Wednesday, July 13, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Fake SC/ST cops in Delhi police!

 

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/jul/130711-Fake-SC-ST-cops-in-Delhi-police.htm

Fake SC/ST cops in Delhi police!
By: Atul Krishan Date: 2011-07-13 Place: Delhi

Home ministry asks department to probe its personnel

The fake caste certificate scam seems to have penetrated Delhi Police
ranks as well. Recently, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the
department to verify SC, ST and OBC certificates furnished by cops to
get employment. A highly-placed police source said that on the
instructions of the MHA, the department conducted a verification drive
that several personnel, who have been working with Delhi Police for
years, provided fake certificates to get their jobs.

"The first person who was caught was a head constable posted with
vigilance branch. The accused was identified as head constable Ram
Kishan Mehto. The vigilance department has held him guilty of
furnishing a fake certificate of ST category," said a police source.

The source said that Ram Kishan Mehto got the Delhi Police job in
1995. According to the source it was the outer district DCP who first
came to know about the discrepancy and asked the vigilance department
to take action against him.

Spot the difference
"During the verification drive, the DM of east Delhi was also asked by
police to prepare a report on whether the ST certificate of Mehto was
fake or not. On April 1, the DM replied to this. He made it clear that
the document provided by Mehto was indeed fake. He added that he
culprit does belong to an extremely backward class but he was not the
member of ST category and no certificate was issued to him by the DM's
office," said a police official.

The source also said that additional commissioner of police
(vigilance) Garmia Bhatnagar wrote a letter to senior police officials
asking them to take action against Mehto and book him in a criminal
case.
"The instruction letter was sent by director (Delhi), government of
India, Ministry of Home Affairs to all DCPs to conduct a verification
drive. The head constable will be questioned to find out where he
procured the fake certificate from," said a police source.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit youth dies in police custody in Pali, Rajasthan

 

http://netindian.in/news/2011/07/13/00014251/dalit-youth-dies-police-custody-pali-rajasthan

Dalit youth dies in police custody in Pali, Rajasthan
United News of India
Pali, July 13, 2011

A Dalit youth, who was picked up by the police while he was allegedly
wandering in suspicious circumstances late last night, has died in
police custody.

A police spokesman said today Rahul Harijan of Keshav Nagar here was
nabbed by the police around midnight last night. He was brought to the
police station where he "fell ill" during interrogation.

He was rushed to a local hospital from where he was referred to the
Bangar Hospital and then to Jodhpur Medical College Hospital.

Doctors in Jodhpur declared him brought dead, the police said, adding
that the body was again being brought here for autopsy.

NNN

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[ZESTCaste] Birth anniversary of Dalit icon Srinivasan observed

http://news.chennaionline.com/newsitem.aspx?NEWSID=f76a1f51-f5ff-4385-8a43-51ec69e2bcfa&CATEGORYNAME=CHN

Birth anniversary of Dalit icon Srinivasan observed

Chennai, Jul 7 : The birth anniversary of Dalit icon and Mahatma
Gandhi's close aide 'Rettamalai' Srinivasan was today observed as an
official function. This followed an order issued by Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa yesterday that his birth anniversary today would be
celebrated as a government function.

As per her directive, State Ministers paid floral tributes by
garlanding the statue of the dalit icon at the Gandhi Mandapm premises
at Adyar. Among those who garlanded the statue included, Finance
Minister O Panneerselvam, Agriculture Minister K A Sengottaiyan,
Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan, Adi Dravidar and Tribals
Minister N Subramanian and others.

Mr Srinivasan, who had faced the evils of untouchability during his
school days, was instrumental in the Father of the Nation putting his
signature in Tamil as 'Mo Ka Gandhi' (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in
Tamil), according to an official release. Srinivasan, who strove for
the rights of the Adi dravidars, had also worked as a translator in a
South African Court when Gandhi was practicing there as an advocate,
it added.

Leaders of various political parties also paid tribute to Srinivasan.

- Agencies
Jul 07, 2011


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[ZESTCaste] Gujarat govt indifference to boycott of dalits baffles activists

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gujarat-govt-indifference-to-boycott-of-dalits-baffles-activists_1565389

Gujarat govt indifference to boycott of dalits baffles activists
Published: Wednesday, Jul 13, 2011, 17:01 IST
By Roxy Gagdekar | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

Whether it is the police department, the social justice and
empowerment department or the panchayat department itself, no
department of the state government has showed any interest in the
boycott of dalits by Muslims right in the heart of Nano Land.

Even the Congress party, which is in control of the Gram Panchayat of
Andej village in Sanand, has done nothing to end the boycott so far.

However, the people and activists at the local level are continuing
their struggle for justice and equality. "We are still not allowed to
purchase anything from the grocery or pan shops in the village," said
Shankar Shenwa, a dalit resident of the village.

"Muslim leaders have made an offer for settlement but we will not
settle for anything unless we are treated as equals and with respect,"
he said.

An activist for dalit rights, Suresh Jadhav of Navsarjan Trust,
Sanand, told DNA that they had drafted a petition and were submitting
it to all the departments concerned in an effort to end the boycott of
the dalits.

However, as of now, as many as 500 dalits of the village have to
struggle for the daily needs of life because of the people who have
boycotted them.

They have to spend money on travelling to grocery shops located 14 km
away when the same things are available at shops in the village.
Moreover, they have to spend much more on travelling just because they
cannot use the local transport system which is dominated by members of
the Muslim community.

RP Tank, joint director, social justice and empowerment department,
told DNA that they cannot do anything unless they
get details from the victims.

"So far, we have received no information either from the police or
even the victims themselves," he said.

Deputy superintendent of police, Sarkhej, RK Patel, could not
contacted despite several attempts by DNA.
However, inspector general of police, Ahmedabad range, GS

Malik, told DNA that a police team had visited the spot but they could
not find any evidence of the boycott of dalits.

Mamlatdar, Sanand taluka, who is also the chairman of the local body
for prevention of atrocities on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
said that they could not act until they received a written
application. "The people have so far not approached us," he said.


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[ZESTCaste] Protection for Thulayanatham Dalits sought

 

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article2217885.ece

TIRUCHI, July 11, 2011
Protection for Thulayanatham Dalits sought
Staff Reporter

Evidence, the Madurai-based human rights organisation, has appealed to
the District Collector and Superintendent of Police to provide
protection to Dalits of Thulayanatham village in Musiri taluk in the
wake of the alleged attacks on them last month.

While urging the State government to take steps to provide relief to
those Dalits whose houses were damaged, the organisation has sought
compensation of Rs.5 lakh each to the affected. It urged the police to
book a case under various sections of the SC and ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989 and arrest those involved. In a press release,
A. Kathir, Executive Director, Evidence, said a fact-finding team of
the organisation visited the affected village recently to ascertain
the situation following the attacks.

The release claimed that a group of caste Hindus of Thulayanatham and
other places entered the locality of the Dalits and attacked them
besides damaging their houses. The assault took place a day after some
Dalit youths were intercepted and attacked by a group of caste Hindus
when the former were returning after witnessing a cultural programme
organised as part of a temple festival held at Mangalam village where
a wordy quarrel broke out between them.

Forty-one Dalit houses were damaged and three members of the community
including a woman sustained injuries, Mr.Kathir said. The
Thathiengarpet police arrested 24 caste Hindus and booked a case under
various sections of the IPC read with section 3(1) (X) of SC and ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and 3 (1) of the TNPPD Act.

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[ZESTCaste] DMK misused Special Component Plan funds

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dmk-misused-special-component-plan-funds/167124-60-118.html

Tamil Nadu
DMK misused Special Component Plan funds
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Posted on Jul 13, 2011 at 09:15am IST

CHENNAI: Mannurumai Meettpu Iyakkam, a grouping of Dalit
organisations, has said the previous DMK government in TN was
anti-Dalit. D Periyaswamy , convenor of Mannurumai Meett pu Iyakkam in
a media meet on Tuesday said, " The DMK led regime was an anti-Dalit
government, as most of its activities were against holistic
development of Dalits."

Mannurumai Meettpu Iyakkam indicated that the DMK regime� misused
exclusive funds under the Special Component Plan given by the Centre
to the State for the development of SC and ST communities.

Sathya Chandran, Advocate, Madras High Court, speaking to� Express
said, "As per the GO:(2D) No:8 from Department of Information
Technology dated 24.2.2011, that Rs 74,91,00,000 from the Special
Component Plan is used for the Kalaingar free TV scheme which was
sanctioned under this GO."

In 2010-2011, Rs 3828 crores were received by the state from the
Central government as the Special Component fund. In 2011-2012 another
Rs 4470 crore were received.

�Periyaswamy said, " Every year the government should report on how
the Special Component Plan funds are used. In the last four years, no
break up of how the funds were spent had been reported. We request the
Amma led government to immediately probe into this and take action
against the previous DMK led government under the SC/ST Atrocities
Act."

As land grabbing reclaims make headlines, Mannurumai Meettpu Iyakkam
apparently found this the right time to raise their concerns about the
Panchami land reclamation .

D.Periyaswamy, said, " Under the watchful eyes of Amma, the AIADMK led
government is doing great work in reclaiming the grabbed land and
giving it to the rightful owners. We would like to bring to the
attention of the CM, the Panchami lands, which were meant for the
socioeconomic upliftment of Dalits".

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit mans murder sparks tension

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dalit-mans-murder-sparks-tension/167162-60-114.html

Andhra Pradesh
Dalit mans murder sparks tension
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Posted on Jul 13, 2011 at 11:47am IST

CHITTOOR: Tension prevailed at Kalimidoddi village of Santhipuram
mandal following the murder of a Dalit D Subramanyam (45) on Tuesday.
A dispute over an assigned land led to the murder of Subramanyam, the
police said.

In retaliation, Dalits attacked the houses of four upper caste persons
accused in the murder case and torched three houses. They also damaged
three tractors and a car belonging to the accused in the village.

A police picket was also posted in the villages as a precautionary measure.

According to the police, 1.32 acres was assigned to Subramanyam by the
revenue department, which was challenged in the court by Abbu Gounder
and four others, claiming that the land belonged to them.

Abbu Gounder (52) along with Rajamanikam (58), Seenu(31) and Siva (25)
allegedly attacked Subramanyam with stones when he was waiting for the
revenue staff for conducting the survey of the disputed land.
Subramanyam died on the spot.

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[ZESTCaste] Annihilating caste

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20110729281509500.htm

SOCIAL ISSUES

Annihilating caste

BHALCHANDRA MUNGEKAR

B.R. Ambedkar's passion for the abolition of untouchability and the
eradication of caste is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.

THE HINDU ARCHIVES

B.R. Ambedkar. He suggested inter-caste marriage as the remedy to destroy caste.

THE Jat Pat Todak Mandal, a social reformist organisation of Lahore,
had, in 1936, invited Dr B.R. Ambedkar to deliver the presidential
address of its annual conference on the topic of the caste system in
India. Ambedkar sent the manuscript of his speech titled The
Annihilation of Caste. However, the organising committee found some of
his views, particularly his critique of the Vedas and his inclination
to leave the Hindu fold, unacceptable.

It, therefore, suggested to Ambedkar that he delete these views, to
which he replied that "he would not change a comma". The speech thus
remained undelivered. Ambedkar subsequently published it in May 1936.

Among the numerous writings and speeches of Ambedkar that run into
thousands of pages, The Annihilation of Caste is indeed his magnum
opus. Judged by any criterion such as content, logic, argument,
language, diction, exposition, urge and, above all, the force, it is a
manifesto of social emancipation, and occupies a place similar to what
The Communist Manifesto once did in the world communist movement.

Since the book is polemical in nature, Ambedkar did not elaborate much
on the agonies, indignities, humiliation and overall sufferings of the
Sudras, and particularly the untouchables. He only gave illustrations
of how they were deprived of education and freedom of occupation and
were subjected to stigmatised manual labour, all resulting in their
virtual economic slavery, how they were segregated and deprived of
basic rights such as drinking water even from public wells, and above
all how they were made victims of social persecutions.

But, according to Ambedkar, worse and unparalleled, the Hindu
Dharmashastras gave legitimacy to the doctrine of Chaturvanya and the
caste system. The infamous Manusmriti dehumanised the Sudras and
untouchables, ruled the Hindu psyche for centuries and created the
greatest obstacle to any serious attempt at eradicating the caste
system. This made Ambedkar publically burn the Manusmriti on the
occasion of his historical Mahad Satyagraha in 1927 for establishing
the right of untouchables to drink the water of the Chawdar tank in
Mahad town in Maharashtra.

In The Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar, probably for the first time,
raised many profound questions with respect to caste. First, he
rejected the defence of caste on the basis of division of labour and
argued that it was not merely a division of labour but a division of
labourers. The former was voluntary and depended upon one's choice and
aptitude and, therefore, rewarded efficiency. The latter was
involuntary, forced, killed initiative and resulted in job aversion
and inefficiency. He argued that caste could not be defended on the
basis of purity of blood, though pollution is a hallmark of the caste
system.

He quoted from D.R. Bhandarkar's paper "Foreign Elements in the Hindu
Population" that "there is hardly any class or caste in India which
has not a foreign strain in it, (and that) there is an admixture of
alien blood not only among the warrior classes – the Rajputs and the
Marathas – but also among the Brahmins who are under the happy
delusion that they are free from all foreign elements." Ambedkar thus
argued that caste had no scientific basis. He painfully maintained
that Hindu society was a collection of castes, fixed in watertight
compartments with graded hierarchy that made an associated corporate
life virtually impossible.

But most importantly, according to Ambedkar, caste destroyed the
concept of ethics and morality. To quote him: "The effect of caste on
the ethics of the Hindus is simply deplorable. Caste has killed public
spirit. Caste has destroyed the sense of public charity. Caste has
made public opinion impossible. A Hindu's public is his caste. His
responsibility is to his caste. His loyalty is restricted only to his
caste. Virtue has become caste-ridden, and morality has become
caste-bound."

Ambedkar ultimately suggested that inter-caste marriage is the only
remedy to destroy caste. In The Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar's
critique of the Hindu social order was so strong that Mahatma Gandhi,
in Harijan, described Ambedkar as a "challenge to Hinduism". Ambedkar
replied to Gandhi in his usual uncompromising manner.

Ambedkar did not spare the socialists or the communists either. He
vehemently attacked the communists for their doctrinaire approach to
caste in treating it as the superstructure and argued that unless they
dealt with caste as a basic structural problem, no worthwhile social
change, let alone a socialist revolution, was possible.

From the beginning Ambedkar was convinced that political empowerment
was key to the socio-economic development of the untouchables.
Therefore, he vehemently demanded a separate electorate for
untouchables in the Second Round Table Conference in 1932.

When the British conceded his demand, Gandhi started his historic fast
unto death in the Yerawada jail. Pressure from all corners mounted on
Ambedkar to forgo the demand for a separate electorate as the
Mahatma's life was at stake. Reluctantly Ambedkar agreed to the
formula of a Joint Electorate with reserved seats in legislatures for
untouchables.

What is the situation today with respect to Ambedkar's mission of
annihilation of caste and, in view of that, the relevance of his
manifesto of social emancipation?

First, the state's reservation policy for the Scheduled Castes (S.Cs)
and Scheduled Tribes (S.Ts) has made a positive impact on their
socio-economic condition. Though the gap between them and the rest of
society persists, and they lag behind the others with respect to many
indicators of development, the overall situation has improved. A small
strata in all areas of national importance – education, professions,
governance, politics, art, literature and so on – has emerged in these
communities. This upward occupational mobility has been accompanied by
some social prestige, which was unthinkable earlier. The spread of
literacy and higher and professional education, the pace of
urbanisation, the development of means of communication and transport,
and so on have been instrumental in loosening somewhat the rigidity
and hangover of the caste system, particularly in the urban areas.

Second, and contrary to this positive development, caste has come to
be used blatantly and indiscriminately for political ends. This has
sharpened caste and sub-caste identities and resulted in caste
alliances of different types in different regions for the sole purpose
of wielding political power.

Thus, while the dominant castes, either in numerical strength or in
terms of economic clout, struggle to retain their monopoly over power,
the marginal castes, operating on the periphery of the power
structure, have aroused their caste consciousness for political
mobilisation.

POTENT INSTRUMENT

Third, since caste is considered a potent instrument for
socio-economic and political empowerment, caste and sub-caste
organisations have proliferated. There is growing demand by some
castes, keeping their caste arrogance intact, to get included in the
Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and by some OBCs to be
considered as S.Ts (for instance, Jats in Haryana and Rajasthan). This
is indeed a trend in reverse. Fourth, the entire trade union movement
ignored issues relating to caste owing to total apathy and lack of
concern or because of the fear of a rift in the rank and file over the
contentious issue of reservation. As a result, there is a growing
tendency on the part of the S.Cs and S.Ts in several organisations to
form their own associations to fight for their demands.

Fifth, Ambedkar suggested inter-caste marriage as the remedy to
destroy caste. Today, marriages are preferred not only within castes,
but also within sub-castes. In Haryana and Rajasthan, for instance,
the khap (caste council) gives orders to kill young lovers for
marrying outside their caste. Such inhuman killings are glorified as
honour killings.

Lastly, atrocities on the S.Cs and S.Ts continue unabated in different
parts of the country. They are on two counts: first, owing to the
practice of untouchability, resulting in the violation of human and
civil rights of these groups, particularly in the rural areas; second,
for economic and political reasons. Thus, according to the National
Crime Records Bureau of the Union Home Ministry, between 2001 and
2005, the total number of crimes against the S.Cs alone were 1,56,
274, of which 3,406 were of murder and 6,163 were of rape.

Various legislative measures such as the Protection of Civil Rights
Act, 1955, and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989, have proved to be virtually worthless because
of the lack of political will to implement them.

Ambedkar thought the abolition of untouchability and the eradication
of caste would make India an emotionally strong and unified country.
His thought and passion are as relevant today as they were 75 years
ago.

Dr Balachandra Mungekar is a former member of the Planning Commission
and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mumbai.


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