Latest News Update: Mar 23, 2010

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Malaysia to Adopt New Affirmative-Action Policies

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704211704575139492616954952.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

MARCH 23, 2010, 2:16 P.M. ET

Malaysia to Adopt New Affirmative-Action Policies

By PETER STEIN
HONG KONG—Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said his government is
planning to adopt new affirmative-action policies that are "more
market friendly" but said the pace of reforms will depend in part on
"people's buy-in to the changes."

In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Najib also addressed concerns about
religious unrest in Malaysia, the trial of opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim and the use of oil revenue to subsidize domestic fuel prices.

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Agence France-Presse

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak
'The Rise of China Is Inevitable'
Read excerpts from Prime Minister Najib Razak's interview.
After taking power in April last year, Mr. Najib announced a
relaxation of restrictions in the country's services sector, including
moves to encourage foreign investment in tourism and legal and
financial services.

"The market, I must say, has not appreciated the significance of those
changes," the 56-year-old Mr. Najib said in Hong Kong, where he spoke
at a Credit Suisse investor conference. Also underappreciated, he
said, were "the political risks we have to take to examine some of
these policies and reform these policies."

Malaysia retains longstanding policies aimed at promoting the role of
ethnic Malays, who make up 60% of Malaysia's 27 million population,
and which leave many ethnic Chinese and Indians feeling disadvantaged.

However, his government plans to announce new overhauls in coming
weeks. "And the new approach towards affirmative-action will be more
market friendly, more transparent and more merit-based," Mr. Najib
said, without disclosing any details.

The British-educated Mr. Najib, the son of Malaysia's second prime
minister, took power last April after big losses at the polls for the
governing National Front coalition precipitated the resignation of his
predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The opposition, led by former
deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, has gained ground in part by
drawing on support from disaffected ethnic groups.

Mr. Anwar is currently on trial for allegedly sodomizing a young male
aide in 2008, the second time such charges have been brought against
him in little more than a decade. Mr. Anwar, 62, says the charges are
a fabrication aimed at destroying his reputation and political career.
He was jailed on similar charges from 1998 to 2004, when his
conviction was overturned on appeal.

Asked how he responds to criticism that Mr. Anwar is being tried for
political reasons, Mr. Najib said that it "has nothing to do with the
government. It's an individual matter. It just so happens the person
concerned is the head of the opposition." He added: "Let us allow the
process to take place and the international community can judge for
itself."

This year, Malaysia has been hit by religious unrest. Tensions between
Muslims and non-Muslims escalated after the country's High Court ruled
on Dec. 31 that Roman Catholics could use "Allah" as a translation for
"God" in a Malay-language church publication. That sparked protests
among Muslims demanding that Islam be protected, and led to attacks on
a number of churches and the desecration of two mosques. Mr. Najib's
government has appealed the court decision, arguing that the Arabic
word should be reserved for use by Muslims.

Mr. Najib blamed the violence on extremists. "In any society, there
will be the whole spectrum of views," he said. "You will get the
extremists on the far right and also the far left." He noted that "to
change people's attitudes and values, it does take time."

Weaning Malaysia off dependence on royalties earned from its oil
reserves is one of the nation's longer-term challenges, Mr. Najib
acknowledged. Currently, the government uses that income to subsidize
public fuel prices but "we've realized it's not sustainable." However,
he noted that "there's a political cost to taking away subsidies,"
which will make it difficult to remove them quickly. He also stressed
the need to strengthen Malaysia's social safety net to help poor
people most impacted by any changes.

The prime minister confirmed that Malaysia is "quite keen" on joining
an Australian-backed proposal for a trans-Pacific free trade zone.
Last week, representatives of the U.S., Australia, China, Brunei, New
Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam held preliminary talks on the
idea of such a grouping in Melbourne.

Malaysia's policy is pro-free trade, he said, "so any kind of
arrangement that helps to promote trade is something that we would be
very supportive of."

Write to Peter Stein at peter.stein@wsj.com

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[ZESTCaste] Out Of Proportion (Opinion)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Out-Of-Proportion/articleshow/5716631.cms

Opinion » Edit Page

Out Of Proportion
Dileep Padgaonkar, Mar 24, 2010, 12.00am IST

Political correctness has now reached such depths of degeneration in
our liberal opinion that we no longer dare to call a spade a spade,
let alone a bloody shovel. A recent example is the criticism of
Mayawati for flaunting her diamonds and garlands of currency notes at
BSP rallies. It took little or no account of her dogged belief that as
a Dalit she is entitled to exercise that privilege.

This belief, her apologists argue, explains, indeed justifies, her
utter indifference to what the 'elites' in the media and the rest of
the political establishment think about such outrageous displays of
wealth. The thought that she might have accumulated it through
illegitimate means does not make them lose their sleep either. After
centuries of oppression, runs their dirge, the trespasses of Dalits
need to be overlooked.

Some apologists go further than that. Mayawati's most lethal weapon,
they claim, is her candour. Unlike other leaders in our public life,
she makes no bones about her greed for money and lust for power. She
does things in broad daylight what others do only after dusk. And she
says aloud what others mutter beneath their breath. She might be
guilty of this or the other misdemeanour. But no one can accuse her of
double-speak and double-think.

Arguments of this nature are flawed on two counts. They are
patronising at best and, at worst, rooted in mawkish cynicism. To say
that Mayawati's 'core constituency' isn't bothered about its leader's
shenanigans is to suggest that the Dalits are bereft of a moral sense.
Such a view is offensive in the extreme. The main reason why bahujan
samaj leaders of the past Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj,
Ramaswamy Naickerand, B R Ambedkar are revered by all sections of
society today is precisely because their comportment, in private as in
public, was above reproach. Even while they berated the upper castes
for their deep-seated prejudices against those at the bottom of the
social pecking order, they drew their strength from universally
accepted notions of equality and justice.

Not once did they suggest, late alone assert, that as victims of caste
oppression for several millennia, Dalits should be permitted to
observe a lax moral regimen. What is good for the Brahmin must be good
for the Dalit. They would have been appalled to hear that Mayawati's
greed must be condoned because of her community's sense of victimhood.

Nor would they have shared Mayawati's antipathy for the 'elites'. In
their own time, they were at the receiving end of Brahmins who held
sway in public life, including the press. But they fought the critics
armed with knowledge and reason and, above all, with a heightened
sense of moral purpose. Ambedkar's critique of Gandhism was often
acerbic. What lent it levity was his closely argued stand that the
Mahatma chose not to attack the roots of social evils in the country:
the varna system.

Our political establishment has strayed far away from this path. But
the one who takes the cake for vagrancy is Mayawati. Her only service
to her icon is the erection of his kitschy statues across the length
and breadth of Uttar Pradesh along with those of her mentor Kanshi
Ram. She has cast herself in stone as well. To claim, as her
apologists do, that her Dalit flock applauds this megalomania is to
have a poor opinion of their intelligence.

Moreover, to hail Mayawati for her candour is to forgive the sins of
every demagogue in the land. The Thackerays, too, are candid. And so
are Narendra Modi, Praveen Togadia and an assortment of maulvis. All
of them nurse a sense of victimhood. All see conspiracies assailing
them from all sides. All indulge in venomous rhetoric. And all manage
to hoodwink their 'core constituency' again and again.

Yet this 'core constituency' is not frozen in time. It yearns for
security, education, jobs and speedy justice. Sooner than later it has
to repudiate the demagogues who are tall on promise and short on
delivery. To assume that they will tolerate the megalomania of their
leaders for all times to come is to hold them in contempt. Mayawati
only succeeds in strengthening the vilest upper-caste prejudices about
the parvenu Dalit.

The pity of it all is that her provocative speeches and gestures take
attention away from her genuine leadership qualities. The former prime
minister, P V Narasimha Rao, had once described her as a 'miracle of
democracy'. Her grit and perseverance have enabled her to brave the
heaviest of odds in our caste-ridden and male-centred polity. Time and
again she has outwitted her political foes with her shrewd
understanding of social forces. Few politicians in the country can
match her talents for social engineering.

By embarking on a confrontationist path, she may well succeed in
consolidating her support base among Dalits. At the same time,
however, she is bound to alienate other sections of society. Her
talents at social engineering would then come under intolerable
strain. At present she is caught in a cleft-stick. She needs to
revisit Ambedkar's teachings. He will have a thing or two to tell her
about what it takes to prevail.

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[ZESTCaste] Delhi Govt to set up SC/ST commission

http://www.ptinews.com/news/578664_Delhi-Govt-to-set-up-SC-ST-commission

Delhi Govt to set up SC/ST commission

STAFF WRITER 19:49 HRS IST
New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI) Delhi Government will soon set up a commission
for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe to ensure all round
development of these communities.

"We have taken a decision to form a commission for SC and ST
population in the national capital," Delhi Revenue Minister Raj Kumar
Chouhan said in the Assembly.

Chouhan, who is also in charge of SC/ST Welfare department said the
Government will bring in a bill to the assembly for formation of the
commission.

"We have felt the need for having the commission to ensure alround
development of the two communities and the process for setting up the
commission will start soon," he said replying to a question on the
issue.

The Minister said the government will spend a total amount of Rs 23.5
crore on various welfare schemes to benefit the two communities.

"We are determined to ensure providing all help to these communities," he said.

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[ZESTCaste] Chhattisgarh panel wants quotas raised to 71 percent

http://sify.com/news/chhattisgarh-panel-wants-quotas-raised-to-71-percent-news-national-kdxpachiebf.html

Chhattisgarh panel wants quotas raised to 71 percent

2010-03-23 15:00:00

A cabinet sub-committee in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled
Chhattisgarh has recommended raising the combined reservation limit
for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward
Classes (OBC) to 71 percent from 50 percent.

'The sub-committee recently submitted its report to Chief Minister
Raman Singh recommending that the reservation limit for the ST be
raised to 32 percent from the existing 18-20 percent,' a minister who
was a member of the panel headed by Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar told
IANS Tuesday.

'The panel also suggested that the reservation for SC be reduced to 12
percent from the existing 16 percent,' he said on condition of
anonymity.

He said the recommendation to increase the reservation limit for ST
and decrease that for SC was made in view of the population percentage
of these categories. The ST form nearly 32 percent and the SC some 12
percent of the state's estimated 20.08 million population.

The minister said the sub-committee had also recommended raising the
reservation limit for the OBC to 27 percent from the existing 14
percent. The OBC form close to 50 percent of the population.

The existing reservation criteria was fixed before the state was
carved out of Madhya Pradesh. Several organisations representing
tribals had held rallies demanding a hike in the reservation limit for
them.

The General Administration department will study the sub-committee's
recommendations which will later be taken up by the cabinet, probably
the next month, a government source said.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati spent over Rs.14,000 cr on memorials: Congress

http://sify.com/news/Mayawati-spent-over-Rs-14-000-cr-on-memorials-Congress-news-National-kdxu4eiibba.html

Mayawati spent over Rs.14,000 cr on memorials: Congress

2010-03-23 20:30:00

Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of diverting central
government development funds for setting up parks, memorials and
statues, the Congress Tuesday said Mayawati has in this way misused
around Rs.14,000 crore.

'According to our estimate, ever since she (Mayawati) came to power in
July 2007, she has spent nearly Rs.14,000 crore on the construction of
statues, memorials and parks that do not have any significance in
terms of development,' Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh
told reporters at a press conference here.

'Not only this, we have also learnt that she (Mayawati) has a target
to spend nearly Rs. 11,000 crore more for parks, memorials and
statues,' he claimed.

According to Congress, Nirman Nigam -- one of the six government
departments involved in construction of memorials -- had alone spent
Rs.4,436.46 crore between July 2007 and August 2009 on the projects
relating to memorials to Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar and Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram.

'It's really surprising that why the Comptroller and Auditor General
of India (CAG) is silent on the issue and not taking any action to
prevent any further bungling of funds by the state government,' said
Singh.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya spent Rs 4,436 crore on parks, statues: Congress

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89563/India/Maya+spent+Rs+4,436+crore+on+parks,+statues:+Congress.html

Maya spent Rs 4,436 crore on parks, statues: Congress
Headlines Today Bureau
Lucknow, March 23, 2010

A week after her mammoth rally in Lucknow, the Congress has accused
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of spending Rs 4,436 crore of
public money in building statues and parks.

The party claimed that it has accessed documents of the UP Nirman
Nigam Ltd through an RTI application. The Congress is likely to use
the information to turn the heat on Mayawati, whom it had earlier
accused of squandering public money on grandiose projects.

According to Congress, the state government spent the money during
2007-2009. Mayawati's spending spree on statues and parks has already
drawn flak from Supreme Court which has stayed such projects.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief had thumbed her nose at the
Congress last week accepting two huge garlands of cash that the latter
claimed was an outrageous exhibition of greed.

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[ZESTCaste] Chhattisgarh panel wants quotas raised to 71 percent

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[ZESTCaste] Demand for releasing Ambedkar movie in TN

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Demand+for+releasing+Ambedkar+movie+in+TN&artid=5TE6YJu/6Us=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=

Demand for releasing Ambedkar movie in TN

Express News ServiceFirst Published : 23 Mar 2010 04:02:00 AM ISTLast
Updated : 23 Mar 2010 06:26:21 AM IST

CHENNAI: All India Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday demanded
immediate release of the Tamil version of a film which portrays the
life history of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.

The movie hit the screens across the country except TN a decade ago.
However, no political party which boasts of following the ideals of
Ambedkar seems to have raised the issue.

"The inordinate delay in releasing the movie on one of the greatest
leaders that India has ever produced is nothing less than prevalence
of untouchability in film industry," charged N Sethuraman, president
of the AMMK here on Monday. " Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was made in
English and dubbed in a slew of Indian languages including Tamil," he
recalled.

Directed by Jabbar Patel, the movie was produced by the National Film
Development Corporation in association with Union Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment and Maharashtra government, in which Mammootty
played the role of Ambedkar.

He urged the TN government to come forward to release the movie.
"Otherwise, we are ready to purchase the rights and screen it in the
State," he said.

'MK does not deserve award'

The Makkal Desam Katchi (MDK) has said it would oppose the conferment
on the 'Ambedkar Sudar' award to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Pointing to the SC/ST Commission's remark that Tamil Nadu witnessed
the seventh highest rate of atrocities against Dalits, MDK president
Sathai A Packiaraj said the government was yet to react to the remark.

"Karunanidhi does not deserve the award which itself is an attempt to
distract attention from the SC/ST Commission's revelation," said
Packiaraj. VCK leader Thirumavalavan had announced the award to the
DMK patriarch just a day after the SC/ST Commission recommended that
the TN government take steps to curb the atrocities against Dalits

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[ZESTCaste] Reservation: policy and implementation

http://www.hindu.com/br/2010/03/23/stories/2010032351271700.htm

Reservation: policy and implementation

V. K. NATRAJ

RESERVATION POLICY AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION ACROSS DOMAINS IN INDIA:
Niranjan Sahoo; Academic Foundation, 4772-73/23 Bharat Ram Road (23
Ansari Road), Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 595.

This slim volume is an attempt to assess the seriousness with which
the Indian state has implemented programmes of affirmative action. The
emphasis is on detailing the various components of such programmes and
examining their effectiveness through published data. While the aim is
laudable, it needs to be said at the outset that the work has fallen
between two stools — its analysis is not incisive enough to hold the
interest of an informed reader, nor does it serve as an introduction
to the interested but essentially lay audience.

Data

First, let us see what the book's strengths are. There are data on a
spectrum of issues relating to affirmative action such as the status
of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Other Backward
Classes in political institutions from the local bodies to the
StateLegislatures and Parliament, and in relation to parameters like
literacy, education, and employment. The information is collated from
authentic sources. In this sense, it will be useful for any student
who wants to have a quick access to data. Of course, there are other
such books. But this indeed is a positive feature.

Another positive element relates to the questions it raises for
further inquiry. But then, the work has important limitations here.
Principally, Niranjan Sahoo makes no attempt to situate his analysis
against a large canvas such as the changes that have taken place in
the economy and the role of the state, which is getting diluted.

With the state ceasing to be the main employer of the educated classes
and with the market-friendly paradigm quite firmly in place, the
policy of 'positive discrimination' (a term that is, at least in the
opinion of this reviewer, more appropriate for the Indian context than
'affirmative action') confronts new challenges.

To be fair to him, the author does make a reference to this aspect as
well as to the relative neglect that the various other forms of
positive discrimination have suffered compared to reservation in
employment, which has occupied the centre stage for too long. The work
would have turned out to be much more impressive, if only the entire
analysis had been housed in this framework.

There are other problems as well. The author rightly discerns a
north-south divide with respect to the policy of reservations. But he
fails to observe that in Karnataka, for instance, the displacement of
Brahmins as the hegemonic class led to the emergence of 'hegemony' by
the dominant among the backward classes, which in turn triggered a
protest movement of sorts in the late 1960s — and this was utilised
astutely by Devaraj Urs.

Also difficult to comprehend is Sahoo's bland assertion that in
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala the OBCs outperform the upper castes
in higher education and in accessing jobs. The root of the problem
must lie in the author's inability to make nuanced distinctions among
the OBCs. In States like Karnataka, this is a major issue.

Observations

There are some interesting, indeed sometimes insightful, observations.
One such is that the STs perform better than the SCs in higher
education, although, disappointingly, no attempt is made to take a
closer look at it. This also goes for the data on enrolment in higher
education, course-wise and caste-wise. Elsewhere, some of the
information provided is difficult to digest. For instance, his
statement that the IITs have been providing reservation for the SCs
and the STs "since 1973 as per the constitutional provisions of 15 per
cent for the SCs and 7.2 per cent for the STs". There appears to be
some confusion here, between a constitutional mandate and (presumably)
a government order, since the percentages are not constitutionally
mandated.

Among the interesting issues raised for discussion is the one relating
to the woefully small number of SCs/STs securing positions in the
non-reserved category — therein lies the "true test" of empowerment.

On the whole, the book is useful in some ways but falls short in
offering compelling insights.

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[ZESTCaste] The Maharashtra experience is that more women in positions of power will make the system gender-sensitive.

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20100409270712100.htm

COVER STORY

Power to resist

ANISHA PADHEE

The Maharashtra experience is that more women in positions of power
will make the system gender-sensitive.

PTI

The landmark Women's Reservation Bill got passed in the Rajya Sabha
after a long battle. While it has been a huge triumph in the face of
overwhelming odds, there are still many hurdles, put up by intraparty
and interparty politics and vested interests, to be overcome.

Amidst all the opposition and hullabaloo, one needs to think seriously
about the fact that passing of the Bill in Parliament will be a
historic and momentous decision that will pave the way for a
gender-just society. Women's active participation in politics will
have ripple effects in the social arena as well, changing gender
dynamics for the better. Every issue, whether developmental, social or
economic, will be seen from the gender perspective. Moreover, it will
mean that there will be stringent action by the state against
discrimination and violence against women.

The track record of the state in preventing violence against women has
been dubious. In one incident in Maharashtra, a 16-year-old tribal
girl was allegedly raped by two policemen on the premises of the
police station in Chandrapur district. In this case, Tukaram and
Another vs State of Maharashtra (1978), the Sessions Court acquitted
the defendants stating that the girl was "habituated to sexual
intercourse" and her consent was voluntary, and under the
circumstances only sexual intercourse could be proved and not rape.
The Bombay High Court set aside this judgment and sentenced the
accused, but unfortunately this verdict was reversed by the Supreme
Court, which acquitted the policemen.

The Delhi High Court infamously stated in Harvinder Kaur vs Harmander
Singh (1983) thus: "Introduction of constitutional law in the home is
the most inappropriate. It is like introducing a bull in a china
shop…. In the privacy of the home and the married life neither Article
21 nor Article 14 has any place." Of course, the state's response to
violence against women has come a long way from that. While more women
in positions of power will not necessarily ensure prompt
responsiveness on the part of the state towards violence, it will
definitely open the doors for more dialogue with women's groups and
organisations to bring in the gender perspective into all areas of
decision-making.

Many argue that the Bill will be misused as women will be mere puppets
in the hands of men. It is not true. Similar concerns were raised
during the discussions on the 73rd and 74th amendments, which reserved
seats for women in panchayati raj institutions and urban local
self-governments. While the first few years following the amendments
were rocky because it was difficult for women to cope with the
structure, functioning and planning process of panchayati raj, many
organisations in Maharashtra, such as the Resource and Support Centre
for Development, the P.V. Mandlik Trust, and Manavlok, came together
to train women in overcoming these hurdles. This resulted in women
making positive changes on the socio-political scene. The panchayats
are churning out able women leaders. The same trend will be observed
in Parliament as well.

Maharashtra has always been considered a progressive State
economically, socially and politically. It was the first State to come
out with a policy supporting reservation for women in politics. It was
also the first State where the police force took a major step towards
empowering women by opening all mainstream duties to them, in 1994.
Apart from these, Maharashtra is considered one of the safest States
for women in India. The State passed the Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act in 1988 as a
result of work done by various groups. It was subsequent to this, in
1994, that the Central Act was passed.

Despite this history of progressive attitude towards women,
Maharashtra has been in the news for the wrong reasons in the past few
years. According to the report "Crime in Maharashtra 2008", brought
out by the Maharashtra State Crimes Record Bureau, compared with 2007,
crimes against women have increased by 5.42 per cent. A specific
increase of 900 cases was reported at the State level in 2008. Cases
of cruelty by the husband and his relatives increased by 6.4 per cent
and molestation cases increased by 9.47 per cent. As many as 1,558
cases of rape were registered, a 7.37 per cent increase. Mumbai alone
accounted for 9.3 per cent of all crimes committed against women, the
highest share in the State. Of all cases charged under the Indian
Penal Code, 8.31 per cent were crimes against women. A recent report
states that Maharashtra has a higher crime rate against women than
Bihar.

So, is Maharashtra steadily losing its status of being the safest
State for women? No, on the contrary, it is safer for women here than
elsewhere because the high rate at which crimes are reported indicates
the confidence of women here in state agencies such as the police.
More and more women, be they from rural or urban areas, are breaking
their silence and reporting violence against them to the police. Even
domestic violence cases, which were the least reported, have shown a
consistent increase in the number of cases reported, reflecting the
changing mindset of women and their determination to end such
violence.

The participation of civil society in fighting discrimination and
violence against women is also tremendous in Maharashtra.
Historically, Maharashtra has witnessed the rise of women such as
Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde, Savitribai Phule, Anandibai Joshi and
Durgabai Deshmukh who were at the forefront of reformist movements in
the country and fought for the rights of women. For any women's
movement to be successful, the participation of men is equally
important. People such as Acharya Balshastri Jambhekar, who fought
actively against the practice of sati and female infanticide; Dhondo
Keshav Karve, who dedicated his life to the cause of women's
education; and Jyotiba Phule, who revolted against the caste system
and upheld the cause of untouchables and education of women of the
lower castes, were champions of women's causes.

Even today, various groups, along with non-governmental organisations
and community-based organisations, are in the forefront of the battle
against discrimination and violence against women. Their services
include providing counselling, legal aid and medical help; forming
women's groups and empowering them; and lobbying and advocacy. More
and more interventions are made in collaboration with state agencies
such as the police and the Department of Women and Child Development
(DWCD).

D.B. PATIL

On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14, 2009, activists of
the Savitribai Mahila Mandal in Belgaum re-emphasising the need for
continuing the movement initiated by the 19th century social reformer
Savitribai Phule for the empowerment of women.

The State government is taking initiatives to make the system more
gender-sensitive. It has recognised the need for collaborating with
civil society organisations to deliver meaningful service to women.
The result is institutionalised services. The Special Cell for Women
and Children is one such institutionalised service. It was established
in 1984 by the Mumbai Police and the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai, to provide professional support services to women
facing violence. In the past two and a half decades, the Special Cell
has provided services to countless women and has shown that a
strategic alliance with the police can make a significant impact on
women's search for support and justice. "Recognising her pain and the
reality of the violence she faces, social workers at the Special Cell
are trained to bolster a woman's sense of self as she takes the first
step towards ending such violence," said Trupti Panchal, coordinator
of the Special Cell.

The project was taken over by the Government of Maharashtra under the
ambit of the DWCD in 2005. From just one cell in 1984 at the Police
Commissionerate in Mumbai, it has now grown to 20 cells across
Maharashtra. The Haryana, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh governments, too,
have adopted the model. In fact, in a 2003 report, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against
Women, said the Special Cell model was considered one of the most
effective strategies to deal with violence against women worldwide.

The 103 helpline of the Mumbai Police, too, reflects the State's
proactive role in ending violence against women. In December 2007,
when two women were molested outside a five-star hotel on New Year's
Eve, Akshara and 12 other women's organisations, along with [actor and
political activist] Shabana Azmi, approached the Mumbai Police
Commissioner demanding stringent action against acts of violence
against women. This concerted campaign resulted in the launch of the
toll-free 103 police helpline to report crimes against women, children
and senior citizens, on February 28, 2008, by the Mumbai Police in
collaboration with the Campaign against Violence against Women and
Girls (VAW Campaign).

Akshara took up the initiative in 2008 to ensure the smooth
functioning of the helpline by training the police staff, and launched
a media campaign in collaboration with the advertising agency Leo
Burnett to spread awareness about the helpline. "Over the past two
years, the helpline has taken action in 2,810 cases, out of which
1,623 were of domestic violence and 516 were of eve-teasing. It has
helped in a way that women who face any kind of harassment, either at
home or in colleges or in workplaces, feel confident about approaching
the authorities to complain about their problems and seek justice,"
said Police Commissioner D. Sivanandan at the recent launch of the new
media campaign of 103.

Whenever a woman calls the helpline, a police van arrives at the scene
within 10 minutes. The fear of prompt action by the police has
deterred many habitual offenders from committing crimes against women.
Focussing on the importance of such a number, Chandra Iyengar,
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in the State, has announced that the
103 helpline, which is currently functional only in Mumbai and Thane,
will become a State-wide toll free number from April.

There have been many progressive decisions with respect to women in
public space this year in Maharashtra. For instance, on March 8, the
government declared that one police station in every district and five
police stations in Mumbai would be headed by women police officers.
This was done to break the glass ceiling within the force and also to
make the force more sensitive to women who approach it.

For a long time, the State had a skewed gender ratio within the
forces. In the police force, only 7 per cent are women. To counter
this, the State Home Ministry also announced the recruitment of more
women into the force as police drivers. This shows the State's
increasing acknowledgement of gender justice across all spheres of
public and private life. May 1 will mark the Golden Jubilee of
Maharashtra as a State. With the Women's Bill almost on the threshold
of being passed, this year could be the golden year for women in India
as well.

Anisha Padhee is an activist with Akshara, a women's resource centre
working on issues of gender and social justice. The article has inputs
from Nandita Shah, co-director of Akshara.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Upper-caste conspiracy’

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20100409270701000.htm

COVER STORY

'Upper-caste conspiracy'

PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI

Interview with Sharad Yadav, Janata Dal (United) president.

S. SUBRAMANIUM

J.D. (United) leader Sharad Yadav (right), Samajwadi Party leader
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, talk
to the media after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 9.

Sharad Yadav, the Janata Dal (United) president, warned that the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government might fall over the
Women's Reservation Bill issue. He said "we will fight" against the
passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha in its present form. "We will
allow reservation for women only when a quota within the quota, for
Dalit, OBC and minority community women, is incorporated. In that case
we will not mind if the reservation is even 50 per cent," he said in
an interview to Frontline. Excerpts:

What is your objection to the Bill?

We want representation for women belonging to the really depressed
classes. The Bill does not reflect the true picture of Bharat. It
gives no representation to women from the majority bloc of Dalits,
OBCs and minority communities, who constitute 90 per cent of the
population of women. If we allow the Bill to be passed in its present
form, the seats will be captured by a handful of upper-caste women
associated with non-governmental organisations. Women political
workers who have evolved through a long period of struggle in the
political process will be left behind. This Bill is a well-planned
upper-caste conspiracy to reduce Dalit, OBC and minority
representation in the Lok Sabha and in the Assemblies. We will not let
this happen.

But with both the BJP and the Left parties supporting the Bill, the
majority is in favour of passing it. How will you stop its passage
because you hardly have more than 50 MPs with you?

It is a misnomer to say that the majority is in favour of the Bill.
All MPs, cutting across caste and party lines, are scared of losing
their seats, but they are too scared to speak out. In private, they
all beg us to protect their seats. For an MP, his constituency is as
dear to him as his life and he will cling to it until his last breath.
An overwhelming number of MPs are on our side on the issue although
they may not say so.

But these MPs are bound by the party whip. Then how will you prevent
the Bill's passage?

There is something called conscience vote, too. It happened once
during Indira Gandhi's time. It can happen again. There is a revolt
brewing within all parties.

But the government did get the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. It can
do the same in the Lok Sabha too – use marshals to remove the
protesting MPs.

We will see how they get the Bill passed with the help of the
marshals. We will fight and will make the entire country rise in
protest against the Bill. If they try to force the Bill on the people,
it will create tension between communities.

Dalits, backward castes and minorities have suffered the hegemony of
upper-caste people for centuries but we will not allow that to
continue. We will fight and fight to the finish. Yuddh hoga [There
will be war]. The government might even fall.

But why such stiff opposition? Why don't you first allow the passage
of the Bill in its present form and then press for quota within quota?

Very good. You are asking us to allow them to behead us first. What is
left after that? Unless they reserve seats for Dalits, OBCs and
minorities, we will not allow the Bill to be passed.

The government says quota within quota is not constitutionally possible.

Women's reservation, too, is not constitutionally possible, but is the
government not amending the Constitution for this purpose? Why can't
they amend it simultaneously to provide for quota within quota.

Would that not delay the entire process?

So what? Besides, there will not be any delay if there is a will to
give representation to the really suppressed woman, who toils in the
fields, who gets raped by upper-caste people, who is not allowed to
draw water from the same well as the upper-caste people, who is kept
like a slave all her life. This is an upper-caste conspiracy to keep
the lower castes suppressed forever.

Even the Left parties, which have always stood up for social justice,
are supporting the Bill in its present form. How will you explain
their support if what you are saying is true?

Who are the leaders in the Left parties? All upper-caste people. They
have always opposed all other forms of reservation but are supporting
this now because they all come from the upper castes.

You seem to have a basic distrust of all those who are supporting the Bill.

Why not? We have suffered centuries of discrimination by upper-caste
people. There is no reason to trust them now. We want everything in
black and white, clearly spelt out. If their intention is actually to
give representation to women who are deprived or suppressed, then let
them give a quota within the quota.

If the government agrees to your demand for a quota within quota, will
you then agree for 33 per cent reservation?

By all means. In that case, they can even increase it to 50 per cent,
we will not mind. All we are saying is that the majority among the
suppressed women should get representation.

Alternatively, they can also leave it to the political parties, even
that is acceptable to us. But this Bill is not acceptable to us under
any circumstances because it is against all norms of political
morality. There was no survey, no commission. How did the government
arrive at this arbitrary figure without thinking about its
implications?

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[ZESTCaste] Fascinating account of rebellious movements

http://www.hindu.com/br/2010/03/23/stories/2010032351051600.htm

Fascinating account of rebellious movements

NALINI RAJAN

The events in this fascinating book took place in the 1850s and 1860s
across three countries — Britain, the United States, and India.
Rajmohan Gandhi's descriptions of those events are graphic. If the
American civil war centred on the issue of slavery, the Indian sepoy
revolt exposed the class and caste divisions in civil society. In both
cases, the British government, headed by myopic men like Lord
Palmerston, acted ungraciously and undemocratically.

Despite its human rights' rhetoric, Britain refused to support Abraham
Lincoln's anti-slavery stance, hoping for the bifurcation of America
and the monopoly of the southern cotton trade. Without the leadership
of a Lincoln-like figure, the Indian rebels — including Nana Sahib,
Tatya Tope, Firoz Shah, and Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi — lacked focus
on issues of governance. Equally, they were vulnerable to charges
(some true, some fabricated) of massacring British women and children.
Except for Nana Sahib, who escaped to an unknown destination, the
rebel leaders were killed in battle or executed. In the aftermath of
the 1857 revolt, Indians were derisively dubbed 'niggers' by the
colonial British. What is more, alarmed by the Hindu-Muslim unity
displayed during the revolt, the British resorted to the 'divide and
rule' policy by fostering suspicion and rivalry between the two
communities.

Record

Extraordinarily, both the 1857 Indian sepoy revolt and the American
civil war (1861-1865) were witnessed and recorded by William Howard
Russell of The Times (in London), a travelling Irish journalist and a
celebrity of sorts having been acquainted with well-known writers such
as Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Anthony Trollope.

It was probably because Russell had sympathy for the underdog that he
aroused the ire of some of his more conservative contemporaries. In a
letter, titled 'The Sahib and the Nigger', to The Times on August 28,
1858, Russell noted astutely that "The habit of speaking of all
natives as niggers has recently become quite common … Every man of the
mute, white-turbaned file who with crossed arms, glistening eyes and
quick ears stands motionless along the mess-room table, hears it every
time a native is named, knows it to be an expression of contempt." And
while witnessing the auction of a young African slave in Montgomery,
he wrote in the newspaper: "There is no sophistry which could persuade
me the man was not a man — he was, indeed, by no means my brother, but
assuredly he was a fellow-creature."

Views

Apart from giving Russell's accounts of the two revolts, Gandhi puts
together the views of the American and Indian sides about each other's
rebellions. American commentators started out with expression of
sympathy for the sepoys, but soon sided with Britain, following
reports of the massacres of white women and children. On the Indian
side, pro-abolitionist opinions were voiced by the literate elite, who
were all too conscious of the trials and tribulations of being called
'niggers'.

It is observations like these that make for great reading.
Unfortunately, Gandhi includes, in the opening and closing chapters,
tedious interludes on thinkers like Leo Tolstoy, Bankimchandra
Chatterjee, Sayyid Ahmed Khan, Allan Octavian Hume, and Ishwarchandra
Vidyasagar, who had little or nothing to say about the two revolts.
While it is true that Karl Marx and Jotiba Phule followed these events
with great interest, the ideas of both could have easily — and
elegantly — been woven into the main narrative. By tightly editing the
manuscript and weeding out the superfluous portions, Gandhi could have
greatly enhanced the value of his book.

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[ZESTCaste] Cut off by caste

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100409270703000.htm

COVER STORY

Cut off by caste

MEERA VELAYUDHAN

Dalit women's concerns about social acceptance and specific forms of
discrimination need a nuanced approach.

Since the mid-1990s, Dalit women's groups and platforms have expressed
three concerns: impact of state policies, patriarchal bias of Dalit
movements, and upper-caste/middle-class leadership of the women's
movement. Since then concerted efforts have been made to highlight
these through common actions and other forms of engagement. These have
led to wider alliances not only at the national level but also
internationally, with other marginalised sections and communities
facing specific forms of discrimination. This approach has also led to
the inclusion of caste discrimination in various United Nations
conventions to which national governments, such as India's, are
signatory and hence need to respond with time-bound reports, action
plans and mechanisms.

On the other hand, Dalit women's concerns are now a specific but
integral component of informed interventions, be it by international
bodies such as CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women), the European Parliament and the
Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, where parallel
reports are presented, or by civil society platforms such as the World
Social Forum or conferences of women's groups in India, or in
discussions around the Union Budget and the 11th Plan.

More recently, climate change financing and governance mechanisms are
being addressed in terms of the differential impacts of climate change
on communities that play a key role in sectors that are most likely to
witness changes – agriculture and water resources – as well as face
historical disadvantages. Yet, the grim reality of Dalit women's lives
persists.

Social acceptance and the multilayered nature of the caste system
inform not only the social but also the economic and occupational
aspects of the lives of Dalit women. Their occupational pattern is
impacted by resource rights such as land and credit, access to
education and modern skills, and restrictions on labour mobility.
Several village studies (Thorat, 2005) have pointed to exclusion in
the hiring of labour and low wage rates, the discrimination being
greater in the case of Dalit women than men. According to the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) Report (2007) "Equality at
Work – Tackling the Challenges", with limited access to education,
training, and resources including land and credit, Dalits are
generally not considered for any work involving contact with food and
water meant for non-Dalits. They also face discrimination in a wide
range of work opportunities in both the public and private sectors.

A persistent form of discrimination in South Asia has been caste
based, the report states, pointing to the continuing practice of
Dalits being engaged in the most menial jobs of clearing excreta and
removing dead animals. Thus, social origin becomes a powerful obstacle
to equal opportunity not only in highly stratified societies but also
where social segmentation is less rigid, since action to overcome this
barrier covers a range of sectors and policy measures that need
coordination between, and the competence of, different areas of
government.

A study (Action Aid, 2000) of 555 villages in 11 States, including
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Gujarat, held that in 36 per
cent of the villages, Dalits were denied casual work in agriculture.
Denial of use of water sources (well, pond and tubewell) and
restrictions on access to common property resources (grazing land,
fish ponds and other resources) in 21 per cent of the villages
affected Dalit women's entitlement to medicinal and food plants and
increased their burden of household tasks. Also, Dalits were denied
the right of sale of vegetables and milk in the village cooperatives
or to private sellers.

A study of water accessibility in eight villages in Gujarat (Soni,
Jayashree, 2006) indicates the hardship and humiliation Dalit women
face in the collection of water. Dalit women wanted separate water
spots or sumps to avoid quarrels at the time of collection and over
the location of collection.

In Kanpar village, a separate tank was allocated to Dalits. After a
few years, when upper-caste women found out that Dalit women collected
more water in less time, since their number was small, they began to
push aside the Dalit women, forgetting untouchability, and turned the
water tap into a "general" tap, with Dalit women having to stand
aside. Studies conducted in the same villages in the 1970s and late
1990s had pointed to the prevalence of a similar practice of denial of
access to water resources.

Food security

Considering food security as an entitlement, the public distribution
system (PDS) and the midday meal scheme (MMS) assume significance for
Dalit women in ensuring the survival of their households and education
for children, in particular daughters. A survey (Thorat & Lee, 2010)
conducted in 531 villages in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu exposed patterns of caste-based exclusion and
discrimination in the government's MMS and PDS. In Rajasthan and Tamil
Nadu, the MMS is predominantly located in dominant-caste localities.

In Uttar Pradesh, the distribution of dry grain to children of
government schools takes place in dominant-caste localities in 90 per
cent of the respondent villages, while in only 10 per cent of the
villages the distribution is conducted in Dalit localities. Access can
also be conditional and depend on the state of inter-caste power
relations. Often, Dalit children's access to the MMS is cut off by
dominant castes to assert their domination. The opposition to Dalit
cooks, mainly women, also represents a power struggle over livelihood
rights, that is, Dalit entry into new livelihood domains such as
government employment as MMS cooks at the village level.

Intrinsic to these denials and exclusions is violence, in particular
against Dalit women and girls. A study of 500 women (Irudayam,
Mangubhai, Lee, 2006) from 32 panchayat unions/blocks/mandals in 17
districts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, and
Uttar Pradesh showed that the most frequent forms of violence included
verbal abuse (62.4 per cent), physical assault (54.8 per cent), sexual
harassment and assault (46.8 per cent), domestic violence (43 per
cent) and rape (23.2 per cent). Other forms of violence included
forced sex work, kidnapping, medical negligence, sexual exploitation
and child sexual abuse.

The multiple sites of abuse included public spaces, home, workplace,
the perpetrator's home and government offices. Those who inflict
violence included dominant-caste landlords, police and forest
officials, business persons, goondas and thugs, professionals, those
involved in politics, other dominant caste members and other Dalit
persons. The issues included Dalit women's perceived sexual
availability, rejection of sexual advances and attempt to leave forced
sex work; women breaking caste norms, accessing resources, speaking
up, and participation in religious and cultural life; arrest of family
members; and women's assertion of their rights to
land/wages/forests/common property resources, indebtedness, upward
social mobility, exercise of political rights, failure to be dutiful
wives, failure to bear sons, control over earned income, inheriting
marital property, or showing the spirit of independence.

In 40.2 per cent of the cases, women were unable to secure justice
from the law and the community. Women were also prevented from seeking
justice by the perpetrators, the police and sometimes even by family
members. Only in 1.6 per cent of the cases were women able to secure
informal form of justice. The study highlighted the need for
government policy that understood the intersection of caste and
gender.

Role in Panchayats

Another study (Irudayam, Mangubhai, Sydenham, 2009) on women's role in
panchayats in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat shows that only one-third of the
200 women researched were able to, with support, act with freedom to
win panchayat elections. Eighty-five per cent were pushed into
panchayat politics by dominant castes or husbands (as proxy), and only
one-third of the 119 panchayat presidents were able to work with
freedom, with only 35.3 per cent of them calling panchayat meetings,
31.9 per cent chairing the meetings, and 27 per cent voluntarily
signing resolutions. Only 21 per cent voluntarily authorised panchayat
payments and only 23.5 per cent approved contracts for panchayats.
Among the representatives who served as proxies, about 59 per cent
served as proxies to husband/male relatives, and others to people of
the dominant castes and political parties. Over 52.4 per cent of the
166 panchayat presidents and members attended many or all meetings,
while only half of them raised development-related issues.

In the case of over half of the 90 women who raised issues, the issues
were not discussed or approved. Dominant-caste members used abusive
language or refused to share information with Dalit women
representatives and prevented them from speaking.

Separate seating arrangements and pressure to stand up before
dominant-caste members and use separate utensils for tea or food
during meetings were the other discriminatory practices. The status of
being a proxy, fear, lack of confidence, lack of knowledge, poor level
of education, and traditional caste and gender roles were cited as
related issues that led to low political participation, according to
120 Dalit women (72.3 per cent) members.

Lack of access and entitlements to resources leads to the denial of
rights, such as the rights to livelihoods and civil rights, mainly
through varied forms of violence, thereby affecting Dalit women's
ability to protect and assert themselves. The lack of rights to
justice and protection by the law, in the context of violence and
denials that Dalit women face, reinforces the caste hierarchies and
the unequal power relations in society. Hence, addressing Dalit
women's rights remains key to building an egalitarian society.

Meera Velayudhan works as Policy Analyst (Gender and Culture) at the
Centre for Environment and Social Concerns (CECS), Ahmedabad. She has
been involved in gender studies and advocacy since the 1980s and is
currently part of women and land rights networks, both in Gujarat and
at the South Asia level.

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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