Thursday, July 8, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Bangladesh: Society lacks heart for untouchables

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=145837

Thursday, July 8, 2010 Front Page

Society lacks heart for untouchables

CASTE STILL CASTS ITS SPELL…The Dalits are not allowed in this shabby
restaurant in Monharpur village of Jessore.
Emran Hossain, back from JessoreThe din inside the dark tea stall
stopped suddenly. All eyes were set on the silhouette of a figure
standing by the doorway.

Someone coughed nervously. Another tapped uneasily on the table with
his knuckles. At the cash register, the salesman looked sideways to
avoid eye contact with the man standing there.

"Give me a jilapi," the man said. Inside the bamboo-fenced shop, the
words sounded like a bombshell.

"Go away," the salesman said in his clipped voice, without bothering
to look at the man. "You know we don't sell to the Dalits. We don't
have plates and glasses to serve the Dalits. Why bothering us, Robi?"

Robi Das, the Dhopa (washer man), nods knowingly and walks away
without protest. When you are a Dalit--the untouchable--you don't mind
being shooed away. You just can't afford to mind.

In Monoharpur, a dust-bowl village in Jessore, only eight kilometres
from the town, the caste system rages on and the untouchables live in
the twilight of existence.

The Dalits--the muchis (cobblers), the dhopas, the methors (sweepers)
and the napits (barbers)--live a life of social exclusion. Restaurants
don't serve them; those that serve keep separate plates and glasses.

"We are not allowed to even touch any vegetable or chicken or anything
for that matter in the market," Robi Das explains, as he comes out of
the tea stall empty-handed. "They say if we touch anything, it is
spoilt."

In Jessore, about 5,000 Dalits live in about 50 villages. Throughout
the country there are about 55 lakh. They are the low caste Hindus,
and the caste system that started in India ages ago--the exact time
and how it was introduced is still debatable--keeps the children of
the Dalits secluded in schools. Nobody sits next to them. Nobody plays
with them. They just live like shadows, as Robi Das does.

"Football was my life," Robi Das said. "The smell of the leather
football, the sound of ball bouncing off the ground… ahh. I had to
leave that too."

When he was 16 or 17, his playmates one day told him to stay off the
ground. They said football required physical contact and they can't do
it with an untouchable. Robi's passion for ha-du-du also had to end
for similar reasons.

"I was not even allowed to watch football matches standing by the
ground," he said. "I tried badminton, but again nobody would play. No
Hindu or Muslim would take me for a carrom game or even chess."

At 45, Robi feels aged twice. An excruciating burden of existence
weighs heavy on him and his family. He feels numbed when he finds his
17-year-old son going through the same grinding machine of the caste
system.

"He can't play with anyone outside the caste. He has to receive
anything he buys from the shop wrapped in banana leaves specially kept
for the Dalits. I watch him grow in the same wilted society that I was
born into," Robi says, as he walks away from the tea stall.


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[ZESTCaste] Bangladeshi dalits struggle to make ends meet

http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/bangladeshi-dalits-struggle-to-make-ends-meet

Bangladeshi dalits struggle to make ends meet
08 July 2010

In Jessore, a village eight kilometres from the main town in
Bangladesh caste system rages on and dalits are forced to live in
isolation. Restaurants, shops don't attend them branding them as
untouchables, while children are not allowed to mix with anyone
outside their caste.

The din inside the dark tea stall stopped suddenly. All eyes were set
on the silhouette of a figure standing by the doorway.

The Dalits are not allowed in this shabby restaurant in Monharpur
village of Jessore/ Photo credit: Emran Hossain Someone coughed
nervously. Another tapped uneasily on the table with his knuckles. At
the cash register, the salesman looked sideways to avoid eye contact
with the man standing there.

"Give me a jilapi," the man said. Inside the bamboo-fenced shop, the
words sounded like a bombshell.

"Go away," the salesman said in his clipped voice, without bothering
to look at the man. "You know we don't sell to the Dalits. We don't
have plates and glasses to serve the Dalits. Why bothering us, Robi?"

Robi Das, the Dhopa (washer man), nods knowingly and walks away
without protest. When you are a Dalit--the untouchable--you don't mind
being shooed away. You just can't afford to mind.

In Monoharpur, a dust-bowl village in Jessore, only eight kilometres
from the town, the caste system rages on and the untouchables live in
the twilight of existence.

The Dalits--the muchis (cobblers), the dhopas, the methors (sweepers)
and the napits (barbers)--live a life of social exclusion. Restaurants
don't serve them; those that serve keep separate plates and glasses.

"We are not allowed to even touch any vegetable or chicken or anything
for that matter in the market," Robi Das explains, as he comes out of
the tea stall empty-handed. "They say if we touch anything, it is
spoilt."

In Jessore, about 5,000 Dalits live in about 50 villages. Throughout
the country there are about 55 lakh. They are the low caste Hindus,
and the caste system that started in India ages ago--the exact time
and how it was introduced is still debatable--keeps the children of
the Dalits secluded in schools. Nobody sits next to them. Nobody plays
with them. They just live like shadows, as Robi Das does.

"Football was my life," Robi Das said. "The smell of the leather
football, the sound of ball bouncing off the ground… ahh. I had to
leave that too."

When he was 16 or 17, his playmates one day told him to stay off the
ground. They said football required physical contact and they can't do
it with an untouchable. Robi's passion for ha-du-du also had to end
for similar reasons.

"I was not even allowed to watch football matches standing by the
ground," he said. "I tried badminton, but again nobody would play. No
Hindu or Muslim would take me for a carrom game or even chess."

At 45, Robi feels aged twice. An excruciating burden of existence
weighs heavy on him and his family. He feels numbed when he finds his
17-year-old son going through the same grinding machine of the caste
system.

"He can't play with anyone outside the caste. He has to receive
anything he buys from the shop wrapped in banana leaves specially kept
for the Dalits. I watch him grow in the same wilted society that I was
born into," Robi says, as he walks away from the tea stall.


Source : The Daily Star


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit woman elected sarpanch in open seat

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dalit-woman-elected-sarpanch-in-open-seat/articleshow/6141224.cms

Dalit woman elected sarpanch in khapland

Bhaskar Mukherjee, TNN, Jul 8, 2010, 05.53am IST

HISAR: Caste may have split Mirchpur — where two dalits were burnt
alive in a caste violence blamed on Jats about three months back — but
hardly 40km away, a Jat-dominated Serhada village has done something
unbelievable: it unanimously elected a dalit woman as its sarpanch.

Rani Devi, wife of Raju Balmiki was among 24 candidates for the post,
which was reserved for a general category woman.

In a break from the prevailing trend in caste-ridden state,
representatives of all castes sat together and decided to elect Rani
Devi as the village sarpanch.

"Our decision is a reply to the political leaders with vested
interests in the Mirchpur incident. We have set a positive example,"
said Master Abhay Singh Lathar, a village elder, who chaired the
proceedings to elect Rani.

Wife of a poor shepherd, Rani, who is in her early 30s, was surprised
when she was informed about the decision taken by the village khap. "I
am daughter-in-law of this village, and now I have the responsibility
towards each family living here. Though we were a part of their
families on all occasions, this would further strengthen our bond,"
said Rani.

She got 1,384 votes out of 1,702 from this block. There were 24 women
candidates left after the withdrawal of nominations.

In a panchayat held two days before the election, under the leadership
of Lathar, all the 36 communities presented in the meeting decided
unanimously to vote for a dalit woman.

"The government should declare our village as a model village. We all
want prosperity for everyone. We have full faith in Rani Devi," said
Raghuveer Lathar and Jagbeer Poonia, panchayat members.


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