Latest News Update: Jun 7, 2010

Monday, June 7, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Caste origins of Sri Lankan Authoritarianism- Part 6

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/06/caste-origins-of-sri-lankan.html

Sunday, June 6, 2010
Caste origins of Sri Lankan Authoritarianism- Part 6

SUDRA ORIGIN OF ALL SRI LANKANS

[Editor's Note: An interview with Mr. Basil Fernando of the Asian
Human Rights Commission by Nilantha Ilangamuwa of the Sri Lanka
Guardian]

(June 06, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) That basis of social
organization of Sri Lanka, at least by Polonnaruwa Period was the
'caste system' is recognizing as a historical fact. However what has
not been revealed is the manner in which such social organization on
the basis of caste, was established. The analysis of history in terms
of caste has not yet been done. However analyzing from this point of
view can throw light on many of the problem still persisting on
contemporary Sri Lankan society.

There may be many reasons for undermining caste analysis. One of the
most important reasons is the romanticized view of nationalism, that
in its many varieties. The Sinhala nationalist narrative and Tamil
nationalist narrative want to present romanticized views of their
history as well as their problems. Bringing the internal conflict
within each ethnic group in terms of caste would undermine much of the
pain of nationalism that is made of its deferent varieties. This is
perhaps one of the very reasons why more attempt made to understand
the inner dynamics within societies in terms of its own internal
problems in which caste place a very important role within the Sri
Lankan society.

Dr. S. Rathnajeevan H. Hoole in a very quite incisive analysis in a
paper entitle 'Caste as a Hate Crime: Reassessing Arumuka Navalar and
Vellala Dominance in Sri Lanka' which he wrote with E. Elilini Hoole,
speaks of 'Sudra''s origin on the entire Tamil community. Today Tamils
claims to belong to various castes among which 'Vellala' are the
dominant caste. More and more people have made claims to belong to
this caste in an attempt to claim some kind of respectability within
the community. Amusingly according to the Dutch records, numbers of
persons belong to Vellala were 30% of the populations while at present
this has increased into 50% of the populations, showing clearly
various kinds of migrations into this caste. But who are Vellala. Is
it a variety of Brahmin caste, which came from India as stated by
early historians during Portuguese and Dutch times the Vellalas were
themselves Sudras. Is that so, how did Sudras become Vellalas?

Certainly Vellalas are not originate from the Brahmin caste. The
Brahmins were forbidden by the 'rules of Manu' to travel by ship and
to go abroad. These rules were strictly upheld. Therefore the early
migrations from India could not have been from the Brahmins.

A very strict rule within the caste system is that Brahmin could marry
only within their own caste and therefore the question of some migrant
Brahmins coming and getting married in Sri Lanka and creating more
Brahmin was also not possible. In the natural cause of things, the
people who migrated early leave their lands when their once who face
greater difficulties in their societies and then from this point of
view it was the Sudra caste which could have been the early migrants
which settle in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka.

Caste Among the Sinhalese

This same premise could be valid in terms of the Sinhalese. The early
migrants from India to Sri Lanka, who settle in Sinhala Speaking areas
and who latter created the Sinhala civilization would have been
Sudras. The creation of the myth attributing a princely status, to the
mythical person who is supposed to be the originator of the race is
quite understandable. In order to give some respectability to the
entire race this person has to be from a princely family or even as a
'Sinhabahu' legend goes, from a lion. While such attempts to give some
respectability to race is understandable. However,the fact that it was
originally the Sudras that would have migrated to Sri Lanka, is very
much more pausible. Therefore, Sinhala speaking people who settled in
Sinhala areas were also Sudras. Sudras gradually may also have married
into the 'Vadda' community and therefore combinations of Sudra and
Vedda communities would constitute the beginnings of the Sinhalese.
Clearly any kind of claims that the origination from the Brahmin has
to be excluded.

Anyway, in Indian status ladder famers are sudras. Therefore
,Govigamas like the Tamil Vellalas are of Sudra origin. Vijaya of
Mahawama, if there was such a person would have been a Sudra.
Therefore Sinhala Kings like the Tamil ones too, were persons who
originated from the Sudras .

Two questions that arise are, what kind of society did the Sudras
created at the begining and At what kind of relationship there was
among themselves? The next question is how does Sudra settlements
gradually developed the caste habits which belong to the Indian caste
traditions without there been migrations from the same Indian castes
to Sri Lanka? How does the social aspect of caste system ands
hierarchical structure, enter into Sri Lankan society?

Re-establishment of Caste system in India

In the Indian society after there was a serious setback of the caste
system due to the influence of 'Jainism' and 'Buddhism' in India,
there was once again a revival of caste system after few centuries.
The revival of caste system and the wiping of the Buddhism happened
more or less at the same time in India. There is some knowledge about
the manner in which this revival of caste system and the wiping out of
Buddhism took place in India. That was done by vigorous social
movements which were given a regious coloring, engaging in a
systematic repression and persecution of the Buddhists . This was
accompanied by a forceful replacement of the caste system, over a long
period of time with the support of the rulers of the time. After the
'Asokan' period which supported Buddhism, new dynasty established
itself, which was totally opposed to Buddhism and which replaced
Buddhism with the Brahmin religion together with the reestablishment
of the caste system.

There were village to village reorganization of caste, by Barahmins,
who were well instructed on the work of the reorganization and thus
virtually an enormous social experiment took place by way reorganizing
the society on the basis of caste.

Indian experiment brought to Sri Lanka

By the end of the 'Anuradhapura' period with the invasion of 'Kalinga
Maga', there was a period of social reorganization in Sri Lanka. The
similar type of social experiment which was carried out in India of
reorganizing villages on the basis of the caste principles would have
taken place during this time. This reorganization was also connected
with the development with the system of monarchy with absolute powers.
Thus the development of the monarchy and the development of caste
principle during this time transformed Sri Lanka into social
organization which was based on caste. Thus the Sudra communities
settled at the beginning was transformed into caste based new
hierarchy through social transformation which took place latter.
However the original populations which settled in the country were
Sudras and therefore it was a transformation of Sudra society into
caste system with new claims made by various groups for high states.

Thus, despite of false claims for new identities' all Sri Lankans
share common identity of being Sudras.

To be continued……

Previous Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Where is the honour in honour killings? A killing is a killing’

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/where-is-the-honour-in-honour-killings-a-killing-is-a-killing/630031/

'Where is the honour in honour killings? A killing is a killing'

The Indian Express Posted online: Sun Jun 06 2010, 02:34 hrs
Vandita Mishra: What does it mean to be a politician who is a woman
and a Dalit from a state which has been in the news for all the wrong
reasons—the Mirchpur incident involving violence against Dalits or
khap panchayat demands on gotra marriages? What do you have to say
about these problems?
My father was a prominent leader of Punjab, and then Haryana. He
happened to be a Dalit. In his time, there were no such labels. After
he passed away, I was asked to join politics and contest in his place.
I contested in 1988 from my father's constituency, Sirsa—I belong to
Hissar, and before the delimitation of 1975, our village was also part
of the Sirsa parliamentary constituency. I was about 25 years old,
absolutely new, raw. I owned just two cotton suits then. I remember,
during campaigning, there were dust storms all the time. You could not
see the sun. Often, we could not even see the road. We did not have AC
cars. We travelled in an Ambassador. At one point the engine heated up
and in some village, they put Rooh Afza in it because they thought it
will cool the engine better!

Basically, Haryana is dominated by one caste, the Jats. But
traditionally it hasn't been like that. These are incidents which need
to be tackled very sensitively. We—and I, as a Dalit—should understand
people's feelings and respond to that. I have to empathise, I have to
act as a bridge. I think it is for the leaders to come forward,
whether they belong to political parties, whether they are political
activists or come from khap panchayats.

Most of us who come from villages subscribe to this concept of not
marrying within the gotra. I do not think it is such an issue. We are
Arya Samajis and the Arya Samaj has been at the forefront of social
reformation. So we have always supported social change when it is for
the better. We need to be forward-looking. Scientifically, you cannot
dispute that marrying into the same gotra is not good. It is a
complicated thing. But when these issues go to an extreme, it is
wrong. Where is the honour in honour killings? A killing is a killing.
You cannot take the law into your own hands, and I think the Congress
is very clear on this matter: the Constitution is supreme.

Dhiraj Nayyar: Do you favour a caste census?

I will not give you my personal view because I am part of the
government and we are still taking a view on it.

Dhiraj Nayyar: Do you think reservations, as they exist now,
especially for SCs and STs, are helpful?

To some extent, they have helped. Take my own example: had it not been
for reservations, through which my father came into politics, I would
probably have been relegated to a corner in my village.

coomi kapoor: Would you agree with the argument about creamy layers in
reservations?

I think the time has come to take a look at that. There are certain
sections of the society that are the most deprived and they should be
given the benefit of these schemes.

Vandita Mishra: In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has identified
several of the state's Dalit castes as 'mahadalit', ostensibly for
better targeting of government schemes. How would you view such a
strategy?

Many states have toyed with such ideas, some have taken steps towards
this, but the last I heard was that the Supreme Court did not approve
of a quota within a quota. When we talk about the poorest, by and
large, they will be SCs. SCs faced double discrimination. Even today,
you might say that I have 'arrived'. Nothing in me suggests that I
should be an SC in the sense of receiving benefits or to be treated as
such.

But, at the end of the day, there is still discrimination. Many times,
I have seen students, who are doing very well otherwise, getting very
low grades in internal assessments. It still happens. Why? It is the
mentality. Let us face it. Many of you might not be aware of what I am
talking about because you have led a different kind of life in
different circumstances in a different milieu. But it is the reality
of this huge country where such things still do exist. I remember when
I was in college, there were many girls who would, in my earshot, pass
casteist comments. It did not bother me but it does leave some kind of
a mark.

Amitabh Sinha: As tourism minister, a lot of what you would like to do
depends on the decisions of other ministries. If you want to give tax
breaks to hotels, you have to approach the Finance Ministry. If you
want a relaxation in visa norms, you have to go to the Ministry of
External Affairs or the Home Ministry. Is it a handicap that you are
not empowered to take many decisions?

That is absolutely true. There is so much we want to do. But it is
easier to do things in the states rather than at the Centre. There are
so many ministries, so many departments we work with. Indirectly, we
can benefit. For example, if there is a good airport in Delhi, tourism
benefits. If the systems are better, tourism benefits. If you have a
better economic scenario in the country, tourism benefits. Tourism
does not mean only people coming to visit the heritage sites. In a
growing economy, there will be business travellers, there will be
people who come for holidays, there will be people who will come for
adventure sports. Our country needs to become a more tourist-friendly
nation, we need to welcome our tourists. That culture still has to
develop.

Coomi Kapoor: There is this old complaint that the people who man the
entry desks at the international airports are temperamentally
unsuited.

I pointed out this fact to the Cabinet a few days ago. I said, it is
good to keep track of the tourists, but we need to keep an eye on our
own officers as well. We need to put our best foot forward. I have
said that we will spend all the money we can on making improvements. I
have written to the home minister about this too.

DK Singh: How do you assess the performance of the Bhupinder Singh
Hooda Government in Haryana?

He is a Congress chief minister. Congress did come back as the largest
party after five years even if we did not get a majority. We came down
considerably, but we did form the government.

DK Singh: You are the Dalit face of the Congress in Haryana...

Why do you label us? I am a Congress face who is a Dalit.

DK Singh: How do you explain the fact that the only seat BSP has won
in Haryana is in your stronghold, Yamuna Nagar?

BSP has been strong here more than in any other part of Haryana. Even
during my election, BSP polled almost two lakh votes. We have weakened
them, but they remained strong.

Seema Chishti: One year ago, Congress came in on the politics of
aspiration. Why is there confusion on basic issues like the Women's
Bill, the sub-quotas you started talking about after a firm stand
initially, and then the caste census?

I think much of it is in the media. Let us not forget that although we
have come back stronger, it is still a coalition government. Our
allies have their rights as well. If there is a certain way a certain
ally wants an issue to be pursued, we have to take it into account.
Let us not forget that if today somebody is from West Bengal, there is
a state election coming up there, so they need to spend time there as
well. Our partners are more or less regional parties. So they will
have their regional interests. I do not think that you can brush that
under the carpet. As for Congress, there has always been space for
different points of view within the party. This is the strength of the
Congress. Our leaders feel that they can say what they want if they
feel strongly about it and that their views will be taken into account
when the final decision is taken.

Shekhar Gupta: How would you assess the young MPs and Ministers of
State from the Congress?

Every Lok Sabha throws up younger people.

Shekhar Gupta: But very few Lok Sabhas throw up the next Prime Minister.

That is true. I think the young ministers and MPs have a good
opportunity and they have a leader in Rahul Gandhi. I think they will
all be part of his future group. They will all go a long way. Many of
them are quiet people and the media does not talk about them. But they
are trying to do something.

Swaraj Thapa: You are also the Minister for Urban Poverty Alleviation.
The Food Security Act is not able to move forward because of problems
in identifying the number of BPL cardholders. Have you taken this up
with the Planning Commission and do you think that the definition of a
BPL cardholder should be revisited?

I had written to the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, that he
must set up a group to evolve a methodology by which they can identify
the urban poor so that we know whom to target. Also, I think the
Planning Commission needs to take note of the fact that when the
Tendulkar Committee submitted its report, it raised the number of
rural poor to the level of urban poor. But it did not touch upon the
number of the urban poor. I have asked them to look at the urban poor
also.

Coomi Kapoor: Has poverty in urban areas been alleviated?

Poverty alleviation in the urban sector is not the same as in rural
areas. Rural people are there, they exist. The urban sector is more
dynamic, it is changing. Urbanisation is not a bad thing. Why should
people stay in an idealised gaon? It's not all that romantic, believe
me. In the village, you will forever be born into and forever belong
to a certain caste. Changes in social factors, income generation,
livelihood opportunities are part of urban life. We need to engineer
that kind of urban growth. Today, the urban growth we talk about in a
city is that a municipality has become a corporation by simply
increasing the boundary. You have included the villages. Does that
mean urbanisation?

Shekhar Gupta: You have an excellent scheme in Mumbai, the Slum
Rehabilitation Authority scheme. Delhi has also tried to take it up,
but it is not working. Why?

There seems to be a bit of a problem because there are too many
authorities. For instance, the Delhi Government does not own the land,
which is with different agencies—DDA, etc. It is difficult for Delhi
to put these things in place. I have flagged it a number of times.
Delhi now has 49 per cent people living in slums; only 52 per cent of
Delhi's population has access to sewerage facilities. Delhi cannot
mean only New Delhi. What we are saying is that every house must have
a toilet and a kitchen.

SRA has come up with a good scheme. We are working on a new one: the
Rajiv Awaz Yojana. Property rights are going to be the fulcrum of the
Rajiv Awaz Yojana.

DK Singh: Do you think khap panchayats should be banned?

There are no simple answers or solutions. Khap panchayats have existed
for a long time. I, too, belong to a khap. Traditionally, the khap
panchayat intervened to help solve social issues. When there was
marital discord, issues between families, between different villages,
they would intervene to sort them out. Often, the police say, let the
village elders decide such matters. On the other hand, as I said, you
cannot be so drastic as to order honour killings. I do not think any
right-minded khap panchayat will order that.

DK Singh: What about the demand for an amendment to the Hindu Marriage
Act to ban same-gotra marriages?

My opinion is what the Congress Party has said. There is a rule of the
law in this country, there is a Constitution, and the Constitution is
supreme. In the Hindu Marriage Act, they have given due space to the
customary laws.

Dhiraj Nayyar: On the issue of affordable housing, is the fact that
the government wants to do everything on its own part of the problem?
Why don't you free up land and let private developers do the job?

The government cannot build affordable housing on its own. We have had
any number of meetings, conferences with the private sector. It is the
private sector which will have to come forward with affordable
housing. The demand is in the middle segment group. What the private
sector has been catering to during the property boom is the high-end
segment. Even today, when the economy is getting back into shape,
there are ads for Rs 6 crore villas. They want to make a quick buck.
We have spoken to them and they agree with us that the greatest demand
for affordable housing is in the middle income groups. That is where
the economies of scale will work. The private sector must come forward
on that, we have told the state governments they must act as a
catalyst for the private sector.

Pradeep Kaushal: You won nine out of ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. A
few months later, you lost in the assembly elections. What led to this
decline?

When we won nine out of ten, that was the UPA election. The people saw
a formidable line-up of leaders—Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul
Gandhi. This leadership appealed to the people. They perceived the UPA
was doing well and felt they needed to give it another term, a strong
term. So we won nine out of ten seats. In the Vidhan Sabha elections
or local panchayat elections, issues become more localised.

Mihir Sharma: One of the successes of the UPA Government has been the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The UPA credits that
largely for winning a second term. Have you been tempted to extend it
to urban areas?

There has been a discussion on this earlier and it was found that you
cannot replicate the NREGA in urban sectors because they are a little
more dynamic. But we do have a scheme called the Swarna Jayanti
Shahari Rojgar Yojana, which addresses the needs of the urban poor.

Seema Chishti: Is there any data on the movement from villages to
cities to indicate that it may have been reduced or stabilised because
of NREGA?

No, we do not have any such data. What we did have were the patterns
that indicate there is movement from smaller to larger cities.

Mihir Sharma: Are you concerned that the NREGA will pause what you
view as a necessary urbanisation process?

No. These are very natural things. NREGA is meant for the poorest
people who live in the villages and do not get any employment. But if
the market dictates, if people feel they will get better opportunities
in another part of the country, or in urban areas, they will move. In
a fast-growing economy you do need properly trained manpower.

Swaraj Thapa: In a place like Goa, you have the chief minister coming
up with the most shocking statements. He said rape incidents occur
because women dress in a certain manner and that they should not. He
also said they should not go out too late at night. What is your
message as the tourism minister and as a woman?

My concern is with giving travel advisories to the tourists. Often
they come from a different cultural background. This is not just for
Goa but for any place. It is alright for them to dress up in a bikini
and go to the hotel swimming pool. But in our cultural context, while
we welcome tourists from abroad, I think we need to advise them.

Vandita Mishra: You have been in politics for nearly 20 years and this
Lok Sabha has the maximum number of women. In your opinion, is there
such a thing as a woman politician? Does she practise politics
differently?

Personally, I have never viewed myself as a woman politician, just as
a politician or as a political activist. But you do see things and do
things differently. Women, I think, deal with things in a much more
sensitive way.

Transcribed by Deepu Sebastian Edmond

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[ZESTCaste] The Dalits - Things are Changing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeifYS9jK6E

The Dalits - Things are Changing

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[ZESTCaste] Cops-locals standoff in Mirchpur ends

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cops-locals-standoff-in-Mirchpur-ends/articleshow/6016331.cms

Cops-locals standoff in Mirchpur ends
Deepender Deswal, TNN, Jun 6, 2010, 01.55am IST

MIRCHPUR: The standoff between Mirchpur residents and the Rohtak
district administration in Haryana ended on Saturday following
assurance from police officers to rein in cops who were deployed in
the village.

The village had witnessed caste violence in which a physically
handicapped daughter and her father were burnt to death after upper
caste people set afire houses of dalits on April 21. After the
incident, dalits fled the village.

While majority of them are at Hisar, some of the families are in
Delhi. The local administration subsequently set up a temporary police
pocket outside the village.

The upper caste villagers, who had blocked the entry points of
Mirchpur and announced not to allow politicians and any police and
civil official inside the village on Thursday, have also withdrawn the
diktat by removing blockages on Saturday. Sources said the villagers
were provoked following reports that cops deployed at the post were
visiting the village at odd hours. The provocation, coupled with
demand from Bharatiya Kisan Union, which has considerable influence in
the village, to seek CBI inquiry into the incident of caste violence
in the village, drove villagers to take up cudgels against the
authorities. The anger, however, subsided following intervention of
coordination committee of the village and the police.

Narnaund police station SHO Rohtas Singh told TOI that villagers had
objected to visits of cops inside the village. ''We have issued
directions to our staff not to enter the village. They will remain
stationed in the school on the outskirts of the village. The police
have been deployed to restore peace and dispel sense of fear in the
villagers and not to create troubles,'' he said.

Village sarpanch Ramphal Singh also reiterated that all the community
in the village have harmonious relations. The coordination committee
comprising representatives from all the communities met on Saturday
and also visited the Dalit families which were affected in the
violence on April 23.

Chander Prakash, a retired school teacher and member of coordination
committee, maintained that the committee and other villagers had
called on the Dalits who were earlier sitting on dharna in Hisar and
brought them to the village. But again, they had decided to resume
their agitation in Delhi despite the fact that there was not any kind
of threat to them in the village.

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[ZESTCaste] Future bright for young outcasts

http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x371474673/Future-bright-for-young-outcasts

June 7, 2010

Future bright for young outcasts
Local group comes to aid of orphanage in India
By Amanda O'Rourke
The Daily Item

LEWISBURG — When Saumya arrived at the Snehibhavan orphanage in
Kerala, India, she was known as the sad one.

The daughter of an Indian sex worker, Saumya believed she would always
be standing at someone else's sink, but thanks to fundraising by the
Jackfruit Project for Snehibhavan, a Lewisburg-based charity, Saumya
was able to attend carpentry school.

"I have a picture of her now with a big smile on her face," said Paula
Closson Buck, founder of the Jackfruit Project and an assistant
professor of English at Bucknell University.

Buck founded the Jackfruit Project for Snehibhavan, a project of the
Association for India's Development, or AID, of Lewisburg, after
visiting the southern region of India in 2007 on a writing trip.

Since its inception, Buck and her small group of Lewisburg area
sponsors have raised $25,000. She hopes an online auction hosted by
the Canadian Embassy Officer's Club will push the orphanage toward its
goal of self-sufficiency.

Bleak futures

Buck was first drawn to the small orphanage by an acquaintance while
on the writing trip to India. Her first visit to the orphanage found
it in a state of crisis.

"The girls at the home were coming of age and didn't have any sense of
any future," Buck said. "The fear of the director was that she didn't
know what to tell them."

Most of the children were born of parents involved in India's sex
trade. Known as Dalit, an Indian caste, the girls and young women
traditionally are regarded as outcasts with little hope for a
successful future.

While the caste system has been abolished in India, there still is
discrimination and prejudice against Dalits in South Asia.

"The fear was that the cycle would continue," Buck said. "And that was
the last thing the founder of the orphanage wanted."

A plan takes shape

Run by an Indian woman, Sajini, a Dalit herself, and her laborer
husband, Matthews, the orphanage was barely surviving on the little
income brought in by Matthews' wages, Buck said.

"They needed money for food. They were surviving on bags of rice that
neighbors gave them," Buck said. "They didn't have anything to sleep
on."

Sajini appealed to Buck to help them, which is exactly what she did.

That very night, Buck and her friend drafted a plan that would allow
the orphanage to become self-sufficient, and the Jackfruit Project for
Snehibhavan was born.

Snehibhavan mean "love home," Buck said, and AID Lewisburg is the
umbrella organization under which the Jackfruit Project exists. The
project is named after a wooded grove of jackfruit trees that grows
behind the Snehibhavan home.

The first money raised went toward basic operating expenses, food,
clothing and school books, as well as sleeping pads and blankets.

"In the first year, we built a water harvesting system," Buck said.
"We accomplished lots of things. We helped them add onto their
facility and complete a big multipurpose room, which is now where they
eat and sleep."

Today, plans call for the orphanage to purchase a plot of land rich
with latex-producing rubber trees so that the orphanage can support
itself rather than rely on foreign donors.

"We don't think it's at all desirable for them to remain so dependent
on us," Buck said.

An unlikely ally

Enter the Canadian Embassy Officer's Club, an unlikely ally for the
Jackfruit Project, Buck admits.

Every year, the club chooses a foreign charity to support through an
online auction, and this year, the Jackfruit Project was fortunate
enough to benefit.

Buck said her group was found through a simple online search of charities.

The auction is open through Thursday at www.aidindia.org/auction, Buck
said, with a goal of raising $25,000.

Money raised through the auction will help to support young women like
Daisy, the daughter of an Indian sex worker.

Daring to dream

When Buck first sought to raise money for the orphanage, she did so
through sponsorships, and Arlene Hoyt, of Lewisburg, sponsored Daisy
for $362 a year.

With Hoyt's help, Daisy was able to leave her abusive past by earning
a degree as a medical technician. Hoyt was drawn to the Jackfruit
Project not only by the immediacy of the work being done there and the
project's goal of self-sufficiency, but also by its larger mission.

"It was very gratifying to think that one life could be changed, and
then she'll go on and change other lives, so then there will be a nice
ripple effect," Hoyt said.

In Saumya's case, fundraising by the Jackfruit Project allowed her to
go to carpentry school and meet her husband. They hope to open their
own carpentry business — a life that would have been unimaginable for
many Dalits.

When Buck last visited Saymya, it was while the young woman was making
headboards for beds.

"She told us at that time," Buck said, "that she never dreamed that
there would be anything like that in her future."

Said Hoyt: "I really appreciate the fact that I think we're trying to
empower these young women to lead different lives."

n E-mail comments

about this staff-written article to aorourke@dailyitem.com.

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[ZESTCaste] Hooda’s shot in the arm for khaps

http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/editorials/hooda%E2%80%99s-shot-in-the-arm-for-khaps/179395.html

Hooda's shot in the arm for khaps

The New Indian Express

First Published : 07 Jun 2010 11:55:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 07 Jun
2010 01:44:04 AM IST

After Congress MP Naveen Jindal's approving wink at the khap
panchayats for their regressive outlook, if not their violence, it is
now the Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's turn to voice
the same outmoded views. Comparing these caste-based panchayats, which
have no legal sanction, with the NGOs, Hooda said that if such
organisations perform "good work, it earns appreciation".
Notwithstanding the caveat against violating the law, the chief
minister's cautious praise will, first, embolden these outfits to
continue with their 'good work' of opposing same gotra marriages and
intimidating the young men and women who dare to defy these local
traditions. And, secondly, ensure that the police will not be too
eager to pursue any instances of the harassment of couples.

Such official and political endorsement of obscurantist conventions
can encourage 'honour' killings as well, whose numbers are rising with
distressing frequency. While the bigotry of the khap panchayats is
currently confined mainly to Haryana because of the dominance of the
Jats in the state, the scourge of 'honour' killings for marrying
outside the caste has become a feature of other states in the Hindi
heartland.

It is not difficult to understand why Hooda has chosen to take a step
backwards into medieval darkness. He has been on the defensive after
his gamble of calling for early elections in Haryana backfired with Om
Prakash Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal recovering much of its lost
ground. More recently, an attack on a Dalit family in Mirchpur, in
which a local khap panchayat was allegedly involved, earned the Hooda
government a bad name. Rahul Gandhi's visit to the Dalit home also put
the chief minister in an embarrassing position. He has also faced the
Supreme Court's ire in this context.

Given these setbacks, Hooda's need to fall back on the Jats, who
constitute his political as well as personal gotra, was perhaps
unavoidable. He cannot afford to alienate them by criticising the khap
panchayats lest they should turn in droves to Chautala's party. The
Congress, of course, will again have to bank on its expertise in
walking a tight rope in such delicate matters where retrogressive
local political compulsions have to be balanced against the party's
claims of liberalism. The party could largely ignore Jindal's comments
because he is a relatively small fry. But Hooda's support for what are
undoubtedly illegal entities poses a bigger problem.

Topics:

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit teens tied with ropes, dragged for theft

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Dailt-teens-tied-with-ropes-dragged-for-theft/Article1-554228.aspx

Dalit teens tied with ropes, dragged for theft

Indo-Asian News Service
Lucknow, June 07, 2010
First Published: 12:25 IST(7/6/2010)

Two Dalit teenagers were assaulted, tied with ropes and then dragged
for several meters by a group of villagers in Uttar Pradesh's Rae
Bareli district on charges of stealing a mobile phone kept in a
vehicle, police said Monday.

Ajai Nat (15) and Ravishankar Raidas (14), residents of Lachminia
village, some 80 km from Lucknow, were accused of stealing a mobile
phone on Sunday evening from the truck of Balbir Singh, who has a
transport business in the village.

When Singh failed to recover the mobile from them, he called three of
his associates, and together they beat up the teenagers with wooden
sticks and also shaved their heads. Thereafter, both the teenagers
were tied with ropes and dragged for several meters in the village.

"We came to know about the incident on Sunday night when the father of
one of the Dalit boys approached us. We have registered a case against
the four people who assaulted them," Senior Sub-inspector Subhash
Singh told reporters Monday in Rae Bareli.

"The case is serious in nature. Of the four booked for assaulting the
Dalits, we have arrested three. Balbir is still absconding. Efforts
are on to nab him," he added.

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[ZESTCaste] 11-year-old dalit girl raped

http://www.ptinews.com/news/696600_11-year-old-dalit-girl-raped

11-year-old dalit girl raped

STAFF WRITER 12:21 HRS IST
Muzaffarnagar, Jun 7 (PTI) A 60-year-old man has allegedly raped a
dalit girl at Bhalheri village in the district, police said today.

A case has been registered against Shobharam for raping the
11-year-old girl following a complaint by her father, they said.

Shobharam has raped the girl when she went to a field to collect grass
yesterday, police said.

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[ZESTCaste] India's castes: Don't ask, don't tell, don't count?

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/india/100604/caste-system-india-politics

India's castes: Don't ask, don't tell, don't count?

For the first time in 80 years India may get a true tally of an ancient system.

By Jason Overdorf - GlobalPost
Published: June 5, 2010 08:30 ET in Asia
Balwanti Devi from the Dalit caste (formerly known as untouchables)
speaks at Nonahi Nagwan village in Jehanabad district in the eastern
state of Bihar. (Jayanta Shaw JS/Reuters) NEW DELHI, India — The
2,000-year-old Hindu caste system remains the most powerful force in
Indian society.

Friendships, business ties and marriages live and die according to its
dictates. Political parties carefully script their election tickets
according to its mathematics. And an increasing number of government
policies — including spiraling quotas for government jobs and
university education — follow its logic.

But it's not polite to talk about it, and might even be dangerous to
quantify it.

Yet in an unexpected turn, earlier this month the coalition-leading
Congress Party led by Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
caved to pressure from opposition leaders and agreed to add a survey
of India's myriad castes to the 2011 census, which began April 1.
Weeks after the decision, jostling and debate rages on as India's
politicians reflect over the potential upheavals that may result.

Many here fear that a new understanding of the various groups' numbers
could disrupt the current political structure, while the upper crust
fears another wave of escalating quotas will make it even more
difficult for a young upper caste person to get a university
education. But the momentum of caste politics makes a reversal seem
impossible.

Broadly speaking, the caste system has Brahmins and Kshatriya at the
top of the social order, followed by the trading castes known as
Baniyas and scores of laboring castes such as the Yadavs, and beneath
them all the erstwhile untouchables, whom the constitution calls the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

[Watch this video on how untouchables in Delhi are coping with the
economic changes of India]

But the last official tally of the different groups was done in 1931,
and present policies are based on extrapolations from those figures.
An official count will no doubt have far-reaching and unpredictable
implications.

Significantly, the caste census promises to determine just how many
people belong to the country's so-called "Other Backward Classes," or
OBCs, who have made dramatic political gains since the Mandal
Commission was formed "to identify the socially or educationally
backward" in 1979.

Extrapolating from the 1931 census figures, the Mandal Commission
estimated the number of OBCs at 52 percent of the population. It then
went on to recommend that OBCs be included in the quota system for
government jobs and higher education that had already been established
for the erstwhile untouchables, and recommended increasing the
proportion of reserved places from 22.5 to 49.5 percent of the total.

"[The] caste social order of the Hindu society and a large number of
the other religious groups is oppressive," said Rangarajan. "This is
one way to open up some space. There is no magic wand. I see the caste
census as part of that. It's fact finding."

The caste census proposal is now sequestered in a council of ministers
tasked with developing a plan for implementing the count – which the
home ministry has argued could bring the whole census project crashing
down, as the inclusion of caste might prompt people to fudge the
numbers to ensure their group gets a healthy share of government
benefits.

The new tally might justify a hike in spending for OBC welfare and
scholarships, and it could have a dramatic impact on the controversial
quota system.

Working backwards, the Supreme Court verdict on Mandal commission set
a ceiling of 50 percent on job and education quotas and subtracted the
existing reservations for untouchables to determine the quota for OBCs
at 27 percent. But an official count is likely to spark fresh demands
to make these quotas proportional to each group's representation in
the population.

Already, the OBC leaders of the drive for the caste census, Lalu
Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav, have stepped up
their rhetoric. "In 20 ministries and 18 deparments, there is not a
single OBC in the [highest paid] Group A category," Sharad Yadav
argued during a recent parliament session.

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[ZESTCaste] NCW orders probe into Dalit father-daughter duo death

http://www.ptinews.com/news/694597_NCW-orders-probe-into-Dalit-father-daughter-duo-death

NCW orders probe into Dalit father-daughter duo death

STAFF WRITER 21:50 HRS IST
New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) The National Commission for Women today said an
inquiry has been ordered into the death of a Dalit father-daughter
duo, who were burnt alive in Mirchpur in Haryana.

The inquiry, which would be conducted by NCW member Wansuk Syiem,
would inquire into the circumstances leading to the incident and the
action taken by the authorities.

The member shall meet the police officers and others concerned to
ascertain the facts and circumstances and the protection provided to
Dalit families.

Tara Chand (70) and his daughter Suman (18) were burnt alive on April
21 allegedly when members of a particular community torched several
houses belonging to Dalits in Mirchpur village.

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[ZESTCaste] Arrest of Dalit leader, wife as ‘Naxalites' condemned

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article447550.ece

Published: June 6, 2010 02:06 IST | Updated: June 6, 2010 04:37 IST
AHMEDABAD, June 6, 2010

Arrest of Dalit leader, wife as 'Naxalites' condemned
Manas Dasgupta

Several voluntary organisations and "concerned citizens" fighting for
human rights have condemned the "indiscriminate" detention of some
human right activists and trade union leaders, branding them as
"Naxalites."

"It has become an obsession with the Gujarat government and its police
to brand human right activists as Naxalites to stifle the voice of
protest by the poor and the downtrodden. The civil society need to
stand up against such undemocratic methods of the police to curb
dissensions against the government administration," Mr. Hiren Gandhi,
director of "Darshan," a voluntary organisation, noted human right
activist and advocate Girish Patel, and several others said here on
Tuesday.

They were particularly protesting against the detention earlier this
week of a Dalit leader, Ambubhai Vaghela Srinivas Sattayya Kurapati
alias Kishore, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, but has made Gujarat his
work place for the last eight years or so, and his young wife,
Hansaben.

"One can easily find holes in the police story of them being Naxalites
because the police do not even know that the 30-year old Hansaben is a
local Gujarati girl and does not hail from Andhra as claimed by the
police. The only crime of Hansa, an employee of the well-known
Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), was that she was a niece of
Ambubhai," Mr. Gandhi said. Ambubhai, who worked as a computer
operator at Darshan for the last four years, had migrated to Surat
from a remote Andhra village years ago and Mr. Gandhi said he had
never seen him involved in any controversial activity during his
four-year association with him. The police, however, raided the
Darshan office in the wake of Ambubhai's arrest and took away a
computer.

Human rights activists said they knew Ambubhai very well; except
raising the voice of protest against communal disturbances and
fighting for the poor and the oppressed in Gomtipur and the
neighbouring labour-dominated localities through street theatres and
other cultural activities, Ambubhai had never participated in any
violent activities. "The detention of the three in the name of
Naxalite activities is the height of the police imagination and their
oppressive measures against the human right activists," Mr. Patel
said.

Citing the arrest of tribal activist Avinash Kulkarni in Dangs more
than a month ago and is still languishing in jail despite protests by
the civil society, the human right activists expressed the
apprehension that after Darshan, the police planned to target all
voluntary organisations working for human rights. They believed that
the Narendra Modi administration was creating the bogey of "Maoism out
of thin air" to divert attention from the CBI investigation into the
Sohrabuddin and other fake encounters as well as the 2002 communal
riot cases that were taking the inquiry on the doorstep of top
political leaders in the State.

Valjibhai Vaghela, a close associate of Ambubhai, said people in
Gomtipur and its neighbourhood had decided to put up boards at all
houses "proclaiming themselves as Naxalites and getting ready to be
arrested to flood the jails" if this was the way the Gujarat police
wanted to stifle the voices of the downtrodden.

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