Latest News Update: May 29, 2010

Saturday, May 29, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Mayawati Govt to withdraw bill for creation of special force

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Mayawati-Govt-to-withdraw-bill-for-creation-of-special-force/Article1-550085.aspx

Mayawati Govt to withdraw bill for creation of special force

Press Trust Of India
Lucknow, May 29, 2010

The Mayawati government on Friday decided to withdraw a bill passed by
the state legislature and a related ordinance to raise a separate
force comprising ex service personnel for protection of parks and
memorials of Dalit icons and to deploy armed home guards for the
purpose.

The decision to withdraw the Special Region Security Force Bill, 2010
and a related ordinance was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over
by the Chief Minister Mayawati, an official release said.

The decision was prompted by the absence of women among ex-service
personnel who were essential for the security of these memorials and
parks as women and children would be among people visiting them, the
release said.

Therefore, it (recruitment of ex servicemen) was not found to be a
practical proposition and the cabinet withdrew the said order, it
said.

The cabinet has now decided to recruit armed home guards comprising
women security personnel in the special region security battalion for
the purpose, it said.

After passage of the bill in both Houses of the state legislature as
well as an ordinance for the same purpose, Mayawati government had
taken an administrative decision to raise a battalion of ex-servicemen
for providing security to these parks and memorials in Uttar Pradesh.

The release said with the withdrawal of the bill and ordinance there
was also no relevance of the proposal for direct recruitment of
personnel for the force as also for imparting training which could
have taken a very long time.

The recruitment of home guards would not only take lesser time but
would also not require any training, the release said.

The Governor B L Joshi's nod to the bill as well as the ordinance is
still awaited.

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[ZESTCaste] Caste-ing the dice: India's dangerous gamble

http://sify.com/news/Caste-ing-the-dice-India8217s-dangerous-gamble-news-kf2sp8hchch.html

Caste-ing the dice: India's dangerous gamble

Nandini Krishnan | 2010-05-28 18:15:34

Let's admit it. We're hypocrites.

We've been speaking of abolishing caste since Independence. Yet, we
know we never will.

We speak about 'the evils of the caste system' in schools, but spare a
slot for 'caste' in the student information sheet.

Which is why ideals like "we must outlaw caste", "we must give the
downtrodden a fair deal" and "we need data to implement caste-based
schemes properly" ring hollow.

You can't grow up in India and think of yourself without the
parameters of language, region, religion and caste. These are marked
by our features, our names, our speech, our comfort zones, our social
circles, the Gods we worship and our pride in our heritage.

However, the problem is not that caste exists. The problem is that it matters.

And it matters because of the people who are in charge of running this country.

Poll: Should caste be included in the census?

Thanks to their committees and legislation, the schools we study in,
the seats we scramble for in college and the jobs we're eligible for
are based on caste.

This is why the government's statement that caste is being included in
the census for a headcount 'and not anything else' doesn't cut ice.

At some point, politicians discovered that in a nation that has been
sliced into three on the basis of religion and is still splitting on
the basis of language and ethnicity, caste is a moot point.

Now, vote bank politics have reached such a level of sophistication
that psephologists might as well charge based on how easily they can
pronounce words that seem to have popped out of a Roald Dahl book –
Vokkaligas, Vanniyars, Badaganadus, Mahadiga, Kayastha...

In a country that is so obsessed with reservation – for women, for
several strata of backward classes, for followers of various faiths –
it is bizarre that the pragmatic solution of an economic criterion
hasn't generated a similar outcry.

Perhaps it's in keeping with India's unwritten policy of looking after
minorities – the economically disadvantaged do constitute a majority
of the population.

Census question over caste identity divides India

Somehow, the phrase 'Other Backward Classes' morphed into 'Other
Backward Castes'. And no one seems to have succeeded so far in
establishing their headcount.

Whether or not the census adds an extra column to its tables and razes
down another acre of forestland to supply paper for its 12,000 tonnes
of documentation in 18 languages, let's remind ourselves several
attempts have already been made at enumerating caste data.

Most of the committees and research groups taking on the task have
drawn from each other's data and managed to contradict each other
while going about it.

The 1931 census put the count of Other Backward Classes at 43.7 per cent.

In 1955, the first National Commission for Backward Classes estimated
OBCs constituted 32 per cent of the population.

In 1980, the Mandal Commission, which rather whimsically covered two
villages and one urban block in each district, fixed the percentage at
43.7 again.

Neelam Yadav, the author of Encyclopaedia of Backward Castes, points
out "The Mandal Commission assumed that various castes have enjoyed,
over the last 50 years, the same rate of growth as the all-India
population. This is an impossible assumption." (Pg. 189)

She suggested the Mandal Commission's report be analysed by yet
another committee, using a new survey method.

Right, that's all we need.

But when we knew caste data was being collected by various groups, why
did a proposal to make it part of the census after an eighty-year gap
create such a sensation that the Cabinet came to a head over the
issue?

Mom or aunt? The surrogate's tale

A Google search will give you about a hundred thousand research papers
and analytical articles, setting out why a caste census does (not)
make sense. Among these are:

The data could get distorted as claims can't be cross-checked
Different castes have different statuses in different states, so we
need a decentralised approach to ensure accuracy
A head count won't reflect living conditions
Political parties may begin to focus on high-populated castes and
neglect others
It could lead to more atrocities against minorities
A caste that finds itself dwindling might panic and stop
family-planning (!!!!!)
The definition of OBC and parameters for qualification are ambiguous

First, let's forget accuracy. Given the rate at which we produce
babies we can't afford to look after, the census is sure to be
outdated by the time it is completed.

Second, while some statistics seem to be collected solely for the
purpose of insertion in NCERT textbooks, caste data will definitely
not feature in that list.

The fact that the ministers lobbying for caste to be included in the
census are from 'oppressed classes' is portentous in itself.

Within days of the data coming in, there will be rumblings, demanding
reservation in proportion to numbers. This could have dangerous
repercussions.

The ostensible reason for introducing caste-based reservation is to
eradicate the problems caste has caused. But in doing so, we're
allowing several other problems to fester, which could reinforce
rather than remove caste barriers.

For one, the bar for entry into coveted fields is being lowered for
certain sections of the population. The corollary is that the person
cutting you up under surgical lights may not have been good enough to
qualify for it if not for his or her caste.

On the other hand, someone who is intelligent enough to have made it
even without reservation, might not be given due credit for his or her
aptitude.

What are the 'social biases' that seemingly make reservation a more
practical solution than monetary aid?

We've had a Dalit President (and apparently, came close to having a
Dalit Prime Minister in Mayawati), a 'Woman Dalit' Speaker, several
Dalit Chief Ministers and even Dalit priests.

Starting with a Dalit who headed the committee that penned the Indian
Constitution, several people of the 'oppressed' castes have gone on to
play major roles in the functioning of the country and society.

Ata time when you might quite easily find a Brahmin cook working in a
Dalit household, shouldn't we turn our attention to 'class' rather
than 'caste'? Shouldn't we be looking at channelling funds into
implementing the Right to Education Act rather than debating about
caste?

Yes, untouchability does exist in certain parts of the country.

Yes, certain sections of society are mistreated.

But irrespective of caste, the factor that ties these 'oppressed'
people together is poverty.

At one time in history, one's caste determined one's class. But not anymore.

The Sify Weekender

The danger of harping on caste at this time is that it could
exacerbate the divisions that the British so cunningly capitalised on
to consolidate their stranglehold over India.

We've seen large-scale communal and linguistic riots. Parts of the
country have already witnessed caste riots. Should we allow this to
flare up?

As a nation, we've often chosen to take two steps backwards to even
things out. We've put vested interests ahead of the greater good.

There are those of us who lament about the state of affairs and berate
the party we've voted into power, either by casting or boycotting the
ballot.

But if we're to stop politicians from wrapping up the Indian
electorate in gift boxes they exchange while dangling carrots like the
Nuclear Liability Bill and women's reservation in front of each other,
we need to take a stand now.

Maybe we should conduct a citizens campaign for economic reservation.

Maybe we should refuse to reveal our castes when asked, irrespective
of the advantages we could reap.

Maybe we should use every available forum to question the decisions
made on our behalf.

Maybe we should get more sincere in our attempts to convince our
children labels don't matter.

We live in a country that is so resistant to being a melting pot that
we even reserve seats in Parliament for people of mixed origin. Unless
we 'helpless' hundreds of millions wake up, we could stand witness to
our nation divide itself till it disintegrates.

The author is a journalist based in Chennai. She blogs at
http://disbursedmeditations.blogspot.com

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[ZESTCaste] Not affirmative enough

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Not-affirmative-enough-/articleshow/5987941.cms

Not affirmative enough

ARATI R JERATH , TNN, May 29, 2010, 11.03am IST

Three years ago, Indian industry, prodded by the Manmohan Singh
government, unveiled a voluntary code of conduct for affirmative
action to provide job opportunities in the private sector for the
scheduled castes and other backward communities. Last week, the Prime
Minister at his press conference acknowledged that implementation had
been sluggish.

The figures speak for themselves. According to the CII's own
estimates, affirmative action agendas drawn up by nearly 100 of its
member companies have made a difference to the lives of just 37,435
SC/ST youths over the past three years. That's a drop in the ocean in
a country of 1.2 billion people. Obviously, as the PM said, the
process needs to move forward at a much faster pace.

Industry has been extremely reluctant to adopt the government model of
job quotas. Instead, it promised in its voluntary code of conduct to
help build skills and train Dalit youth to make them employable.
Unfortunately, it largely remains a promise on paper. FICCI, for
instance, in the last three years, has adopted one district out of the
600-odd in the country where it is working with the administration to
identify and address the skill gaps and education needs of those below
the poverty line. Although it is also in touch with some Industrial
Training Institutes (ITI) to develop course models that promote
employability, the demand is so huge that its efforts seem to
disappear into a black hole.

As government jobs shrink in a liberalised economy, it is increasingly
becoming the responsibility of the private sector to lend a helping
hand to backward and marginalised groups. But as an official in one of
the chambers of commerce admitted, it's a "big job'' to sensitise
industry on what affirmative action actually means on the ground.

A major stumbling block is industry's refusal to conduct a caste
census among its employees or to ask new employees to fill in a column
marked 'caste' . Consequently, even if affirmative action is
happening, there is no way of knowing.

Yet, it would be wrong to say that the ground is not shifting. Now
that affirmative action has become a part of national discourse,
industry has begun to accept the concept in principle at least. All
five recognised chambers of commerce in the country have set up cells
to monitor implementation of the voluntary code of conduct. But the
Prime Minister's Office, which is the nodal point on the issue, will
have to step in again if the process is to move faster as Manmohan
Singh promised.

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[ZESTCaste] Caste no bar

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Caste-no-bar/articleshow/5987935.cms

Caste no bar

ARATI R JERATH , TNN, May 29, 2010, 10.59am IST

In 2008, Nandan Nilekani, then co-chairman of Infosys, had lamented to
an audience at the Washington-based Peterson Institute of Economics ,
"There is not a single Dalit who has become an entrepreneur.'' He was
wrong, and he was right. He was wrong because two decades of economic
reforms have unleashed entrepreneurial skills across the country,
spawning businessmen and women from castes and groups that
traditionally never ventured into the risky world of finance and
enterprise. Constitutional measures for their political and social
empowerment ensured that Dalits were not insulated from the changes
taking place around them. While an Ambani or a Tata equivalent is a
distant dream, some had the audacity of hope and have managed to build
small business empires for themselves in sectors as diverse as
manufacturing, hospitality and real estate.

But Nilekani was also right. Success stories from Dalit communities
and groups are few and far between. For every Dalit who has crashed
through the barriers of social discrimination and poverty to join the
ever-growing tribe of entrepreneurs, there are lakhs who still bear
the cross of their history. According to government figures, nearly
two-thirds of the 16 per cent Dalits in the country are landless or
own such small holdings that it makes them as good as landless. They
neither have meaningful employment , nor income generating assets of
their own.

Shrinking rural space is depriving them of their traditional caste
occupations, while by the government's own admission, as stated in the
Eleventh Five Year Plan, the urban labour market offers little relief
because of the "prevalence of discrimination by caste'' .

The achievements of those who have clawed their way out of these grim
statistics are, therefore , remarkable. Few as they may be, there are
Dalit entrepreneurs who today boast of annual turnovers of over Rs 50
crore. Some are expanding rapidly and expect to generate between Rs
100-200 crore over the next couple of years, once their new projects
are up and running. Like others in business, they too own expensive
cars, party at five-star hotels and rub shoulders with a Birla or a
Munjal on occasion. If Mayawati is a symbol of Dalit political
empowerment , these entrepreneurs are aspirational figures of economic
mobility far removed from the fractious world of quotas and
reservations.

It was not easy to locate them. Given their small numbers and with no
readily available database to consult, despite a plethora of activist
organisations and a full-fledged National SC/ST Commission, finding
Dalit entrepreneurs was like looking for a needle in the proverbial
haystack. Some, like Kamalakar Mukund, proprietor of the Pune-based
Suryatech Solar System that manufactures and supplies solar water
heating system parts, have dropped their caste name to avoid
identification. Others prefer to remain invisible, like their
forefathers. The owner of a Rs 50 crore-plus food and packaged
drinking water business in Uttar Pradesh, for instance, keeps a low
profile, fearing perhaps that his products will be shunned because of
his caste, though his drinking water carries a certificate of purity
from the World Health Organisation . Scars left by centuries of social
prejudice run deep and just one generation of wealth and success
cannot erase them.

Like first generation entrepreneurs of other castes, Dalits are
dabbling in all kinds of nontraditional businesses far removed from
historical occupations like leather tanning and shoe making. Hari
Kishan Pippal may have started out life as a cobbler, but today he
also runs a swank multi-speciality hospital in Agra that employs 175
doctors. Two others, 33-year old Harsh Bhasker and 26-year old Mohan
Pradeep, have ventured to shatter another glass ceiling by moving into
education . They run coaching institutes for engineering and science
subjects in the Taj Mahal town, and Bhasker has plans to set up an
engineering college in Meerut. Perhaps because this is Mayawati
country or perhaps because they belong to a new generation of
educated, upwardly mobile Dalits, neither is apologetic about his
background. "I never thought of myself as inferior to anyone. I
compete in the open market,'' Bhasker says. Pradeep echoes his
sentiment: "I don't hide my caste. If somebody asks, I have no
hesitation in revealing my identity.''

The process may be slow and scattered, but the social and economic
profile of Dalits, particularly those in urban areas, is changing .
The 61st round of the National Sample Survey in 2004-05 found that as
many as 29 per cent of urban SC households were selfemployed . That's
not an insignificant number , points out Surinder S Jodhka, professor
of sociology in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Sadly, no organisation in India has cared to fully map the winds of
change blowing through these communities. It is ironic that an
American university should be the first to commission a detailed
research on the growth of Dalit entrepreneurship in India. Social
psychologist and Dalit activist Chandra Bhan Prasad is carrying out
the survey
on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for the Advanced
Study of India. He has already dug out 100-odd crorepati entrepreneurs
in the four states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab, and is
now travelling in south India to locate others who have taken
advantage of the new economy to dump dead-end menial jobs and wipe out
the quota stigma. Says Prasad, "They are all doing well. Each one is
worth at least Rs 1 crore and some much more than that.''

Yet, these fragments of good news should not in any way introduce a
sense of complacency . Behind every successful Dalit entrepreneur is a
poignant story of hardship and struggle common to all members of
marginalised communities. Jodhka, who produced a paper on the
experiences of Dalit entrepreneurs in Panipat (Haryana), and
Saharanpur (UP), for the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies , says the
two biggest hurdles for an enterprising businessman from these groups
are the lack of financial resources and the absence of community
networks through which they can operate and grow.

"In our country, business has traditionally been controlled by certain
communities . They help each other access capital, supplies and
markets. Marginalised groups do not have this kind of support system.
They also don't have collateral, like land, that can help them raise
money to start a business,'' he says.

D Shyam Babu, who specialises in Dalit issues and is a fellow at the
Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, concurs .
"Traditional business communities not only have assets, they also
inherit entrepreneurial knowledge and culture accumulated over
generations,'' he says, adding that he firmly believes
entrepreneurship is the way forward for Dalits in a market in which
the private sector is growing rapidly while government jobs, with
their constitutionally defined quotas for SCs, expand at a much slower
rate.

It's certainly a way of moving up the socio-economic ladder. As Jodhka
pointed out, reservations have performed their role by producing a
Dalit middle class. "Now we have a large mass of people who are
agitated , restless and aspirational. They are no longer competing
within their community. They measure themselves against other caste
groups,'' he says.

Parallely, even as opportunities are opening up for them, the
experience of discrimination is probably becoming sharper as they
compete for a share of the pie. Consequently, they still need
government assistance, but of a different kind. Jodhka feels that the
government must recast its policies to address the changing
aspirations of Dalits by encouraging entrepreneurship. His
suggestions: easier access to capital through state support, a quota
for government purchases so that Dalit entrepreneurs have a ready
market and identification of sectors they can enter and flourish
without hindrance.

However, the government can help only up to a point. Shyam Babu
maintains that, ultimately, the initiative to encourage Dalits to go
into business must come from within the community itself, from the
many self-help and activists groups that have sprung up as awareness
has grown. "Once Dalits realise that they can do business , a mental
block will have been removed. Attitudinal change is very important ,''
he emphasised.

Pune-based builder Milind Kamble is perhaps the first person to take a
step in this direction. In 2005, he set up the Dalit Indian Chamber of
Commerce to provide a platform for Dalit entrepreneurs in Maharashtra
. It already boasts of 200 members and is hoping to set up associate
chapters in other states. On June 4 this year, the DICCI will hold in
Pune the first-ever expo to showcase businesses run by Dalits and
their products. "We are also arranging interactions with leading
non-Dalit businessmen and representatives from the banking sector and
the government. I hope this will help develop confidence among Dalit
businessmen ,'' Kamble says.

Babu is confident it will. "The expo will be an eye-opener . People
will see what Dalits are capable of,'' he declares.

(WITH INPUTS FROM AVIJIT GHOSH)

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[ZESTCaste] BSP defends Mayawati on assets declaration

http://www.ptinews.com/news/675112_BSP-defends-Mayawati-on-assets-declaration

BSP defends Mayawati on assets declaration

STAFF WRITER 17:57 HRS IST
Lucknow May 28 (PTI) With opposition demanding CBI probe into Rs 88
crore assets declared by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, the
BSP today came in her defence and dared leaders of other parties to
make their assets public.

"It is most unfortunate that the assets declared by the chief minister
honestly are being questioned by leaders who are themselves owners of
benami properties worth billions ", BSP national general secretary
Satish Chandra Misra told reporters.

"The leaders and other office bearers of various political parties
should declare before the people their assets before and after joining
politics as well as their sources", he said quoting the CM.

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[ZESTCaste] Caste No Bar

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[ZESTCaste] Caste count: Maken ruffles Cong

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIH&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&AW=1271683870281

Caste count: Maken ruffles Cong

Leaders Disapprove Of His Letter Asking Party MPs To Oppose Caste Census

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Union Cabinet may have, for all practical purposes, decided
to include caste as an enumerating criterion in the ongoing census but
the issue continues to roil the Congress party.
The divide in the party, which found full reflection in the
deliberations of the Cabinet, is now out in the open, forcing the
leadership to frown upon the airing of differences in public.
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Friday disapproved
of minister of state for home Ajay Maken's letter where he asked young
party MPs to oppose the revival of castebased count. "No one who is
sitting in responsible position in government should make such a
statement," Dwivedi told reporters. "He should have avoided writing
the letter," the party functionary said, stressing he had talked to
Maken and he also felt the same. Dwivedi that the views expressed by
Maken, who looks after the functioning of Registrar General of India —
the agency tasked with the conduct of census — were "personal".
Maken's argument that the restoration of caste-based census would
mark a "regression" and would result in party's development agenda
being trumped by caste only echoed the sentiments expressed in the
Cabinet by his senior colleagues — commerce minister Anand Sharma, HRD
minister Kapil Sibal, sports minister M S Gill and others.
Many of those who have not spoken out are also baffled by the
leadership's sudden acquiescence to the campaign for caste-based
census. Maken's pitch resonates well with many in the party also
because of the aggressive advocacy for caste-based enumeration by
party leaders like law minister Veerappa Moily. Moily who wrote to the
PM demanding the return of caste-based headcount and has led the fight
for it within the Cabinet. It is pointed out that the law minister has
regularly made public his views, and even referred to the divide
within the Cabinet, within hours of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
advice not to wash policy linen in public. Those sympathetic to Maken
point out that the leadership which promptly expressed its displeasure
of the minister's comment has preferred to wink at Moily running a
public campaign. Maken's views boil down to the argument that having
won a decisive mandate on the basis of a plank focused on development,
there was no need to agree to a scheme designed to ensure that caste
remains the chief political pivot. The middle class, has emerged as a
voting bloc big enough to take the party to another podium finish
without having to compete with caste-based formations.

BJP too divided

The divide in BJP on including caste in the census came out in the
open on Friday with former party president Murli Manohar Joshi saying
he did not favour such an exercise and that there were two schools of
thought in the party.
Despite the BJP supporting a caste enumeration in an important
debate in Lok Sabha during the monsoon session, Joshi went with the
stand taken by the RSS, and said the move would only prove to be
divisive and not help national unity. TNN

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Saturday, May 29, 2010

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