Latest News Update: Mar 19, 2010

Friday, March 19, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Malaysian Leader Targets Affirmative Action

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703494404575082301819403096.html

MARCH 18, 2010

Malaysian Leader Targets Affirmative Action

By JAMES HOOKWAY
KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysia's dilemma over whether to end some of the
world's most entrenched systems of racial-preference laws is coming to
a head.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to outline this month plans to
revitalize how the country's export-driven economy is run, with
details to follow in June. The program might mean a push to change a
decades-old system of preferential treatment for the country's
majority Muslim-Malay population, which has often economically lagged
behind its ethnic compatriots.

People familiar with his plans say he might move to liberalize some
sectors of the economy, giving nonethnic Malays a larger role. He also
is expected to give more non-Malay students access to scholarships. He
already has made it easier for foreign business to invest in areas
such as Islamic finance, and last week warned Malaysians to prepare
for an end to state subsidies on various commodities, including sugar.

Malaysia's race-based quota system, in place since the early 1970s,
gives ethnic Malays special treatment—from cheaper housing and loans,
to advantages in securing university places and government jobs and
contracts. The aim is to boost the economic power of the Malay
population, which represents 54% of the country's 28 million people,
but which typically doesn't do as well in business or high-earning
jobs as Malaysians who are ethnic-Chinese or, to a lesser extent,
ethnic-Indians. Those ethnic groups make up about 35% of the
population.

Many think the affirmative-action system is too rigid for global
competition for markets and investment. Business leaders such as Nazir
Razak, Mr. Najib's brother and chief executive of banking concern CIMB
Group Bhd., have called for the so-called bumiputera, or indigenous,
rules to be revised. An opinion poll conducted by the independent
Merdeka Center in 2008 found that 71% of Malaysians surveyed—and 65%
of Malays—agreed the laws needed to be overhauled. Trading partners
such as the U.S. and European Union have singled out government
procurement policies that ensure contracts go to Malay-owned business
as stalling free-trade pacts.

"I don't think there's any question that we need to commit to reform,
although we'll still have to help Malaysians according to their need,"
says Khairy Jamaluddin, a top Malay politician with Mr. Najib's
National Front coalition and leader of the United Malays National
Organization's youth wing.

Still, some analysts doubt Mr. Najib will be able to take his
overhauls far. Voluble opponents have emerged recently, led by a
charismatic activist named Ibrahim Ali, who holds rallies and lobbies
government officials. Last year, he founded the group Perkasa—the
Malay word for warrior. He counts former Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad and royal rulers such as the sultan of Selangor among his
30,000 or so supporters.

Mr. Ibrahim argues that the social stability ensured by giving a leg
up to the Malay population far outweighs the benefits of opening more
of what was once one of Southeast Asia's most dynamic economies to the
nimble and capital-rich ethnics in Malaysian—particularly the Chinese,
but also the ethnic-Indians.

"The playing field can be leveled sometime in the future, but it's
only 2010," says the 59-year-old Mr. Ibrahim, in his Kuala Lumpur
office amid pictures of Fidel Castro, Che Guevera and Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini. "But we've got to be honest and say we can't
compete."

Mr. Ibrahim is focusing on what political analysts say is Malaysia's
defining quandary: How and when to dismantle one of the world's most
comprehensive systems of preferential treatment, in an ethnically and
religiously diverse nation.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib, right, expresses his good wishes to
local Chinese people prior to the Chinese Spring Festival in Kuala
Lumpur's China Town on Feb. 11, 2010.
The analysts say Mr. Najib is trying to win back ethnic-Chinese and
ethnic-Indian voters to the ruling National Front by adopting some of
Mr. Anwar's policies. The risk is that Mr. Najib might lose the
support of some Malay voters, especially with Mr. Ibrahim leading the
charge in support of Malay supremacy. The premier didn't respond to
requests for an interview for this article.

The roots of the issue go back to the 19th and early 20th centuries,
when British colonists encouraged workers from China and India to go
to Malaysia to toil in the rubber and tin industries. In 1969, deadly
race riots killed more than 100 in Kuala Lumpur and other cities.
Malaysia's rulers then adopted the quota system in the early 1970s to
help ethnic-Malays.

The goal: Build up the economic clout of the Malay community to
control at least 30% of Malaysia's economic output. Malays now control
about 19% of the economy—up from 2.4% since the program began,
according to government figures. Some independent analysts say the
actual figure is higher.

Mr. Najib may be well-positioned to demand change. He is a son of
Malaysia's second prime minister after independence from Britain in
1957 and is perceived as a strong defender of Malay rights.

Mr. Ibrahim reckons Mr. Najib is misreading the depth of anger many
Malays feel toward any change in a policy that has given many a leg up
and helped to build a large middle class.

"People like Perkasa, they can derail the prime minister's plans. They
do resonate with a segment of the Malay community," says Mr. Khairy,
the UMNO activist. "But this is a time for leadership, not a time to
pander to Malay insecurities."

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com

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[ZESTCaste] Foreign universities ready for affirmative programmes: Kapil Sibal

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_foreign-universities-ready-for-affirmative-programmes-kapil-sibal_1361044

Foreign universities ready for affirmative programmes: Kapil Sibal
PTI
Friday, March 19, 2010 22:17 IST

New Delhi: Reservation laws may not be applicable for the foreign
universities aspiring to set up campuses here, but they are ready to
carry out affirmative programmes for children of the weaker section,
HRD minister Kapil Sibal said today.

"Whichever foreign educational institution has spoken to me, has said
'we in our country carry out affirmative programmes. When we are in
India, we will certainly carry out those affirmative programmes',"
Sibal told Karan Thapar in India Tonight programme.

The cabinet this week passed the Foreign Educational Institution
(Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, which seeks to allow
the foreign educational providers to set up campuses in India and
regulate their operations.

Sibal said the aspiring institutions are sensitive to the issue of
affirmative action even though reservation laws may not be applicable
to them as they will be considered as private education providers.

There is no reservation law for the private education providers in the
country currently.

Sibal hoped the new law could be put in place by the end of this year.
He said the bill would be introduced in Parliament in April.

The bill would go to a Standing Committee after it is introduced in Parliament.

"By December 2010, this could be a law. I believe so. You should be
prepared by the next academic session to implement it," Sibal said.

According to him, there are a number of foreign institutions aspiring
to be associated with the education sector here. But not necessarily
all of them will set up campuses. Some of them are interested for
collaboration, while a few are interested for joint research with
Indian institutes. Some are interested for skill development and
vocational training, he said.

Sibal said a number of Ivy League universities are also interested to
come. Yale is interested for collaboration, he said, adding Boston
University is extremely keen to come in some form.

The foreign education providers can operate in India as FDI is allowed
in education. But the new law will regulate their operations. At
present, 69 foreign education providers are functioning in India.

These universities will decide their own fee as they will be
considered as private universities. However, their fee could be much
less than the fee they charge in their respective countries, Sibal
said.

"It is because the cost of infrastructure and other things is less in
India," he said.

In a way it will help students to get education and degree at a much
cheaper price from a foreign university which would have cost them
hugely if they had travelled to those countries for the same courses,
Sibal said.

"Lot of Indian students are unable to pay USD 60,000 or 70,000. If you
pay USD 60,000 in the US, you can get the same education at USD 20,000
or USD 15,000 or even at USD 10,000. People may not go abroad but
study here," he said.

Sibal ruled out concerns raised over poaching of teachers by the
foreign institutions.

He said the attrition rate in IITs is nearly nil despite a lot of
private institutes functioning in the country. He said job security
and perks given to IIT teachers may not be matched by the foreign
universities.

He said the foreign institutes will not be allowed to repatriate
surplus generated from education activities in India. "If we feel that
services are paid or being paid in an indirect fashion for the purpose
of repatriating money, we will certainly look at that issue."

But the all foreign education providers will have get accredited by
the proposed National Accreditation Authority for quality control.
Their entry will bring revolution in terms of quality, he said. It
will have enormous impact on research and creation of Intellectual
Property.

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[ZESTCaste] Kill Bill Vol 2010 (Opinion)

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Op270310opinion.asp

OPINION

Kill Bill Vol 2010

The Women's Reservation Bill suddenly seems to have become a weapon to
put all the Mandal parties in their place

ASHOK MALIK
Columnist

THERE HAVE been two layers of opposition to the proposal to reserve
33.3 percent of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats for women. The first is
more visible and audible. It represents the fear of Hindi heartland
chieftains — specifically Mulayam and Lalu Yadav — that they could
lose ground in their pocket boroughs. Bringing up a series of red
herrings — quotas within quotas, subquotas for OBC women, for Dalit
women, for Muslim women; quotas for Muslims per se — coining such
crude slogans as "jung aur jihad", they have become the disagreeable
opposition to the Women's Reservation Bill.

When the Bill was moved in the Rajya Sabha, the broader middle class
mood was shaped not by the intrinsic value or goodness of the proposed
legislation but by the quality of the opposition to it. In a sense, it
was a replay of the Shah Rukh Khan-Shiv Sena battle. Hostility to the
Sena forced even Shah Rukh agnostics to stand up for him. This is
precisely what the Yadavs did to the Women's Reservation Bill.

The fundamental argument is this. Parliament represents the supreme
consciousness and collective wisdom of a democratic society.
Reservation in a national legislature, and restricting competition in
the contest to win a place in that legislature, is decidedly different
from quotas for traditionally deprived sections in the job market or
from affirmative action during college admissions. In a sense, it
seeks to carve up that magical and indivisible attribute: popular
sovereignty.

There is a line of separation between Parliament and even other
representative bodies. Indeed, reservations and quotas for women — and
OBC, MBCs, and of course SCs and STs — at the panchayat level can be
lived with. A panchayat member, a municipal corporator and even an MLA
are, at the end of the day, service providers. They attend to their
constituents, sort out healthcare and water problems and monitor the
delivery of public goods.

In India, this is often what MPs too are called upon to do. Yet, this
is not how it should be and, hopefully, not how it always will be.
Someday, when Indian democracy matures, the Lok Sabha will shrug off
the extras and restore itself to its core mandate: deliberative
legislation and providing crucial inputs to policy making. That is
what distinguishes parliament from any other institution in a
democracy.

Historically, there have been several instances in several countries
of exclusion of particular groups from the process of entering the
national legislature. In its earliest days, the chance to vote and to
win votes in the US was limited to propertied white males. Yet, the
chipping away at this restriction, the expansion of human freedom to
ensure equal access to every corner of the supreme law-making body of
the land was the ideal that drove democratic endeavour.

This is where the women's reservation amendment comes into conflict
with the philosophy, though not quite the letter and legality, of the
Constitution. Far from aspiring to a society that would be so
egalitarian that even SC and ST seats in the Lok Sabha would be free
to all, it constricts further, and institutionalises segregation —
strong word, but appropriate — for all times to come.

Yet, let's face it, other than a handful of pernickety folk, nobody's
really exercised on these lines. Why? To some degree this is because
nobody wants to appear politically incorrect. Even so, there are two
other reasons, more solid ones.

First, even those who acknowledge the 33.3 percent quota is a bad idea
concede the suggested alternatives would probably not have been
feasible in the Indian context.

Talk of two-member constituencies or increasing the strength of the
House was unworkable. Indians didn't really want a 700-strong Lok
Sabha and an incremental VIP population down the line in the states.

Leaving the quota to parties would seem fair in a neat two-party
democracy — such as, say, Australia — where both parties contest about
all seats. In India it would have meant the Samajwadi Party nominating
men for all of Uttar Pradesh's 80 seats and women for all of West
Bengal's 42 seats (where the party counts for nothing) and pretending
it had fulfilled its one-third commitment.

Suggestions that parties be forced to nominate women candidates for a
third of the seats where they won the most votes — above a defined
benchmark of perhaps 20 percent — or that individual states be allowed
to put in place an OBC sub-quota as per the OBC population in the
state were deemed too complicated and open to political misuse.

MULAYAM AND LALU YADAV DID TO THE WOMEN'S QUOTA BILL WHAT THE SHIV
SENA DID TO SHAH RUKH KHAN
Second, perhaps erroneously, middle class opinion is confusing support
for the Women's Reservation Bill with a craving for the strengthening
of national parties. Consider the context. Twice previously the Bill
was thwarted by OBC strongmen. On the first occasion they were running
the United Front government (1996); the next time was when they held
the veto on the NDA government (1999). This was in the 1990s, when
both the Congress and the BJP were defensive on the OBC-isation of the
polity and in awe of the energies of Mandalisation.

TODAY, THE situation is markedly different. In 2009, the Yadavs were
trounced in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Their intermediate caste comrades
in the south — HD Deve Gowda in Karnataka and N Chandrababu Naidu in
Andhra Pradesh — were also marginalised. The sun is setting on Mandal
and on a certain type of muscleflexing, blackmail-centric regional
politics. The Women's Reservation Bill suddenly seems to have become a
weapon to put the Mandal parties in their place.

Yet, it would be foolhardy to believe that rough-andready OBC men are
going to be replaced by "sensitive" and "good-natured" upper caste
women. It is more likely that the first lot of seats that are reserved
will see a deluge of family candidates: wives, daughters and sisters.
In some cases — Sonia and Rahul Gandhi; Maneka and Varun Gandhi —
neighbouring seats may be exchanged every 10 years.

Having said that, it is also likely that of the 181 women who enter
the Lok Sabha, there will a 30-40 strong bunch who will be worthy
women in their own right and constitute good parliamentarians.
However, will a few good women justify the 33.3 percent quota? For
some people, the answer must always be "No".

WRITER'S EMAIL
malikashok@gmail.com

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 11, Dated March 20, 2010

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[ZESTCaste] Women village leaders want quota within quota

http://sify.com/news/women-village-leaders-want-quota-within-quota-news-national-kdttacheajf.html

Women village leaders want quota within quota

2010-03-19 19:00:00

Around 60 women village leaders Friday hailed the passing of the
women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha but demanded a quota for
Dalits and other backward classes (OBCs) for their proper
representation.

At a conclave organised here by international NGO ActionAid, the
women, representing village councils in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa,
West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, urged political parties to
take note of the discrimination against women within the backward
classes.

They held that the 50 percent reservation of seats in panchayati raj
institutions for women and the quotas for Dalit women from lower
castes had proved beneficial.

Speaking about her experience as the head of the Jamlapur village in
Uttar Pradesh, Sarvati Devi said: 'Being a woman from a Dalit
community proved a great challenge for me. Finding support in the
panchayat was very tough. But I did not give up and now they respect
me and my community.'

Sunita Devi, who was elected the Phulwari Sharif village head in Bihar
in 2006 on an OBC reserved seat agreed.

'I got elected from an OBC reserved seat for women. Now, women in my
village don't look at the caste barrier before discussing their
problems, all thanks to the reservation that will also help on the
national platform,' she said.

The women's reservation bill, in the form of an amendment to the
constitution, would secure 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok
Sabha as well as the state legislatures. It was passed in the Rajya
Sabha last week amid angry protests from a few political parties that
also want a sub-quota for Dalits and OBCs.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati gets bad press for cash garland, sacks her media manager

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Miffed-Maya-sacks-her-media-manager-for-getting-bad-press/H1-Article1-520609.aspx

Mayawati gets bad press for cash garland, sacks her media manager

Indo-Asian News Service
Lucknow, March 18, 2010
First Published: 20:48 IST(18/3/2010)
Last Updated: 21:30 IST(18/3/2010)

Apparently upset at the bad press she received over the controversial
currency note garland, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on
Thursday gave marching orders to her close confidante and principal
secretary (information and public relations) Vijay Shankar Pande.

Besides the key position as head of her media management team, Pande
has also been stripped of the prime posts of additional cabinet
secretary and principal secretary to the chief minister.

Pande has been made principal secretary (health), so far held by
Pradeep Shukla, who has been appointed principal food secretary. Pande
is known to be close to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)'s Brahmin mascot and
general secretary Satish Chandra Misra.

Pande has been replaced by Shailesh Krishna, a one-time Mayawati
blue-eyed boy, who was shunted out of the chief minister's secretariat
not very long ago.

Krishna, who has played a long innings in the information and PR wing
of the Uttar Pradesh government - both under the Mulayam Singh Yadav
as well as Mayawati government - enjoys tremendous goodwill with the
media.

Pande shot to fame for spearheading a campaign launched by the state
IAS Association 13 years ago to identify the "three most corrupt IAS
officers".

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit Symbolism and the Democratisation of Secular Spaces

http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1950.html

Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 12, March 13, 2010

Dalit Symbolism and the Democratisation of Secular Spaces
Friday 19 March 2010, by Harish S. Wankhede

Introduction

In the recent past, wider discussion and debate have been built over
the issue of mega-construction works undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh
(UP) Government. Intellectuals and social activists were worried that
public money was being drained out in such a big way to build
something which blatantly represents the political symbols of a
particular political party. In the media also we have noticed severe
criticism against these construction works by describing them as
ecologically dangerous or political gimmick over a petty emotional
issue which the current government has undertaken. The critics argue
that the Mayawati Government indulged in excessive immaterial
symbolism without understanding and prioritising the need for deeper
social changes required for the empowerment of the Dalits and other
sections of the poor. The criticism of the intellectuals and the media
represents an exclusivist middle class artificiality without taking
into cognisance the value of these symbols and the way in which the
statues and symbols have spread historically. They negate the meanings
and stakes involved for the people who are mobilised around these
symbols.

I believe that the main motive behind such quasi-moral and selective
attack against the UP Government is not as simple as is explained by
the critics; otherwise there are multiple other examples in which
wastage of public funds is starkly visible but these never become an
issue of contestation in public debates. I would like to argue that
the core of the problem is located within the standards of aesthetics
and the subjective interpretation of cultural history, shaped and put
forward by the social elites. The symbolism crafted under Dalit
aesthetics deconstructs these given standards and provides new
meanings to the public spaces.

The Usage of Dalit as Objective Appendage

Dalit as a socio-political concept appears frequently in the
contemporary discussions on Indian politics. Most of the social
scientists have positively valued it as a particular and alternative
perspective of some caste groups and has targeted the hegemonic
domination of the modern 'universal' model of social progress
represented by the 'mainstream' caste Hindus. While upholding the
Dalit perspective as a radical model of social transformation, it was
never granted legitimacy by the academic community as the
representative voice within the post-colonial studies. In the study of
history through this perspective, it is argued that it lacks
diachronic scientificity essential for any discipline. Dalit as a
collective identity was related and defined under the narrow
boundaries of a particularistic approach, political ideology and the
beholders of alternative religio-cultural values and it was argued
that it has limited elements to become a universal approach.

The perspectives of Dalits are stereotyped as the ideological
constructs of lesser merit, and prejudiced in the general academic
world as another counter-voice of a passionate but irrational being.
In political discourses, academic seminars and ideological debates
their methods are ridiculed as infantile and criticised for lack of
social consciousness which is universally applicable like the other
modernist positivist ideas. This commonsensical prejudice and hate
creates an understanding about the Dalit in public reasoning. Such
classification of the Dalit perspective as lesser and other
perspectives as universal, is reiterating the notion of superiority
and impurity within the public discourse. The Dalits because of their
dehumanised past are devalued, their capacity of thinking as
individuals is questioned and cunningly portrayed as the voice of the
community and therefore of less merit. This is a form of academic
violence which promotes casteist myths and beliefs concerning the
presumed inferiority and incapability of the Dalits. Thus Dalits
become a static community, prisoner of a Dalit stereotype. This is a
sheer casteiest attitude created by the socio-cultural norms of the
society which distrusts, fears and envy the capabilities of Dalits in
breaking the hegemonic modernist constructions built by the
upper-caste elites of the Indian society.

Most of the Dalit thinkers are also content with such analysis and
have internalised 'Dalit' as a separate perspective with a limited
audience to address. They candidly admit the inferiority of the Dalit
perspective in the popular mainstream discourses. They also lack the
courage to assert the Dalit perspective as a competent method of
analysis and hurriedly embrace the hegemonic academic codes of the
upper-caste Hindus. The desire is to be a part of the collective
mainstream academic circle or to become 'general' or 'universal'; this
is a process of Sanskritisation which is unknowingly adopted by most
of the Dalit thinkers. I will call it Brahmanisation of the Dalit
minds. Under such adopted commonsensical model of 'Particular and
Universal', the Dalits are ghettoised and condemned as incapable,
incompetent to produce sociological theories, meta-narratives, and
universal symbols of inclusivity. Even the democratic appeal of the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a sarvajan empowerment is scrutinised
with a critical hypothesis that the possibility of such manoeuvring is
less as the leadership has history of deep indulgence with the
empowerment of a specific social group or to enlarge its petty
political success.

Such gross misrepresentations of the Dalits reduce them to an
identified collective category in the academic community, having the
single agenda of constructing the 'other' (Manuvadi, Brahmin,
upper-caste Hindus) and charge against this enemy for the unjust and
unequal relationships perpetuated in the society. The Dalit
perspective is therefore allegedly criticised by the mainstream
academic community for finding solace and comfort in continuous
representation of their dehumanised past in the modern world. Dalits
are incapable to provide inclusive symbolisms, a universally
sensitive, transcendental philosophical model for a better world
because they are deeply rooted and entrenched in the 'other' and all
their academic interventions are peripheral only to their own
self-obsessed constructed centre. The Dalit perspective is not even
seen as a representative counter-argument of the socially excluded
groups. This perspective, which has a distinct experiential
epistemology because of its social particularity, was never
acknowledged in a fair manner. The Dalit perspective has further
substantiated these arguments of unfairness by explaining the livid
experiences of their degraded social presence and how the given
traditionalist and nationalist nomenclatures are insufficient to
address their concerns.

The New Claimants of Historical Knowledge

Such discriminatory treatment is visible further when it comes to the
valorisation of the national leadership. Indian history is inseparable
from its brahmanical origin and it necessarily imposes a tacit version
of cultural and political history over the people. Brahmanism is seen
under the Dalit perspective as the ideological and institu-tional
system which forcefully monopolises knowledge and power by excluding
and dominating other social groups of the society. The elites have
constructed historical knowledge by making Gandhi as a National and
Ambedkar as a Particular icon when they were at the helm of political
affairs. Such claims that belittle the contributions of the leaders of
social struggles operate under a superior caste psyche which
eventually regards the upper-caste leadership as national and others
as specific, regional or caste icons. Therefore, breaking such
ideological construction is an essential prerequisite for the
contemporary Dalit perspective. The reconstruction of history is
necessary to ignite the minds of ignorant masses as they are mentally
enslaved through the extensive integrationist symbolisms of the social
elites. By mobilising the masses on alternative symbols, the Dalit
perspective has historically tried to defeat the philosophical
foundations of brahmanical elites. Today, following the democratic
churning of six decades, a representative government led by the BSP
has aspired to build an alternative consciousness by making Ambedkar,
Jyotiba Phule and Shahu Maharaj as true National leaders.

The stereotypical humiliated Dalit image needs a makeover in the
current juncture of democratic spaces to enable Dalits to represent
themselves as equal citizens and these symbols have the capacity to
transform the Dalit image in a very positive way. Public acceptance of
alternative cultural and religious symbols re-emphasise the Dalit
presence as the independent assertion of organic knowledge and
challenges the hegemonic social norms that locate the Dalits as an
abnormal appendage to the great Hindu tradition. Such motivated effort
hurts most of the intellectuals and social activists because it
demands a different language and thought process to understand the
social reality in which they feel very uncomfortable. To avoid the
debates on caste and its current value in political circles, the
critics are trying to mobilise people on symbols which they believe
are secular, universal and acceptable to the traditional standards of
aesthetics. The rise of Dalit politics is consistently seen as an
attack against the secular and collectivist abstract standards of
upper-caste imagination and avoids the understanding of this assertion
through a subjective ethical argument crafted by the Dalits.

Construction of an alternative vision of Indian history has been seen
as an essential entity within the Dalit perspective. The symbolic
assertions by inventing popular myths, folk heroes, and cultural
attributes related to the pride of the socially deprived people are
reconstructing historical narratives with a futuristic vision. Such
historical imagination deconstructs the brahmanical notions of history
and become a decisive force to mobilise subalterns around the renewed
collective identities. The recent politics of the Bahujan Samaj Party
of erecting grand monumental structures on the name of Dalits and
other Bahujan leaders is a medium to propose an assertive positive
identity which can be utilised to illuminate the minds of socially
oppressed sections from their inverted negative psyche which they have
internalised under the caste-based oppressive social order of the
present times. Such occupation of public space also legitimises their
claim over the knowledge of history and consecutively formulates an
argument for a greater democratisation of history through subaltern
perspectives.

The mainstream subjectivity has consistently represented Dalits as
dependent objects by specified nomenclatures. As a result, Dalits were
consistently denied the status of subject and were always represented
by others as a submissive category parasitically attached to the
paternalistic brahmanical normality. Subversion of such negative
instrumentality of social identity as sheer object becomes the
revolutionary élan within the Dalit perspective. It not only
deconstructs the Dalit identity as empowered one but also demands
mainstream space to become an equal subject with the capacity to
re-associate and negotiate with the given objects.

Value of Symbols

The new monuments constructed in UP represent an alternative
symbolism, radically different from the normally adopted values,
political beliefs and standards of secular public symbols to which the
critics had adhered so meaningfully. These symbols directly hurt the
pride and prestige of the elites who have historically constructed
most of the national symbols and claim for its universality among the
public. The social elites have valued history with a romantic
broadening and have even included popular myths and folklores as valid
historical contents. In the past, the valorised history of the social
elites was not even open to any hermeneutic analysis and any attempt
which tries to democratise history was craftily dismissed. The
contemporary political period is a terrain of democratic contestations
as history is reviewed by multiple claims, intentions and ideological
persuasions. Historical narratives are seen as a social capital which
is utilised by the intellectual junta to develop a concrete
consciousness about the past. The Dalits are the new entrants in this
knowledge system with a poised motive to debrahmanise history in a
radical way; however, their efforts are criticised in the crudest
manner in most of the public debates.

The erected symbols are embedded with a set of progressive values and
radical contents. The classical Left critics have adopted a normative
comparison claiming that such aesthetics is rooted in bourgeois
tactics and hardly provides any material benefits to the poor. Such
diachronic distinctions between material and aesthetic values and
prioritising the prior over the other have consciously undermined the
embedded values of these symbols for bringing about a radical social
change in the public psyche. The value of these symbols is dependant
on their capacity to deconstruct the socio-cultural hegemony of the
social elites and provide democratic spaces to the voices which were
raised in favour of the socially deprived sections.

The symbolism based on naming statues, memorials, awards etc. stands
as a major feature of the Dalit movement in India. The conjecture is
that the imposition of such icons through statues and other symbols in
public places can contribute to develop an understanding among the
public by which the oppressed sections are projecting their model of
alternative state, nation, culture and political philosophy. These
statues seem to be the focal point for renewed aspirations towards
democracy and equality, while the ceremonies organised around them
have provided these oppressed citizens the opportunity to assert a
sense of their presence in the social and cultural life. The
iconisation of the Dalit heroes in public is the most assertive
gesture of growing democratic consciousness of the socially deprived
sections as these groups were perpetually excluded from all the claims
of human rights and dignity. The symbolism constructed by the UP
Government has the capacity to dethrone the hegemony of abstract
elitist standards of public and national symbols with its aggressive
alternative representation. These symbols, including that of
Mayawati's statue, have a tremendous appeal among the oppressed
sections as they look upon these statues with a poised aspiration that
will bring social empowerment, dignity and justice.

Conclusion

The debate over the erection of Dalit symbols at public spaces is
burdened with middle class reflexivity and therefore the critics do
not understand the ethical values supplemented by these statues. The
statues explain the unheard claims of Dalits to become an integral
part of the normal public life which was historically denied to them.
They provide a new meaning to the secular spaces by democratising
these in a subs-tantive way. These symbols have demonstrated that the
Dalits are endowed with concentrated reflexive agency having the
capacity to promote themselves as a group of equal beholders of all
the public spaces.

The author is an Assistant Professor (Political Science), Ramlal Anand
College (E), University of Delhi.

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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: International Dalit Conference

http://www.samatafoundation.org/conference/55-international-dalit-conference.html

International Dalit Conference
Monday, 08 March 2010 13:53 administrator
Call for Paper
Envisioning New Nepal

Dynamics of Caste, Identity and Inclusion of Dalits
International Conference

May 20-22, 2010
Kathmandu

Organizer
Samata Foundation, Nepal

Co-organizers
India-China Institute, New School University-New York
The Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, US
Nepal Dalit Info Group, Canada
Canada Foundation Nepal, Canada

In association with
International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Denmark
Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR North –South)
South Asian Coordination Office, Kathmandu

Background:
Nepal is at a critical juncture in its history as the transition
offers unprecedented opportunities for marginalized groups to
renegotiate their relationships within the polity. Both practically
and from the point of view of scholarship, following this process of
renegotiation by various marginalized groups is of great importance.
The conference proposes to focus on one such group, the Dalit of
Nepal. The reasons for this choice are several. First of all, the
Dalit are deeply involved in this process, and have even made
considerable gains in having had 18 members elected to the constituent
assembly. Strengthening their sense of history, community and own
contribution to the country would support further gains. Secondly, the
Dalit, unlike many other groups of Nepal, have been the focus of
relatively little scholarship to date. A conference focusing on Dalit
issues will therefore both help this group in its lobbying and
advocacy efforts as well as make a valuable contribution to the
academic literature on one of Nepal's most disadvantaged groups.

Reflection and discussion of the Dalit of Nepal will further benefit
from a cross-cultural approach; indeed, Dalit are found across Asia,
including Japan, and inviting scholars studying Dalits outside Nepal
will allow for a better understanding of the specificities,
predicaments and opportunities facing Dalits today. Such an
understanding, furthermore, will assist the Constituent Assembly
members to ensure that the new constitution lays the foundations for a
more just and inclusive social and political order in Nepal.

Inviting scholars, practitioner/activists from across Asia will also
expose issues of Nepali Dalit to the attention of a wider audience
(North American, European, and Asian).

Objective:

To provide intellectual space to Dalit political leaders including the
CA members, activists and civil society members to articulate their
perspectives on the past, present and future of Nepali politics and
the restructuring of the state
To utilize the opportunity of transition to create dialogue among and
between Dalit and non-Dalit political leaders, the academic world and
the general public to make political parties and society more
inclusive of Dalits at all levels and to be more responsive to the
Dalit agenda
To advance scholarship on the Dalits of Nepal through publication of a
volume on Dalit issue and through developing a research programme in
relation to the Dalit of Nepal
To provide an opportunity for academics working on Dalits across Asia
to engage in dialogue and set agendas for future collaboration

Modality:
Involvement of Dalit activists in the conference basically intends to
encourage practitioner-academic dialogue as well as to give
opportunities to people from marginalised groups to experience/be
exposed to an academic environment. The conference will involve
scholars and practitioners from South Asia, Japan, Europe and the U.S.
The conference will take place for two days. Simultaneously there will
be three types of papers that will be presented:

Academic Papers- Under this theme the organizer will invite papers
from professors around the world who are working on the issues of
Dalit in Nepal and elsewhere. The papers will be selected from
different disciplines.

Fellow's Papers- The organizer will award short fellowships to the
Dalit youths/activists and other interested individuals to present
short research on the conference theme. Altogether 10 fellows have
been awarded fellowships and their papers will be presented during the
conference. Professors attending the conferences will comment on the
papers. This will help the emerging researchers to improve their
research and writing skills and give fresh insights to the conference.

Research Proposals- Conference will encourage the participants to
discuss their future research projects ideas on Dalit in Nepal. It
will help them shape their ideas, methodology and look for relevant
support.

Topics and themes:
Constitution Building and Peace Process
Globalization and Dalit Social Movement
Human Rights, Dignity and Justice
Political Participation/Inclusion
Education, Health and Equity

Key Dates for Paper Submission:
Submission of Abstracts: February 25 to March 25, 2010
Notification of Acceptance: April 9, 2010 (Friday)
Final Full Paper Submission Deadline: May 10, 2010 (Monday)
Finial Submission of Presentation: May 10, 2010 (Monday)
Registration Start Date: March 1, 2010 (Monday)
End of Registration: May 10, 2010 (Monday)

Organizing committee:
Suvash Darnal - Director: Samata Foundation
Dr. Celayne Heaton Shrestha – University of Sussex, UK
Dr. Drona Rasaily – Nepal Dalit Info Group International, Canada
Krishna Sob - Dalit and Development Expert based in Washington DC
Dr. Laurie Vasily - Director -Fulbright Commission, Nepal and Dalit Expert
Dr. Madan Pariyar - Dalit and Inclusion expert: Board of Director,
Samata Foundation
Dr. Mahendra Lawoti - Associate Professor of Political Science at
Western Michigan University, President of the Association for Nepal
and Himalayan Studies
Dr. Rinju Rasaily, Independent Dalit Expert based in IndiDr. Steven
Folmar- Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University, USA
Dr. Mary M. Cameron - Associate Professor, Anthropology, Florida
Atlantic University, USA
Dr.Bishnu Raj Upreti - Regional Coordinator (NCCS North- South , South
Asia) and Conflict Expert

Adviser:
Padam Sudas– Chair, Samata Foundation
Dr. Lynn Bennett – Social Scientist
Rikke Nöhrlind, Co-ordinator, International Dalit Solidarity Network, Denmark

Registration:
Registration: US$200 for International Participants excluding South Asia
NRs. 5,000 for South Asian including Nepalese
NRs. 1,000 for Nepali Students

Registration fee includes: Food, accommodation and conference packets.

The organizer is not responsible for international air tickets.
However, South Asian participants may apply for partial support.

Contact:
Mr. Suvash Darnal
Samata Foundation
P. O. Box 19619
Pulchowk, Lalitpur, Nepal.

Telephone Number: 00977 1 5520851
Fax Number: 00977 1 4782851
E-mail: info(at)samatafoundation.org // dalitright(at)gmail.com
http://www.samatafoundation.org

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit Sahitya

http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=51948&typeid=2

Dalit Sahitya

The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, March 18: The Manipur unit of the Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya
Akademi will be organizing the 1st Rashtriya Dalit Sahitya Samman
Sammellan at the state guest house on March 20 and 21.

A release of the akademi stated the programme will be attended by Ng
Bijoy Singh, MLA, Radhabinod Koijam, MLA, SP Sumanakshar, national
president BDSA, New Delhi, Sridhari Dusad, state president, BDSA
Assam, Chandrakant Poste, BDSA Karnataka, Rajmani Nongthomba, state
president, BDSA, GP Pachoriya, state president, BDSA, MP, Tirath
Tongaria among others.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya gets bad press, UP govt sacks officer

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/maya-gets-bad-press-up-govt-sacks-officer/111704-37.html

Maya gets bad press, UP govt sacks officer

Sumit Pande
CNN-IBN

ANOTHERE ONE DOWN: Vijay Shankar Pandey a 1978 UP cadre will be
replaced by Shailesh Krishnan for the additional cabinet secretary's
post.
New Delhi: Mayawati may have survived the bee attack at her maharally
on Monday, but it has stung one of her closest confidantes.

Vijay Shankar Pandey, additional cabinet secretary to Mayawati is
booted out with immediate effect.

Though no official reasons has been given, sources say Pandey has been
made to pay the price for the negative coverage of Mayawati's Monday
rally.

Pandey was incharge of the state information department though the
rally had been organised by the BSP yet Mayawati has directed her
anger towards him with TV channels repeatedly showing the images of
her being garlanded by currency notes.

Out of the CM's office, attempts are on in full swing to cool her
tempers. So an FIR has been lodged against unknown persons for the bee
attack at her rally which the UP police now figures out could have led
to a stampede.

the UP police has even consulted horticulture experts on the issue and
is taking the investigations further.

For the moment though, they seem to be banking on the age old saying
that if there is smoke or bees as in this case...there has to be fire
somewhere

After BSP's Karnataka unit chief YN Sharma's removal for speaking
without permission on the notes controversy, Pandey is the second high
profile casualty of BSP's rally.

The focus though remains on the two garlands, one worth Rs 21 lakh and
the other Rs 18 lakh, both of which are under the IT scanner now.

Vijay Shankar Pandey a 1978 UP Cadre will be replaced by Shailesh
Krishan for the additional cabinet secretary's post.

Meanwhile, sources say Pandey and Cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar
Singh have been at loggerheads for a long time. The incident is being
seen as a victory for Singh.

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[ZESTCaste] Her neck in danger, heads of Maya’s officials roll

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/her-neck-in-danger-heads-of-mayas-officials-roll/592855/

Her neck in danger, heads of Maya's officials roll

Express News Service Posted online: Friday , Mar 19, 2010 at 0251 hrs
Lucknow : Currency garlands stay firmly around Mayawati's neck, but
heads have started rolling. Apparently angry over the "negative
publicity" generated by the garland at the BSP maharally in Lucknow on
March 15, the Chief Minister on Thursday shunted out Additional
Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey, who also held the post of
Principal Secretary (Information), along with his brother.
The 1979-batch IAS officer, who was considered very close to Mayawati
and was regarded as one of the most powerful bureaucrats in Uttar
Pradesh till recently, has now been made Principal Secretary, Medical
and Health. Pandey would continue to hold the additional charge of
Principal Secretary, Vocational Education.

Mayawati is reportedly unhappy that the giant garland overshadowed
everything, including news reports on the rally, particularly in the
electronic media.

PCS officer Ajay Shankar Pandey, the younger brother of Vijay Shankar,
was removed as Municipal Commissioner of Ghaziabad and posted as Chief
Development Officer (CDO) of Mathura district. Basant Lal, CDO
Mathura, is the new Ghaziabad Municipal Commissioner.

Ajay Kumar Upadhaya, the Additional Director of Information
Department, who is considered close to Vijay Shankar, also faced the
axe. He has been removed and posted as Special Secretary, Finance, in
place of Arvind Naryan Mishra, who goes as Additional Director,
Information.

IAS officer Shailesh Krishna, who held the charge of Principal
Secretary (Revenue), would now be Principal Secretary to the CM as
well as Principal Secretary (Information). This is Krishna's third
tenure in the CMO under Maya-raj, with his second stint there ending
just a month ago.

Pradeep Shukla, Principal Secretary (Medical and Health), and Jacob
Thomas, Principal Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies), have been asked
to join as Principal Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies) and Principal
Secretary (Revenue) respectively.

While Vijay Shankar called the shots in the CM's Secretariat till
recently, his clout had been considerably reduced after the last
reshuffle on February 14. Mayawati had created a second post of
Additional Cabinet Secretary and given the charge to Netram, with a
direction that all important files to her be routed through him. Vijay
Shankar's role had been reduced to mere monitoring of important
development and welfare schemes.

IT begins probe into garland
The Income Tax Department, Lucknow, has initiated investigation into
the cash garland presented to Chief Minister Mayawati at the BSP rally
on March 15. The day after, she had ben presented another garland
worth Rs 18 lakh.

Sources at the IT Department said a deputy director (investigation
wing) has been assigned the probe. The team has been delving into the
source of the currency notes before issuing notice to the ruling
party, an official said. Efforts are also on to get the video footage
of the presentation.

The notice being drafted includes queries about the sources through
which such a huge amount of the currency notes were collected.
Besides, the party will also be asked to furnish details about the
source of the new currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination, officials
said.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati garland worth Rs 5 crore, say I-T sleuths

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mayawati-garland-worth-Rs-5-crore-say-I-T-sleuths/articleshow/5699616.cms

Mayawati garland worth Rs 5 crore, say I-T sleuths
Pradeep Thakur, TNN, Mar 19, 2010, 02.05am IST

NEW DELHI: Mayawati may have set her cops on a bee chase but the
income tax department is sniffing up the curious case of the currency
garland. While the BSP claims the garland of Rs 1,000 notes gifted to
the Uttar Pradesh chief minister during the party's 25th founding day
celebrations was worth Rs 21 lakh, taxmen say the value could run to
Rs 5 crore.

Here's how. Preliminary investigations by the I-T sleuths reveal the
garland weighed 65kg, all in Rs 1,000 notes. A wad of one hundred Rs
1,000 notes weighs around 120g. Taking out the weight of the thread in
the garland, sleuths say the net mass of the currency "mala" would not
be anything less than 60 kg. With inputs gathered from RBI, officials
say it would take at least 500 bundles of Rs 1,000 denomination to
make the garland.

Sources said I-T sleuths gathered information from BSP insiders on the
composition of the garland while a team has been working with banks
and other sources to track the money transaction and "sponsors" who,
according to the party, "gifted" the notes.

Since all the notes used in the garland are believed to be new, said
an I-T officer, it somehow belies the Dalit party's claim that its
poor/rich followers contributed to the making of the mala. Once the
I-T officials take a close look at the garland, pinpointing the source
of the sponsors would be easier, said sources.

The I-T department may soon ask the Dalit party to declare the source
of the funds used in the massive celebrations organized in Lucknow on
March 15. In any case, the BSP would have to file all relevant details
on expenditure in their I-T return for the assessment year 2010-11
which is to be completed between April and September of this year.

This is not the first time the Dalit Czarina has courted controversy
on the scale of offerings made to her. A few years ago when the CBI
had registered a disproportionate assets (DA) case against her after
seizing a number of bank accounts carrying several crores of rupees in
deposits, the BSP chief had then claimed that they came through
"donations" by party supporters.

Both CBI and I-T department had in their investigation in the DA case
unearthed 72 immovable properties and more than 300 donations valued
at Rs 13 crore in the name of Mayawati and her family members. The CBI
had frozen more than 50 bank accounts with more than Rs 7 crore in
them.

The latest display of wealth by Mayawati caused a furore in
Parliament, with Congress joining ranks with Opposition parties in
condemning the way the Dalit party had indulged in extravagance over
her mentor's birth anniversary and in celebration of her party's
founding day.

In a similar case a few years ago, the I-T department, during their
assessment of I-T returns of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, had sought details
of expenses made by him in his daughter's marriage and the reception
at a five-star hotel in the Capital. Huge cash payments made for that
reception, it is believed, led the tax officials to question the hotel
managers as to why PAN and other details were not sought at the time
of clearing of the bills.

Why is RBI not taking any actions against Mayavati for misusing currency notes?

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