Sunday, December 26, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Only Congress accorded political status for dalits: Chidambaram

 

http://www.sify.com/news/only-congress-accorded-political-status-for-dalits-chidambaram-news-national-km1bubidcjb.html

Only Congress accorded political status for dalits: Chidambaram
2010-12-27 01:20:00
Last Updated: 2010-12-27 01:21:35
Casa Paradiso Sanathnagar

Tirunelveli: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today lamented that
untouchability had not been eradicated even now and maintained that it
was only the Congress party which accorded political status for
dalits.

Dwelling on the role played by Congress during pre and
post-independence period, he said the architect of Indian Constitution
B R Ambedkar was not a Congress leader at that time but late
Jawaharlal Nehru appointed him as Law Minister and nominated him as
head of the committee for framing the Constitution.

Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Jinnah had fought for
the country's independence, he said.

Despite efforts of these leaders, the country is still segregated on
caste and religious lines, he said at a public meeting here in which
different associations of SC and ST and backward classes merged with
the Congress party.

Congress when it was in power in Tamil Nadu had made Kakkan, a dalit,
state Home Minister but from 1967 till now when it was out of power no
dalit leader has been given important portfolios, he said, without
naming either DMK or AIADMK.

He said dalit leaders like late K R Narayanan was made President while
late Jagjivan Ram was made Defence Minister and Meira Kumar Lok Sabha
Speaker.

On the UPA government's rule, he said a 8.5 per cent economic growth
had been registered in the past five years. In the next three years,
it would be a nine percentage growth. If this growth is achieved, one
crore more jobs would be created.

A sense of security is a pre-requisite for all. People who feel
insecure such as dalits, muslims or those in North east, central India
and in Kashmir valley where terror outfits backed by Pakistan pose a
threat need redoubled security, he said.

He said the country is grappling with both left wing terrorism in the
form of naxalism and right wing terrorism and as such it is divided
from left to right but did not elaborate. The Congress has stuck to a
middle path but despite this some 'mistakes' had taken place, he said
indirectly referring to the 2G spectrum scam.

But the UPA government had taken action against ministers and
officials who were involved in alleged scandals, he said, adding that
opposition had wantonly stalled Parliamentary proceedings to prevent
crucial Constitutional amendments.

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[ZESTCaste] Groups clash over Ambedkar bust installation

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Groups-clash-over-Ambedkar-bust-installation/articleshow/7169059.cms

Groups clash over Ambedkar bust installation

TNN, Dec 26, 2010, 11.05pm IST

VARANASI: Two groups of dalits came face to face over installation of
a bust of BR Ambedkar on a piece of gram samaj land in Bishunpur
village under Lohta police station on Sunday morning.

According to police, several dalit families live near a huge land of
gram samaj. One group of local dalits installed a bust on the same
land on Saturday night. When members of other group saw it on Sunday
morning, they strongly opposed the move. Thus, both groups came face
to face.

In the meantime, heavy police force reached there and separated both
the groups. The bust was taken to the police station and heavy police
force was deployed there to avoid occurrence of any untoward incident.
SP (rural) Ajay Kumar said both the groups had been informed that no
bust could be installed anywhere without taking permission of the
district administration.

Vehicle-lifters gang busted: The special operation group of Ghazipur
police on Sunday busted an inter-state gang of bike lifters. they
arrested six members of the gang and recovered 10 motorcycles and fake
documents of the regional transport office from their possession.

According to police, acting on a tip-off, the SOG team had cordoned
off Sadhikapur area under Nonahara police station on Saturday night.
The police succeeded in arresting Dhananjay Yadav alias Noha,
Surkeshwar Bind alias Deva, Dinbandhu Rajbhar and Om Prakash Yadav
when they tried to escape after dodging the police. During initial
investigation, it was found that both the motorcycles were carrying
fake registration number and were stolen from different places.

Later, on their tip-off, the SOG arrested two other members of the
gang, Subhash Yadav and Gyan Prakash Mishra. Later, the police
recovered eight more motorcycles that were lifted from different
districts. The gang was also maintaining an office from where the
stamp and registration forms of the RTO were recovered. The gang
members revealed that they had sold 12 motorcycles in Nepal in the
past.

FIR lodged against VNN vice-chairman: A case of fraud was lodged
against vice-chairman of Varanasi Nagar Nigam Mahendra Singh Gautam
and his two relatives with the Sigra police on Saturday.

According to reports, Sunil Gupta of Kamayani Nagar Colony had
mortgaged the documents of his flat to borrow Rs 47,000 from his
neighbour Ramesh Singh. Ramesh had given the money on the condition of
10% interest. After repaying Rs 42,000, Gupta requested him to return
the documents of his flat. But, Ramesh said he had to pay Rs 90,000
more.

Afterwards Ramesh and his wife Kiran contacted the VNN vice-chairman
who locked Gupta's flat and started pressurising him to transfer the
papers in the name of Ramesh. Gupta initially contacted the Sigra
police but, when his complaint was not registered, he approached DIG
Prem Prakash, who ordered the money lending cell of his office to
investigate the matter. After the cell officials found the complaints
of Gupta to be true, the DIG ordered to lodge an FIR against Gautam,
Ramesh and Kiran.

Fake currencies recovered: The Cantonment police on Sunday busted a
gang engaged in printing and circulating counterfeit Indian currency
(CFIC) on Saturday. They arrested three members of this gang and
recovered 166 CFIC in the denomination of Rs 100 and printing machines
from their possession.

According to police, during a vehicle checking drive, tractor driver
Sanjay Tiwari was caught with CFIC. During interrogation, Tiwari
revealed that the CFIC were being printed at Tribhuvan Mishra's
residence in Chandawak (Jaunpur) and being circulated from Rajesh
Kumar's betel kiosk. Later, the police raided Chandawak area and
arrested both of them.

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[ZESTCaste] The rise of Dalit entrepreneurship

http://www.livemint.com/2010/12/26190827/The-rise-of-Dalit-entrepreneur.html?atype=tp

Posted: Mon, Dec 27 2010. 1:00 AM IST
Published on page 7

The rise of Dalit entrepreneurship

The community has found an escape both from the demeaning tasks
assigned to them by the caste system and the stigma of being branded
as non-meritorious beneficiaries of reservations in India
Pallavi Singh, pallavi.s@livemint.com

Around 40 years ago, huddled among a group of hungry children in his
native village of Vadgaon Budruk in Maharashtra, Rajendra Gaikwad had
an epiphany about how there was discrimination in a simple seating
arrangement.

It was a mass lunch thrown by upper-caste Marathas and the
nine-year-old was seated along with his mother in a corner of the
temple where Dalits of the village ate. "We were segregated from the
upper-caste Hindus, which was very humiliating. Even as a child, I
felt insulted and would cry each time my parents would talk of
visiting the village. I didn't return after that,'' he says.

Gaikwad is today based in Pune and runs a pest-control firm with
operations in India and Singapore. He is also a member of a growing
band of Dalit entrepreneurs who have eagerly grabbed the opportunities
offered by a booming Indian economy to break the occupational shackles
imposed on their community for centuries.

Atin Kamble is a third-generation Dalit entrepreneur from Mumbai who
has none of Gaikwad's bitter childhood tales to tell. After eight
years in the business of marketing edible goods in Mumbai shops
through his venture Arti Enterprises, 36-year-old Kamble is
ambitiously pitching for two power-generation projects in Arunanchal
Pradesh, which would need an investment of a minimum of Rs.15 crore
initially.

His grandfather began with a modest business of leather goods, a
vocation traditionally allocated to Dalits, in Mumbai's crowded Dadar
area; his father expanded the family business but Kamble chose to
strike out on his own.

"I somehow found sitting in my grandfather's leather business shop
infra dig. I mean, it's a peon's job, if you are ambitious. I wanted
to do something that would give our business the status of industry,"
he says. And adds: "Today I am dealing with distributors and local
shopkeepers in the food business. When my children take over, they
will be dealing with super stockists."

As opposed to Kamble's pedigree and Gaikwad's fortunes, Dashrath
Singh, who uses a surname mostly used by upper-caste Rajputs in India,
is still struggling in the garments business he runs from a rundown
garage in the congested Om Nagar slum in Delhi. Yet, from where he
stands today, it isn't just a matter of miles covered, but it's a
significant leap from his native village of Vari in Uttar Pradesh's
Bulandshahar district to Delhi.

Singh's work over a decade has included a series of humble vocations,
among them a helper at a grocery shop, an autorickshaw driver, a
door-to-door salesman of clothes, and a conductor in private buses,
before the idea of entrepreneurship struck him. Three years into his
business, he sometimes "earns lakhs in a month and sometimes just a
paltry sum". But he insists things couldn't get better. "Whatever it
is, I am on my own. I seek no favours," he explains.

Gaikwad, Kamble and Singh are three faces of an emerging Dalit
capitalism that allows them an escape both from the demeaning tasks
assigned to them by the caste system and the stigma of being branded
as non-meritorious beneficiaries of reservations in education and
employment.

D. Shyam Babu, a fellow of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary
Studies (RGICS) in New Delhi, says Dalit capitalism is still at a
nascent stage, but adds that it will help create a Dalit bourgeoisie.
"It has the seeds of transformation for Dalits—from the lower class to
the middle class and beyond," says Babu, whose research on Dalits and
the new economic order has highlighted the social advance of the
community in the wake of globalization.

"I know Dalit entrepreneurs who manufacture copper wires and cables
for use by the Indian Railways and the Delhi Metro, which proves that
these businesses are competitive, quality-oriented and efficient. This
is what Dalits in business want to prove today: they are good as
everyone else," says author and activist Chandra Bhan Prasad, who is
currently compiling a database of entrepreneurs in the community.

Though the rise of the market economy has helped break many old social
barriers, Dalit businessmen still have to deal with several hurdles on
their chosen road.

"Most Dalit entrepreneurs face problems varying from difficulty in
getting enough supplies on credit, lack of social networks, absence of
kin groups in the business, and control of traditionally dominant
business-caste groups. These, along with other social variables such
as lack of social capital, make the Dalit situation in India more
complicated and vulnerable to homogeneous categorization," says
Surinder S. Jodhka, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Social
Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

Jodhka's paper, 'Dalits in Business: Self-Employed Scheduled Castes in
Northwest India', drew insight on the expansion of private capital in
India during the post-1991 period and highlighted the discrimination
faced by Dalit businesses. The marginal status of Dalits and their
continued discrimination in the urban labour market also find
recognition in the 11th Five Year Plan released in October 2008. The
paper notes that "in urban areas, too, there is prevalence of
discrimination by caste, particularly discrimination in employment,
which operates at least in part through traditional mechanisms; SCs
(scheduled castes) are disproportionately represented in poorly paid,
dead-end jobs. Further, there is a flawed preconceived notion that
they lack merit and are unsuitable for formal employment".

A poor economic and social background thus makes the beginning
difficult—only to be eased by outside help, mostly from the community
or well-off upper-caste individuals. "Forty years ago, when I began, I
would go on a cycle in rain and sun to various places—from a poultry
farm to an army cantonment, to kill rats and do odd jobs. I slowly
learnt that businesses need hard work and professionalism," Gaikwad
says. In almost an afterthought, he adds: "A gentlemen called Mr.
Deshpande helped me get a loan from a bank by agreeing to be a
guarantor. The fact that he was an upper-caste man did help in making
my application appear serious."

S. Galab, a professor at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies in
Hyderabad, who carried out research on the role and effectiveness of
self-help groups run by Dalit women in Andhra Pradesh, says most Dalit
enterprises suffer because of social isolation and the lack of
cooperation, and get over the initial hiccups only with help from
upper-caste individuals, since Dalits haven't had a strong footing in
the social and economic sphere for centuries. "However, the upper
caste help also, kind of, co-opts the Dalits into the overall existing
structures, which is why they find it difficult to think about giving
back to their community later," he cautions.

Various economic fora have also emerged over the years to help Dalits
overcome initial hurdles in setting up businesses. At the Pune-based
Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, formed three years ago,
its chairman Milind Kamble not just works on a database of Dalit
businessmen, but also helps them find linkages in industry.

And yet, argues author and activist Prasad, the emerging
entrepreneurship will need government help to thrive. "The government
ought to constitute a body, say, the 'National Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribes Supplier Development Council', which should identify
Dalit/tribal entrepreneurs who are already supplying goods and
services to the government through middlemen, and connecting them
directly to procurement departments," he says, citing examples from
the US, where a national body connects minority entrepreneurs with
large American firms.

To those who say that such a practice goes against the spirit of a
free market, Prasad argues that the Indian bourgeoisie itself would
not have thrived without state support and protection till 1991.
"Dalit businesses particularly need help since most of these are
small-scale operations," he adds.

Explaining that economic standing is the only way Dalits can redefine
themselves, RGICS' Babu likens the trend to the wave of Black
Capitalism in the US in the 1970s and 1980s. "There are strong
similarities. Like the black capitalists of America, most of the Dalit
entrepreneurs are first-generation entrepreneurs, people who were
never into businesses but mostly relying on agricultural labour. To
get into serious business from agriculture is a paradigm shift. And,
in both cases, here as in the United States, even though there have
been state interventions to promote entrepreneurship, individual
motivation and community help have come first," Babu says.


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[ZESTCaste] Bhiduri's dharna at Statue Circle from today

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Bhiduris-dharna-at-Statue-Circle-from-today/articleshow/7169481.cms

Bhiduri's dharna at Statue Circle from today
TNN, Dec 27, 2010, 04.25am IST
JAIPUR: President of the All-India Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti
Ramvir Singh Bhiduri will organise an indefinite dharna at Statue
Circle from Monday. Bhiduri's dharna is in support of the charter of
demands of the Gujjar community, primarily for a 5 % reservation for
it in the state.

Bhiduri said chief minister Ashok Gehlot and home minister Shanti
Dhariwal had accepted the Bill passed by the former BJP government was
full of loopholes and unconstitutional.

"In the wake of such open admissions, the government should convene a
special session of the assembly and pass a fresh bill covering all
these loopholes. It should be a constitutionaly valid bill making
provisions for a 5 %reservation for the community," he said.

He said the Jats, who make up 9% of the state's population, were
includedg in the OBC reservation quota of 21% without enhancing the
total percentage during the BJP regime. Therefore, the Gujjars should
now be given a 5% quota in the OBC and the total percentage of
reservation should be made to 26%.

Further he wanted that the OBC to be divided into two categories of
backward and most backward and the Gujjars, Gadia Lohars, Banjaras and
Rebari be included in the most backward community.

In a new demand, Bhiduri wanted the government to issue a white paper
stating that in the past five years how much recruitment has been done
under the OBC quota and what percentage of government jobs had been
given to which caste. He also wanted to know what percentage of jobs
had been given to Gujjars and the other three communities.

He wanted that the government should immediately release all Gujjar
activists arrested during the past agitation as a goodwill gesture. He
demanded that the Rs 25 crore fund kept aside for the welfare of
students of Gujjars, Gadia Lohars, Banjara and Rebari community should
be enhanced to Rs 50 crore and the clause of producing an income
certificatebe removed as well as the clause stating no government
employee's ward can avail the benefit.

He also wanted the Rs 25 crore fund set aside for the Dev Narayan
Board to be increased to Rs 500 crore and placed under the chief
minister.

"The money should be used for development of Gujjar villages under
chief minister' monitoring," Bhiduri said.

Lashing out at the BJP, Bhiduri said first the party should apologise
to Gujjars for framing such an unconstitutional bill and secondly for
being responsible of killing 70 people in the agitation so far.

Read more: Bhiduri's dharna at Statue Circle from today - The Times of
India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Bhiduris-dharna-at-Statue-Circle-from-today/articleshow/7169481.cms#ixzz19IJJBGdI

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[ZESTCaste] 'Haryana women have done the most to fight khaps'

 

http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/interviews/Haryana-women-have-done-the-most-to-fight-khaps/articleshow/7168140.cms

Q&A
'Haryana women have done the most to fight khaps'
Shreya Roy Chowdhury, Dec 27, 2010, 12.13am IST

Jagmati Sangwan, 50, has been leading the fight against khap
panchayats and honour crimes in Haryana. The articulate and spunky
president of the Haryana wing of All India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA) - formerly a volleyball player - spoke to Shreya
Roy Chowdhury in Delhi:

Has the fight against honour crimes grown stronger in Haryana?
AIDWA has been active in Haryana since 1985. Initially we had a team
of 10-15, now we have about 48,000 members operating in 11 districts.
Violence against women, specifically violence in the name of honour,
and the diktats of khap panchayats has been one of our main areas of
intervention.

How did you start work?
We started working with families whose kids were killed or
excommunicated by the community. Those days violence wasn't perceived
as violence at all. We intervened in lots of cases but because there
is no special law against honour killings, in most cases, the culprits
got away. No one was prepared to bear witness or gather evidence. But
in the Manoj-Babli case - a same-gotra couple who were killed in
Kaithal district in June 2007 - it was a different story. Manoj lived
with his mother, a widow, and his sister. Women called the shots in
this household and this was a women's organisation active in the field
for the last 20-25 years. They considered our small force a great
support and agreed to fight with us. For the first time there's been a
landmark verdict on this issue and with this we have been able to set
up couple protection homes. People from all over India have
contributed but we feel Haryana women have done the most.

How do khaps harass young couples?
Khaps can tell a married couple with a two-year-old baby that their
marriage has violated the gotra laws and they must now tie rakhis and
become siblings. If the couples don't comply, their families are
ostracised. This was common in Haryana. Families got thrown out of the
village, fined for Rs 21,000, hit with shoes, tonsured and urinated
upon. Even against these, there should be laws. There are layers to
the problem. There are many cases involving adolescent girls. There is
nothing to help them. But if they ever slip up or the families even
suspect anything, they're killed. In that age-bracket, girls, not
boys, are killed regularly. Schoolteachers in our group report
disappearance of students. Questioned, families say things like the
girl had stomach ache and died. There's such strong acceptance of
these actions that no one complains. In case of inter-caste marriages,
if the boy is from a lower caste and landless, both will be killed.
This isn't an honour issue at all. We have a hierarchical society and
its leaders want the divisions to remain. If the youth exercise their
right to choose their partners, it has the potential to destroy caste
structures. Property will go from the landed to the landless pushing
towards a more egalitarian society. That's the real threat; the cause
of the murders. Those who understand these implications have, till
now, controlled all social and economic structures and resources. Now
they are threatened and political outfits depend on them for votes.
They don't want that kids use this right to 'choice marriage' because
social and economic structures will collapse.

What has changed in the past few years?
The March 2010 district court verdict in the Manoj-Babli case, which
sentenced five of the perpetrators to death, sent a strong message
that nobody is above the law. The panchayat workers involved have also
been punished. This verdict, the way cases are being registered and
the construction of protection homes, have all helped. Marriage within
the same gotra is in any case rare. This same-gotra wedding problem is
greatly exaggerated. A National Commission for Women survey with
Shakti Vahini shows that only 4 per cent marriages were within gotra.
Thankfully, now girls and boys are speaking up for 'choice marriage'.

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[ZESTCaste] Tripathi dropped from Mayawati's council of ministers

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Tripathi-dropped-from-Mayawati-s-council-of-ministers/Article1-642816.aspx

Tripathi dropped from Mayawati's council of ministers
Press Trust Of India
Lucknow, December 25, 2010
First Published: 21:34 IST(25/12/2010)

Uttar Pradesh minister Rajesh Tripathi was on Saturday dropped from
Mayawati's council of ministers after the state Lokayukta accused him
of collecting money on the dead through an NGO run by him. "On the
request of the chief minister, Governor B L Joshi has divested
Tripathi from the post of
minister of state," an official release said here this evening.

Though no reason was cited for the sudden removal of the minister of
state for Homoeopathy and Religious Endownment, the move comes after
Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta asked Tripathi to either step down from the
post or relinquish chairmanship of the society that runs an illegal
crematorium in Gorakhpur.

In a report submitted to Chief Minister Mayawati, the Lokayukta said
the minister, through his NGO Mukti Path Sewa Sansthan, encroached
upon 1.219 hectares of central government's Narcotics department at
Chillupar and collected money on the bodies that came for cremation,
sources said.

The income from the shops constructed by him on the land was also
going in the NGO's account, they said.

The Lokayukta in his report dated December 23 also asked the
government to check the activities of the NGO.

Stating that income from the government land cannot be credited to the
account of a person, the Lokayukta suggested the state could take the
land on lease from union government and hand it over to various
departments for development.

The report said the local authorities worked under pressure of the
minister and did not take steps to vacate the land.

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[ZESTCaste] SC categorization - for whose cause?

http://www.andhraheadlines.com/special/sc-categorization-for-whose-cause-13-76956.html

SC categorization - for whose cause?

"All of us do not have equal abilities, but all of us should have
equal opportunities to cultivate our talents".
The recent show of strength by MRPS to demand SC categorisation and
the subsequent stray incidents affecting Law and Order once again drew
the attention of politics over the SC categorisation demand.

The 16 years of protracted "Dandora Udyamam" popularly known as "SC
Categorization Movement" has been witnessing many ups and downs. It
lost its sheen, intensity and seriousness amidst the movements for
both separate state and united Andhra Pradesh. Both Madigas of
Telangana and Malas of coastal Andhra believe that the solution to the
issue of SC categorization could only be found in bifurcation of the
State. But at the same time both the communities are at loggerheads
over the categorization. The attitude of the Madiga leadership in
dealing with the issue is also raising misgivings and evoking critical
comments over its commitment to achieve the objectives of SC
categorization movement.

During the "initial stages" of the categorization movement the Madiga
leadership opposed the demand for separate state under the premise
that an argument in favor of separate state might dilute the demand
for categorization. At the same time Madigas of Telangana region
feared that the benefits of the categorization would be accosted by
educationally better placed Madigas of coastal region. Though, Madiga
Dandora leadership deliberated these regional inequalities among the
Madigas at the start of the movement, it deliberately kept aside the
demand for separate state with an excuse that such demands would
divert the attention from the main demand of categorization.

While, Madiga leadership is undecided over the demand for separate
state, Malas of coastal region favored the bifurcation of the state
saying that a separate state is the answer to end categorization
problem permanently and justice would also be done to Daliths in a
separate state. The demand for separate state from Malas emanates from
two aspects one to stall the categorization and to make moves towards
political empowerment of Malas. The demand for separate state is a
strategy of Malas to end the categorization permanently.

Bifurcation of the state without solving the categorization would not
help the Madigas of coastal Andhra in anyway, as the dominant Malas
would corner the benefits. In the backdrop of varied demands from
Malas of coastal Andhra, Madigas of Telangana (both for separate
state) and Madigas of Coastal Andhra (for united state) over separate
state issue, the Madiga Dandora leadership too uncertain over its
stand on separate state issue.

Of late, Manda Krishna Madiga, the leader of SC categorization
Movement opined that Daliths should not miss the opportunity to lead
the separate state movement to capture political power in the separate
state. His interest to support the cause of Telangana raised
suspicions among the Madigas of other regions that their leader is
putting the interest of his cast at stake before his political
ambitions. There is a strong belief that he is neglecting the
categorization demand which benefits the Madigas of all regions to
pursue his own political interests. The promise of KCR, the leader of
TRS, to make a dalith first Chief Minister of Telangana state seemed
to have prompted Manda Krishna to both support the cause of Telangana
to pursue his own ambitions at the cost of interests of his own caste.

He seemed to have lost reasoning that achievement of a separate state
before the categorization was materialized would in no way benefit the
Madigas of coastal region. At the same they cannot achieve their
demand for categorization in a separate state as the dominant Malas of
coastal region would not allow them to succeed in their endeavor.

Therefore, it would be appropriate for Madiga Dandora leadership to
achieve SC categorization before the State is subjected for a split.
At the same time, though the Malas are in minority as per their
numbers concern, they are politically and economically strong to
corner the present reservation benefits from majority Madigas in
Telangana region. Hence, it would beneficial for Telangana Madigas to
achieve categorization before the state is split.

The demand for categorization highlights the shortcomings of our
reservation policy. The demand for categorization by Madigas stems
from their apprehensions that the politically and economically strong
Malas corner the reservation benefits. However, the demand brought
conflicts between the Madigas aspiration and Malas domination.

The demand for categorisation demonstrates the fact that the
reservation system is essentially a zero sum game. The reservation
policy was never meant to be implemented in perpetuity. At the time of
its origin, it was supposed to be in force for a decade. However, it
turned out to be in force for eternity due to various reasons of vote
bank politics. Even, for those covered by reservations, the system
hasn't worked as premeditated. In all categories, reservation benefits
have come to be cornered by a dominant creamy layer. And demand for SC
categorisation emanates from one such reason.


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[ZESTCaste] Controversial wall near dalit colony demolished in Coimbatore

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Controversial-wall-near-dalit-colony-demolished-in-Coimbatore/articleshow/7164732.cms

Controversial wall near dalit colony demolished in Coimbatore
TNN, Dec 26, 2010, 03.56am IST

COIMBATORE: In a swift move, the Coimbatore district administration
pulled down a controversial wall that had been erected around a dalit
colony in Nagarajapuram village in Veerakeralam town panchayat which
was blocking the residents' access to the main road.

"A portion of the wall has been demolished. About 30 feet from the
southwest end and 23 feet from the southeast end were demolished from
the 500-metre-long and eight-foot-high wall," said Veerakeralam town
panchayat executive officer R Duraimani. Because of the wall, around
2,000 dalits and tribals living in the locality have had to take a
1.5-km detour to reach the Thondamuthur-Coimbatore main road.

About 500 dalit families in the village had petitioned the district
collector against what they called "an untouchability wall" raised by
a non-dalit land owner. The dalits also claimed that the wall had been
erected on the portion of a private land which had been reserved for
public use. As the protests swelled, the tahsildar and executive
officer of the town panchayat rushed to the village for inspection on
Friday.

A day after the protest, the district collector ordered portions of
the wall to be brought down in the presence of police officials around
10am on Saturday.

According to the executive officer, a real estate agent, Vijayakumar,
bought the property adjacent to Nagarajapuram village and divided his
2.5-acre plot into 31 sites and received approval for construction
from the local planning authority (LPA). However, he erected a wall
outside the boundary of his compound on reserved panchayat site. "We
have reopened the path and general public will have total access to
the main road," added Duraimani.

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