Saturday, September 17, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Jats to play OBC quota card

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jats-to-play-OBC-quota-card/articleshow/10014183.cms

Jats to play OBC quota card
Deepender Deswal, TNN | Sep 17, 2011, 05.27AM IST

ROHTAK: Jats here are looking at the Hisar by-election as an
opportunity to press ahead with their demand for getting other
backward class (OBC) status to the community members.

The Akhil Bhartiya Jat Mahasabha (ABJM), headed by Dara Singh, has
decided to support poll candidates who favour their demand for
reservation for Jats. Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (JASS), which had
resorted to blockade of railway tracks in Mayyar village of Hisar on
this issue, however, has decided against issuing any kind of appeal in
the matter even though it wants its activists to exert pressure on the
candidates and political parties to support their demand.

Om Prakash Mann, president of Haryana unit ABJM, told TOI that they
had decided to openly oppose political parties or candidates who do
not support their demand. "Although we would not issue any appeal to
support a particular candidate, we would definitely counter whoever
dares to speak against us on the quota issue. If there is more than
one candidate for OBC status to Jats, we would ask the activists to
vote to any of them as per their choice."

Mann informed that a national executive meeting to be chaired by the
national president, Dara Singh, is scheduled at Keshavpuram in Delhi
on September 18, where they could further device a clear strategy
regarding the byelection.

However, JASS has played the game tactically; with its state unit
president Hawa Singh Sangwan maintaining that his organization would
not get involved in the byelection in any way. "The Jats in the
village would definitely ask those who would come to seek votes for
their stand on the issue. It's an opportunity to take up the issue
with politicians who often indulge in doublespeak," he said.

At the same time, Sangwan admitted that the Congress government had
initiated the process by setting up an OBC commission to consider
their demand and that the samiti was also participating in it. "INLD
leader Ajay Chautala, who is a candidate in the Hisar byelection, had
also supported our demand during the agitation. Those we speak against
our demand would also lose our support," he added.

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[ZESTCaste] K''taka ''pathetic'' in dealing with cases against SC/STs: Study

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/ktaka-pathetic-in-dealing-with-cases-against-scsts-study/825783.html

K''taka ''pathetic'' in dealing with cases against SC/STs: Study
PTI | 03:09 PM,Sep 16,2011

Though the government is supposed to prepare an annual report on
implementation of the SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in
the State, it had not done so for the past three years, the study
said. The government is also supposed to hold half-yearly review
meetings but only one such meeting was held in the last three years,
instead of six meetings, the study said. Hassan and Chickballapur are
additions in the top ten districts with the maximum atrocities against
SC/STs. After a steep increase in such incidents, they take their
place alongside districts such as Bangalore, Gulbarga, Bellary and
Mysore, which consistently feature in the top ten, it added.
"Awareness should be created regularly and systematically to school
and college students on the Act and Ambedkar Jayanthi should be used
to conduct debates and other programmes to highlight the Act,"
Opposition leader in Legislative Council, Motamma said. A group
consisting of organisations and individuals working on human rights
and RTI in Karnataka namely, Anti-Corruption Forum (ACF), Buddhist
League, Karnataka Dalit Mahila Vedike (KDMV), National Campaign for
Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), OpenSpace, Rural Education and Development
Society (REDS) and Sanchaya Nele compiled the report.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits protest after Ambedkar's statue found broken

 

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/UP-dalits-protest-after-ambedkars-statue-found-broken-2424636.html

Dalits protest after Ambedkar's statue found broken

Source: PTI | Last Updated 18:19(12/09/11)

Agra: Angry over a broken statue of B R Ambedkar, members of Dalit
community on Monday blocked traffic at the national highway in Agra
and pelted stones on police.

A senior police officer said, "There was tension among the Dalit
community when the statue of Ambedkar at Balkeshwar in New Agra area
was found broken this morning. A huge crowd gathered and blocked the
Water works crossing at national highway 2 here."

According to him, when police reached the spot to maintain calm, the
angry crowd pelted stones on them.

A case has been registered against the agitators.

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[ZESTCaste] Bangalore ranks third in atrocities against SC/STs

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_bangalore-ranks-third-in-atrocities-against-sc-sts_1588003

Bangalore ranks third in atrocities against SC/STs
Published: Friday, Sep 16, 2011, 20:36 IST
By Merlin Francis | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Bangalore city ranks third in cases of atrocities against schedules
castes and schedules tribes (SC/STs) reported last year. It reported
85 cases of atrocities against SC/STs last year. Although this figure
was much less compared with 141 cases reported in 2008, it did not
improve much from 87 reported cases in 2009.

The city is ranked number three in the total number of atrocities
against SC/STs. In 2008, it reported the highest number cases in the
state.

Mandya saw an unprecedented surge in the number of atrocities
committed against SC/STs. Although ranked at 19 in 2009 with 39 cases
and 23 in 2008 with 29 cases, in 2010, the district saw 87 cases
against SC/STs.

Karnataka stands sixth with regard to atrocities committed against the
backward class, according to the report, even as the state government
continues to ignore their plight.The report, which was released at
Shasakara Bhavana by energy minister Shobha Karandlaje, traced the
atrocities committed against SC/STs in the light of the SCs/STs
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.
Releasing the report, Karandlaje said that a change in the mindset of
the people was needed to fight discrimination against SC/STs.

"Unless there is a change in the mindset of the people, rules will be
followed only out of fear and people will constantly find loopholes to
escape punishment. How long will we continue to discriminate against
our own people, be it with regard to religion or caste? It has to end
somewhere and the change has to come from the people. What is needed
is for all of us to work together, the government, religious leaders,
individual organisations working with the people as well as NGOs."

Motamma, leader of Opposition party, Vidhana Parishad, said that to
root out discrimination, there should be better awareness among
people, especially the youth.

"On Ambedkar Jayanthi, organise debates on the act and its
implementation. Discuss why there is discrimination and what needs to
be done to prevent it," she said.

Thangaraj, IAS, commissioner of state, information commission, said
effective action against culprits was one of the steps to ensure that
such incidents were not committed again. But focus should be more on
steps to prevent such atrocities than on punishment.


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[ZESTCaste] Campaign against caste discrimination

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=36103

Campaign against caste discrimination

REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, Sept 16: National Dalit Commission (NDC) and United Nations
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal
(OHCHR-Nepal) on Friday jointly launched a 100-day campaign against
caste discrimination and untouchability.

President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav inaugurated the campaign entitled: I
commit to end caste discrimination and untouchability.


Speaking at a program organized at Sital Niwas, the president said
caste discrimination is a matter of shame for the country. "It is a
matter of shame to know that people in the 21st century are still
practising caste discrimination and untouchablility," he said.

The government recently introduced Caste-based Discrimination and
Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2011. NDC and OHCHR
partnered in 2008 to jointly advocate for the swift passage of the
draft caste-based discrimination and untouchability bill and for its
compliance with international standards.

Jyoti Sanghera, Head of OHCHR-Nepal, said the promulgation of the Act
is not enough but it should be seriously implemented at the grass
roots level.

"There is caste discrimination in remote areas of Nepal so the Act
should be implemented with sincerity to eradicate discrimination and
untouchability," Sanghera added.

Similarly, Chairman of National Dalit Commission, Bijul Kumar
Bishwokarma, said dalit community has been deprived of opportunities
though the community has always played an important role for the
development of the country.

Various awareness-raising programs like audio-visual activities,
distribution of posters and pamphlets and interaction programs among
others will be organized country-wide throughout the 100 days campaign
till it comes to an end on 24 December 2011.

Published on 2011-09-16 20:10:07


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[ZESTCaste] Jodhpur: CBI to probe Dalit nurse disappearance (Video news report)

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/184204/jodhpur-cbi-to-probe-dalit-nurse-disappearance.html

Jodhpur: CBI to probe Dalit nurse disappearance
Swati Vashishtha | CNN-IBN

Jodhpur: CBI to probe Dalit nurse disappearance
Swati Vashishtha | CNN-IBN

Bhanwari Devi's husband has alleged Cabinet Minister Mahipal Maderna
is behind his wife's kidnapping and death.

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[ZESTCaste] Paramakudi firing result of police excesses: BJP

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Paramakudi-firing-result-of-police-excesses-BJP/articleshow/10017888.cms

Paramakudi firing result of police excesses: BJP
PTI | Sep 17, 2011, 02.04PM IST

CHENNAI: A BJP team which visited Paramakudi, the scene of the
September 11 police firing in which seven persons were killed, on
Saturday said the incident was a result of "police excesses" and could
have been avoided.

The team, which included BJP national spokesperson Nirmala Seetharaman
and Lok Sabha MPs Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kirit Solanki, condemned the
firing and claimed that even after the incident people were targeted
by police during the night.

"We condemn the incident. Police action was not desirable. Knowing
pretty well that it (Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran's death
anniversary) is an annual event, police should have made proper
arrangements," Meghwal told reporters here.

Alleging "complete mismanagement" on part of the police, Meghwal,
citing his interaction with the people, alleged that the force did not
use other measures such as lobbing teargas, using lathicharge or
warning the people before firing on them.

"This is a clear-cut case of police excesses which could have been
avoided," he said, adding that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa should visit the area where the firing took place.

Meghwal also claimed that the team's request to meet the Tamil Nadu
Chief Secretary and DGP were turned down.

Seven persons were killed on September 11 when police fired on
rampaging crowds -- mostly Dalits -- which set ablaze vehicles and
blocked traffic following the arrest of Dalit leader John Pandian at
Vallanadu in Tuticorin district.

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[ZESTCaste] Pakistan: No relief for Sindh’s untouchables

http://criticalppp.com/archives/57419

Saturday September 17th 2011

No relief for Sindh's untouchables

As the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) predicts more monsoon
rains in the coming days, low caste Hindus in Sindh's flood affected
areas face discrimination when it comes to getting relief, says a
report released by Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.
The worst victims of rains and breaches in a monsoon-swollen Left Bank
Outfall Drain (LBOD) in Badin district — the Pakistani low caste
Hindus (Dalits) of the districts were denied to get in to relief camps
for being 'untouchables.'
In the last five weeks when monsoon-swollen drains and LBOD burst its
banks and led to massive flooding, religious discrimination continued
to run deeper than the floodwaters.
Despite torrential rains, majority of these Hindu Dalits in Badin
district continue to live in open sky as they were not allowed
accommodation in the private/self-built relief camps of Muslims.
What added to the tragedy was the federal government's ban on NGOs and
international donors to work in these areas for 'security reasons.' As
the government itself initiated relief operation much later, the many
religious organisations that started relief operation in Badin have
completely ignored these Dalits or Harijan (Children of God).
Chanesar Bheel, a Dalit farmer and resident of Goth Gomando Bheel,
Taluka Golarchi [Shaheed Fazil Rahu] is one of around 700 Dalits of
his village who have no choice but to live in their submerged village
with his nine children.
"Our village is between the two drains and during rains both burst and
inundated our village from either side, so we rushed to a nearby
relief camps set inside a government school. The tenants did not allow
us to live inside the camp, so we came here and started living under
open sky," Bheel told media.
Bheel said the people living inside the camps had told them that they
are outcastes, so they are not allowed to live with Muslims. His
village comprises on 80 households with 700 population and all are
Dalits.
A civil society activist, Ameer Mandhro sharing his views said, "This
is not the only village of Dalits in the district that have no roof on
their heads but there are countless other Dalit villages including
villages on Khoski road, Seerani, Lonwari Shrief and other areas where
Dalits are living this way because they are not allowed a place in the
relief camps."
Same happened with Pirbhu Kolhi and 50 other residents of his village,
who rushed to a relief camp set inside a government school in Tando
Bagho, were not allowed to live in the camp after heavy rains.
However, some nice folks allowed them to live inside a camp and
allotted one isolated class room to a few Dalit flood victims. As
Kolhi said, "The isolated class room is away from the main building
where only two families are living while the rest of the village is
living in open despite continued heavy rains." He said some
philanthropists came to provide food in the relief camp, "but we are
not given the food."
In the emergency situation the role of the minister for minorities
affairs Mohan Lal Kohistani seeks attention. The situation remains
tough for the PPP-led government, which not only hails from Sindh but
always claim to work indiscriminately as well.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/16/no-relief-for-sindh%E2%80%99s-untouchables.html


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[ZESTCaste] A Question of Caste in a Globalizing India

http://pulitzercenter.org/project/india-new-dehli-caste-stystem-affirmative-action-economy

A Question of Caste in a Globalizing India
For educators

Launched September 12, 2011

India, seen as a rising economic giant, is a place of increasing
opportunity. In this "new" India, as the Indian media call it, caste
is presumed to have been left behind. However, caste persists, and not
just as discrimination against the "former untouchables." This project
addresses caste as it exists in various forms -- and across religions
-- and how it affects life and opportunities in the new India.

There are broadly three caste groups – the upper castes, the middle
castes, and the lowest, the former untouchables. The sub-castes are
into the thousands. Globalization and multi-party politics in the '90s
have been producing new challenges for what is called "caste society."
This has led to greater violence between groups and individuals, and
between caste groups and the state.

The only time caste really comes into mainstream discourse in India is
with the issue of affirmative action, vehemently opposed by upper
caste elites as compromising "merit." But affirmative action in India
has had some success, largely undocumented.

Urban, middle-class Indians who benefit from the new economy insist
caste is going away – so why then are crimes against the former
untouchables increasing? We're told education and modernity are
answers to caste – so why then are caste associations led by their
educated elites? Journalist Shivam Vij sheds light on these questions,
showing that caste is not only alive but thriving in the new India.

Shivam Vij

Grantee
Shivam Vij is an independent journalist based in New Delhi. He has
reported and written extensively on caste-based violence, affirmative
action and politics. He has also reported on the Kashmir conflict and
the India's Maoist uprising. His work has appeared in Tehelka, Open
and Caravan and Himal South Asian, amongst other publications. He is a
member of the South Asian team blog, Kafila.


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[ZESTCaste] Fwd: The Creamy Layer Sans Cream

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 9:31 AM
Subject: The Creamy Layer Sans Cream
To:

"... SCs have been identified not on the basis of social backwardness
but something much more degrading — 'Untouchability'. The creamy layer
concept cannot be applied to those whose marker is not social
backwardness in the first place. The transition required for SCs is
from untouchability to non-untouchability, not from social
backwardness to social advancement. ... ... There is no dearth of
statistics and data of the continuing deprivation, humiliation and
exploitation of the SCs even today. From my experience of over 50
years all over India, I can say that untouchability continues to be
virulent to this day, often culminating in inhuman atrocities. Three
news-reports and other reports in October alone (in Kadkol village in
Karnataka's Bijapur District, Kherlanji village in Maharashtra's
Bhandara district, and in Punjab's Mansa village) describe the
infliction of gang rapes, massacres, social and economic boycott on
SCs. ..."


The Creamy Layer Sans Cream

Which creamy layer are we talking about when there is just one
Secretary from the Scheduled Castes in the Central government?

PS Krishnan

After a gap of many years a Balmiki boy, the son of a Group ii
Scheduled Caste (SC) officer, has made it to the recent batch of the
Indian Administrative Service. This flowering in a blue moon would
have been nipped in the bud in case Group ii SC officers' children
were made ineligible for reservation by applying the 'creamy layer'
concept.

Of the hundred-odd secretaries in the Government of India, there is
only one from the SCs, which is even less than what it was 10 years
ago, and only two from the Scheduled Tribes (ST). At present when no
SC or ST is excluded as creamy layer, the posts reserved for them — 15
percent and 7.5 percent respectively at the Centre — are far from
being filled in Group a and b posts even after about six decades. The
number of ST employees is below the quota even in Groups c and d.
Excluding some as creamy layer will only further reduce the present
below-par SC and ST numbers in government jobs, in violation of the
basic constitutional principles of Equality, Social Equality, Social
Justice and Reservations.

The idea of Socially Advanced Persons/Sections (SAPS), popularly known
as the creamy layer, can conceptually arise only in respect of
castes/communities identified on the basis of social backwardness, viz
the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBDC), better known
as the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). SCs have been identified not on
the basis of social backwardness but something much more degrading —
'Untouchability'. The creamy layer concept cannot be applied to those
whose marker is not social backwardness in the first place. The
transition required for SCs is from untouchability to
non-untouchability, not from social backwardness to social
advancement. Given that even SC civil servants experience
untouchability, that process is far from over. Similarly, STs have
been identified on the basis of tribal ethnicity and distinct cultural
traits, not social backwardness.

The majority judgement in the Indra Sawhney (Mandal) case has
described the inegalitarian "four-tier (chaturvarnya) system" of
Indian society, by which "the outcastes (Panchamas), the lowliest" and
the Sudras, also lowly, "though certainly better than the Panchamas,"
were left at great disadvantage. The judgement read, "The lowliness
attached to them (Sudras and Panchamas) by virtue of their birth in
these castes is unconnected with their deeds. There was to be no
deliverance from this social stigma, except perhaps death. They were
condemned to be inferior. All lowly, menial and unsavoury occupations
were assigned to them — this was a phenomenon peculiar to this
country."

The SCs are the Panchamas of old. There is no dearth of statistics and
data of the continuing deprivation, humiliation and exploitation of
the SCs even today. From my experience of over 50 years all over
India, I can say that untouchability continues to be virulent to this
day, often culminating in inhuman atrocities. Three news-reports and
other reports in October alone (in Kadkol village in Karnataka's
Bijapur District, Kherlanji village in Maharashtra's Bhandara
district, and in Punjab's Mansa village) describe the infliction of
gang rapes, massacres, social and economic boycott on SCs.

We must look at the history of the advancement of the upper castes for
a contextual look for any debate on reservations and the creamy layer.
Attracted by the prospect of employment under the British, the upper
castes began to avail themselves of English education from the
mid-19th Century. Their standards of education then were nowhere near
their standards today. The first two Indian graduates, including
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, had to be given grace marks to enable them
to pass. Thereafter, from generation to generation they progressed,
each generation standing on the shoulder of the previous one, and that
is how they have risen to their present level of eminence.
Simultaneously, by collective force they prevented/delayed the entry
of lower castes into even primary schools. The caste-based monopoly
thus built up was dented when, from 1902 to 1935, reservations were
introduced in the Presidencies and princely states for Backward
Classes and SCs, and later on all-India basis in the Constitution in
1950.

The process by which the upper castes progressed has now to be made
available in full without impediment for the SCs, the STs as well as
the OBCs. Reservations are an instrument to enable them to rise to the
level of today's upper castes. To prematurely interrupt this process
with new impediments would militate against the achievement of the
Constitutional goal of Social Justice, to bring about Equality in all
fields and at all levels. Reservations are thus part of the basic
structure of the Constitution. It must be remembered that we are
talking here about the fundamental rights of about 70 percent of
India's population and, through their full development, India's
optimal progress.

The judgement of a five-member Supreme Court bench on October 19, 2006
on the writ petitions of M. Nagaraj and others focused on the validity
of the Constitutional amendment that restored reservations to SCs and
STs in promotion. The judgement was understood by almost all of the
media, civil society and political circles as the first ever judicial
direction to exclude the creamy layer from the ambit of reservation
for SCs and STs in government jobs, in both recruitment and promotion.

The concept of excluding the creamy layer was first expounded by a
nine-member Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court in 1992 in the
Indra Sawhney (Mandal) case pertaining to reservation for the OBCs in
Central government employment, in which it laid down that "this
discussion is confined to the OBCs and has no relevance in the case of
STs and SCs". It directed that "the Government of India shall specify
the bases to exclude socially advanced persons/sections (creamy layer)
from OBCs".

It is thus clear that according to the nine-member Constitution bench,
the creamy layer concept does not apply to SCs and STs. A five-member
bench of the court, as in the M. Nagaraj case, cannot overrule the
judgement of a larger bench and cannot extend the creamy layer-based
rule of exclusion to SCs and STs. The Nagaraj judgement rightly says
that "we are bound by the decision in Indra Sawhney", which applies to
this too.

There are two voices partly or wholly differing from the predominant
understanding of the import of Nagaraj. Writing in The Indian Express,
Pratap Bhanu Mehta has said that the exclusion of the creamy layer
from reservation for SCs and STs applied only to promotion and not to
recruitment. More significantly, KV Viswanathan has written in The
Hindu, "In the judgement in the Nagaraj case, it has not even been
remotely suggested that the concept of creamy layer should apply to
the SC." He has drawn support from judgements in the EV Chinnaiah case
(2005) and Mandal cases.

It may be useful here to quote from the Nagaraj judgement: "The State
is not bound to make reservation for SC/ST in matter of promotions.
However if they wish to exercise their discretion and make such
provision, the State has to collect quantifiable data showing
backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that
class in public employment in addition to compliance of Article 335.
It is made clear that even if the State has compelling reason, as
stated above, the State will have to see that its reservation
provision does not lead to excessiveness so as to breach the ceiling
limit of 50 percent or obliterate the creamy layer or extend the
reservation indefinitely".

There is room for the fear that this wording and context will enable
anti-reservationists among the implementing authorities to go by the
predominant interpretation (rather than Viswanathan's) and issue
orders imposing the concept of the creamy layer on SCs and STs. A
precedent is the way in which a judgement on reservation in promotions
in 1995 in Punjab was grossly misunderstood/misinterpreted, and the
reservation roster was revised in 1997 to the disadvantage of the SCs
and STs.

In view of this, in case the intention of the Supreme Court in the
Nagaraj case and the correct import of that judgement is not to
prescribe the exclusion of creamy layer from reservation for SCs and
STs, I feel it is desirable that this is authoritatively clarified at
the earliest. The filing of a review petition by one of the parties
would be a long drawn-out affair. I have the greatest respect for the
Supreme Court and its crucial position in strengthening the people's
confidence in Constitutional governance. To quickly terminate the
raging controversy, it is respectfully submitted that the Supreme
Court may like to consider undertaking a suo motu review, which can be
done expeditiously, with the assistance of a fully knowledgeable
amicus curiae, and remove the misunderstanding (if the predominant
interpretation is a misunderstanding) and clarify that there is no
direction in the Nagaraj judgement to apply the creamy layer concept
to SCs and STs.

The Supreme Court has a history of making creative innovations in the
interest of justice. A suo motu review could be another, using the
opportunity for clarifications on certain other points too.

Krishnan advises the HRD ministry on reservations. These are his personal views

Nov 18 , 2006


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[ZESTCaste] In Allahpur, a Moment of Truth (Shivam Vij)

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/allahpur-moment-truth

In Allahpur, a Moment of Truth
For educators

Ali Akbar Ansari outside the new community hall that will be a school
in the morning. "Everyone is welcome," he says, "but I know the upper
caste Muslims will not come here." Image by Shivam Vij. India, 2011.

Published September 12, 2011
Shivam Vij, for the Pulitzer Center

Like nearly every village in South Asia, Allahpur, in the east Indian
state of Bihar, is geographically divided on the lines of caste. On
one side of a dirt track live the upper-caste Muslims (Syeds, Sheikhs
and Pathans) and on the other side live the lower-caste Muslims
(Ansaris, Dhunias and Raains). There are only four Hindu families in
Allahpur, and they are all lower castes, their houses amid the
low-caste Muslim houses.

For five years now, the low caste Muslims have been praying at a
ramshackle mosque they built, boycotting the mosque in the upper-caste
Muslim area, a stone's throw away.

The low-caste Muslims of Allahpur do not own any significant land, and
they used to earn a living as agricultural laborers on the land owned
by the upper-caste Muslims. But they have stopped doing that. Instead,
many have migrated to India's big cities where they work as manual
laborers. The upper-caste Muslims of Allahpur must now hire labor from
other villages. The two sides are not on speaking terms.

How did things come to such a pass? The more time I spend with
Mohammed Shamsuddin, the imam or preacher at the low caste mosque, and
Akbar Ali, the leader of the Ansaris, the more they tell me of the
history that has produced this moment.

At one level, it was simply about the humiliating discrimination the
Ansaris and other low-caste Muslims faced at the upper caste mosque.
The Ansaris recall how they used to be made to sit in the back rows
even if they were the first to arrive for prayer, nudged behind with
elbows, derogatory caste terms hurled at them.

In 2005, the year before the low-caste Muslims built their own mosque,
a dispute broke out over local village council elections. The upper
castes wanted to vote en masse in the names of the lower castes, as
had been the practice for as long as anyone could remember. The lower
castes, for the first time, refused to go along.

"Our point was that we will go and cast our own votes, no matter who
we vote for," says Akbar Ali Ansari, the local leader.

The upper-caste Syeds and Khans wanted the lower castes to vote for
one of their own, Munir Khan. On election day, when it became clear
the lower castes had other ideas, the upper castes fired gunshots in
the air and threatened the lower castes, trying to force them to go
away. They did for a moment, but returned and a round of physical
fighting followed. The election in this section of the village council
(made up of a few villages) was suspended, and Munir Khan lost.

The winning candidate, although an upper-caste Muslim from a
neighboring village, was with a political party that in 2005 won the
Bihar state legislature elections with the deft move of appealing to
lower-caste Muslims. This strategy ended 15 years of control by a
political party whose core voter base was made up of Muslims and the
Hindu middle-caste Yadavs. (This came to be known as the M+Y formula.)
As in Allahpur, it was a case in which upper-caste Muslims took the
lower-caste Muslim votes for granted. Now, things had changed.

The architect of this new strategy was Ali Anwar, a journalist turned
politician who was himself from a Muslim low caste background. He was
immediately rewarded with a seat in the upper house of India's
legislature.

Emboldened by the experience, the Ansaris decided to build their own mosque.

"We feared even going to their mosque, because in that tense
atmosphere after the election there could have been violence inside
the mosque, too," says Imam Shamsuddin.

And so they opened their own mosque in July 2006. Days later, when the
Ansaris were away tilling their fields, the upper-caste Muslims
arrived, accompanied by the police, and demolished the mosque. This
was done on the basis of a false claim that the land on which the
mosque stood was owned by an upper-caste Muslim. The Ansaris came
running, surrounded the police and called up district officials. More
police reinforcements came to prevent violence. But days later, the
upper-caste Muslims set fire to some huts of the lower-caste Muslims.
The people survived, but not their belongings and livestock.

After these incidents, the Ansaris of Allahpur contacted Ali Anwar. It
has been smooth sailing since then. The Ansaris cut off all links with
the upper castes, the police are no longer taking sides with the upper
castes, and those whose houses were burnt got compensation to build
new ones.

"Ali Anwar is the one who helped us," says Akbar Ali. "Until now, all
Muslims in power and public offices were upper-caste Muslims who would
side with their own in such disputes. That is changing."

The lower-caste Muslims stopped sending their children to the
madrasa—religious seminary—run by the upper castes after Ali Anwar
helped start a public school. Using discretionary funds to which he
was entitled as a member of the Indian Parliament, he is building a
community hall that will also serve as a school building.

One major problem that remains is the road. The upper-caste Muslims
have extended the boundary wall of their graveyard into the dirt
track, illegally, so that a four-wheeled vehicle cannot enter the
Ansari area.

"They want to control us, make sure that cars have to go through their
area, so that they can block such access and blackmail us," said Akbar
Ali.

The wall was first extended in 2004, when an Ansari brought his
marriage procession into the village. The bridegroom was in a car.
Incensed with such display of pomp, the upper castes beat up the
marriage guests.

And so, on and on—Akbar Ali and Imam Shamsuddin and others who gather
around me tell stories of more such incidents and the discrimination
they used to face. "When we passed by their area, we had to take off
our slippers," says Akbar.

In the upper-caste section of the village, the prosperity shows. The
houses are bigger and built with concrete.

The upper-caste Muslims deny all charges. I sit with a group of Syeds
who say these stories are false. "There is no caste amongst Muslims.
Islam does not permit such discrimination," says one. In which case,
do they marry between castes? "No, never," replied Syed Mohammed
Shoaib, 70. Why not? "I can't explain. It has been like this since I
was born." So who are Syeds anyway? "We're like Hindu Brahmins." Which
is not incorrect: almost all south Asian Muslims converted from
Hinduism hundreds of years ago, but so pervasive is caste that it
remains.

As I begin to take my leave of Allahpur, Imam Shamsuddin Ansari has
yet more stories. He wants me to note down each one of them. "It's
embarrassing, but Allah knows everything," he says, "There is no house
among us where the upper-caste Muslims haven't sexually exploited
women and produced illegitimate children. We started resisting this
some ten years ago and it does not happen anymore."

The upper castes will deny this, of course, but everyone knows sexual
exploitation and rape have long been a feature of caste relations in
India and south Asia. One used to think caste was only about Hindus.
People like Akbar Ali and Imam Shamsuddin are demolishing that myth
and breaking the silence.

"What we have been fighting against is basically slavery," says Akbar Ali.

Allahpur is in East Champaran district of the state of Bihar, near
many ancient Buddhist sites that attract tourists from across the
world. It was not far from here that Mohandas Gandhi started his first
civil disobedience movement against the British colonial rule of India
that ended in 1947. In Allahpur today, there is another kind of
freedom struggle taking place.


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