Thursday, October 13, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Abducted dalit family rescued in Bihar

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2534435.ece

Nawada, October 13, 2011
Abducted dalit family rescued in Bihar
PTI

Six members of a dalit family were rescued on Thursday from the
clutches of their abductors from Eknar village in Bihar's Nawada
district, a police officer said.

Acting on media reports and complaint of the family's head Diksha
Manjhi, the police raided a flour mill and rescued the six members of
a dalit family, identified as Arun Manjhi, his wife Pancholba Devi and
four children - Ganesh, Buddhan, Laxmi and Arti, police said.

They were abducted by local strongmen Chuna Singh and Biren Singh from
Collector Bigaha village five days ago apparently to teach a lesson to
Arun's relative who had failed to report for work at their farmland
after taking advance wages, he said.

The abductors had ill-treated the dalit family during confinement and
provided them meal just once a day, the police said.

The rescued family members have been taken to the office of a
magistrate for recording their statements under section 164 of the Cr
PC.

Raids were being carried out to nab the abductors who were absconding,
the police said.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalits urged to shun communal politics

http://www.coastaldigest.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30969:dalits-urged-to-shun-communal-politics&catid=57:news-stories&Itemid=68

Thursday, 13th October 2011
Dalits urged to shun communal politics

by CD Network Monday, 10 October 2011 12:28


Mangalore, October 10: Dhakshina Kannada is marred with communal
politics despite being the district of the educated people in the
state, said Satya Bhadravati, state convener, Dalit Sangharsh Samiti
(Krishnappa faction).

Speaking after inaugurating the valedictory ceremony of district level
membership drive of the organisation at Ravindra Kalabhavan here, he
called upon the Dalits to come out of the shades of communalist
politics to overcome their problems.

Stating that the Mangalore city police solved the Dalit taxi driver
Govardhan murder case only after his organization exerted pressure on
the department, he opined that the district administration is delaying
the construction of Ambedkar Bhavan construction due to the lack of
unity among Dalit communities.

Dalits should strengthen the DSS, through their social commitment and
put an end to all their problems by a new movement, he said.

Mr Bhadravati said that DSS is working based on mass leadership,
through which it had succeeded in stopping 'bettale-seve' (nude
services) in Sagar Taluk despite the staunch opposition from RSS.

Dalit leader M Devdas presided over the function. Gangadhar Shimoga,
Fakir Karwar, Srinivas Shekar Hejmadi, Vijayraj, Sundar Ullal were
present on the occation.

District convener Krishnananda D delivered introductory remarks. RC
Amin welcomed the gathering. Shekar Chilimbi proposed vote of thanks.
Raghu k Yakkar compered the programme.


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[ZESTCaste] Behind Mayawati’s clean-up act, Anna effect and poll concerns

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/behind-mayawatis-cleanup-act-anna-effect-and-poll-concerns/859081/

Behind Mayawati's clean-up act, Anna effect and poll concerns
Virender Kumar Posted online: Thu Oct 13 2011, 00:03 hrs

Lucknow : UP Chief Minister Mayawati is in a hurry. In less than two
months, she has removed three ministers who faced corruption charges.
She has also suspended several MLAs, either for anti-party activities
or for their reported involvement in crime. With Assembly elections
due early next year, Mayawati obviously feels she needs to brush up
her image.

Last week, Mayawati removed her Higher Education Minister Rangnath
Mishra after Lokayukta N K Mehrotra found that, after becoming
minister, he had acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources
of income. The same day, she also dismissed Labour Minister Badshah
Singh without waiting for a report from the Lokayukta, who has since
held the minister guilty of land grab. Earlier, on August 17, she had
asked Minister of State for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development
Awadh Pal Singh to resign after the Lokayukta found that he had
misused his powers to give undue benefits to his son and relatives.

What she has done is unprecedented. Chief ministers in UP had never
given much importance to the Lokayukta; in fact, he has no power to
investigate charges against the chief minister. Before her new-found
zeal, even Mayawati hadn't appeared to care much about an indictment
by the Lokayukta. Several officials and politicians against whom he
had made serious charges had gone on in their positions.

Among them were Basic Education Minister Dharam Singh Saini and BSP MP
Kaiser Jahan, who is also president of the Leharpur Nagarpalika and,
in that capacity, had faced charges of misusing public money. The
Chief Minister did not consider it necessary either to ask her
Minorities Welfare and Haj Minister, Anees Ahmed, to pay pack Rs 69
lakh that he had given to family-owned educational institutions from
his MLAs' local area development fund.

There was one exception, however. In December last year, Mayawati
removed Rajesh Tripathi, Minister of Religious Endowments, after the
Lokayukta held that he headed an organisation that had grabbed
government land, and that he was also running a cremation ground where
a payment was charged for performing last rites. But that removal had
more to do with the BSP's internal politics in Gorakhpur district. The
indictment of Tripathi did not stop Mayawati from renominating him as
the party candidate from Chillupar.

public sentiment

Mayawati's transformation can be attributed to Anna Hazare. Thanks to
his campaign, corruption has become a live issue. His target may be
the Congress, but in UP the Congress has been out of power for more
than two decades and it is Mayawati who is under the scanner here.

Mayawati knows this, as do the opposition parties. The Congress, the
BJP, and the Samajwadi Party have been targeting her government for
corruption. For several months, she has been under attack for a
massive scandal in rural healthcare under the NRHM, which was marked
by the murder of two officials in quick succession, and which broke
when her trusted aide Babu Singh Kushwaha was Minister for Family
Welfare. All parties are also questioning the way she has spent
thousands of crores on building memorials and erecting her statues,
and about land deals in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway
Industrial Development Authority.

And if the opposition parties are playing to the anti-corruption
sentiment, so is Mayawati, who is out to project herself as an
uncompromising crusader who does not spare even her own.

Crime & punishment

In the story behind the suspension of the MLAs with a criminal past,
there is no Anna Hazare factor. Over the last four-and-a-half years,
Mayawati has sent quite a few BSP MLAs and ministers to jail. Yet at
the same time, she has also appeared indulgent towards some partymen
who broke the law. She has even ordered withdrawal of cases of murder,
rioting, rape, cheating, and assault of public servants against known
history-sheeters. Even now, her party has MLAs and MLCs who are facing
criminal charges in courts. Two of her MLAs have non-bailable warrants
against them, one in a rape case and the other in a murder case, and
her police have reported to courts that they can't find them.

After corruption, this threatens to become the second big issue
against Mayawati in the elections. In 2007, she had won on the promise
of restoring law and order, putting criminals in jail and creating "a
bhaymukt samaj" to follow "Mulayam Singh Yadav's jungle raj".

But if Mulayam had people facing criminal charges in his party, so had
Mayawati in hers. After winning the election, she made some of them
ministers and chairmen of boards and corporations. Having acquired
political power, they apparently came into their elements — they have
frequently been accused of grabbing land, indulging in murder,
extortion, and framing rivals in false cases.

Mayawati knows that many of her MLAs are unpopular. Many others,
having realised that they cannot win under the BSP banner, are
exploring other options. Mayawati is weeding them out, hoping to
contain the damage after she had given power and legitimacy to the
same people in the first place. In the coming days, she could sack
more ministers and suspend more MLAs.


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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati most corrupt person in world: Mulayam Singh Yadav

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mayawati-most-corrupt-person-in-world-mulayam-singh-yadav_1597924

Mayawati most corrupt person in world: Mulayam Singh Yadav
Published: Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011, 17:09 IST
Place: Lucknow | Agency: PTI

Alleging Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was the most corrupt
person in the world, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today
said even peons during her rule had amassed wealth through dubious
means.

"Mayawati is the most corrupt in the world. The height of corruption
can be guaged from the fact that even peons deployed at her office and
residence are crorepatis," he told party workers at a function here.

SP general secretary Mohan Singh said both BJP and Congress would
support BSP in case of a hung assembly and these parties had already
made plans in this regard.

Apparently referring to Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra's
soon-to-begin yatras in the state, he said "old horses" of the BJP had
taken a cue after the overwhelming response received by SP leader
Akhilesh Yadav's 'Kranti Rath' yatra.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits threaten to boycott civic polls

 

http://www.thehansindia.info/News/Article.asp?category=1&subCategory=3&ContentId=11004

Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Dalits threaten to boycott civic polls

Ramanathapuram (PTI): Dalits residents of Pacheri Village in the
district where a Dalit boy was hacked to death on September 9 have
decided to boycott the coming local body elections demanding a CBI
inquiry into the murder and also the police firing in Paramakudi which
left seven persons dead.

Police opened firing in Paramakudi when a group of Dalits indulged in
violence demanding the release of their leader John Pandian who was
detained when he was on way to pay homage at the memorial of Imanuel
Sekhar last month.

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[ZESTCaste] Butchery Of Dalits In Paramakudi

http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde121011.htm

Butchery Of Dalits In Paramakudi

By Dr Anand Teltumbde

12 October, 2011
Countercurrents.org

(A Press Note for the Press Meet on 4 October 2011 at Chennai Press Club)

The news of police firing on Dalits, congregated at Paramakudi to
observe the 54 th anniversary of the martyrdom of their leader
Emmanuel Sekaran, killing six of them and injuring scores of them,
just within four months from Ms J Jayalalitha regaining her power,
shocked the entire nation. The Tamilnadu based Centre for Protection
of Civil Liberties took an initiative to constitute an all India team
to do the fact finding into the incident. Accordingly a team
comprising Priyadarshini of Democratic Students Union, New Delhi;
Lakshmi Prasanna of Caste Annihilation Liberation Front; Advocates
Murugan and Kesavan and S. Gopal of Centre for Protection of Civil
Liberties, and Dr Anand Teltumbde of Committee for Protection of
Democratic Rights, Mumbai visited Paramakudi, Manjoor,
Keelakodumbaloor, Sadayaneeri, and Veerambal; Patam, Puliyur,
Chintamani Junction; Apollo hospital in Madurai; met with eye
witnesses, victims' families, injured persons and state
authorities—district collectors of Ramnad and Madurai districts; RDO
and Tehsildar, Paramakudi over the two days, i.e., 2 nd and 3 rd
October 2011. Taking stock of all the facts, the committee has come to
a conclusion that the police action was not only unprovoked but was
rather preplanned to serve the larger political interests of the
ruling party.

The facts of the case are simple enough. Since there are a couple of
good videos available of the entire episode, they could be even
treated as incontrovertible. Despite this the incident is largely
projected in the media as per the police version. In the morning of 11
th September people began gathering at Paramakudi like previous years.
The administration had taken usual steps to divert traffic from
Madurai to Ramnad through the bypass road. The festive mood of the
gathering that was swelling with time at the Five Cross Road at
Paramakudi junction was usual. Everything was usual as in previous
years but for the crowd that has been growing over the last 50 odd
years and the disproportionately big police posse with all its
paraphernalia. There was nothing untoward until suddenly police burst
into action at around 11.30 am with lathi charge, pushing people
towards Mudukullatur road. The people had retreated but were still
chased by the police, which enraged people and began throwing stones
at police. Suddenly anti-riot armored vehicle –Vajra, was brought in
and police began firing on the crowd. All the people who died of gun
shots and injured in firing were hit far above the waist. The
situation seemingly was brought under control within an hour or so. By
then four people had been killed and several injured. Police did not
take care of the dead or wounded. Many people who survived said they
were carried by their friends to the hospital.

Surprisingly in the evening after 3 pm, the police again went berserk
picking up people randomly from the junction up to the railway
crossing, which is half a kilometer away from the scene. They picked
up some 18 youth, brought them to the police van and beat so brutally
that two people died there itself. Others were beaten in the van as
well as Ilayangudi police station to have multiple fractures and
broken skulls. Most were left at Ilayangudi Government Hospital where
they remained untreated before they were taken to other hospitals
after hours. Many injured in earlier lathi charge and bullet injuries
were carried by their friends and acquaintances and did not figure in
any records.

At Madurai, there was not any iota of an excuse for the police to use
weapon but still they fired upon people grievously injuring two
students. The people of Puliyur had started in an open lorry basically
because the buses they paid advance to had backed out reportedly at
the instance of the police. They were stopped at the Chintamani
junction, barely two kilometers away from the village. The altercation
ensued. In meanwhile a Tata Sumo carrying the people of Patam village
followed but it was also stopped for no reason. Soon there arrived
Gajendran, a police inspector and as he came out of his jeep he fired
at the crowd with his service revolver felling two boys instantly, one
who came in the Tata Sumo and other who had followed on his bike. It
is sheer luck that the latter survived as the bullet had passed
through almost touching his spine piercing through his lungs and then
though his right arm. In order to justify the police action, the eye
witnesses told us that the police had broken the windowpanes of some
of the vehicles standing there and slapped ridiculous cases on two
boys of molesting a lady constable, incidentally belonging to a Dalit
caste.

The police version that the mob turned violent falls flat in the face
of facts. As a face saving device, the government announced a judicial
investigation by a retired single judge Mr Sampath, who however was
greeted by black flags by the people. It however served the purpose to
evade questions for the administration. While the collector, Ramnad
reeled off the police version, the collector, Madurai admitted that he
was not even informed of the firing incident by the police and assured
to look into it. The brutality with which the police acted showed that
the entire episode was preplanned to curb the Dalit assertion under
the guise of the guru pooja. The statement of the chief minister that
it was a clash between two communities is ominous and smacks of the
state plan to polarize people. It is to the credit and wisdom of the
people that they have not succumbed to this intrigue.

We summarize our observations as follows:

· There was no justification whatsoever for the police action both at
Paramakudi as well as Madurai. Both the actions were illegal, and
display of police highhandedness.

· Whatever agitation that the administration and media speaks of was
the consequence and not the cause of the police action.

· It is an open fact that the Thevar community wanted to stop the
Dalits' guru pooja assuming the same stature as theirs and apparently
the incident supported their plan.

· The administration had mobilized huge police force with an excuse of
a murder of a student that took place in Palla-Pachery village (about
30 kms from Paramakudi) on 9 th September. In the context of the
history of such murders every year, this was also not an uncommon
occurrence.

· The police blatantly violated their own Manual not following the
procedures for opening fire. There was not only no warning before the
fire, they fired to kill.

· The brutal manner in which the police behaved in the evening of 11
th September will shame humanity anywhere. They had simply beaten
people to death.

· To cap it all, the Police have raided many villages unnecessarily
and arrested over 500 people, who are still languishing in jails.

Demands

· The state police has completely lost moral right to investigate into
this case and hence the case be handed over to the CBI for
investigation.

· The police responsible for the criminal act of killing and beating
innocent people should be charged under the Atrocity Act as well as
for the murder under IPC. Some names that prominently figure are: M/s
Senthilvelan (DCP), Sandip Mittal (IG), Elangovan (DSP), Siva kumar
(PI), Gajendran (PI), Shanmuganathan (SI)

· Pending investigation, the above and other officials involved in the
process of granting permission for fire (such as Siva Kumar,
Tehsildar, Paramakudi ) should be summarily suspended.

· All the arrested people should be released forthwith.

· All the false cases foisted on people in this episode should be dropped.

· The relief of Rs 1 lakh announced by the government to the deceased
is ridiculous. Since the state has killed or maimed people for no
reason, the state should compensate the families for the loss of
potential earning of the dead. It should buy them annuities worth
minimum Rs 5000 per month for 40 years.

· All injured people should be given Rs 1 lakh as compensation besides
the reimbursement of their medical expenses.

· The coming state sponsored Thevar jayanthi is surely to repeat
police atrocities on Dalits. The government should ensure that Dalits
are not harassed.

· The government support to certain community's 'guru pooja' is at the
root of this and other such problems. It is unbecoming of a secular
state to do so. We condemn the state behavior and demand it withdraws
from such indulgence.

Dr Anand Teltumbde is a writer, political analyst and civil rights
activist with Committee for Protection of Democractic Rights, Mumbai


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[ZESTCaste] Firing upturned the world of this 19-year-old mother and her 14-day-old baby

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Firing-upturned-the-world-of-this-19-year-old-mother-and-her-14-day-old-baby/articleshow/10333425.cms

Firing upturned the world of this 19-year-old mother and her 14-day-old baby
M T Saju, TNN | Oct 13, 2011, 03.09AM IST

Paramakudi: Gayathri was pregnant when her husband Jayapal (also
called Amar) died in the police firing in Paramakudi on September 11,
ahead of a memorial for dalit icon Immanuel Sekaran on his 54th death
anniversary. Jayapal was part of the crowd that had gathered to
protest the policeas refusal to let dalit leader John Pandian from
proceeding to Sekaranas memorial in Paramakudi. Seven people,
including Jayapal, died when the police fired at the crowd. A few days
later, Jayapalas son was born.

With the 14-day-old baby boy, Gayathri now lives at her motheras house
in Vasanthapuram in Paramakudi. She got a meagre Rs one lakh as
compensation from the government and some money from various political
parties. The 19-year-old mother says money canat repair their loss.

Jayapal and Gayathri had got married in January 2010 and they settled
in Manjoor, a village 10 km from Paramakudi. "He was very nice and
never had any bad habits. Since I returned to my home for delivery, he
used to come and stay here at my place," says Gayathri. In fact, it
was from his wifeas house that Jayapal left for the samadhi spot with
his brother-in law. However, when the crowd turned violent, both were
separated. "My brother reached home and told me that police was
charging at people. We immediately tried to call him on him on mobile,
but it was not responding. Around mid-night, someone picked the call
and asked our address. He then asked us to contact a police inspector
in Paramakudi," she says.

Gayathri and her mother Revathi went to all the hospitals in and
around Paramakudi and Madurai, but could not find Jayapal. "We finally
saw his picture in newspaper," says Revathi, who runs a small shop in
Pramakudi.

Recently, some relatives of her in-laws came and demanded the
compensation money that Gayathri received. "I donat have any problems
with my in-laws, but some of their relatives are creating problems.
They say I am getting all the benefits, the parents are not getting
anything," she says. Gayathri believes the tragedy happened because
the government mishandled a sensitive issue. "I am facing all these
problems because of the government. So I am not going to vote this
time," she says.

Gayathri is confident that sheall somehow sail through the difficult
times. "I have passed 10th standard. I will try to get a job because I
need to take care of my child," she says.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya park honours ‘social transformers’

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/maya-park-honours-social-transformers/859256/

Maya park honours 'social transformers'

Dipankar Ghose Posted online: Thu Oct 13 2011, 03:04 hrs
Noida : The Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida, which will be
inaugurated by BSP chief Mayawati on Friday, will have an engraving on
the monument to highlight how the backward castes have been "victims
of an iniquitous social order".

"The engraving, which is in both Hindi and English, and measures 5830
mm in height and 3560 mm in width, will be seen at the main entrance
of the Rashtriya Dalit Smarak," said Balwinder Kumar, Chief Executive
Officer of Noida Authority.

The Smarak is the main dome, part of Phase I of the project, which
contains bronze statues of B R Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati
herself.

"For over a millennium, a substantial mass of this nation's populace
belonging to the SC, ST, and OBC category have been victims of an
iniquitous social order, based on varna and caste that has held them
in its thrall and blighted every aspect of their existence. Over the
ages, a number of Sants, Gurus and Mahapurush have made great
sacrifices in the course of the righteous struggle for the
transformation of this unjust and inhumane social order, to a
humanistic equalitarian social order," reads the engraving.

The monument, it declares, has been constructed to honour the
"unparalleled struggle of these stalwarts towards the struggle for
social transformation".

"The Bahujan Samaj Party, under the leadership of Chief Minister
Mayawatiji has taken the unprecedented and momentous decision to
commemorate their struggle. A decision that is certain to be hailed
for posterity and recorded in golden letters in the pages of history."

CM to announce 16 new projects

Noida: During her visit to Gautam Buddh Nagar, Mayawati is set to
announce 16 new projects, including schools, hospitals and colleges
for the area. Her helicopter will land at a temporary helipad in
Apeejay School in Sector 16-A, adjacent to the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna
Sthal. Noida Authority CEO Balwinder Kumar said the CM will spend half
an hour at the park, announce 16 projects and leave for Gautam Buddh
Vishwavidyalaya in Greater Noida. Officials said a traffic plan was in
place and movement would be affected from 2 pm to 8 pm. Expected choke
points are Mayur Vihar to Noida and Greater Noida, Sectors 14,15, 16,
Film City, and Kalindi Kunj.


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