Tuesday, April 5, 2011

[ZESTCaste] SP castigated BSP on rising atrocities on dalits

http://www.dailypioneer.com/329036/SP-castigated-BSP-on-rising-atrocities-on-dalits.html

SP castigated BSP on rising atrocities on dalits
April 05, 2011 7:53:28 PM

Pioneer News Service | Lucknow

The Samajwadi Party (SP) castigated the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP) on Sunday for rising number of atrocities on dalits in the
state. The SP leaders claimed that despite a dalit Chief Minister
(CM), the community is being harassed by the police across the state.

"There have been several incidents in the state where dalits have been
targetted by the musclemen. Even the police leashes a reign of terror
on the dalits due to their penuric condition," claimed state
spokesperson, Rajendra Choudhary.

The SP leader cited an example in Badaun where the family of Chotey
Lal Balmiki was harassed by dalits in Kunwarpur, PS Zareef Nagar in
Badaun on Saturday. "The female members of the family were beaten up
by the police and one of them suffered abortion due to the thrashing.

The police committed atrocities just on the pretext of some petty
crime in the area. Later they were threatened to keep their mouth
shut," said Choudhary. The party also demanded an impartial enquiry in
the whole episode.

In another development, SP supremo, Mulayam Singhn Yadav has greeted
the people on the occasion of Indian new year on Monday. Yadav stated
that the occasion holds religious values beside unity among different
communities.

Leader of opposition, Shivpal Yadav and state chief Akhilesh Yadav on
Sunday extended greetings to the people and the members of Indian
cricket team for winning the ICC world cup. The leaders hailed the
victory as pride and joy for the whole country.

Mulayam also has expressed his condolences over the demise of Maulana
Abdul Aziz Haiderabadi on Saturday. Maulana Haiderabadi was a member
of Majlis-e-Shura of country's largest Islamic seminary Darul Uloom
Deoband.


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[ZESTCaste] A different take on Dalit studies

http://www.hindu.com/br/2011/04/05/stories/2011040551421700.htm


A different take on Dalit studies

BHUPENDRA YADAV


DALIT ASSERTION IN SOCIETY, LITERATURE AND HISTORY: Edited by Imtiaz
Ahmad, Shashi Bhushan Upadhyay; Orient Blackswan Pvt. Ltd., 3-6-752,
Himayatnagar, Hyderabad-500029.

The caste system has resulted in the creation of an elaborate pecking
order or hierarchy into which the 4,000-odd castes in India have been
slotted. Hence the arguments and counter-arguments and the claims and
counter-claims about the relative status of different castes.
Secondly, the caste system is based on a difference created by the
'accident' of one's birth, a feature that is sustained and perpetuated
by a societal ethos that bars inter-caste marriages. As a consequence,
the socio-cultural life of different castes is mostly spent in
'splendid isolation' of one another.

Hierarchy

The basic thrust of Dalit Studies has been mostly on the different
dimensions of hierarchy and the pain inflicted by it. This book, on
the other hand, is a welcome addition to the relatively small volume
of work on difference and its implications for Dalit assertion. It has
15 chapters grouped under four thematic heads — the Dalits, Dalits in
history, society, literature and among the minorities.

The term 'Dalit' denotes one single unit, but, like an orange, it has
several segments. In the opening essay on "Resolving Dalit identiy",
Jyotsna Macwan and Suguna Ramanathan note, regretfully, that "caste
divisions flourish among poorer sections whom they hurt the most."

The horror story Smita Patil narrates from the autobiography of Baby
Kamble, a Dalit writer, runs along these lines. For the women among
Dalits, it is 'triple whammy'. Patriarchy victimises Dalit women as
much as 'impurity' associated with their caste and the social
exploitation. Dalit girls are married at as young an age as eight or
nine. They are punished by their in-laws without inhibition or
restraint for not meeting their endless demands in housekeeping.
Should the harassed girl try to escape, she is caught, and a wooden
log is fastened to her leg through a hole hewn in the foot. In
"Exploring Dalit Women's Oppression," Padma Velaskar says, the
experience of Dalit women is "destructive" due to what she calls the
"multidimensionality, simultaneity and intensity of oppression." It is
no secret that caste differences exist even in religions other than
Hinduism, and this in fact shows that Christianity and Islam are
indeed the organic products of the Indian soil. The extent of
stigmatisation and exclusion faced by the lower castes among Muslims
and Sikhs respectively is discussed by Imtiaz Ahmad and Ronki Ram.

Yoginder Sikand says that contemporary Indian Muslim scholars advise
against marriage between people of unequal status. Arguing that the
divide between the high-born and the low-born among Muslims goes as
far back as the 14th century, he refers to Ziauddin Barani, a Turkish
scholar, who in his Fatwa-i Jahandari requests his master, Mohammad
bin Tughlaq, to order that nothing other than the religious
injunctions related to fasting, praying, charity and pilgrimage should
be taught to the 'mean' people. Barani also wants teachers to be
punished if they imparted education to the 'low born' because "plenty
of disorders arise owing to the skill of the low born in knowledge."

Prathama Banerjee's "Caste and History Writing" is interesting, but
somewhat disappointing. She tries to show that the history of caste
may not have the same chronological trajectory as that of a nation or
a religion. While proposing the centrality of the body in the history
of caste, Banerjee says people of different castes live in separate
areas, limit contact with each other according to the pecking order,
and observe different social etiquette with people of other castes,
etc.

Intimate knowledge

At the same time, Banerjee quotes, approvingly, a statement which says
that Dalit women scavengers had intimate knowledge of the households
from which they were excluded and goes on to specify the means by
which they do so. Surely, there have been much simpler methods of
getting to know others' habits, what they ate and so on. Unlike
technologists, social scientists are not expected to solve problems or
even answer fundamental questions. They would have done their job well
if they raised some searching questions. By raising such questions
from diverse perspectives, the contributors have enriched this volume.
The book deserves to be read by those who are tired of listening to
the wails of the "pilgrims of darkness", while those who are put off
by the writings of the narrowly focussed specialists in Dalit studies
will find its wide sweep particularly appealing.


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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Dalits´ skill promotion demanded

 

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Dalits%26acute%3B+skill+promotion+demanded&NewsID=282708

Dalits´ skill promotion demanded

Added At: 2011-04-05 10:39 AM

The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)

KATHMANDU: Various stakeholders have expressed concern over the
gradual disappearance of indigenous skills of Dalit due to their low
access to and skills on modern technologies.

At an interaction organised by Dalit Welfare Association on Monday on
'Skills for employment and policy issue of Dalit participation',
different stakeholders said that their indigenous profession has been
in crisis owing to the lack of skills to operate modern machinery
technology.

Revenue Secretary at Finance Ministry Krishna Hari Baskota said the
government has exempted 20 per cent of tax to any private firm
providing employment to 33 per cent Dalit to increase their access to
employment.

The government is effortful to enhance their capacity by launching
various skills promotion project in different places, he added.

Officer at Skills Development Project Binod Aryal informed that
various vocational educations have been run in 21 districts to
generate capable human resource for employment.

Association Chairperson Moti Lal Nepali opined that the government
should come up with policy to protect Dalit since it is difficult for
them to compete in the market even though they have possessed certain
skills.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits Perform Gayatri Yajna under Arya Samaj Guidance

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=98527&n_tit=Mangalore%3A+Dalits+Perform+Gayatri+Yajna+under+Arya+Samaj+Guidance

Tuesday, April 05, 2011 1:01:46 PM (IST)

Mangalore: Dalits Perform Gayatri Yajna under Arya Samaj Guidance


Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Apr 5: Arya Samaj here, which had in the past been linked
with some controversies, organized Gayatri Yajna for social equality
by dalits on Monday April 4. This is a fresh initiative undertaken by
the Samaj to abolish dalit-higher caste divide. Arya Samaj had
undertaken this initiative at Kochchigudde. About 20 dalits
participated in the Yajna.

Arya Samaj said that the oblation had been undertaken with the
specific motive of driving away from among the dalits a feeling that
they are not part of the society's mainstream.

Sri Esha Vittaladasa Swamiji of Kemar Muitt, who participated in the
'Poornahuti' of the Yajna, felt that untouchability in the society is
no less dangerous than internal terrorism. He said that those who are
corrupt, become robbers, and those who get swayed by vices, should be
treated as untouchables, and not a section of the society.

He added that the programme had been undertaken with the aim of
driving home the point that everyone has the right to worship the
Lord, and caste and creed affiliations have nothing do with the same.
He said that there is a plan to perform Yajnas by setting up 108 Yajna
Kundas at a time, for which even Poornahuti will be performed by the
dalits.


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[ZESTCaste] Bias as base

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20110422280810600.htm

COLUMN

Bias as base

JAYATI GHOSH

Capitalism in India, especially its globally integrated variant, has
used modes of social discrimination and exclusion to advance itself.

A. SHAIKMOHIDEEN

CONSERVANCY WORKERS CLEANING a drainage channel in Tirunelveli. A file
picture. A large number of social practices effectively restrict the
economic activity of "lower caste" and Dalit groups and force them to
supply very low wage labour in harsh and usually precarious
conditions.

MANY people, especially in India, tend to believe that the process of
economic growth is likely to be mostly liberating for those oppressed
by various forms of social discrimination and exclusion. The argument
is that market forces break open age-old social norms, especially
those of caste and gender, which have denied opportunities and
restricted options for so long and for so many.

Unfortunately, the current Indian reality is more complex than that.
The big capital, which is leading the current economic boom, derives
its strength at least partly from the persistence and even expansion
of precarious and low-productivity employment, in which a wide range
of workers are engaged.

Most significantly from the point of view of the Indian corporate
sector, different degrees of outsourcing have blurred the lines
between formal and informal activities. The proliferation of such
low-paying self-employment has become an important means of reducing
costs for the corporate sector as well, passing on the risks of
production to smaller units that are essentially part of the working
class.

The extent to which all successful formal economic activities in India
rely on the implicit subsidies provided by cheap informal labour is
largely unrecognised. Yet corporate profitability in India hinges
substantially on the lowering of a wide range of fixed costs through
outsourcing.

Thus, for example, the success of the much-lauded software industry in
India is only partly because of the availability of skilled
information technology professionals who are cheaper than their
international counterparts.

A significant part of the lower costs comes from the entire range of
support services: cleaning and maintenance of offices, transport,
security, back office work, catering, and so on. These are usually
outsourced to smaller companies that hire temporary workers with much
lower wages and long working hours. There is hardly any form of worker
protection or other benefits and no job security. Without the cost
advantages indirectly conferred by these low-paid workers, the
domestic software industry would find it much harder to compete
internationally. The same is true of a wide range of corporate
activities across both manufacturing and the newer services.

These processes of direct and indirect underwriting of the costs of
the corporate sector have been greatly assisted by the ability of
employers in India to utilise some social characteristics to ensure
lower wages to certain categories of workers. Caste and other forms of
social discrimination have a long tradition in India, and they have
interacted with capitalist accumulation to generate peculiar forms of
labour market segmentation that are probably unique to Indian society.

SOCIAL FACTORS

Numerous studies have found that social categories are strongly
correlated with the incidence of poverty and that both occupation and
wages differ dramatically across social categories. The National
Sample Surveys (NSS) reveal that the probability of being in a low
wage occupation is significantly higher for the Scheduled Tribes, the
Scheduled Castes, Muslims and Other Backward Classes (in that order)
compared with the general "caste Hindu" population. This is only
partly because of differences in education and the level of skills,
which are also important and which in turn reflect the differential
provision of education across social categories.

Such caste-based discrimination has operated in both urban and rural
labour markets. For example, even in a major metropolitan area such as
Delhi, which is one of the epicentres of economic expansion, there
continues to be significant discrimination against Dalit workers
operating dominantly through the mechanism of assignment to jobs, with
Dalits largely entering poorly paid "dead-end" jobs.

These are actually essential jobs in both production – such as
sweepers, loaders, unskilled construction workers – and services –
such as shop and sales assistants and security guards. Methods of
recruitment based on contacts, which are widely prevalent in such
low-skilled occupations, ensure that past discriminations are carried
over to the present and thereby condemn lower caste groups to poorly
remunerated labour that is nonetheless essential to income generation
in the economy as a whole.

Similarly, empirical studies of caste behaviour in rural India have
found that there are many ways in which caste practices operate to
reduce the access of the lower castes to local resources as well as to
income-earning opportunities, thereby forcing them to provide their
labour at the cheapest possible rates to employers. One study,
Untouchability in Rural India (by Ghanshyam Shah, Harsh Mander,
Sukhdeo Thorat, Satish Deshpande and Amita Baviskar; Sage
Publications, New Delhi, 2006), of various caste-based practices in
rural areas of 11 States – Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh), Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu – found a large
number of social practices that effectively restricted the economic
activity of lower caste and Dalit groups, and forced them to supply
very low wage labour in harsh and usually precarious conditions.

K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

A PROTEST BY members of the Domestic Workers Union in Bangalore. A
2009 photograph. For urban women, the increase in regular work has
dominantly been in services, including low-paid domestic service.

In 73 per cent of the villages surveyed in this study, Dalits could
not enter non-Dalit homes. In 70 per cent of villages, Dalits could
not eat with non-Dalits. In 64 per cent of the villages, Dalits could
not enter common temples. In 36 per cent of the villages surveyed,
Dalits could not enter village shops. In around one-third of the
surveyed villages, Dalits were not accepted as traders dealing with
commonly used items of consumption or production. These practices in
turn can be used to keep wages of Dalit workers (who are extremely
constrained in their choice of occupation) low, even in period of
otherwise rising wages. These practices persist even during the period
of the Indian economy's much-vaunted dynamic growth.

But the important point to note here is not simply that such practices
continue to exist, but that they have become the base on which the
economic accumulation process rests. In other words, capitalism in
India, especially in its most recent globally integrated variant, has
used past and current modes of social discrimination and exclusion to
its own benefit to facilitate the extraction of surplus and ensure
greater flexibility and bargaining to employers when dealing with
workers.

So social categories are not "independent" of the accumulation process
– rather, they allow for more surplus extraction, because they
reinforce low employment-generating (and, therefore, persistently low
wage) tendencies of growth.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION

Similar tendencies are evident in patterns of gender discrimination as
well. With respect to women's work, there have been four apparently
contradictory trends: simultaneous increases in the incidence of paid
labour, underpaid labour, unpaid labour and the open unemployment of
women. This is a paradox, since it is generally expected that when
employment increases, unemployment comes down; or when paid labour
increases, unpaid labour decreases.

For urban women, the increase in regular work has dominantly been in
services, including most importantly the relatively low-paid and less
desirable activity of domestic service, along with some manufacturing.
In manufacturing, there has been some recent growth of petty
home-based activities of women, typically with very low remuneration,
performing outsourced jobs as part of a larger production chain.

But explicitly export-oriented employment, even in special zones set
up for the purpose, still accounts for only a tiny fraction of women's
paid work in urban India. Meanwhile, in rural India, self-employment
has come to dominate women's activities even in non-agricultural
occupations largely because of the evident difficulty in finding paid
work.

In this period of economic boom, average real wages of women workers
increased relatively little over the 10-year period 1993-94 to 2004-05
despite rapid increases in national income over this period, and for
some categories of women workers (rural graduates and urban illiterate
females), real wages actually declined. What is more, there were
fairly sharp increases in gender gaps in wages, which are now among
the highest in the world.

Even public services rely heavily on the underpaid labour of women.
While a privileged minority of women in government employment continue
to access the benefits of the government behaving as a "model
employer", new employment for the purpose of providing essential
public services has been concentrated in low-remuneration activities
with uncertain contracts and hardly any benefits. This is true of
school education (with the employment of para-teachers) as well as
health and nutrition (with reliance on anganwadi workers and
Accredited Social Health Activists).

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is the
only public intervention to make some difference in this with evidence
of gender gaps in rural wage work coming as a result of the
implementation of the scheme.

Conditions of self-employment among women show many of the disturbing
tendencies of wage employment. Women's self-employment in
non-agriculture is largely characterised by both low expectations
regarding incomes and remuneration and substantial non-fulfilment of
even these low expectations. Despite some increase in
high-remuneration self-employment among professionals and
micro-entrepreneurs, in general the expansion of self-employment seems
to be a distress-driven process determined by the lack of availability
of sufficient paid work on acceptable terms.

Case studies and evidence from large surveys of the NSS both suggest
that payment for home-based work, which is typically on a piece-rates
basis and accounts for increasing proportions of the economic activity
of women, have been declining not only in real but even in nominal
terms in many urban centres, despite the economic dynamism of the
areas in general.

Similarly, unpaid labour of women is likely to have been increasing
because of public policies such as reduced social expenditure that
place a larger burden of care on women, or privatised or degraded
common property resources or inadequate infrastructure facilities that
increase time spent on provisioning essential goods for the household,
or simply because even well-meaning policies (such as for
afforestation) are often gender-blind.

Once again, the relevant point here is not simply that such gender
differences exist, but that they – and therefore the particular forms
that patriarchy takes in India – are closely intertwined with
processes of capitalist accumulation. So, the recent growth has not
broken existing patterns of social discriminations; instead it has
relied on them to take forward the growth story.


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[ZESTCaste] SC/ST outfit to support UDF in polls

 

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/kochi/scst-outfit-support-udf-polls-943

SC/ST outfit to support UDF in polls

April 5, 2011
By DC Correspondent
DC
Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe Fedaration has decided to
support the united democratic front in the Assembly elections.

Mr K.V.Kumaran, president of the federation, told mediapersons that
the left democratic front government had done nothing for the SC/STs
in the last five years. He added that the Chief Minister, Mr V.S.
Achuthanandan, had not kept his promise to remove encroachments from
Munnar and allot 50 per cent of the freed land to SC/STs.

"At the same time, the opposition leader, Mr Oommen Chandy, has
promised to remove all encroachments from Munnar," said Mr Kumaran.

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Re: [ZESTCaste] DMK eyes dalit votes with freebies

 


POLITICS is SACRED with GOOD GOVERNANCE
The BSP's entire politics is ekla chalo, no pre-poll alliance.
All the doles announced to more than 85 % of the poor by Political Parties amounts to less
than 15% of the total budget of the state. More than 85% of the budget will be
enjoyed by 15% population of rich politicians and capitalists after cornering
votes from the poor and the black money will be deposited in Foreign Banks to
benefit those countries. For equal distribution of wealth, vote BSP
About The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or Majority People's Party is one of the only five prominent national political parties of India, which is the largest democracy of the world.
Brief Introduction :
The ideology of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is "Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation" of the "Bahujan Samaj ", which comprises of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Religious Minorities such as Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists and account for over 85 per cent of the country's total population.
The people belonging to all these classes have been the victims of the "Manuwadi" system in the country for thousands of years, under which they have been vanquished, trampled upon and forced to languish in all spheres of life. In other words, these people were deprived even of all those human rights, which had been secured for the upper caste Hindus under the age-old "Manuwadi Social System".
Among the great persons (Mahapurush) belonging to "Bahujan Samaj", who fought courageously and with commitment against the brutal and oppressive Manuwadi system, for providing a level playing field to the downtrodden to help move forward in their lives with "self-respect" and at par with the upper castes Hindus, especially Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar's socio-political campaign later proved to be very effective in this direction.
Though the contributions of leaders of the downtrodden communities like Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, Narayana Guru and Periyar E. V. Ramaswami have been immense in the fight against the obnoxious Manuwadi system, but the struggle of Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who was born in Scheduled Caste community, and that of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji later proved to be greatly effective and pregnant with far-reaching consequences.
Besides waging a spirited campaign against the Manuwadi Social System, Dr. Ambedkar instilled consciousness among not only the Dalits, but also among those belonging to other backward groups, which continue to be victimised and trampled under this oppressive and unjust Manuvadi Social System.
By virtue of his pivotal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution, these groups were given a number of rights in the Constitution on a legal basis to lead a life of dignity and self-respect. But he was fully conscious of the fact that these exploited sections of the society would not be able to get the full legal rights as long as the governments would remain dominated by the Manuwadi persons and parties.
That's why Dr. Ambedkar, during his lifetime, had counseled the "Bahujan Samaj" that if they wanted to fully enjoy the benefits of their legal rights, as enshrined in the Constitution, they would have to bond together all the Bahujan groups on the basis of unity and fraternity, bring them on a strong political platform and capture the "Master Key" of political power. This was to be the modus operandi for the formation of Bahujan Governments at the Centre and in States. Only such governments could enforce all the constitutional and legal rights of the "Bahujan Samaj" and provide opportunities to its People to move forward in all spheres of life besides enabling them to lead a life of "self-respect".
Keeping in view this observation and advice of Dr. Ambedkar, respected Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji founded the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), with the help of his associates, on April 14, 1984. For many years while he enjoyed good health, he prepared the "Bahujan Samaj" to secure the "master key" of political power, which opens all the avenues for social and economic development.
However, being a diabetic and host of other serious ailments, his health did not permit him to lead an active political life for too long. On December 15, 2001, Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji, while addressing a mammoth rally of the BSP at the Lakshman Mela Ground in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on the banks of the river Gomti, declared Kumari (Miss) Mayawati Ji, then the lone Vice-President of the Party, as his only political heir and successor.
Moreover, on September 15, 2003, Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji's health suffered a serious setback, and the entire responsibility of the Party fell on the shoulders of Bahan (Sister) Kumari Mayawati Ji. Later, on September 18, 2003, the Party, through a consensus and in keeping with its Constitution, made her its National President.
Being the National President of a National Party, Kumari Mayawati Ji in her address sought to assure that "I would like to make aware people of the country that my Party, the BSP, is committed to not only improving the socio-economic conditions of people belonging to the "Bahujan Samaj" but also of the poor among the upper caste Hindus, small and medium farmers, traders and people engaged in other professions.
But people of the Manuwadi mindset, even if they are in different fields of life, are acting under a conspiracy to project the image of the BSP as if it is confined to championing the cause of Dalits alone and is opposed to the upper castes Hindus and other sections of the society. Also, the BSP has nothing to do with the issues of national interest. However, on the basis of facts, I can say with firmness and conviction that all such talks are a bunch of lies, baseless and devoid of facts and are nothing else more than a slanderous campaign of the status quoits Manuwadi forces. The policies, objectives and ideology of the BSP are crystal clear and attuned to the welfare of the entire country and its vast population.
On the basis of its ideology, the BSP wants to sound the death-knell of the "Manuwadi Social System" based on the 'Varna' (which is an inequality social system) and striving hard and honestly for the establishment of an egalitarian and "Humanistic Social System" in which everyone enjoys JUSTICE (social, economic and political) and EQUALITY (of status and of opportunity) as enshrined in the PREAMBLE of the Constitution.
Further, our Party Constitution very clearly states that "the chief aim and objective of the Party shall be to work as a revolutionary social and economic movement of change with a view to realise, in practical terms, the supreme principles of universal justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enunciated in the Constitution of India."
Such a social system is wholly in the overall interest of the Country and all sections of the society too. If, in this missionary work of "Social Transformation", people of the upper castes (Hindus) shed their Manuwadi mindset and join hands with the Bahujan Samaj, our Party, with all due respect and affection would embrace them. Such people will be given suitable positions in the Party organisation in accordance with their ability, dedication and efficiency, and there would be no distinction between them and those belonging to the Bahujan Samaj. Also they will be fielded as Party candidates in the parliamentary and assembly elections, and if our government is formed, they will also be given ministerial berths.
These are not hollow talks because the BSP in the past, during the three successive governments, had implemented all such promises. In Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Mayawati government was formed four times, and on each occasion, upper castes people were inducted in the Council of Ministers. Even an upper caste person was appointed to an all-important post of Advocate General. They were given the Party ticket for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and also nominated to the Parliament's Upper Chamber i.e. Rajya Sabha and state Legislative Councils.
In addition, upper caste people have been given high posts in the Party organisation. For example, Mr. Satish Chandra Mishra was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and also was made national general secretary of the Party. In similar fashion, other castes of the Upper Castes (Hindus) were promoted.
Thus, keeping in view all these facts, it would be injudicious and fallacious to hold that the BSP works for the welfare of a particular group or section. Yes, the Party does give priority to those sections, which have been ignored and scorned all along by the Manuwadi governments in all spheres of life. In addition, the BSP has always contributed positively to all issues pertaining to the welfare of the Country. The BSP has always taken an unequivocal stand on issues of the Country's welfare and never compromised on the issues related to the interest of the country whenever the need arose.
Aims and Objectives
The chief aim and objective of the party shall be to work as a revolutionary social and economic movement of change with a view to realise, in practical terms, the supreme principles of universal justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enunciated in the Constitution of India, to be followed by State in governance, and in particular summed up in the following extract from the Preamble of the Constitution.
We, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
Justice, social, economic and political;
Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
Equality of status and opportunity; and promote among them all
Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;"
The Party shall regard its ideology as a movement for ending exploitation of the weaker sections and suppression of the deprived through social and economic change in keeping with the above stated chief aim, and its political activity and participation in governance as an instrument of furthering such a movement and bringing in such a change.
This being the chief aim of the Party, the strategy of the Party in public affairs will be governed by the following general principles:¬
1. That all citizens of India being equal before law are entitled to be treated as equal in true sense and in all matters and all walks of life, and where equality does not exist it has to be fostered and where equality is denied it has to be upheld and fought for.
2. That the full, free, uninhibited and unimpeded development of each individual is a basic human right and State is an instrument for promoting and realising such development;
3. That the rights of all citizens of India as enshrined in the Constitution of India and subject to such restrictions as are set out in the Constitution, have to be upheld at all costs and under all circumstances;
4. That the provisions of the Constitution requiring the State at Center and in States to promote with special care and protect the socio-economic interests of the weaker sections of the society denied to them for centuries, have to upheld and given practical shape in public affairs as a matter of prime most priority.
5. That economic disparities and the wide gaps between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' must not be allowed to override the political principle of "one man, one vote, one vote, one value" adopted by our republic.
6. That unless political empowerment is secured for the economically deprived masses they will not be able to free themselves from the shackles of economic and social dependence and exploitation.
In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the aims stated above the Party will work specially towards the following objectives:¬
1. The Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the other Backward Castes, and the minorities, are the most oppressed and exploited people in India. Keeping in mind their large numbers, such a set of people in India is known as the Bahujan Samaj. The Party shall organise these masses.
2. The party shall work for these down trodden masses to¬-
a. to remove their backwardness;
b. to fight against their oppression and exploitation;
c. to improve their status in society and public life;
d. to improve their living conditions in day to day life;
2. The social structure of India is based on inequalities created by caste system and the movement of the Party shall be geared towards changing the social system and rebuild it on the basis of equality and human values. All those who join the party with the commitment to co-operate in this movement of social change shall be ingratiated into the fold of the Party.
Towards the furtherance of the above noted aims and objectives the organisational units of Party as designated in this constitution, shall be empowered to:-
1. purchase, take on lease or otherwise acquire, and maintain, moveable or immovable property for the Party and invest and deal with monies of Party in such a manner as may from time to time be determined;
2. raise money with or without security for carrying out any of the aims and objectives of the Party;
3. to do all other lawful things and acts as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of any of the aforesaid aims and objectives,
Provided that none of these activities will be undertaken without the express approval of the National President.
THE BSP's AMAZING JOURNEY :
Vidya Subrahmaniam, Press Release
That today sections of upper castes seem to prefer the BSP to the BJP speaks to the long distance travelled by Mayawati's party.
FOR THE past month, medical students in the Capital have been protesting the "quota issue" with brooms and mops in their hands - in a crude symbolism against the Scheduled Castes. Were they to travel to Uttar Pradesh, they would discover how much behind the times they are. In her book, " Mere sangharshmai jeevan evam bahujan movement ka safarnama " (My struggle-filled life and the journey of bahujan movement), Mayawati explains how she reached out to Brahmins (and later other upper castes) and how the latter, in trickles to begin with but gradually in greater numbers, began to respond. The first step was to tap the more socially committed among Brahmins and through them appeal to the larger community. But lest this should be understood as a dilution of the Bahujan Samaj Party's opposition to "manuwad", there was a caveat. The BSP needed Brahmins - and other forward castes - to come over but on its terms. Those who responded, Ms. Mayawati let it be known, would be amply rewarded, by way of the party ticket, Rajya Sabha nominations, and ministerial berths.
The BSP chief's earliest breakthrough was the induction of Satish Chandra Misra, Advocate General in the BSP Government, who agreed to canvass support among like-minded Brahmins. Mr. Misra's positive feedback led to the appointment of coordinators tasked with organising district-level Brahmin mahasammelans (Brahmin congregations). The job was not easy. Forward castes in the north were not only more sizeable compared to the south, caste barriers were more entrenched in the absence of an enlightened social movement. The BSP itself was deeply resented for its strident anti-manuwadi campaign.
But mission "Brahmin jodo" (integrate Brahmins) was the worth the time and effort, and on June 9, 2005, Ms. Mayawati addressed the BSP's first State-level Brahmin mahasammelan. "It is not by chance that you have turned up here in such large numbers here," the BSP chief told the gathering. Her repeated assurance: the BSP was against "manuwad", or the Brahminical disdain for lower castes, but it was not against Brahmins. Therefore, any fear of a reverse discrimination in the BSP was unfounded. The Brahmin mahasammelan spawned other mahasammelans - of Rajputs, Vaishyas, and Yadavas, representing forward and backward castes. Each was an attempt to add another community to the BSP's Dalit core vote.
The enormity of the BSP's forward caste project is best understood in terms of the BSP-BJP relationship. Each time the BSP aligned with the BJP, the former gained and the latter lost. Between 1991 and 2004, the BJP's Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh declined from 51 of 84 seats to 10 of 80 seats. Between 1991 and 2002, its Assembly seats declined from 221 of 425 seats to 88 of 403 seats. In the same period, the BSP's Lok Sabha tally went up from just one to 19 and its Assembly seats from 12 to 98. There seemed but one explanation for this dramatic reversal: the BJP's core voters were disillusioned by its repeated pacts with the forward caste-baiting BSP. That the same segments, or even a section of them, could prefer the BSP to the BJP speaks to the amazing journey of a party that targeted, and was in turn targeted by, forward castes. As Sudhir Goyal, national spokesperson of the BSP puts it: "The transformation is a measure of our confidence. It is from a position of strength that we are talking to upper castes."
So, how do the BSP's Dalit workers react to the co-option of the "manuwadi" castes? With stoic acceptance: "Our fight is with the system. This is the only way the BSP can capture power on its own." Undoubtedly, this is the voice of a deeply committed cadre. On the outside, the BSP is all about Ms. Mayawati, with the media obsessively focussing on her clothes, jewellery, and "imperious" manner. On the ground, the BSP could be a cult instead of a party, with the cadre doggedly and silently propagating the party's ideology in the remotest villages. The commonest refrain among workers is " hum marne mitne ke liye taiyar hain " (we are ready to die for the party). For Salim Ansari and Raj Vijay, former and current presidents of the party's Mau unit, the BSP is a mission where the poorest workers give up bidis and paan to raise funds. The election drill is rigorous and starts early, with party candidates chosen almost two years in advance and put on test. Each constituency is divided into 25 sectors with ten polling booths to a sector. Each booth, accounting roughly for 1000 voters, is under the care of a nine-member committee, headed by a president and with at least one woman member deputed to motivate and mobilise women voters.
Says Mr. Ansari, " Behenji 's one message is: do not sleep. And we do not. The booth committees have a single goal - to ensure the maximum turnout of our voters. Each member has a specific duty, and we have already had rehearsals for what to do on voting day [eight months away]." So has the BSP really put together an unbeatable Dalit-forward caste-most backward caste combination? The many caste mahasammelans and the systematic targeting of the smaller caste groups - Chauhan, Rajbar, Malla, Maurya to name a few - would suggest so. Say BSP workers Ashok Kumkar and M.S. Chauhan: "As important as the Brahmin mahasammelans are the many more unpublicised efforts directed at the smaller castes."
Yet the experiment is not without its pitfalls. For instance, the pro-Mayawati mood, so visible among Allahabad forward castes, seemed driven less by a genuine change of heart towards the BSP than by the immediate imperative of removing Mulayam Singh. The language bordered on communal, with Mr. Mulayam Singh accused of "pandering to Muslims" and "protecting Muslims bullies." This leads to the question: Is forward caste support for the BSP merely opportunistic, with the BSP temporarily substituting for the BJP?
As important is a second question: Has the BSP been able to break traditional barriers in the villages? This writer travelled into the villages of Mau with a band of BSP workers. The Dalit villagers were easily identified by their enthusiasm and shouts of "Jai Bhim" (for Bhim Rao Ambedkar). The fervours made it impossible to tell between voters and workers. Both spoke of "working to the last breath " for the BSP and behenji . Bright-eyed Ranjana from Nausopur village typified this mix. "There is a BSP wave. The Brahmins are voting the haathi (elephant)," she gushed, even as she insisted on accompanying us to forward caste homes to "witness the revolution."
Ashok Kumar, the village pradhan, was emphatic that Brahmins would vote the BSP: " I have complete respect for Maywati as an administrator. She was tough on criminals and that is what we need now." Banke Bihari, another Brahmin, voted the BJP in 2002 and wants to give the BSP a try: "I would like to believe that she has changed." But were forward castes not jailed and harassed by previous BSP regimes? "Those who ought to be jailed, ought to be jailed." Ram Ashish Tiwari was bitter about the BJP's forgotten Ram mandir and the "Jinnah betrayal." "I do not know if I will vote the BSP. But I am not voting the BJP."
Yet attitudinal mindsets are not so easily demolished. At Umapur, our group ran into the openly hostile Rajnath Tiwari and his son. Said Mr. Tiwari: "The Ram mandir will be built and we will vote the BJP as long as we live." But were Brahmins not turning to the BSP? The son's hands flew to his ears, his disgust apparent, his words a torrent of abuse: "Ram, Ram, what are you saying? The BSP and us?" The effect was instantaneous. "Don't you dare," began Ranjana only to stop abruptly, her eyes misty, her fists clenched tightly. It was evident that she was holding herself back. Did she not want to retaliate? "I do but we have a larger goal. We have to win."
That the BSP has gained phenomenally on the ground is clear. But U.P. is a complex State where every day brings a new challenge. In the villages, each major caste has its own political party and the numbers can only increase as election day draws near. The Samajwadi Party's Muslim base is under threat from a new, more strident Muslim party. This could benefit the BSP or it could breathe life into the BJP. If the Congress revival is better than currently anticipated, it could affect forward caste movement towards the BSP. On the other hand, should the anti-quota forward caste anger spread to U.P. - currently reservation is a non-issue here - the Congress will be affected the most.
BSP to contest from all constituencies
 
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will contest from all 234 Assembly constituencies in the State on its own strength, its national general secretary Suresh Mane said on Tuesday.
He told reporters that the party was looking at long-term political gains and would not limit itself to contesting from a few seats as part of an alliance.
It contested from 164 seats in the 2006 Assembly elections, polling in 1.76 per cent of votes.
List of 51 candidates
This increased marginally in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
BSP State president K. Armstrong will contest from Kolathur; general secretaries P. Jeevan Kumar from Mudukulathur; K. Vijayan (Mayilam) and P. Rajappa (Pallavaram), Mr. Mane said, releasing the first list of 51 candidates.
The list of candidates for other constituencies will be released later.
BSP to contest all 140 seats in Kerala
Kozhikode: The BSP will contest all 140 constituences in Kerala for April 13 assembly polls and will not have any understanding with any party or alliances, party's National Secretary Pramod Kureel said on Saturday.
The decision was taken under the direction of BSP President and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, he told reporters.
"In this election, BSP, by achieving 10 per cent vote share, will establish itself as prominent political player in Kerala," he claimed.
 
"The state has been ruled either by LDF or UDF all these years but it is a sad state of affairs that 50 per cent of Kerala's population is without safe drinking water, roads and other basic infrastructure", he alleged.
Mayawati will campaign in Kerala for three days, he said.
The names of 38 candidates were also announced at the press conference. Earlier, the party had announced the list of 70 candidates from Kochi on Saturday.
 
MAY YOU BE EVER HAPPY, WELL AND SECURE
MAY YOU LIVE LONG
MAY ALL SENTIENT AND NON-SENTIENT BEINGS BE EVER HAPPY
MAY YOU BE ALWAYS HAVE CALM, QUIET, ALERT,ATTENTIVE AND
EQUANIMITY MIND WITH A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING THAT
NOTHING IS PERMANENT

From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com>
To: zestcaste <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, 1 April 2011 3:19 PM
Subject: [ZESTCaste] DMK eyes dalit votes with freebies

 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/DMK-eyes-dalit-votes-with-freebies/articleshow/7839290.cms

DMK eyes dalit votes with freebies
TNN | Apr 1, 2011, 12.52am IST
CHENNAI: Ramayi, a dalit daily wage earner of Thandarai village in
Cheyyur assembly constituency in Kanchipuram, is excited that her
ramshackle hut will soon become a brick-and-cement house. The
government has promised Rs 75,000 worth of construction materials to
her, and she has a certificate to prove it. Ramayi is thankful for the
Re 1 rice scheme, too, and soon hopes to own land. "We dalits have
never owned any land in our lives; it's always been the Vanniars who
have had the right. That will all change," she says.

Through its welfare shemes, the DMK front has made a determined pitch
for dalit votes, and hopes to win a significant majority of the 44
constituencies reserved for SCs in the state. The party is contesting
24 of the reserved constituencies, and sharing the rest with VCK (8),
Congress (10) and PMK (2). Karunanidhi himself is contesting from
Tiruvarur, which was a reserved constituency until recently and has a
Dalit population of over 30%.

Needhirajan, convenor of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front,
however, says that many of the promises are just propaganda and the
benefits haven't really reached Dalits. "Little or no land has been
given to dalits by the DMK government, as promised under the panchami
land scheme," says Needhirajan.

In the 2010-2011 budget, the DMK government allocated Rs 3,800 crores
(19%) of total state expenditure for SC/ST schemes - equivalent to the
share of the SC population in the state. But critics say this is just
an accounting ruse, as the figure includes money spent in general
schemes.

But Tamil Nadu Dalits were not always known for voting on issues.
They, as fans of a heroic MGR in movies, were once considered a
reliable votebank of AIADMK.

Old loyalties still survive to some extent. Yazhan Aathi, a school
teacher in Ambur, recalls that worshipping heroes - especially from
movies - is still common among Dalits, and has helped Vijayakanth get
dalit support. But Aathi says that dalits haven't been given
responsibilities in the DMDK organization. "Dalits are no more
satisfied with just token representation," he says.

Seeking economic and social progress, Dalits had started looking
beyond traditional parties in the late 1990s. At that time, many Tamil
Nadu villages turned into battle grounds of caste conflict as young
and educated dalits started confronting upper castes. Pallars,
concentrated in the southern districts, such as Namakkal,
Rajayapalayam, Madurai and Sivaganga, tangled with the Thevars, while
Paraiyars had conflicts with Vanniars in the northern districts, such
as Vellore, Cuddalore, Kanchipuram and Chennai.

Leveraging the conflicts, Krishnaswamy emerged as a leader of the
pallars, and Thirumavalavan became a leader of the paraiyars. Pallars
are mostly small farmers or landless labourers, while Paraiyars are
mostly daily wage earners.

Arundhatiyars, the third dalit caste in the state that accounts for 3%
of the state population, are the most marginalized even among the
Dalits. Living in western Tamil Nadu, such as in Coimbatore and
Dharmapuri, Arundhatiyars are oppressed by Kongu Vellalars, says TSS
Mani, an observer of Dalit politics. "They are upset that the DMK
front includes Kongu Vellalar Party," says Mani.

The two main dalit forces that have emerged in the state are now in
alliance with parties representing their principal adversaries. The
dalit VCK is now in the same boat as the vanniar PMK in the DMK front,
and Krishnaswamy's Pudhiya Thamizhagam has been bargaining for seats
with the AIADMK -- once seen as representing thevars. Activists defend
these alliances and say they would help dalits make progress without
conflicts. "The PMK-VCK alliance will promote social harmoney," says
Vanni Arasu, a VCK leader.


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[ZESTCaste] The task force recommendations will legitimize the non allocation of funds to SCSP and TSP by ministries / departments. - Please sign petition-http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nationaldalitforum/

 

Dear Friends 


Jaibheem

Please sign this petition Requesting Prime Minister not to approve the task force report on SCSP and TSP - http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nationaldalitforum/

You may aware that the planning commission of india appointed a Task force to study the implementation of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan and give recommendations. Subsequently, the Task Force submitted its first report on 25 November 2010. These recommendations will legitimize the actions of non allocation of funds to SCSP and TSP by  ministries / departments.

The report excludes 40 Ministries / Departments in the case of Scheduled caste and 43 in the case of Scheduled Tribes from making any efforts for their development

Responsibilities of 10 Ministries / Departments will be lessened

Only 9 Ministries / Departments will continue the status quo

Only responsibilities of 6 Ministries / Departments will be enhanced

They are totally against to the principles of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan as envisioned by Mrs. Indira Gandhi Jee.

Accounting of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan for National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Indira Aawaaz Yojana etc to the extent of SCs and STs is against the concept, as is was in addition to the general welfare / developmental schemes by the government.

They ultimately legitimizes the debate of indivisibility of funds by ministries / departments there by non allocation of funds under Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan 




Karthik Navayan
Programme Officer
National Dalit Forum
 

--
B.Karthik Navayan, Advocate
http://karthiknavayan.wordpress.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/karthiknavayan/

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