Tuesday, January 11, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Plan panel mulls ways to spur Dalit capitalism

http://www.livemint.com/2011/01/10220816/Plan-panel-mulls-ways-to-spur.html

Posted: Mon, Jan 10 2011. 10:08 PM IST

Economy and Politics

Plan panel mulls ways to spur Dalit capitalism
Community business forum seeks inclusion in priority-sector lending at
special rates, entry into policymaking panels
Pallavi Singh

New Delhi: The government has begun discussions with Dalit
entrepreneurs on what can be done to promote business ventures set up
by members of their community.

As a part of its discussions with various groups before it finalizes
the 12th Plan for 2012-17, the Planning Commission has sought
suggestions from the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Dicci), a business group, on what can be done to spur Dalit
capitalism, how these business ventures can be funded, and how Dalit
voices can be heard while charting out policies.

Narendra Jadhav, a member of the panel, said a proposal to introduce
executive development programmes for Dalit entrepreneurs at some of
the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is also being considered.
"(We are) very seriously contemplating the idea to have some kind of
formal executive development programme for Dalit entrepreneurs. It can
be outsourced to some of the IIMs. Most Dalit entrepreneurs have
business skills, but they need polishing, particularly the younger
ones. This will be considered, examined and polished in the 12th Plan.
We will make a policy in this regard," Jadhav said.

In a meeting held earlier this week, the planning body has also
suggested that the chamber set up a venture capital fund to finance
projects promoted by entrepreneurs born at the bottom of the caste
pyramid and indicated that the government could consider picking up a
stake in this fund, officials said.

The chamber will soon appoint a committee to formulate concrete
suggestions. This is the first time that a Dalit business forum has
been invited to make suggestions to the Plan panel.

"There are two things: one is promoting entrepreneurship that's an end
objective in itself. If there are difficulties faced by some
communities, then you may need special interventions," said Pronab
Sen, principal adviser to the panel.

Jadhav said encouraging or creating situations for expansion of Dalit
entrepreneurship also has an employment angle. "If there is a policy
in this regard, it will also give fillip to employment of Dalits (by
Dalit entrepreneurs). It is also about taking cognizance of the fact
that there is a greater change taking place in society, and also about
being open to voices from the ground while formulating the 12th Plan
to make it more focused on the real issues from the ground," he added.

Raising the funding limit for Dalit enterprises through the National
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Finance and Development
Corporation (NSFDC), the apex government body for finance of
small-scale businesses run by the weaker sections, is one of the
suggestions Dicci made to the panel. The finance body grants a maximum
loan of Rs. 7 lakh for Dalit businesses while its state wings mostly
offer composite loans of a maximum amount of Rs. 50,000.

"Most government schemes for financing Dalit businesses expect them to
be small-scale, such as buying cattle to set up a milking unit, or an
autorickshaw. In the meeting between Dicci and the Plan panel, just
one out of 35 Dalit entrepreneurs with businesses worth crores had
availed of a loan from NSFDC and that Rs. 7 lakh loan took three
years! Sadly, the government finds it difficult to believe that Dalits
also could need a loan of Rs. 80 crore or so," says Chandra Bhan
Prasad, an independent Dalit activist and writer, who was a part of
the Dicci delegation that met the Plan panel earlier this week.

The Plan panel's deliberations with the Dalit business group seem to
be guided by the changing socio-economic realities of India, and the
steady rise of Dalit capitalism in particular. Considered the most
underprivileged community in India, a section of Dalits are now
engaging in large-scale businesses for the creation of wealth and
employment that allow them an escape both from the demeaning tasks
assigned to them by the caste system and the stigma of being branded
as non-meritorious beneficiaries of reservations in education and
employment.

"There are Dalit entrepreneurs who are into large-scale manufacturing
and are also suppliers for government-run bodies such as the Indian
Railways and the Delhi Metro, which proves that Dalit businesses are
no less competitive and efficient than others," said Milind Kamble,
chairman of Dicci, who also attended the meeting.

The key demands that the chamber made to the Plan panel were to
include Dalit entrepreneurs in priority-sector lending at special
rates through institutions such as the Small Industries Development
Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development. "We also asked for appointment of Dicci members on
government panels, ministries and committees engaged in policymaking,
just the way members from Ficci (Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry) and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) are
appointed," Kamble said.

D. Shyam Babu, a fellow of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary
Studies in New Delhi whose research on Dalits and the new economic
order has highlighted the social advance of the community in the wake
of globalization, said government measures to promote Dalit capitalism
will help create a Dalit bourgeoisie. "Most Dalit entrepreneurs face
problems varying from difficulty in getting enough supplies on credit,
lack of social networks, absence of kin groups in the business, and
control of traditionally dominant business-caste groups. These, along
with other social variables such as lack of social capital, make the
Dalit situation more complicated and vulnerable to homogeneous
categorization," says Surinder S. Jodhka, a professor at the Centre
for the Study of Social Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New
Delhi.

Jodhka's paper, Dalits in Business: Self-Employed Scheduled Castes in
Northwest India, drew insights on the expansion of private capital in
India during the post-1991 period and highlighted the discrimination
faced by Dalit businesses.

Prasad said the government should also formulate policies that favour
grant of a certain number of tenders to Dalits. "Once Dalits are put
in the supply chain, since the government is the biggest employer,
discrimination in labour markets would also end," he said.

pallavi.s@livemint.com


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[ZESTCaste] File rape case against BSP MLA: CB-CID

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/book-rape-case-against-bsp-mla-dwivedi-cbcid/140060-3.html

File rape case against BSP MLA: CB-CID
CNN-IBN
Updated Jan 11, 2011 at 02:18pm IST

New Delhi: The CB-CID has submitted it's report to the Uttar Pradesh
government into the rape of the 17-year-old Dalit girl.

The girl was allegedly raped by BSP MLA Purshottam Dwivedi last month.

Indications are that rape charges could be framed against Dwivedi. The
report also dismisses the charges of theft against the Dalit girl.
Click to play video
New Delhi: The CB-CID has submitted it's report to the Uttar Pradesh
government into the rape of the 17-year-old Dalit girl.
The girl was allegedly raped by BSP MLA Purshottam Dwivedi last month.
Indications are that rape charges could be framed against Dwivedi. The
report also dismisses the charges of theft against the Dalit girl.

The 17-year-old Dalit girl was raped last month and later lodged in
jail on charges of stealing the legislator's licensed pistol and five
thousand rupees.

After a political outcry from various parties, the Maya government
ordered the CBCID probe soon suspending Purshottam Diwedi.

The opposition parties, particularly Congress and Samajvadi Party
raised voice against the culprit.

The report states there are no evidences against the girl for the
charges levelled against her by Dwivedi.

The MLA had alleged that this case is not of a rape but theft.

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[ZESTCaste] Hellhole hostels

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20110128280209000.htm

SOCIAL ISSUES

Hellhole hostels

S. DORAIRAJ
in Chennai

Adi Dravidar students in Chennai bring the city to a halt to highlight
the abysmal conditions in their hostels.

V. GANESAN

Students residing in government-run Adi Dravidar hostels block the
arterial Anna Salai in Chennai on December 21. The blockade continued
for more than four hours.

"HOW dare a bunch of students take the law into their own hands, block
traffic for nearly five hours on Anna Salai and bring the vibrant city
to a halt, just to highlight their plight?" This was the initial
response from commuters to the road blockade staged by hundreds of
Dalit students in Chennai on December 21, 2010, which choked the entry
points to the city's arterial road.

The students were demanding basic amenities at the hostels run by the
Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department of the Tamil Nadu
government.

The stranded public's anger against the "wildcat protest" started to
dissolve when stories about the plight of the Dalit students and the
inhuman treatment meted out to them in these hostels began to spread,
to a large extent helped by the electronic media.

The agitation has brought to the fore the sorry state of affairs in
the hostels run by the government for Dalit students in the State. A
vast majority of these hostellers in Chennai are first-generation
learners from poor families, of farm workers, construction labourers,
manual workers and small peasants. Most of them are mainly from
villages in the industrially backward northern districts, including
Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Tiruvannamalai. They join
government or government-aided colleges, dreaming about getting decent
employment so that their families can come out of the debt trap in
which they have been caught for generations. They undergo numerous
ordeals. The hostels do not offer them the right environment. In fact,
their hostel life is miserable.

Having exhausted every avenue to get their grievances redressed,
several residents of the 17 hostels in the city meant for Dalit
students assembled near the 50-year-old M.C. Raja Hostel at Saidapet
and blocked peak-hour traffic from 9 a.m. An attempt by the police to
disperse them by using force failed. The agitating students lifted the
blockade around 12 p.m. after the Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare,
A. Tamilarasi, and senior officials reached the scene of protest and
assured them of measures to solve their problems.

S.R. RAGHUNATHAN

Stray dogs roam the corridors of the M.C. Raja Hostel at Saidapet.

The hostellers raised slogans demanding immediate steps to supply
quality food, improve the conditions of hygiene on the hostel
premises, enhance basic facilities such as toilets and libraries,
evict unauthorised persons staying in the hostels, and order an
inquiry into the alleged financial irregularities in the running of
the hostels. The Minister inspected the M.C. Raja Hostel subsequently.

It is not difficult to understand the problems encountered by boarders
at the M.C. Raja Hostel, the oldest Adi Dravidar students' hostel,
which has been named after the well-known Dalit leader M.C. Raja.
Plaques on the portico announce that its foundation stone was laid on
April 22, 1960, and that the sturdy building was dedicated to students
by Chief Minister K. Kamaraj on December 15, 1961. Poor maintenance by
successive governments has left the structure in bad shape. The stench
of urine and faeces and decayed food hits the senses the moment one
enters the premises. Leftover food is dumped in the corridors.

Overcrowding is a major problem. Around 1,600 persons stay in 52 rooms
in the three-storey building against the sanctioned strength of 595
boarders.

The dining hall at the hostel is used to store construction materials.

Some students spoke to Frontline, but were cautious while narrating
their tale of woes as they did not want to incur the wrath of
intimidating groups with political connections and the agents who
enable them to get part-time jobs for a paltry wage.

They said they ate the rice served in the hostel mess but with
vegetables and a side dish they prepared in their own rooms or bought
from private canteens in the vicinity.

To meet these additional expenses, many students take up part-time
jobs, which include serving food at events. They also allow themselves
to be used by political parties for their demonstrations. They are
occasionally used as "co-stars" in crowd scenes in films. These
assignments, undertaken on weekly holidays, fetch them Rs.100 a day.
Middlemen corner the lion's share.

Some students even travel to far-off places such as Madurai and
Tirunelveli to be servers at marriage functions. These fetch them
between Rs.400 and Rs.500. The conveyance is arranged by the catering
agent. The job also enables them to eat palatable food.

One of the boarders pointed out that defecation on the nearby ground
belonging to the Animal Husbandry Department is common as the number
of toilets in the hostel was insufficient for so many boarders. An
open space on the hostel premises serves as a bathroom.

The leftover food attracts pigs and stray dogs to the premises. Water
supplied to the hostel for drinking and bathing is contaminated as the
storage tanks are rarely cleaned, one student lamented. Despite these
health hazards, no adequate medical facility has been made available
to the boarders, students said.

Although a weekly menu is prescribed by the government, most of the
time only rice is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Occasionally, the daily routine is broken when the students are
provided "variety rice" for breakfast. As the authorities have stopped
serving food in the dining hall, the boarders have to collect the food
directly from the kitchen in plastic buckets. Both the dining hall and
the "gymnasium" remain locked.

Students alleged on condition of anonymity that genuine residents were
intimidated by armed gangs enjoying political patronage, who often
instigated group rivalry. "The gangs mercilessly snuff out any
protest."

Agreeing with the boarders' charge that they have been herded like
cattle, a top official in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare
Department told Frontline that overcrowding was the main problem in
the Dalit students' hostels in Chennai. Some unauthorised persons had
been staying in these hostels for up to 10 years, he said.

He said that among the 1,000-odd "unauthorised inmates" of the M.C.
Raja Hostel were genuine students who did not get accommodation in any
government-run hostel, educated but unemployed persons, and persons
drawing meagre wages. These persons share the hostel space and food
with the authorised boarders as they cannot afford private
accommodation. (Social activists point out that landlords in Chennai
and other major towns deny accommodation to Dalit students and
families.) As many as 30 persons stay in rooms measuring 20 feet x 15
feet.

THE HINDU ARCHIVES

Students use buckets to carry food to their rooms as no vessels are provided.

"Evicting the outsiders is an uphill task as unemployment is the main
factor contributing to overcrowding in these hostels," a senior
officer in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department said. Most
of the unauthorised inmates were also Dalits with a poor economic
background. They returned to their native places on completion of
their courses only to return to the cities for survival, he said.

Around 25 per cent of the 61.28 lakh job-seekers on the live registers
in the employment exchanges of Tamil Nadu as on March 31, 2010, are
Dalits (see Table 1). As on May 31, 2009, as many as 12.16 lakh Dalit
job-seekers with different educational qualifications had registered
their names with the employment exchanges (see Table 2).

According to official sources, 1,27,534 Dalit students have been
accommodated in 1,565 hostels. There are 1,229 hostels benefiting
84,886 Adi Dravidar (Scheduled Caste) students and 40 hostels
accommodating 2,040 students belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, apart
from 296 government tribal residential school hostels benefitting
40,608 students. In addition to this, 36 non-governmental
organisations have been running hostels with a total strength of 5,204
Dalit students. In contrast to the situation in the Dalit hostels in
Chennai, the number of students in the Adi Dravidar hostels in the
rural areas is lower than the sanctioned strength.

The policy note on the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department
points out that the government allocates funds towards food charges
for the hostellers at the rate of Rs.550 each for college students and
Rs.450 for schoolchildren. Apart from this, every college student is
given Rs.35 and a schoolchild Rs.25 every month to purchase soap and
oil, it says.

The document also claims that wet grinders, colour televisions and
water purifiers have been provided in all hostels, besides ensuring
library facilities. Bedsheets are supplied to the boarders once in two
years, it says. But to the great dismay of education activists,
legislators, representatives of NGOs and functionaries of students'
organisations, the ground reality is different.

Issues relating to the situation in the Dalit students' hostels were
raised at the public hearing held by the National Commission for
Protection of Child Rights in Chennai. Even the Petitions Committee of
the Tamil Nadu Assembly, which inspected the Dalit students' hostels
in different parts of the State in July 2010, found that most of these
facilities were absent. Expressing anguish at the appalling
conditions, the panel directed the authorities to take remedial
measures on a priority basis.


However, reports indicate that little has been done to improve the
conditions in the hostels both in urban areas and in rural pockets.
The government initiated some maintenance work at the M.C. Raja Hostel
only after the December 21 protest. It has formed a team of officials
to look into the grievances of the students, according to sources in
the department.

Referring to the hostellers' agitation in Chennai, K.S. Kanagaraj,
president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Student Federation of India
(SFI), said, "The protest only showed that all is not well with the
Dalit students' hostels not only in Chennai but in other parts of the
State, too." He called for steps to ensure that all eligible
applicants were given hostel accommodation.

He urged the government to increase the funds earmarked for food. The
wardens should be asked to adhere strictly to the prescribed
guidelines with regard to the menu, he said. He favoured the setting
up of separate hostels in the city for working Dalit youth and
job-seekers.

R. Krishnamurthy, convener of the South Chennai district unit of the
Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, and T. Neethirajan,
another activist of the front, who visited the M.C. Raja Hostel,
referred to the State government's claim that the Budget allocation
for the S.C. Sub-Plan had been increased from Rs.567 crore in 2005-06
to Rs.3,828 crore for 2010-11 forming 19 per cent of the total plan
outlay. They called for immediate steps to modernise the Dalit
students' hostels in the city and take disciplinary action against
those involved in irregularities.

Education activist S.S. Rajagopalan said the plight of the physically
challenged students staying in the M.C. Raja Hostel was pathetic. Even
if the authorities could not provide nutritious food, they should at
least ensure that the food served was hygienic, he said.

Funds earmarked under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (education for all) and the
special component plan should be used to improve the conditions in
these hostels, he added. "The government should keep in mind that
Article 21 of the Constitution reinforces equity and dignity of every
citizen."


Social activist A. Narayanan, who had submitted a detailed memorandum
to the State Human Rights Commission in December 2008 seeking its
intervention to alleviate the problems of residents of the Dalit
students' hostels, said the unrest should not be viewed merely as a
law and order problem. The prevailing environment in the hostels was
not conducive to academic activities, he opined.

"The hostels do not have the minimum complementary infrastructure,
such as libraries and recreation rooms, to help the students improve
their mental and physical fitness without undesirable diversions," he
observed. Also, there was no adequate security in the hostels and the
wardens were not motivated to set things in order, he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, P.B. Martin, secretary of the
Kancheepuram-based Social Action Movement, said the hostels were in
fact "hell away from home" as none of their objectives – providing
safety and security, nutritious food and good ambience to study and
play – was achieved. These hostels had become safe havens for
anti-social elements, he said, adding that even murders had been
committed in them. He was alluding to the crime committed in the Adi
Dravidar students' hostel at Thayarammankulam village in Kancheepuram
district in October.

Stressing the need for sensitising the wardens, he said there were
complaints that in some Adi Dravidar hostels, the attendance registers
were not properly maintained and Dalit boarders were often asked to
run errands for the wardens. In one hostel, it was reported in 2007,
the boys were asked to graze cattle belonging to the warden, he said.

Corruption at the local level led to a situation where the actual
number of students in the hostels in the districts was far smaller
than the sanctioned strength. Most of the children who were withdrawn
from the hostels became school dropouts, he said. This, he pointed
out, was a cause for concern in a State where the dropout rate among
Dalits was much higher than the overall dropout rate, and the literacy
level among Dalits – 63.19 per cent in the case of Adi Dravidars and
41.53 per cent in the case of S.Ts – was far less than the State
average of 73.45 per cent, according to the 2001 Census.

Steps such as ensuring a better monitoring mechanism, revamping of the
Adi Dravidar Welfare panels at the district level and appointment of
specially trained persons as wardens were needed immediately to
improve the situation in the Dalit students' hostels, he opined.

Some educationists and NGOs have also suggested that in order to end
the discrimination, all the schools and hostels run by the Adi
Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department should be brought under the
Education Department. The convention held by the State Platform for
Common School System in Chennai on December 27 adopted a resolution to
this effect.

A healthy sign, which no one can afford to ignore, is that around 10
per cent of the residents in these hostels are from the Most Backward
Classes and they coexist with the Dalit students in peace and harmony,
sharing the humiliation in a State where caste bias and untouchability
are major social issues.


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[ZESTCaste] SC, ST body raps Babus’ extra-Constitutional stance

http://www.dailypioneer.com/309732/SC-ST-body-raps-Babus%E2%80%99-extra-Constitutional-stance.html

SC, ST body raps Babus' extra-Constitutional stance
January 11, 2011 7:22:37 PM

PNS | BHUBANESWAR

Petitioning the President of India and Governor, the Odisha State
Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribe Youth and Students' Council has
demanded to implement the 85th Amendment of the Constitution in true
letter and spirit in the State here so that they all reap the benefits
at par with their counterparts in other States.

Taking a strong exception to some of the State bureaucrats' alleged
extra-Constitutional stance, the council has further alleged that a
few State Babus are manipulating the law for vested interests and have
connived not to implement just to serve the general category's
purpose.

Certain vested interests are hell bent on influencing the State
Revenue and General Administration departments to bypass the 1979 Act
and implement the 2001 instead for promotion to the OAS Class I rank,
it is alleged.

The State houses 40 per cent SC and ST out of its total population and
as per the 1975 Act, the reservation should not be disproportionate to
the percentage of SC, ST population. However, 9.86 and 1.87 per cent
have been appointed respectively in place of the mandatory 38 per cent
in Odisha, Council president Haladhar Sethy rued in a Press note.


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[ZESTCaste] Phone-in programme for next SC/ST meeting

 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article1077546.ece

MANGALORE, January 10, 2011
Phone-in programme for next SC/ST meeting
Staff correspondent

A phone-in facility will be set up to enable persons belonging to
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe to air their grievances at the
monthly SC/ST meeting with police, Superintendent of Police A.S. Rao
announced here on Sunday.

Remarking on the turnout, Mr. Rao said that postponement of meetings
may be one of the reasons for the poor response observed during the
last few meetings. However, starting the phone-in facility would help
the people communicate their problems as travelling to Mangalore is
difficult for many people, he said. He recalled that the phone-in
programme was in place a few years ago. The number would be provided
to activists the week before the next meeting, Mr. Rao said.

Member of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkarwada) S.P. Anand said that
no action had been taken on the unnatural death report (UDR) of one
Sheena who was found near Uppinangady bus stand last May. He said that
there was a suspicion that he had been murdered and he had not died of
natural causes.

An officer concerned with the case said that the man had consumed
alcohol and died. He said that forensic report is yet to be received.
He also said that the cause of death could not be ascertained until
the forensic report was obtained. Mr. Rao directed him and other
officials to find out why the report was delayed by many months.

Vishwanath from Bantwal town requested Mr. Rao to look into a
government scheme meant to give autorickshaws to minorities and people
from backward classes. He said that under the scheme, a beneficiary
got Rs. 75,000 aid from the government and the rest of the money
required for an autorickshaw (around Rs. 47,000) was to be taken by
loan from a private finance institution rather than a nationalised
bank. Mr. Rao said that he would look into the matter.

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[ZESTCaste] Man murders sister, her lover; honour killing suspected

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Man-murders-sister--her-lover--honour-killing-suspected/735407/

Man murders sister, her lover; honour killing suspected

Express News Service Posted online: Mon Jan 10 2011, 00:50 hrs
Bathinda : In a suspected case of honour killing in Bathinda, a man
murdered his sister and the man she had eloped with nearly 10 months
ago.

Santosh has been on the run since the intervening night of Saturday
and Sunday when he allegedly stabbed to death his sister Anju and her
'lover' Tony, both in their mid-twenties. Anju had come back to her
parents' house with Tony, it is learnt.

Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill
said it was not immediately known whether Anju had come to her
parents' house for the first time after she eloped with Tony, a
resident of the same locality.

A couple of years ago, he said, Anju was married to one Raju, who was
later sent to jail for allegedly killing Anju's mother. With Raju in
jail, Anju and Tony developed intimacy.

The police have, meanwhile, arrested Santosh's wife, who was allegedly
an accomplice in the crime.

The police said the couple tried to pass off the murders as an
accident by throwing the bodies on a railway track near their house.


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