Saturday, January 21, 2012

[ZESTCaste] Caste discrimination a reality: Punia

 

http://twocircles.net/2012jan20/caste_discrimination_reality_punia.html

Caste discrimination a reality: Punia
Submitted by admin4 on 20 January 2012 - 12:55pm

By IANS,

Kolkata: People belonging to the Scheduled Castes still face
discrimination in society, National Commission for Scheduled Castes
(NCSC) chairman P.L. Punia said Thursday.

"After getting so many complains from all over the country, I feel
that people from Scheduled Castes still face discrimination on the
basis of caste and creed," Punia said at a function here.

"Babasahab Ambedkar had once said that we are entering into an era of
contradiction. On one hand, we are equal in term of political
perspective but on the other hand, we are unequal in terms of social
and economic perspective," he said.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit and the dominoes

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ne280112Coverstory.asp

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 04, Dated 28 Jan 2012

THE BUNDELKHAND RIDDLE

Dalit and the dominoes

Bundelkhand was supposed to be Mayawati's fortress. But the BSP's
elephant is no longer universally revered in these parts. Revati Laul
travels across the region to find out why

Photo: Pramod Adhikari

"THE ELEPHANT is shit." The voice of a single disgruntled voter in
election season does not count for anything by itself. But when it
comes from the heart of Mayawati's vote base, in Uttar Pradesh's
Bundelkhand region, is the voice of a Dalit farmer, and is part of a
growing crescendo of discontent, it's an alarm bell. This time, as she
readies for the state Assembly election in February-March, the
challenge before the Dalit leader is formidable.
Gurcharan

Gurcharan, 54 Gurcharan displays a photo of his son, Ram Nishad Babbu,
who he says died trying to prevent the administration from snatching
the village's land for what he claims was a ridiculously low price. He
blames the Mayawati regime for the death. "We will now vote for the
Congress," he says.

Photos: Revati Laul
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Bundelkhand straddles Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It is stuck in
vivid visual memory as the land of the Rani of Jhansi, heroine of the
1857 uprising against the British. But ever since Mayawati and the
revival of Dalit icons, statues of the Rani's maid — Jhalkaribai — a
woman from the traditionally "lower castes", also appear prominently
in the belt from Jhansi to Hamirpur.

Jhalkaribai is said to have told the Rani, when the British soldiers
had surrounded her fort, that she would pretend to be the Rani of
Jhansi so that the real queen could escape. Now, in the land of the
Dalit chief minister, Jhalkaribai of the Kori community — a sub-caste
among Dalits — has pride of place in statues across Bundelkhand. But
alongside this assertion of Dalit pride is another stark visual of the
region. Punishing drought and farmers' suicides. Over 500 suicides in
the seven districts of Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh alone every year.
Mostly poor farmers from so-called "lower castes", many of whom had
voted for Mayawati in 2007.

Unlocking the key to why the elephant — the symbol of the Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) — is no long universally revered in these parts, is
to tell the story of Mayawati's predicament in 2012, as any story on a
Dalit leader should be told: bottom up. From the ground.

Amrahiya is a small village in the heart of Bundelkhand — the district
of Banda. The village is 95 percent Dalit. And most political
observers would bet that here at least, almost everyone would vote for
Mayawati's BSP. And they could possibly be right. But Balbir, 27, a
man who owns four bighas but works outside Banda as a taxi driver, had
an interesting qualifier. "If we are dying of fever, it's not the BSP
from Lucknow that will come running to our aid… We have to vote for a
local candidate who can come to help us when we need it and we are not
sure who that is just yet." And Balbir is from the community that has
always stood firmly behind Mayawati. He is a Jatav, like the chief
minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Banda is also the region where the erstwhile BSP minister and former
aide of Mayawati, Babu Singh Kushwaha, is from. Sacked as minister
after being implicated in the embezzlement of 8,500 crore meant for
the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). He is the same man who was
then roped in by the BJP to appease voters from his caste (Kushwahas
make up about 4.5 percent of the state's voters). Babu Singh
Kushwaha's murky trail may spell trouble for the BJP. But it has also
left a big black spot on the BSP in Bundelkhand, and on some of
Mayawati's loyal voters.

Barethi Askaran, a Kushwaha-dominated village in the region, was quick
to disown the tainted man. "We're not the same community," says one
farmer quickly. Another says: "Babu Singh Kushwaha was an utterly
useless man… here we live in small hovels and we have got nothing.
This time the winds are blowing in favour of the Congress. In favour
of Daljeet Singh."
Kushwaha's sacking could prove costly for the BSP in the region

Negative factor Kushwaha's sacking could prove costly for the BSP in the region

Ironically, Daljeet Singh, the Congress party candidate from the
district, is a businessman in a very opaque trade — mining. He swears
he is completely above board, an honest man. He contested as an
independent candidate in 2007 and lost narrowly to the BSP. This time,
he says, he's on a stronger wicket with the Congress. When questioned
about his mining business, he was all injured innocence — as all
mining barons always are.

What Daljeet Singh and other Congress candidates fighting an election
in a largely Dalit-populated region hope to do is steal a small
percentage of Mayawati's Dalit vote. They then hope to add to this a
larger slice of OBC and Brahmin votes. Weakening Mayawati is the key.

BUT THE Bundelkhand story, like most stories in Uttar Pradesh, is not
a straightforward one. Among the many twists is that when Mayawati has
tried to clean up things, she has actually lost as much support as
she's gained. In the same region of Bundelkhand, large sections of
upper caste voters are unhappy that 'their' goonda — Shiv Kumar Patel,
the dreaded gangster of the Dadua gang (a Kurmi/OBC gang that was the
face of upper-caste vigilantism) — was hunted down and killed by
Mayawati's police. This caused an upper-caste revolt against Mayawati
in Bundelkhand when the Lok Sabha elections took place in 2009.

The BSP does not have good candidates despite the fact that they have
a committed vote base here

Since 2007, when Mayawati swept to power, numerous crimes have been
reported as specifically anti-Dalit crimes from across Uttar Pradesh.
Since there are more Dalits in Bundelkhand than anywhere else in the
state, police stations were stuffed with FIRs under the SC/ST
Prevention of Atrocities Act. Many upper-caste voters claim these are
false cases. The enforcing of this equalising law by Mayawati has
damaged her carefully stitched together Dalit-Brahmin alliance, making
the 2012 election that much more difficult for her. It is, however,
the enforcing of justice for Dalits, via this very Act, that has kept
even otherwise unhappy Dalits loyal to Mayawati.

An unusually assertive woman, Motibai, 30, in Sarhat village
(Chitrakoot district) sums up the Dalit voter's worst fear.
Retribution. If their leader loses this election, many Dalits may feel
the heat. "Every caste has someone to protect them," Motibai says,
"why shouldn't we? So the Kol community is with the elephant. If the
elephant doesn't win, then the other parties may withdraw the Act."

The term 'Dalit' only loosely defines a group of 66 sub-castes in
Uttar Pradesh, and they are a highly stratified lot. The Jatavs, the
caste Mayawati belongs to, are at the top of the Dalit pyramid in
Uttar Pradesh and the 65 other castes are roughly branded as Ati Dalit
(Extreme Dalit). A group that has, from 2007 on, increasingly felt
doubly discriminated. First, for being Dalit and second for not being
the most favoured amongst the Dalits.

In Bundelkhand, where a big chunk of voters owe their life to Maya,
some blame her neglect for the suicides

Still, even with the dissenting voices, there is a large core
constituency of Scheduled Caste voters that have until now felt they
have no choice but to stick to Mayawati. Their survival is at stake,
or at least self-respect. These are the voices that tell stories of
having cleaned the shit from the village for 10 a day. Beaten, raped
and barely allowed to exist, often completely at the mercy of more
dominant castes. Until Mayawati.

THE TANGIBLE gains for at least the Jatavs amongst the Dalits have
been many. Dalit-dominant villages were handpicked for the Ambedkar
Village schemes. Those villages are home to decisively pro- Mayawati
farmers, like Bindu Kumar and his wife Urmila. Now supervising the
building of their pucca home, bricks and mortar and all, by availing a
scheme for Dalits. They are proud to present their toilet, still a
novelty in a Dalit home. Across Bundelkhand, the sight of a Dalit
woman bathing in the open, right in the centre of the village square,
is commonplace. A bathroom and a toilet is not just a secure vote.
It's a tectonic shift in the dignity and sense of self it affords.
Congress candidate Daljeet is optimistic of a good show this year

Mining for votes Congress candidate Daljeet is optimistic of a good
show this year

But in the many-headed hydra that is Bundelkhand, where a large chunk
of voters owe their life to Mayawati, some blame her neglect for the
deaths in the region. This is suicide country. In which Himmat Rai was
a teenager when his father hanged himself, because he couldn't pay off
a Rs 80,000 loan. He is a 'Thakur' and says he is now going to vote
for Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.

Also in suicide land is the proud and distraught Gurcharan, displaying
the funeral photograph of his son, who he says died trying to prevent
the administration from snatching the village's land for what he
claims was a ridiculously low price. Ram Nishad Babbu, 32, was one of
a few hundred agitating villagers who stormed off to the tehsildar's
office, saying the local administration had snatched their land to
build a dam for not even a quarter of the market price of the land.

The local official retorted tauntingly, "You villagers keep
threatening to immolate yourselves, but no one has the guts to
actually do it." At which point, Ram Nishad doused himself with
kerosene. The dam has been stalled. Bundelkhand has no water. Land
rates have been revised. And Ram Nishad is dead. To his father,
Mayawati's government is the culprit. "We will vote for the Congress,"
he says.

This time around, Maya's rivals have learnt some caste arithmetic from
her and reapplied it to their own parties

In election season, the question of whose fault the extreme poverty
and indebtedness is comes down to perception. In 2008, Mayawati
created the Bundelkhand Special Area Development Authority. She wrote
repeatedly to the Centre asking for farmers' loans up to 2011 to be
waived. And made sure the public is aware that she requested the
Centre for a special assistance package of Rs 80,000 crore for
Bundelkhand. What the Centre did give is Rs 7,266 crore for all of
Bundelkhand (encompassing both states). Uttar Pradesh's share was
about half: Rs 3,506 crore.

But even of this amount, sanctioned in November 2009, only 23 percent
has been used so far. Whose fault is it — Mayawati's or the
Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's? In Bundelkhand, farmers'
suicides may impact the BSP only to the extent that it is the
incumbent government and some amount of disenchantment with the
administration will affect votes.
Congress' Sampad Pal is the wild-card candidate in the mix

Pink campaign Congress' Sampad Pal is the wild-card candidate in the mix

But Bundelkhand has been in an ever worsening crisis for over a
decade. So the only recourse for any sort of protection, or even the
reason to vote, isn't development. It's caste.

Here, there is a quantifiable loss to Mayawati's vote base, indirectly
stemming from the stark poverty and backwardness of Bundelkhand. A
large chunk of Dalit voters consists of migrant labour, driven into
Delhi, Haryana and Punjab to build other people's homes and highways.
The Congress candidate from Banda, Vivek Singh, cites polio-drop
statistics as proof. Fifty-thousand households to be administered the
drops were counted to have locked doors — that's at least 1.5 lakh
fewer voters, calculates Singh. One-and-a-half lakh people that would
in all likelihood choose Mayawati, except they are too poor to stay
and vote.

THERE IS, however, one other large piece of this electoral math that
hasn't been explored properly so far. According to the Election
Commission's data, 44 percent of all Dalits in Uttar Pradesh vote.
Where are the remaining 56 percent?

Political scientist AK Verma of Christ Church College, Kanpur, has
been digging into the question. "They can't all be migrant labourers,
I thought, and so I kept digging deeper. And came up with this
startling fact. Much of this other half is actually tribal." He
explains that this until-now-unsolved piece of arithmetic could hugely
upset Mayawati's and everyone else's calculations in this polls. Verma
says, most of the communities listed in UP as Scheduled Castes are
actually Scheduled Tribes, but the government's incorrect nomenclature
has resulted in these tribes not getting their recognition as tribals.
Not getting their status under the quota system as Scheduled Tribes is
causing them to become increasingly disenchanted people who form that
other half that hasn't been voting.

He explains this phenomenon further. In 1950, when communities were
being listed as Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe by the framers of
the Indian Constitution, only five were listed as Scheduled Tribes in
Uttar Pradesh. It took the rest of Uttar Pradesh's tribals a shocking
53 years to get the government to notice. Finally, in 2003, 10 more
communities were transferred from the Scheduled Caste to the Scheduled
Tribe list. There are many other tribes still awaiting their turn. And
their point of view, Verma says, is that by not getting Scheduled
Tribe status, their slice of the reservation pie and access to
political power and economic growth remains nil.

This group includes communities like the Gonds and the Kols, who have
gained little and in some cases nothing from voting for Mayawati. And
stand to lose nothing by voting elsewhere. A lot will depend on their
getting out to vote at all. So much of Mayawati's challenge still lies
in making her candidates campaign aggressively in the days ahead.

"The BSP doesn't have good candidates despite the fact that they have
a committed vote base," explains Sudhir Singh, a CPM party worker and
resident of Banda. Indeed, the big challenge for Mayawati in 2012 will
be to win despite having a loosely strung together cadre.
Bindu Kumar

Bindu Kumar, 34 The tangible gains for at least the Jatavs among the
Dalits have been many. Bindu Kumar is supervising the building of a
pucca home, bricks and mortar and all, by availing a scheme for
Dalits. He is proud to present the toilet, still a novelty in a Dalit
home.

A Dalit farmer in Banda sums it up, "We Dalits are a thoroughly
disunited lot. We cannot stand the next person's success and will do
anything to tear him down." He was describing the biggest stumbling
block to mobilising the most downtrodden, most oppressed into one
party. Dispossession often breeds divisiveness.

Political scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Sudha Pai wrote of
the structure of the BSP: "The party's concept of social justice,
therefore, is not a moral or ethical position, but a plan of action…
based upon the exigencies of the situation." In this marriage of
convenience, BSP party workers point out, power cannot and is not
shared. Its only owner is Mayawati.

However, her close aide Naseem Uddin Siddiqui fends off the criticism.
"The political pundits and press have said this before about us, that
we are losing ground. We don't need to reveal our strategy to anyone.
And we like challenges."

Will the old recipe of "we are victims because we are Dalits" work
again? It's what has driven Mayawati's election campaign earlier and
this time as well. "The Election Commission is anti-Dalit," she said
on her 56th birthday, in reference to the EC's order that statues of
elephants across the state be covered during the election campaign.
And in an effort to not come across as anti-anybody herself, she
released a list of candidates that sought to renew her rainbow
alliance of 2007: 88 tickets to Scheduled Caste candidates, 113 to
OBCs, 85 to minorities (largely Muslims) and 117 to the so-called
upper castes, including 74 Brahmins.

'Political pundits have said this before about us, that we are losing
ground,' retorts a Mayawati aide

But this time around, her major rivals have learnt some caste
arithmetic from her and reapplied it with great precision to their own
parties. Everybody wants to replicate her rainbow. Whilst publicly
campaigning against caste politics, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have
watched and learned. "This time, the Congress is doing the practical
thing in putting up the right caste candidates," says political
observer Sudhir Singh.

One such candidate is a wild card choice for patriarchal Bundelkhand:
Sampad Pal, leader of the Gulabi Gang. The pink ladies have, since
2006, stormed into district collectors' offices, slapped a few of them
and administered on-the-spot justice for the poor and particularly for
women. Their leader, Sampad Pal, is a sort of female Robin Hood with
her thousand women in a thousand pink saris. She is now a Congress
candidate from Chitrakoot.

"What have all those bastard f***ers done for you, huh?" Sampad
thunders on her campaign trail. "Vote for the hand. You know me —
Sampad Pal of the Gulabi gang.

"I was married off when I was 12, became a mother when I was 15," she
later reveals. "Then I thought, will I be a slave all my life?" But
she swears, if she wins, her gang will never enter politics with her;
"Or I will end up becoming like Mamata Banerjee — hankering for power
to sustain the gang." Then she throws her head back and laughs.
Mayawati has tried to portray the EC as an anti-Dalit entity

The big cover-up Mayawati has tried to portray the EC as an anti-Dalit entity

Photo: Shailendra Pandey

BY CONTRAST, the party meant for the downtrodden in the land of the
downtrodden has kept itself and its candidates as far away from the
media as possible. And all its conversations play out in an elliptical
loop. "I will win…we will win… Behenji is everything…" says Ache Lal
Nishad, BSP candidate against Sampad Pal.

If there is one thing in Ache Lal and the BSP's favour, it's that the
Congress with its careful stitching and the BJP with its obvious
attraction for the Brahmin voter and the resurgent Samajwadi Party may
all cut into each other's votes.

This may end up as Bundelkhand — and indeed the Uttar Pradesh — pie
being sliced into many smaller pieces, leaving the BSP still with
sizeable number of seats and vote share, but nowhere close to the
majority it won in 2007.

A diminished elephant may be trouble not just for Mayawati, but indeed
result in a throwback to the pre-2007 era — of coalition politics and
even more instability in Uttar Pradesh. There are also the limits.
Dalit identity qua Dalit identity. In the past decade, Verma reasons,
a section of the Dalits has come into its own, economically and
politically. This lot may not care much for the protective umbrella
that the BSP offers Dalits, especially if it faces hostility from
less-well-off Dalits.

A senior official in the Uttar Pradesh government talked about what
five years in power had done to the cadre of the BSP. Damage. "An
inherently insecure group has spent the past few months pulling each
other down," the official says. Which explains why for the first time
ever, the BSP has shuffled around candidates at the very last minute.
There are even some among the BSP who are now disgruntled enough to
want to campaign against their own party. These are symptoms of an
insecurity that is bred right at the top; many insiders say Mayawati
is not comfortable with promoting any other charismatic leader who
happens to be a Dalit.

She is the Sole Spokesperson. On 6 March, what will her voter tell her?

Revati Laul is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.
revati@tehelka.com

Maya's image makeover turns out to be a farce

Two of the tainted ministers sacked by the UP CM have ended up getting
BSP tickets, reports Abhishek Bhalla
Mayawati

Photo: AP

EVEN AS Mayawati is trying hard at an image makeover by sacking
ministers ahead of the Assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta Justice
(retd) NK Mehrotra is furious that his recommendations to initiate
criminal proceedings against tainted ministers have gone unheard.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister has axed 26 ministers till date on
charges of graft but Opposition parties have called it an orchestrated
attempt to temporarily sideline the corrupt.

While Mayawati showed the door to at least 10 ministers against whom
the Lokayukta found evidence of corruption, land grab and misusing
their office for personal gains, she ignored Justice Mehrotra's demand
to book them under the appropriate legal framework.

"We had asked for action taken reports but not a single one has been
provided. I'm in the process of giving a special report to the
Governor regarding noncompliance," an angry Justice Mehrotra told
TEHELKA.

The inaction has left whistleblowers surprised. Sobodh Yadav, the
complainant against one of the ministers, says, "The idea was to send
these corrupt men to jail. But that will never happen. When the
Lokayukta has already found evidence against them, the chief minister
should have ensured that criminal cases were registered."

Mayawati's pre-poll farce is corroborated by the fact that from the
list of BSP candidates, two ministers indicted by the Lokayukta and
sacked by Mayawati — Ranganath Mishra and Rajesh Tripathi — are back
in the fray.

Mishra, the former higher secondary minister who is contesting from
Mirzapur, is accused of land grab and possessing disproportionate
assets. The Lokayukta had recommended that a case under the Prevention
of Corruption Act be registered against him. It also recommended that
Mishra be charged under the Abolition of Zamindari Act and the land
occupied by him in Sant Ravidas Nagar district must be given back to
the village. An action taken report was to be submitted within a
month. But no criminal proceedings have been initiated more than three
months after the report.
Rajesh Tripathi
Ranganath Mishra

Back in action Sacked BSP ministers Rajesh Tripathi and Ranganath
Mishra are once again in the fray

"I'm told that a probe is underway but till now nobody has bothered to
even record my statement," says Swaminath Mishra, complainant in the
case. "This is just an eyewash. Now Mishra is also contesting on a BSP
ticket. It is clear Mayawati's act of sacking was a farce." When
TEHELKA contacted Mishra, his nephew came on the line and said, "The
Lokayukta report was flawed and when Behenji (Mayawati) realised the
mistake, she took him back."

Tripathi, the former homoeopathy minister who will be contesting from
Gorakhpur, is accused of grabbing land belonging to a cremation ground
in the same district. He is also accused of diverting the MLA local
development scheme funds to his school. The Lokayukta had recommended
that a probe should be carried out by the Rural Development Department
to look into the misuse of funds by MLAs and other officials who might
be party to this loot. "There has been no such probe and not a single
official punished," says Justice Mehrotra.

Meanwhile, Anant Mishra who was sacked as health minister for his
alleged role in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
scam, was denied nomination, but his wife Uma has got a ticket from
Farrukhabad.

Mayawati, who released her latest list of candidates on 15 January,
said that while selecting candidates, special attention was paid to
the fact that they had a clean image. "In the last election, many
people from other parties managed to get BSP tickets," she said.

"After coming to power, instead of working towards the development of
their areas, they were involved in wrong activities out of personal
interests. These are the people who spoiled the old BSP cadre and this
is why they were denied tickets."

Party insiders say that Mayawati is not taking any chances. "She is
banking on her old formula of gathering support across castes and not
banking alone on Dalit votes. She is hoping to repeat her 2007 poll
victory," says a BSP leader on condition of anonymity.

abhishek.bhalla@tehelka.com


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[ZESTCaste] AIDWA Flays Attack on Dalit Woman

http://pd.cpim.org/2012/0122_pd/01222012_8.html

January 22, 2012

AIDWA Flays Attack on Dalit Woman

IN a statement issued on January 13, the All India Democratic Women's
Association said that it is deeply shocked at the stripping and
beating of a dalit widow in Satara village by upper caste residents of
the same village, because her son reportedly eloped with an upper
caste girl from that village. It condemned this outrageous violation
of human rights, and demanded exemplary punishment for the
perpetrators.

AIDWA national secretary and president of the Maharashtra Janwadi
Mahila Samity, Kiran Moghe, along with other AIDWA leaders from the
state have visited the victim in hospital, and have demanded stringent
action from the police authorities. The press release issued by the
state leadership is below:

The Maharashtra unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Sanghatana
strongly condemns the severe assault on a dalit widow resident of
Mulgaon village in Patan block of Satara district. This is one more
incident in which a poor woman has become the target of feelings of
revenge and resentment by upper castes. It is to be noted that the
victim is the grand daughter of the revolutionary poet Comrade
Annabhau Sathe, whose songs mobilised the people of the state in the
Samyukta Maharashtra movement.

The woman has been a resident of the village for the past thirty
years. Ever since her son married the daughter of her upper caste
neighbour a month ago, she has been targeted with verbal casteist
abuse. On January 9, 2012, members of the Desai family brutally
assaulted her. When she managed to reach the Patan police station, the
constable on duty refused to entertain her complaint. We strongly
demand that the policemen on duty who failed to understand the gravity
of the situation and turned her away should be suspended forthwith,
and strong action be taken against them. Moreover, there have been
earlier incidents of attacks on other members of her family, one of
which has been registered with the Patan police station. We also
demand that the village level Tanta Mukti Samiti at Mulgaon should be
dissolved forthwith since it did not intervene to pre-empt this
serious incident of assault.

A delegation of the Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Sanghatana (AIDWA)
consisting of state president Kiran Moghe, Satara district president
Anandi Avghade, alongwith Satara district CPI(M) secretary Manik
Avghade, Saleem Attar, J S Patil and others met the victim at Karad
late in the evening on January 11, 2012 and spoke to her at length.
It is shocking that the district SP and collector have not even
bothered to visit her and make enquiries about her situation. It
appears that the state government has learnt nothing from the
Khairlanjee incident and the state administration and police
department remains as insensitive and discriminatory when it comes to
atrocities against dalits. The latest crime statistics for the state
of Maharashtra reveals that the number of crimes recorded under the
Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act increased by 9.62 per cent
in 2010 as compared to 2009. Of these the maximum number have been in
the districts of western Maharashtra. It appears that the law is no
longer deterrent for crimes against dalits and women because rarely
anyone is punished.

The delegation also went to meet the deputy SP Patan, F A Nayakawadi
at the Patan police station late last night and enquired about the
progress in the investigation. He immediately agreed to their demand
to give police protection to the victim while she is in the hospital.
They also demanded that the police independently verify the age of the
young girl and not rely on the parents' version. They also asked for
police protection to the couple. A memorandum of demands has been
submitted to the SP and collector.


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[ZESTCaste] Music therapy for Odisha's dalit rape victim

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/music-therapy-for-odishas-dalit-rape-victim/953394.html

Music therapy for Odisha's dalit rape victim
PTI | 08:01 PM,Jan 20,2012

Bhubaneswar, Jan 20 (PTI) With super specialist doctors treating dalit
rape victim of Pipili in Odisha sceptical about her complete recovery
due to part functioning of her brain, authorities of SCB Medical
College Hospital in Cuttack today decided to try music therapy for her
cure. "After consultations with Dr Bhabani Shankar Das, former
director of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences
(Nimhans) and super specialists in AIIMS, Delhi, we have decided to
take help of the music therapy in order to bring back normalcy in the
victim," hospital superintendent D N Mohapatra told PTI. Claiming that
treatment given to the 19-year-old girl had been appreciated by
experts of AIIMS, Delhi, the hospital superintendent said a senior
doctor from VSS Medical College Hospital in Burla, has been hired to
start music therapy. As the girl, according to her parents, was fond
of music while active, the 13-member super specialist team of the SCB
Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, decided to try the music therapy.
"We hope the girl will respond to the new method of treatment," the
superintendent said. Among the choices made for the treatment of the
girl, the hospital authorities have decided to play devotional songs
dedicated to Lord Jagannath and Lord Shiv in slow pitch, they said
adding they were hopeful of the girl's recovery. "Besides, voices of
her parents and close relatives will also be played to activate her
brain cells which remained dormant for some days," he said. more

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[ZESTCaste] No hitch in cash for inter-caste weddings: Pun

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=No+hitch+in+cash+for+inter-caste+weddings%3A+Pun&NewsID=317466

No hitch in cash for inter-caste weddings: Pun

Added At: 2012-01-20 10:31 PM

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun today denied reports that
the ministry had stopped allowance to encourage inter-caste marriages.

Parliament committee on Women, Children and Social Welfare had sought
clarification from the minister after the Ministry of Home Affairs
stopped the allowance to couples belonging to different castes.

The Home Ministry has not distributed the money for the last nine
months stating that the Finance Ministry has blocked the budget.

The budget for fiscal year 2010/11 had made a provision for allowance
to encourage inter-caste marriages between Dalits and non-Dalits to
end caste-based discrimination in the country.

Till date, the government has provided allowance to 198 couples nationwide.

The ministry has not received any application for the allowance and
there has been no curtailment of the budget, said the minister, adding
that the government is committed to the programme aimed at uplifting
Dalit community.

Pun further urged the Home Minister to circulate a notice to district
administration office nationwide for collecting the applications as
soon as possible and assured to pass the budget as soon as the
ministry receives them.

Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Banskota also expressed government's
commitment to the programme.

He said Rs 30 million was allocated for improving the lot of Badi
women, Rs 300 million for Janta Awas programme, Rs 340 million for
women development and that Rs one billion agreement was signed with
the Agriculture Development Bank for self-employment fund.

Binod Pahadi, a CA member, also urged the minister to continue the
programme. During the meet, panel members Shila Katila, Govind Nepali,
Asha Sardar, and Bimala Nepali called for effective programmes for
Dalits, minorities and women.


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[ZESTCaste] ‘CPI(M) never projected Mayawati as Prime Ministerial candidate'

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2818099.ece

KOLKATA, January 21, 2012
'CPI(M) never projected Mayawati as Prime Ministerial candidate'
Ananya Dutta

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Communist Party of
India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Friday
that the party is calling for a defeat of the Congress, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) in the polls.

"The BSP government has a record of misrule, has taken away thousands
of acres of farm land forcibly and has set a record in corruption,"
Mr. Karat said.

Clarifying that the CPI(M) had never projected BSP chief Mayawati as
the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 'Third Front' ahead of the
2009 Lok Sabha elections, he said that it was just a perception
created by the media.

"Our party called for a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative….there was
no electoral understanding with the BSP," Mr. Karat said of the 2009
polls, adding that never had the name of any Prime Ministerial
candidate been announced.

"In U.P. today, when we are fighting elections we are calling for the
defeat of the BSP, along with the defeat of the Congress and the BJP,"
he said.

Mr. Karat was speaking at a press conference on the concluding day of
the special session of the Central Committee of the CPI(M).

On being asked to comment on the recent controversy regarding the
appointment of Justice R. A. Mehta as the Lokayukta of Gujarat by
Governor Kamala Beniwal, Mr. Karat said that the BJP government there
had been exposed in its failure to appoint a Lokayukta since 2003.

"The BJP has been fully exposed by the fact that they are demanding an
effective Lokpal and Lokayukta, but in Gujarat there has been no
Lokayukta appointed since 2003," he said.

Now when a Lokayukta has been appointed, they are trying to stop it
and have been unsuccessful so far, he added.

Criticising the Centre for failing to bring in an effective Lokpal
Bill in Parliament and then failing to adopt it in the Rajya Sabha
because it refused to allow amendments to the Bill, Mr. Karat pressed
the demand that the government bring the Lokpal legislation with
suitable amendments during the Budget session.

It is very clear that a united Opposition could have pushed through
some amendments in the bill including making the selection process
more broad-based with fewer government nominees and by allowing the
Lokpal to have its own investigating agency, he said.


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[ZESTCaste] 414 elephant statues, 11 of Maya covered: UP to EC

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/414-elephant-statues-11-of-maya-covered-up-to-ec/902282/

414 elephant statues, 11 of Maya covered: UP to EC

Lalmani Verma Posted online: Sat Jan 21 2012, 02:34 hrs
Lucknow : A total of 11 statues of UP Chief Minister Mayawati and 414
statues of elephants — the symbol of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party -—
in various memorials, parks and Gautam Buddha University were covered
on the Election Commission's order earlier this month. In Lucknow,
three memorials were closed for public entry as these had three
statues of Mayawati.

The ECI had, on January 8, ordered the UP government to cover each and
every statue of the elephant and Mayawati, constructed and erected in
public places, to ensure level playing to the political parties.

According to the compliance report sent to EC by Chief Secretary Anoop
Mishra, six statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and 328 of the elephant
(both of stone and bronze) were covered in Lucknow and five statues of
Mayawati and 86 of the elephant along with 46 "Gajmukh" (faces of
elephants) were covered in Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Interestingly, the BSP had objected that statues of no other leader
and symbols of other parties had been covered. The EC then asked the
government to give details of such statues, but they reported back
that they could not find any. The compliance report stated, besides
Lucknow and Noida, Mayawati's statues are in her native village
Badalpur, near Noida.


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[ZESTCaste] No reservations in using reservations

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/No-reservations-in-using-reservations/articleshow/11573753.cms

No reservations in using reservations
Proshun Chakraborty, TNN | Jan 21, 2012, 04.58AM IST

NAGPUR: With less than a month left for the municipal corporation
elections, hectic lobbying is on for tickets in all the political
parties. After the prabhag system in place, the city is now divided
into 72 prabhags comprising 145 wards. Many corporators have lost
their wards due to reservation for women, SC, ST and OBC candidates.
Now, they are scouting for new wards, with parties likely to
"rehabilitate" many of them.

Sitting corporator Manoj Sangole, whose ward has now been reserved for
SC woman, is likely to field his wife Savita Sangole from the ward,
while he is trying to seek ticket to contest from the neighbouring
open ward on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket, which is in
prabhag number 5.

Just a month before, Sangole was expecting ticket from NCP. In fact,
he was asking for four tickets - two each from prabhag number 2 and 5,
respectively - which the party denied. If Sangole fails to get all the
four tickets from NCP, then he plans to contest election as
independent.

Political sources, said that Sangole, wanting to teach a lesson to
sitting RPI corporator (Nari ward number 2) Heera Gedam, is fielding
his wife. Gedam had reportedly slapped Sangole over a trivial issue.
Angry over the humiliation meted out to him, Sangole is deliberately
fielding his wife, the source added.

Denying all the allegations, Sangole said that he had plans to develop
the otherwise neglected North Nagpur which badly needs proper civic
amenities.

During his two terms as corporator, Sangole became famous for the work
that he did in his ward. In the 2002 elections, he contested from
prabhag number 5. "During my 2002-2007 tenures, I brought about lot of
development in my area. This will definitely help me contest from the
similar prabhag," Sangole claimed. Interestingly, Sangole is also
fielding one of his supporters Rakesh Nikose along with his wife.

"During my five year tenure as Nalanda Nagar corporator, I developed
NMC's Kapil Nagar school, a library and constructed cement roads. My
ward (no. 8 which now falls in prabhag number 2) was considered the
most neglected. I have plans to construct a swimming pool and a
skating ring for NMC students," Sangole claimed. All the work done in
the past will help the duo (Savita Sangole and Rakesh Nikose) win the
civic polls as people will consider the work done before casting their
vote, he added.

Sitting RPI (A) corporator Prakash Gondane, who will be contest on
Congress ticket from prabhag number 5, said that Sangole was no
competition to him. "Considering the amount of development work done,
people will definitely vote in my favour," Gondane claimed.

Independent corporators will get less time to canvass because they
will be allotted symbols only on February 4, just 12 days before the
elections. Reacting to this, Sangole said, "It won't affect him or the
other candidates. People in these two prabhag know me for my work."

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[ZESTCaste] Govt to reserve 27 pc of new petrol pumps, LPG outlets for OBCs

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govt-to-reserve-27-pc-of-petrol-pumps-for-obcs/222719-3.html

India | Posted on Jan 20, 2012 at 07:09pm IST
Govt to reserve 27 pc of new petrol pumps, LPG outlets for OBCs
Press Trust of India

New Delhi: In a significant policy change, the government plans to
reserve 27 per cent of new petrol pumps and LPG agencies for Other
Backward Classes (OBCs). Presently, 25 per cent of the sites for new
petrol pumps are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe
(ST) persons.

"We are in the process of formulating new guidelines for setting up of
retail outlets and LPG distributorships. The new guidelines would
provide reservation as has been provided in the Constitution," an Oil
Ministry official said.

As per the guidelines under formulation, the quota for SCs/STs would
be reduced to 22.5 per cent, while 27 per cent of new outlets and
dealerships would be reserved for OBCs.
Govt to reserve 27 pc of new petrol pumps, LPG outlets for OBCs

The remaining 50 per cent of the pumps and dealerships would be
allotted to open or general category candidates, the official said,
adding that 33 per cent of the locations in each category are reserved
for women belonging to that category.

In addition, physically handicapped, paramilitary/police and defence
personnel, freedom fighters and outstanding sports persons would also
get reservation in each of the three categories - SC/ST, OBC and
General.

Presently, physically handicapped persons are given 5 per cent
reservation, while paramilitary/police/government personnel and
defence personnel are each allotted 8 per cent of new petrol pumps.
Another 2 per cent reservation is provided for freedom fighters and
outstanding sports persons, taking the overall reservation to 50 per
cent.

The official said petrol pumps would be allocated through a draw of
lots to bring more transparency into the selection process.

Presently, applicants are ranked on the basis of their educational
qualifications, financial background and other criteria and there have
often been allegations of discrimination in the marking system.

Under the new system, all applicants meeting eligibility norms like
owing a plot of land would have an equal chance of being selected in
the draw of lots, which would happen in the presence of all the
candidates.

The official said the new guidelines are likely to be announced after
completion of Assembly elections in five states, including Uttar
Pradesh and Punjab.

After identifying the location for setting up a retail outlet/LPG
agency, state-owned Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat
Petroleum would release an advertisement in leading newspapers (one
English and one Hindi/vernacular) inviting applications from
candidates belonging to the category for which the location is
reserved.

The eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and procedures would be
described in the advertisement. After scrutiny, a draw of lots would
be held for eligible candidates.

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[ZESTCaste] PM ask ministries to prepare 2013's plan with focus on SC, ST and minorities

http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/pm-ask-ministries-prepare-2013s-125702229.html

PM ask ministries to prepare 2013's plan with focus on SC, ST and minorities
Accord FintechAccord Fintech – 20 hours ago

In an attempt to upgrade the skill development programme, Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has pressed various key ministries to
chalk plan focusing on up gradation of skills of SC, ST and minorities
and people with disabilities and women. Heading the National Council
on Skill Development in New Delhi, Prime Minister also advised
ministries concentrate on sectors with potential like infrastructure,
real estate, auto, textile, health care, retail and logistics while
designing skill development initiatives.

Providing quality education and skills is a major challenge before
India Inc whose 85% of the population is between 15 and 59 years age
group. According to Dr. Singh, India can reap the demographic dividend
of a young population provided the young citizens of the country are
educated and possess the skills required for earning a decent
livelihood.

Skill requirement studies state that India will require around 26
crore skilled people by 2018 and around 34 crore by 2022. These
studies also indicate necessity to provide quality training to around
8 crore people in the next 5 years.

DISCLAIMER: Accord Fintech provides the Content on "AS IS" basis
without any express or implied warranties. Accord Fintech does not
warrant the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, adequacy,
merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose of the Content,
and Accord Fintech shall not be liable to Licensee or to any third
party with respect to any actual or alleged inaccuracy, untimeliness,
incompleteness, inadequacy, unmerchantbailty or unfitness.


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[ZESTCaste] CM Kiran Kumar Reddy played caste politics- Manda Krishna Madiga

 
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[ZESTCaste] Manda Krishna Madiga Criticizes Chiranjeevi (video)

 
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[ZESTCaste] MRPS Plan to Fight Against to Congress

 
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