Saturday, February 6, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Dalits’ voice against caste discrimination

http://www.nepalrus.com/nepal-news/english/27438,20100205.html

Dalits' voice against caste discrimination
Posted by FNN on Feb 5th, 2010

Kanchanpur: Dalit women, who used to hesitate to open their problems
even in the family due to the lack of awareness, began to participate
actively in public debate against caste-based discrimination.

The women began to participate on the campaign against caste wise
discrimination organizing them in various non-government organizations
after they were well aware about their evils.

"All of us are Nepali, why do people discriminate in the basis of
caste?" said Sunita Sunar of Kaluwapur. Dalit are deprived of their
rights in all sectors though the government announced the end of
caste-discrimination from the parliament long ago. It is still working
in Nepali societies, said Sunar. Dalit women said it is necessary to
involve them in all social works to raise their voice for their
rights.

Kalawati Damai blamed illiteracy and poverty for their backwardness
and said it is necessary to preserve their rights to education. Damai
stressed on the need of dalits' representation in all levels including
policy making, employment, health and local bodies in the nation.

The government has to commercialize the traditional skill of various
backward communities to encourage them to modern life, said Jamuna
Luhar.


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[ZESTCaste] Christian Dalits pin hope on Misra panel report

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Christian+Dalits+pin+hope+on+Misra+panel+report&artid=lw%7C5SrJ6CQs=&SectionID=vBlkz7JCFvA=&MainSectionID=vBlkz7JCFvA=&SectionName=EL7znOtxBM3qzgMyXZKtxw==&SEO=Christianity

Christian Dalits pin hope on Misra panel report

P KrishnaswamyFirst Published : 28 Dec 2009 02:47:00 AM ISTLast Updated :

MADURAI: Though many Dalits converted to Christianity to escape the
atrocities committed against them by the so called persons of high
castes, they continue to suffer the same disabilities as before and
bear the stigma of Dalits.


Their conversion has made no difference for them in the society. But
what had added to their woes was an edict issued by the Rashtrapathi
Bavan in 1950 which took them out of the scheduled caste list thus
denying them the protection and privileges available to the Hindu and
Sikh Dalits.

They have been fighting for the revocation of the edict so that they
could enjoy the protection under the various Acts. But so far this had
not materialised.

Christian Dalits are confident that if the recommendations by the
Justice Ranganath Misra Commission, the report of which was tabled in
both the Houses of Parliament last week, are implemented by the
Government, then a historical injustice done to them would be
rectified.

The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities set up
in 2004, chaired by former Chief Justice of India Justice Ranganath
Misra provides a ray of hope for these Dalits.

The Commission in its report says that a Schedule Caste who coverts to
Christianity and Islam is denied the status of Scheduled Caste on the
ground that unlike converts to Buddhism and Sikhism which are
offshoots of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam were imported religions.

The panel has held that, "this argument does not hold much validity
since the demand is to deal with caste related problem which persist
despite conversion, in all its severity and that it had been clearly
stated in the Parliament Act 15 of 1990 that 'change of religion does
not alter one's social and economic conditions". A workshop was also
organised by the commission.


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[ZESTCaste] A universe of verse

http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article100658.ece

Arts » Magazine
February 6, 2010

A universe of verse


One of the most daring and important voices of contemporary Indian
poetry, Hoshang Merchant (b.1947) has published 20 books of poetry in
20 years from the Writer's Workshop, Kolkota. Other notable books
include Flower to Flame (Rupa, 1990), Yaraana: Gay Stories from India
(Penguin, 1999), Forbidden Sex/Text (Routledge, 2009).

His translation of Jameela Nishat's Urdu poems was published by
Sahitya Akademi (2008). He is presently a Professor of Poetry and Gay
Studies at the Hyderabad University where he has taught since 1987. He
holds a Ph.D. (for his dissertation on Anais Nin) from Purdue
University where he was one of the founders of Gay Liberation.

Travelling all over the world, he studied Buddhism at Dharmashala, and
Sufism in Iran and Palestine. He was in Chennai recently to kick start
the Poetry with Prakriti festival. Excerpts from an interview:

Can or should poets give interviews since the Buddha says there is no
personality?

Yes, there is no personality. I'll tell you my own example and of
Miohaux (French). I thought to become a Buddhist; I danced instead but
went back to poetry. Not Buddhist poetry, like the fourth Dalai
Lama's... I have few possessions, but I couldn't be a Buddha because I
thought too much to be some One.

Henri Michaux did not want his poetry canonised, he wouldn't even
allow himself to be photographed. He was happy the Dalai Lama saw his
photo; "Now I am in the Dalai Lama's mind." As he lay dying, he talked
to his nurse of travel. When she started to give him oxygen, "No! Let
me keep travelling," he said.

What is the aim of your poetry?

Even gay poetry's aim is NOT to change legislation. "To come out into
an objectless view/Which is the true aim of all poetry," is a
definition I use in my poems. "Objectless" does not mean "not
objective," because anyway the lyric is a subjective art.

It means that poets have no axes to grind. Their objective is the poem
itself. However we poets have to 'abstract' our experience to fit it
to the reader's experience. We all share the same space/time. Some
great poets make their own space and their times. It comes as a
surprise to know Whitman, Melville and Dickinson were gay. We do not
know them as gay poems but as Transcendentalists even after 150 years.
This transcendence is a poem.

To paraphrase Dickinson "to make a prairie/It takes fancy, a clover
and a bee/Fancy alone will do/If bees are few."

Why do you equate Dalits with gays?

Because gays, like women, are gender-Dalits. Also, there are gay
Dalits who refuse to be identified for social reasons. Both are
oppressed groups. I understand forms of oppression differ.

But oppression is oppression. For politics we need coalitions (not
only LGBT but also women and Dalits). Gays have to stop oppressing
women. Some women who oppress gays have to stop doing that. Ditto for
Dalits.

To divide minorities and prevent them from coming together in a common
platform is just another male heterosexists' ploy to preserve their
power.

My struggle is unimportant unless it also opens up a possibility for
generalised liberation and living.

Are you before your time for India?

No! The poet is always of his/her time. It is the others who are behind.

Is writing a political act?

No. But if you say you're not political that means you side with the
establishment. If you want to change your heart, mind and body then
that's politics.To say sex is a private matter is to pretend sex is
about love only and not also an exploitative.

Why do you travel so much?

I travel to get new identities. And to write about them. It is how
kids 'enjoy getting lost'. It reminds me that personality is not
solid. In a new land people don't know you, you can become whatever
you want!

What is the audience reaction to you? How does your audacity sit with them?

Mine is not a moral universe. But it is a formally beautiful universe
of verse. If I affront them I also beg their indulgence. And, mostly,
I get it!

*************************

Earth-Connection

My lover's feet are mud

Under his feet the earth, mud

I kiss his feet :

The poem in my mouth, from the

dust of his feet mud

He grew the food

I eat

Now I eat the dust of his feet

The grain came from river-mud

Now I am him: His river

And the mud

My body is made of all this earth

When I die I'll be again

all his earth


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit party wants Sena, MNS derecognised

 

http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20100206/1054/tnl-dalit-party-wants-sena-mns-derecogni.html

Dalit party wants Sena, MNS derecognised

Twitter Delicious Myspace Digg Stumble Upon Facebook Sat, Feb 6 11:35 AM
Lucknow, Feb. 6 -- Dalit political outfit Indian Justice Party (IJP)
plans to petition the Election Commission or the Supreme Court,
seeking the de-recognition of the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena as political parties.

"Bal and Raj Thackeray are playing divisive politics," IJP president
Udit Raj said at a press conference on Friday. "They are out to make
Indians fight against Indians.

" Udit Raj, also chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST
Organisations, said he would meet the chief election commissioner on
Monday and, if the demand to disband both parties was not met, would
file a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court.

Hindustan Times

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[ZESTCaste] Prabhunath seeks 10% reservation for upper castes

http://jaibihar.com/prabhunath-seeks-10-reservation-for-upper-castes/201016945.html

Prabhunath seeks 10% reservation for upper castes

News Desk - February 5, 2010
PATLIPUTRA — Dissident JD(U) leader and former MP Prabhunath Singh
today demanded ten per cent reservation for the poor people belonging
to the upper castes – Brahmin, Rajput, Bhumihar and Kayasth in Bihar.

In a letter, Singh urged the chief minister, Nitish Kumar to take
guidance from late chief minister, Karpoori Thakur's policy which
sought to provide 3% reservation to economically and educationally
backward people of forward castes in the state.

The former leader of the party in Lok Sabha said if Nitish had any
difficulty in giving reservation to the forwards, he might constitute
a commission to have a first hand knowledge of their condition.

"The upper caste people are too facing penury and hence the government
is duty bound to improve their lot," Singh said in his letter which
was released to the press here.

Singh said Nitish "should not to divide the society on caste lines for
petty political gains."

Singh also suggested that he should not make any political
appointments in official posts and give due respect to party workers.

- AGENCIES


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[ZESTCaste] Workshop on Special Component Plan in (ISI) Indian Social Institute - Bangalore

 

Dear Friends in Bangalore

Please attend a workshop on Special Component Plan

organized by National Dalit Forum


Venue:  ISI- Indian Social Institute

Date : 08th February 2010

Time : 10 am to 5pm

Please contact  NDF Karnakata state convener Obulesh on 09742586468 for other details

Karthik Navayan
Programme Officer
National Dalit Forum

 





----
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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