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Sunday, April 3, 2011

[ZESTCaste] 2 arrested for raping dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_2-arrested-for-raping-dalit-girl-in-uttar-pradesh_1527444

2 arrested for raping dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh
Published: Saturday, Apr 2, 2011, 15:16 IST
Place: Bulandshahr | Agency: PTI

Two persons were arrested for allegedly raping a 15-year-old dalit
girl, police said today.

Chokhey Lal, 60, former chairman of City Board of Khurja, called the
victim to his house on Thursday on the pretext of cooking meals and
allegedly raped her along with two accomplices, SP (rural) Baburam
said.

Chokhey was arrested last night while Vinay was nabbed today and the
third accused is absconding, the SP said.

The girl has been sent for a medical check-up and an FIR was lodged by
victim's uncle, he said.

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[ZESTCaste] Handle quota disputes with a clear mechanism (Yogendra Yadav)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/Handle-quota-disputes-with-a-clear-mechanism/articleshow/7854798.cms

Handle quota disputes with a clear mechanism

Yogendra Yadav | Apr 3, 2011, 06.33am IST
Earlier it was the Gujjars, now it is the Jats. Before that it was the
Mala-Madiga dispute in Andhra Pradesh. And one often hears about
reservation for all Marathas in Maharashtra. The names keep changing,
the pattern does not. Neither does our response.

The script is familiar. Caste groups like Jats and Marathas,
land-owning communities with some numeric strength and political
clout, lay claim to backwardness. Those below them in the social
order, like the Gujjars in Rajasthan, resent this intrusion and want
special protection to safeguard their benefits. Or those communities
among the SC or OBC who have not benefited much from reservations want
a sub-quota . Agitators take to the streets, often blocking roads and
railways. Governments do not want to take a decision and resort to
soft-pedaling , delay tactics and collusion, hoping that that the
judiciary will step in to relieve them of the burden of
decision-making .

The national media responds with impatience , as if it is being
dragged into an alien land and a bygone era. Caste groups in question
are discussed as if these are unknown tribes from Africa. Editorials
deplore political motives behind such protests and call for strict
action to ensure smooth traffic. There is a clamour for judicial
intervention. Once some committee is formed, everyone forgets it like
a bad dream, till the next crisis erupts.

We do not stop to ask the hard questions. Why does this crisis erupt
so regularly? Why do these demands always turn into a street battle?
Why is every solution so transient? What is the way forward?

These questions force us to face an unpleasant truth: the policies of
social justice have reached a dead-end . For a country that has such a
vast and influential programme of affirmative action, we are
remarkably deficient in imaging mechanisms and designs of social
justice schemes. We have a maze of institutions to handle it but
simply do not have a system of processing competing claims to
affirmative action. This is a country famous for its statistical
system but has virtually no evidence for settling these claims. We do
not know, for example, if the proportion of graduates and professional
degree holders among Jats are more or less than other OBC communities
in Haryana and UP.

There is no need to start from scratch in the search for a way
forward. As often happens in India, the solution lies in the cupboards
of a ministry. The report of an expert committee headed by professor N
R Madhav Menon, "Equal Opportunity Commission: What, Why and How?" has
been in the public domain for two years. (Accessible at http://
minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/reports/ eoc_wwh/eoc_wwh.pdf). The
report suggests the formation of an equal opportunity commission (EOC)
as a long-term mechanism for dealing with disputes concerning social
justice. The proposed EOC would be a path-finding institution that
would help evolve and evaluate mechanisms for affirmative action,
using an evidence-based approach . It would gather data on the
socio-economic and educational status of various social groups and
communities. It would also monitor the social profile of higher
educational institutions and select sectors of employment. The EOC
would be open to any social group that perceives a denial of equal
opportunities. It would cover public and private sectors. Unlike the
existing commissions , the EOC will focus on advisory, advocacy and
auditing rather than individual grievance redressal.

An EOC was on the Congress manifesto in 2009. It was mentioned in the
president's address to Parliament. Yet the proposal is still doing the
rounds of the corridors of power, caught up in the turf-wars that
ministries and commissions play in New Delhi. If we had such an
institution by now, the Gujjar dispute, the Jat agitation, the
Mala-Madiga dispute and several others could have been resolved.
Protests may still occur but there would be a clear mechanism and some
solid evidence to resolve disputes.

The forthcoming caste census could help with some of the evidence
needed for a clear affirmative action policy. But it can do so, only
if the findings of the main census are linked to the caste census and
we get demographic , educational and economic data for each caste. The
preliminary figures of Census 2011 are out and we still do not know
the exact nature of the caste census that is to take place later this
year.

Perhaps we are waiting for another crisis . To borrow a Hindi proverb,
we believe in digging a well after we notice a fire.

The writer is senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies, Delhi

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[ZESTCaste] Affirmative action important for growth: PM’s Trade Council

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110402/biz.htm#1

Affirmative action important for growth: PM's Trade Council
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 1
A sub-committee of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry
has recommended that as part of affirmative action and corporate
social responsibility, no SC/ST trainee should be turned away by any
skill development centre. In vendor development, preference should
also be given to SC/ST entrepreneurs.

The sub-committee on skill development, affirmative action and
corporate social responsibility also recommended that industrial
houses be encouraged to set up own training institutes or take up
existing centres under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The sub-committees of the Council that had worked on five areas
presented their reports. These include financial inclusion, tribal
area development, public private partnerships in R&D, agricultural
production and food security and skill development, affirmative action
and corporate social responsibility.

On behalf of the sub-committees presentations were made by Ratan Tata,
Chanda Kochhar, Jamshed Godrej, AS Ganguly and Sunil Kant Munjal.

The Prime Minister said that the government would carefully study the
recommendations and ensure that public policies are suitably modified
wherever feasible. Some recommendations would be prioritised for
immediate focused attention.

The sub-committee on agriculture, food production and food security
recommended that a comprehensive package of initiatives and measures
should be implemented for meeting the envisaged demand for food in
2020. This includes liberalising procurement of agricultural
commodities, trading, storage and transportation, encouraging private
investment in agriculture value chain, reforming minimum support price
regime, developing the reach and effectiveness of rural credit,
agriculture insurance etc.

On PPPs especially in R&D, the sub-committee recommended establishment
of a public fund for investments into PPP projects for R&D in five
identified sectors for formulation and implementation.

On tribal area development, the subcommittee has, recommended that the
control of tribal people over Minor Forest Produce (MFP) should be
made effective by definition and notification of MFP by the state
governments, as per the Forest Rights Act; announcement of minimum
support prices (MSP) for MFPs and an effective mechanism for ensuring
fair prices to collectors of MFP.

On financial inclusion, the sub-committee has recommended allowing of
'for profit' entities to be business correspondents, allowing
low-value remittances by non-banking players and sharing of common
infrastructure.

In future, all government payments including subsidies can be paid
through such no-frills accounts.

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Saturday, April 2, 2011

[ZESTCaste] girl shortage world beware- economist

http://www.publishaletter.com/readletter.jsp?plid=26775

why a dalit issue one may aks... dalit girls being bought and sold more.. read chowdhry ranjani

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Friday, April 1, 2011

Re: [ZESTCaste] Dalit Socialists Via Dalit Capitalists: A Response To Anand Teltumbde

Dalit Socialists Via Dalit Capitalists: A Response To Anand Teltumbde
Marxism is Refuge For Brahmins By- Nagesh Chaudhary
The debate on Dalit capitalism is being discussed by some well known Dalit
writers and activists. My observation is - as long as caste system,
untouchability is alive in India Dalits cannot become capitalists. Even OBC
capitalists are Shudras and they (Shudras) cannot succeed unless they serve the
upper castes or Brahmins. Mr. Teltumde is in the company of upper caste
Marxists. Marxism is the refuge of Brahmins in India. My observation is, as you
climb the caste model you find increasing number of Marxists. In Maharashtra for
example, you will find Dalits as supporters in Toto of Jotirao Fule and his
Satyashodhak movement. Acceptance to his ideology decreases as you go upward in
the caste hierarchy. Dalits, OBC follow Fule but Marathas do it with
reservations. For example Sharad Patil, a Maratha and one time card holder of
CPI(M), does not accept Fule completely. He supplements Fule with Marx. Baba
Adhao, a socialist Maratha accepts Fule attaching Progressive word to Fule's
Satyashodhak movement. He runs 'Purogami Satyashohak' magazine in Marathi.
Sharad Patil edited for some years the Marathi monthly 'Styashodhak Marxwadi'.
(Satyashodhak movement was launched by Fule and his confidents in 1873 which was
against Brahman domination.)
When you come up in the caste ladder- to Brahmins, they do not consider Fule at
all. Brahmins consider accepting Fule or Ambedkar with Marx as inferior ideology
or contamination of Marx. They considered them as stooges of British imperialism
and that was and is the view of RSS Brahmins, too.

As Marxism is an ideology for classless society and does not touch upon the
caste system. It is helpful to maintain the caste hierarchy and also talk of
classless society. Brahmins feel safe in Marxism as it does not touch caste
system. Dr. B R Ambedkar's observation, -'priestly Brahmins and secular Brahmins
are arms the same body and if one is injured other comes to its rescue.'
Upper caste capitalists in India are under the Brahmanic governing class. So, no
capitalists can oppose Brahmins; on the contrary they respect Brahmanism. If
Dalits want to become capitalists they will have to fore go the ideology of
annihilation of Caste. Why Jain capitalists started adoring Brahmanism is for
this. Become capitalists but under our cultural control. (Jainism was one time
against Hinduism but now subscribes to it completely.) So the idea of Dalit
capitalism can not be a reality in the present system which is Brahmin dominated
or when as said by Dr. Ambedkar that in India 'governing class consists of
Brahmins and Banias' The process of becoming governing class or changing the
present system to that of casteless system is the precondition. Only when Dalits
will win the war against caste system then only they will be able to become
capitalists. Capitalism with castes is contradictory. No crusader against caste
has thought of capitalism because it supports class division and class division
will not entirely abolish caste.

----- Original Message ----
From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com>
To: zestcaste <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, 9 March, 2011 1:31:05 PM
Subject: [ZESTCaste] Dalit Socialists Via Dalit Capitalists: A Response To Anand
Teltumbde

http://www.countercurrents.org/karthick080311.htm

Dalit Socialists Via Dalit Capitalists: A Response To Anand Teltumbde

By Karthick RM

08 March, 2011
Countercurrents.org

This article is intended as a response to Anand Teltumbde Dalit
Capitalism And Pseudo Dalitism on Countercurrents dated 7th March,
2011

Fanon writes in The Wretched of the Earth that in colonies, a person
is rich because he is white and he is white because he is rich. Simply
put, the superstructure is the base. Stretching this analysis to
India, one can argue that a Dalit is poor because she is untouchable
and she is untouchable because she is poor. In a society like ours
where hierarchy receives ritual sanction and operates via the medium
of not only religion, but also language, social customs, morality and
of course, the state, social capital determines economic capital. Nay,
social capital is economic capital. If one has a glance at the top 50
'dollar billionaires' in India one finds that there are 2-3 OBC's in
the list. No Dalits at all. Most of the rest are brahmins or baniyas.
Is this capitalism in the classical sense?

Of course as Mr. Teltumbde says "capital does not have race, religion,
caste, creed or even country." But the capitalist has. What is capital
without the capitalist? What struggle against capitalism can be
successful unless it is directed against the face, all too human face,
that embodies it? If we were to purely study the structure of capital
subtracting the human agency that drives it one would just drive down
an Althusserian blind alley. No. Capitalism has a human face and it is
shaped by the thoughts, opinions and prejudices of the actor. In
India, the face of the capitalist is the face of his caste.

Since Mr. Teltumbde is an avowed Marxist, I presume that he believes
that socialism follows/should follow capitalism. Presuming that he is
a Leninist, I believe that he would agree that the working class
requires its organic intellectuals both in and out of a revolutionary
party. In the history of Marxist intellectuals, very rarely have there
been any who have actually emerged from an authentic proletarian
background. They were bourgeois or petty-bourgeois who gave themselves
up intellectually to the cause of the working class. India will be no
exception to this. Where India will be an exception is that the caste
of the intellectual will matter as much as, probably more than, his
class. Here I would ask Mr. Teltumbde to look at various Marxist
intellectuals in the country and their caste-class background. One
does find a alarmingly high percentage of upper-caste adherents to a
philosophy that intends to break all hierarchies. This not at all to
doubt the intentions of the political actors concerned. Of course,
various Maoist party intellectuals like Anuradha and Kobad Ghandy have
taken genuine efforts to deal with caste. Yet, the question is why so
many of them to analyse an experience that they can never feel? Can't
the subaltern think?

A partial answer lies here. We are dealing with a class of
intellectuals that have had a middle class and bourgeois background to
which the social capital of caste did contribute. Being literate
sections for generations (rarely performing the gruelling tasks of
manual labour), they have had access to a decent standard of education
both at schools and more importantly, at home, besides day to day
interaction in a more sophisticated intellectual culture. The texts of
Marxism are not far from the reach of those that can read a text. Only
the intention is required and the resources are given. But the void of
Dalit and backward caste intellectuals in Marxism is precisely due to
the fact that the social conditions around their caste rarely provide
them the cultural and economic resources for them to first get a
decent education and concurrently engage with and absorb a philosophy
that changes them into conscious actors. Crudely put, the lack of a
sizeable petit-bourgeois and bourgeois class of Dalits reflects on
their minimal representation in Marxist circles.

Which is why Dalit Capitalism needs to be welcomed albeit partially.
It does have its flaws in that the involved actors do consider it as
the final stage of Dalit liberation, which is, of course, an act of
bad faith. But there is always the possibility of positive effects on
members the community, let us say, the children of the Dalit
capitalist, relatives or friends who might become beneficiaries out of
a sense of caste solidarity of the Dalit capitalist. More Dalits get
access to education and a different culture that they were previously
denied. From here on, it is a matter of choice on what politics they
seek to enter. But when they do enter, they enter not as objects, but
as knowing subjects adding their experiences, their knowledge, their
visions to a theoretical framework. One cannot expect that all might
make the right choice, that is, the left choice. But the opportunity
should be given to them to choose their political and intellectual
destinies.

In Philosophy of Hinduism, Ambedkar writes that genuine liberty must
be accompanied by three factors (I) Social equality (II) Economic
security (III) Universal knowledge. We know that none of these are
available in India for the Dalits. We can argue that economic
security, even if it is for a miniscule number of Dalit capitalists,
can and will open up possibilities for knowledge accumulation for a
greater number, which consequently open up newer avenues for Dalit
actors in movements for social equality. Caste is not just a social
category. It is an experience. Unless you have representation from all
caste groups to articulate those experiences in theory and execute
them in revolutionary praxis what one would actually end with, I fear,
is a group of upper castes performing the revolution, their
revolution, in the name of the backward castes and the Dalits. The
point is this: Dalit capitalism needn't be glorified the way its
protagonists have for it is not an end in itself. Yet, it needn't be
denounced the way Mr. Teltumbde does.

Karthick RM is a student-activist based in JNU, pursuing Masters in
History. He is associated with the Delhi Tamil Students Union, a
Periyarite-Marxist group.

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

[ZESTCaste] 2 arrested for raping dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh

[ZESTCaste] Handle quota disputes with a clear mechanism (Yogendra Yadav)

[ZESTCaste] Affirmative action important for growth: PM’s Trade Council

Saturday, April 2, 2011

[ZESTCaste] girl shortage world beware- economist

Friday, April 1, 2011

Re: [ZESTCaste] Dalit Socialists Via Dalit Capitalists: A Response To Anand Teltumbde

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