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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Jats to resume agitation for quota

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Jats-to-resume-agitation-for-quota/articleshow/10056656.cms

Jats to resume agitation for quota
Ashish Tripathi, TNN | Sep 20, 2011, 09.44PM IST

LUCKNOW: The All India Jat Arakshan Samiti (AIJAS) has announced to
resume its agitation for the inclusion of Jat community in Central
government's list of other backward classes (OBCs) from October. The
AIJAS had deferred its 21-day long agitation on March 27, 2011, after
the Central government had assured to meet their demand.

During the agitation, Jats had blocked rail and road routes from Delhi
to UP and beyond. The high court had to intervene as agitation was
affecting lakhs of people. The Centre had then agreed to amend the
rules which restricted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)
from reviewing its own decision, thus enabling the body to review its
decision taken in 1997 in which it had rejected the inclusion of Jats
in the OBC list. After review, the Central government had assured that
it will include Jats in the OBC list within a month.

"The Central government has amended the rules for NCBC but the latter
has not reviewed our case", said AIJAS president Yashpal Malik, while
welcoming the gesture of UP chief minister Mayawati who wrote to the
prime minister on Monday demanding OBC status for Jats in the Centre's
list so that they can get the benefit of reservation. Jats, said
Malik, already are in the OBC list in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan. However, the states of Haryana,
Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra have not included Jats in the
OBC list. The community has also not found space in the Central
government's list," he added.

Jats are the largest ethnic group having presence in Hindus, Muslims
and Sikhs in India. Their population is believed to be around 8.25
crore across nine states in India. In UP, their population is around
1.75 crore. Jats are only 5-6% of the total population of UP but they
constitute 17% of the populace in the west UP and can affect elections
in 55 assembly constituencies and 10 Lok Sabha constituencies. The
demand to include Jats in the OBC list is 20 years old. It picked up
pace in the last three years when Jats held a series of agitations and
demonstrations. However, when their voice was not heard, Jats resorted
to blocking rail and road routes.

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[ZESTCaste] Paramakudi incident has cast a shadow on police, says Paswan

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2470391.ece

RAMANATHAPURAM, September 20, 2011
Paramakudi incident has cast a shadow on police, says Paswan
Special Correspondent

Lok Janshakthi Party president Ram Vilas Paswan has said that the
Paramakudi firing incident is a fit case for initiating criminal
proceedings against the police officers concerned.

He was on a tour of Paramakudi and surrounding areas on Tuesday to get
first-hand information about the firing, which claimed the lives of
six Dalits.

Terming the police action "atrocious" and "inhuman," Mr. Paswan said
though he had come across many incidents perpetuated against Dalits in
different parts of the country in the past, the Paramakudi firing was
one of the most terrible attacks. The victims were pointedly fired at
above their chest. The indiscriminate attack had cast a shadow on
police of Tamil Nadu, which he regarded as a pioneering State as far
as social justice was concerned.

He demanded that the police officers concerned be booked under section
302 of the Indian Penal Code. The case should be handed over to the
Central Bureau of Investigation and an exclusive court established to
complete the trial in six months.

Complimenting The Hindu for its balanced coverage of the incident, Mr.
Paswan said that he had met the President Pratiba Patil a few days ago
and presented a petition along with the reports carried by The Hindu
to seek her intervention in the matter.

A high-level meeting of the Dalits and Minorities National Front had
been convened at Nagpur on September 28 to discuss the issue.

Mr. Paswan said that the government should announce compensation of
Rs.20 lakh each to the kin of victims and Rs.5 lakh to those injured.

Besides, at least one person from each victim's family should be given
government job.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Paramakudi Firing: Demand Strictest Punishment

http://www.countercurrents.org/dtsu190911.htm

Paramakudi Firing: Demand Strictest Punishment
For The Guilty Officials

By Delhi Tamil Students Union

19 September, 2011
Countercurrents.org

The firing on Dalits by policemen and what happened on the September
of 11th in Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu once again shows the brahminical
nature of the Indian state and the casteist mentality of its police
force. The firing led to the deaths of 7 Dalits, and it has been
observed that most of the firings were above the knee. There was also
use of excessive force by the police that has led many Dalits being
gravely injured. This grotesque event of state brutality, was
supposedly a "response" - in words of state officials - to Dalits
protesting the detention of the leader of Dalit party John Pandian on
flimsy premises. Has one seen any of these law-loving police men
"responding" in a similar manner when lumpen upper-caste youth
disrupted public services in antireservation protests, when Muslims
were massacred in Gujarat, or when Dalit houses torched in Haryana?
But when Dalits and other oppressed sections protest for justice our
'defenders-of-law' suddenly discover a new commitment and intensity!
It is rather obvious on whose side their law is on.

The day this atrocity took place, Sep 11th, has great symbolic value
for the Dalits of South Tamil Nadu. This was the day one of the
leaders of the Dalit movement in that region, Immanuel Sekaran, was
murdered by goons belonging to the dominant castes in 1957. The murder
had instigated protests and in subsequent rioting by dominant castes,
Dalits were the main casualties. While most of the parliamentary
parties, who did not want to lose the support of the regional dominant
castes, were mollycoddling the criminals or were just issuing token
words of condemnation, Periyar came out strongly in support of the
Dalits and demanded that no leniency be shown to the perpetrators of
the outrage.

Ever since then, September 11 has been an occasion for Dalits in the
Southern districts to congregate and remember their slain leader, to
remind the society of the continuing injustices that is heaped on them
and the necessity to struggle against oppressive practices. The
violence unleashed by the brahminical state on the Dalits on this day,
this year, is also symbolic of the reactionary intolerance of the
state's machinery to the Dalit assertion. The way the brahminical
forces in media have covered this is also revealing. The event is
portrayed as a 'law and order problem' and Dalits are identified as
'miscreants'. Historically, there have been more acts of violence
committed in India during various Hindu festivals, but one can only
imagine any media outlet referring to Vinayaga Chatoorthi as a 'law
and order problem'!

Observers in Tamil Nadu also sense a larger scheme behind the attacks
on the Dalits. Over the past few months, there has been a massive
upsurge of movements by Tamil progressive forces in the state in
solidarity with the struggle of the Eelam Tamils for
self-determination. There has also been a powerful campaign to abolish
the death sentence unjustly handed to Murugan, Perarivalan and
Santhan. Various Tamil nationalist forces, almost entirely comprising
of Dalit and backward castes, have been at the forefront of these
protests. In the recent killings of the Dalits, various political
activists suggest a design of the brahminical forces in the state to
fracture the solidarity among masses that is emerging. Any such design
must be identified, opposed and thwarted. At this moment, it is
necessary for all progressive forces to stand by the Dalits and demand
the harshest punishment for the perpetrators of this atrocity.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya’s third letter: ‘Include Jats in central OBC list’

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayas-third-letter-include-jats-in-central-obc-list/849112/

Maya's third letter: 'Include Jats in central OBC list'

Express News Service Posted online: Tue Sep 20 2011, 03:39 hrs
Lucknow : Writes to PM *The CM says she believes there is an urgent
need to provide opportunities to Jats in the fields of education,
employment in order to improve their condition

In her third letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in as many days,
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday demanded inclusion of
Jats in the Centre's list of OBCs so that the community gets
reservation in jobs and educational institutions run by the Government
of India.

In UP, Jats are regarded as OBCs.

On Saturday, Mayawati had written to the PM, demanding reservation for
Muslims in view of their poor socio-economic condition as highlighted
by the Sachar committee. She followed it up by a second letter on
Sunday, seeking reservation for the poor among upper castes.

In the latest letter, Mayawati has stated that the Jats are a backward
community who earn their livelihood from agriculture and related
activities. Their economic condition is bad because of the shrinking
agricultural land and educationally also, they are backward, she said.

She also said the community's representation in central services is inadequate.

"Keeping all this in mind, the state government had included the Jats
in the state's OBC list on March 10, 2000," the Chief Minister said.

Further, she said the Jats of Rajasthan, except Dhaulpur and Bharatpur
districts, were included in the central OBC list through a
notification dated October 27, 1999.

Rajasthan shares its boundaries with UP and there is similarity in the
socio-economic and educational condition of Jats in the two states.
"This is enough basis for the inclusion of UP's Jats in the central
OBC list," Mayawati said.

The Chief Minister said she is of the firm belief that there is an
urgent need to provide opportunities to Jats in the fields of
education and employment in order to improve their condition.

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[ZESTCaste] Paswan to raise police firing issue in Parliament

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/paswan-to-raise-police-firing-issue-in-parliament/828507.html

Paswan to raise police firing issue in Parliament
PTI | 04:09 PM,Sep 19,2011

Chennai, Sep 19 (PTI) Condemning the recent police firing at
Paramakudi in Tamil Nadu, in which seven dalits were killed, Lok
Janshakti Party Chief and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Vilas Paswan today said
he would raise the issue in the winter session of the Parliament. "It
is a strongly condemnable incident. I will raise the issue in the
Parliament..", Paswan told reporters at the airport enroute to
Paramakudi. Paswan said he would also take up the issue with the Union
Home Ministry. The Dalit leader said he would meet the families of the
victims and those injured in the firing. Seven persons were killed in
Paramakudi when police fired on rampaging crowds -- mostly Dalits --
which set ablaze vehicles and blocked traffic following the arrest of
their leader John Pandian at Vallanadu in Tuticorin district on
September 11.