science. No social reformer, except Phule and Ambedkar, challenged the caste system. Other religions are now competing to win over these people hence there is an imminent explosive crisis.

How did Hinduism suppress science and reason?

The technologies for human survival from agriculture to leather tanning to metal-work were all developed by the labouring sections, that is, the Dalits, tribals and backward classes. The upper castes simply took away the fruits of their labour and invention. The tanners developed the art of leather tanning. The best technology of washing through use of soaps found in soils was discovered in India. The barbers, who wielded the razor, developed the science of surgical treatment of ulcers and boils, and so on. But they were all treated as outcastes. Instead of according them honour and upgrading their sciences they were humiliated. Marriage out of one's caste was prohibited, thus obstructing the free interchange of knowledge, as happened in other religions. It was said that God doesn't approve of working with hands; it is impure. In this way science and technology stagnated and its practitioners got subdued.

You claim there is a war in progress.

You may not see it on the surface now, but in the hearts of the oppressed castes there is anger and hatred. Today it is a war of nerves. Tomorrow it may erupt as a war of positions. There are only two options: either complete equality is granted to the Dalit-bahujan communities or they embrace other religions like Buddhism, Christianity or Islam. Granting equality would mean embracing Dalits and all lower castes and tribals, eating with them, treating them as equals, and an end to the allegation that they are merit-deficient. All spiritual texts will have to be re-edited. It is difficult to see this happening. The other competing religions offer spiritual democracy, as opposed to the spiritual fascism of Hinduism. This competition is the war.

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[ZESTCaste] The Write Way

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Ws121209dalit.asp

Posted on Dec 04, 2009
WEB SPECIAL

The Write Way

This gritty Dalit woman author has quit the BSP to launch her own
party in Tamil Nadu. PC Vinoj Kumar on her never-say-die mantra

Acclaimed Tamil writer and Tamil Nadu's first woman Dalit IAS officer,
P Sivakami, who in November last year took voluntary retirement at age
51 to join the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and was made its state
general secretary, is launching her own outfit.

Says Sivakami: "The party I plan to launch will take up issues
concerning Dalits and the poor." She found the BSP inactive in the
state, but won't comment on the two other Dalit parties -- the Puthiya
Thamizhagam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal.

Sivakami, who has been part of the Land Right Movement for Dalits
since 2003, has developed a network of activists, besides mobilising
women's groups. "In February last year we organised a meeting in
Trichy in which 2.5 lakh women participated. It was a huge success,"
she says.

Sivakami comes from a political family. Her father, M Palanimuthu, was
an independent MLA, who later joined the Congress and became a close
associate of the late Kakkan -- a popular leader known for his honesty
and simple lifestyle. It was her father's wish that she should join
the IAS.

While in service, Sivakami was known for her integrity. When she was
secretary of the Adi-Dravida Welfare Department in 2002, she fell out
with then chief minister J Jayalalithaa when her demand for higher
allocation for a special Dalit scheme was not met. Soon after she was
shunted out to the obscure Government Data Centre, and later kept on a
month's 'compulsory wait' without any posting; and for about a
month-and-a-half for taking part in a Dalit rights seminar.

Sivakami has written four critically acclaimed Tamil novels, all of
them centering on Dalit themes. One of these was translated into
English and published as Grip of Change in 2006. She also edits a
Tamil monthly, Puthiya Kodangi which she has been bringing out since
1995.

In literary circles, Sivakami is considered a strong critic of the
Dravidian movement and its ideologue Periyar. When she joined the BSP
she was hopeful the party would emerge as an alternative to the
Dravidian parties, the DMK and the AIADMK -- which between them have
ruled Tamil Nadu for over four decades now. But the BSP failed to
upstage the regional giants. The party tried to replicate the UP model
of Brahmin-Dalit alliance in Tamil Nadu. BSP leaders met Tamil Nadu
Brahmin Association leader N Narayanan and sought his support. The
party also fielded two Brahmins in the last Lok Sabha polls. But none
of the candidates won and Sivakami herself lost from Kanyakumari,
where she polled 7,000 of the 7.6 lakh votes.

But that has not caused her to change her views. "Dalits were not the
focus of Periyar's so-called revolutionary movement. The Dravidian
movement placed more emphasis on the backward classes," she insists.
Meanwhile her detractors accuse her of seeking to build a political
identity based on anti-Periyar polemics. "A social activist should
find ways to resolve the contradictions between the Dalits and the
backward classes, because both sections have been historically
oppressed. But Sivakami has only striven to sharpen this contradiction
at the behest of the upper castes," says M Punitha Pandian, editor of
Dalit Murasu.

Now the question is, will Sivakami succeed where the BSP failed? Watch
this space.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit woman abuse case: 3 main accused nabbed

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Dalit+woman+abuse+case:+3+main+accused+nabbed&artid=hVfjUKFGLgE=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5ZA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=


By Express News Service
04 Dec 2009 04:11:00 AM IST

Dalit woman abuse case: 3 main accused nabbed

BALASORE: The Soro police today arrested three prime suspects in the
Dalit woman abuse case.
The barbaric incident had created state-wide revulsion over a month
back after it was reported in the media.
The accused have been identified as Baruda Jena, Sudarshan Khatua of
Bagudi and Padmalochan Mohanty of Mahumuhan village. They have been
produced in the court and remanded in judicial custody. Earlier, three
persons were arrested, said SP Rekha Lohani.
On October 14, the 25-year-old woman was dragged to a market place at
Bagudi near Soro and tied to a tree while a group of people thrashed
her. The incident was video shot. They branded her as a 'prostitute'
and claimed to have caught with a `customer'.
Claiming delay in police action against the culprits, the woman had
appealed to the Chief Minister for his intervention. Several women and
Dalit organisations had also rallied behind her.
Police, however, swung into action following repeated media reports.
"We had arrested three persons immediately after the incident. But the
prime suspects could not be arrested then as they were absconding,"
said OIC of Soro police station Manas Deo.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit drummer killed at wedding

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/dalit-drummer-killed-at-wedding_100284219.html

Dalit drummer killed at wedding

December 4th, 2009 - 4:27 pm ICT by IANS -
Lucknow, Dec 4 (IANS) A 26-year-old Dalit was killed in an Uttar
Pradesh marriage function for not beating the drum as desired by a
group of villagers, police said Friday.
The villagers directed Ram Prakash Saanwle to produce louder drumbeats
Thursday at Yaseen Nagar village in Etawah district, some 300 km from
Lucknow.

"When Saanwle told the villagers that he was beating the drum with
maximum force, the villagers got irked and started assaulting him with
wooden sticks. Later, they opened fire at Saanwle," police inspector
Samresh Kumar told reporters.

"Though members of the band managed to take Saanwle to a hospital, he
succumbed to his injuries. We have arrested one person," he added.


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[ZESTCaste] Maya’s travails (Kancha Ilaiah)

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/39331/mayas-travails.html

Maya's travails
By Kancha Ilaiah

If a political issue is sought to be settled through the legal means,
it would have different implications to our democracy.


Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's response to the legal hurdles
to her plans to set up Ambedkar parks and Kanshi Ram memorials was
quite brave and intelligent. A team of anti-Maya lawyers (belonging to
both BJP and Congress ideology) filed a public interest litigation in
the supreme court pleading to stop the construction.
The supreme court constituted a committee, which held that there is
great danger to the environment of UP because of these parks, though
they are not polluting industries. There is not enough evidence that
in order to construct these statue-parks, they had cut down any trees
at all.

Based on the recommendations of the experts committee, the supreme
court ordered stoppage of work at all construction sites. The court
threatened to forcefully stop the work or otherwise it would take over
the sites by deploying special armed forces. Hence the work was
stopped.

However, within a few days, Mayawati declared that her government
would build massive Kanshi Ram green parks around Lucknow and other
cities of Uttar Pradesh. She also announced that a long stretch of
green corridor would be created on the outskirts of Lucknow. If the
anti-Mayawati forces want to cut her sovereign powers based on the
democratic decision of her cabinet (right or wrong) by using the
court, she wants to assert her power. She wants to appeal to the
psychological alienation of the Dalit masses and show them that she
was bent upon creating alternative sites of socio-spiritual
satisfaction of those people by building more Dalit-Buddhist icon
parks.
After all, the Dalits and green environment are not enemies of each
other. They did not cut down forests to own hundreds of acres of land
nor did they cut down trees to build mansions for their comfortable
living. But to see how much teakwood is there in the houses of the
every principled environmentalist of Delhi and other cities one only
needs to visit their houses.
So like Orwellian principles of 'Animal Farm', the theory of even
simplicity and environment changes from caste to caste and culture to
culture. Even the courts seem to be getting drawn into this
controversy. That it poses a danger to democracy needs to be seen in
future. Already the Dalit-Bahujan masses have been losing faith in our
judicial institutions. If the courts involve in far-fetched
interpretative judicial activism in Dalit cultural life (of statue
building or otherwise) their alienation would become more pronounced.
That does not harm Mayawati but harms democracy, rather irreparably.

Courage
There is a gross mis-reading of Mayawati's abilities to handle her own
affairs. We do not know how much money she has but she has enormous
courage and confidence. Though efforts are on to dislodge and destroy
her legally, she seems to be gaining politically.
On the one hand, Congress is attempting to take her Dalit and Brahmin
vote-bank away and on the other, it is attempting to project the
Brahmin leadership at the top (Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Manish Tiwari and
so on). At the ground level, it is sending Rahul Gandhi into Dalit
huts to eat with them and sleep in their homes so that a psychological
repositioning of them could take place. But will the Congress succeed?

While all her opponents are trying to drag her into litigations so
that her administration becomes totally dysfunctional, she seems to be
gaining strength. If a political issue is sought to be settled through
the legal means, it would have different implications to our
democracy. If Mayawati is spending money on monuments when the masses
are suffering from lack of food, education and employment, such a
government should be faced politically only.
The recent byelections in UP have shown that her voters are not
getting alienated from her. If more and more feeling of harassment on
account of Ambedkar parks is generated, then more and more
consolidation of the Dalit vote would take place and Mayawati will
prove her opponents wrong.

She has an ideological agenda. The rock bed of that agenda is the
Dalit social force. The BSP from the days of Kanshi Ram has an
ideological position on men and matters. The Congress and more so, the
Samajwadi Party cannot convince the Dalits on that count.
The Samajwadi party, in particular, has no ideology whatsoever. The
Lohia-JP ideology has no social basis. The Muslims have no problem
with her so long as she does not allow the BJP to play round.

If Ambedkar parks that are coming up as alternative sites of
socio-spiritual culture of Dalits are shown as anti-democratic by the
Hindu legal pundits, the Dalits will tell them that they will back
Mayawati more and more on religious and ideological grounds.
As these parks are essentially anti-Hindu-Buddhist monuments, she is
constructing history. If they stop her activities in the name of
protection to environment, the Dalits might feel that the so called
environmentalists have saffron threads to their wrists and that is
where they see a common ground between the BJP, the Congress and the
Samajwadi Party.


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[ZESTCaste] Quota in place, Rahul’s youth brigade to have women, Dalits at forefront

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/quota-in-place-rahuls-youth-brigade-to-have-women-dalits-at-forefront/537563/0

Quota in place, Rahul's youth brigade to have women, Dalits at forefront

Express News Service Posted online: Thursday , Nov 05, 2009 at 0508 hrs
Lucknow : Sticking to AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's agenda of
empowering Dalits and women, the youth wing of the Congress in Uttar
Pradesh will have reservation for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes
and women in all the 26 units of its central zone — where
organisational elections will be held in the first phase.
These units will be coterminous — covering the same area — with the 26
Lok Sabha constituencies in the zone. Enrollment of members in the
zone will begin from November 12 and will last a month. After
scrutiny, which is expected to take one month, central zone elections
will be held. Seats will be

reserved at the level of unit presidents and also in organisational
committees. The reserved posts will be selected by a draw.

As many as 25 per cent posts of unit presidents will be reserved —
half for SC/ST and half for women. As a result, three SC/ST members
and three women will become presidents in the central zone.

"At all levels, whether panchayat, state, Assembly and Lok Sabha
constituency, we will have reservation in the committees. Out of the
10 committee members at all levels, one post of general secretary will
be reserved for SC/ST, one for women and one for OBC or minorities,"
said Prakash Joshi, member of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) Election
Commission who has been given the charge of UP.

Former state Youth Congress president Yogesh Dixit pointed out that in
the old structure, when district presidents were appointed by
nomination, there was no reservation.

To give a boost to the membership drive, Rahul Gandhi will visit all
the 26 districts of the central zone later this month. "His three-day
visit will only focus on the membership drive of youth Congress in the
central zone," said Jitendra Singh, AICC secretary in-charge of the
IYC.

Besides Singh, Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar and IYC general
secretary Virendra Rathore were in town on Wednesday to discuss
arrangements for the drive. To tackle fake membership, Singh said that
apart from forms, even the voters' list will carry photographs.

Asked about the role of those selected through the talent hunt, Singh
said those who wanted to contest election can do so. The others will
be given an opportunity to work in different cells and departments
after the elections. About 1,500 people will be involved in conducting
the elections, he added.

K J Rao, general secretary of the Foundation for Advanced Management
of Elections — which has been appointed to conduct NSUI and Youth
Congress elections — said no one convicted in a criminal case will be
given a chance to contest.

"We will also not allow those against whom a court has taken
cognizance of a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment of more
than five years, or where a chargesheet has been filed against a
person for any such offence," he added.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalits enter Shiva temple for first time in 900 years

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dalits-enter-shiva-temple-for-first-time-in-900-years_1319864

Dalits enter Shiva temple for first time in 900 years
Subhashish Mohanty / DNA

Friday, December 4, 2009 1:29 IST

Bhubaneswar: The Dalits of Kisinapur village in Cuttack district took
a big step on Wednesday. They walked inside the 900-year-old
Chhateswar temple in their village, which has been out of bounds for
them, and offered prayers to Lord Shiva. They were received at the
temple gate by the priests and served 'prasad'.

All these centuries, Dalits had been barred from entering the famous
temple, and nobody had even thought of defying the ban. "It was the
greatest day of my life. I had never dreamt of offering puja to the
deity," said 49-year-old Sabita Mallick.

She and hundreds of other Dalits organised under the Rastriya Yuva
Sangathan, which undertook the padayatra to mark the 75th year of
Mahatma Gandhi's march against untouchability in 1939.

The padayatra began from Bairee in Jajpur on November 30 and ended at
Kisinapur. The procession passed through Chattia, Champapur ashram,
Lekhapur, Rameshawar, Gopinathpur and Satyabhamapur.

Dr Biswajit Ray, spokesperson, Rastriya Yuva Sangathan, said the
Dalits felt good about this gesture from Brahmins. "There was no
palpable tension. Both sections of society exchanged pleasantries on
the occasion," he said. Later, the villagers dined together in a grand
community feast organised on the occasion.

The programme had been planned to build a bridge between Dalits and
the upper castes. And that's exactly what happened.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits suffer because they won't carry the dead

http://www.josephdsouza.com/2009/12/dalits_suffer_because_the_wont.html

December 03, 2009
Dalits suffer because they won't carry the dead
I was saddened, but not surprised by a report I just received in an
email from Dalit activists in central India. Dalits there have stopped
carrying the carcasses of dead animals. Someone has to do the job, but
they are being told that is the only career they can have…and then
despised because of it. Now that they have stopped in protest, local
shops won't sell them products, they're banned from public
transportation, and not allowed to get water from public wells. And
more.

As one colleague mentioned in a subsequent email to me, forcing people
to clean up dead animals is actually outlawed as an atrocity under
Indian legislation which went into effect in 1995, called the
"Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act". However, this report also illustrates that, although India's
laws may be good, local officials often ignore the rule of law and
many Dalit communities don't have the resources or knowledge to pursue
the matter legally.

~Joseph

* * * * * * *

SOCIAL BOYCOTT OF DALITS IN MADHYA PRADESH
(Excerpts from Fact Finding Report issued by Nagrik Adhikar Manch & Yuva Samvad)

The situation in the Gadarwara Sub Division of Narsinghpur District,
Madhya Pradesh state has been in a state of constant flux since last
3-4 months. The Dalits living in the villages adjoining Gadarwara have
been condemned to a life of fear and intimidation. Their human rights
and dignity are at stake.

Obviously there is a concrete reason behind this sudden spurt in
violence against them. They have refused to remain subservient to the
interests of the upper/dominant castes and have decided to speak up.

Instead of taking concrete steps to guarantee the human rights of
dalits granted to them under Constitution, the administration has
preferred to remain silent or at best supportive of the interests of
the dominant castes. One can easily see why Madhya Pradesh happens to
be the state which tops the list of atrocities on tribals and stands
second when it comes to cases of atrocities against Dalits. (The
incidents are occurring in villages about half-way between the state
capital, Bhopal, and Jabalpur.)

Affected Area: Dalits (Ahirwar community) in Gadarwara and adjoining villages
Villages visited by the Fact Finding Team : Nander,Madgula, Devri and Tekapar
Date: 7th and 9th November 2009

Brief Introduction
The Ahirwars make almost half (38,000-40,000 ) of the total population
(70,000-80,000) of Gadarwara. Around 80-85 percent of the people in
this tehsil are engaged in agriculture or related work. Agricultural
labourers and landless peasants comprise a majority among them. Most
of the agricultural labourers belong to the Dalit communities and
among them the
Ahirwars (Chamars) predominate. …There are over 700 surnames in this caste.

The Ahirwars Resolution giving rise to the present oppression
Ahirwar Samaj Mahaparishad [reached] a general consensus…about
abandoning the obnoxious practice of carrying of the carcasses of dead
beasts; to rid them of the centuries old practice of being looked down
upon by the varna (upper) castes as carriers of the carcasses and
consequently untouchables. Ahirwars in many villages actually
discontinued this practice from July-August onwards. The Ahirwar Samaj
Mahaparishad resolved in October 2009 to abandon this practice by the
community en masse at the state level.

A Detailed Report of the Fact Finding Team and Its observations
Despite repeated complaints against the oppression faced by the dalits
at the hands of the dominant castes and demands for action against
them, the attitude of the administration has remained apathetic. This
despite the fact that Dalits in 5-6 villages have filed complaints of
physical harassment and oppression.

Village: Deori
[Dalits denied] access to daily utilities
1.There is ban on them on making any purchases from the only provision
shop in the village.
2.They are not allowed to get water from a public tap.
3. Ban on travel by public transport
4. Stopping vegetable and food vendors, newspaper boys including
dhobis (washermen), nais (barbers) from entering Dalit localities
5. Stopping access to flour mills for grinding corn
6. Ban on entering the Village Panchayat Bhavan

…Bimla Bai was threatened by non-Dalit Devendra Kumar warning her not
to step in their fields failing which they would strip her naked and
parade her through the village.

…In a meeting organised by the Village head (Sarpanch) in October 2009
to resolve the issue, more than hundred people belonging to non-dalit
castes who were carrying different arms, literally pounced upon the
Ahirwars and tried to intimidate them. The Ahirwars who had gathered
there hoping for a peaceful and respectable solution, literally had to
flee the place to save their lives.

…The landless Ahirwar peasants cultivate the land of the upper caste
people on lease on expence sharing basis (batai). Under it all
expenses right from bowing to harvesting is done by the person taking
the land on lease and he is given 1/4 to 1/10 portion of the harvest
by the landlord However, when the crops bowed in June reached the
harvesting stage some influential landlords refused to allot any share
to the cultivators and in fact harvested the crop with Harvester
Combines and took it away. The Ahirwar community [at least 12
families] which faced drought last season is on the brink of
starvation. If the same state of affairs continues, it is feared that
there would be starvation deaths in the area.

…Munna Gurjar forcibly dumped the dead animal in front of the house of
Malkham Singh Ahirwar. Similarly dead animals are being dumped in the
pokharee (small pond) in front of Vishal Ahirwar's the house. People
hailing from influential families even dumped the dead carcass in
front of the Community Hall.

Action by Administration
People from Deori have complained twice to the Sub-Divisional Officer,
(Anuvibhagiya Dandadhikari) Gadarwara but the SDM has merely consoled
them and has not bothered to take any action against the perpetrators.
The matter has been kept hanging till date.

Village: Tekapar

…In the second week of October some people from the Ahirwars were
summoned by the caste people and they were pointblank asked whether
they will or will not lift the caracasses of dead animals. The
Ahirwars conveyed to them the community decision. The next day a fiat
was issued by the caste people warning the Ahirwars that if by any
chance the Ahirwars pass through their fields they will have to pay a
fine of Rs. 1000/-

The intimidation did not stop here. A strict ban was imposed on
availing the village facilities of shop for things of daily use, use
of public tap water system, flour mill and other public places. They
used to take clay for building from public places but a total ban on
such use was imposed. Netram Ahirwar informed us that the work of
digging for clay has always been a community effort but now they
threaten us if we take clay.

…Their pressure tactics also [deprived Dalits of] 100 days employment
[guaranteed by a Central/Federal government program for the poor]. The
Dalit Ahirwars receive hardly 10 to 15 days of work and that too with
difficulty.

…The people of Tekapar have been kept under threat by the influential
castes. They are threatened that should they dare to complain they
will have to face the music. In spite of this the Ahirwar people had
made representations against the injustice to them in writing to the
Sub Divisional Magistrate on 8th October 2009. Despite this the status
quo remains and no action has been taken to ameliorate the situation.

[Similar reports from two more villages deleted.]

The Conclusion and The Way Out
…After meeting hundreds of people from the four villages in MP the
Fact Finding Team has observed how the Collective Decision of the
Ahirwar Community (Dalit) of not undertaking the inhuman and
unconstitutional work has become a question of prestige. The caste
people are endeavouring for the reversal of this decision through
social, economic sanctions. The caste people desire that the Dalits
should abandon their struggle for self-respect and continue to undergo
the social and cultural slavery…


Posted by klajja at December 3, 2009 11:28 AM


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