Thursday, February 16, 2012

[ZESTCaste] Dalit youth attacked for drinking water from pitcher

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dalit-youth-attacked-for-drinking-water-from-pitcher/articleshow/11915674.cms

Dalit youth attacked for drinking water from pitcher
PTI | Feb 16, 2012, 08.59PM IST

HISAR, HARYANA: In a shocking case of caste-related violence, a man
belonging to the upper caste almost chopped off an arm of a Dalit
youth as he drank water from his pitcher. Police said here today that
Rajendar alias Pappu almost chopped off an arm of Dalit labourer
Rajesh Ranga alias Raju for drinking water from his container
yesterday.

The culprit has been arrested under Section 326 of the IPC
(voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or other
means) and under various provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they said. Ranga, a
daily wager of village Sanyana in Fatehabad district in the state, had
gone in search of work in village Daulatpur near here. As he became
thirsty, he stopped to drink water from the pitcher of Rajendar, a
farmer. But hardly had the Dalit touched the pitcher, the farmer got
enraged and attacked him with a sickle, badly injuring his arm.

A surgery was conducted on the victim at a local private hospital
where doctors said it might take three months for him to recover.
Meanwhile, the district authorities handed over Rs 50,000 to the Dalit
youth and a deputy superintendent of police has been deputed to
investigate the case. District Development and Panchayat Officer Sumit
Kumar said the victim will be provided free treatment by the
government. Hisar deputy commissioner Amit Kumar Aggarwal said senior
district officials visited the hospital to enquire about the well
being of the victim. The authorities are maintaining a close watch on
the development keeping in mind the 2010 Mirchpur riots in the state
in which a Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter were
charred to death by some persons belonging to a higher caste over a
trivial matter.

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[ZESTCaste] Parks and statues have turned Lucknow into Paris: Mayawati

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws160212ELECTIONS.asp

Parks and statues have turned Lucknow into Paris: Mayawati

According to the CM, Lucknow's fame due its Dalit memorials, could not
be tolerated by the opposition

Virendra Nath Bhatt
Lucknow


Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo
Mayawati, claimed that she has turned Lucknow into Paris in a short
span of five years by building so many parks and memorials of Dalit
icons.

Mayawati lashed out at the Opposition for targeting the statues and
memorials constructed in her regime. "Opposition leaders can criticise
me and can even go up to the extent of saying they will demolish the
statues and memorials if they come to power, showing their anti-Dalit
mindset, but people are appreciating the work done in Lucknow that
made it like Paris," she said while addressing her first election
meeting at the Sarojini Nagar Assembly constituency in the state
capital.

"Lucknow has become a place of attraction in the country and even in
the world due to my work to honour the Dalit messiahs which could not
be tolerated by the opposition parties," she added. Mayawati said her
government was only concerned about development in the state during
its five-year regime. She said the success of her "development drives"
will result in the state enjoying a 24-hour power supply in the next
couple of years. "None of the other political parties could have done
such work in just five years as has been achieved by the BSP," she
claimed.

Mayawati said it was her party's intention to see development in the
state that made her move a proposal to divide it in four parts,
Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand, Paschim Pradesh and Awadh Pradesh. The
proposal, said the CM, had been sent to the Centre for approval,
"without any positive response from them."

She accused the Centre of meting out a step-motherly treatment to UP,
she said the Congress-led UPA government of Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, "ignored all genuine demands of the state including financial
package." According to the CM, her government had sent a proposal
seeking a Central package of Rs 80,000 crore for the state but the
Centre never sanctioned it. "Neither did the Centre sanction the
package, nor did it help the region in any way," she added. The BSP
supremo claimed that despite the financial constraints, her government
formulated developmental policies for this region on its own.

The BSP chief also came down heavily on the statement of Congress
general secretary Rahul Gandhi that she used to do good work before
she became the CM. "What my government has done in five years, the
Congress could not do in 40 years of rule in the state. Every party
has been exposed before the public which will give them a fitting
reply in the Assembly polls," she asserted. She also appealed to the
people to first cast their vote before doing any other work on polling
day.

Virendra Nath Bhatt is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.
virendranathbhatt@gmail.com


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[ZESTCaste] Lucknow as pretty as Paris: Mayawati

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Lucknow-as-pretty-as-Paris-Mayawati/articleshow/11920161.cms

Lucknow as pretty as Paris: Mayawati
TNN | Feb 17, 2012, 04.27AM IST

Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati addresses an
election rally in Rai Bareilly.

LUCKNOW: Justifying the expenditure on dalit monuments in the city,
BSP chief Mayawati equated Lucknow with Paris. "Hamara Lucknow ab
Paris ki tarah aalishan our sundar lagta hai (Our Lucknow looks as
magnificent and beautiful as Paris)," she said while addressing a
rally here just three days before the city would go to the poll on
Sunday. She added that opposition parties get envy when visitors and
tourists appreciate the new face of Lucknow. Especially targeting
Samajwadi Party leaders, she said that sheer jealousy forced Mulayam
Singh and his family-members claim that they would bulldoze the
memorials if elected.

Oblivious to the existence of Paris, Raju Gautam, a villager from
Mohanlalganj area, revealed that some roads in his village were
constructed. "The roads in the city may be good but the fate of our
village is yet to change," he stated. Still he backs Behanji for
getting Ambedkar statues installed in the city. "Everyone must know
what he did for us. Baba Saheb is our god," said the dalit labourrer.

In her 40-minute speech, the CM spoke on issues of reservation, quota
within quota, corruption and lack of Central support. Seeing a
significant presence of burka-clad women in the first few rows, the CM
said, "The Congress party has always cheated Muslims and others just
treat them as a vote bank. The community must watch out." Zahida Bano,
who raised slogans as loudly as her vocal cords permitted, ardently
agreed with the CM. She had come along with at least 100 women from
the old city. The BSP chief also questioned the Election Commission's
step to get all elephant statues draped. She urged the people to prove
the EC wrong by fetching BSP more seats than what the party got in the
previous elections.

"I have come here to warn you all. All the opposition parties are
hand-in-glove. Claiming that they have great respect for Manyavar
Kanshiram and Babasaheb Ambedkar, they are promising moon. But I want
to tell you that all the promises are fake," she said, adding that
everyone must know that what would happen if any of the three parties
come to power. "With SP, the goonda raaj will come back. The Congress,
which has been out of power for the past 22 years is too desperate to
get UP, will make policies that will leave you all jobless while the
BJP will also make your life difficult," she said, finishing off with
the new slogan 'Chadh vipaksha ki chhati par, button dabao haathi
par'.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya cannot escape charges of involvement in NRHM scam: Rajnath

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Maya-cannot-escape-charges-of-involvement-in-NRHM-scam-Rajnath/articleshow/11919913.cms

Maya cannot escape charges of involvement in NRHM scam: Rajnath
TNN | Feb 17, 2012, 03.54AM IST

KANPUR: Former chief minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh said
that Mayawati cannot escape the charges of being involved in National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. "How is it possible that a scam of
Rs 5,000 crore takes place in the state and Mayawati does not come to
know about it? It is not a scam of Rs 5-10 crore wherein only a
minister is involved. It is a scam of thousands of crores and
Mayawatiji cannot escape the charges of being involved in it by
expelling ministers right before the Assembly elections," Singh while
addressing an election rally at Express Road in support of BJP
candidate Salil Vishnoi, contesting from Arya Nagar seat.

Singh questioned the people that will they like to vote such a party
(BSP) into power where corruption is at its peak or vote Samajwadi
Party to power which is know for giving shelter to goons and
criminals. "Think first and then use your right to franchise," he
said.

Lambasting BSP for being involved into corruption, Singh said, "I do
not remember when any police official spoke openly in the media
against a chief minister but this has happened in Mayawati's regime,
where a DIG levelled charges of corruption against Behenji. Imagine
the height of corruption."

" Kalyan Singh, Ramprakash Gupta and even I as a chief minister had no
such instance during our regimes where a police official levelled
corruption charges against us but what all happened in Mayawati's
regime. Before being voted into power, she had said that she would
send Maulayam Singh and Amar Singh to jail as they were involved into
corruption but nothing of this sort happened," he said.

Speaking about nexus between Congress, SP and BSP, Singh said that
while SP and BSP continue to support Congress in Centre, the Congress
lashes out at the two parties in the state. "Rahul should ask Manmohan
Singh to give back the support taken from both SP and BSP to run his
government in the Centre and then speak against these parties here in
the state. Therefore, I question him (Rahul), why should people of the
state trust your words of developing Uttar Pradesh," he added.

The senior BJP leader also questioned Sonia Gandhi that why she never
speaks about inflation in the election rallies.

Singh counted the scams in which the ministers of Congress party were
involved. He said that 2G scam tops the chart. The 2G scam has exposed
the Congress party.

Commenting on Salman Khursheed's statement, Singh said that it is not
difficult to understand why the Congress party is speaking about Batla
House encounter during elections. Right before the elections, Congress
spoke about reservation to Muslims. He said that it just one way to
woo Muslim voters and added that his party is not against reservation
but it should be given on the basis of social status of a person or a
community. He said that BJP is against the caste-based reservation as
this would lead to division of the country into parts.

Speaking about the increasing popularity of BJP in the state, Singh
said that his party can give good governance.

"SP supremo said in an election recently that if BJP becomes the
single largest party in the state, his party would support Congress.
This shows that fear of our win has disturbed our rivals," he said.

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[ZESTCaste] UP's rural health fund scam: Mayawati's govt faces heat

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ups-rural-health-fund-scam-heat-on-mayawatis-govt-177161

UP's rural health fund scam: Mayawati's govt faces heat

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: February 17, 2012 10:18 IST


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Rae Bareilly: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's government is
facing the heat after a fifth death allegedly related to the Rs.
5000-crore rural health fund scam in the state was reported yesterday.
Political attacks against the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief have
grown fiercer with her opponents blaming her for allegedly turning a
blind eye to corruption. The CBI has also intensified its crackdown
and probe into the scam that saw corrupt bureaucrats and politicians
siphoning away crores meant to improve health facilities.

The fresh political storm in the state has been triggered by the death
of Mahendra Sharma, a clerk with the state Health Department. Mr
Sharma, who worked with a community health centre, was found dead in
Lakhimpur yesterday. His family has alleged that he was being forced
by senior health officials to fabricate documents that showed funds
being spent on medicines and other supplies. They suspect he was
murdered.

"He has injuries all over his body. We informed them that my father
has not reached home... when we went to there we saw his body... no
one came to help him... We found some documents. He was under
pressure," said Mr Sharma's son Neeraj.

"He was an innocent person. He was living in panic. They killed him,"
said his wife. The police are now waiting for Mr Sharma's post-mortem
report to confirm the reason for his death.

Mahendra Sharma's death, right in the middle of the Uttar Pradesh
elections, couldn't have come at a worse time for chief minister
Mayawati. Leading the attack against her yesterday was Congress leader
Priyanka Gandhi. "I think it's a very sad situation that the central
government sends funds for the people and obviously that the fact that
these things are happening means that they are being used wrongly and
there is a lot of corruption," she said.

The BJP, which is facing flak for embracing Mayawati's sacked family
welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, also seized the opportunity to
attack the UP Chief Minister. "A lot of skeletons are still going to
come out. The larger issue is about the liability of Mayawati herself
as the Chief Minister and also the earlier regime of Mulayam Singh
Yadav. The entire scam lasts to about last seven-eight years spanning
into at least Rs. 5000 crore, that's important," BJP spokesperson
Ravishankar Prasad said.

The scam was birthed in the Family Welfare department in Mayawati's
government, which handled the huge funds sent by the Centre for the
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Scheme.

In 2010-11, two senior doctors associated with the Family Welfare
ministry were murdered within months of each other. Then, the man who
stepped in for them was also found dead in a Lucknow jail. In January,
an officer with the UP Jal Nigam, committed suicide allegedly because
he was being investigated for a role in the scam.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ups-rural-health-fund-scam-heat-on-mayawatis-govt-177161&cp


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[ZESTCaste] U.P. Campaign Diaries: In Pursuit of the Brahmin Vote

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/02/16/u-p-campaign-diaries-in-pursuit-of-the-brahmin-vote/?mod=google_news_blog

February 16, 2012, 4:01 PM IST

U.P. Campaign Diaries: In Pursuit of the Brahmin Vote

By Margherita Stancati and Vibhuti Agarwal

9 a.m.: Indira Nagar (upper-middle class, Brahmin)

12:00 noon: Khurram Nagar (Muslim-dominated)

1.30 p.m.: Mahanagar (low-income, Muslim)

2:30 p.m.: Nishatganj (slum area, other backward classes)

3:30 p.m.: Vikasnagar (Brahmin-dominated)

5.30 p.m.: Kalyanpur (mixed)

7 p.m.: Valmiki Basti (Dalit area)

LUCKNOW, India–For much of the past month, when campaigning began in
earnest, K.C. Tripathi's daily schedule has looked a lot like this
entry from Tuesday.

Margherita Stancati/The Wall Street Journal
Children displayed Mr. Tripathi's campaign sticker in Mahanagar.

He is one of 75 upper-caste Brahmin candidates running on a pro-Dalit
Bahujan Samaj Party ticket for the ongoing state elections in Uttar
Pradesh, India's most populous state.

With just a few days left before voters in his constituency, Lucknow
East, go to the polls, the pace of canvassing is particularly brisk.
It's difficult to keep up with him as, in immaculate white kurta
pajamas, Ray Ban shades and Nike sneakers, he speeds through the
narrow lanes of Mahanagar, a low-income Muslim neighborhood where the
rare open spaces are mostly reserved for buffaloes and goats.

With an entourage of a dozen people, he pauses for just enough time to
smile, shake hands and tell housewives, shopkeepers and passersby that
"if you take care of me, I'll take care of you." The target is to
shake around 1,500 hands every day until Sunday, when voting takes
place.

A few meters behind him, a party aide offers more practical advice:
"Press the button and make the elephant win," he says on a
loudspeaker. The BSP's party symbol, the elephant, is what appears on
the keyboard-like electronic voting machines in polling stations.

The swarm of party workers leave behind them a trail of blue flyers
and stickers that end up on doors, electricity poles, and walls, many
of which are painted green, the color of Islam. One even makes it onto
a child's sweater and another onto a stray chicken. They are
emblazoned with pictures of Mr. Tripathi and of BSP leader Kumari
Mayawati, U.P.'s current chief minister.

In a political landscape where caste or religious identity often comes
first, the BSP hopes candidates such as Mr. Tripathi will draw the
support of Brahmin voters. At the last state elections, 17% of BSP
votes came from Brahmins, according to a survey by the Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies.

While the BSP can count on the support of the overwhelming majority of
Dalits, who traditionally fall at the bottom of the caste system and
are the party's core constituency, with their vote alone it cannot
secure an absolute majority in the 403-seat state assembly. This means
the party's fortunes at these elections rest largely on its ability to
draw votes from its non-core constituencies, above all the state's
Muslims and Brahmins, who make up 18.5% and an estimated 10%,
respectively. And their support is far from certain.

Mr. Tripathi, 39, joined politics seven years ago after a bad
helicopter injury during the Kargil War with Pakistan put an end to
his military career. A close confidante of Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Tripathi
stood for elections in 2007 but lost.

Margherita Stancati/The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Tripathi speaks to an old lady in Mahanagar, Lucknow.

When Mr. Tripathi goes canvassing door to door, voters demand promises
for better basic services. "Hindu, Muslim, whatever they are, they are
concerned with drinking water and basic infrastructure," he says.

These are the kind of issues that come up on the next stop of Mr.
Tripathi's campaign: Nishatganj, a slum area that has grown on either
side of a railway track below a flyover. There, women gather around
Mr. Tripathi to complain about water access and lack of proper
housing. (He promises to install a new water tank for them before the
vote count and says that the BSP will supply them with houses within
two years.)

In Indira Nagar, a Brahmin-dominated area that lies on Mr. Tripathi's
campaign trail, roads are wide and well-paved and most houses have
their own parking garage. But Alok Arya, a 37-year-old businessman,
says the BSP administration has not done enough to improve
infrastructure and create new jobs.

"We thought Mayawati could make a difference," he says. "The present
government has not been up to mark."

For him, widespread corruption is another big issue. Although he voted
for the BSP in 2007, this time his vote will go to the Congress party,
he says.

Mr. Arya is not alone. The BSP's Brahmin votes are widely expected to
dip at these elections, experts say. Narender Kumar, professor of
political science at Lucknow's Ambedkar University, says their support
to the BSP in 2007 was an exception.

"Brahmins have never been the vote bank of the BSP," says Mr. Kumar.
"The ones who voted for the BSP only voted for Brahmin candidates."

In 2007, the BSP fielded 85 Brahmin candidates in the hope of luring
the Brahmin vote. While this "social engineering" strategy worked at
the time, it is unlikely to be as successful in these elections.

"The Brahmins who have been in power did not transfer benefits to
their people at a grassroots level," explains Anil Kumar Verma,
professor of political science at Christ Church College in Kanpur.

Margherita Stancati/The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Tripathi spoke to women in Mahanagar.

Some, like Harsh Pandey, a 27-year-old Brahmin, complain that the
party hasn't done enough to support groups other than Dalits. Mr.
Pandey, who comes from a family of farmers, graduated from university
but then struggled to find a job and is now a taxi driver. "We should
also get some benefits," says Mr. Pandey, who would "never vote for
the BSP."

Fewer Brahmin candidates will be contesting the elections for the BSP
this time than did in 2007 – a sign the party, too, doesn't expects to
fare well with its Brahmin constituency.

Not all Brahmins are turning their back on the BSP. Asha Awasthi, a
teacher who runs a school in Indira Nagar, credits the party for
making her city safer. She compares Lucknow today to what it was under
the previous Samajwadi Party government, when "women were scared to
leave their homes after 6 p.m."
More In State-Polls-2012

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Margherita Stancati/The Wall Street Journal
A view of Nishatganj, a slum area in Lucknow.

In this election, Congress is likely to benefit the most from Brahmin
support, experts say. Brahmins were the traditional vote bank of
Congress before the Ayodhya controversy sparked sectarian tensions,
pushing many toward the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party. Now, they are gradually moving back to Congress, experts say.
Leadership matters, too: many Brahmins are likely to vote for Congress
because of Rahul Gandhi, who has led the campaign in the state, and
because the Congress party president in U.P. is also a Brahmin.

Margherita Stancati/The Wall Street Journal
Slum dwellers spoke to Mr. Tripathi in Nishatganj.

Should the BSP lose Brahmin support big-time, it will be difficult for
the party to retain an absolute majority in the state assembly. This
is a scenario dismissed by Mr. Tripathi, who is confident his party's
Brahmin electorate will support the BSP "with all its strength."

Besides, argues Mr. Tripathi, "It's not just about caste."

You can follow Margherita and India Real Time on Twitter
@margheritamvs and @indiarealtime.


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[ZESTCaste] Is Maya’s Dalit vote bank eroding?

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/is-mayas-dalit-vote-bank-eroding-215833.html

Is Maya's Dalit vote bank eroding?

Akshaya Mishra Feb 16, 2012

Lucknow: Empowerment is alright. It addresses the age-old issue of
social discrimination and brings Dalits on the same platform as other
castes, at least politically. But what next? The Dalit movement is
grappling with the question now.

With the primary goal more or less achieved, has the movement reached
the dead end? Many Dalit experts believe so. Under Mayawati, it has
gradually transformed itself into a political movement from a social
one. It has shifted to a new orbit with which the original supporters
of Kanshiram find difficult to connect to. They are not comfortable
with the BSP embracing the sarvajan plank aggressively at the cost of
Dalit interests.

With the primary goal more or less achieved, has the movement reached
the dead end? AFP

"Not many of her Dalit supporters are with Mayawati now. The Yatavs
(Chamars) have cornered most of the benefits for the Dalits. This has
alienated other second rung groups such as Pasi, Dhobi, Khatik and
Balmiki from the BSP. They are shifting either to the Congress or the
BJP. Even among Yatavs, a section is looking beyond Mayawati,'' says
Uttkarsh Sinha, senior journalist and political analyst.

The younger generation of Dalits, better educated and with more
exposure to the world than the preceding generation, finds BSP's
politics stifling. The memories of caste oppression are not strong in
it neither does it find social discrimination as rampant as earlier,
thanks to the decades old Dalit movement. The empowerment aspect taken
care of, the youth want to move on make their free decisions. Their
primary requirement now is jobs, opportunities and a better life.

The BSP under Mayawati has been spectacular in its lack of fresh
ideas. Her progress from bahujan to sarvajan is a political necessity
and her agenda is guided by personal motives. Otherwise she has added
nothing to the social-political template prepared by her mentor
Kanshiram, say political observers. The party's agenda fails to meet
the aspirations of the Dalit youth. They are bound to break free
sooner rather than latter.

"Kanshiram had a think-tank to brainstorm complex issues. He himself
was a master at social engineering. Mayawati has such no brain pool to
guide her. Worse, she keeps herself aloof from the party's senior
leaders. A group of bureaucrats of the upper caste decide everything
for her. This has not gone down well with her supporters on the
ground. They feel cheated," Sinha says.

She has launched several welfare schemes for Dalits and other weaker
sections of society. But the actual beneficiaries have been the more
powerful groups within castes, who have siphoned off a huge amount of
funds. There have been reports of several cases of corruption in the
recruitment of sweepers and other recruitment drives too. The real
power – and money — has shifted to a miniscule section among the
Dalits. They are the Brahmins among Dalits enjoying the success of
empowerment to the full.

Those left behind are turning restless. Political parties such as the
Congress and the BJP have been quick to take note of it. It is no
surprise that the Congress is targeting the ati-Dalits. Mayawati,
blatantly partial to own Yatav community, has given no particular
reason for these groups to be happy. This election, it is possible
that her loyal vote bank will be under severe stress. The sense of
alienation is very strong.

Her desperation to get onto the sarvajan platform is being noticed by
the Dalit groups too. In 2007, she had aggressively courted the
Brahmins. To curry favour with the Most Backward Classes, she had
recommended to the Centre to include 16 MBC castes in the list of
Schedule Castes. She has also recommended the case for reservation for
the poor among the upper castes. Seen from a larger perspective these
are not bad moves per se.

But Dalit watchers view this as survival tactic from the BSP chief
than anything else. She had the grand ambition to become prime
minister in 2009 – an aspiration fuelled by her coterie of yes men.
From 2007 to 2009 she was busy making her popular platform wider,
ignoring her core support group in the process. The result was, a
large chunk of it, including from the Yatav caste, voted for the
Congress.

She has made amends. But many Dalits are not convinced. She might face
their fury this time.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit’s hand chopped for drinking water from upper caste’s field

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/43310-dalits-hand-chopped-for-drinking-water-from-upper-castes-field.html

Dalit's hand chopped for drinking water from upper caste's field

Friday, 17 February 2012 00:51
Ravinder Saini | Hisar


A youth belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) had to pay a very high price
for drinking water from the field of an upper caste man at Daulatpur
village under Uklana sub-division here on Wednesday when the field's
owner allegedly chopped off his left hand by assaulting him with a
sharp-edged weapon.

The youth, identified as Rajesh (26) of Saniana village under Tohana
sub-division in Fatehabad district, has been undergoing treatment at a
private hospital in Hisar city where the doctors have reattached his
chopped hand after carrying out hours-long surgery.

The Uklana police have registered a case against Rajender alias Pappu
on the charge of causing severe injuries and SC/ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act on the complaint of the victim in this regard.
Moreover, the district authorities have also announced to bear all
medical expenditure of the victim.

Rajesh was called by a private contractor at Daulatpur village for
doing labour work in some fields there. The incident took place when
he went to the field of Rajender alias Pappu for drinking water from
an earthen pot kept there. Pappu was also in the field at that time.

After coming to know that Rajesh is from a Sechduled Caste, Pappu in a
fit of anger allegedly attacked Rajesh with a sharp-edged weapon that
left his hand dismembered.

Rajesh somehow reached his workplace from where he was admitted to a
private hospital. He was operated in the hospital and doctors
succeeded in reattaching his dismembered hand. The doctors say the
injuries sustained are deep and will take about three months to heal
completely.

"The accused — Rajender alias Pappu has been arrested by the Uklana
police on Thursday after registering a case under various sections of
IPC against him. The sharp-edged weapon used in the crime has also
been recovered," said Harish Bhardwaj, PRO of the Hisar police.


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[ZESTCaste] ‘Invisible’ trouble for Maya

http://telegraphindia.com/1120217/jsp/frontpage/story_15146378.jsp

'Invisible' trouble for Maya
- CM accused of cutting herself off as Samajwadi returns to roots
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
Actresses Padmini Kolhapuri (left) and Poonam Dhillon campaign for the
Trinamul Congress on Thursday in Lucknow, which goes to the polls on
February 19. (PTI)

Lucknow, Feb. 16: If in 2007 the Samajwadi Party was accused of
drifting away from its moorings, this time it is Mayawati who faces
the charge that she has become "invisible".

"What can I say about the most invisible chief minister we've had?
Where is she? Nobody seems to have seen her in these five years. Her
predecessors might have had their infirmities. But at least they
engaged directly with people," says Lucknow resident Ram Advani, 93,
echoing a common sentiment. Advani owns a bookshop in upscale
Hazratganj and is the father of novelist and publisher Rukun Advani.

Bahujan Samaj Party workers agree that she has "completely sundered"
herself from the party's "ideological core" and is counting on her
status as a "Dalit's daughter" (Dalit ki beti) to fetch her an encore.

"Behenji has forgotten her party's origins. Had Kanshi Ram been
around, he would have kept her on course," said a party member.
Mayawati's "inaccessibility", a self-induced aura of "invincibility"
and above all, her "invisibility" have taken a toll on the BSP's
prospects, he said.

Police officers said she throws a fit if the route of her convoy is
not scrupulously sanitised.

"This means that not a leaf should fall on her car, no person should
be allowed anywhere close to it. In her public meetings, we were
instructed not to allow anyone close to her. Once, a woman managed to
break the barricades and force herself near her car. The cops in
charge were suspended or transferred," an officer said.

In 2007, Samajwadi was accused of losing touch with its roots.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's party, which once flaunted its zamini
(grassroots) connections, had become overwhelmed by Bollywood glamour,
thanks to Mulayam's former confidant Amar Singh,.

With Amar gone, the Samajwadi campaign does not have a single
celebrity this time. Not even a Bhojpuri starlet has been brought in
pull the crowds. "We have rediscovered our origins. This election is
being fought by the cadres and the people," said Anand Bhadouria, an
aide of Mulayam's son Akhilesh.

Disconnect with the people is now a charge lobbed at the ruling BSP.

But some in the BSP insisted that reports of Mayawati's seclusion were
"exaggerated". Hazarelal Gautam, the co-ordinator of the Ramnagar
Assembly seat in Barabanki district (which voted in phase one last
week), said: "Our top functionaries meet Behenji once in four months.
We don't care if she interacts with us or not because our job is to
propagate her achievements."

But others in Gautam's position did not sound as detached. One BSP
leader in Kushinagar (eastern Uttar Pradesh) spoke of how zonal
co-ordinators — the conduit between Mayawati and the cadres — had
allegedly skimmed off the malai (cream) in contracts and deals.

"It was as though there was a covenant between a couple of her trusted
aides and the co-ordinators to share the spoils of power. We who have
slogged in the mission for years were left empty-handed," the
Kushinagar leader complained.

In several towns, cadres complained that a flagship scheme like the
Kanshi Ram Awas Yojana, meant to allot low-cost houses to Dalits
living below the poverty line, was "abused" by the zonal co-ordinators
of the BSP or "vested interests" close to them.

In Varanasi district, for instance, it was alleged that some bona fide
allottees had to cough up as much as Rs 5,000 to claim their houses.
In other places, it was alleged that the co-ordinators had handed the
houses to "dubious parties" who used them as gambling dens.

If Mayawati's "centralised power abuse" was the staple of political
discourse in government circles, officials didn't sound particularly
amused with recollections of the Samajwadi Party's "decentralised"
mechanisms.

"The BSP has downsized the scale of the beneficiaries. Huge benefits
for a few. With Mulayam, it's much more democratic. Anybody who has
served the party well in the past five years can look forward to
lucrative entitlements for the next five years," a bureaucrat said.


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[ZESTCaste] KVPS protests against Governor's speech

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vijayawada/article2895646.ece

VIJAYAWADA, February 15, 2012
KVPS protests against Governor's speech
Special Correspondent

Activists of the Kula Vevakshavyathirekha Porata Samithi (KVPS) burnt
an effigy of the State government in front of Raghavaiah Park to
protest against no mention of benefits to SC/STs in the speech made by
Governor E.S.L. Narashiman in the State Assembly.

KVPS secretary G. Nataraj, while addressing the activists after
burning the effigy, said that the SC/ST Component sub-plans that were
proposed nearly 30 years ago were brought under implementation by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Not mentioning the sub-plan programmes
in his speech was an "insult to the self respect of SCs and STs," Mr
Nataraj said. The compensation being granted to SCs and STs, who have
been subjected to different types of atrocities, has been increased by
150 per cent. Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee SC Department
coordinator Chinta Santa Kumar in a press release here hailed Union
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik for
increasing the compensation. The compensation to SCs and STs on whom
an atrocity has been committed currently ranged between Rs. 20,000 and
Rs. 2 lakh. This compensation had been increased by 150 per cent, he
said.


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[ZESTCaste] IIT student granted bail

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/IIT-student-granted-bail/articleshow/11907527.cms

IIT student granted bail
TNN | Feb 16, 2012, 06.47AM IST

KANPUR: The special judge SC/ST Act Kanpur Nagar on Wednesday granted
bail to IIT student Surendra Bhokia who had been charged with
kidnapping and compelling a woman to marriage.

The prosecution claimed before the judicial official that accused
Surendra and complainant Pratibha (name changed) were natives of
Andhra Pradesh and knew each other well. The accused was a IIIrd year
student of IIT Delhi while the girl was a Ist year student of IIT
Kanpur. The accused had visited Kanpur on November 25, 2011 and had
allegedly kidnapped the girl and taken her to Arya Samaj temple for
wedding. There the complainant narrated the truth to the priest who
later refused to solemnize the wedding and the girl managed to escape.
She lodged a report at the Kalyanpur police station on the same day.
The accused had also sent indecent SMS to the girl. The police
arrested the boy after legal formalities.

The defense counsel argued that Surendra was innocent and the case was
fabricated. He belonged to a poor family. The complainant had sought
academic help from Surendra when she was appearing in the IIT entrance
test. The incident of kidnapping, as stated, was held in an area of
heavy rush. There was no independent witness who had stated that a
kidnapping had taken place. The accused was student of third year and
his career was in jeopardy.

The defense counsel also stated that the Allahabad high court had
restrained the police on his arrest and information had been sent to
the DIG office by fax by the government counsel on February 9, 2012.
Even then the police had arrested him. It was a clear case of contempt
of court order.

The presiding judge in his order observed that after witnessing the
file and available documents, he found it as a fit case of bail hence
the bail had been granted. The accused should furnish a personal bond
of Rs 20,000 and two sureties of like amount for the satisfaction of
court, the judge said.

The judge in his order further observed to summon a report from DIG
office by February 17,2012 regarding the arrest of the accused despite
a stay order from the high court.

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