Friday, November 20, 2009

[ZESTCaste] Nitish trying to divide Dalits: Paswan

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/386865_Nitish-trying-to-divide-Dalits--Paswan

Nitish trying to divide Dalits: Paswan

STAFF WRITER 20:15 HRS IST
Patna, Nov 20 (PTI) Two days after the Bihar government included
Ravidas community in the list of Mahadalits, Lok Janashakti Party
president Ram Vilas Paswan today alleged that Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar was trying to create a divide among the scheduled castes.

LJP will resist the government move "from the road to Parliament" and
his party members along with RJD would raise the issue forcefully in
Lok Sabha, Paswan said.

The state government has already listed 20 of the total 22 scheduled
caste communities in the list of Mahadalits on the basis of the
recommendation of the Commission.

"Only the dussadhs, the caste which I belong to has been kept out of
the purview of the Mahadalits ... It shows Kumar's animosity towards
the community," LJP chief alleged.

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[ZESTCaste] Nobel thoughts

http://beta.thehindu.com/life-and-style/society/article51249.ece


Nobel thoughts


She walks alone from village to village in Thanjavur to the beat of
Gandhiji's favourite song 'Ekla cholo re,' the very embodiment of the
Gandhian philosophy of Satyagraha and non-violence. In Chennai earlier
this month at the inaugural function of the Micro and Small
Enterprises Support Workshop, organised by Fair Trade Forum India,
SIPA and IFFAD, among the luminaries present none stood taller than
Krishnammal Jagannathan, winner of the Alternate Nobel Prize 2008.

A Dalit whom the citation hailed as the 'soul of India' and a lifelong
Satyagrahi working for social justice and sustainable human
development, Krishnammal has achieved what has been called a non-
violent social transformation of the lives of the landless poor,
particularly Dalit women.

This frail and beautiful lady of 85 who walked shoulder to shoulder
with Vinoba Bhave in his Bhoodan Movement, ushered in a silent
revolution of land distribution to Dalit women in remote parts of
Tamil Nadu. She is the winner of Swami Pranavananda Peace Award given
by the Gandhi Peace Foundation, the Jamnalal Bajaj Award (1988), the
Padma Sri (1989), the Women's World Summit Award, Switzerland (1989),
the Opus Award, The Right Livelihood Award also known as the Alternate
Nobel Prize (2008) and a host of other prestigious awards. She wears
them all lightly.

Krishnammal came to the inauguration, where she was chief guest,
clutching a fly ash brick in her hand. Manufactured by the Dalits of
Kuthur village, she wants this eco- friendly hollow brick to be used
by them to build their homes on the land which is now theirs, thanks
to her relentless efforts. The fly ash hollow brick is a symbol of a
collective dream which she hopes will translate into reality with the
5,000 homes for Dalits of the village. In this interview, she talks
about her cause, her philosophy and the award…

What was the defining moment when you embarked on your mission of land
distribution to the landless, particularly women?

Gandhiji dreamt of 'gram swaraj'. I strongly feel that as long as land
is held by landlords, there can be no freedom for those tilling the
land. By tradition, Dalits are tillers of the land and are attached to
it. Every day, women leave their houses early in the morning and plant
paddy till late evening, yet they have no right over the land in the
existing system. I was part of Vinoba Bhave's padayatra and was
walking with him pleading for land when news came on December 25,
1968, of the mass killing of 44 Harijan women and children at
Keelavenmani in Thanjavur district, following a wage dispute between
landlord and tiller. This horrific incident changed my life's
direction and I decided to go to Keelavenman and not leave till Dalits
got their land. And I am still there! My husband and I began our
movement by getting the temple land owned by a benami landlord
distributed among the women with much struggle. About 12,000 acres of
land were distributed among the Dalit women. This was my first fight
against the system. I walked from village to village in the region to
meet the women and slowly they became the wind under my wings.
Although I was harassed, arrested and even jailed, I never lost faith.
I used to gather children who worked in the fields and give them basic
education.

The NGO Land for Tillers' Development or LAFTI has become the
cornerstone of your movement. How did it come about?

In 1981, I formed LAFTI, an NGO working for the socio-economic
development of the marginalised classes. I decided to form
village-based co-operatives for Dalit women to save money and
collectively purchase the land which they tilled, from the landlords.
I heard that the Government was helping Dalits buy land by giving them
loans. I began to avail of these loans. Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi came to
my office. Rajiv Gandhi created a separate wing for Dalit uplift
called the National Scheduled Caste Development Corporation. Now that
the Government gives us loans, I approach landlords, bureaucrats and
other functionaries to purchase land and redistribute it among the
women. They often pay back the loans in one installment. It is
heart-warming to watch them cultivate their own land, and drink in the
sight of green paddy fields and children playing there. Some 13,000
acres have been redistributed to women, and 11,000 will be distributed
shortly. It has been a people-based action, a non-violent transfer of
land through LAFTI. We use Satyagraha as a tool of liberation. We sing
bhajans in front of the landlord's houses in the mornings. We have
been brutalised, attacked and once they even tried to pour petrol over
me. But I just meditated and carried on.

What are LAFTI's other activities?

LAFTI also runs village industries. We teach women mat weaving,
tailoring, carpentry, masonry and run computer classes. We have built
three hostels in Vallivalan for girls and boys. The students are doing
well, with 20 studying to be doctors, engineers etc. We have also set
up a brick kiln,which has helped in building 'people participatory'
eco-friendly houses for 2000 families so far. My next goal is to build
5,000 more houses, to humanise the dwellings of Dalit families.

So that is your next goal…

When I first came to Keelavenmani, it was an act of desperation to
give Dalits their land, to provide them livelihood and restore their
dignity. Now my dream is to give every woman a house on her land with
some modern facilities.

Is this fly ash brick which you have brought with you a first step in
your commitment?

Yes. The brick is made out of fly ash which we get free. I approached
ONGC and they donated the eco-friendly brick making machinery. The
electricity took six months to come and our first fly ash bricks were
made on 30 October. I brought this brick, freshly made straight from
the village of Kuthur.

Tell us more about your propose LAFTI house…

My aim is to build 5,000 such homes measuring 200 sq.ft. each. The
villagers themselves will make the hollow bricks and provide labour
for construction. The house 'patta' will be given to the women. We are
looking at sponsors for each house which will be named after them.

What do the Awards, specially the Alternate Nobel Prize mean to you?

What can they mean to me? I really don't want these awards. Without my
work, my life is a waste. I want to give dwellings to the homeless and
the award money helps. I want every woman to have a dignified life and
a home. All this will surely abolish caste and give them hope. I
listen to Bhave's Thiruaruppa song every morning at 2.30 a.m. and shed
tears. When I am blessed to sit near him and listen to these words,
what are these awards?

Your message to the people of the country which you so diligently serve…

Please help me financially to realise my dream of giving Dalit women
homes. I appeal to every genuine heart to join me in this yagna.


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[ZESTCaste] Lokayukta to probe misuse of SC/ST funds by University

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=156326

Lokayukta to probe misuse of SC/ST funds by University

BANGALORE, November 20, 2009: Karnataka Government has ordered a probe
by the Karnataka Lokayukta into alleged misuse of funds meant for the
SC and ST Welfare Fund by the Bangalore University headed by
Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev.

Prof. Prabhu Dev has an altercation with the Higher Education
Department by allegedly opposing the newly appointed Registrars from
taking office on Tuesday. The Chief Minister's office reportedly
intervened and in fact stopped the appointment of two registrars for a
day.

The Vice-Chancellor has left for New Delhi for personal work and was
not available for comment on the issue on Thursday. Prof. Dev was
earlier headed the famous Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology Hospital in
Bangalore.

Higher Education Minister Aravind Limbavali has referred to the
Lokayukta a complaint lodged by Dalit organisations against the
alleged misuse of scholarship funds allocated by the Social Welfare
Department for distribution among SC and ST students. Lokayukta headed
by N Santhosh Hegde is likely to commence the probe soon.

It is alleged that Special Officer for SC and ST Cell Dr Ravi Kumar
had misused the funds sanctioned for 2008-09. The vice-chancellor
assumed office only a few months ago.

Several dalit organisations and students staged a protest in the
university campus opposing the 'caste politics of the VC and stopping
the two registrars from assuming the offices on caste grounds." Dr
Prabhu Dev met Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and requested him to
replace the chosen candidates with his nominees. The Higher Education
Minister's Secretariat worked to expose the vested interest of the
vice-chancellor in exposed the leak to the media by the VC's office of
the note addressed to the Principal Secretary, Department of Higher
Education Srikant.
The Dalit groups had submitted the complaint to the Government for
almost two weeks ago. Mr Limbavali is reportedly referred the case to
the Lokayukta when Bangalore University had faced a crisis over Dr
Prabhu Dev's opposition to allow newly appointed Registrars Prof M G
Krishnan and Prof M S Talwar to assume charge.

The Higher Education Minister has been upset with the Vice Chancellor
for openly criticising the trifurcation of Bangalore University.

The complaints list the allegedly illegal selection of Bangalore
Educational Resources Pvt Limited as a nodal agency to screen
prospective study centres for its distance education programme outside
Karnataka.

Our Correspondent


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[ZESTCaste] Mahadalit card may isolate Paswan & dent Left vote-bank

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Mahadalit-card-may-isolate-Paswan-dent-Left-vote-bank/articleshow/5248306.cms

Mahadalit card may isolate Paswan & dent Left vote-bank
Arun Kumar, TNN 20 November 2009, 01:58am IST

PATNA: The Mahadalit card seems to be a double-edged sword. Apart from
having the possibility of marginalising Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram
Vilas

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Paswan in Bihar politics, it may also make a dent into those Dalit
votes that are still garnered by the Left parties.

The Left parties became sensitive to the caste question only in recent
years. That, too, after caste-based parties like RJD, Samajwadi Party,
LJP and BSP created a platform for themselves following the
publication of the Mandal Commission report. While these made inroads
into the vote-bank of all mainstream parties, Congress and Left were
impacted the most.

Since Independence, Congress has been ruling the country through its
Brahmin-Dalit-Muslim axis, which worked well till the advent of the
backward-Dalit combine under the umbrella of various streams of
Lohiaite groups that eroded its traditional vote-bank. The new
caste-based politics also attracted a sizeable section of Muslim
votes, too.

This phenomenon has forced Congress as well as mainstream Left parties
in the state to dabble in the "politics of caste identity".

The Left, however, seems to be behaving like an ostrich. CPI(M L)
Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said Nitish's
Mahadalit card is nothing but a mere ploy to carve out a political
turf for himself that will backfire on him.

He said basic issues related to land, livelihood, dignity and
development of Dalits/Mahadalits have been left totally unattended and
as revealed in course of a CPI(ML) fact-finding team's visit to Amausi
village in Khagaria district, more than 100 Dalit youths were
languishing in jail on trumped-up charges.

CPI national executive member U N Mishra said though pitting one
section of the poor against the other again and again might serve the
purpose of garnering votes, it would ultimately not improve the lot of
the poorest of the poor.

But as expected there is a strong reaction from the LJP. Paswan's
younger brother and state LJP chief Pashupati Kumar Paras described it
as a "dirty political game" and a "cruel joke with Dalits".

Balendra Das, deputy chief of Paswan-sponsored Bihar Pradesh Dalit
Sena, too, echoed the same. He has described the act of according
Ravidas a Mahadalit status a mere ploy to woo the Ravidas caste. State
Congress president Anil Kumar Sharma has dismissed it as a "political
stunt".

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