Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Re: [ZESTCaste] No funds till maya shows up at meet: plan panel

 

congress allied DMK chief Minister never came to discuss with finace commission, but money goes to TN without delay.this is the tactice of telling lie on oppsite political parties. this is purely political
--- On Tue, 5/18/10, Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com>
> Subject: [ZESTCaste] No funds till maya shows up at meet: plan panel
> To: "zestcaste" <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 5:12 PM
> http://www.hindustantimes.com/No-funds-till-maya-shows-up-at-meet-plan-panel/Article1-545003.aspx
>
> No funds till maya shows up at meet: plan panel
>
> Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
> New Delhi, May 17, 2010
>

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[ZESTCaste] ‘TN govt doing a lot for SC/ST students’

http://www.newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=22024%20&%20section=7

'TN govt doing a lot for SC/ST students'

Archives - Chennai


NT Bureau | Wed, 05 May, 2010,03:11 PM
.
The Tamilnadu government has setting apart a huge amount every year
for development of SC and ST students, managing director of Tamilnadu
Adi-Dravidar Housing Development Corporation (TADHCO), B Chandrakant
Kamble, has said.


.
Inaugurating a workshop on 'Empowering teachers for enhancing SC/ST
students employability' organised by Anna University at RMK
Engineering College, Kavarapettai, on Monday, he said out of the total
population in Tamilnadu, those belonging to Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes constituted 20 per cent as per the 2001 census.

He also said that in order to improve the living conditions of SC/ST,
there was a need to augment the income earning capacities through
Income Generating Programme and improving human skills through
training programmes.


Chandrakant mentioned many underprivileged students were not able to
pursue higher education after sucessfully clearing board exams due to
various reasons.

He said for any educational programme TAHDCO provides financial
assistance for development of the students.


Chandrakant added that the workshop for engineering college faculty
would help SC/ST candidates gain more knowledge on current trends in
employability.

Founder and chairman of RMK Group of Institutions R S Munirathinam
said that central and state government is trying hard to improve the
standards of SC/ST community by implementing various programmes.


Munirathinam lauded Anna University for playing a vitol role by
organising such workshops for professors to enchance the employability
for SC/ST students.


Principal of RMK Engineering College K Rameshwaran; Director CUIC of
Anna University, S Selvam and Deputy Director CUIC, Anna University, T
Kalaiselvan were also present.


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[ZESTCaste] Atrocities against dalits highest in UP: Buta

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Atrocities-against-dalits-highest-in-UP-Buta/articleshow/5938610.cms

Atrocities against dalits highest in UP: Buta

PTI, May 17, 2010, 03.11am IST

BHOPAL: The cases of atrocities against dalits were highest in
BSP-ruled Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) said on Sunday. The commission
would submit its final report to President Pratibha Patil by May 26,
NCSC chairman Buta Singh said.

"Uttar Pradesh tops the list of the states followed by Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh in atrocities against scheduled caste," Singh told
reporters here.

At times, Bihar surpasses UP, and some times MP goes to the second
place in connection with the atrocities on the dalits, he said, adding
that first three positions keep changing among these three states.

"We will submit our final report after visiting different states to
President Pratibha Patil by May 26," he said. He said Punjab,
Harayana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are not lagging behind in offences
against dalits.

Singh said that the worst part of atrocities being committed on the
oppressed class was that the omplainants were being pressurized to
withdraw their cases by the police on the directive of the state
machinery.

They (dalits) are in double trouble as they face the brunt of the
police in form of counter complaints after they get their cases
registered, he said.

Singh said that NCSC's team is in Madhya Pradesh after coming across
reports of atrocities on the dalits. He also accused the Madhya
Pradesh government of denying dalits their fundamental right by
recruiting general category candidates to fill the backlog of
vacancies reserved for Dalits.

"Before my tenure comes to an end shortly, I am going to submit my
report to the President," Singh said.

He said that NCSC had already submitted a report about }a year back.
He did not indicate what the report would contain but it would deal
with issues like atrocities on dalits as also various other issues
facing the community, according to sources.


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[ZESTCaste] The buzz in Finance Ministry: a Dalit woman’s creations

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/The-buzz-in-Finance-Ministry--a-Dalit-woman-s-creations/620194\\\

The buzz in Finance Ministry: a Dalit woman's creations

Swaraj Thapa Posted online: Tue May 18 2010, 01:27 hrs
New Delhi : The next time you visit the Finance Ministry, don't forget
to take a close look at the walls in the offices of its mandarins,
from Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla's spacious room to Revenue
Secretary Sunil Mitra's chamber to Special Advisor Omita Paul's modest
space adjoining that of the Finance Minister or even that of the old
world- style meeting room.
Adorning the walls are exquisite paintings by a rather unassuming
Madhubani painter, Lalita Devi hailing from a Dalit family of national
award winners from Koilakh village in Madhubani district of north
Bihar. Each one of the finely executed paintings, which take between
two to five months of work, narrate mythological stories — of Ram
vivaha or Shiv vivaha or even those paying homage to the reigning
deity of Dalits, Raja Salhesh — in a unique style that have made
Madhubani or Mithila paintings famous.

But there is another interesting story on how the paintings came to
embellish the otherwise plain walls of the Finance Ministry. Lalita
Devi's husband Charitra Paswan is a Group C employee posted in the
Finance Secretary's office. A few years ago he overheard Sushma Nath,
then Joint Secretary in the Ministry, instructing her staff to buy
some Madhubani paintings from the upscale Cottage Emporium for her
room. Hesitatingly, he told her that his wife was a Madhubani painter,
adding that it would probably save the Ministry a lot of money if her
paintings were brought as she could be compensated with a nominal sum.

For Nath, whose job even now as Secretary (Expenditure) is to cut
government expenses, the offer made sense. And soon several paintings
were hanging in the rooms of senior Ministry officials.

Lalita Devi's work spread by word of mouth. Jairam Ramesh, then junior
minister in the Commerce Ministry, was among those who bought one of
the paintings to install it in his Udyog Bhawan office. So did RBI
Governor D Subbarao who commissioned a second one to gift it to former
Finance Secretary Adarsh Kishore when he left as Executive Director at
the World Bank. Corporate honchos who frequent the Finance Ministry
too picked up the paintings — Suzlon commissioned some for their Pune
headquarters. A couple are also hanging at Nabard's Rajendra Place
office.

"In our village in Madhubani district, almost everyone practices this
form of art. I have been doing this for the last twenty years," says
Lalita Devi, adding that eleven members in her family have received
awards. Among them four are national awardees. Her maternal uncle
Shivam Paswan and his wife Shanti Devi won the national award for
Madhubani painting in 1980. Her paternal aunt Chano Devi, an expert in
Goidana, one of the forms of Mithila painting, was awarded the
national award in 2008. Another aunt, Ramsundari Devi, received an
award from the Bihar government. Her two sisters and elder brother are
accomplished Madhubani painters.

Lalita Devi makes at least two trips a year to her village to bring
natural dyes and pass on orders she cannot cope with to the villagers.
"We use natural dyes in the same way that we have been doing for
generations," she says. For rust, it's the bark of the peepul tree,
for green the crushed leaves of the bean plant. Black, of course, is
lamp soot and blue is a mix of powdered rice and soot.

"Saffron is made from the saffron flowers and then we add
preservatives, lac from a variety of tree found locally in Madhubani
and surrounding areas, that gives permanency to the colours."

"I do get offers from abroad also to paint, but because of our
children, we are not able to go anywhere," says Lalita. The Paswans
have three school-going children, two daughters and a son. Needless to
say, all three are expert Madhubani painters.

The Madhubani form of art, originally wall and floor fresco paintings,
used to adorn fresh walls of mud homes in Mithila region and was
practised mostly by womenfolk. It was innovatively transferred onto
paper and cloth in the mid-sixties after the region suffered a drought
and sold through government handicraft shops.


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[ZESTCaste] Wells contaminated in MP village to punish Dalits

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/657217_Wells-contaminated-in-MP-village-to-punish-Dalits

Wells contaminated in MP village to punish Dalits

STAFF WRITER 21:51 HRS IST
Chhatarpur (MP), May 17 (PTI) To prevent Dalits from fetching water
from wells following an enmity related to panchayat polls in a village
near here, two upper caste men today allegedly contaminated the water
bodies by pouring kerosene into them, police said.

"Two persons, Narendra Singh and Dhiraj Singh, poured kerosene into
the wells being used by Dalits with an intention to make the water
unsafe for drinking," a police officer told reporters.

In the last panchayat election in Paye village, the candidate
supported by the Singh duo lost, leading to enmity between them and
Scheduled Caste persons. The two retaliated by pouring kerosene into
the wells, he said.

A case under ST/SC (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered,
but not arrest has been made till now by the police.

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[ZESTCaste] Torching of Dalits’ houses: 8 more held

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/torching-of-dalits-houses-8-more-held/619801/

Torching of Dalits' houses: 8 more held

C B SINGH Posted online: Mon May 17 2010, 07:58 hrs
Chandigarh : Eight more people from the Jat community have been
arrested for their alleged involvement in torching a dozen Dalit
houses at Mirchpur village of Hisar district on April 21, in which
polio-stricken Suman and his father Tarachand were burnt alive.
On Sunday, they were produced before the Hansi court and sent to jail,
said police sources. With this, the total number of those arrested in
the case has gone up to 41.

In a case registered with the local police station soon after the
torching incident, the Dalits had named 47 persons. In a fresh
complaint, they named 104 persons.

DSP Ramphal, supervising the security arrangement at Mirchpur village,
said more than 250 Haryana Armed Police personnel and local police had
been deployed for round-the-clock patrolling to infuse confidence
among the families of the victims. Strict action would be taken
against those trying to disturb law and order situation, he added.

Hisar Senior Superintendent of Police Subash Yadav said the situation
was under control and efforts to maintain peace had already been
initiated.


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[ZESTCaste] Selja hits out at khap panchayats

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Selja-hits-out-at-khap-panchayats/articleshow/5941922.cms

Selja hits out at khap panchayats
Himanshi Dhawan, TNN, May 18, 2010, 02.03am IST

NEW DELHI: Taking on powerful khap panchayats, Union tourism minister
Kumari Selja on Monday stoutly opposed changes in the Hindu Marriage
Act to accomodate the medieval views of the caste groupings that have
off late sought to intimidate mainstream political opinion.

With khap panchayats in Haryana seeking changes in law to ban same
gotra weddings, many political leaders have been muted in their views
with some like INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala seeking to milk the
sentiment. But Selja, an assertive Dalit leader, has chosen to differ
with the major Jat leaders of Haryana.

Speaking in Chandigarh, Selja also criticised the bloody clashes
between Jats and Dalits in which scheduled castes had to bear the
brunt of the violence in Haryana. She slammed the killing of Dalits in
Mirchpur that had seen Dalits having to flee from their homes.

"What are these panchayats,'' the minister countered when asked for
her opinion on self-styled guardians of caste councils. On the demand
for amending the Hindu Marriage Act, she said as far as she was
concerned the law was fine. "The law of the land is supreme. It has to
prevail,'' Selja said.

While she did not comment on party MP Navin Jindal's defence of khap
panchayats and INLD support for amending the law, the minister's
assertive stance is significant. As a Dalit woman leader she has given
voice to the rising economic profile and social aspirations of Dalits
and also challenged the deep rooted caste animosity of the Jats
towards the SCs.

Selja's comments also reflect the faultlines in the Haryana Congress
where the Union minister is opposed to chief minister B S Hooda. The
dominant faction has been keen on sidelining the minister who has,
however, been favoured by the party since she was made a junior HRD
minister during P V Narasimha Rao's tenure as PM. As an articulate
Dalit leader, she is obviously seen as an asset.

Selja also condemned last month's Mirchpur incident at Hisar in which
a disabled girl and her father were burnt alive allegedly by members
of the Jat community. Terming the incident "unfortunate and tragic'',
the minister said that it was a "rude and a sad reminder that we are
yet rise above caste considerations''.

She said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had taken a serious view of
the Mirchpur incident while party general secretary Rahul Gandhi had
visited the affected village.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits petition Collector

 

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051859130200.htm

Tamil Nadu

Dalits petition Collector

Tirupur: Dalits belonging to 153 families from Kallimedu hamlet under
Palladam Panchayat Union petitioned Collector C. Samayamoorthy seeking
better amenities to their hamlet. They complained that the house site
pattas given to them under a government scheme got cancelled under
mysterious circumstances. The residents, accompanied by C.
Govindasamy, MLA,explained to the Collector that they were given house
site pattas in 2002 by the then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa during
a function here.

The residents saidthat despite repeated representations to the
authorities concerned, steps had not been taken to improve drinking
water and road facilities in their habitation.

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[ZESTCaste] Cong OBCs, Muslims, brahmins eye RS seats

http://www.asianage.com/india/cong-obcs-muslims-brahmins-eye-rs-seats-538

Cong OBCs, Muslims, brahmins eye RS seats

May 17th, 2010 -- Age Correspondent | New Delhi

OBCs, Muslims and brahmins in the Maharashtra Congress are staking
claim to the Rajya Sabha seats suggesting that the high command should
consider non-Marathas for the Upper House this time. The chief
minister and the PCC chief are said to have advised the aspirants to
lobby hard in New Delhi rather than wasting their time in Mumbai.
The biennial election to the Rajya Sabha, also known as the Council of
States, from Maharashtra would be held next month for six seats.
The term of sitting MPs from Maharashtra — Mr Vijay Darda(Congress),
Mr Rahul Bajaj (Independent), Mr Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Mr Tariq
Anwar (NCP), Mr Sharad Joshi (Swantra Bharat Paksha) — expires in
Jully. The sixth seat, which is lying vacant, is due to the
resignation of Mr Shivraj Patil on January 21 this year following his
appointment as a governor.
Among the non-Marathas, Mr Uttamsingh Pawar (OBC), Mr Hussain Dalwai
(Muslim), Mr Anant Gadgil (brahmin) are aspiring for RS nominations.
Mr Pawar, who had earlier won the Lok Sabha elections twice since
1996, lost the 2009 election from Aurangabad because of the Maratha
factor. The majority community had voted in favour of an Independent
candidate who was never in politics. The case of Mr Dalwai is
different. He was the MLC when he joined the Congress, became minister
but then failed to get the party nomination for the state legislature
or Parliament. Mr Gadgil has been the PCC spokesperson but continues
to be isolated. He is a traditional Congressman. His father, the late
V.N. Gadgil, had occupied different positions in the party and was the
Union minister while his grandfather N.V. Gadgil was the freedom
fighter and had worked with Jawaharlal Nehru. But despite this legacy,
Mr Gadgil remained out of power for long.
According to sources, chief minister Ashok Chavan is pressing for
former MP Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, a known loyalist of the late S.B.
Chavan. But insiders held him responsible for the defeat of
Congress-NCP backed Independent candidate Ramdas Athavale from the
Shirdi Lok Sabha seat last year. Besides, he had joined the Shiv Sena
and became Union minister in the Vajpayee government.
Among women, former MP and Mahila Congress leader Rajani Patil too is
considered a strong aspirant for the Upper House. But she too became a
BJP MP.
The Congress can win two seats of the total six this time.


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[ZESTCaste] Singhi Ram’s wife moves NCSC against Virbhadra

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Singhi-Ram-s-wife-moves-NCSC-against-Virbhadra/620290

Singhi Ram's wife moves NCSC against Virbhadra
Express News Service Posted online: Tue May 18 2010, 04:44 hrs
Shimla : Former Congress minister Singhi Ram has dragged his estranged
mentor and Union Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh to the National
Commission of Schedules Castes, levelling charges of atrocities and
undue harassment to him because he is a Dalit.
In his compliant filed on May 12, Singhi Ram's wife Giani Devi, who
teaches in a government school, has alleged that though her husband
has been a Cabinet minister the Virbhadra Singh government, he has
been subjected to harassment and mental torture by the then chief
minister.

"First he (Virbhadra Singh) tried to get the Rampur Assembly
constituency, which Singhi Ram had represented for five times,
de-reserved by the Delimitation Commission. But when he failed to do
this, he denied ticket to him (Singhi Ram) in the 2007 elections," she
alleged. Singhi Ram, who faces a vigilance case involving him and his
daughter Upma Kashyap in the fake marksheet scandal of HP Board of
School Education, had earlier said the Union minister had framed him
in the case.

In the five-page complaint, copies of which were made available to the
media here, Giani Devi said IPS officer A P Singh, currently on
deputation with Virbhadra Singh as his private secretary, was
responsible for registration of the fake marksheet case against her
daughter. Singh was SP (Vigilance) when the case was filed. Virbhadra
Singh, who was travelling in the interiors of Shimla on Monday, could
not be contacted for his reaction. He had, however, earlier denied
Singhi Ram's allegations on his role in the denial of ticket to him or
filing of the FIR.


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[ZESTCaste] The Persistence of Caste

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-persistence-of-caste

15 May 2010

The Persistence of Caste

From Buddha to Ambedkar, some of our most outstanding minds have tried
to fight caste. Why doesn't it go away, and why are we so afraid to
take note of it?


BY Hartosh Singh Bal EMAIL AUTHOR(S)

The Out-caste is a by-product of the Caste-system. There will be
out-castes as long as there are castes. Nothing can emancipate the
Out-caste except the destruction of the Caste-system. —BR Ambedkar

I do not believe the caste system, even as distinguished from
Varnashram, to be an 'odious and vicious dogma'. It has its
limitations and its defects, but there is nothing sinful about it, as
there is about untouchability… —Mahatma Gandhi

Commenting on the recent decision of the Indian Government to allow a
caste census, a newspaper editorial thundered, 'The point is, in
modern India, must the state impose questions of caste identity on
individuals?' Caste, it assumes, is the very antithesis of 'modern'
India. Certainly, it seems that at the level of public discourse,
Ambedkar has won the debate with Gandhi handily. We now believe that
the caste system and untouchability are synonymous.

This argument has been pushed to its logical conclusion by those such
as Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A
South African of Indian origin, she is currently making the case for
an international legislation that places caste discrimination on par
with racism: 'Caste is the very negation of the human rights
principles of equality and non-discrimination. It condemns individuals
from birth and their communities to a life of exploitation, violence,
social exclusion and segregation… The time has come to eradicate the
shameful concept of caste. Other seemingly insurmountable walls, such
as slavery and apartheid, have been dismantled in the past. We can and
must tear down the barriers of caste too.'

For her, as for Ambedkar, the concept of caste and caste
discrimination are interchangeable ideas. It is difficult to fault
such language because it is received wisdom in our times of political
correctness. But consider the evidence of what has transpired in
'modern' India since Independence. Caste is as entrenched as ever.
Increased urbanisation has done nothing to challenge it, but despite
severe drawbacks, more has been achieved in the battle against
untouchability over the past 63 years than was ever managed in the
thousands of years of history leading up to 15 August 1947. If
Ambedkar was accurate in his assessment, this would be difficult to
explain. Is there then something to be said for the case Gandhi made?
Is there a resilience to caste, whether we like it or not, that goes
beyond untouchability?

CASTE SANS UNTOUCHABILITY

The history of the battle against untouchability doesn't start with
Ambedkar or Navi Pillay. It goes back at least two millennia to the
Buddha, who saw no connection between caste and the quest for
spiritual liberation. Much the same was the view of the Sikh Gurus in
medieval times. They went a step further in their attempt to eradicate
untouchability, insisting on inter-dining at the gurdwara langar. To
sit and eat together was to undermine the very basis of
untouchability.

Unlike Navi Pillay, the Gurus clearly did not equate untouchability
with the caste system in its entirety. As Hew McLeod, one of the
foremost scholars of Sikhism, notes, '…all the Gurus were Khatris (a
Punjabi urban trading caste)… All the Gurus married their own children
in strict accordance with caste prescriptions...The Gurus, to put it
another way, were opposed to the vertical distinctions of caste, but
accepted it in terms of its horizontal linkages.' McLeod had concluded
that they were not 'opposed to caste in all its aspects. To have
adopted this point of view would have meant dissolving the glue which
bonded Indian society together so firmly'. Admittedly, he was writing
of the Gurus, and he had to tread carefully, but with this statement
we are not very far from what Gandhi had once asserted.

MANAGING DIVERSITY

Indian society has a peculiar feature that marks it out from every
other in the world. It is self-similar at various levels of
organisation. Each region, each town, in fact each village retains
much of the diversity that marks India out as a nation. Different
customs, different food habits, different modes of clothing, even
different ways of speaking coexist in one village, and this is
mediated through the existence of different communities that we term
jatis.

A jati is loosely defined by the group that one can marry into.
Through the ties of marriage, a jati is a community tied together by
common customs, festivals and deities that marks it out from other
jatis and also determines its interactions with other such groups. Our
diversity is just another description for this system of jatis, which
is what the census is expected to enumerate.

Octavio Paz has written of the great encounters of Islam with other
major civilisations. He cited three cases: Spain, Byzantium and India.
In Spain, Islam was eventually expelled from the region, in
Byzantium's case, Islam triumphed eventually removing all traces of
another civilisation, and only in India has coexistence been possible.
And the reason for this coexistence is simple: in practical day-to-day
matters, India's Muslims are treated by the Hindu majority as just
another jati.

After all, much like interaction between jatis, the interaction
between Muslims and non-Muslims is based on precisely the tolerance of
differing customs, festivals and food with norms laid out for
inter-dining. However imperfect this may be in practice, it is still
far better than what has been achieved anywhere else in the world.
Shorn of untouchability, caste may be one possible way in which
diversity is managed. It is thus no surprise that caste, not
modernity, has been the biggest bulwark against the Bharatiya Janata
Party's rise to power. Only in states such as Gujarat, where they have
achieved a very modern consolidation of identity under the guise of an
invented 'Hindutva', have they managed to achieve lasting political
success.

In fact, when we start hearing of the discourse of multiculturalism in
the West, of the 'salad bowl' as a metaphor for what was once the
'melting pot', it bears some thinking about how similar this idea is
to the jatis that we take for granted.

JATIS AND VARNA

This practical situation goes hand-in-hand with the theological
construction of the Varnashram of the Manusmriti, with its four-fold
hierarchical nature of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. In
actual fact, the hierarchy of jatis never actually matches the
Varnashram hierarchy, but it is only through the Varnashram that
untouchability is justified. Yet, as the example of Sikhism goes to
show, the existence of jatis, and hence the caste system, is possible
without untouchability as sanctified by the Varnashram.

Shorn of the theological support lent by the idea of varna (literally,
colour), there is nothing in the system of jatis that can shore up
untouchability, which then remains only as a remembered habit. But the
jatis continue to exist nevertheless. In confusing the two, the task
of fighting untouchability and caste discrimination is unwittingly
made harder. It is possible to legislate against untouchability and
obtain success, however slowly, but there is no way to legislate
against the existence of jatis or the caste system itself, however
much the Navi Pillays of this world may argue otherwise. The only
practical means by which jatis can be broken down is by widespread
inter-caste marriages, but are we expected to declare all marriages
within a caste illegal?

This, of course, does not mean that hierarchies don't exist, or they
don't impose terrible injustices and cruelty, but these can be
addressed by actually intervening to alter the circumstances of
interaction between jatis, not by pretending that castes don't exist
or that they are inherently odious or shameful. And to do so, we do
need to know some hard facts about jatis on the ground, which is where
the census comes in.

COUNTING CASTES

It is to be expected that enumeration of jatis will be difficult; it
will be an incomplete and at times contradictory project, given the
complexity of the phenomenon it hopes to document. But this data,
however haphazard, will still be an enormous improvement over the
current situation where we hazard guesses on the basis of imperfect
80-year-old data or sometimes no data at all.

Those who oppose the census seemingly do so with the best of
intentions; they claim to feel ashamed that such an 'odious' system
still survives, and then suggest that by taking note of it, we
actually help perpetuate it. But a lot of this is sophisticated
semantic hogwash. Just because categories are ill-defined, or the
boundaries between them unclear and at times overlapping, does not
mean the categories do not exist.

The current discourse pitches the caste-system as antithesis of
'modernity'. It is easy to see where the borrowed ideas of our
academics trained in the West spring from, and what they conceal. In
1955, Ram Manohar Lohia, one of the most perceptive observers of our
politics and a crusader against caste, wrote, 'Whether any faulty
thinking such as bodily taking over of European thought, capitalist or
communist, will arrest the process of loosening of castes into classes
is more than I can say… A caste structure may emerge in which the
political party, the managerial class and the professional class are
all fixed in their superior places and the rest of the populace is
divided up into hierarchical groups of a lower order.'

The opposition to the caste census is confined principally to a few in
these 'superior places', and we are left with the odd sight of new
Brahmins calling for us to move beyond caste. Taking note of jatis is
not going to make the situation any worse, just as ignoring them for
the past 80 years has not made them wither, as even the case of some
far more perceptive observers of caste illustrates. In 2003, on
Lohia's death anniversary, the then Governor of Jharkhand Ved Marwah
attended a function in Ranchi to endorse the Lohiate vision of a
casteless and classless society. The function was organised by
Jharkhand Vaishya Samaj, members of Lohia's caste who felt he had been
unjustly forgotten by everyone else!


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[ZESTCaste] Sonia takes on Maya, accuses her of bias

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Sonia-takes-on-Maya-accuses-her-of-bias/Article1-544999.aspx

Sonia takes on Maya, accuses her of bias

HT Correspondent

Rae Bareli, May 17, 2010


Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the Mayawati
government in Uttar Pradesh of handing out step-motherly treatment to
Lok Sabha constituencies Rae Bareli and Amethi, from where she and
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi have been elected.

Arriving on a three-day tour of her constituency, the Congress chief
was flooded with complaints of corruption in implementation of central
government schemes, issuance of BPL cards, erratic power supply and
inadequate drinking water.

At many places local people waited on both sides of the road to see
her despite the scorching heat. About 100 women approached her at one
place with placards demanding improvement in the power supply. "We
want power," said slogans on the placards.

This might have prompted Sonia Gandhi to launch attacks on the state
government, though she refrained from naming Mayawati. "The state
government should take care of the problem," Sonia said.

Her criticism of the state government came about a week after Mayawati
charged the Congress-led UPA government with not cooperating with her
government. "We all will have to collectively monitor implementation
of development projects to ensure their success. The biggest
responsibility to implement the projects rests with the state
government. But you all know about their attitude towards Rae Bareli
and Amethi," Sonia Gandhi told party workers after inaugurating a
sub-post office here.

"The Centre sends thousands of crores to the state government to
implement development schemes. It is your responsibility to ensure
that benefits of these schemes reach the people. This will strengthen
the Congress," she said.


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[ZESTCaste] No funds till maya shows up at meet: plan panel

http://www.hindustantimes.com/No-funds-till-maya-shows-up-at-meet-plan-panel/Article1-545003.aspx

No funds till maya shows up at meet: plan panel

Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 17, 2010


The Planning Commission has decided to send a stern message to Chief
Ministers, who choose to remain absent from meetings to finalise their
states' annual plan.

The Planning Commission refused to finalise Uttar Pradesh's annual
plan without the presence of state chief minister Mayawati and has
postponed the meeting for the same slated for Tuesday.

Mayawati has not attended a single annual plan meeting in her three
years of being Chief Minister. In her absence, chief secretaries had
represented the state and the panel by member in-charge of the state
B.K. Chaturvedi.

Chief ministers of almost all states attend the meetings called by
panel's deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia to finalise the
annual plans. In the last two months, CM of over 12 states has
finalised annual plans with Ahluwalia.

This principle, of course, has not been applicable to Uttar Pradesh.
This time, Ahluwalia is keen to finalise the annual plan for UP. The
panel has already worked out a development plan for state poorest
region, Bhundelkhand.

The UPA-2 is keen to fasten the pace of development in UP, from where
21 Congress MPs were elected in 2009 general elections. The Congress
is looking at improving its performance in the assembly elections
slated for 2013.

According to panel officials, the commission has indicated to the UP
government that it would like presence of its CM for the meeting
saying even veteran leaders such as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
Karunanidhi have attended the meetings.

Officials also said that no new date has been fixed for the meeting as
the panel was awaiting a response from the state government. The
Central assistance to UP for 2010-11 is expected to be over Rs 20,000
crore.


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[ZESTCaste] Sonia slams Mayawati on lack of development in Uttar Pradesh

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sonia-slams-mayawatilackdevelopment-in-uttar-pradesh/395310/

Sonia slams Mayawati on lack of development in Uttar Pradesh

BS Reporter / New Delhi May 18, 2010, 1:42 IST

With Union Budget 2010-11 passed in Parliament defeating an united
opposition, and with no legislative agenda for the next two months,
the Congress today trained its gun on arch rival Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP) on its turf, Uttar Pradesh (UP).

This time, the attack came from none other than Sonia Gandhi,
president of the Congress party.

During a trip to Rae Bareli, her Lok Sabha constituency, Sonia Gandhi
slammed UP Chief Minister and BSP leader Mayawati for "misrule and
lack of development". The state is slated to go for elections in 2012.

The Congress, during the past few elections have maintained to go solo
and fight Mayawati's BSP, Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP)
and the BJP simultaneously.

It may be recalled that during a vote on the Budget, when the Left,
the BJP and other parties had brought a cut motion against fuel price
hike, the SP and the RJD staged a walkout weakening the Opposition
strength and the BSP supported the government to pass the demands for
grants of the Budget.

Today, on the first day of her visit, Sonia Gandhi was faced with
angry protestors suffering from massive power cuts in her
constituency. Her convoy was stopped by large groups of angry
villagers on the way to Dalmau. Rae Bareli has been experiencing 10
hours of power cut almost every day, as the state reels from a power
deficit of 1,351 million units. The Congress president heard out the
grievances of the protestors.

Soon, she took up the issue of development to launch an attack on
Mayawati. She said: "A sorry state of affairs continues in the largest
electoral state." She alleged that despite the Centre's liberal
assistance, money was not being spent for development programmes.
"Though the Centre is providing crores of rupees to the state for
development and welfare schemes, I have been told that the people of
UP still face problems of shortage of seeds, fertiliser and potable
water," she said at a party workers' meet.

Taking a dig at Mayawati's repeated allegations that the Centre
treated UP in a step-motherly manner, Sonia Gandhi said: "Everyone
knows how the state government treats Rae Bareli and Amethi."


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[ZESTCaste] Samajwadi Party accuses rival BSP of patronising criminals

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/samajwadi-party-accuses-rival-bsp-of-patronising-criminals/620339/

Samajwadi Party accuses rival BSP of patronising criminals
Express News Service Posted: May 18, 2010 at 0613 hrs

Lucknow Dubbing the recent drive of the BSP to expel leaders with
tainted records as an eyewash, the Samajwadi Party accused the
Mayawati government on Monday of patronising criminals.
The party claimed that criminals, with backing from the BSP, were
dominating all spheres of life in Uttar Pradesh — particularly the
contracts for development works awarded by government departments.
"Chief Minister Mayawati's claim that her party has been cleansed of
criminals lacks conviction. On the contrary, the ruling BSP has become
the safe heaven for criminals and anti-social elements, who are being
patronised by the chief minister herself," Leader of Opposition
Shivpal Singh Yadav. The state's polity can never be cleansed of
criminals until and unless the BSP government is dislodged from
office, he added.

Daring Mayawati to reveal the names of the 500 so called leaders who
have been expelled from the BSP, Yadav said: "If there is an iota of
truth in the chief minister's claim, then Mayawati should reveal the
names of the expelled leaders. The details of the criminal cases
lodged against them as well as the names of the police stations where
the cases are lodged should also be made public."

Yadav alleged that several ministers and BSP MLAs were indulging in
criminal acts like grabbing the land and property of others.
History-sheeters, including BSP legislators D P Yadav, Jitendra Singh
Babloo, Shekhar Tiwari and several others were still in the party, he
added.


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