Latest News Update: Jan 10, 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Mysore Lamps employees' union knocks on the doors of Karnataka high court

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_mysore-lamps-employees-union-knocks-on-the-doors-of-karnataka-high-court_1490873

Mysore Lamps employees' union knocks on the doors of Karnataka high court
Published: Thursday, Jan 6, 2011, 10:01 IST
By Odeal D'Souza | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

The allotment of land by the state government for the proposed Judges'
Colony could face one more hurdle as the Mysore Lamps SC/ST Employees'
Union has challenged the move to inspect the land belonging to
now-defunct industry in Malleswaram for locating the residential
quarters.

Land for the colony has been at the centre of a raging controversy
ever since the state government allotted land at the HSR Layout in
2008. This move met with strong opposition from the residents who
challenged the same in the high court. The government recently
sanctioned 21 acres of land for the construction of judges' quarters
at the Hebbal campus of Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries
Sciences University against which the Karnataka Veterinary Association
has filed a public interest litigation in the Karnataka high court.
The PIL is yet to come up for hearing.

Now, the Mysore Lamps SC/ST Employees' Union has filed an
interlocutory application in the high court. A state government
undertaking, Mysore Lamps was wound up due to heavy losses.

The petitioner has contended that according to newspaper reports, the
state government was getting ready for inspecting the industry's land
for the construction of the judges' quarters.

The union contended that Mysore Lamps was on the verge of closure and
it had filed a petition in2002 against the same. Since the case was
still pending in the high court, how could the state government
consider the land for locating the housing colony, it asked.

Meanwhile, in the HSR Layout case, the state government on Wednesday
sought more time to submit a proper affidavit regarding the details on
the construction of the lower court buildings throughout the state.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Agrarian question linked to Dalit discrimination'

http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/08/stories/2011010864381000.htm

'Agrarian question linked to Dalit discrimination'

V. Sridhar

'Linking the question to annihilation of caste is an important research agenda'

'Dalits' position relative to dominant castes has not improved significantly'

KOLKATA: Participants at a national seminar on 'Dalit households in
village economies,' which began here on Friday, affirmed that a
lasting solution to India's "agrarian question" — characterised by
extreme inequalities in the distribution of land — was inseparably
linked to the widespread discrimination of Dalits.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day event, Abhijit Sen,
Member, Planning Commission, said the tradition of village studies in
India had "a rich lineage and pedigree" which had "died down somewhat"
during the 1980s and the 90s.

Surveys

Professor Sen said that about 50 such surveys conducted in the last
seven to eight years, by adopting methodologies generally used by
larger sample surveys conducted by official agencies, had enabled the
testing and extrapolation of data.

These village surveys, unlike the sample surveys, enable researchers
"to study the relationships among different social groups," he said.
"It is almost in the pedigree of village studies that they enable the
study of caste relations in the field of agrarian studies."

Introducing the theme, V.K. Ramachandran, Professor at the
Sociological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI),
Kolkata, said: "The objective is to study the specific ways in which
the economic discrimination of Dalits — in market and non-market forms
— happens."

Forms of discrimination

He pointed out that the team of researchers, with whom he has been
associated, has conducted more than 30 village surveys since the 1990s
to study "direct discrimination" as well as forms of discrimination
that cause differential impacts across social groups.

"Linking the agrarian question to the annihilation of caste is an
important research agenda," Professor Ramachandran said. "Rigorous
micro-studies of the victims of sectional discrimination, relating to
exclusion from land, employment, credit, and other inputs are needed."

Referring to the contention in some quarters that since markets are
"blind," they may provide salvation to Dalits, Professor Ramachandran
said: "Existing forms of discrimination reinforce relationships based
on the market."

Judith Heyer from Oxford University, who presented results from a
series of surveys of villages near Coimbatore and Tirupur since the
early 1980s, pointed out that although the material conditions of
Dalits had improved their position relative to the dominant castes had
not improved significantly.

V. Surjit, agricultural economist at the International Potato Centre,
New Delhi, who presented a study of a village in tail-end Cauvery
delta, said that although Dalits were able to gain access to land as
tenants they were targets of discriminatory economic practices.

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[ZESTCaste] India Inc leaves ivory tower and extends a helping hand

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/India-Inc-leaves-ivory-tower-and-extends-a-helping-hand/articleshow/7249890.cms

India Inc leaves ivory tower and extends a helping hand
Mathang Seshagiri & Hemali Chhapia, TNN, Jan 10, 2011, 07.33am IST

MUMBAI: Indian billionaires are usually saddled with stereotypes: Men
snuggled in incredible wealth and removed from the grim reality.
However, not all conform to the popular notion even as they do their
bit for Bharat; their efforts received a boost after Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh spoke of introducing a quota in corporate India.

Apart from providing scholarships, funding neighbourhood NGOs and
providing midday meals to schools, each industry chamber has chalked
out its own plans to drive out poverty from certain parts of the
country and start skill promotion programmes in backward places.

For instance, 696 companies, that make up nearly 10% of the members of
the Confederation of Indian Industry, have signed the voluntary code
of conduct, under which thousands from the Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribes were trained at entrepreneurship development
institutes and 100 youths started their own ventures. The Associated
Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India too conducted a similar
exercise in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand and Kanpur for SC/ST members.

For such work, executives, middle-level management and those from the
lower rungs were handpicked for intensive training. In stark contrast,
a depressed economy, which saw poor hiring and massive layoffs, also
saw companies supporting retrenched workers.

Re-engineering their hardwired image defined by the impressive
year-end profit numbers they produce, almost every industry body has
involved itself in educating the backward; while some have adopted
schools and industrial training centres, others have tied up with
coaching classes and English and computer trainers, trying to rewire
the infrastructure that supports the poor youth.

According to the information provided to the ministry of industries,
"An initiative has been taken by multiple stakeholders for providing
education to ST children in remote tribal belts. About 10 lakh ST kids
are now beneficiaries of various schemes."

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) and Industry
also plans to adopt coaching-cum-guidance centres for which industry
members are being identified to provide training to SC/ST candidates
keen to appear fpr various competitive examinations.For a large nation
like India, broken into two hemispheres, grand challenges probably
require a much wider breadth of affirmative action. But what is
interesting to note is the uber-rich man sitting on top is no just
sending off charity cheques and offering polite condolences __ it is
generosity reworked.

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[ZESTCaste] No need for separate law on honour killings, says NHRC

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/No-need-for-separate-law-on-honour-killings-says-NHRC/649603/

No need for separate law on honour killings, says NHRC
Express news service Posted: Jul 21, 2010 at 0136 hrs
New Delhi Even as the government remains divided over the fate of
proposed amendments to existing laws to tackle honour killings, former
CJI and NHRC Chairman K G Balakrishnan on Tuesday said there was no
need for a separate law as these were cases of "sheer murder".

"The law should take its own course," he said although he observed
that it was painful to hear children were being killed by parents.
Balakrishnan was speaking at a seminar on the subject organised by All
India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA).

However, many women activists and Chairperson of National Commission
for Women, Girija Vyas were unanimous in their demand for a new law to
deal with the subject. "A law is the need of the hour," Vyas said
pointing out that of late the panel has been flooded with such
complaints. "I get at least two calls every week," she said. CPM
Politburo member and AIDWA leader Brinda Karat seconded her.

Vyas objected to the use of "honour" for describing such killings and
said steps should be taken to ensure khap panchayats don't have a free
run.

Recently, when the Home Ministry tried to get the Cabinet's approval
for amending laws to rein in khap panchayats, sharp divisions within
the Cabinet forced it to seek comments of states on the proposed
changes.

Once the states send in their comments, the issue would be deliberated
upon by a group of ministers.

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