Wednesday, February 3, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Invitation

 

INVITATION

 

Campaign on Electoral Reforms in India (CERI) has been launched in our country in the year 2008 and is being taken forward in many states. The objective of the campaign is to bring in Electoral Reforms. In this context a                           State Conference is being organized for 2 days on 6th & 7th February 2010.

 

Date:    6th February, 2010

Venue: 10:00 AM to 06:00 PM at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram,

                                              Baghlingampally, Hyderabad

 

PROGRAMME:

 

Chief Guest:  Sri J M Lyngdoh, Former Chief Election Commissioner of

                                                            India            

 

Inaugural address:   Sri Kaki Madhava Rao, IAS, Former Chief Secretary to

                                                Govt. of AP  &  Former Chief Election Commissioner of AP

 

Guests of Honour:

 

  • Sri Bojja Tharakam, Senior Advocate-High Court & President, RPI
  • Sri Jay Prakash Narayan, President, Lok Satta
  • Dr. Manisha Bangar, Mulniwasi Mahila Sangh
  • Sri MC Raj, National Coordinator, CERI

 

 

The program will continue on 7th February, 10:00 AM onwards at Satyodayam, Tarnaka, Secunderabad.

 

We cordially invite

 

Korivi Vinay Kumar                                                         Jhansi Geddam                      

Members - Organizing Committee

 

Address: SRT 95, Street No. 3, Jawahar Nagar, Hyderabad – 500 020.  Ph: 040-27601557; Fax: 040-27606777; Cell: 9704709555;   Email: dalit_sthree_sakthi@yahoo.co.in



--
B.Karthik Navayan,
Advocate,
H.No. 21-7-761,
Opp.High Court Post Office,
Gansi Bazar, Hyderabad,
PIN-500002, AP.
Cell:09346677007,Email:navayan@gmail.com
http://sites.google.com/site/karthiknavayan/home
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=10379805095932756525

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[ZESTCaste] Government employees boycott work over mistreatment of Dalit

 

http://www.littleabout.com/news/65296,government-employees-boycott-work-mistreatment-dalit.html

Government employees boycott work over mistreatment of Dalit

Published on : Wednesday 03 Feb 2010 16:22 - by IANS

Lucknow, Feb 3 : Hundreds of government employees in Uttar Pradesh's
Bijnor district decided to boycott work Wednesday after a
sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) slapped a Dalit class four government
employee, police said.

Shouting slogans against Shyam Bahadur Singh, SDM (Sadar) Bijnor,
hundreds of government employees of various departments converged in
front of the Collectorate's office, demanding that Singh be booked
under the SC/ST Act.

"Chandrapal, a class four employee of the Revenue Department has
alleged that the SDM Sadar Tuesday evening not only slapped him, but
also made casteist remarks against him," police inspector R.K. Gautam
told reporters in Bijnor, about 400 km from Lucknow.

"He (SDM) manhandled me inside his room at the collectorate's office
and also hurled abusive and casteist words at me. When I voiced
objections, he openly challenged me to initiate action against him,"
Chandrapal told reporters Wednesday.

To protest against the incident, employees of the Revenue Department
announced that they would boycott work and were later joined by
employees of other departments.

However, Singh avoided commenting over the incident but told reporters
that Chandrapal managed to sign some documents and certificates
through fraudulent means.

Meanwhile, District Magistrate A.V. Rajamouli told reporters that an
enquiry has been initiated into the matter and that the district
administration was trying its best to sort out the issue by holding
talks with government employees.

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[ZESTCaste] Parents struggle for Justice

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/danchaid/acaf37f953e62e75ade3dc035301f6ea.htm

Parents struggle for Justice

03 Feb 2010 14:22:23 GMT

Source: DanChurchAid - Denmark
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this
article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are
the author's alone.


Dalit women are in high risk of sexual assaults from upper-caste men,
who are rarely prosecuted. The photo shows a Dalit woman from Tamil
Nadu, who is not related to the story. The characters in the story
chose to be anonymous. Photo: Paul Madsen
Thirteen years old, Supriya Jatav was working in the fields with her
parents early one morning. Harvest season had started and all the
members of each family were working in the fields. Supriya was sent
back mid-morning to take care of the household chores with her mother.
Having cooked a meal for her husband, Supriya’s mother left for the
fields again, not knowing that it was the last she was to see her
daughter.

Sometimes later Supriya went to a field close-by to get some fuel to
make the afternoon meal. It is here that she was attacked. Another
young girl in the village witnessed the incident itself. She informed
the others, who ran to intervene, but by then it was too late. Supriya
rushed back home and hung herself, unable to bear the shame and
humiliation. Supriya Jatav committed suicide on 4th April, 2009.
Supriya’s home is a dilapidated house in a low caste Jatav village
surrounded on all sides by upper caste Jat villages. Her mother sits
in silence veiled and softly weeping. “She was our only daughter.
She was very responsible. Her loss can never be substituted,� says
Sheela, crouched on the floor.

Fighting for justice â€" alone
Fighting for Dalit rights

Society for Depressed People for Social Justice (DMKS), DanChurch
Aid’s partner in Rajasthan is an advocacy and resource centre for
Dalit Human Rights. The Centre for Dalit Rights as is popularly known
reports on cases of human rights violation on Dalits across Rajasthan.
It provides counseling and legal aid for victims and support to take
legal action against the perpetrators. The organization has a number
of lawyers in their panel providing free legal services to the
victims. I n 2008, DMKS was involved in fact finding in 120 severe
cases of atrocities and achieved success in 234 cases of violence
ranging from rape of minor girls to prohibition to use public road.
Squatting on his haunches Bairman Jatav, Supriya’s father talks
about his struggle to fight this case. He says that a charge sheet had
been filed and that all the three boys have been put in detention.
“I am going to fight for justice till my last breath. I don’t care
if there is no one to support me, I will still fight for what is
right. We are poor people. Had my daughter died of some disease I
would have accepted it. Even now people tell me that I should let go -
that is she is gone, and that I must put the matter to rest. You see,
everyone is scared of ‘them’. I know my daughter will never come
back, but I want the guilty punished. This is my struggle alone and I
will fight it through,� says Bairman Jatav. More and more women
gather around Sheela. Each one of them has something to say. Some
break down and start crying. Intriguing, they vehemently deny facing
any kind of violence against Dalit women in the community. This is
when the crime records reveal the high incidences of rape of Dalit
women by upper caste men - nationwide three every hour, according to
some sources, not taking into account that most rapes go unreported,
and only a tiny fraction of the rapists are actually sentenced. Bairam
breaks the silence, “I have had to fight this case alone, and I have
no support.� He tells that his own people don’t support him.
Instead his Dalit neighbours tell the upper caste Jats about all his
legal actions. “People here are both scared of the upper castes and
dependent on them for their livelihood. They go to the homes of the
upper castes to work and then they tell the Jats all my moves. What
can I do? Today it is my daughter they are foul-mouthing, but tomorrow
- god forbid! - it could be their own daughters who are raped! But
they don’t think like that. There is no unity. Each person is taking
care of his own survival,� says Bairman.

People point fingersSheela breaks down speaking about her life and the
humiliation she has to bear. “People point fingers. They say my
daughter was characterless. I have to hear this slandering every
single day. My two sons go to school, and there so many horrible
things are being said about my daughter and our family. When will all
this end? “ The crowd is silent, but Bairam gathers strength to
speak: “Tell me which parent will not take action to bring their
child to the right path, if they know they are straying. Today instead
of supporting me, these people are pointing fingers at my daughter’s
character. Tell me: did she deserve this?� Names of victim and
family changed to protect their identity By Priyanka Mukherjee,
Documentation Officer, DanChurchAid, New Delhi India

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not
of Reuters. ]


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[ZESTCaste] Maya's knives out for 'vulnerable' Amar

 

http://www.timesnow.tv/Mayas-knives-out-for-vulnerable-Amar/articleshow/4337747.cms

Maya's knives out for 'vulnerable' Amar
3 Feb 2010, 2019 hrs IST
Now, it's UP Chief Minister Mayawati's turn to train guns on Amar
Singh, hires a CA to expose the expelled leader's alleged bunglings.

On becoming a political orphan this Tuesday, when his 14 year long
relationship with the SP ended, Amar Singh suddenly went soft on
Mayawati giving out statements that he understands Mayawati's pain.

But it seems the new found love for Mayawati has no takers. The UP
Chief Minister is clearly in revenge mode knowing that Amar Singh is
vulenrable. she has issued this letter to her officers - gives a go
ahead to UP police to hire a chartered accountant to probe the
financial irregularities done by Amar Singh when SP was in power in
the state.

The letter, a copy of which is with TIMES NOW, is written by secretary
SP Goyal of the UP administration and is addressed to the State
Director General of Police.

With no political backing, Amar's defence is quite weak.

But, the exelled SP leader said, "I have full faith in the judiciary."

It's a real test for Amar Singh now as to where he will take refuge,
who will protect him from Mayawati's wrath? Questions posing as the
ghosts of the past and coming to haunt the expelled SP leader.

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[ZESTCaste] After electing Madam Speaker, give all dalits a new deal too

http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=296:after-electing-madam-speaker-give-all-dalits-a-new-deal-too&catid=92:antara-dev-sen&Itemid=310

Antara Dev Sen
After electing Madam Speaker, give all dalits a new deal too

June.2: It is not easy to step into the shoes of elder statesman
Somnath Chatterjee, one of the finest Speakers the Indian Parliament
has ever had. It may be especially difficult for soft-spoken Meira
Kumar, who is to take over as Lok Sabha Speaker later this week. Will
the shy former diplomat manage to control with her childlike voice our
shamefully rowdy members of Parliament, honourable jumping-jack
representatives of the people, forever screaming their heads off, a
querulous, agitating VIP mob that even Speaker Chatterjee's
exasperated bellows often failed to restrain? Fine, so the Lok Sabha
will have its first woman Speaker, and her dalit identity helps too.
But aren't we taking this woman and dalit stuff a bit too far? Can
identity politics be more important than the dignity of the House?

But it takes more than discipline to maintain the dignity of the
House. It needs an unwavering dedication to the Constitution, the
allegiance that Somnath Chatterjee displayed when he chose House over
party. And ignoring this commitment erodes the dignity of our nation.
By failing to prevent discrimination and violence against women and
dalits, by continuing to deny them basic dignity and justice, by
devaluing their humanity simply on grounds of birth, we have been
undermining the dignity of the nation. This is despite half a century
of sensitisation and, recently, positive discrimination. Dalit women
are the worst off. They are abused, raped and killed by upper castes
as a matter of course. And the criminals go free; less than one per
cent of crimes against dalit women end in conviction. Given this utter
disrespect for dalits and women, Meira Kumar's becoming Speaker —
especially in the era of live television — may help restore some
dignity to our bruised and battered nation.

Sure, a woman Speaker may remain a mere novelty. We have seen Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi, President Pratibha Patil, UPA chairperson
Sonia Gandhi and several woman governors, we have seen Najma Heptullah
preside over the Rajya Sabha as deputy chairperson, and these have not
significantly changed attitudes towards women or violence against
them. But a dalit woman in a position of such eminence is different.
For the fight against caste discrimination is as much a fight for
rights — to life, to food and water, to education and employment, to
justice — as for dignity.

No social struggle depends as much on symbols as the dalit movement.
It floods your mind with grand displays, marking its presence through
statues, big buildings, shiny silks, flashy decoration. The most
sacred symbol of pride and power is the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar —
its slightest desecration could start a riot. Because in the absence
of a protective god for dalits, B.R. Ambedkar has become the secular
god.

His statue springs up in small towns and villages, built lovingly by
residents and not the government. He stands quietly in street corners
in his blue suit and red tie and white shirt, black-rimmed glasses
firmly in place, holding The Book. The Book written largely by him,
that laid down the laws of the land, that determined right and wrong,
promised equality for all and freedom from centuries of bigoted
oppression. Those unsophisticated, sometimes disproportionate, often
luridly coloured statues, built by the poorest and the most
downtrodden, represent the dreams that India was founded on. They hold
out the Constitution with its promise of equality, justice, fairness —
promises unkept as yet, but still alive with hope. And it reminds us
of the power of the dalit. Dr Ambedkar's visible presence is a boost
to the dignity of the dalits downtrodden for centuries, a reminder of
dalit excellence. Perpetuating Ambedkar iconography is an assertion of
dalit consciousness and identity.

Which is why Mayawati's obsessive erection of statues of herself,
Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram is understandable — even if not entirely
acceptable. And her grand buildings, the spectacular halls, arches and
elephants that she seems to be exhausting state funds on are put in
perspective. Mayawati herself is a symbol of dalit assertion. She
dazzles with her silks and statues — and the dream of becoming Prime
Minister one day. It is a vital dream for the 200 million Indians who
have been programmed to think of themselves as less than human, as
deserving only leftovers and crumbs, of being destined to do unwanted
jobs like scavenging and cleaning toilets.

Elevating Meira Kumar, daughter of iconic dalit leader Babu Jagjivan
Ram, would boost the community's pride. Besides helping the Congress
counter Mayawati as caste queen and rekindle hope in Bihar, Meira
Kumar and Jagjivan Ram's home state. But that is hardly enough.

We have always had robust icons of dalit pride. Like the late
President K.R. Narayanan, the magnificent "Citizen President", and the
present Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan — both born in
poverty-stricken rural dalit families, rising to their positions of
incredible eminence on their own steam. It made us very proud. We had
a dalit deputy prime minister in Jagjivan Ram decades ago, and later,
a dalit Speaker in G.M.C. Balayogi. We have Mayawati, a dalit woman,
heading India's biggest state. But none of these helped end caste
discrimination.

We still have one million dalits working as human scavengers,
physically carrying shit and cleaning sewers. A crime is committed
against a dalit every 18 minutes. Every day, two dalits are murdered,
three dalit women raped, 11 dalits beaten, 27 atrocities committed
against dalits. Every week, 13 dalits are murdered, five dalit homes
or possessions burnt, six dalits are abducted. Dalits are frequently
barred from police stations, denied access to village wells and
shunned even by health workers. More than half of dalit children are
undernourished, they frequently face segregation in school.
Untouchability is often obvious during mid-day meals. Naturally, they
drop out of school. From access to drinking water to education,
healthcare or justice, dalits are routinely denied equal rights and
opportunities.

However significant symbols may be, hard action is more important.
Laws have to be implemented, justice delivered. The government must
not keep hiding behind technicalities, or refusing to put caste
discrimination on par with racial discrimination and avoiding
international pressure in platforms like the Durban Review Conference
on racism in Geneva in April.

Besides, by making a committed dalit woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha,
the government will be silencing her for this period, stifling her
individual choices as she plays the unbiased, even-handed Chair.
Hopefully, the government will make up for it in constructive action
against caste discrimination. If not, Meira Kumar may become the
grandest statue yet — shaming Mayawati's cold rockfronts, boosting
dalit pride, but achieving nothing else.

Antara Dev Sen is editor of The Little Magazine. She can be contacted
at: sen@littlemag.com This e-mail address is being protected from
spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Antara Dev Sen


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[ZESTCaste] It would be dangerous to identify caste

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=It+would+be+dangerous+to+identify+caste&artid=%7CbZl6m2z7B8=&SectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=&MainSectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=&SectionName=m3GntEw72ik=

It would be dangerous to identify caste


Suhit SenFirst Published : 03 Feb 2010 12:33:00 AM ISTLast Updated :
03 Feb 2010 12:57:39 AM IST

There has been a talk of introducing caste enumeration in the
decennial census process, beginning with the next one scheduled for
2011. If the proposal goes through it will be the first time since
1931, when the last colonial census was held, that caste enumeration
will be in practice.


The proposal raises some interesting questions. To examine them we
need to go, briefly, into some of the academic research and writing,
in various disciplines, on caste that have been available for the past
quarter of a century or so. Historians and anthropologists have argued
that colonial ethnography, in which the census process was
well-embedded with its grave preoccupation with enumerating caste
membership and fixing hierarchies, contributed seminally to creating a
rigid caste system out of what had been in pre-colonial times a
locally diverse, flexible and socially negotiable arrangement.

It is also important to note that the caste system functioned at two
levels: those of varna and jati. Varna provided the overarching
hierarchy of the caste system — Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra
— and the Brahminical ideology based on the notions of purity and
pollution that undergirded it. Jati — translated into English usually
as subcaste — provided, however, the functional endogamous unit of the
caste system. Subcaste hierarchies were flexible and negotiable. The
actual hierarchy in a given locale could change and be refashioned
according to numerous factors such as economic conditions, social
status and endowments, and political power. Thus, for instance, in
Bengal, the dominant castes have traditionally been Brahmins,
Kayasthas and Vaidyas, though in varna terms, the second and third are
actually Shudra.

Historians have also argued that alongside the processes unleashed by
the colonial ethnographic project, historical changes that began in
early part of the 18th century and continued till the early part of
the 20th, also contributed to the rigidification of the caste system.
Among these, the pre-eminent one was the rising status and power of
the Brahmins over the Kshatriyas, especially under the Maratha
imperium, and a valorisation of the Brahminical ideology and way of
life.

What bearing do these academic musings, in fact, have on the choice at
hand — that is, whether or not to carry out caste-based enumeration
during the next census operations? We need to go back to the origin of
the proposition. The N C Saxena Committee, constituted to go into the
question of below-poverty-line categorisation and overhaul the
process, had mooted a caste-based enumeration, especially to identify
the other backward castes (OBC), when it submitted its findings last
year. Being a conscientious former bureaucrat, one, moreover, with a
sensitive social conscience, Saxena was primarily concerned with
proper identification, so that poor people did not get left out of the
social security net because of rigid bureaucratic formulas. If
implemented, Saxena's recommendations will result in a massive
increase in the number of people getting state protection from hunger
and want. No sensible person can fault Saxena, given the highly
formalistic, inadequate, iniquitous and unfair definitions of poverty
used by the state.

The question then is: Will caste-based enumeration help identify the
poor in better ways or will it just end up making the social reality
of caste more rigid? And will it lead to caste consciousness becoming
more heightened and, therefore, lead to more intensified caste
conflicts? These are difficult counterfactuals to follow up, but the
answers are important when the choice is to be made.

First, we need to ascertain the extent to which knowledge about caste
affiliation will make it easier to target beneficiaries of state
subsidies, direct or indirect. This will mean trying to make sense of
how far caste and class/income group are aligned. The answer, surely,
will be that even after 60-plus years of Independence and affirmative
action, the Scheduled Castes and Tribes are still by and large the
poorest strata in this country, even if a small layer among them has
done well for itself. This elite tends, unfortunately, to be
self-reproducing. So, it will clearly make it easier in some way to
channel state aid to the poor by identifying the numbers and location
of this population.

In the case of the OBCs, the situation is much messier. The fortunes
of the OBCs have varied dizzyingly in different regions and
post-Mandal the situation has become much more complicated. In some
areas, the OBCs have made massive economic gains without corresponding
social and political gains. Thus, the political revolutions of some
parts of the southern parts of the country and the Hindi heartland
have not been matched elsewhere, notably, say, in West Bengal. Then
again the economic revolutions have bypassed many regions and numerous
caste groups. Still others are demanding inclusion in the OBC list.
Given this uneven picture, it is difficult to see an OBC enumeration
making a significant contribution in channelling aid, though some
difference ought to result.

The point is whether the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages.
What is the flip side? It is difficult to resist the argument that
just as in colonial times, enumeration of caste affiliation could end
up offering a kind of official imprimatur to caste as a social
phenomenon and cause it to be frozen in a number of ways. On the other
hand, it would not be altogether vacuous to argue that caste is a
lived reality throughout the country and census investigation or no,
this is not going to change in a hurry.

The answer lies in not introducing caste enumeration into census
operations, but rather making a more realistic definition of poverty
and instituting a more foolproof mechanism for physically identifying
the poor. Caste investigations could be part of that process.

suhitsen@gmail.com


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