Latest News Update: Jun 27, 2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Dalit students deprived of free education

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=20393

Dalit students deprived of free education
REPUBLICA

UDAYAPUR, June 27: Students from Dalit communities in this district
are increasingly dropping out as schools have been charging high fees
despite the government´s policies to provide them free education.

According to Pandu Pariyar, vice-president of Dalit Network Udayapur,
the Dalit students have not even been able to afford fees in community
schools, let alone the private ones.

"Schools charge high fees on the pretext of examinations, sports and
other activities even as the state provides for a completely free
education to children from Dalit communities," Pandu said.

Some schools are even found to have misappropriated the budget
allotted by the government for free-ships to the Dalit students.
Bagaha Secondary School of Triyuga Municipality and Belhi Primary
School of Sundarpur-8 have been only giving Rs 170 out of Rs 360 that
is allotted for each Dalit student.

"The schools say they keep the amount as examination fees," said Supar
Bahadur Nepali, president of Dalit Society Welfare Association
Udayapur. "They argue that they can not provide free education to
anybody."

School Inspector of District Education Office Udayapur Jas Bahadur
Karki said the Education Regulations stipulate not to take tuition
fees from students. "But it does not specify waiver on other fees."

"We have been working on a set of strategies to cater to the demands
of Dalit communities regarding free education," said Local Development
Officer Mohan Nath Maskey.

Published on 2010-06-27 19:56:57

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[ZESTCaste] Use of Dalit & racism in anti-Hindu propaganda: How to deal with cunning Xtian missionaries

http://greathindu.com/2010/06/the-use-of-dalit-and-racism-in-anti-hindu-propaganda/

Use of Dalit & racism in anti-Hindu propaganda: How to deal with
cunning Xtian missionaries

June 27th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Great Hindu

Christian missionaries have cleverly used Dalits to divide Hindu society.
They have played the caste card to negate whatever is positive in Hinduism.
The way out is a heady mix of positive reforms and creative counter-propaganda.
This is what Belgian historian Koenraad Elst says:
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/chr/christiandalit.html

The use of Dalits and racism in anti-Hindu propaganda
How to deal with clever Christian missionaries
The ongoing commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in the
British empire (1807) is being used by Christian missionary circles as
an occasion for Hindu-bashing through the theme of caste oppression as
a still-existing form of slavery.
Hindu polemicists typically react by highlighting the human-rights
abuses committed by Christians or in the name of Christianity through
the centuries: witch-burning, persecution of pagans and heretics,
racism, apartheid and of course the slave trade itself.
The intended implication is that Christians are morally in no position
to berate Hindus for their social injustices and had better not meddle
in inter-Hindu matters. This may be a correct and convincing position
to take in front of a neutral or as yet uninformed audience, but with
Christians who know their religion, it is hopelessly ineffective.
Whereas Christian missionaries have invested heavily in studying Hindu
society and its subsets as defined by language, caste or social class,
most Hindus including anti-conversion activists are unfamiliar with
the Christian mentality. Hindu polemicists listen to their own and
each other's words and then think: how great, how clever. But if you
want to get a message across to an audience, you should listen to the
effect you're having on this audience.
So, as an ex-Christian and still daily in touch with Christian
circles, I would like to point out certain beliefs and attitudes that
immunize Christians against the charge of being no better than Hindus
with their caste oppression.
First of all, the historical facts and present eyesores which you want
to shove into their faces and of which you expect that they will shock
& awe Christians into silence about caste, are already widely known
and acknowledged.
On the 900th anniversary of the Crusades, a perfectly justified
Christian reaction against Muslim imperialism, numerous Christians
indulged a guilt trip and said sorry to the Muslims. But most of all,
they impressed it upon themselves (far more thoroughly than you could
hope to do) what evil sinners they had been back then, and how this
should spur them into being nice to today's Muslims.
To Christians, past sins are a matter for repentance vis-à-vis God,
but ultimately only the normal course of things, since we're all
sinners. So they are not uptight about having sins on their record and
won't be blackmailed about this. Secondly, repentance about sins past
is proven precisely by a commitment to avoid and combat similar sins
in the present.
It is not enough to say your confession of sins, you have to resolve
to undo the sins' consequences and go out of your way to remove them
from this world. So, precisely because Christians have been guilty of
slave-trading etc., they have a duty to combat similar inequality now.
And this must not be limited to their own backyard, for sins are both
by commission as by omission, i.e. standing by passively when others
get away with committing them. Because of their past sins, they feel
obliged to meddle in your sins today. Just as after abolishing the
slave trade and then slavery itself in the British Empire, the British
felt obliged to go out and impose its abolition on the Ottomans, the
Arabs and others. This is a moral imperative.
In missionary-speak: "We have been part of the problem so now we must
become part of the solution." Hindus could have guilt-tripped modern
Westerners into leaving the injustices of Hindu society alone if they
had been Africans or Muslims.
More perceptive Westerners would not be inhibited versus these two
either (Muslims traded black, white and Indian slaves; while Africans
enslaved and sold off their own brethren to Arab and European
slave-traders), but most of them, and especially politicians, don't
dare to speak against those two groups. But Hindus are a different
matter altogether.
Hindu polemicists talk about "white racism" as if they are totally
oblivious to the torrent of anti-racist re-education that has swept
Western society in the past half century. The problem is not just that
Hindus cultivate an anachronistic world-view, apparently drawing a
good feeling about themselves from pretending to live in the colonial
age and occupying the moral high ground of the anti-colonial struggle.
This is bad enough, for movements based on self-deception stand
defeated from the very start; but in the present case, it also blinds
them to the transformation of anti-racism from a force working in
favour of the standing of non-European peoples to one that actually
makes things worse for them. Or at least for those among them who have
a solid reputation of racism, viz. the Hindus.
It is precisely anti-racism that makes Westerners self-righteous
vis-à-vis Hindus. Whereas social injustice in Western or even in
Muslim society is duly recognized, it doesn't have the extreme stigma
of the caste system because the latter is conceived as a form of
racism. In the past, I have argued left and right that the basis of
caste is not racial, but who am I? International organizations and
influential observers keep on repeating that the caste system is a
huge instance of racial apartheid.
And this much must be conceded, that it is at any rate hereditary
inequality, so that castes can be considered as micro-races. The
mega-scale and mega-age of Hindu society add to the image of the caste
system as the most monstrous racism in world history. Indeed, if caste
is arguably (though few would argue even this much) preferable to
outright slavery, even anti-racists consider it a few notches worse
than the apartheid as it existed in South Africa.
The whites oppressed the blacks, but they also provided some
elementary services to them, such as modern medicine and "the
liberating message of Christianity", they gave black elites the sop of
becoming government officials in the "homelands", they did not totally
neglect them. For all its exploitative ruthlessness in practice, the
apartheid philosophy (like post-slavery colonial policies elsewhere in
Africa) was not to ignore the blacks but to treat them as children who
would benefit from white supervision.
By contrast, the international image of caste society is one of
extreme callousness, in which upper-caste people see lower-caste
people dying on their doorstep and remain unmoved. Apartheid was an
institution within which human exceptions existed, with some whites
sympathizing with the blacks,– whereas in the international
perception, caste is so ugly and cruel because it is totally
heartfelt, with the upper-caste people persisting in caste-racist
discrimination even after its formal abolition as an institution.
Doesn't everybody outside India "know" that a Mother Teresa was needed
to pick up the paupers from the gutter where the smug upper-caste
Hindus left them to rot?
As Mark Tully has testified: "Whenever I go and give a talk on
Hinduism, and when I say something nice about it, invariably someone
from the audience will object: 'I think Hinduism is a disgusting
religion because of the caste system.'" And this from modern people
sufficiently educated to know that all societies have their problems
and iniquities, their own not excepted.
In their perception, the uniquely evil thing about Hindu caste-racism
is how deep it has gripped and moulded the Hindu mind, by virtue of
being a religiously-justified doctrine, not just a worldly
circumstance but entirely intertwined with deep philosophical stuff
about dharma and karma. Christianity has in fact managed to shed
slavery because slavery is not of the essence of Christianity, or so
the perception goes; whereas caste is of the very essence of Hinduism.
Another common anachronism in the Hindu position is to identify the
Christian missionary apparatus as "white". This does of course have a
basis in historical reality but is becoming increasingly inaccurate.
Christian missionaries in Asia are now typically Koreans or Filipinos
or Keralites, not whites. And don't say that they are only the
infantry: in most Churches you see them rising through the ranks.
Remember how in the Anglican Church, conservative African bishops
formed a formidable bloc opposing the Anglo-American progressives on
issues of women priests and acceptance of homosexuality. At any rate,
these non-white converts have interiorized the faith and the
missionary zeal, just as the white North-Europeans (the demographic
mainstay of the US Baptists and other missionary powerhouses) had at
one time interiorized Christianity after learning it from
Mediterranean missionaries, who in turn had it from the Jewish-born
"first Christians".
It is no use denying that Christianity has morphed across racial
frontiers several times already, and that it is repeating this process
right now. Even the remaining white Church leaders are clever enough
to send coloured Church spokesmen to interreligious forums where race
could be an issue, so Hindus won't be able to use the anti-white line
against them.
As for the anti-caste mobilization, millions of blacks too have
accepted the idea that caste is a form of slavery and racism. Just as
millions of Scheduled Caste converts who had never thought of caste in
terms of race have by now interiorized the idea that caste is the
ultimate in racism. You won't shock them into silence with references
to white injustice. On the contrary, to them the struggle against
caste oppression is simply the continuation of the historical struggle
against slavery and apartheid. So, that in my opinion is what Hindus
are up against.
The Christian missionaries are nothing if not clever. They sail with
the opinion winds and have ably made the switch from colonial racism
to postcolonial anti-racism, and now they are using this new line with
good effect against Hindu society.
Digging up the dirt on "white Christian" history will only evoke a
yawn, as that dirt has been dished out already all over the official
textbooks and media in Christian countries.
If Hindus want to stop the gains continually made by the Christians in
the battle for the souls, there is no alternative to the laborious
task of (1) informing the world about the more complex and less
extreme reality of the caste system in history and in the present; (2)
actually reforming society to the point where caste oppression is only
a memory,– and ensuring that the world knows about this; and (3)
refocusing the Hindu-Christian struggle to its proper doctrinal level,
where the defining Christian teachings can be exposed as the
unhistorical claims and irrational beliefs that they really are.
Plus, of course, reaching out to the converts who are willing or eager
to return to the Hindu fold. These are big and demanding jobs, but
carry a better promise of success than locking yourself in a smug
self-assurance of how evil Christians are.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Instructions of GOI on SC/ST/OBC reservation [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from uaday singh included below]

Dear friends,
The DoPT, Govt. of India has issued consolidated instructions abot SC/ST/OBC reservation for public domain and asked for comments. PDF file is attached. Please go through this file and sent your comments particularly upon the sections dealing with Exemptipn, Dereservation, Discrimination and reservation in autonomous bodies/PSUs etc.
I note that there are some objectionable clauses or you can say it is the sofisticated form of the SC/ST reservation Bill-2008.
Plesae read it seriously and save interests of the SC/ST/OBC by writting to DoPT and MPs etc.
With regards.

Dr. Uaday Singh
Assistant Professor
Deptt. of Mathematics
BHU, varanasi-221005.

__._,_.___

Attachment(s) from uaday singh

1 of 1 File(s)

36011_6_2010-Estt.(Res).pdf

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[ZESTCaste] Caste cauldron

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Caste-cauldron/638869/

Caste cauldron
Bibek Debroy
Posted online: 2010-06-27 23:40:05+05:30

Whether it is honour killings or Census, we never seem to be able to
get away from caste. In part, that is because public policy is
predicated on caste. If one divides the population into upper castes,
OBCs, SC-s and ST-s, the presumption is that upper castes are
relatively advantaged and there must be open-ended positive
affirmation in favour of OBCs, SC-s and STs. Any equitable society
must have positive affirmation in favour of the disadvantaged. The
debatable point is whether deprivation is best captured through
collective categories like caste or whether poverty is a
household-level characteristic. Since it is conceptually and factually
the latter, an equation with caste commits the double mistake of
assuming everyone in a backward caste is deprived and everyone in an
upper caste category is not. Consequently, because caste is
politically acceptable while non-caste identification of poverty is
not, we have gone round and round in circles since the Ninth Plan,
avoiding decentralised identification of the poor through
household-level characteristics. Since the 1991 reforms, growth rates
have picked up, though the spatial spread of trickle-down varies.

ST-s tend to be spatially concentrated, but OBCs and SC-s are not.
Clearly, in faster growing regions, rural Bharat is becoming
integrated with urban India.

Three questions arise. First, while there is no denying that OBCs,
SC-s and ST-s are relatively disadvantaged, have their absolute
conditions (a function of the indicator) improved since India moved to
a higher growth trajectory? Second, has relative inequality between
forward and backward castes increased or declined? Third, in
understanding deprivation and poverty, how important is caste as a
characteristic? Unfortunately, most of the discourse occurs in absence
of data. That's also the context in which caste as part of the census
needs to be understood. In a progressive society, caste should have no
role to play. But if we are stuck with caste in public policy
formulation, we might as well have better data. This book is based on
NCAER's National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure (NSHIE)
and throws up quite a few surprises. The only complaint is the
time-lag, since data are for 2004-05. This goes beyond the simple
time-lag issue. Anecdotally, based on some yet unpublished work by
Devesh Kapur and his colleagues in UP, one understands that improved
transport connectivity (roads and more than NHDP) has completely
transformed the lives of "Dalit"s.

This volume is descriptive and factual. It stays away from the
normative. It is also statistical rather than econometric, meaning
there is no estimation of functional forms to control for various
variables (in a ceteris paribus sense) to determine the impact of
caste once other variables have been controlled for. (That will no
doubt be done by other researchers using this dataset.) However,
judging from the correlations, one arrives at something that should be
obvious to all those who are not fixated on caste. Development and
poverty removal is a function of access to education, access to
integration with urban India (roads have a role in this), access to
financial services, access to land markets and access to salaried wage
employment (as opposed to subsistence -level self-employment). (There
are some State profiles too.) One shouldn't form the wrong impression.
The case for relative deprivation stands established.

However, the public policy implications for removing relative
deprivation are quite different. One needs to remedy this exclusion
and it is logically possible that exclusion is also due to caste. But
that case doesn't stand established. What is established is that
beginning with caste amounts to grasping the wrong end of the stick.
The crux is access to physical and social infrastructure.

A book that should be read, and certainly used, by everyone interested
in the caste debate, though the price is way out of line with the size
of the volume.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: ‘Criminalise Dalit bias’

http://www.ekantipur.com/2010/06/26/capital/criminalise-dalit-bias/317296/

'Criminalise Dalit bias'

KANTIPUR REPORT
KATHMANDU, JUN 26 -

Despite laws in place to protect the rights of Dalits, a large number
of them are still deprived of several fundamental civil liberties.
Various steps taken by the government to abolish this inequity have
proved failure as these oppressions are still observed in various
parts of the country. Dalits' freedom is impossible unless the acts of
discrimination are criminalised by the state, experts say.

Addressing a programme here on Friday, UNDP Programme Officer and
rights activist Tek Tamrakar stressed the need for free, fair and
meaningful leadership to end discrimination against Dalits.
"Reservations for Dalits and minorities are addressed in the
constitution. However, they have not been implemented," he said.
"Reservations should be sensibly practised in order to provide
opportunities to these repressed groups."

Praising Dalits' contribution to music and literature, experts said
formation of a new Nepali identity is impossible without addressing
their concerns. "Dalits have made enormous contributions to Nepal,"
said Archaeologist Prakash Darnal.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit students to become entrepreneurs

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/dalit-students-to-become-entrepreneurs/184860.html

Dalit students to become entrepreneurs

C ShivakumarFirst Published : 27 Jun 2010 02:37:15 AM ISTLast Updated :

CHENNAI: After his father's death, Parthiban did odd jobs to feed his
family. The commerce graduate from Kovilpatti's GVN college tried hard
for a government job. He became a daily wage labourer earning Rs 200.
But life took a turn when he was selected for the monthlong
residential entrepreneur development programme early this month.

The entrepreneurship programme designed by Pradipta K Mohapatra,
exchairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region and
chairman, Governing Board, Executive and Business Coaching Foundation
India Limited, Sudeep Jain, EDI special officer, Pandia Rajan, the
managing Director of MA FOI, Management Consultants, K Ranganathan,
chairman and managing director of CavinKare, and Prof Jhunjhunwala of
IIT.

Confident and armed with entrepreneurial skills, Prathiban is among
the new breed of 27 young dalit entrepreneurs who want to start their
own business. "Dalits are at the tailend of the social spectrum. They
are hardworking and have the skills but don't have confidence and are
traditionally guided by others," said Chandrakant B Kamble, the
managing director of Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing Development
Corporation. He added that these skills will make them job generators.
"They can go back to their villages and generate jobs and wealth,"
said Kamble.

"During the training, the students met real time first generation
entrepreneurs and learnt from their experiences," Pradipta K Mohapatra
said. The real competition will be on June 29 when the entrepreneurs
will be wooing investors with their presentations, he said. He said
the CII is committed to inclusive growth and this scheme will produce
several thousands of SC/ST employers. "If these entrepreneurs can
employ people in rural areas it will be a fabulous idea," he said.

Sudeep Jain said initially 50 colleges were targeted but many backed
out due to exams. There were 16 colleges who participated and of the
362 people, 50 were selected (27 of them dalits). "The government is
spending Rs 15,000 for dalit students," he said. And if the scheme is
successful, soon smaller cities like Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy
will be targeted.

Dalit student Jayadivya S plans to start organic farming in the land
bought by her father. She said some of her ideas already had resulted
in queries from few investors. But Parthiban feels some more time is
required. "I want to work for six more months before starting my own
enterprise," he said.

On June 30, Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin will honour the
entrepreneurs with certificates.

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[ZESTCaste] Scrap political reservation for Dalits, Adivasis says Dalit academician

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article410721.ece

Published: April 26, 2010 21:14 IST | Updated: April 26, 2010 21:14
IST MANGALORE, April 26, 2010

Scrap political reservation for Dalits, Adivasis says Dalit academician

Staff Correspondent

Kannada columnist and Special Officer in-charge of the Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribes' Welfare Cell at the Mangalore University M.P.
Umeshchandra has called for an end to the political reservation for
Dalits in the electoral system.

He said that those elected through reserved constituencies have become
symbolic figures, he pointed out that these leaders rarely take up
Dalit issues and tend to toe the party line after being elected. "The
complete lack of a pro-Dalit political voice is proof that this system
has not worked," he said.

Delivering a lecture at a function organised by the Dalit Sangharsha
Samiti (Ambedkar Wada) to mark Ambedkar Jayanti, Mr. Umeshchandra said
that reservation for Dalit candidates in the electoral system has only
created slavish representatives who are subservient to political
parties with a casteist agenda. "These reservations were created for a
period of 10 years in 1951 but they have been periodically extended
through amendments to the constitution. They have outlived their use,"
he said.

According to Mr. Umeshchandra reservations should continue in jobs and
education but not in the political arena since it leads to
"ghettoisation" of Dalit politicians and sidelining of Dalit causes.
Alleging that political reservations are a way to deprive political
power to Dalits and Adivasis, he pointed out that anti-reservation
politicians such as Arun Shourie never talk against political
reservations.

He also pointed out powerful political blocks created by communities
such as the Lingayats, Vokalligas, Yadavs and Jats and said that the
political assertion of Dalits could grow only when seat reservations
are scrapped.

"In the political arena, the need is to restart the agitation for
separate electorates for Dalits and Adivasis as envisioned by B.R.
Ambedkar," he said.

Meanwhile, he also said that political reservations should be extended
to other communities such as Brahmins and Muslims as well as Other
Backward Castes for a short term period of 10 years.

Earlier, he also reminded the audience that Ambedkar was strongly
against adulatory and symbolic politics. "It does not matter if you
cannot celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14. Make sure you spread
his message," he said.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Class is the issue

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/06/27/stories/2010062750140400.htm

Viewpoint

Class is the issue

HARI NARKE

The OBC census is not a caste census and one that is necessary to
formulate policies vital to their development.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OBCs are not a caste but a socially and educationally backward class.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the demand for census of Other Backward Classes (OBC) is being
criticised for promoting casteism, it was the Planning Commission's
report on the Eleventh Five-year Plan ( Vol 1, pg 118, 120, 2008)
which stressed the need for such a census. "Like SCs, STs, Minorities
and persons with disabilities, there is an imperative need to carry
out a census of OBCs now or in the next census in 2011. In the absence
of exact assessment of their population size, literacy rate,
employment status in government, private and unorganised sectors,
basic civic amenities, health status, poverty status and human
development and HPIs, it is very difficult to formulate realistic
policies and programmes for the development of OBCs."

The Commission said that "State-wise, OBC-wise data on populations as
well as vital and demographic variables are not available, which is
the main hurdle in the formulation of policies and programmes for the
development of the Other Backward Classes."

Before this, the Standing Committee on Social Justice, 2006, headed by
Sumitra Mahajan and comprising 28 MPs, "strongly recommend that
Ministry should vigorously pursue with the Registrar General of India
to conduct a survey of OBCs and the persons living below double the
poverty line in this category so that the Ministry could prepare its
Action Plan so that the required amount of funds can be made available
to the State Governments for effective implementation of National
Backward Classes Finance Development Corporations various schemes for
the development of backward classes". In addition , the three Backward
Classes Commissions in 1955, 1980 and 2004-05, apart from the National
Commission for Nomadic Tribes, Semi Nomadic Tribes & Denotified Tribes
[Renke Commission], 2008, was in favour of an OBC census.

Crucial distinction

A major issue that needs to be clarified here is that the OBC census
is a class census and not a caste census. It has to be pointed out
that OBCs are not a caste but a socially and educationally backward
class. Just as there is a special provision in the budget of the
states and the Centre for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(SC/ST), the OBCs also need a separate budget for their upliftment.
They have a constitutional right to basic amenities, employment, and
shelter and unless we know their exact population, it will be
difficult to make plans for them. The OBC census is required for two
reasons. While budgeting and planning for the OBCs is one aspect, the
other crucial one is to silence the repeated attack, in numerous writ
petitions, against reservation for OBCs on the grounds that their
exact population is not known. The Supreme Court has on every occasion
rejected this argument but it will pop up again and again. There is a
misconception that SCs and STs are Constitutionally recognised
categories but OBCs are not. This is not true. The Constitutional
recognition of SCs and STs are articles 341 and 342 and for OBCs it is
article 340. Only, there was gross delay in implementing article 340
at the central level till as late as 1990, though lists of OBCs were
made in the peninsular provinces and princely states even before
Independence. The total number of OBCs for all states in the central
list is only 1963, not a formidable number compared to SCs and STs.

There has been a religion-wise census for 140 years. India was divided
because of religion, not because of caste, but the religion-wise
census continues. There is a census of SC/ST without any objection. If
SC/ST census is not opposed, why then is a classwise census of more
than 52 per cent of the population being opposed? Even today, there is
endogamy in this country. All castes have their organisations. Those
organisations hold their conventions, they have their own banks,
educational institutes etc but no one complains against them.

Those who say that casteism will spread due to the OBC census forget
that the caste system has been in existence for thousands of years and
continues regardless of any Census. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar himself had
insisted on an OBC census along with separate SC/ST census in
independent India. This has been categorically mentioned in his book
Who Were The Shudras?There were serious debates in the Constituent
Assembly on this issue. Dr. Ambedkar played a seminal role for the
rights of OBCs. Jyotiba Phule and Dr. Ambedkar have given the
blueprint for caste annihilation in this country. Social justice to
all, equality and adequate representation in the power structure are
prerequisites in a casteless society. There is no shortcut. To
recognise the rights of a large percentage of people, they have to be
counted first.

Strong provisions

One doubt is raised that people may furnish false information. If they
do this, there is stringent punishment in 1948 census act of up to Rs.
1,000 fine and three years imprisonment. This provision is
deliberately ignored by the opponents of the OBC census. The Akhil
Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, headed by Maharashtra Deputy
Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had demanded an independent census of
OBCs in the presence of the President of India Dr. Shankar Dayal
Sharma in a national convention on December 12, 1993 at Pune. The
Samata Parishad has also filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking
justice for this demand in February 2010 and the Union Government has
been ordered to submit an affidavit in this regard by Supreme Court.
Our demand is not to mention caste or sub-caste but the class only.
Since the census is being carried out by the central government, there
is no possibility of any conflict over the list prepared by National
Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

The question then boils down to who should conduct the OBC census. The
Census organisation says that it cannot take on the additional burden
and wants it to be left to state Backward Class commissions. These
commissions and the NCBC are far behind the census organisation in
infrastructure and capability. It is only the central Census
organisation that can undertake this. It should be strengthened to the
extent necessary for this vital task.

Hari Narke is Professor and Head, Mahatma Phule Chair, University of
Pune and a member of the State Commission for Backward Classes,
Maharashtra.

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[ZESTCaste] Honour killings: Chickens of identity politics come home to roost (Comment)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/honour-killings-chickens-of-identity-politics-come-home-to-roost-comment_100386636.html

Honour killings: Chickens of identity politics come home to roost (Comment)
Sunday, June 27, 2010 11:22:37 AM by IANS
By Amulya Ganguli
Even a decade ago, khap panchayats - the caste-based village councils
with their kangaroo courts functioning mainly in Haryana - were
virtually unknown, and sporadic "honour killings" were reported only
from northwest Pakistan. Now, these make headline news in India almost
every day.

To understand this regressive phenomenon, it may be necessary to go
back to 1990 when caste-based identity politics received a boost.
Although caste was always a feature of Indian politics, except in
areas like West Bengal, it was generally a muted affair before that
fateful year.

Even if the parties selected their candidates on the basis of the
caste composition of the constituencies, especially in the Hindi
heartland, they pretended that they were motivated more by merit and
organizational strength than by caste. It was the same where the
religious communities were concerned.

A seminal change took place with the V.P. Singh government's
implementation of the Mandal Commission report on reservations for
Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in government jobs in 1990. This was
followed by L.K. Advani's rath yatra to "remove" a mosque at the
supposed birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya to prevent the Hindu vote
bank of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being split by the upsurge of
casteist sentiments.

The BJP's rise at the time was accompanied by the rise of parties like
the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party, which
championed the cause of the OBCs, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),
which was associated with the Dalits. The politics of identity, based
on religion and caste, had suddenly acquired more importance than ever
before.

A key feature of the segmented politics was the aggressive flaunting
of one's religious and caste identity. Since aggression requires a
target, the minorities faced the BJP's provocative campaign while the
parties of the OBCs and Dalits targeted the upper castes. "Tilak,
tarazu aur talwar, inko maro jootey char" (beat the Brahmins, Banias
and Rajputs with shoes) was the BSP's belligerent advice to its
followers.

Indian politics had never before seen such vituperation in public
life. Inevitably, the strengthening of such divisive sentiments
infected the social scene as well.

Hence the appearance of khap panchayats, which are not strictly legal
entities like the three-tier panchayat system which operates in the
rural areas. Instead, they are an informal gathering of village elders
of one community, mainly the Jats.

Had these been a congregation of wise old men giving sage advice
against moral turpitude, there would have been no cause for alarm. But
the boost received by the caste system in 1990 has strengthened their
traditional prejudices, resulting in the issuance of directives
against inter-caste or even inter-village marriages. These panchayats
have also forbidden marriages between boys and girls of the same
gotra, a system of clans in Hindu society.

What is ominous is that these illegal bodies haven't stopped after
issuing their regressive diktats. The excessive importance which the
caste system has received has emboldened the khap panchayats to order
even the killings of defiant couples to save the "honour" of their
families. This repulsive practice has now spread from the villages to
the towns, including Delhi.

It will be a mistake to believe that such outrages are the result of a
generation gap or of a religious or class divide, the usual reasons of
disagreement between parents and grown-up children. Such divergence of
views can lead to estrangement, but not murder. The killings are the
result of the whipping up of an intense antipathy towards perceived
opponents.

The belief at the time of independence was that the caste system would
gradually wither away with the spread of education and modern,
scientific ideas. There was wide agreement among the intelligentsia
about the reprehensible nature of the system with its concepts of
ritual purity which made the Dalits untouchables in the eyes of the
upper castes.

As a form of affirmative action, therefore, the founding fathers of
the constitution had called for reservations in jobs and education for
only the Dalits and Adivasis - the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes - and that, too, for a period of 10 years.

Unfortunately, not only has this restriction been consistently
bypassed with extensions being provided every 10 years, but the scope
of reservations has been widened to include, first, the OBCs, and then
the women in panchayats, which will be extended to parliament and
state assemblies as well.

Quotas for the OBCs along with those for Dalits and Adivasis are also
being set aside in the higher educational institutions. Now, to give
further importance to the caste system, castes could form a part of
the census data.

Earlier, the fear was that the quotas will keep out the meritorious
from employment and education, thereby affecting the quality of
services and academic degrees. Now, as the "honour killings" show, the
emphasis on caste can have other horrendous consequences, which were
evidently anticipated by the politicians because of their eagerness to
exploit the divisive sentiments to build up their bases of support.

(27-06-2010 Amulya Ganguli is a writer on current affairs. He can be
reached at aganguli@mail.com)

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits celebrate boycott withdrawal

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=27_06_2010_002_005&kword=&mode=1

Dalits celebrate boycott withdrawal
June 27, 2010
BARNALA:

The activist of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha on Saturday organised a `victory
rally' at Nangal village after some landed leaders apologised for
having used derogatory remarks against village Dalits. The leaders
also announced withdrawal of alleged boycott of Dalits through the
public address system of the local gurdwara. Morcha state leader
Gurpreet Singh Rooreke, while addressing the rally, con- demned the
role of the administration, blaming them for the 20-day stale- mate
that preceded the apology.
The activist of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha on Saturday organised a `victory
rally' at Nangal village after some landed leaders apologised for
having used derogatory remarks against village Dalits. The leaders
also announced withdrawal of alleged boycott of Dalits through the
public address system of the local gurdwara. Morcha state leader
Gurpreet Singh Rooreke, while addressing the rally, con- demned the
role of the administration, blaming them for the 20-day stale- mate
that preceded the apology.

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[ZESTCaste] Mahalaxmi temple built by dalits opens for public

http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-134614.html

Mahalaxmi temple built by dalits opens for public

Kendrapada, Jun 26 : A Mahalaxmi temple built by dalits inside the
famous Baldevjew temple premises here was opened for public, almost 83
years after its foundation was laid.

Much to the delight of religious activists, Gajapati Maharaja of Puri
Dibya Singha Deb graced a religious function this evening amid
chanting of mantras as he was the first devotee to enter the temple.

The construction work of the 47-feet tall Laxmi temple was completed recently.

According to Endowment Official sources, due to the paucity of funds,
the construction work was delayed by the fishermen community,
especially the Kaibartya Samaj (fishermen society) of undivided
Cuttack district.

''The temple work was taken up with the contributions by each
fishermen family of the undivided Cuttack district. The Fisherman
Society has collected funds from every household of undivided Cuttack
for this purpose,'' sources added.

--UNI

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[ZESTCaste] When the dust settles

http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/when-the-dust-settles/184347.html

When the dust settles

Asha Menon

First Published : 27 Jun 2010 12:00:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 26 Jun
2010 12:08:50 AM IST

Ganesh was dug out from the rubble of the expansion of a sewer. "Only
his leg, for forensic examination," says a villager, in Andhra
Pradesh's Anantapur district. His parents needed to know if the
decaying mound, inside the memorial for the Communist Party of India
(Maoist) cadre, was their son's.

"The police sent Ganesh's body to this village, to the wrong family,"
says Padma Kumari, of the Amarulu Bandu Mitra Sangam (Collective of
Families and Friends of Martyrs). "The parents fought for a forensic
examination for years, but they were never shown the report. They
still believe their son will return. We know he is dead."

In this war for the Maoist millennium, fear and uncertainty is a given
for the families of the victims. A large part of that grief comes from
the police and government. The former nurse a nearpathological hatred
for anyone associated with the movement. Anyone could be killed in an
"encounter" and anyone could go "missing".

Vaddera Manohar disappeared in 2004. He was 22. His mother Laxmamma
shows an album of his brother's wedding. "He didn't even buy new
clothes," she says. "Why did they take him? He was working for the
people."

Manohar and his friend Mallesh were active in politics in their
Dalitmajority slum in Kalwala, Mahbubnagar. "People here value
education and send their children to colleges far away," says
Narasimalu, district president of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties
Committee. Manohar and Narasimalu's brother Mallesh were in a
Bangalore college when they joined the movement. Both were arrested
and released in 2004.

"When they were released, I went to receive them along with three
other fathers," says Timmanna, Manohar's father. "Plainclothes
policemen hijacked our auto, blindfolded us and separated us from our
sons. We fathers were bundled into jeeps and dropped off in the night
on the road to Srisailam." They never saw the boys again.

"We filed petitions with the National Human Rights Commission, the
court and met MPs. The AP High Court instructed the police to trace
them and file a monthly report on the progress. My son is still
missing." Laxmamma believes he is alive. It is a fragile hope. Her
relative's teenage son, Venkatesh was killed in an "encounter".

"Mothers suffer," says Padma. "They always remember the beautiful
moments they shared with their children - and the police hand over a
body they do not even recognise. I met a mother once who was sent her
son's dead body. After ten years, she sees his mutilated and
decomposing body. She could not even hold it and cry, his skin would
peel off."

Powerful defeated

Patel Sudakar Reddy's mother Bojamma, in Mahbubnagar's
Kurthiravulacheruvu, is the antithesis of the helpless Laxamma. At
least ten men run around to get her a chair and entertain her guests
as she sits for the interview. The former Central Committee member is
the third of nine children in a landowning family with Congress
connections.

"He was always different. He insisted on helping the farmhands. I
never understood," she says. "When he left to work for the party in
1984, he did not tell anyone. His friends who saw him off at the
station told us." They saw him more than a decade later, after a
sevenyear term for arms procurement. "He never kept in touch. He did
not even come for his father's funeral." When Sudakar was killed in
May 2009 in an "encounter", and the party alleged that it was staged,
no one from his family pursued the case.

Sometimes it is indifference, sometimes resignation. Kumari's house is
in Akramam, a village with a revolutionary past. Her brother who once
saw the Jana Natya Manchali perform, encouraged her to join the
troupe; her parents did not fully comprehend the enormity of her
decision. "Singing, meeting," is how Anjamma her mother sums up her
daughter's life. "She went at 13, for 22 or 25 years and came back a
corpse. She died of malaria." Did she try to stop her? She shrugs.

"At least she sang good songs," says her ageing father, almost to himself.

On the other hand, Narasaiah is fiercely proud of his son Ravana. He
wears a blood red woollen scarf every day of the year. In his late
70s, Narasaiah sits in front of the martyr memorial in Subhashnagar,
Hyderabad. Ravana's (alias Nanni alias Sudakar) name is engraved on
it, against 2001. "For 12 years, I didn't even know where he was. I
met him once, five years after he left. They gave me 30 minutes to
talk to him." Narasaiah smiles. "The next I hear is that there is an
unidentified corpse, unclaimed for three days. Even today, whenever
there is a Naxalite related incident in the city, I am taken into
custody."

"But I have no regrets. We are from the Madiga caste. We had to sit
apart, could not wear chappals, were not paid for our labour and given
food according to the whims of the landlords. The party liberated us."

The real victims

According to Narasaiah, it is the wives who are punished. Seshaiah,
president of APCLC, agrees. "They are sexually harassed, children's
education is stopped and they are kicked out of their inlaws house."
Mastan Rao, a member of the central committee of the party, was
tortured for hours before he was shot, according to the party's press
releases.

"What good did it do?" asks his wife, crying. "I washed and ironed
clothes to bring up my children." When state committee member
Venkataswamy Chintala alias Suryam left, his wife had to rely on sheer
grit - there was a house loan and three children. "He wrote letters
often, and we met once in a while. Otherwise I brought them up running
a shop." For the party, it is a Catch 22 situation. They cannot fund
any schemes to help families or spouses, lest they too be labelled and
hunted as Maoists.

Madhvi Joshi, wife of slain AP state committee member Kondal Reddy, is
living her worst nightmare. But, "I have nothing against the party,"
she says. On March 11, Reddy left their house in Pune. He never came
back. "His phone was out of reach for hours. I did not know whom to
call." Kondal Reddy worked underground so the couple could keep no
contact with their families. She had no access to Telugu news channels
and did not see the pictures of his dead body or hear the news of his
death. Her brother, whom she called out of desperation, informed her.
"He was murdered in cold blood," she says.

Madhvi's mother accompanies her everywhere these days. "She is afraid
for me," says Madhvi. "I have to start life again. I knew he worked
for the party, though I did not know what he had to do. I did not
mind, he was such a kind, smiling man." But he is gone now and Madhvi
can't even dream of justice; he was an enemy of the people.

ashamenon@expressbuzz.com

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