Friday, March 26, 2010

[ZESTCaste] It’s still touch and go for SC/ST in Tamil Nadu

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=It%E2%80%99s+still+touch+and+go+for+SC/ST+in+Tamil+Nadu&artid=O1hWAPowSYQ=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=&SEO=Scheduled%20Castes%20Special%20Component%20Plan%20(SCSP)

It's still touch and go for SC/ST in Tamil Nadu

C Shivakumar

First Published : 18 Mar 2010 02:58:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 18 Mar 2010 06:15:50 AM IST

CHENNAI: Periyar would perhaps turn in his grave if he were to look at
Tamil Nadu's annual plan for 2009- 10, which violates the guidelines
of the Planning Commission on the Scheduled Castes Special Component
Plan (SCSP) and the tribal sub-plan (TSP).


In a letter to the State Chief Secretary, Planning Commission's State
plans division's joint secretary T K Pandey said Rs 2,721.62 crore
allocated by the State in its 2009-10 annual plan for the SCSP and Rs
36.36 crore for the TSP did not conform with the guidelines of the
Commission.

"The proportion of SC population is 19 per cent and of ST is one per
cent as per the 2001 census.

Based on this, the government should have earmarked Rs 3,250 crore for
SCSP and Rs 175 crore for TSP," the letter argued.

However, this seems feasible only on paper and things hardly go by the
rule book. Funds either lapse or are diverted for other developmental
schemes, says Father Irudaya Kumar, research consultant of Social
Watch, Tamil Nadu.

In 2005, Rs 500 crore was spent under the SCSP plan. Over the years,
the State claims to have spent over Rs 2,500 crore on welfare schemes
for SC. But, budget analysts say this is more an act of jugglery than
a real expansion in fund flow.

The State's annual plans of 1996-2009 show that Rs 14,224 crore has
been denied to Dalits. Several SC suspect that funds were diverted for
purchasing TVs and for building the new Secretariat complex.


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[ZESTCaste] BJP against convert Dalit quota

http://www.indiablooms.com/NewsDetailsPage/newsDetails260310m.php

BJP against convert Dalit quota
India Blooms News Service

New Delhi, Mar 26 (IBNS): With the National Religious and Linguistic
Minorities Commission's recommendations receiving a thrust forward
with the Supreme Court Thursday lending its support for Muslim
reservation in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP on Friday built a strong case
against reservation based on religion, citing the opposition to such a
move by even the builders of the nation.


The Commission's recommendations, if accepted, will force Scheduled
Castes (SCs) to share their reservation in government jobs and
political fields with convert Christians and Muslims, which the
government wants in their vested interests, BJP national spokesperson
Ramnath Kovind said.

The National Religious and Linguistic Minorities Commission was
constituted by the Central government on October 29, 2004, and its
report was placed on the floor of both houses of the Parliament on
December 18, 2009.

Justice Rangnath Mishra was the Chairman of the Commission so the
Commission is known by his name as Rangnath Mishra Commission.

Kovind pointed that the report of the Commission is not unanimous.

The Commission, inter alia, made recommendations to give 15 per cent
reservation to minorities under Backward Class quota in education,
government employment and social welfare schemes. Out of this 15
percent reservation, 10 percent reservation has been recommended to
Muslim Community and remaining 5 percent to other minority
communities.

The Commission had further recommended to include convert Dalit
Christian and Dalit Muslims in the list of Scheduled Castes. At
present convert Christians and Muslims are getting reservation in
government jobs under Backward Class categories.

"Their special interest is not in getting reservation in government
jobs, they want SC category reservation for contesting elections from
village Panchayats to the Lok Sabha," Kovind said.

The BJP spokesperson maintained that the demand for including convert
Christians in SC list was rejected several times since it was first
raised in 1936 after the Poona Pact.

"All senior leaders including Ambedkar, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar
Patel, C Rajagopalachari had rejected the demand saying that no
religious follower other than a Hindu can be granted any reservation
as so-called SC have been suffering from untouchability and social
discrimination for centuries," Kovind said, referring to the leaders'
reaction when a similar demand was placed before the Constituent
Assembly.

"Moreover the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had out rightly
rejected the demand of religion-based reservation in his letter
addressed to all the Chief Ministers on June 27, 1961," he added.

Governments in the post-Independence era have also failed to muster
support for such a reservation, with the National Scheduled Castes and
Tribes Commission under the Chairmanship of Karnataka Congress Leader
Hanumanthappa also rejecting the demand of including convert
Christians and Muslims in the list of SCs, Kovind said.

"The Supreme Court had clearly opined through its various decisions
that convert Dalit Christians and Muslims cannot be equated with SCs,"
he added.

The BJP leader also maintained that Convert Dalit Chirstians and
Muslims are better educated than SCs and hence, reservation in the
same quota will also eat into the other SCs prospects.


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[ZESTCaste] 'Reserve seats for SC, ST, minorities in pvt schools'

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/583435_-Reserve-seats-for-SC--ST--minorities-in-pvt-schools-

'Reserve seats for SC, ST, minorities in pvt schools'

STAFF WRITER 21:3 HRS IST
New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) A House Committee of Delhi Assembly today
recommended reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes, OBC and minorities in private schools and other technical
institutions which were given land by the government free of cost or
at nominal rates.

The report of the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes, OBC and Minorities was tabled in the assembly today.

Headed by Congress legislator Malaram Gangwal, the committee also
recommended that the caste of a child be mentioned in the birth
certificate and that it should be considered as caste certificate.

"Often students eligible for scholarships find it very difficult to
get the caste certificate from the government officials. We recommend
that the birth certificate mentioning the caste be considered as caste
certificate," said the report.

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[ZESTCaste] Islam, Christianity alien, so cannot get quota: BJP

 

http://sify.com/news/Islam-Christianity-alien-so-cannot-get-quota-BJP-news-National-kd0t4cfidaj.html

IANS
Islam, Christianity alien, so cannot get quota: BJP

2010-03-26 19:30:00

'Islam and Christianity are alien' to India and, therefore, the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) feels people from the minority groups,
even if their socio-economic condition is low, should not be given the
privilege of quota in jobs, legislative bodies and education, a party
official said Friday.

At a press conference here, BJP's newly-appointed spokesperson Ramnath
Kovind called for scrapping of the Ranganath Misra commission report
that recommends 15 percent quota in government jobs for socially and
economically backward sections among religious and linguistic
minorities in India.

The National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, headed
by Justice Ranganath Misra, former chief justice of India, has in its
report also recommended inclusion of Muslim and Christian converts as
Scheduled Castes and given a quota to that category.

'No, that is not possible,' said Kovind. 'Including Muslims and
Christians in the Scheduled Castes category will be unconstitutional.'

Asked how Sikh Dalits were enjoying the quota privilege in the same
category, Kovind said: 'Islam and Christianity are alien to the
nation.'

He said that 'it is very well known' that convert Dalit Christians and
Muslims get better education in convent schools.

'The educational level of Scheduled Caste children remains much lower
than that of convert Dalits and Muslims. The children of converts will
grab major share of reservation in government jobs. They would become
eligible to contest elections on seats reserved for Scheduled Castes.
This would encourage conversion and fatally destroy the fabric of
Indian society,' he said.

'The Misra commission report should be scrapped because (its
recommendations) will jeopardise the interests of Scheduled Castes,'
he said.

The Misra panel report, which was tabled in parliament Dec 18, 2009,
has defined religious and linguistic minorities as backward classes
and recommended 15 percent reservation for all minorities in jobs,
education and welfare schemes.

Of India's 1.2 billion population, Muslims form the largest minority
at close to 14 percent, followed by Christians at 2.3 percent, Sikhs
at 1.9 percent, Buddhists at 0.8 percent, Jains at 0.4 percent and
others including Parsis at 0.6 percent.

'Within the recommended 15 percent earmarked seats in institutions
shall be 10 percent for the Muslims and the remaining 5 percent for
the other minorities,' the report had suggested.

The recommendations have triggered a row with Hindu parties severely
opposing it. The government itself is doubtful about the
implementation of the recommendations.

However, the Supreme Court in a ruling Thursday gave legitimacy to
minority reservation by allowing four percent quota in jobs for
backward Muslims in Andhra Pradesh. This could give a push to the
Congress to go ahead with implementing the Ranganath Misra report
recommendations.

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[ZESTCaste] Tribals, Dalits still at the bottom in most indicators

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article306534.ece

NEW DELHI, March 26, 2010

Tribals, Dalits still at the bottom in most indicators
Aarti Dhar

Indigenous groups and Dalits continue to be at the bottom in most
indicators of well-being, the Muslims and the Other Backward Classes
(OBCs) occupy the middle rung, while forward caste Hindus and other
minority religions are at the top. The "Human Development in India:
Challenges for a Society in Transition" survey has found this.

These patterns are seen in a variety of indicators, including
household incomes, poverty rates, landownership and agricultural
incomes, health, and education. The group positions are not immutable,
and on some dimensions, there is a difference in rankings.

The Adivasis generally have slightly better health outcomes (reported
short term morbidity and child mortality), particularly in the
northeast where healthcare appears to be of a higher quality.

Similarly, when it comes to education, the Muslims are as
disadvantaged as the Dalits and Adivasis, although their economic
well-being is more at par with that of the OBCs, the survey suggests.

Two major aspects of these group disparities have been highlighted in
the survey report. Firstly, much of this inequality seems to emerge
from differential access to livelihoods. Salaried jobs pay far more
than casual labour or farming, and these jobs elude the disadvantaged
groups for many reasons, including living in rural areas and lower
education. But regardless of the reason, more than three out of 10
forward caste and minority religion men have salaried jobs, compared
with about two out of 10 Muslim, OBC and Dalit men, and even fewer
Adivasi men.

Dalits and Adivasis are further disadvantaged as they either do not
own land, or mainly low-productivity land. Not surprisingly, these
income differences translate into differences in other indicators of
human development.

Secondly, the report points out, future generations seem doomed to
replicate these inequalities because of the continuing differences in
education — both in quality and quantity. In spite of the long history
of positive discrimination policies — reservation in college admission
— social inequalities begin early in primary schools. Thus,
affirmative action remedies are too little and too late by the time
students reach the higher secondary level.

It further says that differences in well-being among social groups are
long established, but a variety of contemporary forces have conspired
to sustain and sometimes exacerbate these inequalities. Dalits have
long laboured at the margins of a society that depends on that labour,
but that has often excluded them. Although some Adivasis in the
northeast fared better, other Adivasis living in extremely remote
locations have been left out of the recent economic progress or forced
to migrate, only to work as low paid labourers. In some cases, such as
for the OBCs and the Muslims, historical disadvantages have been
exacerbated by structural shifts. A decline in artisan incomes has
affected the Muslims disproportionately, while agricultural stagnation
has affected the OBCs.


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[ZESTCaste] SC/ST Action Council to organise Parliament March on April20

 

http://www.zeenews.com/news614296.html

SC/ST Action Council to organise Parliament March on April20

Updated on Friday, March 26, 2010, 16:39 IST
Kochi: Kerala Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Action Council has
decided to resort to agitation demanding rejection of Justice
Ranganatha Mishra Commission report.

Speaking to mediapersons here today, Punnala Sreekumar, General
Secretary, Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS), alleged that the report
will affect the SC and ST badly and hence the report should be
rejected.

They have also decided to organise a national convention on April 19
at Delhi and a parliament March on April 20 in this connection, he
said.

He said representatives of SC and St Action Council had met Prime
minister Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister A K Antony and Social
Justice minister Mukul Wasnik, Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj and had
submitted memorandums at Delhi last month. They had also met Congress
President Sonia Gandhi.

PTI

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[ZESTCaste] Garland graduates to political lexicon (Opinion)

http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=30623

Garland graduates to political lexicon

Category » Editorial Posted On Thursday, March 25, 2010
Perhaps, the nation should be grateful to 'Behanji' Mayawati, Chief
Minister of UP, for stirring the minds of the people into realising
that the rather humble garland also has political potential. It should
shake up those who saw it only as a piece of decoration or an object
on view for completing certain festive rituals.
From time immemorial, the garland has played many important roles in
Indian life. The holy occasion of a matrimonial alliance is not
complete without the essential ritual of exchange of oversized
garlands by the bride and the groom. Almost everyday in life there are
special moments where garland are in demand to serve one or the other
of traditional roles.
Whether it is a moment of joy or sorrow--welcoming a guest or saying
farewell to a dear departed soul— you need the garland to make the
right statement. Even a passer-by can tell that it is a festive moment
when a venue is bedecked with garlands; the same person will bow his
head in respect if the bedecked object is a bier.
Most of these garlands are made of a variety of flowers strewn
together around a thick thread, the cost depending upon the price of
the flowery ingredients used. Sometimes, garlands are also prepared
with some materials that are not plucked off a shrub or a plant. It
could be made of paper cut and shaped to look like attractive flowers
or pieces of cloth dyed in different colours.
During the freedom movement, garlands made out of khadi pieces
symbolised the spirit and the determination of the yoked nation to get
the British off their backs. More often than not, the khadi used in
these garlands would have been home spun. Who spins the khadi at home
these days when spinning yarns has turned out to be such a lucrative
craft!
Let there be no misstatement. There have always been garlands made of
currency notes. But they attracted little notice in the past. Probably
because they almost never appeared anywhere other than wedding
ceremonies, involving the families and friends of the bride and the
groom. Or sometimes in temples. In recent years, currency note
garlands have started to appear in profusion at not only nouveau riche
weddings but also at gatherings held to welcome VIPs.
The currency notes used in these garlands have been generally of
smaller denomination, but not the ones earmarked for the politicians
which naturally had to be made of currency notes of no less than Rs
100 and when Rs 500 denomination notes were introduced by the
government they became the norm for the garlands.
It all is a matter of the 'weight' of the politician and no Indian
politician worth his or her name would like to be considered anything
less than a 'heavy weight.' The 'weight' of the politicians keeps
growing— no 'diets' or worries about 'body mass' for them. The Rs 500
notes have given way to Rs 1000 notes, which came into circulation
only in recent years and have been found to be weighty enough to hang
around the necks of our doughty 'netas'.
Those who prepare the garlands of currency notes have to have some
special 'artistic' skills. They should be able to give flowery fluffy
shape to the currency notes to make them look close to the real thing
and truly captivating. One suspects the 'artists' with penchant for
perfection also like to coat the garlands with expensive perfumes that
sooth the olfactory sensitivities of the 'netas' who may have to wear
them for a little while. At least till the time the garlands are
undone and the contents stuffed into the overflowing but secret
vaults. That way there is no danger of special garlands rotting or
decaying.
The garland makers cannot be held guilty of 'misuse' of currency notes
when they mutilate them to give them the shape of favourite flowers.
They do so to enhances the 'aesthetic' appeal of the garlands and it
surely is criminal to dub any act that enhances aesthetics as, well,
criminal.
The Reserve Bank of India might not view with benediction any act of
'misuse' of currency notes but even the RBI mandarins, not to speak of
sundry judicial and police officials know well that theirs is not to
question why anything that has anything to do with raj netas and
mantris (political leaders and ministers).
There should be absolutely no fear of inviting punitive action by
making currency note garlands that are going to transport the earthy
'neta' into a figure of divinity. The stone idols can be garlanded
with currency notes so why not the 'hardworking' earthly figures?
The more you think about currency garlands the more you are likely to
be convinced that it should be hailed as a unique Indian invention
that combines the function of expression of love and veneration with
that of a handy tool for collectively offering material gratitude.
Unlike the misplaced enthusiasm of those who use garlands of currency
notes to mark certain social occasions, its use by political parties
or their workers has lifted the garland from the confines of narrow
ritualistic usage to an instrument for making bold political
statements.
If 'Behenji' Mayawati is able to look back a little she would realise
that much of the noise against all the billions she has spent on those
big statutes of herself and her mentor Kanshi Ram and laying parks
with rows upon rows of marble elephants could have been avoided if she
had been more frequently getting herself garlanded by currency notes.
Naturally, the average cost of each of these garlands would be just a
few crore rupees. In very short time she would have been garlanded
enough to reach the amount that was spent on building the 'memorials'
of marble statues and elephants.
The main point is that the money came not from the exchequer but from
the garlands, which were strewn together by the toiling masses as the
ultimate token of love and affection for their leader. Nobody would
have been in a position to allege that 'Behanji' had squandered state
funds to erect her larger than life statues that vie for attention in
an elephantine ambience in the newly laid sprawling parks in many
places in her naïve Uttar Pradesh.

Atul Cowshish, Syndicate Features


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[ZESTCaste] BSP shows people Sonia Gandhi's money garland

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bsp-shows-people-sonia-gandhi-s-money-garland_1363338

BSP shows people Sonia Gandhi's money garland
Deepak Gidwani / DNA

Thursday, March 25, 2010 19:13 ISTLast updated: Thursday, March 25,
2010 23:50 IST


Lucknow: The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh (UP)
seemed to have put aside all administrative works on Thursday. For,
BSP workers were busy distributing Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's
photographs showing her wearing a garland of currency notes at a
public function.

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Brazenly carrying forward its counter-attack after a controversy
erupted over UP chief minister Mayawati's money garlands, an
unapologetic BSP also distributed photographs of senior BJP leader LK
Advani wearing crowns at various party rallies.
This was part of a purdah-faash (expose) campaign to counter BJP and
Congress, who were critical of the pomp and show at the BSP rally on
March 15.

The Congress was quick to claim that the photo showing Sonia with
money garland was fake.

UP PWD minister and BSP general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui
distributed Sonia's photographs showing her wearing a garland of
thousand-rupee notes at her Delhi residence. He said the garland was
presented to her by Balmiki Dalits. "When leaders of other parties
wear crowns and garlands of bank notes, no one raises a finger, but
when a Dalit's daughter does it, everyone has a problem," he remarked.

Congress termed the BSP offensive "shameful". UP Congress chief Rita
Bahuguna Joshi told reporters that the BSP was resorting to
"disgraceful tactics" to score political points. .
UP BJP president Ramapati Ram Tripathi lashed out at the BSP for
distributing photographs of LK Advani wearing a crown. "Party workers
honour Advaniji on various occasions, but our leaders don't announce
shamelessly that they will wear garlands only made of currency notes,
like Mayawati did," he said angrily.


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[ZESTCaste] Centre supports UP's law on quota in private institutes

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-supports-UPs-law-on-quota-in-private-institutes/articleshow/5724388.cms

Centre supports UP's law on quota in private institutes
Akshaya Mukul, TNN, Mar 26, 2010, 02.48am IST

NEW DELHI: Central government might have shelved the bill proposing
SC/ST/OBC reservation in private higher educational and professional
institutes but it is supporting Uttar Pradesh government's law that
has been challenged in the Allahabad High Court.

Mayawati government had brought a law making reservation mandatory in
private educational institutes including engineering and medical
colleges. It was done as per 93rd Constitution Amendment that inserted
Article 15 (5) in the Constitution and gave freedom to make special
provision by law for SCs/STs/OBCs in matters of admission in
educational institutions including private educational institutions,
whether aided or unaided by the State. Only minority educational
institutions were left out of the purview of reservation. Kerala has
also brought in a similar law, which too has been challenged in court.

HRD ministry sources said they had to support the UP law as it was
within Article 15 (5) of the Constitution.

P S Krishnan, former secretary, social welfare ministry, who piloted
the historic bill giving reservation to OBCs in jobs, welcomed HRD
ministry's support to the UP law but raised the larger question of
when the Centre itself would move that legislation. "It is mandated by
the 93rd Constitution amendment. Government should first bring the
reservation bill for private institutions and then extend it to
foreign education providers who will also be treated as private
universities," he said.

Government has already said that national law will apply to foreign
universities. Since there is no law for reservation in private
universities in India, foreign universities will also be left out.

Krishnan said there was a concerted move by SC/ST/OBC MPs cutting
across party lines to raise the issue of leaving out private
institutions, including foreign universities, out of the purview of
reservation. Already, BJP and Left have objected to the Foreign
Education Providers Bill for not regulating fee and admission and
keeping them out of reservation. Considering that the government does
not have sufficient numbers in Rajya Sabha to pass the foreign
education providers bill, the demand to first regulate Indian private
universities is likely to gain strength in the coming days.

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[ZESTCaste] Women set to control local bodies

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Women+set+to+control+local+bodies&artid=fZYhvgxK89g=&SectionID=7GUA38txp3s=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=zkvyRoWGpmWSxZV2TGM5XQ==&SEO=

Women set to control local bodies

Arun

First Published : 26 Mar 2010 03:48:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 26 Mar
2010 09:09:27 AM IST

CHIEF Minister BS Yeddyurappa has announced in his budget speech that
his government would give 50 per cent reservation to women in all
local bodies. However, this will not come into effect in the Gram
Panchayat elections to be held sometime in May this year because the
Act has to be amended suitably to increase the women reservation
quota.


Presently women have 33 per cent reservation in local bodies.

But going by the reality that quota for the fairer sex is more than 40
per cent, women will get more than 50 per cent of seats once the
proposed amendment comes into effect.

Out of 3,708 members from 176 taluk panchayats, 1,519 are women, which
is 41 per cent. Out of 91,402 members in 5,650 GPs, 39,318 are women
(43 per cent).

Taking each category, the women's percentage is SC-46, ST-65, BCM
(A)-44, BCM (B)-18 and unreserved 38. Women have always got a share
more than what they have been allotted by law.

In any local body, the seats are reserved for SC and ST category based
on the ratio of population of these two categories. But each local
body must have at least one seat reserved for each of these two
categories. One third of the total seats in a local body must be
reserved for backward communities.

Of these seats, 80 per cent must be reserved for BCM (A) category and
20 per cent for BCM (B) category.

Remaining seats are unreserved.

There is an inherent provision for women's reservation to go up above
the normal allocation of 33 per cent. One third of the seats in each
of these categories shall be reserved for women. If there is only one
seat in SC/ST category both seats go to women. Backward communities
(both A and B groups) shall be taken together to decide the women
quota. If one third of the total allocation in a category makes a
fraction, then the nearest next digit should be taken as the quota for
women.

I will explain. In Kolar TP, total number of seats is 23. So, 33 per
cent comes to 8, but it has 10 women members. Depending on the
population, SC has 7 seats and ST 1 seat. Out of 7 for the SC, 3 seats
and the only ST seat are given to women category. One third of the
total seats is 8. Out of this BCM (A) gets 6 and BCM (B) gets 2 seats
as per 80:20 ratio. Of these, women will have 2 and 1 seat
respectively.

The unreserved seats are 7 and 3, and come under woman quota.

So the total comes to 10.

Once women get 50 per cent quota, the tally will go anywhere between
60 to 70 per cent. In local bodies, cooperative societies and SHGs,
women have proved to be better administrators than men. But how do
most men react to this? Here is a harrowing experience of a woman GP
member.

Hanagere is a village in Shimoga district. In the second term of the
body that was elected in 2001, the president's post was reserved for
SC (Woman). The only woman in the GP was naturally elected.

Male chauvinists were so wary of being ruled by a woman, that they
brought her down from the post after moving no-confidence motion and
made the vice-president belonging to BCM as the ad hoc president.

But for the ruling of the HC, this ad hoc system would have become
permanent. The SC woman was reinstated and completed her term.

arunbenaka@gmail.com


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[ZESTCaste] BSP flashes photo of Sonia with money garland

 

http://www.mynews.in/News/BSP_flashes_photo_of_Sonia_with_money_garland_N41627.html

BSP flashes photo of Sonia with money garland

Posted On: 25-Mar-2010 21:48:38 Source: Agencies

Lucknow: In a sharp retort to the Congress party's tirade against the
flaunting of a currency note garland by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati at a recent Bahujan Samaj Party rally in Lucknow, state
Public Works Department minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui on Thursday
fished out a photograph of Congress president Sonia Gandhi wearing a
currency note garland.

The display of the picture remained the highlight of the party's
unique statewide protest against what the party leadership termed as
'petty politicking by all opposition parties'.

Addressing a protest rally of BSP workers at the Lucknow Collectorate,
Siddiqui also displayed photos of two other opposition leaders donning
similar 'royal' insignias.

While a photograph of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Lal Krishna
Advani showed him donning a silver crown on his head, another showed
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav swinging a silver gada (a
spherical weapon believed to have been used by Lord Hanuman).

"No one raises even an eyebrow if Sonia Gandhi receives a currency
note garland; no one talks about LK Advani wearing a silver crown; and
even when Mulayam Singh Yadav flaunts a silver gada no one minds that.
But all hell breaks loose if a Dalit's daughter is offered a garland
of currency notes," Siddiqui told the gathering amidst cheers.

He claimed, "The opposition was trying to frustrate the rally from day
one. Initially, they got a PIL filed against holding of the rally.
When they did not succeed with that, they engineered disturbing of a
beehive, leading to rush of a swarm of bees to the rally venue.
However, that too failed as the bees chose to settle down under the
shade of the dais without causing any kind of disturbance to anyone or
biting anybody. Therefore, the opposition eventually raised the
garland bogey."

Slogans of virodhiyon hosh mein aao; behenji se mat takrao (Opponents
come to your senses, don't take on Mayawati) rent the air as a series
of BSP leaders addressed the gathering, singing praises for Mayawati
and flaying the opposition.

Showing photographs of Congress president wearing a crown and a
currency garland around her neck, Siddiqui took a dig at Congress
leader Digvijay Singh who had criticised Mayawati on the garland
issue.

"There is one Congress leader, who was also a chief minister of Madhya
Pradesh, who is working in Uttar Pradesh these days and who has been
terming the garland offered to Mayawati as against the RBI norms. I
would like to ask him whether the one in Congress president's neck is
not against the norms," he said.

Asking the Congressmen to "peep into their hearts", Siddiqui said
'that when their leaders wear currency garlands they feel elated but
when a Dalit ki beti (daughter of a Dalit) wears it they raise a
question mark over it".

Reacting to BSP's charge about the note garland also worn by Sonia
Gandhi, UP Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh said, "All I wish
to point out in a nutshell is that while Sonia Gandhi with all her
inheritance of four Nehru-Gandhi generations has total assets worth Rs
1.32 crore , Mayawati's officially declared assets have already shot
up to Rs 62 crore in a matter of just four years."

Reacting to Advani's photo being flashed by the BSP, BJP's UP unit
president Hriday Narain Dixit said: "The two things (crown and cash
garland) cannot be compared. We demand that the BSP tell the people
about the source of the garland which was offered to Mayawati."

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[ZESTCaste] Anaconda of notes (Opinion)

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Anaconda+of+notes&artid=QSEoCRGKkmY=&SectionID=d16Fdk4iJhE=&MainSectionID=HuSUEmcGnyc=&SectionName=aVlZZy44Xq0bJKAA84nwcg==&SEO=


Anaconda of notes

Shiv Viswanathan

First Published : 26 Mar 2010 12:22:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 26 Mar
2010 01:00:14 AM IST

The hysteria around Mayawati's garland has triggered an epidemic of
reactions. It is condemned as obscene and populist. But as a symbolic
message, the incident of the garland calls for a deeper semiotic
meditation. To talk about how much it weighed or how many craftsmen
made it, reduces it to trivia. The event however is significant. One
needs to re-read it. Firstly, let me confess that the garland was an
anthropological delight.


It is neither natural nor artificial. It seemed alive in a space of
its own, like some exotic sea animal. A giant snake glistening through
its million edges like an old coral. It is a garland; yet not a
garland of flowers, exuding not scent, or a promise of perfume but a
promise or premise of power. The essence of the picture is its
gigantism. Each part of the garland moves almost seismically, fusing
secret muscles, offering the terrifying link between note power and
vote power.

The ordinariness of the woman in the middle no longer matters. She
presents a spectacle which defies current politics. The Congress
objects to her act calling her Daulat ki beti and their critique
sounds like a cry of envy, of admiration. Politicians are suddenly
suffering from 'garland envy'. The RJD creates its own populist
garland, but the mob steals its thunder by stealing the notes. The RJD
garland appears an also ran, a bit moth eaten; or as a punster said
"not note worthy."

The Congress politicians called it obscene, but the beauty of Congress
is that it is always half wrong. Their benchmark is the elegance of
Sonia. But the colours of Sonia are elitist and orthodox. Mayawati is
a foil to Sonia and foil she can be, only as long as she speaks a
different grammar. Populism cannot be repetitive. She cannot be the
god-like figure that MGR was. The remains of his 'Cool drink' was
sprinkled on his followers. She cannot acquire the cinematic stature
of an NTR or a Raj Kumar, where a film hoarding enacts a myth. She
needs monumentality, a sense of gravitas, of weight. But weighing
yourself in gold or silver adds little to the imagination. She has to
possess or project something which is spectacular and populist,
something which triggers rumours, sensation, protest and keeps her on
page one. It has to be something the media returns to in hysterical
frenzy, yet something she can dismiss as "every day", something
sensational she can shrug off as normal when required.

At one level, a garland is an expected object, and a welcoming ritual.
Politicians usually expect a garland of marigolds. Marigolds in India
combat mosquitoes and also serve as a badge for politics. They signal
the expectedly official, a sense of VIPness. Even garlands of currency
are a part of marriages and festivals. They are not as common as being
weighed in gold or silver but are becoming a part of public rituals.
What Mayawati did was to take an ordinary event and make it
extraordinary. The garland in itself was spectacular, a giant anaconda
of notes, vibrating under its own weight. More it was a message of
living life Mayawati-size, inviting everyone to start a long affair
with Dalit politics.

Mayawati was taunting established parties challenging their own
hypocrisy, setting up a lifestyle challenge to the Congress and the
RJD. To the "conspicuous poverty" which Congress is trying to
practice by cutting frills and other expenses, Mayawati offers a new
politics as conspicuous consumption. She is signaling a new politics
of the spectacle which Congress would not be inclined to match. She is
advocating blatant desire, a message of greed as populism, insisting
on a mnemonics of monumentality. The iconicity of the act suggests
blasphemy but her message is clear. She is offering the gigantism of
intentions as a message, stating that it will soon be cornucopia time
for her followers. It is an unapologetic celebration of herself,
counterposing crassness to hypocrisy. She is projecting scale,
suggesting her politics can amplify, exaggerate, monumentalise in ways
that the Laloos, the Yadavs cannot dream off. It is Brodbignag of
Gulliver confronting the world of the Lilliputs.

What I would like to suggest is that a moralising position on Mayawati
or the garlands will not do. Mayawati is challenging the hypocrisy of
politics by amplifying and perpetuating it. She is asking who Mulayam
or the Congress are to condemn her, as they are fattened fleas from
the same heap. What she is proposing is not a circulation of elites
but a circulation of corruptions. Her message is clear : it is our
turn now. To the gluttony of the Congress python she is offering the
"Anaconda Smile." To call it obscenity does not offer an understanding
of the process. To call it corruption will do little to control it. To
dub it unaesthetic is sheer snobbery. This is the Rabelaisian cry of a
subaltern politics conducted in absolute contempt of norms. Her
message is simple. I have mastered vote bank politics. I have a right
to live off it.

At one level, the logic of Ramdev is a more effective counter. It is
asceticism that sounds more ascetic than the Congress claim that it is
"daulat" not "Dalit politics." Ramdev's is more sincere, where his
logic of yoga as balance challenges Mayawati's spectacle of "our turn
now." Mayawati has however switched symbols by condemning the entry of
babas into politics as a dilution of the secular. Her ability to
switch signals is acute. Her argument if examined sees the state as a
fat pie. Politics is a competition for a share and those who master
politics can fatten on the pie. If they cannibalise it, that is their
own choice. Table manners, like morals are often culturally relative.

Populism demands the spectacle. Winning votes alone is not enough. One
must create a circus of delight, a hall of mirrors where one is seen
and seen again repeatedly. Populism demands seduction on a giant
scale. To the elite it might be crude but to the masses it must offer
an assurance of power, a statement that they are part of it. The very
size of the garland is a promise of its inclusiveness and the
potential power of the collectivity that put it together.

Mayawati is not asking for a character certificate. She is
telegraphing a message to the middleclass of the character of the
regime she heads. She feeds on their consternations, gorges on her
appetite for scandal. She offers the spectacle and the Dalit sense of
the spectacular. It may be crude; a trifle Roman, yet one knows that
her symbols harness new forces of Indian politics. In this lies her
power and sadly its imaginative limits.

About the author:

Shiv Viswanathan is a social scientist


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[ZESTCaste] Maya spends more on statues than on farmers

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/maya-spends-more-on-statues-than-on-farmers/112093-37.html?from=tn

Maya spends more on statues than on farmers

Abhishek Patni
CNN-IBN


New Delhi: If the multi-crore garland wasn't enough, here's more
embarrassment for the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh. A latest RTI
reveals that the amount spent by Chief Minister Mayawati on just two
of her dream Dalit memorials is roughly 3 per cent of the entire state
govt budget or more than the entire budget provision for agricultural
projects in the state.


Mayawati's claim that money spent on statues of Dalit leaders was only
one per cent of the state budget are belied by an RTI by her political
opponents. The latest information released by the state government's
Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, the nodal agency for the construction of the
memorials reveal that out of a total annual budget of Rs 1,33,000 (one
lakh thirty three thousand crore) earmarked for the year 2009 -2010;
the UP govt spent a whopping sum of Rs 4436 crore in only two of
Mayawati's dream projects – the Ambedkar park and Kanshi Ram memorial
– both in Lucknow.


This comes roughly to 3.3 per cent of the state's total budget or 11
per cent of planned expenditure.


Chief spokesperson, UP Congress Akhilesh Pratap Singh said, "Mayawati
ko priorities ka pata nahin hai (Mayawati has lost all her
priorities)."


The RTI's startling facts have given a tool in Mayawati's political
opponents who now allege that Mayawati govt is spending less money on
welfare schemes when compared to erecting statues and memorials.

In 2009-10 state government spent only Rs 6 crore for establishment of
homes for old women


Rs 40 crore for the treatment of serious illness of the poor.

Rs 12 crore for marriage of poor girls of minority classes.

Only Rs 378 crore for drinking water for rural areas

And, only 200 crores for housing of scheduled castes .


Recently even the Supreme Court imposed a complete ban on the
construction work in Mayawati's dream projects. Though Mayawati might
have easily got away after wearing a money garland before her millions
of supporters, facts revealed by this latest RTI have certainly
exposed the lost priorities of her government.


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[ZESTCaste] dr.ambedkar on official language, linguistic states, surpluses, resources and 'exploitation'

http://kufr.blogspot.com/2010/03/drambedkar-on-official-language.html

26/03/10

dr.ambedkar on official language, linguistic states, surpluses,
resources and 'exploitation'

a few points in the statement 'Maharashtra as a Linguistic Province'
submitted by dr.ambedkar to the 'Linguistic Provinces Commission' or
Dar Commission in 1948 that caught my eye:

The solution of the difficulties

9. If the problem must be dealt with immediately what is to be the
solution ? As has already been pointed out, the solution must satisfy
two conditions. While accepting the principle of Linguistic Provinces
it must provide against the break-up of India's unity. My solution of
the problem therefore is that, while accepting the demand for the
re-constitution of Provinces on linguistic basis, the constitution
should provide that the official language of every Province shall be
the same as the official language of the Central Government. It is
only on that footing that I am prepared to accept the demand for
Linguistic Provinces.

10. l am aware of the fact that my suggestion runs counter to the
conception of Linguistic Provinces which is in vogue. It is that the
language of the Province shall be its official language. I have no
objection to Linguistic Provinces. But I have the strongest objection
to the language of the Province being made its official language where
it happens to be different from the official language of the Centre.
My objection is based on the following considerations:

(1) The idea of having a Linguistic Province has nothing to do with
the question of what should be its official language. By a Linguistic
Province, I mean a Province which by the social composition of its
population is homogeneous and therefore more suited for the
realisation of those social ends which a democratic Government must
fulfil. In my view, a Linguistic Province has nothing to do with the
language of the Province. In the scheme of Linguistic Provinces,
language has necessarily to play its part. But its part can be limited
to the creation of the Province, i.e., for demarcation of the
boundaries of the Province. There is no categorical imperative in the
scheme of Linguistic Provinces which compels us to make the language
of the Province its official language. Nor is it necessary, for
sustaining the cultural unity of the Province, to make the language of
the Province its official language. For, the cultural unity of the
Province, which already exists, is capable of being sustained by
factors other than language such as common historic tradition,
community of social customs, etc. To sustain Provincial cultural unity
which already exists it does not require the use of the Provincial
language for official purposes. Fortunately for the Provincialists
there is no fear of a Maharashtrian not remaining a Maharashtrian
because he spoke any other language. So also there is no fear of a
Tamilian or an Andhra or a Bengali ceasing to be a Tamilian, Andhra or
Bengali if he spoke any other language than his own mother-tongue.
[emphasis mine].

later, in 1955, in his 'Thoughts on Linguistic States' dr.ambedkar had
recommended that Hindi be made the official language of all states.
but what he said in 1948, that the official language of a state should
be different from the provincial language, should that principle have
been applied to hindi speaking states too? dr.ambedkar didn't miss the
provincialism or chauvinism of the hindi speaking states, and i feel
he'd have talked more about it later, after the drive to impose hindi
on the south in the 1960s by the central government. unfortunately, he
passed away soon after the publication of his 'Thoughts on Linguistic
States'. would he have stressed on the need to impose a language
different from hindi as the official language of the hindi speaking
states if he had lived into the sixties?

again, from his statement to the Linguistic Provinces Commission:

SHOULD THE MAHARASHTRA PROVINCE BE FEDERAL OR UNITARY?

20. I will now turn to what are known to be points on which there is
controversy. There is no controversy regarding the unification of
Maharashtra into one Province. The controversy relates to the way it
should he brought about. One view is that the new Maharashtra Province
should be a unitary Province, with a single legislature and a single
executive. The other view is that Maharashtra should be a Federation
of two sub-provinces, one sub-province to consist of the
Marathi-speaking districts of the Bombay Presidency and the other of
the Marathi-speaking districts of the present Province of the Central
Provinces and Berar. The idea of creating sub-Provinces has originated
from the spokesmen of the Marathi-speaking districts of Central
Provinces and Berar. I am satisfied that it is only the wish of a few
high-caste politicians who feel that in a unified Maharashtra their
political careers will come to an end. It has no backing from the
people of e fact that it gives me an opportunity to enunciate what I
regard as a very vital principal. When it is decided to create a
Linguistic Province, I am definitely of opinion that all areas which
are contiguous and which speak the same language should be forced to
come into it. There should be no room for choice nor for
self-determination. Every attempt must be made to create larger
provincial units. Smaller provincial units will be a perpetual burden
in normal times and a source of weakness in an emergency. Such a
situation must be avoided. That is why I insist that all parts of
Maharashtra should be merged together in a single province. [emphasis
mine].
that's quite clear. in 1948, dr.ambedkar was clearly in favour of 'all
areas which are contiguous and which speak the same language should be
forced' into a single province. which means he wouldn't have supported
the idea of a separate telangana in 1948.

would he have supported telangana in 1955, when he wrote his 'Thoughts
on Linguistic States'? he was more concerned with the smaller size of
the southern states on an average, in terms of population, in relation
to northern states.

more from his statement to the Linguistic Provinces Commission:

44. Secondly, the surplus from Bombay is not consumed by Maharashtra
alone but is consumed by the whole of India. The proceeds of the
Income-tax, Super-tax, etc. which Bombay pays to the Central
Government are all spent by the Central Government for all-India
purposes and is shared by all other Provinces. To Prof. Vakil it does
not matter if the surplus of Bombay is eaten up by United Provinces,
Bihar, Assam, Orissa, West Bengal, East Punjab and Madras. What he
objects to is Maharashtra getting any part of it. This is not an
argument. It is only an exhibition of his hatred for Maharashtrians.
[emphasis mine].

45. Granting that, Bombay was made into a separate Province, what I
don't understand is how Prof. Vakil is going to prevent Maharashtra
from getting share of Bombay surplus revenue. Even if Bombay is made
separate Province, Bombay will have to pay income-tax, super-tax, etc.
and surely Maharashtra will get a part of the revenue paid by Bombay
to the Centre either directly or indirectly. As I have said the
argument has in it more malice than substance.
how about the revenue surpluses from hyderabad which the telangani
separatists claim are being used to fund development in other regions?
following dr.ambedkar's common sensical logic, one could say: the
surplus from hyderabad is not consumed by andhra pradesh alone but is
consumed by the whole of India. and: granting that, hyderabad goes
with a new telangana state, what i don't understand is how the
separatists are going to prevent andhra-rayalaseema from getting a
share of hyderabad's surplus revenue?

finally, one last point from the statement:

59. To reconstitute Provinces on economic basis—which is what is meant
by rational basis—appears more scientific than reconstituting them on
linguistic basis. However, unscientific linguistic reorganization of
Provinces I cannot see how they can come in the way of rational
utilization of economic resources of India. Provincial boundaries are
only administrative boundaries. They do not raise economic barriers
for the proper utilization of economic resources. If the position was
that the resources contained within a Linguistic Province must only be
explained by the people of the Province and no other than it could no
doubt be said that the scheme of Linguistic Provinces was mischievous.
But such is not the case. So long as Linguistic Provinces are not
allowed to put a ban on the exploitation of the resources of the
people by any body capably of wishing to exploit them a Linguistic
Province will yield all the advantages of a rationally planned
Province. [emphasis mine].
so, what would dr. ambedkar have said about all the noise being made
by the separatists that telangani resources, like coal from singareni,
are being 'exploited' by people from andhra-rayalaseema? as you can
see, dr. ambedkar would have approved of the 'rational exploitation'
of resources. if the rest of india can exploit resources from bombay
high, or jharkhand or assam, why should there be any objection to
resources from telangana being used to meet power needs in
andhra-rayalaseema? they're not being 'stolen', they're being sold.
just as they're being sold to power plants in karnataka, maharashtra
and other parts of the country.

how i wish the separatists would read dr. ambedkar's views with open
eyes, and minds, before putting words into his mouth!!


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