Thursday, May 20, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Interrogating caste

 

http://bihartimes.com/Newsbihar/2010/May/Newsbihar19May3.html

Interrogating caste

A 'Kayastha Christian'

By A.J. Philip

"WHAT is your caste?" bluntly asked a colleague soon after I joined
the English daily The Searchlight at Patna as Assistant Editor over 30
years ago. I had heard that Bihar was the hotbed of casteism but I was
not prepared for this question so soon after reaching the state. I
gathered my wits and told him, "I am a Syrian Christian from Kerala.
To be more specific, I belong to the Mar Thoma Church".

His facial expression suggested that he was not satisfied with my
answer. He asked me a series of questions about Syrian Christians. I
told him that we trace our ancestry to Mar Thoma (Saint Thomas), a
disciple of Jesus Christ, who came to Kerala in the first century and
converted a few Brahmins, centuries before Christianity reached the
shores of Britain. Until then he believed it was the British who
brought Christianity to India

I also told him that, over the centuries, people from other castes
also got converted and it was difficult to find out the original
castes of individual Syrian Christians. Far from enlightening my
colleague, my clarification only confused him.

I remembered one Christmas in Bhopal when a Brahmin neighbor visited
us to "share the joy of Christmas". My wife had prepared a lot of
South Indian delicacies besides plum cake and we served it to him.

I noticed his reluctance to taste any of the food items. When my wife
tried to persuade him to eat, he asked me, "Are you a converted
Christian?" I understood the import of his question. So I gave him a
mischievous, though correct, answer, "All Christians in India are
converted Christians. Even Emperor Constantine was converted".
Immediately he left my house without touching the food.

Years ago, my friend K. Raveendran, who is now a senior journalist in
Dubai, and I used to tease a Brahmin panwallah who had a kiosk in
front of Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission office. We noticed
that he sat slightly away from the counter and would never hand over
cigarettes or pan to the customer. Instead, he would leave it on a
steel plate. The customer was also expected to leave the money on the
plate. We realized he was practicing "untouchability", a punishable
offence.

So every time we bought cigarette or gave him cash, we would make it a
point to touch him. He could not do anything except murmur. We also
noticed that after we left the counter, he would wash his hands. No,
my Searchlight colleague was not a practitioner of untouchability. His
only interest was to place me somewhere in the Hindu caste order and
accord me the status I "deserved".

Since my answers were all confusing, he himself solved the problem,
"You are a journalist, a lover of the written word. So reading and
writing is your profession. This means you are a Kayastha, for reading
and writing come naturally to Kayasthas. So I will treat you as a
Kayastha".

He was happy to find in me a country cousin, for he himself was a
Srivastava Kayastha (Later, I learnt that the Srivastavas had broken
away from the Kayasthas who were patwaris -- keepers of village
records -- because the latter had earned a bad name for chicanery).
And to boost my morale, he told me Amitabh Bachchan and Gen S.K. Sinha
were Kayasthas.

I realized how well-entrenched casteism was when he told me that The
Searchlight was a den of Bhumihars, for the News Editor, the Chief
Reporter, the only Special Correspondent, the Crime Reporter and the
Sports Editor were all Bhumihars. "I am told the Editor, who is a
Khatri from undivided Punjab, is also some sort of a Bhumihar".

When I asked him about the origin of Bhumihars, he had no clue. I did
some research and found that Bhumihars trace their origin to
Parashuram, a Brahmin who took up arms. So Bhumihars claim to be both
warriors and Brahmins. Soon, I would tell my Bhumihar colleagues that
it was a Bhumihar who created my home state. They would not
understand, till I solved the riddle for them. It is believed that the
land of Kerala was formed when Parashuram threw his axe into the
Arabian Sea and the water got displaced.

There is an equally interesting story about the origin of caste.
According to the Purusaukta legend, the Brahmins and Kshatriyas
emerged from the head and shoulders, respectively of Purusa, the
primeval being. Consequently, they merit high-caste status. The same
legend goes on to say that the lowly Shudras deservedly occupy a
subordinate position because they were born from Purusa's feet.

Anyway, I began to take an interest in studying the phenomenon of
caste without which it was impossible to understand Bihar politics.
Before long, my colleagues began to admire my knowledge of caste,
though I had, by then, inculcated the bad habit of finding out the
caste of every person I dealt with. I am not sure whether the
knowledge influenced any of my decisions.

When The Searchlight was wound up and The Hindustan Times was started
in its place, I was instrumental in recruiting and training many new
staff. One of the persons I recruited happened to be a bright
postgraduate student.

It was incidental that he belonged to a backward caste. But when he
started working, most of my colleagues would warn me against the
danger of recruiting such a person. "Mr Philip, you have only bookish
knowledge about caste. You will regret your decision to recruit him".
This was their refrain. They could not appreciate the fact that a
backward caste person could also be an English journalist! To cut the
story short, I was forced to change my decision as the candidate
concerned got embroiled in a criminal case.

Those days, reporting of elections was never complete without an
analysis of the caste composition in particular constituencies. I
wondered on what basis reporters gave figures of Brahmins, Bhumihars,
Rajputs, Yadavs, Kurmis etc in a constituency for the decennial census
did not count castes. It was my friend Ambikanand Sahay, then of The
Statesman, who elucidated me on this.

"The last time caste details were collected was in the 1931 census. So
if the census said 20 per cent of the population comprised Bhumihars,
the percentage would remain the same even after several decades", he
explained. So the caste figures were all 'guesstimates'. They
overlooked factors like vivisection of districts and constituencies,
migration of people etc since 1931. In other words, imaginary caste
figures substituted for real figures which nobody knew.

During the freedom struggle, many of the national leaders opposed the
caste-based census on the ground that it perpetuated caste identities
and divided the Indian society. They saw it as part of the
divide-and-rule policy of the British. So when India became
independent, founders of the Constitution were vehement in their
decision not to encourage caste feelings and caste divisions.

The Dalits, also called Harijans (children of God), and Adivasis were
a different ball game. Having suffered deprivation and oppression for
centuries, they could not be considered equals to the people belonging
to the upper castes. They needed special care to bring them on a par
with the rest of the people.

That is why reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
was introduced, initially for ten years. It has now become a ritual to
extend the period of reservation every time it ends. Even after 60
years of reservation, they are still not able to fill up all the
vacancies reserved for them in the Central and state governments. But
whether the children of IAS and IPS parents should also get the
benefit of reservation is a moot question.

In our constitutional resolve to banish casteism, the Constitution
even fights shy of mentioning the word "caste". For instance, it
approves of affirmative action in favour of socially and educationally
backward classes (not castes). But did casteism go away? I was in
Patna when there were frequent changes of chief minister. Every time a
Brahmin like Jagannath Mishra or a Rajput like Satyendra Narain Sinha
would be made Chief Minister and a popular leader like Ram Lakhan
Singh Yadav would be overlooked.

This underwent a change when the backward castes like Yadavs and
Kurmis realized that they had enough numbers to send the likes of
Mishra to political wilderness. Then came V.P. Singh as Prime
Minister. There are many reasons why he dusted the Mandal Commission
report and announced its implementation -- to fight Devi Lal who was
planning a massive demonstration against VP and to earn a name for
himself in history.

The decision upset the upper castes. A little bird told me that the
lady IAS officer, a Rajput, could not control her tears when she
signed the gazette notification implementing the Mandal Commission
recommendation. She was a Secretary to the Government of India.

While the government conceded the demand of reservation to the
backward castes, it did not know how many castes were there or how
many people belonged to them. But in our resolve to "fight casteism,"
we decided not to take any caste census. The myth that castes divided
people was perpetuated little realizing that it was religion, not
caste, that led to Partition. But that did not prevent the nation from
conducting, as usual, religion-based census.

Those who demanded inclusion of caste in the census were looked down
upon as relics of the past. That was till the last session of
Parliament when not just parties led by the three Yadavs -- Lalu,
Mulayam and Sharad -- but even those like the BJP demanded inclusion
of caste in the census.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram's argument that it would be impossible to
collect the caste data -- there are thousands of castes and sub-castes
-- did not find favour with the members who insisted on inclusion of
caste in the 2011 census. Less than 24 hours later, Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee announced the government's decision to concede the
demand.

While a proper Cabinet decision in this regard is awaited, the entire
political class which exploits caste for political ends needs to be
blamed for the possible throwback to the dark periods of our history
when caste identity mattered more than all other identities. Whether
the backward castes among Christians and Muslims, who enjoy the
benefit of reservation in some states, would also be counted remains
to be seen.

Unlike in the past when lower castes aspired to move up the caste
ladder through a process known as Sanskritisation, the trend is now in
the opposite direction. Eager as everyone is to get the benefit of
reservation, "the Patidars of Gujarat who earlier claimed Kshatriya
(Rajput) status, now claim Vaishya (Baniya) status, thus preferring a
category which orthodoxy would hierarchize below the Kshatriya order".
(Interrogating Caste, Penguin, Page 78). Little surprise, the Gujjars
of Rajasthan want themselves to be declared a Scheduled Caste!

Come to think of it, in the early years of the 20th century, social
reformer Sree Narayana Guru, who belonged to the Ezhava caste,
organized a powerful campaign against casteism in the state. He coined
the evocative slogan, "One Caste, One Religion, One God". He also
exhorted the people, "Ask not, Say not, Think not Caste".

Eight decades after his Samadhi, enumerators would be visiting every
household in the country with that question which Guru despised and
which my Searchlight colleague asked 30 years ago, "What is your
caste?"

(Courtesy: www.heraldofindia.com)

The writer can be reached at ajphilip@yahoo.com

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[ZESTCaste] Magazine condemns Brahmanical order, Mayawati orders probe

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/magazine-condemns-brahmanical-order-mayawati-orders-probe_100366537.html

Magazine condemns Brahmanical order, Mayawati orders probe
May 19th, 2010 - 9:46 pm ICT by IANS -

Lucknow, May 19 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday
ordered a probe after a Hindi monthly, patronised by the ruling
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), published an article condemning various
Hindu rituals and Brahmanical practices.
The May issue of the periodical has also made alleged derogatory
references to temples, Vedas, Upanishads and Ramayana.

Even Mahatma Gandhi has not been spared and referred to as "enemy of
Dalits" while Hindu religion has been dubbed a "slur on human values".

Published from Jaunpur, the journal is titled "Ambedkar Today", whose
calendars can be seen hanging in every senior bureaucrats' office in
the state secretariat here.

Even though the magazine has been in publication for more than five
years, it became one of the journals patronised by the BSP. This
fetched the magazine government advertisements worth crores of rupees.

The Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will
probe the case.

Meanwhile, a government release said the magazine editor, Rajiv Ratan,
a close kin of senior BSP leader Paras Nath Maurya, did not know about
the offending article.

"When we made inquiries from the editor, he claimed the article had
gone into print without his knowledge as it was not physically
possible for him to go through every article," said an official
release.

"The editor adds that he would not have allowed the article to be
published in case he had the opportunity to take a look at it," it
said.

The editor also feigned ignorance about the mention of the names of
several prominent BSP ministers in the list of patrons of the
magazine.

These are Naseeuddin Siddiqui, Babu Singh Kushwaha, Swami Prasad
Maurya and Paras Nath Maurya.


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[ZESTCaste] BJP will replace Maya's statues with Ram's: Varun

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Lucknow/BJP-will-replace-Mayas-statues-with-Rams-Varun/articleshow/5951195.cms

BJP will replace Maya's statues with Ram's: Varun
TNN, May 20, 2010, 04.46am IST

LUCKNOW: Known for courting controversies with his no-holds-barred
statements, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Wednesday made yet another stinging
remark. The firebrand leader said that if BJP comes to power after
2012 assembly elections, it would replace all statutes of chief
minister Mayawati installed in Lucknow with idols of Lord Rama. Varun
was in the city to take part in the function organised by BJP to
welcome its newly-appointed state president Surya Pratap Shahi.

Varun came along with BJP's national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi for the event got only few minutes to speak as he had to catch a
flight to Delhi. However, even in the limited time, he made the remark
which might create a new controversy. He also said that the BJP will
win the 2012 elections under the leadership of new state president and
would pay back for atrocities unleashed on BJP workers.

Other leaders who addressed the gathering also slammed BSP government.
However, Vinay Katiyar said that that though his young party colleague
friend wants to replace Mayawati's statue with that of Lord Rama but
in his view the best place for the Lord is in Ayodhya. Though reeling
under internal bickering, state leaders tried to put up a united face
on the occasion.

Earlier, Shahi was accorded a grand welcome after arrival. He came to
Lucknow from Delhi by road. Shahi said that he will stop the practice
of touching feet of leaders in the party and would work together to
pull down the Maya government. He appealed party leaders and workers
to stop infighting and gear up for the fight ahead.

BJP national vice-president Kalraj Mishra, outgoing state president
Ramapati Ram Tripathi, BJP MP from Lucknow Lalji Tandon and BJP
Legislature Party leader in state assembly Om Prakash Singh Singh also
congratulated Shahi on the occasion and hoped that under his
leadership BJP will rise against in UP.

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[ZESTCaste] Pro-BSP magzine ridicules Hindu rituals

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Pro-BSP-magzine-ridicules-Hindu-rituals/articleshow/5951396.cms

Pro-BSP magzine ridicules Hindu rituals
IANS, May 20, 2010, 03.09am IST

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday ordered a
probe after a Hindi monthly, patronized by the ruling BSP, published
an article condemning various Hindu rituals and Brahmanical practices.

The May issue of the periodical has also made alleged derogatory
references to temples, Vedas, Upanishads and Ramayana. Even Mahatma
Gandhi has not been spared and referred to as "enemy of Dalits" while
Hindu religion has been dubbed a "slur on human values".

Published from Jaunpur, the journal is titled "Ambedkar Today", whose
calendars can be seen hanging in every senior bureaucrat's office in
the state secretariat in Luckow.

Even though the magazine has been in publication for more than five
years, it became one of the journals patronised by the BSP.

This fetched the magazine government advertisements worth crores of
rupees. The Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department will
probe the case. Meanwhile, a government release said the magazine
editor, Rajiv Ratan, a close kin of senior BSP leader Paras Nath
Maurya, did not know about the offending article.

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[ZESTCaste] UP orders probe, seizure of magazine

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/article433739.ece


Published: May 19, 2010 20:12 IST | Updated: May 19, 2010 20:12 IST
LUCKNOW, May 19, 2010

UP orders probe, seizure of magazine
Special Correspondent

The Mayawati Government has ordered a inquiry by the Crime Branch of
CID (CB-CID) into an article published in the latest edition of a news
magazine, " Ambedkar Today", which contained derogatory references
liable to hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community. The
article was carried in the May edition of the magazine.

The Government has also ordered the seizure of the copies of the
magazine and has directed the district magistrate of Jaunpur to
initiate proceedings for cancelling the title of the magazine.
According to an official spokesman, the CB-CID probe was ordered at
the behest of the magazine's editor, who suspected a conspiracy behind
the move to publish the controversial article.

"Ambedkar Today" is considered to be the mouth piece of the ruling
Bahujan Samaj Party, but the publication of the article, which
contained objectionable references towards Hindu religion, was
reportedly not taken kindly by a section of party men. The magazine's
editor is a close relative of a senior BSP functionary holding the
rank of a Minister of State.

In response to a show cause notice issued by the State Government, the
editor admitted that the article contained objectionable and
derogatory references towards a particular religion. Feigning
ignorance about how the article was published, the editor said since
he has not been keeping well it was not possible for him to monitor
each and every story that goes for print. Expressing regrets, the
editor said had he seen the article it would not have been published.

Interestingly, some senior BSP ministers are the patrons of the
magazine, which was also entitled for a regular supply of government
advertisements, due to their influence. The controversial article is
said to have been written by one Ashwini Kumar Shakya of Morena
district in Madhya Pradesh.


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[ZESTCaste] Casting dreams (Ashok Malik)

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/dc-comment/casting-dreams-280

Casting dreams
By By Ashok Malik
May 20 2010

At one level, the idea of a caste enumeration of Indians is extremely
persuasive. For better or worse, many social welfare schemes, such as
those offering reservations in government jobs and in educational
institutions, adopt caste parameters. As such, counting how many
belong to which caste, and which sub-castes or families benefit from
the quota system more than others, would seem fair and useful.

The question is should this task be meshed with the Census? Would it
be better if individual states did their own assessments of other
backward caste (OBC) communities? Every state has a different OBC
list. An OBC in state X may be a non-OBC in state Y. The Union
government, when it comes to its reservation matrix, has a still
separate classification of OBCs. As such, is a national count of OBCs
— as part of a national count of Indians, which is what the Census is
— the best route to follow?

There is one other factor. The Census is a collation of voluntarily
offered information, which is not contested. However, to ascertain
whether an individual is an OBC or otherwise is not as simple a
process. It is necessarily investigative and interrogative. In the
absence of pre-defined metrics, it is likely that a very large number
of people will declare themselves OBC in the hope of benefiting from
quotas. Of course, this will later be challenged and fraudulent claims
will be weeded out. Yet, the government is inviting a problem upon
itself.

Indeed, it is astonishing the decision to include a caste or at least
an OBC count in the 2011 Census has been taken without adequate public
debate. There has been no wider consultation on not just the
desirability and long-term implications of such a count but, more
important, on the methodology.

Is self-declaration of one's caste the solution? If so, this can be
decidedly tricky. Take the history of Punjabi khatris, a community to
which the Prime Minister of India belongs. Understanding and studying
the origins of Punjab khatris has long been a passion for Rajesh
Kochhar, a former government scientist who now lives in Chandigarh. I
first interviewed Kochhar about a decade ago on an entirely unrelated
matter. After the formal questions and answers were over, we got
chatting. He quizzed me on my surname and family background and
correctly surmised that I too was a Punjabi khatri. In his spare time
he was researching the community, he said, and attempting to trace its
history and migration patterns.

Some years later, Kochhar sent me the draft of a long essay ("On the
origin of the Punjabi khatris"), which he later published on his
website. The essay has an interesting and, given today's context,
pertinent reference to the Census process of the late 19th century and
how it affected Punjabi khatris. In 1885, the British — "with their
fetish for classification", writes Kochhar — decided to fit all Indian
castes into the old framework of four varnas.

A field survey was carried out, cataloguing manners, customs, rituals
and marriage practices of various tribes, castes and sub-castes.
Supervising the project was H.H. Risley, a civil servant posted in
Bengal. In 1891, he published his findings as The Tribes and Castes of
Bengal. Risley was rather dismissive of the khatris: "If… it is at all
necessary to connect the khatris with the ancient fourfold system of
castes, the only group to which we can affiliate them is the
vaishyas".

This led to an uproar. Khatris saw themselves as kshatriyas. Soon the
matter was politicised. The ruling dynasty of Burdwan was Punjabi,
having descended from a family of Kapoors that migrated to Bengal in
the 17th century. The Kapoors were khatris. One of their opponents was
"one Babu Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, MA". He was charged with
influencing Risley's conclusions and humiliating khatris.

Remedial action had to be taken. In June 1901, Raja Banbihari Kapoor,
a courtier of the Maharaja of Burdwan, chaired a three-day conference
in Bareilly of "more than 400 representatives of the numerous khatri
sabhas, committees and associations scattered over the country". Here,
he accused Bhattacharya of "a personal grudge against the Burdwan
Raj".

Khatris are also found in large numbers in modern Uttar Pradesh. In
the build-up to the 1901 Census, this province became the battleground
for khatri mobilisation. Census officials were petitioned and offered
reams of documents making the case that khatris could not possibly be
classified as vaishyas.

The result was anti-climactic. The authorities sought to put khatris,
kurmis and kayasthas in a new group: "Castes allied to kshatriyas who
are considered to be of high social standing, though their claim is
not universally admitted". For the khatris, this was a nightmare. As
Kochhar writes, they believed they were entitled to straightforward
upper caste status because, traditionally, their Saraswat Brahmin
purohits "accepted not only uncooked food but also cooked food from
khatris".

Today, the entire episode may seem comic but it would be worth posing
a counterfactual. What if the British proposal of 1901 had gone
through and khatris and kurmis been classified as related/similar
castes? Three-quarters of a century later, would that have made
khatris part of the OBC collective in North India? Would that have
made Manmohan Singh a Mandalite Prime Minister? Would it have entitled
me, and my children, to OBC quotas?

There is a broader issue here. Each caste has its own mythology, its
own cherished and sometimes overstated beliefs and its individual
sense of where it stands in a caste hierarchy that is more or less
unique to it. This is a dynamic process and changes from time to time,
given social and economic conditions. After Partition, refugees from
both west Punjab and east Bengal "changed" their caste and
manufactured new, "higher" identities. What if they choose the Census
of 2011 to go back to their original OBC or reserved-category castes?
What if some khatris now insist on being counted alongside kurmis,
cite government records from 1901, and demand quotas under the Mandal
regime?

This Census could be fun.

- Ashok Malik can be contacted at malikashok@gmail.com


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[ZESTCaste] Public humiliation drives Dalit girl to commit suicide

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article433905.ece

Published: May 20, 2010 00:46 IST | Updated: May 20, 2010 02:58 IST
THIRUMARUGAL (NAGAPATTINAM), May 20, 2010

Public humiliation drives Dalit girl to commit suicide
P. V. Srividya

Feudal retribution and public humiliation have snapped short the life
of an 18-year-old Dalit girl at Thiruchenkaatankudi in Nagapattinam.

Her 'crime'? 'Abetment' of a love affair that led to the elopement of
a friend with a boy of the same Dalit caste.

Devi, a Dalit, was driven to self-immolation following a public
inquiry by the samudaya panchayat (caste panchayat) headed by a
32-year-old community head (naatamai). She was subjected to lashes
with a tamarind stick that was delivered by the Odum Pillai
(traditional news carrier) of the caste panchayat.

The humiliation drove her to self-immolation within minutes after the
meeting. After a ten-day battle, Devi succumbed to the burns at
Government Hospital here on Monday.

At Thiruchenkaatankudi, her family stands wronged by their own community.

"We lost our mother when Devi was three-years-old and I brought her
up. The day she was publicly whipped and humiliated was also her
birthday," recalls Usha, the 26-year-old eldest of the five daughters
of the family.

Devi was the fourth daughter and migrant worker in a garment factory
at Tirupur, where the girl from the same village married the boy of
the same caste.

Following this, Devi was 'summoned' back to the village for a
community 'inquiry' for transgression.

"Usually, lashes are delivered below the knees. But, my sister was
whipped with the stick on her chest, stomach and thighs over six
times. I noticed the bruises only later and this worsened her chances
of recovering from the burn injuries as well," says Pushpalatha, the
youngest sister.

Almost all villages in East Thanjavur region are said to host such
samudaya panchayats. These are extra-legal community panchayats, where
women are not allowed to participate.

According to information gathered by Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO,
the tamarind stick (puliankucchi) was kept immersed in water for three
days to add weight to it so as to cause bruises.


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[ZESTCaste] Minister holds meeting with Dalit leaders

 

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/20/stories/2010052054050500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Minister holds meeting with Dalit leaders

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Social Welfare Minister D. Sudhakar on Wednesday held a
meeting with representatives of Dalit Sangharsh Samithi-Karnataka in
Bangalore to discuss their demands.

The DSS-K, led by its Bangalore divisional convenor A. Manjunath, has
made several demands, including formulating a scheme to keep all Dalit
colonies in the State clean and launching a single window scheme for
implementation of the welfare schemes meant for Dalits.

Mr. Sudhakar said that a final decision on their demands would be
taken at a meeting convened by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on May
26.

Meanwhile, there were tense moments just before the commencement of
the meeting as the representatives of DSS-K raised slogans when the
ministerial staff rejected their request for holding the meeting in
the presence of the media.

The Dalit leaders maintained that discussing the demands in the
presence of the media would bring in transparency and also make the
government accountable.

But the Minister termed Wednesday's meeting as only a preparatory
meeting to decide the agenda for the meeting to be held with the Chief
Minister on May 26. He maintained that his office had decided to have
a closed-door discussion now as nothing was still final.

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[ZESTCaste] Bollywood star reveals discomfiture over India's caste system

http://www.speroforum.com/a/33198/Bollywood-star-reveals-discomfiture-over-Indias-caste-system

Commentary: Analysis
Bollywood star reveals discomfiture over India's caste system
Wednesday, May 19, 2010By Joseph D'souza

According to the Bollywood star, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, being an Indian
first means not to believe in caste. That could be one great
definition of being an Indian first and putting India first.

Yet when Mr. Bachchan told the census enumerators that he does not
believe in caste and is an Indian first, did he unwittingly reveal the
discomfiture the privileged castes feel in coming to terms with the
caste issue in modern India? Surely it is the oppressed people who
have the first right to determine if there should be a caste census or
not. Their interpretation of present day life vis-à-vis caste
discrimination needs serious consideration.

In his defense Mr. Bachchan pointed out that he was married to a
Bengali, his brother a Sindhi, his daughter to a north Indian and his
son to a south Indian. That qualifies Mr. Bachchan for being a pan
Indian. We have not heard anyone in the Bachchan family marrying a low
caste or a Dalit!

But he is right about marriage being an important indicator of caste
bias. How many forward caste families in the nation can boast of
marriage to a low caste or a Dalit or a Scheduled tribe? Dr. Ambedkar
saw inter-caste marriages as one final way of doing away with the
caste system. Are we embarrassed about the caste question in the
census because there is nothing to show in our family line in relation
to inter caste marriage?

For now the vision of an inter-caste married, mixed India of Ambedkar
is a far away dream. We will wait and see when caste based matrimonial
columns cease to exist. Till then caste enumeration should continue to
protect those who are constantly humiliated and discriminated.

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Judges grant the mother's request for abortion, reversing ruling of a
local court. They consider the child's birth will endanger the girl's
mental health and creates a social and economic problem for the
family.According to a recent research carried by Action Aid,
untouchability is practiced in 80% of India's villages. The Khap
Panchayat's continue with their discriminatory and unjust writ in
north western India. The Courts of India pronounce judgment against
the honor killing of the Khap Panchayats but our politicians from
different parties end up publicly supporting the Panchayats. Our
political parties whatever their hue continues in their hypocritical
mantra of social justice. The devastation of the life, culture and
land of the Tribals continues unabated. The State participates in this
brazen exploitation.

Today as our great Constitution is in constant tension with unjust
tradition and vote bank politics with lip service to the downtrodden a
civil society struggle is necessary to ensure that not just social
discrimination but the system that gave rise to it comes to an end.
Mr. Bachchan and all who count themselves Indians first need to engage
in this struggle and ensure that the present Constitution is not
tampered with but it triumphs. Nehru, Gandhi, Ambedkar and others gave
us a great Indian Constitution.

Mr. Bachchan could begin his struggle in his own home ground - the
Bollywood film industry. In his entire career as a film hero he has
never had the privilege of having a lead female Dalit star. Why is
that? Why is there no major lead female Dalit star in our film and TV
industry - the purveyors of our culture! Is it because of merit or
lack of beauty or lack of talent that lead female Dalit stars are
missing in Bollywood and the TV industry or because there is no
proactive affirmative action to include the immense cultural talent of
the Dalits?

How come America and Hollywood with its horrible racist experience can
come up with a Whitney Houston starring with Kevin Costner or a Halle
Berry with Pierce Brosnan or a Denzil Washington with a Julia Roberts?
These are all hot attractive stars who have made successful movies
which audiences the world over love.

Mr. Bachchan runs a film company, his company makes movie stars so
this one job the Indian first can easily do.

Mr. Bachchan's estranged family friends the Gandhis also are wont to
call themselves Indians first. This is the catch-all Rahul Gandhi
phrase: I am an Indian first.

The first family of Indian politics can claim to be Indians first on
the religion issue. Hindu, Parsee and Christian - they have it in the
family and perhaps this is why India trusts their secular credentials.

On the caste issue the nation watches. Robert Vadra is of mixed
lineage. Rahul Gandhi sleeps and eats in Dalit huts but there is a
dearth in the Congress party of Dalit and OBC leaders who can capture
the imagination of the masses and stand on their own. There is no
Dalit leader in the Congress in UP who can challenge Mayawati.

Who is Rahul Gandhi's Dalit friend and competent confidante? We know
who his other friends are. The nation waits for this genuine and open
symbolism- in friendship and marriage. An Indian first.

Joseph D'souza is the International President of the Dalit Freedom
Network (www.dalitnetwork.org) and based in Hyderabad India.


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[ZESTCaste] Nalsar says no to BC quota

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIH&showS\
T=true&login=default&pub=TOI&AW=1274249211359

Nalsar says no to BC quota

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: Nalsar University, the premier law school, has made it
clear that it was not in favour of earmarking a quota for BC students
in its admissions. It, however, says it will have no other option than
to implement the same if the state legislature amends the Act under
which this university was set up. This was submitted to the High Court
by the university's registrar in an affidavit filed in response to a
petition that sought the implementation of BC reservations in the
institution.
 Responding to a petition filed by one Trishala, a student from
Secunderabad, the High Court earlier asked the university to file its
reply on the issue of implementing BC reservations. K V S Sarma, the
registrar of the university, filed the affidavit saying that though
this university was set up by the AP government vide G O Ms No 197
dated November 24, 1995, it has a national character and is an
autonomous body.
 The fact that the chancellor of the university is not the governor
of the state and the chief justice of the AP High Court is its
chancellor speaks about the difference this university has with other
universities which are normally headed by their respective governors,
he said. Other national law schools such as the ones in Bangalore,
Kolkata, Jodhpur, Bhubaneswar, Patiala and Gandhinagar also do not
provide any reservations for BCs, the registrar's affidavit says
refuting the contention of the petitioner that these reservations are
being implemented all over except in AP.


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