Saturday, July 3, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Participation in e-democracy (IIT Delhi)

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a PhD student from IIT Delhi,

I request you to kindly participate in the survey related to citizen participation in e-democracy.
Contribution from people with democratic/political insight is very important for this survey and hence your participation will be helpful for this study.

You can access to the survey using the link
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEJaLTBQRmJ0RGptN3BpYnloa203MWc6MQ#gid=0

Thank you for participating in this important survey. Really appreciate your valuable time spent for this
--------------------
Sreejith.A

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[ZESTCaste] Maya's name game has paid poll dividends

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/104013/India/maya%E2%80%99s-name-game-has-paid-poll-dividends.html

Courtesy: Mail Today

Maya's name game has paid poll dividends
Piyush Srivastava
Lucknow, July 3, 2010

Whoever says what's in a name should take a closer look at the Bahujan
Samaj Party's (BSP) electoral history.

It's not for no reason that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has
renamed the district carved out of Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi
as Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Nagar.

A name, or names, may well have been behind the rise and rise of the
BSP's political fortune. Whenever in power, Mayawati has created new
districts and named them after Dalit reformers. The strategy,
political analysts say, has given her electoral dividends in the long
run.

Her party leaders believe it has been a motivating factor for Dalit
voters to gradually mobilise under her leadership. Mayawati created
Ambedkar Nagar out of Faizabad in June 1995 after she became chief
minister for the first time. Out of five assembly seats falling in the
district at that time, her party had won only two - Katehari and
Akbarpur.

But she reaped the dividends of her strategy in the 2007 assembly
elections when she also won the three remaining seats - Chanda,
Gosainganj and Ambedkar Nagar. Significantly, the BSP chief repeatedly
reminded the voters during campaigning that she had named the district
after a Dalit icon for the community's pride.

Analysts say a careful and strategic planning goes into selecting the
areas from which new districts are carved out and named after Dalit
icons.

"She is doing this in places where she is either strong or sees a
possibility to gain substantially," said A.K. Verma, professor of
political science at Kanpur's Christ Church College.

"This is part of an effort to gradually create high-visibility areas
for the BSP. If she names the areas after the leaders of a particular
community, she is bound to gain in future. It is long-term politics…
it consolidates her vote bank," Verma said.

Why the strategy is working for Mayawati is summed up by BSP MLA from
Sisani, Gendalal Chaudhary. "It is related to Dalit pride. Our leaders
and iconic personalities have been ignored by all the political
parties. The people gain confidence when she names an area after a
thinker who is known for Dalit uplift," Chaudhary said.

According to an estimate, the BSP has gained at least three dozen
assembly seats in the districts named after Dalitthinkers.

Sant Kabir Nagar was carved out of Basti in March 1997, when Mayawati
was CM for six months. At that time, her party held only the Haisar
Bazar assembly seat in the district.

But in the 2007 polls, it won four out of the five seats Haisar Bazar,
Khalilabad, Khesraha and Sant Kabir Nagar - falling in the district.

The BSP also won four of the five seats in Basti district - Basti,
Mahadewa, Kaptanganj and Ram Nagar.

Gautam Buddha Nagar was created out of Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr
districts in June 1997. At that time, the BSP had two seats there.

Though the composition of the constituencies falling in the district
completely changed after delimitation, the BSP now holds all the six
assembly seats in the district - Jewar, Dadri, Noida, Greater Noida,
Sikandarabad and Khurja.

Similarly, three of the five assembly seats falling in the Jyotiba
Phule Nagar district, which was mainly carved out of Amroha in April
1997, are now with the BSP. Earlier, the party had only one seat
there.

In 1997, the Hathras district was formed and renamed Mahamaya Nagar (
named after Gautam Buddha's mother). Mayawati's party, which didn't
have a single seat there at that time, opened its account in the 2002
state polls with one seat and gained two seats - Hathras and Sisani -
in the 2007 polls. A BSP leader said: " She renames those areas where
she sees great hope for the party.

But she also changes the names of those areas where the BSP is in a
strong position." Political observers pointed out that in April 2008,
she created Kanshiram Nagar by dividing Etah district and has now
renamed Kanpur Rural as Ramabai Nagar because she sees a potential to
develop these areas as a BSP stronghold.

The Samajwadi Party scrapped some of the decisions of Mayawati when it
was in power. For example, it had withdrawn her earlier notification
to create the Sahuji Maharaj Nagar district in 2003.

Despite that, she has gained from these decisions.

Now, Rahul's Amethi has become the ninth district to be renamed after
a Dalit icon. Given her electoral success after renaming districts,
Mayawati must be hoping to endear herself to the Dalits in his
constituency. But it will take much more than just renaming Amethi to
make inroads into the Congress scion's family bastion.


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[ZESTCaste] Social tension between Dalits and Jats on the rise in Mirchpur

 

http://www.merinews.com/article/social-tension-between-dalits-and-jats-on-the-rise-in-mirchpur/15825204.shtml

Social tension between Dalits and Jats on the rise in Mirchpur

The dalits are demanding that they may be allotted land at Hisar
stating that in the village they fear attack from the Jats who are
pressing them to withdraw the criminal cases registered in connection
with burning death of two Dalits.

CJ: Pawan Kumar Bansal Sat, Jul 03, 2010 16:02:18 IST

THE VISIT of Parliamentary Committee for welfare of scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes at Mirchpur village in Hisar district of Haryana
to assuage the heart feelings of dalits recently has further
widened the tension between dalits and jats which may have long term
remifications on social fabric of the state.

Mirchpur village has become epicentre of caste tension following
clash between both the communities which resulted in burning of few
houses of dalits by jats and burning alive of aged dalit Tara Chand
and his polio ridden girl Suman.

Jats were agitated as the committe members only listned to the
viewpoint of dalits and when their repeated efforts peacefully to
put their version failed they inluding a large number of females laid
before their air conditioned bus in which they were going back to
Delhi.

Drama continued for about ten minutes and ultimately on persuation of
a scribe D.Raja , member of the committee came down from the bus and
received a memorandum from them. The committee members asked them to
come to Hisar to to put their viewpoint which they refused .The
thirteen members of the thirty member committee headed by Gobinda
Chandera Nasker spent about three hours in the village meeting the
victims . They visited the house of Tarachand where his wife Kamla
told them that although they have got compensation and her three
sons have got government job but even then they feel insecure in the
village fearing attack from the powerful Jats.

Earlier the committee members had refused to listen to jats on the
plea that they have come to listen to victims. Many persons of the
village belonging to both dalit and jat communities shared with this
scribe that tension was easing in the village but the frequent visit
of politicians is spoiling the atmosphere.

Even Swrrop Singh president of the peace conmmittee constituted by the
govrnment comprising representatives of both the communites did not
turn up to meet the committee members as he was reprotedly advised
by some politician who do not want that peace should prevail in the
village. Jats complain that everybody be the Union Minister Kumari
Selja , All India Congress Committee General-Secretary Rahul Gandhi
or chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who had visited the village
met only dalits.

The police had tough job in keeping media at bay. Team members
gave dressing down to Haryana, Director General of Police Ranjeev
Dalal when he tried to reply their queries from the victims asking
him to keep quiet and the victims shuould be allowed to speak. Later
Dalal directed his team not to go so close to team members least
they got offended. But the cops failed to keep media particularly
electronic media at bay despite their best efforts.

Hisar Deputy Commissiner Yudhavir Khayliya who has taken over only
last fortnight was heard boasting before the committee members that
after his taking over as reins of the district there is complete
peace in the village and dalits are feeling secure. Jats also
blamed media particularly electronic media for not giving their
point of view and giving only one sided version of the incident.
They are demanding C.B.I.enquiry into the incident whereas the
Haryana Government has ordered judicial enquiry.

Politial observeros feel that had Union Tourism Minister Kumari
Selja and chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda jointly toured the
area then situation would have come under control.

The dalits are demanding that they may be allotted land at Hisar
stating that in the village they fear attack from the Jats who are
pressing them to withdraw the criminal cases registered in connection
with burning alive of Tara Chand and his polio ridden daughter Suman
whereas jats allege that the Police has arrested several innocnet
youth under pressure from the dalits. Kumari Selja during her visit
to Mirchpur has added fuel to fire by promising dalits that they
will be allotted plots at Hisar.

In fact on her directions the district administration has even started
the paper work . This demand was outrightly rejected by chief minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda . Haryana 's Health Minister Geeta Bhukal
protege of Hooda and belonging to dalit community even publically
fired Selja for advocating the demand of allotment of plots at Hisar.

If this tension is not controlled then it may escalate causing
major law and problem in the state. The committee chairman told
this scribe that they have seen the actual situation prevailing in
the village and had interactions with the affected people as well as
the state administration and will lay report in this regard in the
Parliament during the ensuing monsoon session.

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[ZESTCaste] Keeping caste system intact

 

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/keeping-caste-system-intact-1.649296

Keeping caste system intact

A visit through parts of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh may tell
you that Khaps are most cruel when a boy from a lower caste or poor
family happens to fall for a girl from an upper caste or affluent
family as such alliances threaten to dissolve the prevalent caste and
social system.

By Narendra Kaushik, Correspondent Published: 00:00 July 3, 2010
Villagers after attending a panchayat, or village council meeting, at
Balla in Haryana. Growing economic opportunities have made 'love
marriages' more common. Image Credit: Reuters New Delhi: The Khap
panchayats are not just about medieval practices of the clans. They
are as much an attempt to perpetuate caste hierarchies, oppression of
the poor and disadvantaged and gender discrimination.

A visit through parts of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh may tell
you that Khaps are most cruel when a boy from a lower caste or poor
family happens to fall for a girl from an upper caste or affluent
family as such alliances threaten to dissolve the prevalent caste and
social system.

There are villages where the panchayats have applied different
yardsticks for identical cases. In Sasrauli, a village in Jhajjar
district of Haryana State, the panchayat banished a blacksmith family
when its ward Sunil eloped with Santosh, daughter of Gonsais, an upper
caste in 2004. But it turned mute spectator to a similar match when a
Brahmin (high caste) boy Naresh married Mukesh, a backward caste
within the same village. Naresh belongs to an influential and educated
family. Similarly in Kamashpur, a scheduled caste man Om Parkash was
beaten up when he fell in love with a Punjabi girl from Sonepat even
as at least a couple of Brahmin boys in his neighbourhood are married
to the Punjabi girls.

Jagmati Sangwan, president of All India Democratic Women's Association
(AIDWA) in Haryana, agrees that opposition of khap panchayats to inter
caste marriages and honour killings are an attempt to keep the lower
castes and the deprived at the lowest rung of society and denying
freedom to women.

"The panchayats want to keep the caste system intact. The inter-caste
marriages particularly the ones involving a boy from a lower caste and
girl from a higher caste, will lead to an egalitarian structure which
is not acceptable to the upper castes," she argues. "Otherwise why is
there no opposition to matches where the boy is from a high caste and
the girl from a low caste?"

Sangwan also sees property rights to girls as behind the hullaballoo:
"If an upper caste girl marries a lower caste, she may demand her
share of land from her family."

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[ZESTCaste] Living in the Caste

http://www.nagalandpost.com/ShowEditorial.aspx?eid=UzEwMDM1Mzc%3D-36Qqbp0eI%2FM%3D

EDITORIAL

Living in the Caste

Article published on 5/28/2010 11:21:34 PM IST Font Size:


It appears that contemporary India has yet to overcome the problems of
the past, which instead, dominate the current wasting much time and
resources in squabbles, since politicians have not progressed to the
desired degree of rationality and congruence in seeing the larger
picture. The issue of caste-based census, to the outside world, would
seem to be an unthinkable proposition and an idea that betrays the
progress that has been achieved in various fields. Even before the
first phase of the ongoing census operations for 2011, the issue had
cropped up with various political parties taking the cue for some
statements, mainly to play to the gallery of electoral vote banks.
Though taking pride in being a rising power of the current century,
India's mindset is still besot with the dreary past in an era of
globalism. The issue is whether the current census should include
caste as one of the criteria. Those against it have good reasons as
casteism has been the bane of Indian society. They feel that
caste-based census would only legitimize divisions among the people.
Further, the caste business has led to violence in many parts of the
country but for some vested interested politicians, caste is their
source of getting attention and winning election.Anyway, the union
cabinet, has referred the matter to a Group of Ministers(GoM)headed by
finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, to study and submit its report or
recommendation. If the government finally agrees to include caste in
the census, then the hurdles would prove to be one too many. There are
far too many castes in India and trying to put them in order would be
a Herculean task, which enumerators assigned with the current census
operations, would not be able to undertake. This is because,
enumerators have not been provided with required information and
training to identify whom to include under what category such as Other
Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes etc. Though
there is a Central and state-specific lists of OBCs; yet while some
states don't have a list of OBCs, some have including their own
sub-set termed as Most Backward Classes. There are also names that are
found in both Scheduled Castes as well as OBCs and therefore, leaving
it to the whims of the enumerators would only create another mess and
consequent political furore. Those migrants from another state and
status of children from inter-caste marriages would also pose a stiff
challenge. Also those from the Scheduled Castes who became either
Christians or Muslims and who have not been classified as Scheduled
Castes would also pose problems. Given the fluid nature of caste as a
social marker, trying to collect accurate data is unfeasible.
According to the history of the Census, even the then British rulers
who attempted to carry out a caste census, had to finally give up when
it was found that the matter was not as easy as classification of
plants and animals or identifying the race and religion of the people.
Those in favour believe taking a caste-based census would enable a
better delivery of benefits of welfare schemes. Such a populist
concept only strengthens the caste-based reservations which parliament
has been so divided on.


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[ZESTCaste] Caste count hits sub-quota hurdle

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Caste-count-hits-sub-quota-hurdle/articleshow/6121166.cms

Caste count hits sub-quota hurdle
TNN, Jul 3, 2010, 03.57am IST

NEW DELHI: The proposal to include caste in the ongoing census seems
to have hit a serious hurdle with concern being expressed that the
exercise may not only set off jostling for quotas among sub-castes but
may not be effective in changing the overall constitutional ceiling on
reservation.

As the government gets down to considering the cost-benefit of a caste
enumeration, fuller implications of conceding the demand led by
powerful OBC lobbies are being considered. The political agendas at
work may not only be contentious, but prove to be unworkable as well.

One of unsaid arguments behind the census demand is that a truer count
of backward castes would establish claims for a greater share of the
reservation pie. This means that caste enumeration may lead to
political demands that the current Supreme Court-mandated 50% cap on
quotas be breached in the future.

Well-placed sources said the argument was flawed as even if the
popular claim of OBCs accounting for 52% of the population -- though
some surveys peg it at less -- was actually exceeded, it may not
translate into an expanded quota. This was because the SC ruling was
now part of the basic structure of the Constitution and not open to
being amended by Parliament.

The group of ministers (GoM) on enumerating caste on Thursday saw the
point being made that caste numbers were not going lead to backward
empowerment in the manner in which some votaries of the proposal felt
it would. What would be the purpose of a caste count if the quota
aspirations were going to prove to be non-starters, it was pointed
out.

A cautionary note was also held out on the sub-caste counts that would
be a result of changing the census process. The sub-categorisation of
backward and other castes could see demands for proportional
representation. This would mean competing claims for entitlements on
the basis of quotas within quotas, something the government may not be
comfortable with.

It is understood that none of the ministers who expressed their views
were unequivocal in supporting a caste census though law minister M
Veerappa Moily, a strong votary of the proposal, attended the GoM
meeting briefly. Even ministers who spoke in favour of the move
pointed to the political commitment of the government rather than the
merits of the case.

Home minister P Chidambaram spoke of his reservations about a caste
census but said he would go along with the GoM's consensus. Defence
minister A K Antony, often seen to reflect the Congress brass'
thinking, made it clear he was offering his personal view that a caste
census was not a good idea.

Corporate affairs and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshed argued
the government will have to go ahead with a caste count as it was
important in terms of numbers in Parliament. He could have been
alluding to the support extended to Congress by OBC-centric parties
like Samajwadi Party and RJD. But the assessment in government seems
to be that the caste census was not likely to be settled in a hurry.

The decision to seek responses from political parties is a sure
indicator of this as apart from Mandal-oriented parties, others are
likely to ask Congress to spell out its stand first. The caste count
demand is sure to gain momentum during the monsoon session, but with
the first round of the census over, government has time till December.

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[ZESTCaste] Centre to write to political parties on caste census issue: Pranab Mukherjee

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_centre-to-write-to-political-parties-on-caste-census-issue-pranab-mukherjee_1404685

Centre to write to political parties on caste census issue: Pranab Mukherjee

PTI

Saturday, July 3, 2010 13:02 IST
Chennai: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Centre
will be writing to all political parties seeking their view on
inclusion of caste category in the census.

After meeting Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi at his residence
in Chennai, Mukherjee told reporters that he had apprised the DMK
leader of the deliberations of the group of ministers meeting on the
inclusion of caste in the exercise.

"The group of ministers will meet further to take a decision on the
issue," he said.

On the direct taxes reforms, Mukherjee said all the states had been
informed about tax reforms, goods and services tax and direct tax
code.

The states have to work in close coordination with Centre in
finalising and implementing the reforms, he said.

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[ZESTCaste] My Hyderabad contact

 

Dear friends,
I am still in India and expecting be here for 2, 3 weeks more. I would like to meet and express my gratitude to all our donors and freinds for all the help they have been rendering all these years  to Friends fro Education International. 
 
I will be available at 9603.127.474. Please call me or send me an email and I will come and meet you.
Looking forward to meet you.
 
Thanks
Ben
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An educated man without character and humility was more dangerous than a beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of poor, he was a curse to society.
-Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar

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[ZESTCaste] Help required:Gurram Seetaramulu presenting paper in Cambridge

 

Dear donors and friends,

Last night I met a young man in a meeting. Though came from very a terribly poor background, he overcame several hardships to excel in education and currently doing research in Center for English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad.

 

It is good for you to read his blog (I posted it here) rather than I tell about his background. It is heartwrenching and unbelievable. It reminds me of the experiences of Mr Omprakash Valmiki as narrated in his autobiography "An Untouchable's life".

 

On an invitation from Cambridge University to present a paper, he is planning to go UK. As usual, for his background, money required for journey and expenses is a big issue.

 

Though every person that approaches me for help deserve a helping hand, I feel he deserves it more.

So, I am sending this request to see if any of you are interested to help this young and bright chap to moveforward to realize his dreams.

 

His to and fro ticket will be paid by the University and looking for $1000-$1500 help towards his expenses in UK.

He doesn't have much time. Please let me know ASAP  if anyone can afford to help me.

 

Thanks

Ben

Blog Entry:

 

http://gurramseetaramulu.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/rattling-noise-of-bones/

Rattling Noise of Bones Posted on by GURRAM SEETARAMULU

 Having been born into a poor family from one of the remote villages, I faced acute hunger and untouchability in my childhood. Whatever I write about my childhood, inevitably it is about hunger and untouchability. I can't narrate artistically.

            By then, Lal Bahadur canal of Nagarjuna sagar was yet to be dug. My village used to be reeled under severe draught. Mādigas of my village used to work in the fields of farmers as annual field-labourers. My father, Lachaiah was one of such labourers. The villagers didn't ever address him by his name. They used to address him 'Lachchiga' derogatively. Had he been born into a touchable caste, they would have perhaps addressed him Laxmaiah gāru adding a respectable epithet. He became Lachchi-gādu only because he was born into an untouchable caste. I am the last of the six children in my family. I am the only one to have learnt the alphabet in piecemeal. We don't possess even a cent of land. Amma and ayya, mother and father used to work as labourers. The elder folk used to divide the upper caste houses, and allot them in turns for rendering caste-services to them. We used to work in their families during festivals and other celebrations too. We used to remove the carcass, and keep guard of the pyres if and when someone died in the upper castes. Mādigas had to remove shit manually from dry-lavatories. I didn't use to understand their ethics of assigning menial work to us.

            My folk used to spend their lives in agricultural work. What they ultimately used to get in turn was the leftover grains in the threshing ground. At the most, they used to dole out a few measures of grains by means of alms. However hard they might have worked, they used to be bestowed with the empty grains mixed in the soil. I never used to understand why they never fought for their share of heaps of grains.

            My childhood was spent most dreadfully. There were days when I used to pick discarded betel leaves at the shacks, roast tubers, roast and pound millets, and eat them at the trenches. There were days when I used to gather grains by gleaning, bundle them in a shoulder-cloth, bury it in the ground, and have it cooked. Though semi-cooked, I used to eat it because of hunger. I used to gather raw-grams for eating. Half of my childhood was spent in gathering nuts and wild fruits. After the school hours, we used to assemble at the main junction of my village. We used to fish in the rivulet and trenches, and bring home sundry varieties of fishes. We used to eat this kind of stuff most of the days. There never used to be curds or curries available in my house. If at all anything, there used to be dry bullock meat and cucumber. We didn't own a cent of land; affection among our folk used to be our sole asset. In fact the poor are capable of great love. If there is anything to speak about myself, it is but love and affection. Annayya, my elder brother was fixed for annual field-labour right from his childhood. He used to eat his food at the landlords. On many an occasion, he would eat his morning-food, and hand me the lunch in the school, skipping his own lunch. If I were to write about hunger that I underwent, the ink in my pen may not be sufficient to pen it. I feel like turning into ink the blood that dripped from my eyes, and write!

            Several people didn't allow us near them because we used to eat bullock meat. What's wrong in eating the meat of the dead cattle as long as one does not kill human beings for one's selfish needs? In this country, the fourfold varna system had eaten the people alive. There is nothing wrong in it.

            Another incident worth remembering in my life is selling dry bones of the cattle. It used to be difficult to collect them. When an animal died, they used to throw it far away from the village. Our houses used to be away from the village too. The carcass of the animals used to be dreadful even to look at. Having been putrefied, they used to smell. When it rained, the carcass used to swell. It used to be very awful even to go near. In spite of the smell, the white-warms used to swarm on them. As though competing with them, some red worms used to pound the bones. Eagles and vultures used to prey on them like the capitalists who suck and turn into pulp the economy of this country. One didn't know how, but the moment an animal died, they would arrive timely. They used to eat away the flesh of the animal with a lot of understanding among themselves. They are more disciplined in eating than the human beings. We used to be in need of the bones left out by the vultures and the dogs.

            Due to prolonged draught in the villages, the people didn't use to stay in the villages. They used to migrate en mass in search of work. The children and the aged used to be left out in the village. In the process of searching for livelihood, every village used to seem like parched crops. The locked doors used to mock at us. The children left behind used to be divided into groups for gathering bones. Having bound them into small bundles, we used to bring them home. At times they used to slip off the bicycle. It used to be very difficult to re-bundle them as the bones used to smell horrible stink. If the bundling was delayed, the villagers used to scold us. The kind of humiliation I used to undergo while bundling the bones in a hurried manner could only be understood by one's own experience. The dry bones used to waft sever odor. I didn't use to understand as to how the buyer of the bones would bear the odor for so long. He used to buy them visiting every village with gunny bags hanging either side of his bicycle. He used to eat his lunch at the trench in the outskirts. He would eat by the same hands that held the stinking bones. Gathering them the whole day, he used to sell them in the factory. One couldn't afford to give up bone picking on the pretext of odor.

            There used to be a lot of quarrels, shouting, curses and abuses in the process of gathering them. W used to beat each other at times. The bones used to turn into weapons at times wounding ourselves. The wounds, the blood that dripped and the humiliation we underwent were countless.

            There used to be a factory of bones just beside our village; it's no longer there now. It belonged to a Leftist leader. He was one among thousands of people who migrated to our village in search of livelihood. A poor man that he was in the beginning, he has now earned crores of rupees. Either because of his caste or his Party, he has emassed a lot of clout, expensive apartments and foreign cars too. There might be several of his kind in the Telangana region. Today they accuse us that our ignorance is as big as the sky. To be a millionaire being a Leftist seemed strange to me. Further he teaches the Leftist ideology himself being in possession of a lot of wealth. The bones that we collected, we used to sell in his factory. The bones couldn't change our lives. But the same bones could turn him into a millionaire.

            After a few years the villages of Telangana became barren. The cattle were pushed to the slaughterhouses instead of allowing them die of starvation. How long could the farmers feed them, themselves committing suicide by consuming pesticides that they had bought by mortgaging thaali, nuptial strings of their wives. Their cattle became a burden to them. They had sold out their cattle in terms of herds and Lorries holding back their tears. It became a curse to have been a farmer in this country. Having been a cursed community, they became helpless in selling them out. Not merely cattle. The unnatural death of human beings too was usual to us. The pylons raised in memory of the martyrs would stand a witness to the number of people who had died. Then there was a draught of bones in my village. Our gaze, that used to explore the bones of the dead animals, had turned to the graveyards. We had dared to dig the graves of human beings.

            We had spent our nights more in the graveyard. The half-burnt logs in the pyres used to be afire at the winds. We used to get scared being reminded of the childhood tales of the peys; we used to get scared at the flames of pyres. But the fear was never a matter in the light of the hunger. We had dug graves in search of bones for money driven by hunger. We exhausted bones in so many graves, yet we didn't stop searching for bones. Once, having noticed the difference in the shape of the bones, the buyer of the bones once suspected that they were human bones. Everybody came to know about it in the village, and made it a big issue. The vultures that were knocking away our wealth termed us thieves. They scolded us and thrashed us. They proposed to excommunicate us from the village. They suggested for the consecration of the village so as to purify the portent that had taken place. Since then I hear quite often rattling noise of bones.

But I didn't really understand who the real thieves were.

            The dress I used to wear was rather embarrassing since I had to go to the school in the ragged-dress. We used to make use of amma, mother's old rags both for the bedding and bed sheets. Ever since my childhood I had been wearing torn rags. Baindla Veeraswami used to reside next door. He used to serve in the shrines of Muthyalamma, Mysamma and other deities. People from the neighbouring hamlets used to approach him for exorcising evil spirits. He used to utter some chanting, and make loud shouting. We were not allowed to speak to him. Once when I was roaming in the cemetery, he had flung aside the shroud of a dead body at the time of cremation. Everybody used to fear it. I saw Veeraswami bring it home. Once I mustered courage, and went to his house. I saw lemons and other paraphernalia of exorcising at his threshold. I got scared. Having mustered courage I asked him, 'Peddayya! I want a piece of cloth; can you spare one?'

            'Why do you need it ra?' he asked me.

            'I want to get a shirt stitched.'

            I got a couple of shirts stitched out of the shroud he had given me. I wore the shirts for a long time. This incident made me bold in speaking on certain occasions. Ever since, I began thinking rationally. It made me a rationalist.

 

 

His resume:

 

Name:          Gurram Seetaramulu (Research Fellow)

Father:          Laxmaiah(Late), Yellamma (Mother)

Native Place: Thallampadu (Post&Villege), (Khammama Rural Mondal and District) AP INDIA: PIN: 507170.

 

Qualifications:

Up to Graduation Khammam: M A (English) Osmania University,

B Ed: Kakatiya University,

 

Present:   Finished M Phil from English and Foreign Languages University.

My plan is to work on Dalit Oral narratives (Kulapuranas/Caste Myths) as an Authentic Source to Understand Caste Relations and Hierarchy (Find Attachment.)

 

My paper got selected for An International Conference   

http://thesocialsciences.com/conference-2010/, I am planning to go present the paper Questioning Caste Hegemony through Dalit Kulapuranas:A Study of Jambapurana

It is Five Days program and also I am planning to visit SOAS, and Oxford University.  

For this program I need support.

 

Thank you

Gurram Seetaramulu 

Room: C-6 EFLUniversity , Hyderabad,

seetaramulu@gmail.com: Phone: 9951661001.

Questioning Caste Hegemony through Dalit Kulapuranas:

A Study of Jambapurana

Abstract

Beginning with the colonial census, social scientists have tried to give an 'authentic' hierarchical order to the various castes and sub-castes in India. These attempts, which later led the dominant understanding of caste system(s), appear to have been influenced by the Kulapuranas of the dominant castes.

 

Kulapuranas are narratives in the form of songs, depicting the cultural heritage of a particular caste, the claims of its glorious past and the specific understandings of the caste's status and past in relation to other castes and sub-castes. Most of the Kulapuranas are carried forward through generations in the oral form. The rest, of the dominant castes, have taken textual form as well in sacred texts like Mahabharata and Ramayana. These texts that influenced the colonial understanding of the caste system(s) in India, have in turn given legitimacy to the Kulapuranas of the dominant castes.

The Kulapuranas of the lower castes and sub-castes have, at the same time, existed in oral tradition as marginalized, unrecognized, illegitimate voices that continue challenging the cultural hegemony of the dominant castes. These marginalized Kulapuranas narrate a different history of caste and sub-caste relations, providing a counter narrative to the established notions of hierarchical caste relations.   

This paper would analyze how the marginalized Kulapuranas exist as potential sources for the alternative understandings of history, culture and caste relations. I intend to critically examine the Kulapuranas of the Madigas, a Dalit caste, and its sub-castes, to understand the caste relations and its challenges in Andhra Pradesh, where more than 198 castes exist with its sub-castes. I propose this by a detailed study of Jambapurana, a Madiga Kulapurana that discusses the genealogy of the Dalit castes and their social relations, as a text to understand how challenges against the upper caste dominance have arisen from the Dalit castes.

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An educated man without character and humility was more dangerous than a beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of poor, he was a curse to society.
-Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar

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