Thursday, September 2, 2010

[ZESTCaste] A Report on Dalit & Adivasi Students and Foreign Universities (Insight Study Circle Meeting held on 22nd August)

 

Opportunities for Dalit and Adivasi Students for Higher Education in World's Premier Educational Institutions: A Report

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Insight Study Circle Meeting  held on 22 August 2010 (Sunday) at  Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Speakers

1. David Vumlallian Zou (from Manipur) teaches at History Department, Delhi University and did his doctorate from Queen's University, Belfast with full scholarship from Academic Planning Grant (Northern Ireland).

2. Abhay Xaxa (from Chhattisgarh) is currently working with Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi and did his Masters in Social Anthropology from University of Sussex, UK  (2008) as one of the recipient of International Ford Fellowship Programme.

3. Bhawani Buswala (from Rajasthan) is currently in the country for his field research. He is pursuing his PhD in Anthropology from Brown University, Rhodes Island, USA on full university scholarship.

4. Rama Devi Hansraj (from Andhra Pradesh) completed her Post Graduation in Human Rights from University of London (2004) as one of the International Ford Fellow. She is currently based in Kolkata and is working with Catholic Relief Service.

Given below are the excerpts from the speeches from our panel of speakers followed by a brief interaction session with our audiences.

Rama Devi Hansraj

I did my MA from University of Hyderabad, Department of Mass Communication. I am the first generation educated person in my family. After completing my studies in Hyderabad, I worked with some small Human Rights groups in Andhra Pradesh.

Through that network I came to know about International Ford Foundation Fellowship programme that was meant exclusively for students from marginalised background.  I applied and was selected after going through its rigorous selection process. With that fellowship, I did my Masters in University of London in Human Rights.

As I was part of Dalit students' movement in Hyderabad University, I was very conscious of caste discrimination that we all go through both subtle and direct. Perhaps that made me to opt for my study in the area of Human Rights.

Also I felt that articulation on the issues is a major problem. I have heard many Dalit women who were able to articulate and share their personal experiences in their vernacular language so well but doing so in English was a big challenge. They are being represented by people who are only good at articulating in English and so people coming from the grass root realities could never talk for themselves at a bigger platform like UN. These reasons led me to opt for a course in human rights.

What I liked about Ford Foundation was their entire interview process. The whole process was very comforting and gave us enough breathing space and to remain confident as applicants. They appointed one panel member to each applicant to interact at personal level. The one who was interviewing me, later, in the interview actually spoke on behalf of me which was very encouraging. This gave me lot of confidence and helped me face whatever question they asked.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati wins case, robs Gandhis of brand Amethi

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mayawati-wins-case-robs-gandhis-of-brand-amethi_1432347

Mayawati wins case, robs Gandhis of brand Amethi
Published: Thursday, Sep 2, 2010, 2:38 IST
By Deepak Gidwani | Place: Lucknow | Agency: DNA

Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi is once again caught in political
crossfire between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

On Wednesday, while the Congress leader on a three-day tour of Amethi
assured two sisters, allegedly hounded by BSP-supported land-grabbers,
of all support, the Mayawati government won a legal battle over
Amethi.

It got an all-clear from the apex court to its decision to rename the
Nehru-Gandhi family's VIP borough after BSP icon Chhatrapati Shahuji
Maharaj. Shahuji was a 19th century ruler of Kolhapur known as a
pioneer in granting reservations to the deprived in employment.

Onlookers at Sarwan village in Amethi were stunned as the two sisters
from Lucknow, Shivani and Sonia Chauhan, browbeat the special
protection group (SPG) security ring to bring Rahul's motorcade to a
halt. The women, wailing in grief, narrated their story to a patient
Rahul who played the good samaritan, assuring them justice.

The sisters' tale of woes took on political connotations as Shivani
Chauhan alleged that BSP-backed goons were helping her family members,
including her brother, to grab her parental property. "I have been
framed in false cases and sent to jail twice," she screamed before TV
cameras after Rahul's cavalcade left.

"If they want to kill me, let them do it once and for all instead of
harassing us with false criminal cases, threats and attacks," she
howled.

Shivani and her sister told reporters that they had also met Priyanka
and Sonia Gandhi on separate occasions last year, after which the case
had been handed over to CB-CID and they finally got a clean chit. "But
even now the police are siding with the land-grabbers… on August 15, I
was beaten up… I suffered head injuries but the police did nothing,"
Shivani said. "I even met Behnji (Mayawati) but she spurned me saying
'you are from the opposite party'," she added.

Even as the sisters hurled the allegations, Mayawati virtually squared
the score with Rahul as the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the state
government's decision to rename and reorganise Amethi as part of a new
district called Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar. The Lucknow bench
of the Allahabad high court had recently struck down the Mayawati
government's decision to that effect, saying the reorganisation could
not be done as the census was in progress.

Sources say the SC decision was conveyed to Mayawati while she was
addressing a meeting of top BSP leaders in Lucknow. The BSP leader,
the sources shared, could barely suppress her joy and told party
leaders that justice had finally been done. She reportedly touted it
as a major moral victory in BSP's political battle against the
Congress.


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