http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Quota-can-t-uplift-the-minority--says-Buddha/557541/
Quota can't uplift the minority, says Buddha
Express News Service Posted online: Tuesday , Dec 22, 2009 at 0253 hrs
Kolkata : Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said
reservations are not a means to uplift the status of minorities.
Throughout the country, there are debates on how to improve the
condition of minorities and many see reservations as a solution. I
don't feel the same, the CM said.
"Whether there will be reservations for minority is a question of law
and Constitution but our experience shows they cannot be any solution
for the minorities," he said.
Citing the example of SCs and STs, the chief minister said Bhimrao
Ambedkar advocated reservations only for 10 years but after 60 years,
only a few from these communities have benefited.
Bhattacharjee said it is imperative to give equal opportunity to the
minorities which his Left Front government has been doing. The CM was
speaking at a function where 200 certificates for vocational education
—100 for secretarial practice for Muslim girls and 100 for hardware
for Muslim boys — were awarded.
Former CPM parliamentarian MD Selim, who was also present, said
newspapers are ill-informed or misinformed when they say efforts of
Left Front government for the uplift of minorities amount to
appeasement. "It is a constitutional mandate for the government to
work for the poor and the backward. Moreover, the situation of
minorities here is better than the rest of the country," said Selim.
Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee said while male members of the
community are at par with the rest of the country in employability (59
per cent in country and 56 per cent in West Bengal), the females are
lagging behind (7 per cent in Bengal as compared to 14 per cent in the
country).
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Statue, statue
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/statue-statue/557540/
Statue, statue
The Indian Express Posted online: Tuesday , Dec 22, 2009 at 0253 hrs
The politics of portraits and statues in Parliament is prone to
contentiousness, but is an incident apart. At a recent meeting of the
curious named Committee on Installation of Portraits/ Statues of
National Leaders and Parliamentarians, a decision was taken on B.R.
Ambedkar's reading matter of public display. Ambedkar's death
anniversary was approaching, and the MPs wondered whether to give
identity to the book he's shown holding in the statue in the
Parliament House Complex. The Constitution of India it would be, they
decided, before slipping into another discussion on what language
edition the Father of the Constitution should be holding. Predictably,
fresh chalk paint shows it to be a bilingual copy.
That's settled for now, but another decision of the committee is
equally intriguing. Now on, it was decided, no more statues would be
installed in the complex, only portraits. The politics of portraiture
is deeply contested in Parliament — and you only have to go back a few
years for examples of fresh inductees like Savarkar and M.G.
Ramachandran. In fact, the debate has swung between putting a freeze
on new representations and just letting them all in. There is a good
case for keeping space for new portraits, to deepen representation and
reflect how the pluralities of this country continue to inform
politics.
However, as the discussion on the Ambedkar book — on which word is out
that the decision is not final — shows, portraits and statues become
focus points for political contests. The DMK MP in this case wanted
English, his SP colleague Hindi. Ambedkar, of course, finds acceptance
across the spectrum. But as a greater number of more recent public
figures find representation through portraits, contentiousness is
bound to increase. That is not a case for limiting new faces, instead
it may be a call against mandatory reverence.
Statue, statue
The Indian Express Posted online: Tuesday , Dec 22, 2009 at 0253 hrs
The politics of portraits and statues in Parliament is prone to
contentiousness, but is an incident apart. At a recent meeting of the
curious named Committee on Installation of Portraits/ Statues of
National Leaders and Parliamentarians, a decision was taken on B.R.
Ambedkar's reading matter of public display. Ambedkar's death
anniversary was approaching, and the MPs wondered whether to give
identity to the book he's shown holding in the statue in the
Parliament House Complex. The Constitution of India it would be, they
decided, before slipping into another discussion on what language
edition the Father of the Constitution should be holding. Predictably,
fresh chalk paint shows it to be a bilingual copy.
That's settled for now, but another decision of the committee is
equally intriguing. Now on, it was decided, no more statues would be
installed in the complex, only portraits. The politics of portraiture
is deeply contested in Parliament — and you only have to go back a few
years for examples of fresh inductees like Savarkar and M.G.
Ramachandran. In fact, the debate has swung between putting a freeze
on new representations and just letting them all in. There is a good
case for keeping space for new portraits, to deepen representation and
reflect how the pluralities of this country continue to inform
politics.
However, as the discussion on the Ambedkar book — on which word is out
that the decision is not final — shows, portraits and statues become
focus points for political contests. The DMK MP in this case wanted
English, his SP colleague Hindi. Ambedkar, of course, finds acceptance
across the spectrum. But as a greater number of more recent public
figures find representation through portraits, contentiousness is
bound to increase. That is not a case for limiting new faces, instead
it may be a call against mandatory reverence.
[ZESTCaste] “Discrimination against Dalits continues in Madurai city limits too”
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/22/stories/2009122254500500.htm
Tamil Nadu - Madurai
"Discrimination against Dalits continues in Madurai city limits too"
Staff Reporter
MADURAI: A survey conducted by Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication
Front revealed that casteist discrimination against Dalits continued
in Madurai city limits too.
The survey was conducted by 50 members of the Democratic Youth
Federation of India, All India Democratic Women's Association,
Students' Federation of India and trade unions in 25 Dalit-dominant
places in the city in the last six months.
"Dalits mostly lived in slums where sanitation, proper drinking water
supply, ration shop are absent. Their slums are along the drainage
channels, where no distinction could be made between the living space
and dwelling units," P. Sampath, State coordinator of the front, said
on Friday.
One of the members of the front, K. Swaminathan, said in some cases,
people from elsewhere were not coming forward to marry of their
daughters to the youths of Thideer Nagar and Melavasal owing to the
plight of their locality.
"The shocking revelation is that that doctors do not even touch the
Dalits while giving treatment," Mr. Sampath alleged. Stating that
discrimination against Dalits was done by the government itself, Mr.
Sampath said non-Dalit sanitary workers were not involved in demeaning
jobs such as removing night soil and blocks in underground drainages.
"They worked either as assistants or involved in supervisory works,
while the Dalits, especially the Arunthathiyars were made to do all
those works," he said.
The families of sanitary workers were under the clutches of usury
money-lenders as financial assistance under the Tamil Nadu
Adi-Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO) continued to
elude them. The Dalits have to be at the mercy of middlemen to get
loans even under TAHDCO.
Government-constructed dwelling units for Dalits were in bad shape.
Dalits did not have house site pattas. Not only was the discrimination
there in renting out houses, but also in fixing the market value of
land in Dalit colonies. "The cost of land in Dalit colonies was far
less than that of the neighbouring areas as evident in the colonies in
Tallakulam and Arapalayam," Mr. Swaminathan said.
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[ZESTCaste] Take temple car through Dalit colony, says HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Take-temple-car-through-Dalit-colony-says-HC/articleshow/5364132.cms
Take temple car through Dalit colony, says HC
A Subramani, TNN 22 December 2009, 03:59am IST
CHENNAI: Lambasting trustees of a temple in Pottai village of
Villupuram district for their opposition to diverting the temple car
through a Dalit colony, the Madras High Court has asked the
administration ensure that the car, if necessary small in size, be
taken through the colony.
Passing orders on two writ petitions — one filed by the trustee of the
Arulmighu Poottai Mariamman Temple near Sankarapuram and the other by
10 Dalits belonging to the village — Justice K Chandru said: "The
attempt by the trustees to prevent the Dalits from taking the temple
car to their colony during the festival held during Aadi cannot be
accepted by this court. Any such order in their favour will amount to
perpetuating untouchability, which has been specifically prohibited by
Article 17 of the Constitution. For the last three years, due to their
(caste Hindus) intransigence and caste supremacy, the festival has
been stopped."
The trustee wanted the court to quash a revenue divisional officer
(RDO) order banning the car festival. He claimed that they were
following Agama principles and that diverting the age-old car route
was not feasible. The Dalits, however, wanted a direction to the
authorities to take the temple car through their colony.
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Khurshid moots Muslim share in OBC quota pie
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Khurshid-moots-Muslim-share-in-OBC-quota-pie/articleshow/5364333.cms
Khurshid moots Muslim share in OBC quota pie
22 Dec 2009, 0540 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: In a move that could anger the powerful OBC leadership, the
minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid has mooted a controversial
proposal
— awarding quota for backward classes among Muslims within the
existing 27% reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The development that would make another grouping eligible for the 27%
OBC quota is certain to be opposed by their leaders. On his part, the
minister expressed his doubts about the implementation of the
recommendations of the Ranganath Commission report, the trigger for
the demand for reservation for minorities and Hindu converts. Striking
a cautious note, Mr Khurshid said the report by the National
Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which was tabled in
Parliament last week, cannot be rejected outrightly.
"I have doubts about the implementation of its recommendations, but it
needs to be studied," the minister said. The commission, headed by
Justice Ranganath Mishra, former chief justice of India, has defined
religious and linguistic minorities in India as backward classes and
recommended 15% reservations for all minorities in jobs, education and
welfare schemes.
The panel, constituted in October 2004, has recommended 10%, of the
15% quota, for Muslims — the largest minority in the country — in
government jobs, educational institutions and social welfare schemes.
"Now the report is out in public, we need a debate over it. Full
Cabinet has to consider it. We will examine it with sincerity," Mr
Khurshid said.
The minister also refused to comment on whether the proposal for
religious quota was in accordance with the Constitution. The minister
said the panel had the former Supreme Court judge as its head and "the
report cannot be dismissed outrightly. We need study it thoroughly and
see what can be implemented. As of now I cannot say a clear yes or
no," he said. The Mishra report has said that Indian minorities —
"especially the Muslims — are very much under-represented, and
sometimes wholly unrepresented" in government jobs. "Educational
levels of Muslims and Buddhists are low and next to SC/ST".
Khurshid moots Muslim share in OBC quota pie
22 Dec 2009, 0540 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: In a move that could anger the powerful OBC leadership, the
minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid has mooted a controversial
proposal
— awarding quota for backward classes among Muslims within the
existing 27% reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The development that would make another grouping eligible for the 27%
OBC quota is certain to be opposed by their leaders. On his part, the
minister expressed his doubts about the implementation of the
recommendations of the Ranganath Commission report, the trigger for
the demand for reservation for minorities and Hindu converts. Striking
a cautious note, Mr Khurshid said the report by the National
Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which was tabled in
Parliament last week, cannot be rejected outrightly.
"I have doubts about the implementation of its recommendations, but it
needs to be studied," the minister said. The commission, headed by
Justice Ranganath Mishra, former chief justice of India, has defined
religious and linguistic minorities in India as backward classes and
recommended 15% reservations for all minorities in jobs, education and
welfare schemes.
The panel, constituted in October 2004, has recommended 10%, of the
15% quota, for Muslims — the largest minority in the country — in
government jobs, educational institutions and social welfare schemes.
"Now the report is out in public, we need a debate over it. Full
Cabinet has to consider it. We will examine it with sincerity," Mr
Khurshid said.
The minister also refused to comment on whether the proposal for
religious quota was in accordance with the Constitution. The minister
said the panel had the former Supreme Court judge as its head and "the
report cannot be dismissed outrightly. We need study it thoroughly and
see what can be implemented. As of now I cannot say a clear yes or
no," he said. The Mishra report has said that Indian minorities —
"especially the Muslims — are very much under-represented, and
sometimes wholly unrepresented" in government jobs. "Educational
levels of Muslims and Buddhists are low and next to SC/ST".
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