Tuesday, September 7, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Dalit boy cremated on the road in absence of common cremation grounds

http://sikhsangat.org/2010/09/dalit-boy-cremated-on-the-road-in-absence-of-common-cremation-grounds/

Dalit boy cremated on the road in absence of common cremation grounds

Posted on September 6, 2010 under caste problems

Mehma Bhagwana (Bathinda), September 6: Residents of this
cancer-affected dusty village of Bathinda district today lit the pyre
of a four-year-old Dalit boy in the middle of a road ruing that in the
absence of a common cremation ground, they had no other option.

The boy, Vijay Pal, was reportedly suffering from cancer for the past
few months and passed away last evening. Since then, his kin were not
only grieving over his death but also worrying about finding a place
to cremate him.

The bereaved kin asked the sarpanch to make some arrangements for his
cremation. Unable to do so, the sarpanch offered that they light the
pyre in the middle of the road outside his house.

Before the bereaved kin could light the pyre, policemen from the
Nehianwala police station reached the spot and the SHO, Gurpreet
Singh, brought the matter to the notice of the Bathinda SDM, who
assured to send an executive magistrate soon. Meanwhile, the police
installed barricades on both sides of the road and diverted the
traffic to an alternate route.

To prevent villagers from cremating the body, the SHO kept them
engaged in negotiations. However, when even after over two hours the
executive magistrate did not reach, the villagers lit the pyre on the
road at 10.30 am.

The deceased's grandfather, Bhola Singh, said: "It is our ill fate
that we could not bid him a decent farewell. We are poor daily wagers
who possess no land. The village too has no common cremation ground,
which forced us to cremate him on the road."

Gurcharan Singh, a villager, said: "Earlier, the village had its own
cremation ground but about three years ago, the former panchayat
passed a resolution to transfer the land for the cremation ground to
construct waterworks with a hope that the village would get potable
water to save us from the deadly disease of cancer."

Sarpanch Gamdoor Singh said: "It was also decided that the village
would get an alternate land for the cremation ground. Though the
administration earmarked a piece of land for the purpose, it was
within the boundary wall of the village gurdwara, which we are not
ready to use for this purpose."

He added that according to the revenue record, the village had one
more chunk of land measuring three kanals and two marlas, which was
the best suited for the cremation ground. "But despite our repeated
representations, the administration is not allowing us to go ahead as
the land is located near the houses of some landlords, who are close
to leaders of the ruling parties," the sarpanch said. Villagers said
since the authorities had started the construction of the waterworks,
which was being taken up under a World Bank scheme, nearly six deaths
had taken place. In some cases, landlords offered their fields to
perform the last rites but in most of the cases, villagers cremated
their kin even inside their courtyards.

Executive magistrate Avtar Singh said" "The land earmarked for the
cremation ground is best suited for the purpose, but the villagers are
not willing to use it. They are saying that it should be located on
the land near the houses of landlords, but they have objections over
it. Despite this, we are trying to find an amicable solution as more
sites are being considered for the purpose."

Source: Tribune india


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[ZESTCaste] Ghatampur suicide, rape case: No action yet against ‘guilty’ cops

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Ghatampur-suicide--rape-case--No-action-yet-against--guilty--cops/678290/


Ghatampur suicide, rape case: No action yet against 'guilty' cops

Express News Service Posted online: Tue Sep 07 2010, 06:46 hrs

Kanpur : Four days after the suicide by a 17-year-old Dalit girl in
Ghatampur following her alleged rape, the authorities are yet to take
any action against police personnel who had not only refused to lodge
an FIR in the case but also allowed the accused to get away.
The authorities said no action could be initiated as the team formed
to probe into the role played by Station Officer Kalu Ram Dohrey and
Constable Virendra Singh is yet to submit the report.

Kanpur DIG Prem Prakash said: "Both Singh and Dohrey have been
attached to lines. If found guilty, they would be suspended and a case
will be registered against them."

The investigation is headed by Circle Officer of Ghatampur PP Singh.

"Until I get the investigation report, it will not be possible to
comment further," he said. Moreover, the DIG said the girl's family
has not made any official complaint against the SO or the constable.

Prakash said three teams have been formed to arrest the accused. "The
neighbours, relatives and locals are being contacted by our teams to
trace the absconding persons," he said.

The victim, a resident of Parauli village of Ghatampur block,
immolated herself on the terrace of her house on September 3. She was
a class XI student of Pandit Deen Beni Singh Bharat Inter College of
Bheetargaon Block. According to the postmortem report, the girl died
of burn injuries and a head injury.

The girl's father, Ashok Kumar, had alleged that a villager, Sunil
Singh Bhadoria, had raped his daughter on September 2. According to
him, the Station Officer of Ghatampur police station refused to
register a case when he approached him. After a protest in the village
on Friday, a case on the charges of kidnapping, rape, provocation for
suicide and SC/ST Act was registered against Sunil and his parents.

He said he could not lodge a formal complaint against the policemen
because he had been running around since the death of his daughter.

According to him, his daughter would not have committed suicide if the
SO had registered a case on Thursday and arrested the accused

"The SO and the constable are equally responsible for my daughter's
death," he said.

A group of BJP leaders, including former legislator Bal Chandra
Mishra, visited Parauli village on Monday to meet the victim's family.
Mishra blamed the police for the Dalit girl's suicide. Senior state
BJP leaders are expected to visit the village on September 10.


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[ZESTCaste] Caste chauvinism in Delhi University

 

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/sep/070910-Delhi-University-principal-Dalit-teacher.htm

Caste chauvinism in Delhi University
By: Amit Singh and Vatsala Shrangi Date: 2010-09-07 Place: Delhi

Principal allegedly targets Dalit teacher for demanding his ouster

The caste map of India just got bigger. The new addition, though,
would take a lot of people by surprise.
Delhi University has allegedly joined the so-called caste chauvinists
of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

An embattled principal of a Delhi University college, who is already
facing charges of sexual misdemeanour, has allegedly made a casteist
comment against a Dalit teacher.

Dr Vijay Sharma, principal, Ram Lal Anand College of Delhi University,
has been charged with abusing a Dalit teacher of his institution by
calling him names.

"On August 31, I was standing along with some teachers who were
protesting against the principal on some issues in the college
verandah. I reached the spot after taking my class and was standing
with two of my colleagues when a peon told me that the principal has
asked for me," Dr Surendra Kumar, ad-hoc lecturer, Hindi, said in a
written complaint to the staff association, a copy of which is with
MiD DAY.

"The principal threatened he would sack me. He misbehaved with me and
said 'Gaon mein hote to joote hi banate, yahan padane aaye ho ya
rajneeti karne?' (If you had not come to a city, you would have been
making shoes back home in your village. Are you here to teach or play
politics?"Dr Kumar alleged in his complaint against the Dr Sharma.

The ad-hoc Dalit teacher said the mistreatment at the hands of the
principal caused him immense emotional hurt. "I am aghast. Why did he
target only me?"
"I am under extreme emotional stress. I am afraid the principal will
suspend me. I am the sole bread winner of my family and I seek the
help of the staff association," the complaint by Dr Kumar read.
All but two of the 47 permanent facult y members of Ram Lal Anand
College have been on an indefinite strike since August 26, calling for
an independent investigation into the "misdeeds" of their principal.

The faculty has put out a "chargesheet" against Sharma, calling for
him to be sent on leave pending enquiry. It also mentions gender
harassment complaints filed by three senior women faculty members
early this year. "The latter (Apex Complaints Committee, Delhi
University) refused to make it a prima facie case of gender harassment
without giving the complainants (an opportunity) to depose before it,"
the document states.

The college's governing body has set up a committee to look into the
allegations made by the women teachers and a report is expected soon.
Teachers at the college have not only held the teaching process to
ransom but also locked the principal's room for which the police had
to be called on August 31.

"I don't want to talk about it, but I know that Sharma has threatened
Surendra Kumar for joining the protest against him. The manner in
which he (the principal) works and behaves with the faculty members,
especially women, is very offensive. He often humiliates teachers,
shouts at them and call them shirkers,"said Rakesh Kumar, president
staff association of the college. The Other Side
I have never talked to any body in an offensive manner, whether a
Dalit or a non-Dalit. I have so many Dalit friends, I cannot even
think like this. I don't even remember talking to somebody by this
name (Surendra) in my faculty. This is news to me. This is all trade
union tactics to frame me. I just wanted to improve work ethics in the
college, but the staff is opposing my reformist agenda.
I am a victim and am being harassed by faculty members. At this
juncture, I should be the one talking about harassment. I am
emotionally beleaguered and traumatized. Things are not normal for me,
there is a great amount of uncertainty.
- Dr Vijay Sharma, principal, Ram Lal Anand College

PAST INCIDENTS
* Soon after its release, Madhuri Dixit's comeback vehicle 'Aaja
Nachle' was banned by Punjab and Uttar Pradesh governments for using
derogatory words in the title song.
The song used the word "mochi" (cobbler) in contravention of the SC/ST
Act. The ban, however, was soon revoked after the makers of the movie
changed the lyrics.
* "Billu Barber", the story of a village hairdresser who is a
childhood friend of a Bollywood actor played by Shah Rukh Khan, was
criticised by an association of hairdressers who found the title
offensive. SRK talked to the association of hairdressers and assured
them that he would hide the word "barber" from posters and billboards,
and bleep out the word from the film, which released in February last
year.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS
According to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention
of Atrocities) Act, 1989 3(1)[x], any person who intentionally insults
or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste
or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than
six months but which may extend to five years and with fine.

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[ZESTCaste] Maid trouble for L Subramaniam and Kavita Krishnamurthy

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_maid-trouble-for-l-subramaniam-and-kavita-krishnamurthy_1434541

Maid trouble for L Subramaniam and Kavita Krishnamurthy

Published: Tuesday, Sep 7, 2010, 9:45 IST
By MK Madhusoodan | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Violin maestro L Subramaniam and his wife, playback singer Kavita
Krishnamurthy are facing a different kind of music.

Their maid, with support from a few Dalit organisations, accused the
couple of harassing her. She complained to the police of harassment
after the celebrity couple named her as a suspect in a theft case.

Police confirmed receiving the complaint from the maid, Bhagya, 22. No
case has been registered. The couple had earlier lodged a complaint
after Rs55,000 in cash and a gold chain worth Rs75,000 had gone
missing from their home at the High Income Group Housing Colony in
Rajmahal Vilas 2nd Stage.

"The couple suspected Bhagya in the theft. This turned out to be
trouble for them with some Dalit organisations lending support to the
maid, who accused the couple of harassment," assistant commissioner of
police (JC Nagar) C Munirathnam Naidu said.

The outfits wanted the couple to withdraw the case against the woman.

Kavita, meanwhile, denied the allegation of harassment.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalits to gherao CM house

 

http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=46655

Dalits to gherao CM house

Category » Bhopal Posted On Monday, September 06, 2010

By Our Staff Reporter

Bhopal, Sept 6:
For demand to simplify the process of issuing caste certificates and
eliminating mandatory requirement of revenue records of 1950, the
Bahujan Hitaya Samajik Jan Chetna Samiti, Bhopal is going to Gherao
the Chief Minister on September 27.
The decision was taken after organisation conducted a meeting. TR
Ahirwar, Secretary said that massive demonstration would be organised
in front of CM house. He further said that they would continue their
protest until the demands are fulfilled.

Anti encroachment drive by BMC
Bhopal, Sept 6:
Under ongoing anti encroachment drive, the Bhopal Municipal
Corporation (BMC) demolished more than 30 illegal constructions
including various marriage halls at Bairagarh main road, which were
hurdles in the path of BTR road construction.
The drive was conducted under direction of Dy Commissioner APS
Gaharwar and City Engineer Sunita Singh.

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[ZESTCaste] Development, not caste, will be Nitish’s card

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Development-not-caste-will-be-Nitishs-card/articleshow/6509368.cms

7 Sep, 2010, 02.10AM IST, Ashok K Mishra,ET Bureau

Development, not caste, will be Nitish's card
PATNA: In a state where politics is mainly driven by caste
considerations, chief minister Nitish Kumar is flaunting the
development card which, he firmly believes, will place NDA in an
advantageous position in the coming electoral battle.

"The ruling NDA has done enough by way of development and this should
make sense with the electorate. I am sure they will shun caste loyalty
and vote for development this time. Those believing in the credo of
caste-based politics will get a rude shock in the elections " the
chief minister told ET.

The installation of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government on November
24, 2005, led to significant changes which are visible across the
spectrum. The road sector started buzzing as never before, resulting
in tremendous improvement in the road network.

New life was breathed into the moribund health care and education
sectors. The 'kidnapping industry,' the only flourishing industry
during the Rabri-Lalu era, saw its demise. Bihar was scripting a
turnaround story, the message was clear for the experts to acknowledge
the development story of Bihar. No wonder, Mr Kumar is not hesitating
to play out the development story before the electorate this time,
something which no politician had done in the recent past.

At the same time, a wily Mr Kumar has also played the role of a hard
core politician who would get his social engineering acts right by
carving new constituencies, which, in his case, saw the creation of
extremely backward caste (EBCs) and Maha-Dalit vote banks.

First, he announced reservation for EBCs in the panchayati raj and
local bodies, a decision which led to the grouping rooting for the
ruling NDA in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The creation of
Maha-Dalits, accounting for the poorest of the poor among the larger
Dalit community, will also come in handy for Mr Nitish Kumar, who,
apart from doling out largesse, has also made provision for allotting
land to them.

Both EBCs and Maha-Dalits account for nearly 40% of the electorate and
they will constitute the core vote bank of Nitish Kumar.

As for Muslims, who would have felt more comfortable with Mr Kumar,
were he to sever his ties with BJP, a section of them will still be
inclined to support at least JD(U) candidates on the basis of 'good
work' done by the Nitish government for minorities.

The reopening of the 1989 Bhagalpur communal riot cases leading to
conviction of some accused, payment of life-long pension to the kin of
those killed in the riots, fencing of graveyards, his aggressive take
on Mr Narendra Modi and the fact that not a single communal riot
happened during his tenure are highpoints which are likely to
influence the voting-pattern of the minority community.

The upper castes, who had backed Mr Kumar to the hilt in 2005, and
later in the Lok Sabha elections, however, may be open to the idea of
supporting Congress now that it has completely distanced itself from
RJD.

All this may, however, opens up the possibility of Mr Lalu Prasad
being pitchforked back to centre stage, a prospect which is expected
to convince a majority of the upper castes to back the JD(U)-BJP
combine eventually. What is more, there will be voters from among the
upper castes who'd be ready to support the development plank of Nitish
Kumar.

All in all, Mr Nitish Kumar will serve before the electorate a
political menu which is going to be a heady mix of politics and
development. The chief minister, however, will vouch that the
development plank alone will help win a second term for the ruling
NDA.

"Last time, people voted for us because they wanted to get rid of RJD.
But this time people will vote for us because of our performance. It
will be positive vote for us," remarked Mr Nitish Kumar.

His clean and honest image is a bonus. The soft-spoken leader, to
many, stands in sharp contrast to the controversial RJD supremo, who
has been tarred with the corruption and nepotism taint.


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[ZESTCaste] Two huts of Dalits set ablaze

http://hindu.com/2010/09/05/stories/2010090555090400.htm

Karnataka - Mysore

Two huts of Dalits set ablaze

Muralidhara Khajane

These families were boycotted for refusing to beat drums during a festival

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The police were forced to register complaint against 13 people

Dalits reportedly decided not to beat drums some 20 years ago
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MYSORE: An uneasy calm prevails at Ankahalli village of Gundlupet
taluk in Chamarajanagar district, where "upper castes" allegedly
torched two huts of Dalits early Friday for having complained to the
police about the social boycott imposed on them. Foodgrains and other
belongings in the huts of Rachaiah and Chikkasiddaiah were reduced to
ashes in the incident.

According to Superintendent of Police, Chamarajanagar district, B.S.
Prakash, the situation was under control with two platoons of the
District Armed Reserve (DAR) and senior police officers guarding the
village.

"Cases have been registered against 13 people in connection with the
incident, but no arrests have been made so far. The accused will be
arrested soon," he told The Hindu.

Chikkasiddaiah (46) said that "caste" Hindus imposed a social boycott
on Dalit families for refusing to beat drums during the Mahadeshwara
Swamy festival 15 days ago. Dalit leaders of the village had resolved
not to beat drums during the festival some 20 years ago after a clash
with "caste" Hindus. Nobody forced them to reconsider their decision
till recently.

However, when the new village head asked them to change their
decision, the Dalits refused to do so. Irked by this, "caste" Hindus
conducted a panchayat and fined the Dalits for disobeying the
decision, and imposed a social boycott on them. The "caste" Hindus
even warned people in the neighbouring villages of dire consequences
if they helped the Dalits. The Dalits had been prevented from praying
to the village deity even from outside the shrine, he said.

When the Dalits complained to the police, they refused to register the
complaint. The police were forced to register a complaint against 13
"caste" Hindus, who were instrumental in imposing the social boycott,
after the intervention of the Dalit Mahasabha on August 20, said
mahasabha president Venkataramana.

Accusing "caste" Hindus of torching the houses of Chikkasiddaiah and
Rachaiah, another Dalit leader of Chamarajanagar Arakalavadi Nagendra
alleged that the houses were locked from outside before being torched.
"But timely intervention of other Dalits, who doused the fire, saved
the lives of two families," he said.

Had the police arrested the accused, the incident would not have
occurred. "Interestingly, although the police were deployed in the
village in view of the tension, they were not present when the huts
were torched", he alleged.

Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan and Gundlupet MLA H.S. Mahadeva
Prasad visited Anakahalli on Saturday and consoled the victims.

Mr. Mahadeva Prasad attributed failure of the police to the torching incident.

"Although a complaint was registered against the 13 accused on August
20, the police failed to arrest the culprits. The police are directly
responsible for the incident," he said.

Angered by the apathy of the district administration in protecting the
interest of Dalits in the district, Mr. Nagendra cautioned against
launching district-wide agitation in case of not arresting the accused
by Monday.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit outfits accuse police of inaction

 

http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/06/stories/2010090659740300.htm

Karnataka - Mangalore

Dalit outfits accuse police of inaction

Staff Correspondent

Accused in a case of atrocity over daily wage worker still to be
booked: leaders

----------------------------------------------------------
A daily wage earner was assaulted by four persons in 2009

Dalit leaders seek compensation, job for

the victim
----------------------------------------------------------

MANGALORE: Dalit organisations have alleged that members of Bajrang
Dal, accused of stripping and assaulting Sridhar (27), a Dalit daily
wage-worker from Peraje village of Kodagu district, in Bantwal taluk
on July 5, 2009, were still to be arrested. The police registered a
case against four persons after The Hindu brought the atrocity case to
light. But all of them are now out on bail.

Speaking at the monthly grievance meeting for SCs/STs organised by the
district police here on Sunday, leaders of various Dalit organisations
said that the police had failed to book cases against six more
persons, who allegedly played a crucial role in the atrocity against
the same victim. Expressing fears about the safety of Mr. Sridhar,
they said that unless the police moved the court and got the bail
order cancelled, the accused would try to harm or bring pressure on
the victim again. The leaders demanded that Mr. Sridhar be paid
compensation, provided medical care for the permanent deformities he
sustained during the attack, and a Government job .

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[ZESTCaste] Bilaso - owner of six goats and future dreams

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/danchaid/cb016744357d0b5b4269b43065d966d7.htm

Bilaso - owner of six goats and future dreams

06 Sep 2010 14:14:51 GMT
Source: DanChurchAid - Denmark
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this
article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are
the author's alone.

37 year old Bilaso Naik, single mother of two children used to work 25
km from home doing back breaking road construction the entire day.


Bilaso Naik stands with her son near her mud home
Now with the help from DanChurch Aid’s partner Nari Surakha Samiti
(NSS) in Orissa she has recently started a new life rearing goats. The
animals was bought with money from financial aid received from the
government.

A big hurdleEntitlements and access to rights for Dalits, Adivasis
(tribal), women and other vulnerable communities have been a long
drawn struggle in India with many legislations and orders passed by
the Government since Independence. Yet, accessing these rights and
entitlements in a timely manner seems to stand forth as the biggest
hurdles for vulnerable and marginalized masses. 37 years old Bilaso
Naik is one who overcame this odd.

Abused by husbandA resident of the Dalit hamlet in the village of
Bimal Beda in the Angul district of Orissa, Bilaso was a single mother
at twenty two with two children after her partner abandoned her. Her
relationship was not a legal marriage, but a commitment to a man who
made a false promise of marrying her. He beat her, abused her after
consuming alcohol and had multiple relationships.

Returned to her mother Fed up, she left it all to return to her
widowed mother. Today her family consists of her ailing mother and two
young sons. â€Å“I have accepted this as my destiny. For so long I have
heard people’s scorn, the taunts on my character. But what can I do?
I have a larger and bigger struggle- to earn a living, to feed my
family,†says Bilaso.

Patriarchal valuesIn India, patriarchal norms define the woman’s
â€Å“place†in society, her identity always attached to a male- a
father or a brother or a husband. Even with the most progressive
legislation on the subject, India’s hinterlands continue to be
dominated with overarching patriarchal values. The situation is made
complex by the multiple layers of vulnerabilities - a single Dalit
poor woman abandoned by her husband faces multiple levels of
discrimination and abuse.

First Single Women Survey in Orissa, IndiaIt is this group of
marginalized and exploited women that was identified by NSS in the
first ever single woman survey conducted in the district. The outcome
of the survey was the identification of more than 150 unwed mothers,
mostly Dalits who were victims of the false promise marriages. A list
was drawn of all the women and sent to the District Collector.

25 km to work â€Å“I was working as a wage labourer under the government
programme, NREGA, constructing roads. There was no work in my area†,
tells Bilaso. Last year one of the big multinational companies was
taking up work widening a road, so Bilaso had to travel 25 km to work
at that site. â€Å“An entire day of back breaking work and I used to
earn 90 INR (Indian rupees) a day. Last year I got work only for 4
months,†says Bilaso.

Accessing Government Schemes with Advocacy Sustained advocacy at all
levels of governance by NSS has ensured that a number of women in this
area get access to housing and a means to earn their livelihood.
Bilaso has recently received the first installment of money from the
Government scheme with which she has bought 6 goats. She is the only
earning member of her family and dreams of having a bigger business
rearing goats in the future.

By Priyanka Mukherjee Mittal
Regional Information and Documentation Officer, DanChurch Aid, India


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[ZESTCaste] Caste in motion (D Shyam Babu, Lant Pritchett, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Devesh Kapur)

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Caste-in-motion/677985/

Caste in motion

D Shyam Babu, Lant Pritchett, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Devesh Kapur
Posted online: 2010-09-07 20:36:55+05:30

Popular media and academic descriptions of India's rapid economic
transformation in the era of market reforms often come with a 'but':
"But development has also disrupted existing ways of living. It has
strained the social and cultural fabric of the villages."

If any post-Foucauldian social scientist has any insight to offer,
surely it is that the nostalgia of elites is an unreliable guide to
the actual experiences of marginalised social groups. As Ambedkar
recognised more than 6 decades ago: "The love of the intellectual
Indians for the village community is of course infinite if not
pathetic… What is the village but a sink of localism, a den of
ignorance, narrow mindedness and communalism?" Precisely those people
and groups the 'cultural fabric of the villages' pressured into social
inferiority generally lack access both to media outlets and to the
technical tools of academia for structuring discourse, both of words
and numbers. Do Dalits' own assessments of the era of market reform
come with a 'but' or with an 'and'?

We add to the existing literature on the evolution of wellbeing during
the era of market reforms using a survey constructed by Dalits,
implemented by Dalits, administered to all Dalit households in 2
blocks of Uttar Pradesh. The blocks chosen are Bilaria Ganj in
Azamgarh District in eastern UP and Khurja in Bulandshahar District in
western UP (hereafter eastern block and western block respectively).
The instrument, uniquely among existing large-scale surveys, asks
specifically about changes since 1990 in a variety of caste practices
at the household and social level. With this data, we can document 3
massive changes in the areas surveyed.

First, there have been major changes in the grooming, eating and
ceremonial consumption patterns of Dalits, signalling their higher
social status by adopting higher status consumption patterns. Dalits
shifted out of low status (but highly calorie intensive) foods like
sugar cane juice and roti chatni into diets containing (unbroken)
rice, fresh vegetables and spices and increased use of high status
foods in social occasions like weddings.

Second, respondents report changes in the accepted behaviours between
castes, with rapid erosion in discriminatory processes that
stigmatised Dalits. By and large in these blocks Dalits are less
likely to be seated separately at weddings, they no longer are
expected to handle the dead animals of other castes, there is a
noticeable increase in births in Dalit households that are attended by
non-Dalit midwives and non-Dalits increasingly accept hospitality in
Dalit homes. None of these practices were common in 1990.

Third, there have been large shifts in the pattern of economic life
both away from and within the villages. There has been a considerable
increase in (mostly) circular migration to distant cities to work,
with nearly half of Dalit households in the eastern block having a
member in the cities.

In the villages, Dalits have shifted into professions (e.g. tailors,
masons and drivers) and businesses (e.g. grocers, paan shop owners).
Agricultural relations have changed such that almost no Dalits
participate in bonded economic ties (halwaha) and many fewer Dalits
even perform agricultural labour on upper caste lands as Dalits now
are much more likely to contract in factors from high caste groups
(e.g. tractors, land) than sell their labour to them.

Inequality in what? For whom?

India's socially marginalised populations suffer from 2 key forms of
disadvantage—social indignity and material poverty— which emerge from
intertwined socially and economically perpetuated inequalities.
Empirical assessments in India tend to conflate the two into measures
of material wellbeing (e.g. poverty or inequality) or 'neutral' social
indicators like education, health or nutrition outcomes. Even if the
distinction between indignity and economic status arises, it is
treated as axiomatic that the first is completely dependent on the
second. Even when attention is turned to 'caste', often the data
compare outcomes on standard indicators (consumption expenditures,
education) across castes, but with almost no attention to how caste
markers, behaviours and practices themselves may have changed.

Many have expressed concern that growth of the market economy in India
unleashes "inequality-increasing" forces. S Mahendra Dev and C Ravi
reach a "clear conclusion" that inequality "increased significantly in
the post-reform period", a conclusion shared by other researchers. But
the exclusive use of consumption expenditures or differences across
castes in a few outcomes as measures of inequality cannot be adequate
in the many parts of rural India where social inequalities—servility,
humiliation, lack of self-respect—are important. Comparing consumption
expenditures-based inequality statistics across states reveals the
incompleteness of the picture they present. The Gini index of
consumption expenditure inequality is considerably greater in Kerala
than in UP, in both rural and urban areas. Moreover, the differences
between Kerala and Bihar or UP are substantially larger than the
all-India changes, so the gap between UP and Kerala in urban areas in
2005 is .044 points versus a total all-India change of .034 points.
Thus, despite substantially lower inequalities in human capital in
Kerala relative to UP in the early 1980s as well as two decades later,
in 2005 Kerala had more unequal consumption inequality. Simply
comparing consumption expenditures or consumption inequality alone
would lead one to conclude that Kerala is more unequal than UP. But
such a conclusion would contradict the findings of a host of studies
extolling the greater commitment to equality of the Kerala model of
development. The reason is that the cognitive and social aspects of
inequality—self-respect, servility, full participation in social and
political life— need to be factored in to make an adequate comparison.

As elsewhere in rural India, in rural UP caste has played a key role
in structuring individual identity, limiting economic choices and
reinforcing patterns of consumption consonant with the identification
of Dalits as social inferiors. In evaluating the evolution of
wellbeing of Dalits and other socially excluded groups during the era
of market reform—a period that also coincides with increasing
political empowerment of Dalits in UP—one cannot simply assume how the
complex interplay of economic, political and social has played out. As
Neera Chandhoke points out, "the link between redistribution (of
material resources) and what has come to be known as recognition
(development of feelings of self respect)" has "proved to be more
tenuous than originally conceived by egalitarians" especially since
recognition "is not so easily commanded by politics". Passing a law
against discrimination will not make an upper caste invite a lower
caste person into his house, or, even if he does, to offer him
something to eat and drink. Conversely, perhaps an increasing
penetration of markets may increase income/consumption inequality
overall, but the move to arms length market transactions may have
socially egalitarian consequences in the 'recognition' dimension. This
could be much more important in rural India as social inequalities
shape the daily lives of marginalised populations. Improvements in
self-respect in daily interactions may matter more to rural Dalits
than income inequality from increases in wealth of Mumbai
industrialists or Bangalore IT tycoons. But before the changes in
caste differences can be evaluated, they must be measured...

Freedom from social inequality as development

The results of this unique survey reveal very substantial shifts in
Dalits' lives consistent with a growing sense of empowerment and
opportunity and declining ability of others to impose social
inequalities. The changes in grooming and eating are both consistent
with a deliberate attempt to shed consumption patterns that reproduced
social exclusion through the rapid adoption of 'elite' consumption
patterns—much faster than can be explained by economic variables
alone. The changes in the traditional stratifications in the social
life within the village have also rapidly eroded. No one would argue
Dalits have achieved anything like equality, but it is certainly the
case that many practices that reflected social subordination and
routine humiliation of Dalits have declined considerably. In a large
majority of the villages in this survey, Dalits no longer lift
non-Dalits' dead animals; Dalit babies are often delivered by
non-Dalit midwives; Dalits are rarely seated separately at weddings;
and it is no longer uncommon for non-Dalits to accept foods in Dalit
homes.

Economically, there has been a rapid shift out of traditional Dalit
economic relationships into local occupations and professions,
migration and changed agricultural practices.

Our analysis suggests that for the surveyed Dalits... prosperity
raised the standard of living and the social and cultural fabric of
the village has changed, much for the better. Debates about the
effects of economic reforms on inequality in India based on changes in
consumption inequality have so far been completely missing these much
larger changes in social and cognitive inequality. The good life, as
Hegel argued, is fundamentally dependent on being held in regard by
others, and approval and recognition are crucial to this. The arrival
of modernity in western societies ruptured existing social
hierarchies, replacing them with a universal language (even if not
practice) of dignity and self-respect. In India, questions of dignity,
self-respect and humiliation were at the core of the nationalist
discourse. But as Gopal Guru has perceptively argued while Indian
nationalists were deeply cognisant of the racial humiliations
resulting from colonisation, they were much less so over caste-based
humiliations...

Even if we limit the implications of our study just to the state of UP
(as caste has played out very differently in different regions and
states of India so we claim no generality across India) there are
roughly 32 million Dalits just in UP, which is comparable to civil
rights for African-Americans in the US (the 'black alone' population
of the US in 2004 was 36 million) or the end of apartheid in South
Africa (the 'black' population of South Africa is roughly 38.4
million).

Moreover, in the present work we make no attempt to distinguish among
the potential driving causes of these shifts by disentangling the
political (the rise of the BSP in UP), economic (market-oriented
reforms and rapid growth), exogenous social (e.g. exposure to media)
or technological (introduction of tractors and irrigation)
explanations. But what needs emphasis is that during this period, as
per their own self-assessment, the social well-being of large numbers
of Dalits advanced even faster than their material well being.
Certainly this additional human freedom should count as an 'and' in
assessing the achievements of the market reform era.

This is an extract from a working paper originally published in EPW.
Devesh Kapur is with the Center for the Advanced Study of India,
University of Pennsylvania; Chandra Bhan Prasad is an independent
researcher and columnist; Lant Pritchett is with the John F Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard University; D Shyam Babu is with the
Rajiv Gandhi Foundation


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