Latest News Update: Sep 12, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Fresh JEE for SC, ST candidates in Tripura

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5428742

12/09/2011
Fresh JEE for SC, ST candidates in Tripura

Agartala, Sep 11 (PTI) An all party meeting today resolved to conduct
a fresh Joint Entrance Examination for SC, ST candidates for admission
to the vacant seats of Agartala Govt Medical College (AGMC), official
sources said.

Two seats for SCs and 27 seats for STs remained vacant as the
candidates could not secure 40 per cent marks in the JEE, the minimum
requirement for admission to any medical college as per the MCI
guideline, they said.

Tripura Higher Education Minister Anil Sarkar said a fresh Joint
Entrance Examination (JEE) on PCB group will now be conducted by
September 24.

Sarkar said ST/SC students who had secured 40 per cent marks in this
year''s higher secondary exams would be allowed to appear in the test.

"The all-party meeting, which met today following request from the
council of ministers, was in favour of holding fresh JEE on PCB group
for ST/SC students," he said.

Earlier, the all-party meeting decided to review the results of this
year''s Joint Entrance Examinations. But the Council of Ministers had
discussed various options yesterday to get over the impasse and
referred the matter to the all-party committee.

Sarkar said the decision of all-party committee would be conveyed to
the Medical Council of India (MCI) very shortly.

The government was in favour of completing the admission process by
September 30, a day before the last scheduled time for admission to
MBBS course.

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[ZESTCaste] Anna, Wikileaks rewrite political equations in UP

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Anna-Wikileaks-rewrite-political-equations-in-UP/articleshow/9950818.cms

Anna, Wikileaks rewrite political equations in UP
TNN | Sep 12, 2011, 05.11AM IST

Anna Hazare's movement against corruption has virtually taken the
sting out of Congress attack against Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Mayawati on the issue of corruption. What has added to the chaos is
internal bickering on the issue of ticket distribution for the 2012
assembly elections.

The central leadership is hurrying with the Land Acquisition Bill to
compensate the loss due to the Anna effect. Congress would also like
to bring a Lokpal Bill, which may not be as strong as Anna"s Jan
Lokpal Bill, but acceptable to a majority in the parliament. However,
the task may not an easy one, as BJP and Left parties will not give up
easily on corruption and Lokpal issue.

In such a situation, it will be essential for Congress to enter into
an alliance or at least a seat sharing formula with small parties like
RLD for 2012 assembly polls. However, party leaders admit that
post-Anna movement, their bargaining power has reduced. In a bid to
minimise the loss caused due to Anna effect, the Congress is not only
playing communal card by projecting RSS hand in Anna's movement, but
may also announce reservation for Muslims in government educational
institutes and job.

Besides (mis)using CBI probe against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in
disproportionate assets case, another factor, which will decide its
future relations with SP is the WikiLeaks expose that Congress
president Sonia Gandhi was in favour of fielding a weak candidate
against Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law in 2009 Firozabad
parliamentary by-elections. But, Rahul put the foot down and fielded
Raj Babbar, who won the seat. The anxiety in Congress is not about
2012 alone. A loss in assembly election may have a cascading effect on
2014 general election. At stake is Gandhi scion's credibility.

Bahujan Samaj Party:

The WikiLeaks expose has given the Opposition a weapon to launch a
personal attack on Mayawati, who has been taking high moral ground
after sacking four ministers on charges of corruption in recent past.
Though the party has not changed its strategy for the 2012 polls,
leaders admit that WikiLeaks have injected 'some amount of mistrust'
in Team Maya, which may have an adverse impact on poll results.

Accusations against rivals is a common practice in politics. But,
WikiLeaks has been embarrassing for the Dalit leader because it shows
Maya's close aides calling her 'corrupt' and 'dictator'. The BSP will
go alone in the elections and if defeated will sit in Opposition, but
leaders do not rule out the possibility of a post-poll tie up with
other like-minded parties in case of a hung assembly. In such a
scenario, they also do not rule out possibilities of post-poll
'defections and merger' to form a government.

Samajwadi Party:

Party leaders claim that only Samajwadi Party is in a position to
defeat the ruling BSP at the hustings. But, they are also anxious
after the arrest of its former general secretary Amar Singh in
connection with cash-for-vote scandal during 2008 trust vote in the
Parliament over Indo-US nuclear deal. Singh can drag several SP and
Congress leaders into the scandal. However, only Congress is in a
position to strike a deal with Singh. In such a scenario, the SP may
have to enter into some understanding with the Congress. WikiLeaks
also show that Congress had tried to help Mulayam in disproportionate
assets case after he bailed out UPA 1 in July 2008 trust vote, but,
could not do so, due to Supreme Court's intervention. In such a
situation, one should not be surprised, if SP enters into some tacit
understanding before 2012 elections. As of now, the SP has announced
that it will go to polls alone, but has not ruled out the possibility
of a pre-poll seat sharing arrangement or post-poll 'anti-BJP and
anti-BSP' alliance in case of a hung assembly.

Bharatiya Janata Party:

The party hopes to get maximum benefit in the present political
atmosphere in the state. However, its biggest problem is that it has
too many 'big' leaders. Internal bickering has demoralised the cadre.
A section of party leaders are in favour of post-poll alliance with
BSP, but workers have strong reservations. They feel that past 'power
sharing' alliances with BSP have led to erosion of BJP's base. As a
result of which, BJP graph in UP has been on the decline in the last
one decade. The Anna movement has awakened the middle-class. A high
middle-class voter turnout would help the BJP particularly in urban
constituency. BJP's gain would be loss for SP and Congress. In such a
situation, a covert understanding with BSP will help both the parties,
a party leader said.

Rashtriya Lok Dal:

The RLD chief Ajit Singh has formed a coalition of small parties like
the Peace Party, which he believes will play a crucial role in
formation of the government in UP after 2012 assembly elections. The
combined power of the coalition has increased his bargaining power for
a pre-poll or post-poll alliance. The coalition of six small parties
he leads may not win desired number of seats, but can harm prospects
of others. The party so far has been limited to the Jat belt of west
UP. But, this time it is trying to expand in central and east UP
through campaigns and alliance with small parties having influence in
specific areas.

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[ZESTCaste] SC orders CBI probe in Banda rape case

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-orders-CBI-probe-in-Banda-rape-case/articleshow/9956540.cms

SC orders CBI probe in Banda rape case
PTI | Sep 12, 2011, 04.49PM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the CBI to probe the
alleged rape of a dalit girl by Banda BSP MLA Purushottam Naresh
Dwivedi in December last year.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha stayed the court
proceedings in the case in Banda and directed the Uttar Pradesh Police
to hand over the investigation to the agency.

The court passed the order on a PIL filed by advocates Raja Ram and
Irudaya Nathan seeking an independent probe into the incident,
alleging that impartial investigation was not possible in the case as
the ruling BSP legislator and his aides were involved.

The state government did not oppose the plea for CBI probe and agreed
to hand over the case to the central agency.

The petitioners alleged that the authorities had committed a grave
error by foisting false cases against the victim, who was a minor and
was entitled to protection under the provisions of the Juvenile
Justice Act.

Alleging that the police and judicial officers were trying to protect
the MLA, they alleged that the magistrate, in violation of the JJ Act,
had sent her to jail while she should have been sent to a juvenile
care centre.

The 17-year-old dalit girl was allegedly raped by Dwivedi in Banda on
December 10 and 11 last year. The girl had escaped from his residence
on December 12 when the MLA allegedly attempted to rape her again.

The girl, however, was arrested after alleged false charges of theft
were levelled by the legislator's brother against her.

48-year-old Dwivedi, who was later arrested from Banda and suspended
by Mayawati's party, denied all the charges.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits protest after Ambedkar''s statue found broken

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/dalits-protest-after-ambedkars-statue-found-broken/819860.html

Dalits protest after Ambedkar''s statue found broken
PTI | 06:09 PM,Sep 12,2011

Agra, Sep 12 (PTI) Angry over a broken statue of B R Ambedkar, Dalits
today blocked traffic at the national highway here and pelted stones
at police."There was tension among the Dalit community when the statue
of Ambedkar at Balkeshwar in New Agra area was found broken this
morning. A huge crowd gathered and blocked the Water works crossing at
national highway 2 here," a senior police official said.When police
reached the spot to maintain calm, the angry crowd pelted them with
stones, he said.A case has been registered against the agitators. PTI
Corr RCL

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[ZESTCaste] Oak Fellow Fights India's Caste System

http://www.colby.edu/news_events/c/n/091211/2577004/oak-fellow-fatima-burnad-fights-indias-caste-system-/

Oak Fellow Fights India's Caste System
September 12, 2011
by Stephen Collins '74
Oak Fellow Fights India's Caste System
Fatima Burnad, Oak Fellow, 2011

At age 11 Fatima Burnad was already making trouble for civil
authorities. Near Chennai, in southern India, where Burnad grew up,
one of her friends was severely mistreated -- burned and beaten -- by
the family that employed her as a maid. The 11-year-old girl
complained to the police but was taken right back to work at her
employers', who were not even reprimanded. Burnad was so outraged she
wrote up a petition of protest, collected signatures around the
neighborhood, and presented it to the police.

So began a lifetime of activism that led to more than one
incarceration -- and to Burnad being named the 2011 Oak Human Rights
Fellow at Colby. The fellowship offers a semester of respite for
research, teaching, and writing and is awarded to one front-line human
rights activist each year.

For the past 35 years Burnad, 59, has worked to end India's caste
system and discrimination against the Dalit (sometimes called
"Untouchable") and tribal people. Those groups, which make up 24
percent of India's population, are routinely excluded and
marginalized. Affirmative action has led to educational opportunities,
said Burnad. But, despite degrees and credentials, they are denied
interviews, not to mention actual employment in government and private
sectors, because their names reveal their caste.

"We have about 550 judges in the supreme court. Out of that, we have
only 13 to 15 Dalit judges," said Burnad, herself a Dalit who, like
her father, is a Christian convert. "The Dalit will get the
fourth-class job. First, second, third is occupied by the higher
castes, so Dalits are always at the bottom." The result: the Dalit
people remain poor and largely landless. "The discrimination
continues."

Burnad previously visited the United States (Atlanta), Japan, and
Australia, where she saw de facto segregation and discrimination
against African Americans, Burakumin, and Aborigine populations
respectively. She also studied United Nations human rights reports.
"The worst thing is in my country. The worst of all. We are not able
to change the situation, and it's getting worse."

And Dalits are increasingly afraid to challenge the status quo. "No
other communities are helping them to develop," Burnad said. "If a
Dalit girl is raped, only the Dalit are raising their voice. Only the
Dalit women -- the Dalit men do not take it as a problem."

Burnad said her father encouraged her to become an activist in the
1970s, when she was a teenager. "I was trained as a community
organizer on Alinksy's method -- Saul Alinsky from Chicago ghettos." A
colleague of Alinsky's came to her village to lead the training. "That
was my beginning."

Her father urged her to take up the cause of 30 poor shoemakers's
families in the village where he taught. They had been given 49 acres
in the 1950s, but other Dalits sold the land to a higher-caste man for
construction of a church. "It created a very big problem," Burnad
said. When she brought the church's bishop to the village to confront
him, local leaders disrupted the meeting and deported the trainer from
Chicago.

In 1979 Burnad founded the Society for Rural Education and
Development, which seeks economic opportunity and political influence
for the marginalized people of India, especially Dalit women. She is
now recognized as a national leader in India's social movements.

Burnad was jailed in the 1990s for protesting land grabs by the
government when it displaced Dalits from their ancestral community to
build a naval air station. "They were all the time talking about
national security," she said. "For us, people security is very
important."

Soon after arriving at Colby she was mobilizing allies to protest the
planned execution of Sri Lankans implicated in the assassination of
Rajiv Gandhi 17 year ago. They merely supplied batteries they didn't
know would be used to make a bomb, she said, but the moral issue was
her opposition to taking anyone's life. The condemned were granted an
eight-week postponement by a court in Chennai, she said, vowing to
continue the protest.

She also looked ahead to her semester on campus. "I want to read and
write and then, in seminars, to learn from the students what their
reactions are to what I'm doing," Burnad said. "I want to see how far
the protests, the demonstrations, the public meetings are exposing the
issues. Is this enough? Or do I have to do something much more? What
is going on? Why still our community remains the same? How are we
going to change the mindset of the people? It's not enough if we are
not questioning the whole fundamental aspect of the caste system."

Her goal -- to take her activism to a new level. "I want this college
help me to see a proper way of doing things."

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits stage protest in Madurai against police firing

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/article2445098.ece

MADURAI, September 12, 2011
Dalits stage protest in Madurai against police firing
Tamil Nadu Bureau

Chaos prevails at the Government Rajaji Hospital where slogans were raised

Hundreds of angry Dalits gathered at the Government Rajaji Hospital
here on Sunday and raised slogans against the State government and the
police for the firing on Dalits at Paramakudi in which five persons
were killed.

Chaos prevailed at the hospital as the protesters raised slogans after
six Dalit youths — Siva, 19, Paramasivam, 20, Senthil Murugan, 23,
Chaturagiri, 22, Yaesu, 22, and Yogesh, 27, — who were injured in the
Paramakudi firing and also at Chintamani in Madurai were brought to
the GRH for further treatment.

Paramasivam had suffered a bullet injury on his head and is in a
serious condition, according to hospital sources.

Two Dalits — Jayaprakash, 19, and Balakrishnan 19, — belonging to
Pattam in Sivaganga district, were seriously injured in the police
firing at Chintamani on the outskirts of Madurai.

Eyewitnesses said that they were travelling in an SUV sitting on top
of the vehicle and when police intervened to stop them, they shouted
against the police who shot at them.

Puthiya Tamilagam founder president and MLA K. Krishnasamy visited the
hospital and met the injured youth.

Condemning the police firing as unwarranted, Dr. Krishnasamy demanded
a thorough judicial enquiry and also said the firing could have been
easily avoided by police. He said that he would raise the issue in the
Assembly.

"I have been visiting Paramakudi for the last 22 years to pay respects
to Immanuel Sekaran, but this time I was not able to go there as
police prevented me at Parthibanallur and asked me not to visit the
village as the situation was tense," he said.

John Pandian's arrest was made following the violation of the ban
order imposed by the Ramnathapuram Collector. It was a preventive
arrest only, police sources said.
Tuticorin

In Tuticorin agitated over his arrest, some miscreants pelted stones
at a vehicle at Vilathikulam. Seven persons were taken into police
custody following the incident. Besides, some persons also intercepted
a State-owned bus in Ottapidaram. Later, the driver was threatened not
to ply further.

No untoward incident has been reported in Tirunelveli.
Theni

The police tightened security in Theni district in order to prevent
any untoward incidents in the wake of police firing on Immanual
Sekaran Memorial Day. The State and National Highways were brought
under scrutiny and all checkposts were alerted. The police beefed up
security at Kottur and Seelayampatti villages.

Dindigul

Security was tightened in Dindigul district also. Additional check
posts were set up near Ammaianayakkanur on Madurai-Dindigul Highway,
at Ghat Road near Batlagundu and on main road near Nilakottai .

A mishap

Meanwhile, grief gripped Sirunaickanur village near Ammaiyanaikkanur
in the district as five supporters of Immanual Sekaran of this village
were killed in a road accident near Samayanallur in Madurai district.

They were going to Paramakudi from their village to take part in the
memorial day function.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Focus on Ambedkar's views on economic inequalities’

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/article2444880.ece

Bangalore, September 12, 2011
'Focus on Ambedkar's views on economic inequalities'
Special Correspondent

RECALLING HIS ACHIEVEMENTS: H.S. Upendra Kamath (second from right),
Chairman and Managing Director of Vijaya Bank, and other delegates at
the 120th birth anniversary celebration of B.R. Ambedkar in Bangalore
on Sunday. Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Public sector banks should pay tribute to B.R. Ambedkar by working
harder towards the ideal of inclusive economic growth which he
envisaged as an eminent political economist, H.S. Upendra Kamath,
Chairman and Managing Director of Vijaya Bank, has said.

Speaking at Ambedkar's 120th birth anniversary celebrations, organised
by the All-India Vijaya Bank SC/ST Employees' Association here on
Sunday, he said his views on equitable economic growth were more
relevant today than ever before. While Ambedkar's contribution as a
political personality was being emphasised, his views also need to be
highlighted and followed, Mr. Kamath said. His thoughts on small
land-holdings in India and their sustainability, agrarian economy,
public finance, and social and economic inequalities need a special
focus, he added.

Recalling Ambedkar's works in the field of economics, Mr. Kamath said
that while his doctoral thesis was on 'The problem of Indian rupee',
he had worked on the subject of 'Ancient Indian commerce' during his
master's degree. He had also written on 'The evolution of provincial
finance in British India.'

Role of banks

Public sector banks like the Vijaya Bank, said Mr. Kamath, were
working towards strengthening the financial inclusion movement by
credit-linking all eligible families in rural areas. Out of the target
of providing credit link to 408 remote villages by March 2012, in the
first phase of the initiative, Vijaya Bank had reached out to 230
villages, he added.

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[ZESTCaste] Justice issues of Kandhamal, Dalit Christian demands raised at meeting of National Integration Council

http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=news_section.Press_Release.Press_Release_2011.Justice_issues_of_Dalit_Christian_demands_raised_at_NIC_meeting_20110910

Press Release 2011

Justice issues of Kandhamal, Dalit Christian demands raised at meeting
of National Integration Council
- All India Christian Council -

New Delhi, 10, 2011 , 20:20 hrs.

All India Christian Council
RZ 61, 4th Floor,
Palam Vihar, Sector 6,
Dwarka, New Delhi 110075, Telefax ? 011-25084561

[The following is an abridged version of the points raised by Dr John
Dayal, Secretary General, All India Christian Council, at the meeting
of the National Integration Council at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on
Saturday, 10th September 2011. The Prime Minister of India, Dr
Manmohan Singh, chaired the meeting moderated by Union Home Minister
Mr. P Chidambaram. Mr. L K Advani, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun
Jaitely, Defence minister A K Anthony, chief ministers of Orissa and
other States, leaders of the Congress and other parties, leading
industrialists were among the Members of the NIC present.]

Mr. Prime Minister, Honourable Union Ministers, Honourable Chief
Ministers, distinguished Members

I bring you greetings from the Christian community in India, proud to
be Indians, and proud of the fact that our country has rule of law
under a Constitution that guarantees us Freedom of Faith as a vital
component of our Secular, Socialist Democracy.

At the outset, may I express our community's strong condemnation of
the recent bomb blast outside the Delhi High court, and express our
solidarity with the victims and our fellow citizens. Terror has no
place in Indian society. There is no cause big enough to merit
mindless violence that targets innocent men, women and children. As
people of Peace, we pray for the dead as we also pray for the speedy
recovery of the injured. Above all, we pray eternal peace and
prosperity for India, our motherland.

We ourselves are victims of a different sort of socio-political
terror, the terror of communalism. Our data shows we are targetted
across the country with at least one incident a day of hate-motivated
violence at some town or village, in one state or the other. Some
states are worse than others. Among the worst are Karnataka and Madhya
Pradesh, and districts such as Udaipur in Rajasthan. In many states,
the local police and administration are complicit. Often their actions
and impunity blatantly encourage local violent elements.

In Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh for instance, local police and
administrative coercion and threatening of prayer services in homes,
or house churches as they are called, almost immediately leads to acts
of physical violence. Not every church has to be a large Cathedral.
Jesus said Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I will be
there?. That is the basis of house churches, small Christian
communities and Basic Christian Communities as they are called in the
Evangelical, Episcopal and Catholic denominations respectively.

Such targetting, intolerance and officially conducted so-called
surveys? and demands for registration? of churches must end forthwith.
It does not happen with believers of other faiths, and it must Not
happen with Christians.

Hate campaigns must also end. We have identified, as I am sure the
governmetns' intelligence agencies must also have identified, the
origin of such hate from the headquarters of certain political groups
who want India to be rid of its religious minorities, or wants them to
live as second rate citizens.

We are first class citizens, much as everyone else, and seek our
rights, the first of which is security so that we can enjoy that other
right ? freedom of faith and worship. Government must take urgent
steps to train its police and administrative personnel in the
principles of secularism, and sensitize them on the needs of all
minorities, and the Christian minority in particular.

The Targetted and Communal violence [prevention, reparation and
justice] Bill 2011 drafted by the National Advisory Council seeks to
ensure this. We still feel the Bill needs some fine-tuning on issues
of protecting India's federalism and the autonomy of States.. We also
specifically seek Christian representation in the structures it
envisages. We commend its early adoption by government and its
enactment as law after checking the Constitutionality of every clause
and sub clause.

It may come as a surprise to some, but our community also has its
share and more of the poor and the deprived. The Dalit Christians are
one such group. They must be restored their constitutional rights at
the earliest as recommended by the Justice Rangnath Misra Commission.
Other poor, specially among the tribals and the rural landless and
fishermen, must be identified and receive the assistance of the
Government's many schemes. For this it is important they first be
identified.

We have repeatedly demanded a Prime Minister's Committee, on the
pattern of the Justice Sachchar Committee set up for the Muslims, to
look into the socio economic and developmental status of the Christian
community across the country. Such a survey will help the Church
generate its own development strategies. And it will help the
government implement its secular agenda of development.

There must also not be any confrontation and conflict between the
educational rights guarantees for minorities in the Constitution, and
the new Right to Education Act. Across the country, our educational
sector is facing harassment in recent months with local authorities
trying to intimidate school managements.

In the drafting of the 12th plan, we have suggested several measures
for the uplift of those of my brothers and sisters who are deprived,
in education, hostel facilities, employment and self employment. I
commend those recommendations made to the Ministry of Minority Affairs
and the Planning Commission. They must form part of government policy
and must be implemented.

I close with reflecting on the many lapses that have taken place in
ensuring justice, rehabilitation and reparation to the Christians of
Kandhamal district in Orissa. Kandhamal saw an anti Christian pogrom
in August, September and October 2008 and it seemed that the
Connotation of India was not operative in that distant plateau in the
centre of Odisha. Over 56,000 people were rendered homeless, over
5,600 housed destroyed, almost 300 churches torched, nuns raped. There
was other and significant gender violence.

According to our count, and the government differs, more than 90
persons lost their lives. Men and women lost livelihood and homes,
jobs and fields. Children lost opportunities of education. Many
villages banned the entry of Christians if they did not convert to
Hinduism. Three years on, justice in the real terms remains a dream
despite two Fast Track Courts which are known for witnessing the
terrorizing of witnesses. Government aid for reconstruction was timid
and small.

The church helped out. But even then more than 2,000 houses remain
unbuilt. It is shocking but many people have not been able to return
home. Education, jobs, agriculture opportunities are missing. Even in
the cases of murder, there has been no punishment in over 20 cases
because the witnesses were scared or paid off. Sometimes their
terrorizing took place in court, as I have witnessed personally.

Justice must be done, Dear Prime Minister and Dear Chief minister of
Odisha. We look to you for justice.

I thank you for this opportunity to address the National Integration Council.

* * This information was provided by All India Christian Council who
can be contacted at aiccdelhi(at)gmail(Dot)com
This Post is uploaded on September 10, 2011.

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[ZESTCaste] Caste-based inequity hampers access to rural infrastructure

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2442353.ece

Caste-based inequity hampers access to rural infrastructure
Divya Trivedi

New Delhi, Sept. 10:

Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and minority habitations have limited
or no access to public infrastructure, according to National
Infrastructure Equity Audit conducted by Social Equity Watch — a
non-Governmental Organisation.

There is continued presence of deep-rooted caste-based inequity in the
distribution and availability of infrastructure , says the audit.

These findings will be presented to the Planning Commission before the
Twelfth Plan is finalised, Mr Tom Thomas, Chief Executive Officer,
Institute of Participatory Practices (Praxis), said while releasing
the report here on Friday.
States surveyed

Access to public infrastructure by different social groups was
surveyed in 124 Gram Panchayats (GP) of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Karnataka, Orissa and Rajasthan covering 1,000 caste and religious
habitations.

There are many SC/ST habitations that are still officially uncovered,
says the audit. Over 60 per cent of GPs surveyed had no health
centres, schools, panchayat bhawans and post offices located in SC/ST
and minority areas.

In many instances where infrastructure is present, the service
provider is from an upper caste.

The SC/ST and minority communities rated the access to services much
lower than their G/BC counterparts in the same habitation.

"The caste dynamics in the village then play out to ensure that lower
castes are denied access to them," said Mr Thomas.
Total estimated investment

During the 11th Plan, of the total estimated investment of Rs
13,82,846 crore for infrastructure, 13 per cent was to be spent on
rural areas .

"Given the overall lack of infrastructure facilities, the burden of
shortage is borne by these marginalised social groups," says the
survey.

"The task ahead is to monitor the location of new infrastructure in
such a way that the existing equity gap can be filled over the years.
This would be crucial for scarce resources, such as drinking water and
newer infrastructure such as internet kiosks," Mr Thomas said.

The public infrastructure surveyed include anganwadis, health centres,
drinking water, primary health centre, community centre, panchayat
bhavan, road, PDS, post office, secondary school and telephone and
information kiosks.

The first phase of the audit was conducted over three months this
year. Phase-II of the survey is expected to gauge the access to
infrastructure in urban spaces.

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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Dalit girl gang-raped

http://www.ekantipur.com/2011/09/07/national/dalit-girl-gang-raped/340421.html

Dalit girl gang-raped

BHOJPUR, SEP 07 -

Three local youths of Basikhora VDC in Bhojpur district allegedly
gang-raped a dalit girl on Friday night.

Mustang Rai, 18, Sitaram Rai, 20, and Bahadur Rai, 21, gang-raped the
16-year-old girl in the village. The perpetrators entered the victim's
house by breaking the door and assaulted her. The victim is reportedly
in critical condition.

As per the complaint lodged by the victim's family, police arrested
Mustang and Sitaram while Bahadur is at large.

Posted on: 2011-09-07 09:01

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