Latest News Update: Aug 26, 2011

Friday, August 26, 2011

[ZESTCaste] BC meet on Special Component Plan

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bc-meet-on-special-component-plan/178705-60-118.html

Tamil Nadu
BC meet on Special Component Plan
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Updated Aug 26, 2011 at 11:02am IST

HYDERABAD: Political leaders and representatives of Backward Classes
(BC) organisations would be conducting a conference on August 28 at
Jubilee Hall, Public Gardens in the city on their demand that the
state and central governments draw up a 'special component plan' for
the development of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
"The BCs have been ignored by the government in providing reservations
and other benefits.
The BC organisations plan to discuss extensively the problems of BCs
during the conference," said Prof Murali Manohar, chairman of Mahatma
Jotirao Phule Academy of Backward Caste Development and Empowerment.
Senior BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya, TDP leader Tulla Devender Goud,
TRS legislature party leader Etela Rajender and professors and
students from different universities would be attending the
conference.
Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday Murali Manohar said
that in the past 67 years of independence, the trend is only a few BC
communities are getting the government benefits which are meant for
all BCs.
He suggested that BCs should be issued special funds for their
development according to their population in the state.
Prof Kancha Ilaiah said that 48 per cent of the population in the
state is BC but the reservation for them is only 28 per cent in
education, employment and other government schemes.
He added that in 2010-11, an annual budget of `15,000 crore was
announced by the government for development of BC communities, but
only `4,000 crore was used to build BC welfare hostels

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[ZESTCaste] BSP Accuses Ajit Singh of Being 'Anti-Dalit'

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?732565

BSP Accuses Ajit Singh of Being 'Anti-Dalit'
PTI | Lucknow | Aug 25, 2011

The ruling BSP in UP today lashed out at Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit
Singh for levelling corruption charges against Chief Minister
Mayawati, saying that it reflected his "anti-dalit mentality".

Reacting to Singh's statement terming Mayawati's support to Anna
Hazare's anti-graft campaign as a farce and alleging that "maximum
loot" occurred during the BSP rule, a party spokesman here said RLD
chief should first recall the "misdeeds" of his ministers in the
previous SP government.

"The RLD president who has earned a name for himself because of his
opportunism and party hopping is perhaps unaware that BSP has been
raising its voice against corruption since his inception," the
spokesman said.

"Before raising fingers at the BSP, the RLD president should first
recall the misdeeds of his ministers during the previous Samajwadi
Party government," he said.

Earlier today, Singh said that common man is not a "fool to consider
Mayawati government as honest because of its support to Anna Hazare."

The RLD chief said that BSP was the only party to vote in favour of a
judge facing impeachment over corruption charges.

"Mayawati's purification would be done by the people in the Assembly
polls," he said.
Filed On: Aug 25, 2011 23:58 IST

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits protest against fake caste certificates

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dalits-protest-against-fake-caste-certificates/178751-60-118.html

Tamil Nadu
Dalits protest against fake caste certificates
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Updated Aug 26, 2011 at 12:02pm IST

BANGALORE: Around 500 people from various taluks, belonging to Madiga
Mesalaathi Horaata Samithi (MRHS) — a consortium of several Dalit
organisations — protested at Freedom Park, on Thursday.
The outfits gathered at the park to express their support towards Anna
Hazare and also to protest against the fake caste certificates being
issued at the revenue offices in the city.
"If you go to any taluk office and bribe any agent with Rs 500 or
more, within a few days you will be able to obtain a fake caste
certificate," said Keshav Murthy, state president of MRHS.
He stated that the Adi Karnataka and Adi Dravida are indigenous tribes
and do not belong to any caste, "Still the government issues fake
caste certificates in the name of these communities." The consortium
stated that the communities are from Karnataka but, the taluk offices
are giving away fake caste certificates to non-Karnataka people as
well.
"Currently, 24 lakh families of Scheduled Caste are in Karnataka and
so far we have lost three and a half lakh jobs due to this massive
corruption," he said.

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[ZESTCaste] Filmflam of Aarakshan (Opinion)

http://www.asianage.com/columnists/filmflam-aarakshan-633

Filmflam of Aarakshan
Aug 26, 2011

Shiv Visvanathan

In a week of high drama, from the theatre of the Anna Hazare movement
to the temporary demise of Indian cricket in England, littler dramas
got sidelined.

One such now-forgotten episode centred around Prakash Jha's Aarakshan,
a much-touted film about reservation.
Today's film has trailers of two types. There is first the trailer
which provides an over-dramatised fragment of the film as an
introduction; the second comprises the debates, the anticipated
controversy around the film. This battle often creates an intellectual
or operatic prelude to the film. Aarakshan expectedly created more
than a storm in civil society's tea cup.
Dalits objected to it saying they were misrepresented. Filmmakers
struck back by talking about the freedom of expression. Dalits argued
that freedom of expression did not include the freedom to misrepresent
a social group. Critics hit back by emphasising the integrity of
cinema and the creativity of the artist. As stereotype battled
stereotype, artistic licence on both sides was heightened by the fact
that few had seen the film.
Key actors of the film were present in most of the TV debates. Jha
said that he would not waste `70 crore merely to misrepresent a group.
Meanwhile, bureaucracies entered the fray. What the Censor Board
passed, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had to question,
summoning the Censor Board chairperson to appear before it as if it
were a vassal. The soap opera quality was exaggerated further by
protests in a few cities and the banning of the film in three states.
People in other states felt privileged that they were going to see
another Jha classic. What they witnessed was an insult to good cinema,
the debate on reservation and the quality of democratic discussion.
The publicity of the film was misleading. Reservation is only one of
the issues discussed; Jha's film is more a battle of tutorial
colleagues. The plot thickens in an interesting but a predictable way.
The story centres around the relationship between an idealistic old
teacher and his student. The old man, or should one say the angry old
man, is played by Amitabh Bachchan. If Bachchan's films in the
Seventies epitomising the angry young man created cinematic history,
Bachchan as the angry old man here in Aarakshan is boring and utterly
predictable. It is almost as if he's lost his cinematic touch.
Aarakshan, in fact, looks like a continuation of Mohabbatein with
Bachchan as headmaster. Only, instead of Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan
plays both the idealist dalit and angry teacher. Deepika Padukone as
Bachchan's daughter and Khan's friend waters down the plot even more
successfully. Bachchan, caught in the reservation battle, is dismissed
and his old school becomes part of a tutorial college chain. Bachchan,
never one to give up, sets up a tabela school opposite the tutorial
college and a battle of tutorial colleges ensues. The tutorial
college, which is the real villain of the show, charges exorbitant
fees for those who do not get admission in regular colleges because of
reservation.
Bachchan, seeing the hypocrisy of reservation and its unintended
consequences, single-handedly teaches a school for poor students. The
battle warms up as the original tutorial college, jealous of his
success, tries to evict him. The conspiratorial link between
politicians who see in school an ideal business and educational
entrepreneurs is played up. Their collaboration represents investment
without responsibility. Khan, who had left for Cornell University,
returns to help Bachchan. The battle between good and evil develops
Bollywood-style. By that time, even if you do not have reservations
about reservation, you develop some about Jha and Bollywood. Aarakshan
is atrocious cinema where the whole issue of good and bad education,
reservation versus merit is trivialised. Bad cinema is no answer to
social injustice and devious publicity is no answer to the question of
freedom. Jha trivialises the movie twice, first by directing it, and
then by discussing it in public space. When bad acting combines with
bad sociology, even Bollywood should look embarrassed.
I remember somewhere during one TV discussion, a commentator added
that "sunlight is the answer to censorship". One can go a step
further. I think exposure is the answer to a bad film. The audience
realises that they have been conned. I am surprised there were no
protests after the film. It was terrible.
The film's ending is the last straw. The chairperson of the old
college, who had taken sanyas, returns to remedy the situation. She
requests Bachchan to return to his old college and head the centre for
remedial education. The choice before the Indian student is stark. It
is the tutorial college versus remedial education. The battle is
between a pedagogy that sees shortcuts to education as the solution
and a project that sees the poor and the backward as needing remedial
treatment rather than justice, empathy and fairness. Two pathologies
confront each other in the name of pedagogy, while the issue of
justice is quietly ignored. When Bollywood creates these forgettable
reconciliations, the audience feels cheated. A movie which was to
prove an act of courage turns out to be a con game. The social debate
becomes a cover to encourage fan attention.
There is another critical issue. It is the question of stereotypes. If
one looks at the TV debates one has to ask why are dalits always
presented in a restricted manner. They are always seen as being
obsessed with their social status. Why cannot one expect a dalit to
make an aesthetic point or raise an issue about the politics of the
imagination? I think liberal stereotypes combined with electoral
politics do greater injustice to the creativity of the dalit mind.
Dalit intellectuals are cosmopolitan creatures who can survive the
provincialism of caste elites.
The question is what makes the debate on justice so wretched in this
movie. I think it is the notion of sentimentality. To assume that
goodness is attuned to the demands of social justice is false.
Philanthropy and fairness live in different worlds. Goodness can be
socially blind and politically witless. Jha's movie does not allow for
real struggle or genuine ambiguity. It creates surrogate villains in
the tutorial college, it disempowers history and creates an impotent
politics. There is a dishonesty here, which he must account for.

Shiv Visvanathan is a social science nomad

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[ZESTCaste] Tribal leaders too call Anna group's solution as anti-democratic

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tribal-leaders-too-call-Anna-groups-solution-as-anti-democratic/articleshow/9740210.cms

Tribal leaders too call Anna group's solution as anti-democratic
Nitin Sethi, TNN | Aug 26, 2011, 03.55AM IST

NEW DELHI: After some Muslim and Dalit groups criticized Team Anna's
tactics and agenda, some prominent individuals concerned with tribal
issues too have warned that Ramlila Maidan is seeking an
anti-democratic solution to corruption - looking for superior leaders
at the Centre instead of arguing for greater grassroot democracy.

Largely advocating more decentralization and greater control of people
over governance rather than creating institutions or laws that
centralise powers, some of them collectively wrote online recently,
"To try to fight corruption without fighting for true people's power
over the economy and society is impossible." But the unease within the
groups working on tribal groups, largely of a Left hue was evident
when they signed off the statement in their personal capacity. It was
endorsed by Shankar Gopalakrishnan of the Campaign for Survival and
Dignity - the grouping of mass-based organizations that fought for the
Forest Rights Act -- besides others like Biju Mathew of the Mining
Zone People's Solidarity Group and C R Bijoy, another activist
fighting for tribal rights.

The statement was later endorsed by sociologist Nandini Sundar, who
came to prominence with her case against Sulwa Judum in the Supreme
Court.

"The Jan Lokpal being sought may address some types of corruption, or
it may not do so; but it is not intended to give people any greater
control over the state. It is projected as effective not because it
will be democratic, but because it will be powerful, because it will
stand `above' democracy and politics itself," they warned.

This has been a rising criticism of Anna Hazare's 'movement' - holding
agency on behalf of a majority - which by implication reduces the
relevance of grievances of those marginalised by lack of numbers or
economic strength. The case of Irom Sharmila in Manipur or of those
protesting against dams in northeastern states have been cited several
times. While displacement of people in the Narmada valley could find
popular support at one point of time, similar concerns from the
northeastern states have largely been ignored in the rest of the
country with the absolute numbers of displaced in comparison failing
to evoke sympathy. Being the traditional blind spot of India, of
course, has not helped.

Warning that the Team Anna movement was attempting to replace a
battered system with a 'good leader' instead of a more democratic
system, the signatories to the statement warned, "This raises the
question of whether those participating are being asked to fight to
build people's power, or whether they are fighting to increase the
power of the good leader.

"This movement not only does not weaken the state; implicitly, through
the message it sends, it builds people's support for making the state
and its leadership more powerful," they have written on a website that
has hosted several spirited statements in favour and critical of the
anti-graft movement.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits fear Hazare stir will lead to quota abolition

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_dalits-fear-hazare-stir-will-lead-to-quota-abolition_1579789

Dalits fear Hazare stir will lead to quota abolition
Published: Friday, Aug 26, 2011, 11:00 IST
By Amberish K Diwanji | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

The Dalit community appears divided on whether to support Anna Hazare.
Their concern stems for the fear that Hazare movement is a stepping
stone to change the Constitution and abolish reservations.

Tampering with the Constitution, linked with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, is
simply not acceptable to the Dalits. In Delhi, Indian Justice Party
leader Udit Raj took out a rally on Wednesday warning of dire
consequences if the Constitution was altered.

Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athavale said he supported
Hazare's call. "Dr Ambedkar had envisaged a Lokpal to tackle
corruption, so setting up a Lokpal does not go against Ambedkar," he
said. But he is against placing the prime minister under the Lokpal.

Another concern is the demand to put an end to reservations for SCs,
STs, and OBCs.

Sociologist Shiv Viswanathan said: "The anti-corruption movement is a
middle-class movement, so it is natural that middle class concerns
will be voiced at the rallies."

Rights activist Dr Anand Teltumbde, who has spoken out against the
Hazare movement saying it would only intensify the neo-liberal
policies, agreed that Dalits and Muslims are feeling alienated from
the movement in which Dalits and Muslims are much smaller in number.
"Dalits are a fragmented lot, so there are some Dalits who back Hazare
while some don't," he added.

Viswanathan is against the demonisation of Hazare. "A successful
anti-corruption movement will have maximum benefit for those in the
informal economy, and most of them are Dalits and the lower classes,"
he said.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits fear Hazare stir will lead to quota abolition (Opinion)

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_dalits-fear-hazare-stir-will-lead-to-quota-abolition_1579789

Dalits fear Hazare stir will lead to quota abolition
Published: Friday, Aug 26, 2011, 11:00 IST
By Amberish K Diwanji | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

The Dalit community appears divided on whether to support Anna Hazare.
Their concern stems for the fear that Hazare movement is a stepping
stone to change the Constitution and abolish reservations.

Another concern is the demand to put an end to reservations for SCs,
STs, and OBCs.

Sociologist Shiv Viswanathan said: "The anti-corruption movement is a
middle-class movement, so it is natural that middle class concerns
will be voiced at the rallies."

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits consider Anna's anti-graft agitation "upper caste"!

http://news.oneindia.in/2011/08/25/dalits-call-anna-hazare-stir-upper-caste.html

Dalits consider Anna's anti-graft agitation "upper caste"!

New Delhi, Aug 25: This was not one definition that Gandhian Anna
Hazare expected for his anti-corruption campaign, when certain Dalit
and backward communities called Anna's anti-graft stir an "upper
caste" endeavour.

The snub from the oppressed classes of society have dimmed the spirits
of Team Anna who have strived to fight the common evil of corruption
that affects all sections of the society. The cause of this sidelined
feeling among the Dalits is likely to have caused by the apparent
anti-politician feeling generated by Anna Hazare as well as the
association with Arvind Kejriwal with the Youth for Equality. This
particular group was behind a major anti-reservation agitation in the
AIIMS.

MPs from the Dalit and OBC category called the Anna Hazare-headed
agitation an "attack on the supremacy of Parliament and the
Constitution". The MPs called the effort a move to undermine the
Constitution, a comment that was slammed by BJP's Hukumdeo Narain
Yadav, JD-U president Sharad Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party president
Ram Vilas Paswan.

This anti-Anna rhetoric comes soon after Dalit leader Udit Raj of the
All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations marched along with 500
activists from Jantar Mantar to India Gate protesting Anna'a
agitation. Raj has been quoted as saying, "Anna must clarify his stand
on several issues before he speaks about the Jan Lokpal Bill." The
Dalit activists who marched on Wednesday called Anna's protest an
"upper caste movement that has little to do with the oppressed classes
of society."

There was also considerable criticism for Anna'a proposed Jan Lokpal
Bill when Dalit supporters claimed that the bill excluded NGOs, media
and the corporate sector from the Bill's ambit.

Team Anna also faced criticism from other quarters, like Narain Yadav,
a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar who expressed irk after the weaker sections
of society was avoided in the BJP parliamentary party meeting on the
Lokpal Bill. JD-U president Sharad Yadav, on the other hand stated in
Parliament that corruption was directly linked to the caste system, he
said, "No law can prevent corruption that is inherent in Indian
society because of the caste system. Unless there is social justice,
corruption will continue to plague the system. When the drains are
flowing with sewage, how will sprinkling a bit of DDT help? You need
to clean the drain."

OneIndia News

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[ZESTCaste] Standing Committee may now receive a Bahujan LokPal Bill

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws240811LOKPAL_BILL_VI.asp

Posted on 24 August 2011

LOKPAL BILL PROTESTS

Standing Committee may now receive a Bahujan LokPal Bill

Dalit activists want inclusion in the Lok Pal committee, say they do
not back team Anna

Samarth Saran
New Delhi

A "Save the Constitution" rally, led by All India Confederation of
SC/ST Organisations, was held at India Gate, New Delhi

Photos: Soumik Mukherjee

Dalit activists want inclusion in the Lok Pal committee. A "Save the
Constitution" rally was held today at India Gate. Led by All India
Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, Dalit activists protested
against the demands made by the Anna's team terming them as extra
constitutional, undemocratic and alleging that the Jan Lokpal will
take the country from a lesser evil to a bigger one.

While speaking at the venue Udit Raj the National Chairman of the
organisation said that there was no doubt that rampant corruption
existed in the country, however, the fight against it should not
undermine the constitution. "There should not be an attempt to make a
super government over an elected government, corruption is a social
problem rather than a political problem" said Raj.

Raj also announced that he will draft a "Bahujan LokPal Bill" and it
will be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee soon. "The Team
Anna claims that the entire country is behind them, however, there is
not even a single representation from the Dailt, backward or minority
community" said Raj. He added their demand is to include a
representative from the Dalit, backward or minority community in the
LokPal committee.

Criticising the Jan LokPal Raj said that it does not include NGO's,
Corporate and Media houses and the corporate houses are the main
source of funding of black money to politicians. "Nobody thinks about
the Dalits, what matters to us is roti, kapda and makan (food,
clothing and house) rather than a Lokpal bill" said Sharad who came
from Sonipat to take part in this protest.

Samarth Saran is a Correspondent with Tehelka.com.
samarth@tehelka.com

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits boycott meeting after being made to wait by tahsildar

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article2396122.ece

MANGALORE, August 25, 2011
Dalits boycott meeting after being made to wait by tahsildar
Staff Correspondent

Dalit activists walked out of the monthly meeting organised at the
taluk level here on Wednesday after being made to wait for nearly an
hour by the tahsildar.

The monthly review meeting for schemes meant for the development of
Scheduled Castes was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and was to be
chaired by the Assistant Commissioner of Mangalore. Members of the
Dalit organisations had started arriving at the taluk panchayat well
before the stipulated time.

Around 11.30 a.m., a few people demanded to know why they were being
made to wait. Taluk Social Welfare Officer Reddy Naik tried to pacify
them saying that the tahsildar Ravichandra Naik would arrive shortly.
After another 15 minutes, the murmurs grew stronger with several
people saying they felt humiliated.

Gurupura Pirka, a member of the Dalit Abhivridhi Samiti, said: "We
drop everything to attend these meetings. Why do we have to keep
waiting like this?"

Soon after, all the members of the Dalit groups walked out of the
panchayat office and raised slogans against officials who did not come
to the meeting.

Mr. Naik's efforts to pacify them went in vain. Even as they raised
slogans, the tahsildar arrived and walked into the building without
even glancing at the protesters. This made the gathering more furious.

Shankuntala, a member of the samiti, said: "He did not even spare us a
glance and went inside. We will not come inside now." Several others
demanded that the tahsildar should come outside and explain the delay.

Soon Mr. Ravichandra Naik came and apologised saying that he had been
deputed to go to Ulaibettu for a spot inspection on behalf of the
Deputy Commissioner. "I did not go to attend personal work, it was on
official duty that I went, which caused the delay," he said.

However, the protesters were not willing to be mollified. They pointed
out that neither the Assistant Commissioner of Mangalore nor the
Assistant Commissioners of Police were present and walked away.

Mr. Ravichandra Naik told presspersons that Assistant Commissioner
Prabhulinga Kavalikatti had asked him to chair the meeting. Asked what
the Ulaibettu spot inspection was and whether it could not have been
put off, he said he had been asked to go to the spot by the Deputy
Commissioner.

He said it would be recorded in the proceedings that the Dalits had
boycotted the meeting.

Among the people who had come to discuss their problems were a group
of migrants from Koppal district.

They had been living on land belonging to the railways at Yekkur and
had been victed from that place.

After that they shifted to Mudipu where the panchayat officials asked
them to leave the spot in 10 days, said a member of the Dalit group.
Now, they did not know where to go, he added.

------------------------------------

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[ZESTCaste] Census casts net wide as India wrestles with past

http://www.smh.com.au/world/census-casts-net-wide-as-india-wrestles-with-past-20110826-1jeea.html

Census casts net wide as India wrestles with past
Ben Doherty
August 27, 2011

For MP Kanaujia, there is no escaping caste. It defines him, and has
laid out his life's path. His caste is his profession, his name and,
more broadly, his station in life.

Dhobi is a washer of clothes in Hindi. Kanaujia - the name itself is
his subcaste - is of the dhobi caste, one who washes. And that is what
he does, day-in day-out from his ramshackle humpy at the end of a row
of modest government apartments in the northern Indian city of
Chandigarh.

''My caste is who I am, we don't speak often about it, because
everybody knows,'' he said.
Advertisement: Story continues below

But it's relevant for the men who've come to visit today. For the
first time in 80 years, India is undertaking the herculean task of a
caste census.

To most Hindus, caste - a complex hereditary social hierarchy that
involves four main orders [varnas] and thousands of sub-castes [jatis]
- is the foundation of religious and social identity.

But independent India has never before asked its citizens to which
caste they identify. The last time such a survey was undertaken was in
1931, when the British raj decided to count and label every subject.

Formally, the caste system has been abandoned under the Indian
constitution but governments recognise it exists still. Since
independence, efforts have been made to level the playing field for
the downtrodden castes, particularly the lowest strata, known then as
untouchables, now more commonly called dalits. Affirmative action
programs reserve university places, government jobs, even seats in
parliament for so-called backward castes.

So Kanaujia is happy to nominate his. ''I think it's a good idea. My
daughter has just finished her schooling and if this census helps with
the quotas for backwards castes, there might be more places for her to
complete more education,'' he said.

Kanaujia has lived in his single-room lean-to, made from scavenged
pieces of wood and a roof of tarpaulin held down by stones for 25
years, washing and ironing each day with his wife. ''I would like her
[my daughter] to get a good government job,'' he says, pointing to the
brick houses up the street. ''I want my daughter to have more
opportunity.''

For millennia ''old India'' has been stratified along caste lines. It
determined the clothes people wore, the food they ate [and with whom],
the jobs they could do, and who they could marry. Many, especially
rural Indians, still identify with their caste name: it ties them to a
place and to a community.

But ''new India'' rails against such fatalist labels. Critics say a
caste census will only entrench the social divisions the country is
trying desperately to dissolve.

''I am troubled at making caste the central point of all public
policies because this will damage the real fight in the society
between the haves and have-nots, the rich and poor, irrespective of
their religion and caste identities,'' the retired chief justice of
the Delhi High Court and prime ministerial adviser Rajindar Sachar
wrote.

Many of India's urban elite reject the idea of being tied to caste. To
the middle class and those aspiring to it, education, career and
address are the new social yardsticks.

It is in the cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore - where people are most
expected to exercise their right not to nominate a caste.

Caste may be controversial - a just-released Bollywood movie,
Aarakshan, or Reservation, which deals with the issue of quotas has
been banned in three states - but to pretend it no longer matters is
to ignore the realities of thousands of years of socialisation, and
deeply ingrained mores.

Matrimonial ads in Sunday newspapers are still listed by caste -
Aggarwal seeks Aggarwal - and to marry out of one's caste is still a
scandalous offence in many families.

The government, reluctantly forced into the survey by backward class
MPs, say that if benefits are to be handed out on the basis of caste,
the country needs to know how many of each there are. Up to 49.5 per
cent of government jobs and university places are quarantined for
members of India's scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other
backward classes. But the 2011 caste census will also be a measure of
India's burgeoning, but uneven, economic development.

About 455 million people live on less than $1.25 a day. Half the
world's hungry live in this country. The government wants a firm
figure on just how many of its citizens live below the poverty line.

Every household is asked for a range of economic data, from work and
income details, to how many rooms the house has, it has an
air-conditioner, a mobile phone, a car or a washing machine. It also
notes house building materials and access to electricity and to
running water.

The task of counting every single person in India - about 1218 million
in last year's population census - is a mammoth undertaking. More than
2 million ''enumerators'' will spend three months finding every family
in the country. The cost will top 35 billion rupees ($725 million).

But the debate over caste is a wrestle between old India and new. In
the rural villages caste still dominates. But a street in Chandigarh's
Sector 7C demonstrates how urbanisation has worn down ancient
convention. At four consecutive houses live families of differing
castes, from the highest, Brahmins, to dalits. Reshmi is a chamar, a
dalit caste. Her neighbours are Brahmins. Despite her family's status,
her husband has a government job.

''Some people might not want to say their caste, they think there is
no more caste in India, but everybody knows it, and the government
should help the lower castes with education and jobs, to make a better
life for themselves.

''Everybody knows our caste by what we eat and what we wear. I am
proud to say to my caste, I have nothing to hide.''

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[ZESTCaste] Lalu Prasad leads OBC charge against Lokpal

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lalu-Prasad-leads-OBC-charge-against-Lokpal/articleshow/9740584.cms

Lalu Prasad leads OBC charge against Lokpal
Subodh Ghildiyal, TNN | Aug 26, 2011, 04.55AM IST

NEW DELHI: Doubts that Anna Hazare's campaign had failed to enthuse
dalits, backwards and minorities amplified further when their
representatives at the all-party meeting slammed the Lokpal campaign
as exclusivist, with Lalu Prasad obliquely suggesting a BJP-RSS hand
behind it.

With Hazare using Ramlila Maidan mobilization to push Jan Lokpal bill
in Parliament, key dalit, backward and Muslim leaders warned that any
precedent of bowing to such tactics would make interest groups use
crowds to push dangerous demands.

Lalu said BJP patriarch L K Advani and leader of opposition in Lok
Sabha Sushma Swaraj should be asked to go and urge Hazare to break his
fast. The comment, coming at the end of his vehement opposition to the
Lokpal agitation, was seen as showing that Hazare was propped up by
the saffron family, a charge that Congress repeatedly made in the
run-up to the confrontation.

If BJP was sought to be projected as cosy to Hazare camp, the members
of backward classes said legitimizing such protests would set a
dangerous precedent.

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said, "These people are destroying the
Constitution, they are anti-reservation." His charge reflected the
apprehension among dalit intellectuals about the agitation, evident in
"save Constitution rally" on Wednesday and a flood of opinion pieces
in newspapers.

According to the anti-Hazare camp, social groups thronging Ramlila
Maidan are anti-quota and would pounce upon the opening that
Constitution's inviolable sections could be tinkered, to push for
rescinding of job reservations.

MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi raised fears of "mob rule" targeting
Muslims. He said, "They can gather people and seek a terrorist law to
target Muslims. If we set a precedent now, it will bring mob rule."