Saturday, May 22, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Manmohan's dinner invite puts Mayawati in the soup

 

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article435260.ece

Published: May 21, 2010 20:25 IST | Updated: May 21, 2010 20:25 IST
LUCKNOW, May 21, 2010

Manmohan's dinner invite puts Mayawati in the soup
Atiq Khan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invite to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati to a dinner he is hosting to commemorate one year of the
UPA-II government has created a piquant situation for the Bahujan
Samaj Party. For, it is gearing itself to stage a State-wide public
protest (janhit andolan) the same day, Saturday, against the economic
policies of the Congress-led government at the Centre. The protest
programme was finalised about a month ago by the Chief Minister
herself.

Dr. Singh has invited all UPA allies and those who have extended
outside support to his government. Ms. Mayawati and Samajwadi Party
president Mulayam Singh fall in the second category. The SP chief, who
is in Kolkata in connection with the national executive meet of his
party, has expressed his inability to attend the dinner.

There is no official word till Friday on whether or not the Chief
Minister will attend or send a representative to the dinner, the
invitation was received a couple of days ago. Officials in the Chief
Minister's office here remain tight-lipped, as were BSP sources.

As the invite clearly mentions one year of the UPA-II government, the
BSP ranks see the dinner party as a political gathering of its allies
and supporters. As it is not an official function, Ms. Mayawati is
under no obligation to attend, say sources.

Dr. Singh's invitation to Ms. Mayawati assumes significance in the
backdrop of the BSP's support to the UPA government to defeat the
BJP-sponsored cut motion in the Lok Sabha last month. Ms. Mayawati
then said her party wanted to thwart communal forces coming to power
at the Centre.

Members of the SP staged a walkout when the motion was put to vote.

Ms. Mayawati's support notwithstanding, both the BSP and the Congress
were quick to dispel suggestions of any bonhomie between the parties.
For, each wants to score points over the other ahead of the 2012
Assembly elections.

Ms. Mayawati blamed the UPA government for the State's backwardness
and even saw in it a Congress-designed conspiracy.

During a visit to her constituency, Rae Bareli, on May 17, UPA
chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the Mayawati
government was not putting Central funds to judicious. The very next
day, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi predicted the defeat of
the BSP at the hands of his party in 2012. Addressing a rally in
Mirzapur district, he rejected the possibility of an understanding
between the two parties.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati likely to take on Congress

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article435423.ece

Published: May 21, 2010 23:59 IST | Updated: May 21, 2010 23:59 IST
New Delhi, May 21, 2010

Mayawati likely to take on Congress
Smita Gupta

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati may have bailed out the
Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government last month
when it faced a slew of hostile cut motions to the Finance Bill. But
on Saturday, when the UPA completes the first year of its second term,
sources said, she is unlikely to make it to the celebratory dinner
that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be hosting at 7, Race Course
Road.

It is because Ms. Mayawati, who celebrated three years in office on
May 12, will be overseeing Jan Chetna Diwas in the State, with rallies
at every district headquarters, denouncing the UPA's "stepmotherly
treatment" of the State.

Indeed, ever since Ms. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) put its
weight behind the UPA during the voting on the Finance Bill, there has
been concern in the Congress, that the cooperation on the floor of the
Lok Sabha might send the wrong signal to its constituents in the
State, especially to the Dalits and Muslims it is hoping to wean away
from the BSP fold.

The party, which had actually won one more seat than the BSP in U.P.
in the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, is hoping to repeat that
performance in the Assembly polls due in 2012.

To "correct" the picture, therefore, on May 18, Congress general
secretary Rahul Gandhi scotched rumours of a possible tie-up with the
BSP while addressing a rally in Mirzapur district: he said the ruling
BSP would taste defeat at the hands of his party in 2012.

On the same day, his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, too,
lashed out at the Mayawati government for the lack of development in
the State, while addressing a rally in her constituency, Rae Bareli.

Distancing themselves
Clearly, both parties are keen to distance themselves from each other
in the run-up to the Assembly polls in 2012.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mayawati's other rival, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam
Singh, who, too, voted with the government, will not be attending
Saturday's dinner either. But he has sent a polite letter to the Prime
Minister, regretting his inability to attend the dinner as it
coincides with the start of his party's national executive meeting in
Kolkata, while extending his "best wishes" for the future.


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[ZESTCaste] Debate grows over caste question in India's huge census

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100522/FOREIGN/705219808/1103/NEWS

Debate grows over caste question in India's huge census
Anuj Chopra, Foreign Correspondent

Last Updated: May 22. 2010 12:43AM UAE / May 21. 2010 8:43PM GMT
Kamaleswar Dauka, a census worker, writes a number on a hut in
Ramsingh Chapori village in Assam last month as part of the national
count. Anupam Nath / AP
PUNE // "What is your caste?" For a vast number of Indians, the answer
to this seemingly innocuous question dictates some of their most vital
decisions, including who they marry, what education and jobs they get
and who they vote into parliament.

But the last time Indians were asked to enumerate their caste in a
census was nearly eight decades ago, when the country was still under
British rule. The practice was discontinued following independence
after India's constitution outlawed caste-based discrimination.

Now, the Indian government is reviving the colonial practice for its
15th decennial population count, which began on April 1. The call to
include caste has sparked vitriolic debate about how this ancient
legacy is still deeply entrenched in post-independence India.
Parliament has yet to vote on the plan, but it is widely expected to
pass.

"The caste-based census was last conducted in the year 1931 and the
practice should have continued in the post-independence period also,
but that did not happen," said Pranab Mukherjee, the country's finance
minister, earlier this month to Indian media. "Now, the government has
taken an initiative in this regard."

The Hindu caste system, a hereditary system which divides people into
endogamous social classes, is nearly as ancient as Indian scriptures.
Those at the lower rungs of this hierarchical social pyramid have for
centuries lived in conditions of extreme poverty and great social
disadvantage.


The indignities of caste-based violence and discrimination persist
even today, despite India's rapid modernisation and meteoric economic
growth.

Political parties backing the caste-based census justify a head count
along caste lines to gather empirical data about those at the bottom
of the heap in order to formulate affirmative action policies aimed at
ensuring their speedy uplift.

"Caste is a reality of Indian society, thought it is a bitter
reality," said Sharad Yadav, the president of Janata Dal (United), a
political party that has been vociferously campaigning for the caste
count to be implemented. "To annihilate it, we have to understand it
in its entirety and make an all-out assault on it."

Some question the feasibility of carrying out a caste-based census.
India comprises a huge number of castes and sub-castes and aggregating
them across thousands of Indian villages may well be too complex for
the census officials to handle.

P Chidambaram, India's home minister, has also raised concerns over
the lack of sociological sensitivity among officials to probe people
about their castes and sub-castes.

But technical difficulties aside, the move has also sparked debate
about the social ramifications of a caste count. Many observers,
especially in India's urban centres where the educated elite often
willingly shun their caste identity, view it as a regressive policy
that would only perpetuate the caste divide.

"The decision to, in principle, enumerate caste in the census is a
monumental travesty," said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, the president of the
New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research. "At one stroke, it
trivialises all that modern India stood for, and condemns it to the
tyranny of an insidious kind of identity politics.

"[It] is nothing but a raw assertion of power wearing the garb of
social justice … and a politics of bad faith being projected as a
concern for the poor."

But others say such concerns are unfounded.

"Enumeration of race in the US has not made US politics racist, [and
so] it is unlikely that the enumeration of caste would push the
country into the prison of caste," said Yogendra Yadav, a senior
fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies.

"In any case, the way to transcend caste is not to close our eyes to
it, but to look at it very closely, identify and neutralise its
relationship with disadvantage and discrimination."

Collating data about the demographic numbers, educational data and
economic conditions of lower castes, Mr Yadav contends, would help
"evidence-based formulation and monitoring of policies of social
justice".

The census would specifically collate data about a long marginalised
section called Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which comprises an
estimated 3,743 caste groups. According to one estimate, they make up
approximately 36 per cent of the population.

In rural India, only 24 out of every 1,000 males in the OBC category
graduate from secondary school, according to a 2006 survey by the
National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). That figure is 59 for
upper castes. Whereas in urban areas, 226 out of every 1,000 upper
caste males reach graduation, compared to only 89 OBCs.

The government's latest move has received tacit approval from most
political parties, even those in the opposition, as OBCs are a
sizeable voting block. Political leaders, especially those stridently
lobbying for a caste-based census, are known to have built up their
parties in some states primarily on the basis of caste identity.

Far from helping OBCs asend the social ladder, some observers say, the
data from the census could be used by various castes as a political
instrument to jockey for more reservations in government jobs and
educational institutions, and this could lead to animosity between
castes.

Caste clashes erupted last month in Hissar in the northern state of
Haryana after an upper-caste man who threw his shoe at a menacing dog
accidentally hit a lower-caste Dalit man. Nearly a dozen houses were
torched, and people were burned alive in attacks against both lower
and upper caste communities.

Enumeration of caste could ignite similar tensions elsewhere, further
dividing an already fissured society, analysts say.

At a private symposium on caste politics held in New Delhi last week,
attended by some independent politicians and journalists, a new
movement to counter the census was launched: My jaati Hindustani (My
caste is Indian). It hopes to motivate citizens to enumerate a new
caste: "Indian."

achopra@thenational.ae


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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati expresses grief over sudden demise of scribe

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/663355_Mayawati-expresses-grief-over-sudden-demise-of-scribe

Mayawati expresses grief over sudden demise of scribe

STAFF WRITER 22:35 HRS IST
Lucknow, May 21 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has
expressed grief over the demise of a reporter of a local hindi daily.

In her condolence message, she said Richa Tripathi, a Dainki Jagraan
journalist, was young, energetic and devoted who had carved out a
niche for herself in the field of journalism in a short span of time.

Tripathi was injured in a road accident on May 17 last while returning
home from duty. She was receiving treatment at the trauma centre at
the Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University.

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[ZESTCaste] Maharashtra Dalit professor accuses V- C of harassment

http://www.siasat.com/english/news/maharashtra-dalit-professor-accuses-v-c-harassment

Maharashtra Dalit professor accuses V- C of harassment
Thursday, 20 May 2010

New Delhi, May 20: A Dalit professor at the Mahatma Gandhi
Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, has moved the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes ( NCSC), alleging harassment by the "
caste- prejudiced" vice- chancellor of the institution.

Professor Lele Karunyakara, the director of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
centre for Dalit and tribal studies, said the V- C, Vibhuti Narain
Rai, issued him a showcause notice for taking part in a procession
held on campus in connection with Ambedkar's birth anniversary.

According to Karunyakara, he was served three notices on the same issue.

The V- C was out to tarnish his image with false propaganda, to " ruin
his academic career and to mentally harass him", the professor said in
his letter to the NCSC in March.

" The V- C ( an IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre who took charge
in 2008) does not believe in a democratic style of functioning. Within
three days of taking charge, he issued a notice to me for availing
casual leave. Thereafter, he continued to harass me for taking part in
the procession organised by the Ambedkar students forum, an
organisation of SC/ ST students," Karunyakara said.

The professor said that as an academic he had the right to participate
in processions, especially those to commemorate the fight against
casteism. He said he had the right to profess any ideology that
strengthened national unity and integrity.

The notice served on the professor had said he raised " provocative,
casteist slogans" during the procession. But Karunyakara disagrees.

" The slogans ( I raised) were not directed at Brahmins in particular;
they are not casteist slogans but against casteism," he said.

Rai, on the other hand, said he had " warned" the professor against
taking part in such activities. According to the V- C, the peace and
tranquillity on campus was disturbed by such activities. He said he
issued the notice as a disciplinary measure and denied being " caste-
prejudiced". " I have been fighting for minorities and Dalit rights,"
he added.

Meanwhile, other university sources termed the environment at the
university " as anything but academic". The V- C, they said, was
running the university like a fiefdom.

A non- teaching staff said: " Issues that can be handled through talks
and discussions are dealt by means of notices and orders. No dissent
or differing opinion is tolerated."

---Agencies


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[ZESTCaste] ‘No Dalit family has migrated'

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/19/stories/2010051955200500.htm

'No Dalit family has migrated'

Special Correspondent


Atmosphere normal, says Hisar Additional Deputy Commissioner

CHANDIGARH:Hisar Additional Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Garg
claimed on Tuesday that no Scheduled Caste family from Mirchpur
village had migrated to Delhi or any other place in Haryana.

Reacting to media reports, he asserted that the social atmosphere was
totally normal.

An 18-year-old polio-stricken girl and her 70-year-old father were
burnt to death after 18 houses belonging to Dalits were set afire by
miscreants last month.

Mr. Garg, who is holding the charge of Deputy Commissioner, said
arrangements had been made for their rehabilitation and safety and
"there were no chances of recurrence of any untoward incident".

He said the repair work on the affected houses in Mirchpur was going
on and a committee headed by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate had visited
the village on Tuesday to oversee the work.

Mr. Garg further said that all the affected 200 family units had been
given two quintals of wheat each besides a compensation worth Rs.48.61
lakh.

Urging the people to maintain peace and harmony, he cautioned them
against some vested interests who were "trying to vitiate the
atmosphere in the village".


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit teacher kills self after insult by colleague

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dalit-teacher-kills-self-after-insult-by-colleague/articleshow/5959413.cms

Dalit teacher kills self after insult by colleague

Anand Bodh, TNN, May 22, 2010, 03.05am IST

CHANDIGARH: At a time when caste-based census is still being debated,
a 50-year-old dalit school teacher ended his life after being
allegedly humiliated by an upper caste employee of a school in Mandi,
Himachal Pradesh. His body was recovered on Thursday.
Chandan Lal of Rinj village was posted as a physical education teacher
at a government school and was deputed for census survey. On May 13,
Lal along with Kesaru Ram, a lab attendant in the school, had gone for
the census survey. Ram belongs to an upper caste community.

According to the police, Kesaru Ram, unaware that Chandan Lal belonged
to the scheduled caste, had asked him to spend a night at his house.
When he came to know about it, Ram allegedly insulted Chandan Lal for
not revealing his caste.

DSP (headquarter), Mandi, Narinder Kumar said according to Chandan
Lal's suicide note addressed to a tehsildar, he was not able to bear
the humiliation and committed suicide by allegedly consuming some
poisonous substance.

"The police will be directed to register a case under the Prevention
of Atrocities Act if it is confirmed that there is a caste bias in the
case," said Himachal Pradesh secretary for social justice Prem Kumar.
"We'll verify the allegations and will take stern action," said
Himachal Pradesh minister for social justice and empowerment Sarveen
Chaudhary.

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[ZESTCaste] Atrocities against Dalits on the rise: CPI(M)

 

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/22/stories/2010052254030300.htm

Atrocities against Dalits on the rise: CPI(M)

Staff Correspondent

Party to stage dharna in Bangalore on June 10

Over 1,700 cases of atrocities reported from the State in 2008: Manpade

Only Rs. 3,553 cr. given for SC/ST welfare when Planning Commission
recommended Rs.7,300 cr.

DAVANGERE: Communist Party of India (Marxist) executive committee
member Maruthi Manpade has alleged that atrocities against the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes have been on the rise in
Karnataka over the past few years and, among the south Indian States,
Karnataka has reported the highest number of such cases.

Quoting from a commission report, Mr. Manpade said here on Friday that
over 1,700 cases of atrocities were reported in 2008 alone from the
State. He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in
Karnataka had failed to contain the cases of atrocities and provide
compensation to the victims.

The Planning Commission had instructed the State Government to
allocate Rs.7,300 crore to take up welfare measures for the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, he said. The Government, however,
allocated only Rs. 3,553 crore, Mr. Manpade charged.

Further, he claimed that of the 75,000 applications the Government
received from tribal people for land pattas as per the Forest Dwellers
Act, 2006, it had issued only 300 pattas so far. To protest against
the State Government's apathy, the State unit of the CPI(M) will stage
a dharna in front of the Chief Minister's residence in Bangalore on
June 10.

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[ZESTCaste] Khap issue: Cong sets up coordination panel in Haryana

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Khap-issue-Cong-sets-up-coordination-panel-in-Haryana/articleshow/5959851.cms

Khap issue: Cong sets up coordination panel in Haryana
Subodh Ghildiyal, TNN, May 22, 2010, 02.59am IST

NEW DELHI: With the row over Khap heavy handedness over same-gotra
marriages and the perception of dalits getting a raw deal lingering,
the Congress brass has activated the coordination committee for
Haryana.

The mechanism, which was conceived as a check on the government, has
so far remained inert but the blowback from increasing controversies
over caste issues have finally led the leadership to heed the
dissident's demand to hold monthly meeting of the panel.

With this, the check on the state government has been formalized.
However, the two caste issues have dominated to step up the Congress
leadership's engagement with affairs in Haryana with even Rahul Gandhi
meeting MLAs, including dalits, for a feedback on the state of
affairs. Rahul's visit to clash-hit Mirchpur village earlier surprised
insiders and observers alike, as it came after the state's assurance
to the victims failed to win their confidence and they insisted on
being relocated outside. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi too wrote a
strong letter to the CM.

Mirchpur reared its head at the meeting of AICC's Haryana coordination
panelon Thursday evening where, sources said, convenor Prithviraj
Chavan said the incident in the village had sent a negative signal
about party regime. He called it "a matter of concern".

While CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda defended his government saying all
promises made to the victims had been fulfilled, the casteist
discourse kicked off by the clashes and accentuated by the Khap
stridency on same-gotra marriage, along with the perception that
Congress was treating it with kidgloves, seems to have rattled the
leadership. Sources said Chavan asked "the CM on how government and
party planned to tackle" the Khap issue. "It is not giving the party a
good image," he is learnt to have said, to which Hooda said he had
announced that law will prevail. According to sources, a perception of
atrocities on SCs in a Congress state undercuts Rahul's campaign among
the community in UP where he is leading a campaign to dent the support
base of BSP supremo Mayawati.

The AICC has decided to involve other leaders in Haryana affairs.
Sources said major policy issues will be discussed by the coordination
panel before going to cabinet. The panel will meet monthly and will
have a structured agenda for discussion. Importantly, Chavan also
directed Hooda to hold a meeting of MPs along with state officials in
the capital ahead of the every Parliament session. It was said that
the meeting will help as MPs also have demands from the state
government while they will also know the issues to be raised in
Parliament.

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[ZESTCaste] What's Gotra Got To Do With It?

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Opinion/Edit-Page/Whats-Gotra-Got-To-Do-With-It/articleshow/5959357.cms

What's Gotra Got To Do With It?
Chetan Bhagat, May 22, 2010, 12.00am IST

I don't know my own gotra. I didn't even know what gotra meant until
recently. Many people still don't, but calling it a sub-caste is a
good proxy definition. I don't know why it was invented, or why it is
still relevant. As if it wasn't good enough to divide people on caste,
we needed one more level of sub-caste slicing to ensure as many
Indians hate each other as possible.

However, this time it isn't being from different gotras that is a
problem, it is being from the same one. Unlike inter-caste marriages
that are considered problematic, the problem lies in intra-gotra
marriages. These, according to some, will completely tarnish a
family's reputation and pose health risks to kids of the wedded
couple, due to genetic similarities. People from the same gotra aren't
blood related, but marriage between them is not encouraged (read:
death sentences are passed).

Leading the 'no-same-gotra-love' T-shirt brigade are the khap
panchayats. The khap system is thousands of years old, and our
erstwhile British rulers lived with it and probably encouraged it, to
avoid the judicial system being flooded with petty disputes and
enabling these to be solved at the local level. The British left 63
years ago, but khaps have survived, aided by the patronage of local
political parties which in turn find them nice little rural vote
banks.

The khap justice system is neither as rigorous as nor always
consistent with the Indian legal system. Nor has it been reformed.
However, given political patronage, khaps still thrive in parts of
north India. One of the most controversial khap diktats is the
no-same-gotra-marriage, something the youth in rural areas find quite
baffling. Desperate for reform, the youth had hoped a young leader
like their MP Naveen Jindal would come and change draconian rules. But
he backed the khap's demand to turn no-same-gotra-marriage into a law.
While shocking and disappointing to many, one can see his motivation
in backing regressive ideas. It is always easier to tap into
traditions and win support. It is much harder to be progressive,
change thinking and still take people along.

Fears of genetic similarities leading to offspring risks do not hold.
Apparently, there are historical roots between same gotra people and
hence there could be genetic similarities. Those roots may be 10
generations old, and anyone with basic knowledge of genetics and
mathematics will tell you that in 10 generations, less than 0.1 per
cent of DNA may be sibling-like between two offspring of the same
roots. Legality is also a non-issue. Many communities have marriages
between cousins, without any legal issues.

While chances of the no-same-gotra diktat becoming a law are extremely
remote, outright support of medieval traditions by modern era leaders
make one shudder about which direction politicians are taking our
country. Jindal had earlier fought in court for every citizen's
freedom to hoist the Indian flag. When a crusader for individual
freedom backs a proposal preventing two human beings to be in love and
make a future together, one wonders what our politicians will do to
get a few extra votes. Did he make a calculation? Did the number of
older people versus younger people (those who actually vote) go in
favour of the older people? Is that the only criterion for making
political decisions? Or is it about doing the right thing and leading
the country to progress?

We live in rare times where conflict between the thought of the old
and new generations is at its peak. We have Indian women leading
global corporations. We also have Indian parents who don't want their
daughters to study further. I was in Gorakhpur last week, where a
young girl in a semi-rural area confessed to me that her father didn't
want her to go to college unless it was within a five-kilometre radius
of the house. There was no consideration for what the girl wanted to
become in life. This is just one example.

From khap rules to individual rules, India-old and India-new battle
everyday. India-old is powerful: khaps wield power. However, India-new
has better ideas for progress. India-old has dominated thought for the
last six decades and, to put it bluntly, not achieved much. We are,
despite all our missile and satellite launches, one of the poorest
nations on earth. Our biggest cities don't have basics like good water
and power. With such a poor report card, it is suprising India-old
still makes and imposes rules. The only reason it can do so is
difference in power. This is where politicians come in.

Politicians have power which they can lend to India-new and back them
all the way. They can take a stand, embrace progress, back individual
freedom, uphold modern laws and focus on real rural issues (corruption
in NREGA, for instance). This will lead to a more prosperous country
and a better life for all Indians. Jindal had a chance to do that, to
play a part in history, be the role model for rural Haryana's youth.
However, he blew it, with his short-sightedness to remain in power.
What use is power when it isn't used to help others?

Meantime, pass whatever diktats and make whatever laws - none of them
can take on Mother Nature, and prevent two people from falling in
love. Try as much as you can. Meanwhile, i still don't know my gotra.
And i hope i never find out.

The writer is a best-selling novelist.

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