Monday, May 10, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Mirchpur: A Dog Story

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/mirchpur-a-dog-story


1 May 2010
Mirchpur: A Dog Story
Two Dalits were torched alive and 18 homes gutted in Hisar, Haryana,
apparently over a dog. So what really happened?
4

BY S Anand EMAIL AUTHOR(S)
Tagged Under | caste politics | Haryana | Dalits | Hisar
atrocity A maha-khap panchayat of Jats in progress in Mirchpur village
on the premises of the animal husbandry department. The police said
they were unaware of this meeting of over 2,000 Jats though it was
held within earshot. (Photo: S ANAND)A damaged TV and DVD set in a
gutted Dalit household. (Photo: S ANAND)A perpetual war is going on
every day in every village between the Hindus and the Untouchables. It
does not see the light of the day —BR Ambedkar, 1943

An old Shiva temple. Massive wells with arched facades where women,
colourful ghunghats pulled down, draw water. Buffaloes shimmering
black in a green pond. A group of Jat men in spotless white turbans
passing around a hookah whose brass glistens in the harsh April sun…
it's the kind of village where Ashutosh Gowariker would have set his
Swades. Welcome to Mirchpur, a village in Haryana's Hisar district. In
this picturesque setting, on the morning of 21 April, 18 Dalit homes
were torched and two Dalits—17-year old Suman and her 60-year old
father Tara Chand—were burnt alive.

Let us now turn our faces away, briefly. Pinch our noses and stop
breathing, briefly. The stink of two Dalits torched alive in Mirchpur
will go away soon. It does not matter, really. Not when the death of a
Dalit is so routine, not when there's violence reported against a
Dalit every 18 minutes, not when two Dalits are killed every day.
Apathy comes easily to those who are protected from everyday violence.
We have no time to waste on people who are not supposed to exist.

In Mirchpur, the official story is that a dog belonging to a Dalit,
repeatedly referred to as a bitch in First Information Report No 166
filed at Narnaund police station, barks at some drunk Jat youth
driving through the Balmiki colony. Rajinder Pali, son of a Jat
zamindar, hurls a brick at the dog, Ruby. Yogesh, a young Dalit,
objects, and an argument follows. They come to blows. Threatened with
dire consequences, two Balmiki elders, Veer Bhan and Karan Singh,
apologise to the Jat elders. They are beaten up badly. The Jats are
baying now. The fact that the Narnaund's Station House Officer (SHO)
Vinod Kumar Kajal is close to a prominent Jat of Mirchpur, emboldens
them. The stage is set for carnage.

I spoke to Ruby, and wagging her tail, she denied that she had any
role to play. She cited Namdeo Dhasal's poem, 'Song of the Dog and the
Republic': Chained dog being dog he whines and sometimes barks/ This
being his constitutional right. She even recounted a more bizarre
case, reported in 2004, from Tamil Nadu's Shanmugapuram village in
Tuticorin district, where Reddiyars had issued a diktat barring Dalits
from rearing male dogs since they could mate with bitches from the
'chaste' Hindu colonies.

The Balmikis of Mirchpur have done well for themselves. Many have
small businesses, work in the neighbouring district headquarters Jind,
have contracts for fishing rights in the local pond, like Karan Singh
whose pet Ruby is. In the past two years, they have even won the
contract for conducting the annual spring festival at the local
Phoolan Devi temple attended by people from all over Haryana. It is at
this festival, which began in March this year, that trouble began
brewing. The local Jat youth, Balmikis say, sexually harass Balmiki
women, almost as a matter of right. This happened a bit too often in
the crowded temple festival, to which they objected. Ruby is right.
Her barking at Jats was just the pretext.

Fearing the worst, Mirchpur's Dalits begged for police protection.
None came. On the morning of 21 April, as SHO Kajal and the local
tehsildar hustled the Balmiki men to attend a compromise meeting, a
mob of 300-400 Jats, men and women, encircled the Balmiki colony. They
were armed with jerry cans of kerosene and petrol, agricultural
implements and lathis. The SHO and the naib tehsildar apparently told
the gathered Jats they would have one hour to do whatever they wished.
Sounds exactly like what someone in Gujarat said in February 2002.
What followed was targeted burning of 18 houses of relatively
prosperous Balmikis. Before the Jat men set the homes ablaze, their
women ransacked jewels, cash, clothes. Modest TV sets, DVD players,
refrigerators and air-coolers lay twisted, singed by the heat. The
skeletal remains of a motorbike, belonging to Amar Chauhan, brother of
Suman, bears witness. A fan's twisted blades droop eerily.

Pointing to a black water tank bobbing in the green waters of the
pond, Surta, a woman whose house was reduced to cinders, says, "The
first thing they did was to break the Sintex water tanks the
government had provided us with, so that we couldn't douse the fire."

Phoolkali Devi and her husband Chander Singh had built a one-storeyed
house in 1996. Chander ran a general store from his house. Everything
has been gutted. Phoolkali says jewellery worth Rs 25,000 and cash of
Rs 50,000 meant for their daughter's upcoming wedding were looted. By
24 April, many among the 200 Balmiki households in Mirchpur were
leaving for safer places. The few Dalits who remained told Buta Singh,
chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes who was on
a visit, that they no longer wished to live in the village.

In 1943, Ambedkar had strongly advocated separate settlements for
Dalits. He had argued, 'It is the close-knit association of the
Untouchables with the Hindus living in the same villages which marks
them out as Untouchables and which enables the Hindus to identify them
as being Untouchables… The Untouchables who are as a matter of fact
socially separate should be made separate geographically and
territorially also, and be grouped into separate villages exclusively
of Untouchables in which the distinction of the high and the low and
of Touchable and Untouchable will find no place.'

Within three days of the carnage, a maha-khap panchayat of Jats was
organised in the village. Representatives of 43 khaps met on the
premises of the animal husbandry department. They demanded the release
of the 29 Jats arrested and reinstatement of the suspended SHO. The
superintendent of police and deputy collector said they were not aware
of such a meeting, though it was attended by about 2,000 men within
earshot. Across Haryana, there's a war being waged on the Indian state
by khap panchayats, an open defiance of law far more serious than what
the country's Maoists are attempting. Mirchpur has to be seen in the
context of other Haryana milestones: the burning of Balmiki homes by
Rajputs in Salwan in 2007; the Gohana carnage of 2005 (where 60
Balmiki houses were set afire); the lynching of five Dalits in Jhajjar
in 2003. It's an everyday war, as Ambedkar said.

Outside the khap, Arjun Singh, a young Jat advocate, confronts me:
"Please make sure you write that the Dalits set fire to their own
homes for the sake of compensation. These dheds will kill their own
for the sake of money."

I rummage the charred remains of the house where Suman was locked in.
She was affected by polio, and the tricycle provided to her stands
outside the now-roofless house. Suman's crumbling English textbook is
called English with a Purpose. On the last page, it says in big type,
'Together Make it a Better World.'

Anand was part of a fact-finding team of the National Campaign on
Dalit Human Rights that visited the village.


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[ZESTCaste] Jindal supports Haryana's caste councils

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Jindal-supports-Haryana-s-caste-councils/H1-Article1-541417.aspx

Jindal supports Haryana's caste councils

Indo-Asian News Service
Chandigarh, May 09, 2010
First Published: 21:28 IST(9/5/2010)
Last Updated: 22:09 IST(9/5/2010)

Industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal on Sunday supported the
Haryana khap panchayats' (caste councils) demand for amending the
Hindu Marriage Act to ban marriages within the same 'gotra' or
subcaste.

Jindal, who is currently abroad, has sent a letter to the khap
representatives declaring his support on the issue.

"Before leaving India, Jindal signed the letter and we have sent it to
the representatives of khap panchayats. Jindal has extended his full
support and assured all khaps of every possible assistance," Vivek
Mittal, personal secretary to Jindal, said.

Various khap panchayats have launched a widespread campaign seeking an
amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to outlaw marriages within the
same gotra.

Verdicts of khap panchayats against people marrying in the same
subcaste has led to a spate of "honour killings" in the state. Many
couples and their families have also been socially boycotted and
forced to leave their homes and land.

The panchayats insist that it's an age old belief that two people of
the same subcaste are considered as siblings and cannot marry.

In their meeting at Kurukshetra May 2, the panchayats had appealed to
all elected representatives of Haryana to support their demand within
a month.

"Jindal has also urged them to fight against other social evils like
dowry system and female foeticide plaguing our society. He could not
attend the last meeting of khaps due to his tight schedule, but has
promised to try his level best to attend forthcoming meetings,"
Jindal's aide said.

Khap panchayats had earlier announced a siege of Jindal's home in
Kurukshetra in case he did not support their demand.

A few days ago, the opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) also
agreed to support the demand for an amendment as demanded by the
councils.

The demand comes after a Haryana court gave capital punishment in
March to five people for an "honour killing".

A Karnal court had sentenced five people to death and one person to
life imprisonment for killing a couple who had married despite
belonging to the same gotra.

The murdered couple, Manoj, 23, and Babli, 19, had married in 2007
against the wishes of their families.

They were murdered by members of Babli's family.

Defiant khap leaders are headed for a confrontation with the state
government and recent rulings of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
over illegal decisions on marriages announced by various panchayats.

Khap leaders have proposed to hold another 'mahapanchayat' (grand
council) in western Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district May 14.

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[ZESTCaste] Marry right or die

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/Marry-right-or-die/541417/H1-Article1-541161.aspx

Marry right or die

Paramita Ghosh, Hindustan Times

May 08, 2010
First Published: 23:41 IST(8/5/2010)
Last Updated: 23:43 IST(8/5/2010)

Last week, the khap panchayats of Haryana got a breather. The honour
killing headline came from Jharkhand. So, they unveiled their secret
weapon — Santosh Dahiya, a physical education teacher, who, for the
first time in the history of the Sarvjatiya Sarvkhap Mahapanchayat,
will put together a women's wing as its president.

Progressives in Haryana at the forefront of demanding a 'right to
choice' in marriage and regulation of these panchayats, say it's an
image-building exercise to push back the homegrown news — the death
sentences of the murderers of Manoj and Babli of Karora village in
Kaithal district who were killed for marrying sau-gotra (same clan).

Dahiya who takes the line of "anti-violence" says there is support —
muttered and loud — from all shades of politicians for the inclusion
of the sau-gotra clause in the Hindu MarriageAct. "If this had
existed", she says, "Manoj and Babli would have been declared brother
and sister by law." Her husband, Bijender, adds: "Do zindagi chale
gaye, lekin logon ne seekha na... (Two lives were lost, but people
learnt from it)."

The 'learning,' however, also points to premeditated power alliances.
Between politicians, police and the bureaucracy to protect
Jat-dominated caste and clan hierarchies in Haryana and control the
young who challenge and unsettle it, each time they marry outside the
approved combination. "Forget same clan, we can't even marry outside
it. Or, in the same village or villages that share our boundary wall.
If we marry a Dalit or a Muslim, we are killed. If we are thrown out
of the village, khaps snatch our land. So why are khap supporters
trying to make it seem as if it's just about the same-gotra issue?"
asks Aman Saini, a student of Kurukshetra University.

Because it helps. Everybody.

The Indian National Lok Dal is trying to revive its political fortunes
in Haryana around this issue — with the gram panchayat and municipal
elections next month, and in Assembly polls four years later — to
prove that it is more Jat than the others, even as the Chautala
village to which its founding father Devi Lal belongs, allows same
gotra marriage.

The Congress's Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, will not upset the same
Jat base so his stand on khap violence ("no one is allowed to take law
in their own hands in Haryana") hasn't added up to much. Initiative by
advocates such as Rajeev Godara to move his government to lodge
"criminal cases against those who are party to khap meetings where
decisions of social boycott of families and murder of couples are
taken" have been met with silence. "And this in a state," says Godara,
"where 20 cases pertaining to runaway marriages are filed in a day".

The hands-on hands-off attitude of political parties in khap affairs,
Godara points out, shows why killings in the name of honour, continue.
"Ram Pal Majra of the INLD attended a panchayat near Kaithal. Bharat
Singh Beniwal, an ex-MLA of the Congress was present at the
Kurukshetra mahakhap," says Godara. "Why does Rahul Gandhi go to
Mirchpur where Dalits were attacked and say he hasn't come to do
politics? It is politics that can save. A politics based on identity
and equal justice is right politics and it can also win elections."
Jagmati Sangwan, president, All India Democratic Women's Association,
Haryana, who has fought against all kinds of khap repression, also
asks a moot question about the Jat Sabha.

This is a body, that, as its president Mahendra Singh Malik says,
"provides intellectual support to khap panchayats". "Malik is a former
DGP", says Jagmati. "On 14th April, at a panchayat he said those who
violate our customs like Manoj and Babli would meet the same fate. We
demand his pension be revoked. Can you imagine how the police
conducted itself under him…"

Honour killing and harassment is not Haryana specific. It is taking
place in Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Even Delhi.

Ishwar (name changed) a Jat from Bahadurgarh, Haryana, was forcibly
separated from the girl he wanted to marry. He is hiding in Delhi with
police protection. Arti and Purushottam of Rajdoha village, Jharkhand,
were chained in a room for a week for marrying into the same clan.
Purushottam died in 2008. In 2009, Neelam was killed by her relatives
in Rajasthan's Dausa district and the maha panchayat protested the
arrest of the killers.

"Honour killing happens to people like us", says Reena Dahiya, a
student in Kurukshetra. "Ashok Tanwar, a Dalit Congress leader,
marries a Brahmin. The khap does not protest. No one makes it an
issue. Chander Mohan, son of Bhajan Lal, is able to marry and divorce
on whim. Why?" The answer is fairly simple. Because he can.

(Inputs: B Vijay Murty, Malvika Nanda, Satvir Sarwari)


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit fined for drawing water

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Dalit-fined-for-drawing-water/articleshow/5908444.cms

Dalit fined for drawing water

TNN, May 9, 2010, 02.09am IST

BALASORE: Upper caste people of an Orissa village slapped a fine of Rs
1,001 on a dalit woman soon after she fetched water from a community
tubewell on Saturday.

A case was registered only after a group of dalit women gheraoed
Chandabali police station in Bhadrak district demanding justice. A
probe was also ordered.

"We are investigation the fresh charges. We will definitely take
action if anyone is found guilty," assured Pradip Choudhury,
inspector-in-charge of Chandabali police station.

Sources said the upper caste people asked her to pay the fine after
she fetched a bucket of water from the community tubewell.

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[ZESTCaste] DMK’s Rajadharma: Reviving caste inequality

http://www.dailypioneer.com/254806/DMK%E2%80%99s-Rajadharma-Reviving-caste-inequality.html

Monday, May 10, 2010

DMK's Rajadharma: Reviving caste inequality

Sidharth Mishra

Some Dalit intellectuals could take umbrage at your reporter having an
opinion on the issue pertaining to their community. Dalit Vimarsh
(dialogue), which has emerged as one of the most powerful trends in
contemporary Hindi literature, has two strands. The first and the
older strand, which includes even the redoubtable Premchand, consists
of authors writing profusely and powerfully on the Dalit issues
irrespective of the fact whether they were born into a Dalit community
or not.

The supporters of this school at a seminar few years back gave example
of the celebrated Kannada writer UR Ananthmurthy, whose novel Sanskara
deals with the issue of untouchablity with utmost sensitivity and it
has earned him fame worldwide. Ananthmurthy is a Brahmin born in
Karnataka and his birth disqualifies him, according to the other
school, to be acclaimed as a writer on Dalit issues.

There is a very strong lobby of writers of Dalit descent, which claims
that only those born as Dalit could be the right and true exponents of
Dalit literature. Their thesis is based on the belief that only those
born as Dalit undergo and understand the true sufferings of the
societal dysfunction. Therefore, the proponents of the second school
claim that true Dalit literature could emerge only from the true
sufferers.

The second school is definitely isolationist in approach and the very
idea of literature as the tool to sensitise the sensibilities would
get lost, if those from non-Dalit communities were discouraged from
writing on the Dalit issues. The second school runs counter, in my
perception, to the line taken on the issue by one of the most
celebrated Dalit columnist Chandrabhan Prasad.

In his famous essay Reinventing Macaulay, Prasad writes, "Our lies
about Macaulay: Was Macaulay attempting to create 'Intellectual
slaves' for the British Empire? Yes, if we just read the following: We
must at present do our best to form a class of persons, Indian in
blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in
intellect." We, in a most mischievous manner, present the above quote,
twisted, taken out of context, and thus, present Lord Macaulay as a
villain. No, if we read the full paragraph as originally available in
his February 1835 "Minutes" on Indian education. "It is impossible for
us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the
people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be
interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of
persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in
opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it
to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those
dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature,
and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to
the great mass of the population."

While Prasad has taken downward filtration as the scheme for
empowering Dalits, the intellectuals would do well to adopt the
process of reverse osmosis to sensitize the non-Dalits to leave behind
their age-old biases and see merit in Dalit individuals. Such process,
however, gets vitiated when DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi defends Union
Minister A Raja's corrupt dalliances using the Dalit shield.

Following reports appearing in The Pioneer and other sections of the
media and the uproar it caused in Parliament, pressure mounted on the
DMK to sack tainted Telecom Minister A Raja. His mentor Tamil Nadu CM
M Karunanidhi last week came to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and when found himself
cornered over allegations against Raja, the DMK patriarch played the
ultimate political card — Raja is being targeted because he is a
Dalit.

Worried over repeated disruptions in Parliament over 2G spectrum
scandal and allegations of Raja's direct involvement in the scam, the
Prime Minister broached the topic in his 30-minute meeting with
Karunanidhi. The DMK patriarch reported to have told the Prime
Minister that there was no evidence to prove Raja's complicity in the
scam and refused to agree to any proposal to drop him from the
Cabinet. Putting up a strong case for Raja, Karunanidhi also
reportedly told the Prime Minister that removal of Raja at this stage
will amount to admitting that he is guilty. This would cause serious
embarrassment to the DMK.

And to save his party and himself from the embarrassment of admitting
Raja's guilt, Karunanidhi decided to use the Dalit shield. Emerging
from the meeting, the DMK patriarch did not look very happy, but he
ruled out all possibilities of Raja's removal from the Cabinet and
said that the Minister was being targeted because he was a Dalit.

Now this once again brings us back to Chandrabhan Prasad and his essay
Reinventing Macaulay. Prasad writes that while submitting the draft of
the Indian Penal Code, Lord Macaulay maintains in his covering letter:
"It is an evil that any man should be above the law, it is still a
greater evil that the public mind should be taught to regard as a high
and venerable distinction the privilege of being above the law."

Prasad also refers to Macaulay's speech in the British Parliament
while debating Charter Act 1833. Macaulay is quoted as saying, "the
worst of all systems was surely that of having a mild code for the
Brahmins, who sprang from the head of the Creator, while there was a
severe code for the Shudras, who sprang from his feet. India has
suffered enough already from the distinction of castes, and from the
deeply rooted prejudices which that distinction has engendered. God
forbid that we should inflict on her the curse of a new caste, that we
should send her a new breed of Brahmins."

Karunanidhi's defence of Raja's indefensible acts of omission and
commission seeks to create a new breed of Brahmins, which the Dalit
movement all these years has opposed. Dr BR Ambedkar, the tallest of
the Dalit icons, fully endorsed equality before law. It was time that
the Dalit intellectuals came forward to counter contaminated arguments
forwarded by likes of Karunanidhi in defence of corruption.


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[ZESTCaste] Caste , Census , and India

http://www.indiastand.com/articles/caste-census-and-india/

Caste , Census , and India

May 10th, 2010 | Add a Comment
Caught in a cusp between old and new worlds, India's interface with
caste remains schizophrenic 60 years after adopting a republican
Constitution
Three events last week painfully underlined the complex matrix of
caste in Indian politics and society. First, the Government succumbed
to combined Opposition pressure and agreed to enumerate citizens by
caste in the ongoing Census operations. Second, DMK patriarch M
Karunanidhi, having run out of all weapons in his armoury to defend
the brazen actions of Telecom Minister A Raja, came up with the
astounding theory that the Minister was under attack from "vested
interests" only on account of his Dalit origins. Third, the mysterious
death of a young Delhi journalist at her parental home in Jharkhand,
apparently because she wanted to marry her lower caste boyfriend,
jarred enlightened sensibilities throughout the country.
Thousands of years after the sub-system of caste emerged out of the
original Varna system, and more than 60 years after we gave ourselves
a democratic, republican Constitution pledging equality to all
citizens, India is still to come to grips with this unique social
construct. Over time, it has acquired new dimensions and
ramifications: Some would argue that past oppression of the lower
orders has been replaced by the tyranny of numbers, painting the
ritually superior sections into a corner. At the same time, mediaeval
orthodoxy coexists almost in perfect harmony with modern, legally
ordained directives. For example, a draconian law has been written
into the statute books to severely punish those committing atrocities
on Scheduled Castes, but that does not prevent upper caste landlords
from wreaking terrible vengeance on 'defiant' Dalits and their
families. Mostly, they get away with it, even in Uttar Pradesh ruled
by a Dalit woman.
The case of Nirupama Pathak, the journalist allegedly killed by her
mother (although the story is undergoing new twists every day) would
seem particularly bizarre. Here is an educated family, headed by a
nationalised bank officer father, which sends their daughter to study
and practice journalism in faraway Delhi. There she develops a
relationship with a classmate and they apparently decide to get
married. The boy belongs to a ritually inferior caste, which
incidentally counts among the so-called Forwards in North India. But
such is the orthodoxy of the Brahmin girl's family that they refuse
her permission to marry and, allegedly, smother her to death or (if
new speculation is to be believed) push her into committing suicide.
The family's outrage at the idea of inter-caste marriage is documented
in a long, hectoring letter from the father to his daughter in which
he quotes scripture and verse to establish the immorality of such a
union.
Nirupama's isn't the first such case, nor will it be the last.
Over the years, caste has also acquired new political uses, evident
from the way the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister handled the tornado of
corruption charges engulfing 'service provider' A Raja. If we
logically extend his argument that the Minister is being targeted only
because he is a Dalit, we shall be forced to reach the conclusion that
laws of the land should not be applicable to members of a particular
caste or community. The day may not be far off when there will be a
demand to insert the following clause at the end of the Indian Penal
Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Prevention of Corruption Act and other
relevant statues: "Notwithstanding anything contained in the above
Schedules, none of the provisions of this Act shall be applicable to
members belonging to the following castes/communities…"!
Invariably, they all accuse the media of being dominated by upper
castes and thus motivated by vengeful feelings towards OBCs and
Dalits. Not for a moment does it cross their mind that Independent
India's biggest media success was on the Bofors scam in which the
principal accused was the son of a Kashmiri Pandit mother and Parsi
father — by no stretch of the imagination Dalit or OBC. The media's
latest victim is Mr Shashi Tharoor, neither Dalit nor OBC. India's
vibrant media has been completely even-handed in exposing corruption
in high places. Mr Karunanidhi, Mr Raja or Mr Ramadoss may not believe
this, but in the national media we hardly know which caste they belong
to unless it is voluntarily disclosed.
Held in the backdrop of the Muslim League's Pakistan Resolution of
1940, there was a concerted attempt by Muslims to enter Urdu as their
mother tongue although most did not know what the script looked like.
Similarly Hindus in Punjab determinedly averred that Hindi, not
Punjabi, was their mother tongue. Further, the influence of
Sanskritisation (as described by sociologist MN Srinivas) was at its
peak at that time; castes now called OBCs randomly claimed upper
caste, especially Rajput, status then. When officers started
tabulating the figures they found statistically impossible spurts to
have taken place in certain linguistic and caste categories.
Eventually they recommended scrapping the Census altogether. Lets hope
the same fate does not await the Census of 2011.


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[ZESTCaste] Caste Count (Opinion)

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Caste-Count/articleshow/5909908.cms

Caste Count

May 10, 2010, 12.00am IST

The government has unfortunately given in to pressure from the OBC
lobby to include caste as a category in the 2011 Census. The last such
exercise was undertaken in 1931, making this the first time since
independence that caste will be included in the census. There was good
reason why caste wasn't included in the census since the idea was to
move towards a casteless society. In that sense, the government's move
is regressive it would result in the perpetuation of caste as a
lynchpin of government policy. We have argued in these columns that
people must move beyond restrictive categories such as religion or
caste. While it is undeniable that Dalits, who have been oppressed for
centuries, needed and have been empowered by affirmative action, the
same cannot be said for the OBCs. There is good evidence to suggest
that OBCs such as the Yadavs have become dominant groups in terms of
political and economic clout.

There are other good reasons for not including caste in the census.
The logistics of caste enumeration is daunting. When a similar
proposal had come up earlier, the then census commissioner had warned
that it would be too complex and could affect the integrity of the
population count, which is the prime purpose of the exercise. Besides,
with over 6,000 castes, sub-castes and groups, it would be a nightmare
for census officials to get correct data and collate it. It is time
that we gradually take out caste from the calculus of public policy
and move towards affirmative action based on economic indicators. That
would not only be a more equitable process, it would also deal a body
blow to the politics of caste.

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[ZESTCaste] Gandhi effect: Full help for Haryana's Dalit victims

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Gandhi-effect-Full-help-for-Haryana-s-Dalit-victims/Article1-541278.aspx

Gandhi effect: Full help for Haryana's Dalit victims

Indo-Asian News Service
Hisar, Haryana, May 09, 2010
First Published: 13:58 IST(9/5/2010)
Last Updated: 14:06 IST(9/5/2010)

The Congress government in Haryana has come up with jobs, financial
help running into lakhs of rupees, accommodation, renovation of houses
and even a permanent police post for victims of last month's arson
attack on Dalit families in Mirchpur, which falls in this district.

A 70-year-old man, Tara Chand, and his 18-year-old physically
challenged daughter died after sustaining burn injuries and at least
18 houses were damaged in the April 21 attack suspected to have been
led by the rival but dominant Jat community in the area.

During his surprise visit April 29, Rahul Gandhi went to Mirchpur
village and saw the burnt houses and patiently listened to the
grievances of victim families.

Following this a letter was sent to Hooda from Sonia Gandhi in which
she described the incident as a "matter of shame" and said such
incidents could not be allowed at any cost.

On directions from the state government, the district administration
has provided monetary relief of over Rs.40 lakh to victim families and
two quintals of wheat each to 170 families.

"We have provided a financial aid of Rs. 21 lakh to the family members
of deceased Tara Chand and his daughter. This money included Rs. 20
lakh compensation for two killed in the arson attack and Rs. 100,000
ex-gratia given for their damaged goods," O.P. Sheoran, Deputy
Commissioner (DC) of Hisar, told IANS.

Cash relief has been provided to both the wives of deceased Tara Chand.

Sheoran added: "Besides, government jobs have been provided to three
sons of Tara Chand. Government accommodation, goods and articles of
daily use have also been provided to one of the sons, Rajinder."

Under government rules, only one member from the next-of-kin of the
victims' family is provided a government job if the state government
announces it.

Asked if it was correct to provide government jobs to three members of
the same family, Sheoran said, "We are doing whatever the government
is directing us to do. We cannot go against it.

However, some members of the Dalit community are demanding increased
compensation and have been staging a sit-in protest outside the DC's
office here for the last many days.

"Yes, some people are sitting there but till now we have not got any
particular demand from them. We assure full justice to everyone.
Victim families could get their houses repaired either themselves or
through us," said Sheoran.

Sheoran said a provision to set up a permanent police post at Mirchpur
has been made to maintain peace in the village.

The district police have arrested 27 people, including a police
officer and a revenue official, after the attack.

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[ZESTCaste] Digvijay lays a roadmap for ‘kshatriyas’

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/digvijay-lays-a-roadmap-for-kshatriyas/616535/

Digvijay lays a roadmap for 'kshatriyas'
Express News Service Posted: May 10, 2010 at 0210 hrs

Lucknow Despite Rahul Gandhi's promise of veering away from
caste-ridden politics, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh laid down
a roadmap for the state's kshatriyas on Sunday.
At the Maharana Pratap Jayanti programme in Lucknow, Singh, alongwith
Congress parliamentarian from Sultanpur, Sanjay Singh, deliberated on
how to ensure progress of the community.

He advised the audience that if they want the "kshatriya samaj" to
progress, they should learn to adapt to the changes in the society by
taking everyone along, since "today, a Raja is not born from the womb
of the mother but from the ballot box."

"Apart from being proud of our past, it is time to think about future
as well," he said. "It is time to adapt ourselves to the changes in
society and ensure proper education for our children."

Sanjay Singh spoke on similar lines, advising the audience to start
introspecting in order to ensure progress and success of the
community.

Ironically, a month ago, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had
promised the people of Uttar Pradesh that Congress would bring the
politics of change and move away from the politics of caste and
religion. Which was probably why despite the presence of its senior
leaders, the party denied that it had anything to do with the
organisation of such a caste-based programme. Its leaders, the party
insisted, were just guests.

Digvijay, however, did not forget to fire his usual salvo at Chief
Minister Mayawati. "Sarvajan dukhaye, dalal sukhaye" is her only
philosophy, he said. In an interaction with the media before the
programme, he said: "In last three years of her regime, Mayawati has
failed to keep her promises. While public is troubled, people with
criminal background are still flourishing. Behenji ke log wasuli kar
rahe hain. The state is unable to implement Central government schemes
but continues to spend on parks and memorials."

Singh also expressed displeasure over the fact that a BSP legislator
has been allowed to go free in the murder investigation of Congress
worker Rajjan Shukla. "It is sad that no action has been taken against
the MLA so far. We have given time till May 12 and will soon take some
action," he said.


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[ZESTCaste] First gen Dalit literates make it to civil services

 

http://www.latestnewsfromindia.com/2010/05/09/first-gen-dalit-literates-make-it-to-civil-services/

First gen Dalit literates make it to civil services
By RSS FEED on May 9, 2010

Thanks to the Andhra Pradesh study Circle, an initiative of the Social
Welfare Department, 10 first generation literate students from the
under-privileged sections, have come out with flying colours

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