Tuesday, March 2, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Dalits seek removal of encroachment

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/02/stories/2010030251840300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli

Dalits seek removal of encroachment

Staff Reporter \

TIRUNELVELI: A group of Dalits from Chiththaarchathram village under
Gangaikondan police station limits submitted a petition to District
Collector M. Jayaraman on Monday seeking action against a family which
has allegedly encroached upon their cremation ground.

The petitioners, led by P. Ananthan, alleged that a caste Hindu couple
of Paruththikulam were preventing them from removing the thorny bushes
grown abundantly on the cremation ground even after a complaint was
registered at Gangaikondan police station in this connection.

"The police which initially allowed us to cut the bushes are now
preventing us from removing the roots following a false complaint made
by the encroacher, who did not even allow the government officials to
carry out development works in the cremation ground under the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Programme," Mr. Ananthan alleged.


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[ZESTCaste] “Living outside the track”: A woman worker’s struggle against caste

http://kafila.org/2010/02/25/%E2%80%9Cliving-outside-the-track%E2%80%9D-a-woman-worker%E2%80%99s-struggle-against-caste-and-patriarchy-in-kerala/


"Living outside the track": A woman worker's struggle against caste
and patriarchy in Kerala

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 07:38 PM PST

This is the report of a solidarity mission that was invited by
Feminists Kerala Network to visit Payyanur and attempt to ascertain
the facts around an incident of violence involving Chithralekha, a
Dalit woman auto driver, on January 20, 2010.

Feminists Kerala Network is a loose network based in Kerala and
outside, of feminists, Dalit activists, queer activists and other
individuals involved with new social movements in Kerala.

The solidarity mission consisted of

Gail Omvedt, Professor, B. R. Ambedkar Chair at Indira Gandhi National
Open University, Delhi; V Geetha , Publisher (Tara Books), author and
social activist, Chennai; K.K Preetha, Advocate, Kerala High Court,
Ernakulam; Nivedita Menon, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Delhi.

The team visited Payyanur on February 7-8, 2010.

Background on the History of Violence against Chithralekha and on the
Decision to set up a Fact-finding Team
Carmel Christy and Jenny Rowena, Feminists Kerala Network

Chithralekha, a Dalit woman, from Payyanur in Kannur, Kerala, was one
of the first woman auto drivers ...


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[ZESTCaste] Myriad forms of humiliation

http://www.hindu.com/br/2010/03/02/stories/2010030250491400.htm


Myriad forms of humiliation


C. LAKSHMANAN


From 'walking carrion' to 'walking storm' — a telling comment on Dalit
struggle

HUMILIATION - Claims and Context: Gopal Guru; Oxford University Press,
YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 595.


"Humiliation is not so much a physical or corporeal injury; in fact,
it is more a mental/ psychological injury that leaves a permanent scar
on the heart." For Indian social scientists today, philosophy, logic
and theoretical explorations are a rare passion. A bold effort towards
theorisation of infernal feeling, this book deserves appreciation for
such an endeavour. Gopal Guru, who has edited the volume, is a
committed academic and a leading intellectual in theorising Dalit
epistemology. The book has, in three sections, 11 learned articles by
distinguished scholars.


Complexity

Bhikhu Parekh's 'Logic of Humiliation' is an insightful engagement
with the concept. Apart from analysing the complexity of the problem,
he identifies the 11 different real life cases of humiliation of
moderate to high magnitude. It is an amazing way of explaining the
theory of humiliation. Parekh probes the multiple definitions of
humiliation with varied notions/explanations, the dialectics of
institutionalised humiliation and remedial prescriptions and, finally,
citizenship and understanding of Kant's theory of [self-] respect. His
analyses are significant and, in a way, immensely useful to students
of political theory.

For Ashis Nandy, humiliation is directly linked to the asymmetric
power system that exists at the family, state and societal levels. He
argues that as long as a person does not understand the humiliation
meted out to him/her — one cannot say he/she is humiliated.

However, Nandy argues against third party intervention in situations
where people do not realise that they have been numb to their own
humiliation, But this is debatable. When a person lives in a state of
inhuman bondage, how could he or she realise that he is being
humiliated? And this goes for a group as well. As V. Geetha argues,
"the untouchable is associated in different ways, [with] waste,
trash…one which he bears for the well-being of a commonweal that has
no use for him." Parekh makes the pertinent point that "extreme
situations arise when the social structure so crushes their spirit
that they fail to develop even a weak sense of self-respect…"

Nandy's resentment towards renaming of the oppressed sections —
Negros, Blacks, and African-Americans, for example — is
understandable. Negro (or even the 'untouchable') has been associated
with resistance and protest against the oppression. His analysis of
the positive side of humiliation (Gandhi's humiliation at
Pietermaritzburg) is too emphatic.

Valerian Rodrigues explains the nature of public sphere/ space/domain
and civil society and its predominance. On the other hand, he raises
some basic questions to the scholars who are conditioned by their own
notions of colonial prescription of modernity and seeks to show how
they negate themselves when they engage with issues of public concern.
He critiques the viewpoints of two globally well-known scholars,
Dipesh Chakrabarty and Sudipta Kaviraj. For Chakrabarty, particularly
of public domain, public hygiene and health concerns, such an analysis
negates scavengers' humiliation. So are Supitha Kaviraj's concerns for
public parks in Calcutta(Kolkata) and elsewhere that suffer defacement
because of migrant workers. But Kaviraj does not address the flawed
bourgeois modernity.

The article on 'Protective Discrimination' by Neera Chandhoke is no
testimony to her declared pro-reservation stance. The volume should
have had a paper by a Dalit who is made to suffer humiliation while
availing himself of the caste-based benefits in school, college or
work place. Consider her factually incorrect statement: "A Dalit
university has been set up in the country." Can the name of a Dalit
icon prefixed to a university make it a 'Dalit university'?

She displays a penchant for drawing upon western studies in her
attempt to score a point on 'shameful revelation'. For instance,
Wolff's observation about how "demeaning" it must be to "admit to
oneself" that one lacked the qualifications for a job and had to "rely
on the state and its sanction" to get it. But she chooses to condone
the practice of dominant caste Hindus/Indians taking their caste names
as suffix, harping on their primordial supremacy. It must be clearly
understood that positive discrimination is a necessary correction to
the caste prejudice that reigns in public domain.

Dalit struggle

In his paper based on issues related to a common crematorium in Goa,
Peter Ronald deSouza highlights the complexities in the contemporary
caste milieu arising from religious conversions,
inter-caste/inter-caste marriages and so on. The concluding essay by
Guru is a powerful exposition of the need for universalising the
Dalits' struggle. Quite telling is his observation: "…he [Ambedkar]
along with his people sought to walk out from the given image of
'walking carrion' and went on to become the walking storm."

The other articles are equally meritworthy in comprehending the
various types of humiliation. The book should be of benefit to social
scientists and students of Indian political system. However, the fact
that the humiliation women suffer across the class, caste, and race
divides is hardly discussed — although it came in for some reference
in articles by Parekh and Rodrigues — is indeed a lacuna.


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[ZESTCaste] Report on Siruthavur land grab submitted to CM

 

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Report+on+Siruthavur+land+grab+submitted+to+CM&artid=dvK6KK/EteI=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=

By Express News Service
01 Mar 2010 02:42:00 AM IST

Report on Siruthavur land grab submitted to CM

CHENNAI: Justice K P Sivasubramanian on Sunday submitted the inquiry
report on allegations of grabbing lands belonging to Dalits in
Siruthavur near here.
The 813-page report in two volumes was finalised after recording the
statements of 40 witnesses, former High Court judge Sivasubramanian
told reporters here.
The judge inquired the charges of land grab that allegedly involved
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa and her friend Sasikala. A bungalow was
built allegedly on the vast tracts of land originally owned by the Adi
Dravidars and landless poor.
The State government appointed a Commission of Inquiry on July 27,
2006 to inquire into the causes and circumstances that resulted in the
fraudulent grabbing of lands from Dalits and landless poor of
Siruthavur village in Kancheepuram district.
The appointment of the Justice K P Sivasubramanian commission was the
outcome of several protests spearheaded by the CPM that was joined by
other parties.
In 1968, then Chief Minister Arignar Anna during the first tenure of
the DMK had given 53 acre of land to Dalits and landless poor in
Siruthavur village.
It was alleged that the bungalow in Siruthavur on the encroached land
was used by AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa.

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[ZESTCaste] Neha Dhupia is studying Mayawati for her next role

 

http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2010/mar/020310-Neha-Dhupia-UP-CM-Mayawati-With-Love-To-Obama.htm

Neha Dhupia is studying Mayawati for her next role
By: Tushar JoshiDate: 2010-03-02

Neha Dhupia observes and emulates UP CM Mayawati's speech and manner
for her next role

In her next film, With Love To Obama, Neha Dhupia's character Munni
has a very distinct accent and manner of speaking, which is exactly
like the UP chief minister Mayawati.

Neha Dhupia on the sets of With Love, To Obama

Sounding like Maya
Neha will be seen in a non-glamorous role for the first time. It was
director Subhash Kapoor decision to have Munni sound like Mayawati.
And to prepare for the part, the actress was made to watch Mayawati's
speeches and interviews on the Internet. She spent quite a lot of time
studying her personality and her manner.

In character
The actress confirms, "Yes I did study how Mayawati speaks, her style
and accent to deliver my dialouges. But my look isn't based on
Mayawati! I watched a couple of interviews of hers and some speeches
on YouTube. It took me a while to get it right."

She adds that apart from the accent, she also worked on the body
language of Munni. "She is, by far, the most experimental character I
have played. She is brave, strong, earthy and a very strong woman in a
big, bad world full of men. I worked on my accent, body language and
look. Thanks to my director, we cracked this one. I have never been
this extensively prepared and nervous before getting into character
for a film."

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[ZESTCaste] Pejawar Seer supports banning cow slaughter

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=171074

Pejawar Seer supports banning cow slaughter

Bangalore March 1: Pejawar Mutt seer Visveshatheertha Swamiji on
Sunday came in support of the prevention of cow slaughter legislation
even as he felt that certain intellectuals and political parties were
wrongly using the Dalit card to oppose the ban.

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, the Swamiji said it was
wrong to cite that injustice would be rendered to Dalits by banning
cow slaughter. "Injustice is rendered to dalits if the reservation
benefits do not reach them," he said.

The cow had been provided a special place in the Indian tradition. All
political parties including the Congress should support the proposed
bill, he added. An awareness programme on the provisions of the bill
will be held in Bangalore on March 14.

The Swamiji reiterated that he would launch the indefinite fast
proposed earlier if the government goes ahead with land acquisition
for the Special Economic Zone in Mangalore.

He said he had only temporarily deferred his proposed hunger strike
till the end of the budget session following an assurance from the
government that it has no intention of taking away fertile land from
farmers.

The Swamiji said that there had been irregularities in the Nagarjuna
Power project. Surplus land had been acquired and suitable
compensation had not been provided to the farmers, he said.

Replying to a query, he said there should be moderation in mining
activities and at no cost mining should be allowed in forest area.
He said all three major political parties - Congress, BJP and the
JD(S) should stop politicising the NICE issue. While land could be
provided for construction of the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway there was
no need to take up the townships, he felt.

DHNS


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