Thursday, February 18, 2010

[ZESTCaste] BJP to woo Dalits, makes special mention of disgraced Bangaru

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bjp-to-woo-dalits-makes-special-mention-of-disgraced-bangaru_1349535

BJP to woo Dalits, makes special mention of disgraced Bangaru
PTI

Thursday, February 18, 2010 18:41 IST

Indore: Aimed at broadbasing support for it, BJP has gone all out to
woo the Dalits with party president Nitin Gadkari invoking BR Ambedkar
in his Presidential Address at the National Council here and making a
special mention of disgraced former party chief Bangaru Laxman, who
belongs to the Scheduled Caste.

"Dr Ambedkar was a true humanist who gave voice to the voiceless. His
life best teaches the values of social justice and samajik samarasta
(social cohesion). I offer my homage to this towering leader of all of
us," he said at the BJP National Council which began its 2-day meeting
today.

Soon after landing here on Tuesday, Gadkari, 52, had directly gone to
Mhow, birthplace of Ambedkar to pay tributes to the Dalit icon. He
also stopped on the way to Indore at the home of a Dalit BJP
Corporator Preeti Karosiya to have lunch. The symbolism of both these
acts has not been lost on the people and the party cadre.

Both Gadkari and his predecessor Rajnath Singh made a special mention
of Bangaru Laxman in their speeches here today. This is the first time
since 2001 that Laxman has been given prominence.

After he was caught on camera accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh from
Tehelka journalists posing as arms dealers, Laxman had to step down as
BJP president.

Since then he has been in political wilderness but with the new
emphasis by Gadkari on winning Dalit support he seems to be coming
back in currency.

Gadkari has said his aim is to raise BJP's vote share by 10 per cent
to help it come back to power at the Centre.

To achieve this, BJP should woo the Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes,
Other Backward Classes and Minorities, he maintains.

The new president has even invited criticism of copying Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been visiting Dalit homes, sharing meals
with the family and spending the night in their house.

Gadkari seems to be striving hard to match Rahul Gandhi and compared
Ambedkar with US Black rights activist of 1960s, Martin Luther King at
the National Executive here yesterday.

"Gadkari said the way in which Martin Luther King struggled in the US
for the rights of Blacks and got them an honourable place, the same
was done by Ambedkar in India.

"Ambedkar fought for social justice and made an enormous contribution
in bringing social equity in society," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar
Prasad said, quoting the BJP chief.

The comparison of Ambedkar to King, who made the famous "I have a
dream" speech on equal rights to Blacks living in the US, would come
as a surprise to many.

BJP's core votebank has been the upper caste and the traders, who
represent the Vaish community. Moreover, its votebank has primarily
been urban.

By wooing the Dalits, Gadkari may also be aiming at the rural votes
where Scheduled Caste people are present in respectable numbers.

BJP clearly seems to have jumped on the bandwagon, along with the
Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party, to woo the Dalits.

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[ZESTCaste] Gadkari does a Rahul, has lunch in Dalit's house

 

http://www.zeenews.com/news604702.html

Gadkari does a Rahul, has lunch in Dalit's house

Updated on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 09:55 IST

Indore: Seeking to challenge Rahul Gandhi's bid to attract Dalits, BJP
President Nitin Gadkari walked the extra mile to show his concern for
the community on the eve of the three-day party meet beginning here
Wednesday.

Putting his best foot forward to attract Dalits, the first thing
Gadkari, 52, did after reaching here yesterday was to proceed to
nearby Mhow, the birthplace of B R Ambedkar and pay his respects by
garlanding the statue of the Dalit icon there.

Later, he went to the house of a local BJP corporator Preeti Karosiya
who hails from the Dalit Valmiki community for lunch.

Gadkari has time and again declared that the focus of the party would
be more on Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and other
weaker sections.

His pet theme has been 'Antyodaya', serving the last man in the queue.
The new BJP president aims to increase the party's votebank by 10 per
cent by winning over these sections.

Infact, BJP has now been saying that its aim was to provide good
governance and development while working for the 'last man'.

Rahul Gandhi has been visiting Dalit households during his tours in
Uttar Pradesh.

PTI

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[ZESTCaste] India shining? Not when govt is stingy with education funds

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-shining-Not-when-govt-is-stingy-with-education-funds/articleshow/5585973.cms

India shining? Not when govt is stingy with education funds
Subodh Varma , TNN, Feb 18, 2010, 02.57am IST

Nowhere is the disconnect between the dreams of a billion Indians and
the cold, hard reality more stark than in education. Even as funds
from both, the government and the private sector, flood the system,
daunting tasks remain — bringing down the jaw-dropping drop-out rate
of over 50% by secondary stage, or making over 300 million adults
literate, or making higher education available to more than the meagre
11% youth at present.

One striking aspect of this complex problem is that there is a
disconnect between promises made by politicians or policy makers and
actual action. The Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability
(CBGA), a Delhi based thinktank has picked up a few significant
promises made in election manifestoes and budget or plan documents and
tracked down the actual financial allocations made towards it. The
results are stunning: in most cases the money falls far short of what
is needed to implement the rosy promises.

Take the case of the promise made by the Congress in its 2009 election
manifesto, and later included in the 2009-10 budget — to set up model
schools (on the Kendriya Vidyalaya lines) in each block of the
country. That means 6000 schools in all. This wouldn't solve the
problem of either drop out rates or poor quality, but at least it was
a beginning. But CBGA analysis shows that the provisions in the 2009
budget for the first 2500 schools was a mere Rs 9321 crore, of which
the central govt's share was Rs 7457 crore.

How much does it cost to set up a KV type school? CBGA says that as
per the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) itself, each
school will cost Rs 6.77 crore, and 2500 of them would need Rs 16,925
crore! So, the government has allocated less than half of what is
required for setting up less than half the number of schools they had
promised. For all 6000 schools, to be set up till 2012, the cost would
be Rs 40,620 crore but the Eleventh Plan has set aside just Rs 12,750
crore, according to CBGA.

Another hollow promise, made by the ruling party in its 2009
manifesto, is that of providing free education to dalit and adivasi
children. CBGA calculations show that the government allocated Rs
11,352 crore through schemes under 4 ministries for giving various
types of assistance to dalit and adivasi students. Using census data,
a population of 13.68 crore for dalit and adivasi youth aged between 5
to 29 years can be assumed. Thus, government help works out to about
Rs 830 per student per year. The amount will be even less as all of
them are not in educational institutions.

Compare this to what the latest 64th round of National Sample Survey
data has to say: out-of-pocket expenditure by an average parent on a
child in government school is Rs 1243 at the elementary and Rs 2597 at
the secondary/ higher secondary level. A set of books can cost between
Rs 2400 and Rs 7500 for professional courses, but the scheme for
maintenance, including books, gives only Rs 130 to Rs 340 per month
for day scholars for all expenses. Another huge promise that seems to
be floundering is that of providing for monetary incentives to girl
child for educating her from primary to higher secondary stages. This
promise has been repeated in budget documents, plan documents and
election manifestoes.

According to CBGA calculations, the government allocated Rs 11,417 in
2009-10 for different schemes under 5 ministries for helping girl
students. The number of girl of age 5 to 18 years, projected from
Census data, is about 15.7 crore. So the financial allocation is a
measly Rs 725 per year. This is less than a third of the expenditure
incurred by parents for a daughter at the higher secondary stage.


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[ZESTCaste] BJP pitch for youth, dalits

http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2871:bjp-pitch-for-youth-dalits&catid=35:india&Itemid=60

BJP pitch for youth, dalits
Thursday, 18 February 2010 02:49 Indore, Feb. 17: In his inaugural
address on day one of the three-day national executive meet of his
party that began here on Wednesday, BJP president Nitin Gadkari ask
senior leaders to provide opportunities to young leaders.

He said, "The problems in the party are not because of small workers
but those to whom it has given so much. They will have to think
whether their political career is important or the political ideology
and spread of the party."

Speaking behind closed doors — only the speech's highlights were
shared with the media — Mr Gadkari urged senior party leaders to allow
the younger rung more opportunities instead of trying to block their
way.

An indication of the move to reach out to the dalits also came from Mr
Gadkari's mention in his speech of his recent visit to a dalit party
worker's home during which he shared a meal with his family.

While rejecting media reports that the visit was mere vote-bank politics and

aimed at countering Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's growing popularity
among the dalits, Mr Gadkari maintained that the issue of
untouchability was part of the BJP's "political commitment."

Mr Gadkari who earlier visited Mhow, the birthplace of Dalit icon Bhim
Rao Ambedkar, even compared the Dalit leader to American civil rights
activist Martin Luther King.

But it was Mr Gadkari's remarks criticising senior party leaders for
not making way for the young that had the national executive abuzz
today.

With senior BJP leaders often accused of not making way for young
leaders, the party president today indicated that this would no longer
be allowed to continue.

Yojna Gusai


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[ZESTCaste] Identity politics sparks off ideological debate

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Identity+politics+sparks+off+ideological+debate&artid=Sf6gqnubvHg=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=X7s7i%7CxOZ5Y=&SEO=

Identity politics sparks off ideological debate


M P Prashanth

First Published : 18 Feb 2010 05:38:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 18 Feb
2010 07:42:13 AM IST

KOZHIKODE: Giving a rude jolt to the proponents of Identity Politics
like K E N Kunhahammed, CPM state secretariat member M V Govindan has
come out with a hard-hitting article in the Wednesday's issue of
Deshabhimani daily that is likely to kick up a hot discussion within
the party on the controversial topic.


In the article, Govindan brands the concept of Identity Politics as
the 'new political weapon in the hands of the imperialists' who are
bent on disintegrating class struggle.

K E N's 'Irakalude Manifesto' and Dr P K Pokker's 'Identity Politics'
had initiated a live discussion on the topic among the Left-leaning
people in the state. An impression was created that K E N had the
indirect blessings of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. K E N and
Pokker had argued that identities like gender, caste and religion were
equally, if not more, important as class in the Indian context.

But Govindan says Identity Politics has its origin in 'finance
capital.' "Those who ideologically supported imperialism also
wholeheartedly embraced Identity Politics.

Thinkers like Samuel Huntington welcomed Identity Politics saying it
was a new social movement." "The bourgeoisie is interested in dividing
and making people fight against each other. Therefore, they use
Identity Politics as a weapon to counter the working class movement,"
says Govindan in the article.

When contacted, Govindan said what he wrote was the party line. "I am
not bothered about what others say. You cannot say there is a Muslim
working class, a Christian working class or a Dalit working class.

That means you are disintegrating the working class. The CPM will
discuss the issue in detail in the coming days," he said.

K E N, however, told Express that E M S himself had understood the
importance of Identity Politics. "He had said that Brahmins are the
exploiters and the Sudras the exploited in the Indian context. In the
Vijayawada congress of the CPM, B T Ranadive had spoken about the
caste and religious identity of the working class." A Dalit woman
worker experiences three levels of exploitation: as a Dalit, as a
woman and as a member of the working class. Each of these needs to be
addressed separately, he said. Considering class as the only category
would lead to class reductionism, he had said.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalit woman thrashed by cop in Amethi

 

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/84534/India/Amethi:+Cop+beats+Dalit+woman.html

Dalit woman thrashed by cop in Amethi
Anup Srivastav
Lucknow, February 18, 2010

A Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi area was mercilessly beaten up
by a police officer in a bid to extract a confession out of her.

The woman was slapped, pushed, pulled by the hair and assaulted
repeatedly by Kailash Dwivedi, SHO of Musafirkhana police station, in
full public and media glare.

The woman faces the charge of murdering her husband and Dwivedi
thought this was an apt way of extracting a confession.

Even as the woman was being assaulted, a woman constable stood by as a
mute spectator. After the thrashing, Dwivedi smiled, apparently at a
job well done. But that wasn't the end. "Get a baton and I will teach
her a lesson," he said.

Human rights activists are appalled by this brutality in Congress
general secretary Rahul Gandhi's constituency. "It's brutal,
unimaginable and illegal. No male officer can touch a woman. We will
write to the chief minister and meet the DGP," said human rights
activist Roop Rekha Verma.

"A police officer abusing and molesting a woman can't happen in any
civilised country. How can he wear a uniform and do it?" asked
Poornima Advani, former chairperson of the National Commission for
Women.

Dwivedi was suspended after Headlines Today aired the report. "A case
will be registered and action taken," said Brij Lal, ADG (Law and
Order), Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress blamed the Mayawati government for the police's
high-handedness. UPCC spokesperson Akhilesh P .Singh said: "Law and
order is not the priority of the UP government, which is why policemen
act brazenly."

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[ZESTCaste] Gadkari includes Dalits in BJP's agenda

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Gadkari-includes-Dalits-in-BJP-s-agenda/H1-Article1-509799.aspx

Indo-Asian News Service
Indore, February 17, 2010
First Published: 16:35 IST(17/2/2010)
Last Updated: 17:08 IST(17/2/2010)

Gadkari includes Dalits in BJP's agenda

Untouchability was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP)
"political commitment", new president Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday,
indicating a significant shift in strategy for the party by bringing
in issues of Dalit welfare.

Including Dalit issues in the party's agenda, Gadkari said in the
inaugural session of the BJP's national executive meeting: "The issue
of untouchability is a part of our political commitment."

Several party leaders who attended the session were of the view that
this was an indication that the BJP was no longer content to be tagged
as a party of middle class urban voters.

"We need to expand our base. Dalits are an important constituency and
a neglected one too. No national party has taken up their cause in big
way on sustained basis. We are going to do that in days to come," a
senior BJP leader who attended the inaugural session told IANS.

He said the party was completely opposed to untouchability and
emphasised that the focus on Dalit issues was not for electoral gains.
In what could be seen as a clear political strategy to woo Dalits,
Gadkari compared Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar with Martin Luther King
Junior.

Both, he said, fought for the rights of the downtrodden. Ambedkar
played an instrumental role in bringing social justice to Dalits,
Gadkari added.

"There is a need to rise above the vote bank politics to tackle
terrorism in the country," he said, criticising the central government
for going ahead with talks with Pakistan. "These talks are being
conducted under the pressure of the US."

He added: "National security is a cause of concern."

Prominent BJP leaders who attended the inaugural session at the
sprawling tent city of Kushabhau Thackre Nagar, 10 km away from Indore
city, included former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani, leader of
opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, BJP chief ministers from
Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Himachal
Pradesh and former party chief Murli Manohar Joshi.

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[ZESTCaste] Gadkari outdoes Rahul Gandhi to woo Dalits

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/522982_Gadkari-outdoes-Rahul-Gandhi-to-woo-Dalits

STAFF WRITER 20:25 HRS IST
Gadkari outdoes Rahul Gandhi to woo Dalits

Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi

Indore, Feb 17 (PTI) BJP President Nitin Gadkari has done a Rahul
Gandhi with a visit to a Dalit home when he went to B R Ambedkar's
birthplace and later compared him to Martin Luther King.

Gadkari, who seems to be espousing several issues on the agenda of
Congress, has clearly stated that Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes,
minorities and other backward classes would be wooed by the party.

Soon after he landed here yesterday for the party's National
Executive, Gadkari drove straight to Mhow and paid respects to
Ambedkar at his birthplace in a clear message that his party sees the
Dalits as a votebank worth wooing.

He stopped at the home of a Dalit BJP corporator Preeti Karosiya and
had a late lunch there.

And today, Gadkari used his presidential address at the National
Executive to compare Ambedkar to King.

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[ZESTCaste] Congress ideas in BJP discourse

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/84539/India/Congress+ideas+in+BJP+discourse.html

Congress ideas in BJP discourse
Poornima Joshi
Indore, February 18, 2010

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national executive meeting that
started on Wednesday hardly threw up any new ideas.

The saffron leadership was reduced to merely responding to issues
taken up by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

Whether it was BJP president Nitin Gadkari's imitation of Rahul
Gandhi's sleepovers at Dalit homes by sitting cross-legged in
councillor Priti Karotia's kitchen to have dinner, comparing B.R.
Ambedkar to Martin Luther King or launching a shrill attack on
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for demanding a fair trial
for slain 'terrorists' in the Batla House encounter, the BJP strategy
seemed to be shaped in response to the agenda set by the Congress.

In view was a rather sad attempt - for a young party that used to
conjure up ever new ideas to market the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's
(RSS) Hindutva agenda in the first 30 years of its inception - to
repackage Hindutva in a contemporary jargon.

Issues such as the Ramjanmabhoomi, abrogation of Article 370 and the
Uniform Civil Code were replaced by a shrill rhetoric against
"minority appeasement". It was alleged that pacification was visible
during Digvijay's recent visit to the " terrorist village" of
Sanjarpur in Azamgarh, home to the Batla House dead - and a return to
the RSS-brand of austerity. An attempt to display this asceticism was
seen in the arrangement of accommodation - tents pitched on the
outskirts of Indore.

On the same lines, the theme of antyodaya i.e. 'serving the last man
in the queue', a concept promoted by BJP ideologue Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya, was drummed up. Accordingly, the afternoon session of the
national executive was largely devoted to discussing price rise and
its repercussions on the aam admi. The future social agenda was
reflected in the symbolism of Gadkari's dinner at the Dalit
councillor's home, a visit to Ambedkar's birthplace and his comparison
to the US civil rights icon. "Ambedkar was the Martin Luther King of
India. In his quest for a just and egalitarian society, he accorded
justice to the less privileged. We in the BJP remain wedded to
Ambedkar's dream of a casteless and just society," Gadkari told the
delegates in his inaugural speech.

The strongest message of the day was delivered by a strident attack on
the Congress's handling of terror, especially the ruling party's stand
on the Batla House encounter in which 'terrorists' from Sanjarpur were
killed in a encounter with the Delhi Police.

Gadkari said: "Some leaders in the Congress have turned a terrorists'
village into a tourist destination. This is appeasement politics at
its worst… The war against terror should not be sacrificed at the
altar of vote-bank politics. The whole country should rise above
partisan politics. We in the BJP will take our fight against
terrorism, extremism and price rise to the streets." Human rights
activists, teachers of the Jamia Millia Islamia near which Batla House
is located, and the families of the dead termed the encounter as
"cold-blooded murders" and have been demanding a judicial inquiry into
it.

The Congress and Digvijay, in particular, have maintained that there
should be a fair trial so that no doubts remain about the veracity of
the police's version of the incident.

Singh even recently visited the Uttar Pradesh village to convince the
people that justice would be done to the bereaved families.


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[ZESTCaste] A Khaki Shudra To Our New Brahmins

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264274


opinion
A Khaki Shudra To Our New Brahmins

How is it that the Maoists accumulate so much sympathy while the
police are damned by the uniform they wear?
Vishwa Ranjan
I'm aware that I suffer from multiple handicaps as I stand to defend
myself and my police force for planning and executing 'Operation Green
Hunt' against the Maoist insurgents in the dense jungles of Bastar.
I'm acutely aware of the truth of a metaphor I flippantly coined many
years ago—that in India's transformed caste system of today, a
policeman is a Shudra, someone to be ridiculed, shouted at, spat upon.
Over the years, I have expanded the Shudra label to include writers,
poets, intellectuals, journalists and teachers from mofussil
towns—what I mean is, those who essentially know and think in Hindi or
other regional languages of India. And, by extension of that metaphor,
who are the Brahmins? The Anglophile Indians are the Brahmins—those
who write and think in English, those who teach in the colleges of
Delhi and other big cities. And I, unfortunately being a Hindi poet,
can only claim to be a counterfeit poet. Therefore, as policeman and
Hindi poet, I'm a double Shudra.

According to ancient Indian jurisprudence, as a Shudra, my evidence is
of little value. A Shudra's cry is a cry in the wilderness. An
allegation against a Shudra needn't be proved; it's the Shudra who
must prove his innocence. Despite the heavy odds, I must still defend
myself and my force.

I would like to begin with what Operation Green Hunt is all about. It
should not be confused with the operation launched jointly by the
central police organisations and the Chhattisgarh police in specific
areas of Bastar.

One of the tasks undertaken by the Chhattisgarh police as part of
Operation Green Hunt is the large-scale removal of mines laid in
public places by the Maoists. Lots of policemen were losing their
lives or having their limbs blown off in large swathes of Bastar mined
by the Maoists. It's strange that human rights bodies have never
spoken against the mining of roads, farms, jungles and public places
by the Maoists.

The second task was to identify and take control of ambush points
favoured by the Maoists. This, too, has been largely successful and
police casualties have dropped dramatically.

The third task was to conduct intelligence operations to help break up
Maoist camps, where cadres are trained in military tactics and field
manoeuvres. And our final goal was to win over the minds and hearts of
people by organising jan jagaran meetings at weekly tribal markets.
They were meant to wean away tribals from the Maoist ambit of
influence. From meetings at weekly markets, we expanded the programme
into jan jagaran abhiyans in the towns and villages.

What seems to have angered the Maoists the most about Operation Green
Hunt are the last two goals. They realised the police programme was
effective and villagers were sharing their concerns with the police.
So they reacted in the only way they know—by stepping up the terror
tactics. Many innocent tribals were killed after having been declared
"police informers". But the Maoists soon realised this was becoming
counter-productive, for it was making people respond favourably to the
jan jagaran abhiyan.

They changed tactics. The police have since August 2009 been receiving
credible intelligence about Maoist designs to oppose Operation Green
Hunt by killing tribals or committing other atrocities and then
blaming the security forces.

The truth about these inputs was confirmed in a letter dated September
10, 2009, issued by the subcommittee of mass organisations (SUCOMO) of
the CPI (Maoist) and seized by the police. The party asked its mass
contact groups to launch propaganda at the all-India and state levels
about alleged atrocities committed by the security forces. It said
such propaganda should include criticism of efforts to crush the
revolutionary movement through massive deployment of force. It
encouraged flexible methods—from agitations to seminars and signature
campaigns—and sought to influence sympathisers into bringing pressure
on the upa government, the US, and Indian embassies abroad, all aimed
at getting Operation Green Hunt called off.

It isn't hard to see why criticism of the Salwa Judum at the national
and international levels increased after the CPI (Maoist) politburo
decided in April 2006 to hit it in all ways. It isn't hard to see
either why the attack on Operation Green Hunt has increased after the
SUCOMO letter of appeal and instruction. These two 'soft' strategies
have resulted in the state and its police officers being dragged to
court.

The Supreme Court is hearing the petition of Sodi Sambo, who was shot
in the leg, allegedly by a security personnel, so it will be wrong on
my part to comment. But let me state that the Chhattisgarh police is
not generally known for fake encounters or killing of innocents. If it
believed in extra-judicial killing, the prisons wouldn't be full of
arrested Maoist leaders and cadres. This isn't to say occasional
aberrations might not occur. Whenever such instances are brought to
the notice of SPs, action has always been taken: in Bastar alone, 25
cases have been registered against police officers and spos from 2005
on. Only a few of these were registered on the directions of the NHRC.
Ten have already resulted in chargesheets, with the accused cops being
sent to jail. Some cases pertain to rape, murder, rioting. If such
cases against policemen could be registered, investigated and taken
for trial by local police, how can one accept that the Chhattisgarh
police acts in partisan manner? Individual aberrations cannot be drawn
to brand the force a "bunch of hoodlums".

My police will continue its battle against the Maoist cadres. We will
fight them on the ideological plane as well as on the field out of our
belief in a liberal socialist democracy and the rule of law. We are
bound by oath to protect the Constitution of India. We will fight
because the fight has been forced on us by a group that openly
declares in its book, Strategy and Tactics of Indian Revolution, that
"the seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of the issue by
war, is the central aim and highest form of revolution". If this is
their main aim, it leaves the security forces very few options. The
only difference is that we will be fighting within the constraints of
the law of the land, while the Maoists are free to use both legal and
illegal means. We have accepted this and will still fight anyone who
intends to jettison our Constitution and replace it with a
totalitarian system of whatever shade.

To the metropolitan Brahmins, my assertion may be of little value. A
Shudra's testimony is a cry in the wilderness.


(The author is director-general of police, Chhattisgarh.)


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[ZESTCaste] Invitation for WOW (World of Women)

 

Dear All,

Jai Bhim,

'Vishwa Leader' in association with 'The Bahujans Club'
has arranged yet another Program for women organised wholly by women. All are invited to attend in large nos. for the encouraging our Ladies for the event.

Thanks and Regards
Shirish Ramteke

The details are as follows..........

WOW (World of Women)

1 Day Women's Conference cum Social Get-together
on the eve of 'World Women's Day'

Date: 7th March 2010 (Sunday)
Venue: Ambedkar Bhavan, Dadar (East), Mumbai.
Time: 9:00am to 10:15 p.m.

PROGRAM

(9:00 am to 10:00 am) Registration & Inauguration

(10:00am to 11:00am) Me Savitri Boltey - Play on Savitribai Phule-by Preeti Besekar

(11am to 1:15pm ) SESSION - I

SUB: TODAYS WOMEN AND SOCIAL CHANGE.

Inaugurator - Mr. Anandraj Ambedkar (Grandson of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar)
Guest Speaker - Mrs. Kamal Wankhede (Dy. Director-Sahaydri Channel -Doordarshan)
Chairperson - Mrs. Rekha Thakur (Social Worker)
Comparer - Dr. Mrs. Priyanka Lokhande

(1:15 pm to 2:00 pm) LUNCH BREAK

(2:00am to 3:00pm) Scientific tamper with Presentation of some Miracles
- Magical Show on superstition by Vandana Shinde

(3:00pm to 5:15 pm ) SESSION - II

SUB: MY SELF IDENTITY (AN OPEN DISCUSSION)

Inaugurator - Prof. Datta Bhagat (Play Writer & Member Secretary-Dr. Ambedkar Writings and Speeches)
Guest Speaker - Mrs. Pramodini Ramteke President-Savitribai Phule Vichar Manch & Social Activist)
Chairperson - Prof. Ashalata Kamble (Writer and Social Activist)
Comparer - Dr. Mrs. Vaishali Ingle

(5:15pm to 5:45pm) TEA BREAK

(5:45pm to 7:15pm) WEV (Women Empowerment) Women Motivational Program by Isar Qureshi

(7:15pm to 10:00pm ) SESSION - III

SUB: ATROCITY ACT AND WOMEN

Inaugurator - Prof. Ramesh Kamble (Sociology Dept., University of Mumbai)
Guest Speaker - Mrs. Teesta Setalvad (Journalist and Social Worker)
Guest Speaker - Mrs. Sushama Andhare (Editor-Loknayak Newspaper-Pune Edition)
Chairperson - Prof. Abhinaya Kamble (HOD-Politics, K. J. Somaiya College, Mumbai)
Comparer - Mrs. Surekha Ramteke

(10:00pm to 10:15pm ) Felicitation of Some Women, Resolution & Vote of Thanks.

Organized by- 'VISHWA LEADER' AND 'THE BAHUJANS CLUB'

For Registration and details contact:
Surekha Ramteke
Vishwa Leader (Marathi Monthly Magazine)
Unit No.1, Malwa,
Patanwala Industrial Estate,
L. B. S. Marg,
Ghatkopar (West),
Mumbai – 400086.
Tel. No.: 022 25006697
Tel./Fax:022 25006696
Email:Vishwa.leader@gmail.com
Help Desk: 9969688918


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