Latest News Update: May 3, 2010

Monday, May 3, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Caste-based “Confidence Yatras” colour Bihar’s political horizon in election year

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article420746.ece

Published: May 3, 2010 20:08 IST | Updated: May 3, 2010 20:29 IST
Patna, May 3, 2010

Caste-based "Confidence Yatras" colour Bihar's political horizon in
election year
Shoumojit Banerjee

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's much vaunted refrain of transcending
caste-based politics seems to have taken a backseat this crucial
assembly election year, with a slew of "confidence yatras" and "raths"
designed to appease different castes and communities, suddenly
peppering Bihar's political horizon.

There seems to be no dearth of creativity to this identity politics,
as the ruling Janata Dal (United) has ensured there is something for
everyone - women, minorities, the backward classes, the upper castes,
the Maha Dalits – you name it.

A look at this catalogue would certainly have gladdened the heart of
marketing guru Philip Kotler, as every "yatra" is a shrewdly designed
political offering - segmented, targeted and positioned to the hilt.

After Mr. Kumar's "Vishwas Yatra" which kick-started from West
Champaran this Thursday, the Janata Dal (United) will be undertaking
no less than seven such "yatras," with the aim of wooing every caste
and community in the state.

The "Karpoori Rath", named after the erstwhile Chief Minister Karpoori
Thakur, will be launched with the purpose of reinforcing the positive
work done by the government in the minds of the extremely backward
communities (EBCs).

More theatrics is set to follow in the EBC sphere, with JD (U) leader
and RJD defector, Dr. Bhim Singh all set to launch his "Dhanyavad
Yatra" whose purpose will be to thank Mr.Kumar for his efforts in
improving the lot of the EBC community in the State.

Next in line is the "Aman Yatra," which is specifically targeted at
the Muslim population of the state with the ostensible aim to remind
them of the riot-free atmosphere generated by Mr. Kumar during his
four year term.

Women too have a customised offering in the form of "Swavlamban
(Self-reliance) yatra", which will stress on the various steps
undertaken by the NDA government for their uplift during the last four
and a half years.

Ditto is the case with the "Nirbhay Rath" targeted at the Vaishya
(Bania) community with the purpose of "reminding" the state's traders
of the commerce-friendly law and order situation created by the ruling
party.

"They are necessary to check the vicious disinformation campaigns
undertaken by the opposition parties," JD (U) state president, Mr.
Vijay Choudhary had remarked earlier.

"These tactics are designed to quell dissent within the party as well
as keep its functionaries engaged in this crucial election year.
Naturally, it is also to prevent the inevitable horse-trading that is
bound to follow before the polls," says Akhilesh Kumar, a senior
journalist and political observer.

Meanwhile, the anti-Nitish Kumar dissident lobby, prominent among who
is ex-JD (U) state president Rajiv Ranjan Lallan Singh, will be
launching a "Kisan Maha panchayat" on May 9 with the aim of inciting
the upper-castes against Mr. Kumar, especially on the latter's
proposed action to give tenancy rights to 'bataidars' (sharecroppers)
in the state.

Among the opposition parties, only the Congress has started something
of this kind so far, with its 50-day "Parivartan Yatra (change
inducing journey)" taking off in February this year.

The event, which was launched with state-in charge Jagdish Tytler and
state President Anil Kumar Sharma mouthing a litany of RJD chief Lalu
Prasad Yadav's past crimes and misdemeanours and lashing out at the
ruling NDA government, already seems to have lost its steam with
severe internal wrangling paralysing it.

------------------------------------

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[ZESTCaste] Maoists have no growth mantra for tribals (Kancha Ilaiah)

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/dc-comment/maoists-have-no-growth-mantra-tribals-305

Maoists have no growth mantra for tribals
By By Kancha Ilaiah
May 03 2010
In her impressive article Walking with the Comrades, Arundhati Roy
gave us both the salt and pepper view of Maoists in Dandakaranya as
well as the lives and hardship of tribals.

She definitely made more than a journalistic effort to tell the story
of tribal conditions, conflicts and the way the Maoists stood by them
in times of trouble, exploitation and land grabbing. There is no doubt
that the Maoists are working as their saviours from corporate
exploiters and the oppression of other agencies.

But do the Maoists have an overall developmental strategy for tribals?
To find an answer, we should try to understand the history of tribal
development in the Northeast, particularly Mizoram, Nagaland,
Meghalaya and Manipur. About 50 years ago, the tribals of this region
were as illiterate as those of Dandakaranya. But today Mizoram has 95
per cent literacy (more than Kerala), Manipur has 68.87 per cent,
Meghalaya 63.31 per cent and Nagaland 66.11 per cent.

The amazing thing is that English, which is seen as an alien but
desired language by many plain people, has become their common
communicative and administrative language. Anybody in India knows that
knowledge of English is a kind of power in itself. This educational
development has to be seen in the background of the committed
activities of missionaries. They averted violent struggles and at the
same time, ensured the uplift of tribals. It was a slow but sure
process of development and empowerment.

But what is the Maoist vision to develop the Central Indian tribes?

Roy knows that the Maoists moved into Dandakaranya after they lost
ground in plain regions of Andhra Pradesh. They did not start their
movement just to protect the tribals or to liberate them. They
launched their movement around 1967 with a theoretical formulation
that India was a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. The Maoists
were of the view that India should go through a process of new
democratic revolution on the lines that Mao proposed. Their main idea
was to liberate the agrarian villages and encircle the urban areas
with a twin strategy of guerrilla warfare and mass mobilisation.

Having failed in this strategy and also having lost hundreds of
leaders and thousands of cadres they withdrew into this thick forest
zone. They have not changed their understanding of India since then.
Does Roy agree with their view of Indian capital, state and society? I
support her if she is sympathising with them for their fight against
"corporate invasion" but she seems to suggest that they are like gods
who have gone there to change the life of tribals. There is something
basically wrong with that understanding.

Maoism as an ideological agency does not have comprehensive liberation
and developmental agenda for tribals. Even in China it did not
liberate and develop them, in spite of Maoism being in power for so
long. The Chinese tribals are not as much developed as our
north-eastern tribals.

Yes, ever since Mr Chidambaram took over the home ministry, as an
aggressive agent of liberalisation and globalisation, the question of
the Maoist strategy of converting Dandakaranya into a war zone has
acquired critical importance.

There is a view that the Maoist problem is basically a law and order
problem both among the governing agencies and a vast number of civil
societal forces. It is actually a socio-economic and ideological
movement. It has developed as part of the larger communist ideological
development. It is one of the shades of the Indian Communist movement
with a history of 43 years.

There are intellectuals in this country who believe that it has been
working for the development and uplift of the tribals of the Central
India. But both in terms of practice and theory the Maoist movement
does not have a reformist agenda for tribals.

Ever since its main ideologues — Tarimela Nagireddy, Devulapally
Venkateswar Rao and later Kondapally Sitharamaiah, K.G. Satyamurthy —
started the Maoist stream they have been waging a war against the
Indian state. Charu Majumdar provided its "Annihilation of Class
Enemy" theory. But they could not succeed even in one state.

They are now focusing on the tribal areas as they are the most
underdeveloped. Some sort of semi-feudalism and semi-colonialism
exists in the tribal regions and the forest gives Maoists a cover that
plain areas cannot.

Nagireddy wrote his famous book India Mortgaged in the early 70s.
Today India's position even in the world has changed. The nature of
its capital has changed quite drastically.

Since Maoists as well as the exploiters of the tribals bank upon their
illiteracy, poverty and unemployment, the state must study the
development pattern of north-eastern tribals and employ some of those
strategies in Central Indian tribal regions.

Mere military strategy will not work. The Congress cannot afford to
acquire an image of tribal annihilator. The Maoists have no clue as to
how to bring the tribals into the mainstream bypassing the caste
structures that the Hindu religion has created. But it is part of
Hindu fundamentalist expansion into tribal areas with its own
ideological baggage.

Unfortunately Mr Chidambaram too is becoming part of that move. But
while we oppose Chidambaram's warmongering we should also understand
the limitations of Maoists.

------------------------------------

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[ZESTCaste] Rs 3,828 cr for dalit welfare

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/rs-3828-cr-dalit-welfare-198

Rs 3,828 cr for dalit welfare

April 29th, 2010
DC Correspondent Share Buzz up!Tags: hefty allocation, SC, ST welfare
April 28: The Tamil Nadu government for the first time made a hefty
allocation of Rs 3,828 crore for the SC and ST welfare department this
year. Adi-Dravidar welfare minister A Tamilarasi told the Assembly
that it was 19.14 per cent of the state's annual plan outlay.
Concerned over the low rate conviction in the cases filed by dalits
against caste oppression, Tamil Nadu government has constituted a high
level committee headed by the chief minister M. Karunanidhi to monitor
the implementation of SC and ST Act. Ms. Tamilarasi said a total of
1,268 persons affected due to caste violence have been given Rs 1.75
crore financial relief.
Legislators cutting across the partylines insisted that the
construction contracts carried out by THADCO should be given only to
the Dalits.
MDMK leader T Sathan Thirumalaikumar complained that the private
schools that receive government-aid were denying admissions to SC
students in plus one. "There are 354 aided schools in the state but
they admit hardly one per cent of the SC students. This is not
acceptable," he said asking the government to take effective steps to
ensure 20 per cent of the Dalit students got admission in these
schools.
He also asked the government to improve the number of dalit students
pursuing higher studies. VCK leader D. Ravikumar complained that a lot
of outsiders have been staying the hostels meant for SC students in
the city and they should be ousted immediately. Stating that the
sanitary conditions of the hostels are extremely bad, he asked the
authorities to improve it.

------------------------------------

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[ZESTCaste] No room for criminals in BSP: Mayawati

http://sify.com/news/no-room-for-criminals-in-bsp-mayawati-news-national-kfcqkgdjfbf.html

No room for criminals in BSP: Mayawati

2010-05-02 16:10:00

In an apparent attempt to re-build her party's image, Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mayawati Sunday blamed the opposition for
'infiltrating' criminals into the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Having already taken a decision to expel as many as 500 activists on
account of their criminal antecedents, Mayawati told a press
conference here Sunday morning that more expulsions would follow on
the same lines.

'We are preparing a list of people with criminal backgrounds who have
managed to seek entry into our party. We will soon show them the
door,' said Mayawati, while claiming that she had been ignorant about
their anti-social activities.

'It was during the preparation for our party rally on March 15 that I
came to know that a number of people with criminal past had
infiltrated into the BSP,' she said adding: 'I have reason to believe
that it was the handiwork of some opposition parties with the sole
intent of sullying the image our party.'

She said: 'I promptly ordered identification of such persons and took
the decision to rid the party of such elements, as the BSP has no room
for criminals.'

However, she declined to disclose the list of such identified people.
She also parried queries whether the list would include prominent
leaders of the party, who were holding key positions including that of
minister.

'I cannot give you the list of names as of now, but let me assure you
that none with criminal background would be spared at any cost,' she
asserted.

On April 16, Mayawati had announced the expulsion of dreaded mafia don
Mukhtar Ansari, who she had fielded as party nominee for the Varanasi
Lok Sabha seat during the last general election, which he lost. Along
with him, she also expelled Ansari's elder brother Afzal Ansari, a
former Lok Sabha member, as well as cousin Sibtain Ullah Ansari, a
MLA, who had switched loyalties from the Samajwadi Party.

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

New Members 2

Visit Your Group

----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

__,_._,___

[ZESTCaste] Dalits still fear returning home after arson attack

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/dalits-still-fear-returning-home-after-arson-attack_100357693.html

Dalits still fear returning home after arson attack

May 3rd, 2010 - 5:53 pm ICT by IANS -
Hisar (Haryana), May 3 (IANS) Nearly 20 terrorised families are still
camping outside Haryana's Mirchpur village after last month's arson
attack on Dalit houses, in which two people were burnt alive. They
refuse to return home despite assurances of financial help and
security from the state government.
"Despite various assurances by the government, we are still not sure
about the safety of Dalits. That is why many affected families have
refused to return to the village. All their claims are on paper and
the actual situation is still very dismal in the village," Joginder
Gogripur, president of Valmiki Yuva Sabha that represents the Dalit
community in the state, said here Monday.

He said the government has failed in preventing atrocities against
Dalits in the state.

A 70-year-old man, Tara Chand, and his 18-year-old physically
challenged daughter were killed after they sustained burn injuries and
at least 18 houses were damaged in an arson attack April 21 on Dalit
families in Mirchpur village of the district.

Top leaders, including Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, have visited the village and
promised financial help to the victims' families.

During his visit April 27, Hooda had announced financial aid of Rs.10
lakh each and employment to a family member of the two people killed
in the arson attack.

"Victims of Mirchpur incident are being fully compensated for the loss
to their houses and domestic goods. Both sons of Tara Chand have been
given government jobs. Based on their qualification, Amar Lal has been
offered a clerk's job while Pardeep has been given a peon's job," said
Deputy Commissioner of Hisar O.P. Sheoran.

He added: "Rs.5 lakh compensation has been provided to Amar and the
remaining Rs.15 lakh will be provided to Tara Chand's wife Kamala."

But the victim's family is not happy with the compensation announced.

His wife Kamala, along with other members of the community, has been
staging a sit-in protest outside the deputy commissioner's office
here. They are demanding Rs.25 lakh as compensation for each of the
victims and an increased financial aid for the damaged houses.

Hooda had also announced financial assistance of Rs.25,000 and free
treatment to the injured. Apart from compensation for the damage to
houses and domestic goods, two quintals of wheat was also announced as
immediate relief for each of the affected families.

Twenty-seven people, including a policeman and a revenue official,
have been arrested after the attack, the cause of which they said was
enmity between two communities.

------------------------------------

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[ZESTCaste] Haryana cop, revenue official held for arson attack

http://sify.com/news/haryana-cop-revenue-official-held-for-arson-attack-news-national-kfcv4diidcf.html

Haryana cop, revenue official held for arson attack

2010-05-02 21:30:00

, May 2 (IANS) A policeman and a revenue official were arrested Sunday
in Haryana's Hisar district for the arson attack on Dalit houses in
Mirchpur village last month, in which two people were burnt alive, an
official said.

'We have arrested the naib tehsildar (sub-district revenue officer)
Jage Ram and SHO (station house officer) Vinod Kajal. They have been
booked for murder and violations of various sections of the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,' Ram Roop,
investigating officer in the case, told IANS here Sunday.

He added: 'Both of them were presented before the court today (Sunday)
and were sent to judicial custody.'

Earlier, police had arrested 25 people after the attack, the cause of
which they said was enmity between two communities.

A 70-year-old man and his 18-year-old physically challenged daughter
were killed after they sustained burn injuries and at least 15 houses
were damaged in an attack April 21 on Dalit families by some elements
in Mirchpur village of the district.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi paid a surprise visit to
village April 29 and spent time meeting the victims of the attack.

Accompanied by senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, Rahul Gandhi
visited various houses that were set afire April 21 and he also
listened to the grievances of the families of the victims.

In the meanwhile, the district administration has assured all help to
the victims.

'We are in the process of fulfilling promised assistance to all the
victim families. Security forces have been deployed in the area to
make Dalit families feel secure,' Deputy Commissioner (Hisar) O.P.
Sheron, said.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited Mirchpur village
April 27 and announced compensation of Rs.10 lakh each and employment
to a family member of the two people killed in the arson attack.

He had announced financial assistance of Rs.25,000 and free treatment
to the injured. Hooda promised that the damage to houses and domestic
goods would be compensated for by the government and two quintals
wheat would be given to each family as immediate relief.

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

New Members 2

Visit Your Group

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

__,_._,___

[ZESTCaste] Dalits' Integration Day in Mysore tomorrow

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/24/stories/2010042458370300.htm

Karnataka - Mysore

Dalits' Integration Day in Mysore tomorrow

Staff Correspondent

MYSORE: Major factions of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (DSS) have decided
to celebrate the 119th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar jointly as
Dalits' Integration Day here on Sunday.

Members of various factions of the DSS will come in procession to K.R.
Circle. This will be followed by a rally at the Town Hall.

The former Additional Director-General of Police S. Mariswamy will
preside over the programme which will be inaugurated by H.M.
Rudraswamy.

Dalit leaders, including writer Devanuru Mahadeva, K. Dorairaju, H.
Govindaiah, Guruprasad Keragodu, Harihara Anandaswamy, Lakshminarayana
Nagavara, Mavalli Shankar, D. Yellappa Madar, Giryappa, K.
Narayanaswamy, M. Jayanna, D.G. Sagar, Ravivarma Kumar, K. Kalappa, C.
Chandrashekar, C. Basavalingaiah, V. Nagaraj and H. Janardhan will
participate in the rally, according to a press release from the
organising committee.

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

New Members 2

Visit Your Group

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

__,_._,___

[ZESTCaste] Cops probe honour killing in Delhi journalist’s death

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cops-probe-honour-killing-in-delhi-journalists-death/614266/

Cops probe honour killing in Delhi journalist's death

Manoj Prasad Posted online: Monday , May 03, 2010 at 0858 hrs
Ranchi/New Delhi : She was a 22-year-old journalist working with the
Business Standard in Delhi. He was her batchmate from the Capital's
prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication, working in another
media establishment in the city. Their love story had little in common
with others they must have come across in their jobs recently. But, it
may have ended the same way.
On April 29, Nirupama Pathak was found dead at her home in Koderma,
Jharkhand. Her family said she had been found "hanging". The police
believe it may have been honour killing.

Nirupama, who did a one-year Post Graduate Diploma in Radio and TV
Journalism from IIMC, was a Brahmin. The man she was planning to
marry, her batchmate Priyabhanshu Ranjan, is a Kayastha from Darbhanga
in Bihar.

"We have gathered evidence showing she was suffocated to death with a
pillow pressed over her face. We hope to resolve this murder case
soon," Koderma Superintendent of Police Kranthi Kumar said.

Ranjan, who last talked to Nirupama on April 28, told The Indian
Express her parents had told him she had been electrocuted. However, a
post-mortem report (a copy of which has been obtained by The Indian
Express) mentions a "ligature mark on the neck".

The report also shows that Nirupama was three-month pregnant at the
time, adding to suspicions of honour killing.

"She called me on April 28. She told me she would not be calling me
again. She was crying a lot and said that there was pressure from her
mother and brother's friends. By that time, I too had begun crying.
Then abruptly, she cut the call, saying her mother had entered the
room. She never called me again," says Ranjan.

"Her father once told her that I was the lowest of the upper castes," he adds.

They had been planning to get married in March, says a mutual friend.
"They even paid some money to a pandit to conduct the ceremony. At the
eleventh hour, her parents intervened, and said they would need some
time to come to terms with the alliance." So, they waited.

Around mid-April, Nirupama's father Dharmendra Pathak called her up,
saying her mother had fractured her backbone. She left Delhi on April
19.

"She was supposed to return on April 29," says Ranjan. "I was not in
touch with her from April 20 to 27. After she called me on April 28,
Nirupama called my roommate, asking him to take care of me. She never
attended the phone after that."

The friend says Nirupama also messaged Ranjan, worried he might do
something rash. "Once she told him they had locked her up."

Nirupama's mother Sudha has told the police her daughter hanged
herself from the ceiling fan and that she had discovered the body. She
also handed over a piece of paper claiming it was a "suicide note" by
her. "Nobody should be held responsible. I must be cremated in Gaya,"
the note reads.

Sudha has also told the police that only the two of them were in the
house at the time, with her father Dharmendra as well as her two
brothers who work outside Jharkhand away. But the police dispute this.

"She was brilliant enough to secure a job in the print medium despite
being a student of Radio and TV journalism. She did that in her first
campus placement interview itself," recalls a mutual friend of
Nirupama and Ranjan.

Ranjan, who did his PG Diploma in Hindi Journalism from IIMC, met
Nirupama on their first day at IIMC. "We met and talked for the first
time on June 29, 2008, during the IIMC interview," he recalls.

A distraught Ranjan says Nirupama's parents are not illiterate people
who are conservative. "Her father is a manager in a national bank. She
was the youngest of three children — the eldest is an Income Tax
inspector and the second is doing his Ph.D in Biotechnology."

However, they had made it clear that they wanted Nirupama to break off
her alliance with Ranjan. He remembers that after the Supreme Court
reduced the death sentence of one man who was convicted of murdering
his sister's husband and two family members, Nirupama's eldest brother
had messaged her. "He asked whether she wanted a repeat of the
incident," he says.

In an interview to BBC Radio, Dharmendra Pathak has claimed he did not
know of his daughter's pregnancy. "In Indian culture, fathers don't
ask daughters these things," he said.

"I knew there was a wedding proposal from another caste but nothing
had been finalised. I asked her to concentrate on her career," he said
when asked about his knowledge of the affair. He added that he did not
know when Nirupama was planning to return to Delhi.

------------------------------------

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[ZESTCaste] Fwd: Atrocity in Haryana

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 9:15 AM
Subject: Atrocity in Haryana
To:

"... In 1943, Ambedkar had strongly advocated separate settlements for
Dalits. He had argued, 'It is the close-knit association of the
Untouchables with the Hindus living in the same villages which marks
them out as Untouchables and which enables the Hindus to identify them
as being Untouchables… The Untouchables who are as a matter of fact
socially separate should be made separate geographically and
territorially also, and be grouped into separate villages exclusively
of Untouchables in which the distinction of the high and the low and
of Touchable and Untouchable will find no place.' ..."

Mirchpur: A Dog Story

Two Dalits were torched alive and 18 homes gutted in Hisar, Haryana,
apparently over a dog. So what really happened? BY S Anand

"A perpetual war is going on every day in every village between the
Hindus and the Untouchables. It does not see the light of the day" —
B.R.Ambedkar 1943

An old Shiva temple. Massive wells with arched facades where women,
colourful ghunghats pulled down, draw water. Buffaloes shimmering
black in a green pond. A group of Jat men in spotless white turbans
passing around a hookah whose brass glistens in the harsh April sun…
it's the kind of village where Ashutosh Gowariker would have set his
Swades. Welcome to Mirchpur, a village in Haryana's Hisar district. In
this picturesque setting, on the morning of 21 April, 18 Dalit homes
were torched and two Dalits—17-year old Suman and her 60-year old
father Tara Chand—were burnt alive.

Let us now turn our faces away, briefly. Pinch our noses and stop
breathing, briefly. The stink of two Dalits torched alive in Mirchpur
will go away soon. It does not matter, really. Not when the death of a
Dalit is so routine, not when there's violence reported against a
Dalit every 18 minutes, not when two Dalits are killed every day.
Apathy comes easily to those who are protected from everyday violence.
We have no time to waste on people who are not supposed to exist.

In Mirchpur, the official story is that a dog belonging to a Dalit,
repeatedly referred to as a bitch in First Information Report No 166
filed at Narnaund police station, barks at some drunk Jat youth
driving through the Balmiki colony. Rajinder Pali, son of a Jat
zamindar, hurls a brick at the dog, Ruby. Yogesh, a young Dalit,
objects, and an argument follows. They come to blows. Threatened with
dire consequences, two Balmiki elders, Veer Bhan and Karan Singh,
apologise to the Jat elders. They are beaten up badly. The Jats are
baying now. The fact that the Narnaund's Station House Officer (SHO)
Vinod Kumar Kajal is close to a prominent Jat of Mirchpur, emboldens
them. The stage is set for carnage.

I spoke to Ruby, and wagging her tail, she denied that she had any
role to play. She cited Namdeo Dhasal's poem, 'Song of the Dog and the
Republic': Chained dog being dog he whines and sometimes barks/ This
being his constitutional right. She even recounted a more bizarre
case, reported in 2004, from Tamil Nadu's Shanmugapuram village in
Tuticorin district, where Reddiyars had issued a diktat barring Dalits
from rearing male dogs since they could mate with bitches from the
'chaste' Hindu colonies.

The Balmikis of Mirchpur have done well for themselves. Many have
small businesses, work in the neighbouring district headquarters Jind,
have contracts for fishing rights in the local pond, like Karan Singh
whose pet Ruby is. In the past two years, they have even won the
contract for conducting the annual spring festival at the local
Phoolan Devi temple attended by people from all over Haryana. It is at
this festival, which began in March this year, that trouble began
brewing. The local Jat youth, Balmikis say, sexually harass Balmiki
women, almost as a matter of right. This happened a bit too often in
the crowded temple festival, to which they objected. Ruby is right.
Her barking at Jats was just the pretext.

Fearing the worst, Mirchpur's Dalits begged for police protection.
None came. On the morning of 21 April, as SHO Kajal and the local
tehsildar hustled the Balmiki men to attend a compromise meeting, a
mob of 300-400 Jats, men and women, encircled the Balmiki colony. They
were armed with jerry cans of kerosene and petrol, agricultural
implements and lathis. The SHO and the naib tehsildar apparently told
the gathered Jats they would have one hour to do whatever they wished.
Sounds exactly like what someone in Gujarat said in February 2002.
What followed was targeted burning of 18 houses of relatively
prosperous Balmikis. Before the Jat men set the homes ablaze, their
women ransacked jewels, cash, clothes. Modest TV sets, DVD players,
refrigerators and air-coolers lay twisted, singed by the heat. The
skeletal remains of a motorbike, belonging to Amar Chauhan, brother of
Suman, bears witness. A fan's twisted blades droop eerily.

Pointing to a black water tank bobbing in the green waters of the
pond, Surta, a woman whose house was reduced to cinders, says, "The
first thing they did was to break the Sintex water tanks the
government had provided us with, so that we couldn't douse the fire."

Phoolkali Devi and her husband Chander Singh had built a one-storeyed
house in 1996. Chander ran a general store from his house. Everything
has been gutted. Phoolkali says jewellery worth Rs 25,000 and cash of
Rs 50,000 meant for their daughter's upcoming wedding were looted. By
24 April, many among the 200 Balmiki households in Mirchpur were
leaving for safer places. The few Dalits who remained told Buta Singh,
chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes who was on
a visit, that they no longer wished to live in the village.

In 1943, Ambedkar had strongly advocated separate settlements for
Dalits. He had argued, 'It is the close-knit association of the
Untouchables with the Hindus living in the same villages which marks
them out as Untouchables and which enables the Hindus to identify them
as being Untouchables… The Untouchables who are as a matter of fact
socially separate should be made separate geographically and
territorially also, and be grouped into separate villages exclusively
of Untouchables in which the distinction of the high and the low and
of Touchable and Untouchable will find no place.'

Within three days of the carnage, a maha-khap panchayat of Jats was
organised in the village. Representatives of 43 khaps met on the
premises of the animal husbandry department. They demanded the release
of the 29 Jats arrested and reinstatement of the suspended SHO. The
superintendent of police and deputy collector said they were not aware
of such a meeting, though it was attended by about 2,000 men within
earshot. Across Haryana, there's a war being waged on the Indian state
by khap panchayats, an open defiance of law far more serious than what
the country's Maoists are attempting. Mirchpur has to be seen in the
context of other Haryana milestones: the burning of Balmiki homes by
Rajputs in Salwan in 2007; the Gohana carnage of 2005 (where 60
Balmiki houses were set afire); the lynching of five Dalits in Jhajjar
in 2003. It's an everyday war, as Ambedkar said.

Outside the khap, Arjun Singh, a young Jat advocate, confronts me:
"Please make sure you write that the Dalits set fire to their own
homes for the sake of compensation. These dheds will kill their own
for the sake of money."

I rummage the charred remains of the house where Suman was locked in.
She was affected by polio, and the tricycle provided to her stands
outside the now-roofless house. Suman's crumbling English textbook is
called English with a Purpose. On the last page, it says in big type,
'Together Make it a Better World.'

Anand was part of a fact-finding team of the National Campaign on
Dalit Human Rights that visited the village.

------------------------------------

PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com

Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Monday, May 3, 2010

Blog Archive