Sunday, January 10, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Humiliated dalit family uses separate well

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Humiliated+dalit+family+uses++separate+well&NewsID=220163

Humiliated dalit family uses separate well
Last Updated : 2010-01-09 1:12 PM
The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)

Rambabu Yadav

SIRAHA: Patasiya Marik of Takadiya in Siraha's Lalpur-2 is not allowed
to collect water from a public well.

"Everyone abhors us if we go near the well, labelling us as low-caste
people. We are not allowed even to touch the source of water,"
Patasiya laments.

Patasiya is a figure that represents 700 families in Siraha and
Saptari districts, which face similar social discrimination. The Dom
families have complained of numerous assaults and fines from the
so-called upper-caste people in the village in the former's bid to
consume water from public wells.

"Leaders of Madhes-based political parties and even the armed groups
are silent on the discrimination against Doms," said Ram Chandra
Marik, a leader of the Doms, who stood for the Constituent Assembly
membership. "They are merely paying lip service for the liberation of
people."

The only Dom family in Takadiya, however, uses water from a separate
well built for them. "We feel humiliated to have been barred from
using the public well, though," said Patasiya. The well in front of
her house was built by Bhawani Community Development Centre, Siraha at
a cost of Rs 40,000.

To make for labour contribution, she paid Rs 9,000 by taking a loan.
She is horrified since the payable amount has exceeded Rs 15,000,
including the interest. Binod Bisunke, a local dalit rights activist,
said, "It is good that Patasiya got the supply with the help of NGOs.
But they have not been able to change people's mindset." He added that
the discrimination should end and the dalits be allowed to use public
wells.


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[ZESTCaste] MLA for blasting ‘Babhali’ after T

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=MLA+for+blasting+%E2%80%98Babhali%E2%80%99+after+T&artid=wKjy9nvHJPI=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

MLA for blasting 'Babhali' after T

Express News ServiceFirst Published : 10 Jan 2010 05:01:26 AM ISTLast Updated :

KARIMNAGAR/ WARANGAL: Demanding separate Telangana State, widespread
agitations continued across Karimnagar and Warangal districts today.
In Karimnagar, Satavahana University students staged a protest by
preparing food on the road in front of Karimnagar Bus Station. The
students demanded the Centre to make a clear announcement on Telangana
immediately. In another programme, JAC students conducted 'Vidyarthi
Dhoom Dham' at the Indira Chowk which was reverberated with the
slogans of `Jai Telangana'.


Addressing students, Karimnagar MLA G Kamalakar turned emotional and
sought to know as to why Seemandhra leaders didn't object to the
Babhali project being constructed illegally by the Maharashtra
Government if they really wanted a United State.

"Once separate Telangana State is formed we would blast the project as
it is responsible for turning most of the fertile land in Telangana
into a desert,'' the MLA said.

He told students that once Telangana State was carved out, people from
the district need not go to the Gulf in search of employment as
thousands of jobs would be created here by reopening factories like
Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited at Ramagundam.

He maintained that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi should stick to her
Telangana stand otherwise people in the region wouldn't accept her.

Warangal: Kakatiya University students' relay hunger strike entered
12th day today.

Students of Subedari Arts and Science College and PG college in
Hanamkonda have been on fast separately. Meanwhile, relay hunger
strikes by advocates entered 10th day today.

Several voluntary organisations are also on relay strikes in the
district headquarters. A big rally was taken out under the aegis of
Poultry, Chicken Centres Association expressing their solidarity with
the students. In Regonda mandal headquarters, JAC staged a rasta roko
and stopped vehicles for two hours.

Meanwhile, a public meeting of suppressed castes, tribes and
minorities on Telangana will be organised in Warangal on January 17,
according to SC, ST and Minorities Association district convener Manda
Kumar Madiga and Thipparapu Lakshman Madiga.

Stating that the Centre has relegated it to the cold storage, they
appealed to them not to rest until Telangana State was formed.

In Bacchannapet mandal headquarters, women staged a rasta roko by
placing 'bonalu and bathukammas' on the road demanding separate
Telangana.


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[ZESTCaste] ‘First they called me a joker, now I am a dangerous thinker’

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5428998.cms

'First they called me a joker, now I am a dangerous thinker'
Shobhan Saxena, TNN, 10 January 2010, 12:26am IST

Slávoj Zizek is an unusual philosopher with unfashionably inflexible
left-wing views. He also loves Hollywood classics. The 59-year-old
academic has written more than 30 books on subjects as diverse as
Alfred Hitchcock, Lenin and 9/11. A self-proclaimed Leninist, the
Slovenian thinker believes that "communism will triumph finally". On
his first visit to India this week, Zizek spoke about global
capitalism, Gandhi, Bollywood and Buddhism. Excerpts from the
interview:

You call yourself a Leninist but the media in the West has called you
a 'rock star' and the 'Marx Brother'. How do you react to such labels?
With resigned melancholy. They try to say that this guy may be
interesting and provocative but he is not serious. To them, I am like
a fly that annoys you and provokes you but should not be taken
seriously. Though, of late, they have been dubbing me as someone more
threatening. In the last two years, the tone has changed. First, there
were Marx Brothers' jokes and now they say I am the most dangerous
philosopher in the West. But I don't care.

You also don't care when they say that you glorify political violence.
For me, the 20th century communism is the biggest ethical-political
catastrophe in history, greater catastrophe than fascism. But in the
first years of the October Revolution, in spite of the so-called Red
Terror, there was sexual liberation and literary explosion before it
turned into a nightmare. I don't accept the right-wing critique that
says it was evil from the very beginning.

But what's your stand on political violence?
In an abstract sense, I am opposed to violence. But nobody is actually
against violence. Look at the Buddhists. They say you shouldn't kill,
but then they have all the exceptions. During the 40s, one of the
great Zen philosophers was writing articles not only justifying
Japanese invasion of China but also giving advice on how Buddhist
enlightenment allows you to kill without guilt.

How can you dismiss Buddhism so easily? It's the fastest growing
religion in the world.
In the West, Buddhism is the new predominant ideology. Things are so
unstable and confusing that with one speculation you can lose billions
of dollars in a minute. The only thing that can explain this is
Buddhism which says that everything is an appearance. That's why the
Dalai Lama is so popular in Hollywood.

You have also been critical of Gandhi. You have called him violent. Why?
It's crucial to see violence which is done repeatedly to keep the
things the way they are. In that sense, Gandhi was more violent than
Hitler.

A lot of people will find it ridiculous to even imagine that Gandhi
was more violent than Hitler? Are you serious when you say that?
n Yes. Though Gandhi didn't support killing, his actions helped the
British imperialists to stay in India longer. This is something Hitler
never wanted. Gandhi didn't do anything to stop the way the British
empire functioned here.
For me, that is a problem.

I guess you have no respect for Gandhi who is a tall figure in this country.
I respect him. But I don't respect him for his peaceful ways,
vegetarianism, etc. I don't care about that. But Gandhi somehow
succeeded in carrying on his principled attitude with pragmatic
spirit. It's very difficult to maintain this balance. But again I feel
Ambedkar was much better than Gandhi. My favourite one-liner from
Ambedkar is "no caste without outcasts". I am for Ambedkar's radical
approach towards the caste issue.

In your new book, 'First as Tragedy, Then as Farce', you have analyzed
the recent financial crisis. Do you see it as an opportunity for the
Left?
I don't believe my leftist friends who say this is a wonderful
opportunity for the Left. That's the tragedy of the Left. There may be
hundreds of protest movements against global capitalism but there is
no alternative proposal. A majority of the leftists today want global
capitalism with a human face.

You are a leftist philosopher who loves Hollywood classics. Don't you
see a contradiction there?
Hollywood is ambiguous but it's worth analysis. The Hollywood products
are the best indicators of where we are moving in our collective
ideology. If you look at reality, it's confusing, but in Hollywood you
get the distilled version of reality. At the same time, on the margins
of Hollywood you have wonderful filmmakers such as Robert Altman and
Woody Allen. If you ignore Hollywood, you end up copying the worst of
Hollywood.

You seem to have ignored Bollywood...
That's why I am here. It's chaotic and too colourful for us but I like
this experience. It's a different type of narrative. It's like the
medieval painting where you don't have to make a distinction between
the foreground and background. I like even the fake Bollywood like
Slumdog Millionaire. First, I resisted the movie, but I liked how it
showed the brutality of life. This is something unimaginable in the
West. It's a happy story but nonetheless the reality remains. In the
West, a feel-good story cannot be combined with brutal social reality.

You can't be here just to see Bollywood flicks?
No, I am here to study how the modern systems like the IT industry in
Bangalore, and traditional way of life co-exist amid contradictions of
globalization. I have more hopes from India than China. In China, we
are witnessing the rise of authoritarian capitalism. That's very
scary.


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[ZESTCaste] Naxal-affected Ambedkar grams to get concrete roads

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Naxal-affected-Ambedkar-grams-to-get-concrete-roads/565548

Naxal-affected Ambedkar grams to get concrete roads

Lalmani Verma Posted online: Sunday , Jan 10, 2010 at 0350 hrs
Lucknow : Villages in Naxal-affected areas with substantial Dalit
population, which the state government selects as Ambedkar Gram, will
now have cement concrete roads (CC-Roads) in future. Over 87 such
villages would likely be benefited with
CC-Roads first in the current financial year.

A fund of Rs 31.6 crore has been released for these 87 villages
recently and Ambedkar Gram Vikas Department has issued directives to
Rural Engineering Services (RES) and Public Works Department (PWD) to
complete the construction of CC-Roads by March 31.

These 87 villages are located in Sonbhadra (41 villages), Chandauli
(15) and Mirzapur (18), besides Deoria (13). The PWD will develop the
roads in Deoria while the RES has been assigned the task of other
three districts.

"It will be first time when CC-Roads are going to be developed in
Ambedkar Grams in Naxal-affected areas. Earlier, brick pavements were
being made there," said Balvinder Kumar, principal secretary at the
Ambedkar Gram Vikas Department.

Every year, the state government selects certain villages with
substantial Dalit population and declares them as Ambedkar Gram. This
entitles the villages to get basic amenities like roads, drains,
toilets, power, drinking water, health facilities and houses for the
poor on priority.

In the current financial year, 2,195 villages were selected under the
Ambedkar Village Scheme. Out of them, 731 villages were selected from
the Naxal-affected areas.

Earlier, there was provision for development of brick pavements in
these villages. In 644 villages out of these 731, brick pavements had
been constructed by December 2009. Later, state government decided to
construct CC-Roads in the rest 87 villages.

In villages of other areas, not affected by Naxal activities, CC-Roads
are being constructed from several years. Sources said the
construction of brick pavements was continuing in Naxal-affected areas
due to negligence of government.

In all the 731 villages, source said, progress is above 90 per cent in
construction of toilets, approached roads, electrification,
distribution of land lease, houses, agricultural land and water
supply.

"Panchayati Raj Department has released the money for CC-Roads. RES
and PWD will start work in the villages very soon," Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the government has sought suggestions from various
departments regarding identification of villages as Ambedkar Gram for
the next financial year. Officials said over 2300 villages are likely
to declared as Ambedkar Gram in the next fiscal.


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[ZESTCaste] Will Rahul Gandhi marry a Dalit, asks Ramdas Athavle

 

Pankaj Jaiswal, Hindustan Times

Lucknow, January 09, 2010
First Published: 21:23 IST(9/1/2010)
Last Updated: 21:30 IST(9/1/2010)

Will Rahul Gandhi marry a Dalit, asks Ramdas Athavle

Republican Party of India-A president Ramdas Athavle said it was high
time that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi got married to a
Dalit girl considering his 'Dalit prem' (love for Dalits).

Athavle said this at a press conference in Lucknow on Saturday. He
further went on say that Rahul Gandhi's Dalit prem is all political
gimmick. He said that he would play a matchmaker and would find a very
good Dalit girl for Rahul if he were willing.

Athavle, an ex-MP from Maharashtra, was here to announce a state
conference of his party that has been scheduled for May 16.

He favoured the idea of smaller states, supported Abu Azmi (Samajwadi
Party MLA in Maharashtra Assembly) on the issue of taking oath in
Hindi and criticised both the central and the UP state government on
various counts including price rise.

He said that the central government was not playing a role of a
watchdog vis-a-vis failure of UP government for its failure in
checking Dalit atrocities, rising crime, checking rising hunger, price
rise and issues related to farmers.

He said that both politicians and government officers seems to have a
new maxim-'Loot as mush as you can while Mayawati government lasts'.
So everyone is impatient here in making money through corruption.

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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: The emerging complexity of Dalit consciousness

http://www.himalmag.com/The-emerging-complexity-of-Dalit-consciousness_nw3952.html

The emerging complexity of Dalit consciousness

January 2010
By: Laura Brueck

The world of Hindi Dalit literature is more than the sum of its stories.

Rumen Dragostinov
Hindi Dalit literature's moment has arrived. After years of obscurity
and unflattering comparisons to the maturity and expressiveness of
Dalit literature in languages such as Marathi and Tamil, creative
Dalit writing in Hindi is finally reaching a more visible level of
popular recognition. Hindi Dalit novels, autobiographies, short-story
and poetry anthologies, as well as volumes of literary criticism, are
today being regularly published by Delhi's top Hindi-language
publishing houses, Rajkamal and Radhakrishna Prakashan. Dalit writers
infuse the pages of Delhi's top Hindi literary magazines, such as Hans
and Katha Desh, with their poetry, prose and political perspectives.
And in January, for the first time, a Dalit writer working in Hindi,
the Delhi-based author Ajay Navaria, will participate in the
international Jaipur Literature Festival.


The full version of this article will be uploaded on 11 January 2010.
To get your hands on a hard copy of Himal Southasian, do subscribe to
the magazine.

Laura Brueck is an assistant professor of Hindi Literature in the
Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of
Colorado at Boulder.


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