Latest News Update: Oct 7, 2011

Friday, October 7, 2011

[ZESTCaste] More reserved seats do not mean empowerment

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-05/madurai/30247268_1_dalits-villages-viduthalai-chiruthaikal-katchi

More reserved seats do not mean empowerment
Padmini Sivarajah, TNN Oct 5, 2011, 12.17PM IST

MADURAI: Dalits are coming out in large numbers to contest the civic
election in reserved constituencies. However, activists say the
numbers can mislead if we interpret them as a sign of the community
asserting its social and political rights.

There are 12,524 village panchayats in Tamil Nadu of which 3,242 has
are reserved in the SC/ST category. Of these, 3,136 seats are for the
schedule castes and 156 for the schedule tribes. The rotating system
under the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution (1992) and the
Tamil Nadu Panchayat Rules (1995) specifies that the post of president
should be allotted to dalits in the reserved constituencies. The
rotating system changes only after a dalit has held the post for 10
years.

However, this reservation by rotation is detested by non-dalits in
many caste-ridden villages in and around Madurai. In villages
including Pappapatti, Keeripatti and Nattamangalam, many dalit
candidates were forced to withdraw their nominations and those who
braved the threats, contested and won the election, had to resign
immediately on assuming office. It's only in the last five years that
dalit presidents have been able to hold office. They need to hold the
post for another five years for the roster to change the status of
these sensitive villages.

A Kathir, executive director of Evidence, an NGO, said reservation for
dalits in panchayat bodies have been enhanced to 25% from the earlier
19%, a welcome move. "But, there is a long way to go before they can
really be called empowered, because if you go into the current
nominations by dalits, you will see that they are being backed by the
more dominant non-dalits, who want to get rid of the stigma, by just
posting a puppet president who will act on their command," Kathir told
TOI.

Almost echoing Kathir's views, P Periyakaruppan, president of
Pappapatti, told TOI that he has got the nod of the village bigwig,
Chellakannu Thevar. "I was an ordinary coolie, who has now become
confident in the system and has decided to contest for the second
time. But at the same time, my own people are opposing me and are
contesting against me," he said. There are six other dalits who are
opposing Periyakaruppan. M Baluchamy, Periyakaruppan's counterpart in
Keeripatti, too has a similar problem in hand. Karuppu, a dalit from
one of the reserved constituencies, told this reporter that it was a
common sight to see the dalit panchayat president working in the
cattle shed or fields of the non-dalits after the election. "It is a
disheartening sight," said Karuppu.

Increasing reservation, according to a dalit who didn't want to be
identified, isn't serving the cause of dalits. "Making a dalit the
president in a non-dalit region only increases caste feelings. The
non-dalits make an obedient dalit the president and wrest the powers
from him for the non-dalit vice president," he said.

One clear change, according to R Pandiammal, district secretary of the
Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi, a Dalit political outfit, is that more
dalits are willing to contest the reserved constituencies. "Most of
them came forward on their own without any effort on our part compared
to last year. But I am still apprehensive as to whether they will go
on to discharge their duties without fear, as the AIADMK government is
not committed to our cause," she said. "They should last a full term
because they have been able to overcome the fear of fighting the caste
fanatics," she said. That's easier said than done.
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Stat for graph

* Among the 385 village panchayat unions, 91 have been reserved for
dalits with 87 for SCs and 4 for the schedule tribes

* There is a 22.5% reservation for them in the 31 district panchayats
in the state and 16% of the 529 town panchayats have been allotted to
them

* One out of 10 corporation mayor posts is also for them

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[ZESTCaste] SC questions scholarships on religious lines

http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/todays-newspaper/11407-sc-questions-scholarships-on-religious-lines.html

SC questions scholarships on religious lines

Thursday, 06 October 2011 00:30
Abraham Thomas | New Delhi

The UPA Government's ambitious schemes to provide scholarships to
underprivileged religious minority community students have hit a
constitutional bar. The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain
why such State-funded benefit should be restricted to only one section
of the people and not extended to every poor student irrespective of
religion.

The court has set a one-month deadline for the Centre to respond after
the schemes were challenged for being violative of the sacred
Constitutional principle — non-discrimination on grounds of religion.

Pune-based social worker Jyotika Wale, in her petition, has questioned
why the poor among the non-minorities should be discriminated against
by the Centre because such a classification would create a divide and
communal discord among the poor communities. The Bombay High Court had
dismissed her petition on June 6 this year.

But the apex Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma
issued notice on Wale's appeal filed through advocate Aniruddha Rajput
giving Centre four weeks to respond.

Admittedly, out of the 18 per cent minority population in the country,
the bulk is constituted by Muslims (13.4 per cent) and Christians (2
per cent) followed by Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis. The petition said
that the scholarship was aimed to benefit only some religious
communities which are prohibited under Article 15(1).

The scheme titled "Merit-cum-Means Scholarships for Minority Students"
launched in 2008 announced pre-Matric and post-Matric scholarships for
families earning Rs 1 lakh per annum and Rs 2.5 lakh per annum
respectively. Subject to availability of funds, the scholarship of Rs
950 per annum for day-scholar and Rs 1,450 per annum for hosteller was
available under the first scheme while for post-matric scheme, Rs
30,000 per annum (hosteller) and Rs 25,000 (day-scholar) was
earmarked.

The Centre defended the scheme based on two documents — Prime
Minister's 15-point programme and the Justice Rajinder Sachar
Committee report on "Social, economic and educational status of the
Muslim community of India". While the second document discussed the
socio-educational backwardness of Muslims and not minorities as a
whole, the PM's 15-point agenda announced in 2006 took a broad view on
enhancing education opportunities among minorities. With no evidence
of backwardness among other minority communities, the petitioner
argued that the benefits would be cornered by Muslims alone.

Before the HC, the Centre projected economics of poverty to justify
the scheme by citing the 11th Five Year Plan guaranteeing inclusive
growth of SC/ST/OBC and minorities.

The scheme, it suggested benefited both the poor and the minorities at
an annual budget of Rs 675 crore, a miniscule of the total spending of
Rs 33,954 crore on school education and Rs 15,402 on higher education
spent annually by the Centre. In addition, the schemes had a 30 per
cent reservation for girls.

The scheme's economic viability coupled with the fact that the
majority still has many scholarships to avail from, the HC approved
the scheme. But in doing so, the petitioner pointed out that the
scheme encouraged backwards to remain backward and for Dalits who
converted to Muslim, Christianity, Sikh or Buddhist faith, it became
an added incentive.

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[ZESTCaste] Bhatta-Parsaul case: Yet to get notice from SC/ST panel, says DGP

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-06/lucknow/30250362_1_bhatta-parsaul-st-panel-production-warrant

Bhatta-Parsaul case: Yet to get notice from SC/ST panel, says DGP
TNN Oct 6, 2011, 06.05AM IST

LUCKNOW: Director general of police Brij Lal on Wednesday evening
denied to have received any notice or warrant from the National
Commission for Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes (NC SC/ST) in
connection with May 7 violence at Bhatta-Parsaul in Gautam Budh Nagar.

Chairman of the commission PL Punia had claimed on Tuesday that a
warrant has been issued directing the Uttar Pradesh Police to produce
the then Gautam Budh Nagar police chief Jyoti Narain before the panel
for his statements.

Punia said that the warrant was issued after several notices sent to
the officer during the past four months went unheard and he did not
turn up before the commission. DGP Brij Lal said that the department
would decide upon the future course of action only after it received
the said production warrant from the commission.

The commission is probing into allegations that women were raped
allegedly by security personnel in Bhatta-Parsaul during the farmer
agitation in May. Farmers protesting against land acquisition
allegedly turned violent and shot two policemen while the then
district magistrate suffered a bullet injury. In the police crackdown
that followed, security personnel allegedly raped some village women.

The commission took up the issue of rape only after the Congress
national general secretary Rahul Gandhi visited Bhatta-Parsaul and
told the media that he had received complaints of women being
allegedly raped by policemen.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) and National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) too have probed the incident.

The NCW had initially claimed that they had come across no complaint
of rape but later supported Rahul Gandhi's claims.

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[ZESTCaste] Implementation of SC, ST Sub Plans'

http://pd.cpim.org/2011/1009_pd/10092011_14.html

Vol. XXXV

No. 41

October 09, 2011

ANDHRA PRADESH

'Enact Legislation for Proper

Implementation of SC, ST Sub Plans'

A STATE level convention of eleven Left parties organised in Hyderabad
on October 1 demanded that the central and the state governments must
establish proper machinery for the implementation of the SC and ST Sub
Plans. It demanded enactment of a separate legislation to ensure
proper implementation of the Sub Plans and creation of a machinery
that would oversee allocation and spending for these Sub Plans.

The convention on 'Implementation of SC, ST Sub Plans', organised at
Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, was presided over by G Vijay Kumar, leader
of CPI(ML). Among those who addressed it included CPI(M) state
secretary B V Raghavulu, CPI state secretary K Narayana, leaders of
RSP, Forward Bloc, CPI(ML) New Democracy, CPI(ML) Liberation, ML
Committee and MCPI(U).

The speakers demanded that SCs should be allocated 18 per cent and STs
8 per cent of Plan budgets of central and state governments, in
proportion to their population. They decried the meagre allocations so
far and diversion of even such meagre amounts to other purposes. They
demanded that the legislation must have scope for stringent action
against officials, departments and governments in such cases of cuts
and diversion of funds intended for the development of dalits and
tribals.

The convention unanimously adopted a resolution moved by B V Raghavulu
demanding enactment of a separate Act for proper implementation of SC,
ST Sub Plans. The resolution also demanded that the 'spending of the
Sub Plan funds must be through nodal agencies for SCs and STs;
appointment of the social welfare department and the tribal welfare
department as the nodal agencies; in case funds were not spent, the
same should be carried forward to the next budget and thus additional
funds be granted; Sub Plans should be implemented on the basis of the
local populations, as per the funds and the incomes of the
corporation, municipalities, district and mandal parishads,village
panchayats and the local bodies etc; nodal teams must be formed at the
district and the mandal levels and allocations for them should
continue in the general budget; there should be special funds for
development of the dwelling places of SCs and STs; land distribution
must be taken up by governments for these sections on priority basis;
and officials and departments must be made accountable for lapses in
implementation of Sub Plans.

UNITED STRUGGLE

REQUIRED

Addressing the convention B V Raghavulu underlined the need for a
broad based, united struggle to ensure proper implementation of the SC
and ST Sub Plans. He said only when the lot of these 26 per cent most
backward and downtrodden sections of our society is improved, we can
feel that our country has developed. Their development is crucial for
country's advancement. He lamented the utter dismal conditions
prevailing in the living places of these sections and demanded
provision of houses, residential plots, potable drinking water,
toilets, roads, drainage system etc. But our rulers are developing the
areas where the rich reside and are showcasing it as 'development', he
ridiculed.

Along with social discrimination through various cruel forms, the
dalits are also facing governmental discrimination in development,
charged the CPI(M) leader. He cited how despite Planning Commission
guidelines, the required funds under Sub Plans are not allotted and
even those meagre allocations are being diverted. He said the
neo-liberal economic policies being pursued by successive governments
are hurting the poor and discriminating the lower castes. As the
private sector is expanding under the neo-liberal regime, the lack of
reservations in the private sector is causing immense problems to the
poor SCs and the STs.

CPI state secretary K Narayana stressed the need to fight a bitter
battle with the government in order to ensure the implementation of
the SC and ST Sub Plans. He said if necessary, the Left parties must
give a 'chalo assembly' call on this issue during the next assembly
session. He pointed to the deadly diseases ravaging the agency areas
of tribals because of lack of the potable water facilities. He
demanded a white paper by the government pertaining to funds
allocations, expenditures and development achieved in the ITDA tribal
areas over the last five years.

K Ranganna, leader of the CPI(ML) said that comprehensive
implementation of the SC and ST Sub Plans is possible only by waging
struggles. At the same time, land should be distributed to the SCs and
the STs. M Venkata Reddy, state secretary of the MCPI(U), ridiculed
the Planning Commission for categorising people who spend Rs 32 per
day as not poor. He said this was done to gain the appreciation of the
World Bank. Dalits and tribals would rise above the social shackles
only when they are economically stronger, said Bhootam Veeranna of
CPI(ML) along with Kollipara Venkateswara Rao of the ML Committee.
Muralidhar Deshpande of the Forward Block and Janaki Ramulu of the RSP
also spoke at the convention.

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[ZESTCaste] Upper caste members attack Dalits in Periyapatna

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/upper-caste-members-attack-dalits-in-periyapatna/190765-60-115.html

Karnataka | Posted on Oct 07, 2011 at 09:58am IST
Upper caste members attack Dalits in Periyapatna
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express

MYSORE: Dalits were attacked by upper caste people at Mutthur village
in Periyapatna taluk on Wednesday night. It is said that on Wednesday,
a group of Dalit youths and Shivanna, an upper caste person entered
into a heatred exchange. Following by this, the upper caste people
attacked Dalits.

Accepting the complaint filed by one M J Deepak, Periyapatna police
have arrested 7 persons on charges of comitting atrocity on dalits. As
a precautionary measure, police have deployed District Armed Reserve
police in the village.

It is said that dalits and upper caste members recently quarrelled
over immersion of Ganesha idols in a water body. The Dalit youths had
reportedly opposed the selling of rice belonging to an agricultural
credit co-operative society in black. This had resulted in attacks on
Dalits; even a meeting conducted by the village heads had failed to
settle the issue. The upper caste people attacked one Sannaiah and his
family members. They threw out his household items. The hundi in the
Chamundeshwari Temple, located in a street were Dalits were residing,
was stolen. ZP Social Justice Committee Chairman M P Chandresh called
on the injured who are in hospital.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit outfit snaps ties with AIADMK

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalit-outfit-snaps-ties-with-aiadmk/857024/

Dalit outfit snaps ties with AIADMK
Agencies Posted online: Fri Oct 07 2011, 15:00 hrs
Chennai : Dalit outfit Puthiya Tamizhagam on Friday announced snapping
its ties with the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu saying there was no
'visible change' in the party leadership's 'attitude' towards Dalit
community.

Citing the recent Paramakudi police firing in which seven persons were
killed during a protest by Dalits, party founder Dr K Krishnasamy
alleged Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa not even expressed sympathies
with the victims and instead "tried to shield the police officers",
responsible for opening fire on the protestors.

"While many atrocities were unleashed against the Dalits during the
1991-96 AIADMK rule including incidents of police firing, we were
hopeful of a change in the party high command's attitude towards
Dalits. But we were proved wrong following the Parmakudi firing
incident," he said.

The party, which forged an alliance with AIADMK for the April 13
Assembly polls, has two MLAs including Krishnasamy.

While many including his party had demanded suspension of "erring"
police officials responsible for the firing incident that occurred on
Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran's death anniversary on September 11, no
action was taken, he said adding "we don't have faith", in the juicial
probe ordered by the state government into the incident.

He said his party would not support the AIADMK in the October 13
Tiruchirappalli (West) assembly by-election.

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[ZESTCaste] SC/ST leaders meet Gehlot over missing Bhanwari Devi

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/SC/ST-leaders-meet-CM-over-Bhanwari/articleshow/10261699.cms

SC/ST leaders meet Gehlot over missing Bhanwari Devi
Ajay Parmar, TNN | Oct 7, 2011, 03.52AM IST
JODHPUR: The All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations have
threatened to intensify their agitation if the PHED minister Mahipal
Maderna along with police officers, "who failed to solve the
kidnapping of Bhanwari Devi case despite having all the clues and
details," are not sacked.

They met the chief minister Ashok Gehlot here on Thursday and
submitted a memorandum. Various groups of SC/ST communities have been
staging sit-ins and taking out rallies for the past one month
demanding the sacking of Maderna and tracing Bhanwari Devi.

Divisional president of the confederation Chaturaram Deshbandhu
alleged the police and government have been working hand-in-glove and
the police action so far is nothing less than an eye-wash.

He claimed an instruction has been issued to all the police officers
not to speak on the issue and just pass the time until the CBI takes
over the case. The confederation, referring to the statements of the
Congress and BJP leaders during the birthday bash of Parasram Maderna
in Jaipur, said it is unfortunate that nobody is concerned about
Bhanwari Devi and everybody is busy extracting political mileage out
of this incident.

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[ZESTCaste] 12 injured in community clash during Navratri celebration in Ahmedabad

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_12-injured-in-community-clash-during-navratri-celebration-in-ahmedabad_1595261

12 injured in community clash during Navratri celebration in Ahmedabad
Published: Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011, 17:13 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

Navratri is not just fun, dance and general merrymaking - it also has
its share of turbulences at times. Around 12 people sustained injuries
in a clash that took place between people of two communities - darbars
and dalits - during Navratri on Tuesday.

Cops said that the incident was a retaliation by some members of
darbar community who were booked by dalits on October 1 in an atrocity
case with Sanand police. According to cops members of darbar community
went to attend the festival organised by dalits in their area on
Saturday. "While garba was going on, some girls complained of
molestation and subsequently the darbars were asked to leave the
venue. This irked them and a fight ensued," said a cop at Sanand
police station.

One Mukesh Gunvant lodged an FIR against five people of darbar
community. This act made the villagers very tense fearing further
clashes. On Tuesday, another round of violence erupted in the village.

"A dalit was riding a bike near a temple where women from darbar
community were worshipping. Some men from the darbar community asked
him to change the route which angered the biker. A heated exchange
followed and he was beaten up," said Sanand police station officials.

Meanwhile, the dalit man brought five to six people from his community
and another round of fight broke out between the two communities.
According to Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat, district superintendent of police,
Ahmedabad district, by the time police were informed, the incident was
brought under control.

Bhagat said that 12 policemen have been deployed in the village to
stop further escalation of violence. He also said that Tuesday's
incident was a repercussion of what had happened on October 1 during
the garba in dalit area. He said that a case of rioting has been
lodged with Sanand police.

With this, the total number of communal violence incidents in
Ahmedabad district has risen to 36 in 2011. In the first six months of
2011, rural areas registered a total of 35 instances of rioting
compared to previous year's 31 cases. A total of 55 such incidents
were reported in 2010.

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[ZESTCaste] Caste Hindus call the shots in Keeripatti

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-05/madurai/30247259_1_caste-hindus-panchayat-president-candidate

Caste Hindus call the shots in Keeripatti
K Ramanujam, TNN Oct 5, 2011, 12.24PM IST

MADURAI: Caste Hindus in Keeripatti, who have unanimously selected a
dalit candidate of their choice, are allegedly denying permission for
others from the community to campaign for the forthcoming on local
body elections. The caste Hindus in the village, have selected A
Mookakalai as their choice for the panchayat president's post in
Keeripatti, which is a reserved constituency. and denied to permission
for other candidates for campaigning.

Sitting panchayat president P Balusamy, who is contesting again in
this election, told TOI that the caste Hindus of the village conducted
a meeting on September 26 and selected their A Mokkakalai, who is
sweeper in the village and unanimously decided to vote for him.

Another one candidate, A Subban said that he got a ladder symbol for
panchayat president post, hence he and was planning going to campaign,
but the when caste Hindus denied him permission for the same.
campaign.

Another one candidate P Chinnasamy, who has also filed his nomination
told TOI that they have were aware about it and already submitted a
the complaint to the district collector U Sagayam, but district

the administration has not take any action, till now.

He alleged that the caste Hindus' community leaders Kasimayan, C
Perarasu, P Rajakili, A Manimuthu and others threatened the five dalit
candidates, who have filed their nominations. "If we are going to
campaign, then they threatened us that we will be attacked," he
claimed. Another one candidate P Palani, another candidate told TOI
that some members of the caste Hindus had extended their support to
them, but their leaders warned them that if they would support us,
them, then they will be ostracised from the community.

Dalit activist-cum-writer, Tamil Muthalvan told TOI that they have
planned to file a PIL in the Madurai bench of Madras high court. on
Monday.

"This kind of attitude is dead against the democracy. Hence,
government should take action against the culprits," he said.
Keeripatti, is a village in Usilampatti taluk of Madurai district, is
situated 34km away from the city. Keeripatti is 3.5 km distance from
its Taluk Main Town Usilampatti . Keeripatti is 34 km distance from
its district Main City Madurai East.

The total voters is 1150, including 900 caste Hindus and 250 dalits.
Keeripatti is one of the four reserved panchayats, where elections
could not be held for a long time due to non-cooperation by the caste
Hindus to the rotational reservation policy. After the decades of
struggle, the state government had conducted the local body elections
in 2006.

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[ZESTCaste] NHRC serves notices to Gujarat cops on Dalit atrocity

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nhrc-serves-notices-to-gujarat-cops-on-dalit-atrocity_1595269

NHRC serves notices to Gujarat cops on Dalit atrocity
Published: Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011, 17:38 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

Labhu Rajapara, 42, a Dalit in Golasan village in Surendranagar
district of Gujarat, had no idea that his son's love affair with an
upper caste girl could wreak havoc on his entire family. Six people
allegedly burnt his house in December 2010 and the family still has no
place to live in.

On April 13 this year, Rajesh Parmar, 18, a Dalit boy originally from
Bhavnagar, was reportedly abducted and found dead the next day on the
railway tracks at Lathidad railway station. Barwala police (Ahmedabad
district) sub-inspector is said to have spoken to the abductor, but
nothing was done to save Rajesh. A case of accidental death was lodged
later.

These are just two examples of atrocity and violation of human rights
against Dalits from a list of 28 serious offences in which the police
reportedly did not act. Considering the gravity of these cases, the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked senior police
officers and state government officials to clarify their stand on the
issue in four weeks.

The cases had been submitted to the NHRC by Navsarjan, a city-based
NGO working for the betterment of Dalits. The commission chose 28
cases of serious crimes committed against Dalits. These cases include
offences like murder, rape and kidnapping.

"We had sent these complaints to the commission in view of the gross
human rights violation against Dalits. People from the community have
to suffer a lot because of the atrocities; besides, criminal offences
are also committed against them.

In the case of Labhu Rajapara, his son's love destroyed his whole
family. The police were reluctant to lodge a complaint despite the
fact that the whole house was burnt down," said Kantilal Parmar, state
coordinator, Navsarjan.

These notices have been issued to the director-general of police
(DGP), superintendents of police of Kutch, Surendranagar and Mehsana,
and the state chief secretary.

When contacted, in-charge DGP Chittaranjan Singh said he was not aware
of the development and passed the buck to additional director-general
of police (ADGP) Deepak Swaroop. But Swaroop said he did not hold the
charge anymore.

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[ZESTCaste] Fwd: ITUC critical on labour rights India | Report ICJ: Human Rights Abuses Involving Corporates | New articles dalits.nl | Support

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gerard Oonk <g.oonk@indianet.nl>
Date: Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 9:21 PM
Subject: ITUC critical on labour rights India | Report ICJ: Human
Rights Abuses Involving Corporates | New articles dalits.nl | Support
To: ICN.India.News@server.liw.local

Dear reader,
In this edition of IndiaNews you will find articles and reports on
labour rights in India, Dalits & caste-based discrimination and access
to justice in India for victims of corporate abuses.
As member of the Stop Child Labour campaign we are also informing you
about the '10 campaign' about the, despite clear promises, corporate
failure of the last decade to eradicate child labour in the African
cocoa industry. Do you have information about growing cocoa production
in India (see end of this newletter)?
International Trade Unions very critical on core labour rights in India
The ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) recently released a
report on core labour standards in India. India has ratified only four
core ILO labour Conventions and the compliance with these labour
standards is poor. The report finds that the rights to organise,
collective bargaining and strike are restricted both in law and in
practice and that thousands of detentions and arrests are reported
every year. The report reveals also that the situation is graver in
Export Processing Zones, where organising is even more difficult.
The law does not sufficiently protect children from forms of labour
that are illegal under Conventions No. 138 and No. 182. The report
finds that these laws are not well-enforced and child labour,
including its worst forms, is prevalent throughout India. Furthermore,
forced labour and trafficking in human beings are prevalent in
agriculture, mining and commercial sexual exploitation.
Several important references to Dalits and caste discrimination are
included in the report:
See the report here:
http://www.ituc-csi.org/internationally-recognised-core,9698.html
See the references to caste discrimination here:
http://idsn.org/news-resources/idsn-news/read/article/ituc-report-highlights-caste-discrimination/128/
New Report ICJ - Access to Justice: Human Rights Abuses Involving
Corporations in India
This well-researched report by the International Commission of Justice
aims to critically examine legal remedies, both judicial and
non-judicial, available under Indian law to victims of human rights
abuses by companies. There are three main objectives of this
examination: (i) to assess the efficacy of the existing regulatory
framework; (ii) to identify major obstacles that victims experience in
holding companies accountable for breaching their human rights
obligations; and (iii) to outline recommendations that should help in
overcoming these obstacles. The report refers also to the following
companies: Enron, Coca Cola, ICICI Bank, PepsiCo, POSCO, Tata, Union
Carbide and Vedanta Resources.
See the report here:
http://www.icj.org/dwn/database/AccesstoJustice-India-ElecDist-July2011.pdf
See an article in The Hindu Business Line here:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2476734.ece?homepage=true
New articles on website Dalit Network Netherlands (and IDSN)
The website www.dalits.nl contains many new articles on caste-based
discrimination in e.g. Pakistan, India and the United Kingdom. Many of
them and more can also be found on www.idsn.org. Have e.g. a look at:
* Caste-based slavery in the mining sector highlighted in UN debate
* Pakistan's Dalits denied flood relief because of caste discrimination
* Microcredit Pitfalls: The Experience Of Dalit Women In India
* UN Committee: Caste discrimination in the UK should be outlawed
See: http://www.dalits.nl/english.html
Support the 10 campaign against child labour in the cocoa industry
Ten years ago the global chocolate industry signed the Harkin-Engel
Protocol, a six-point roadmap that was to enable the elimination of
the worst forms of child Labour in the cocoa sector of Ivory Coast and
Ghana. However, according to Tulane University, none of the Protocol's
six articles calling for action were fully implemented, and the
required industry-wide reform in the cocoa sector has not taken place.
Tulane also documented the systemic nature of the problem: an
estimated 1.8 million children are working in the cocoa sector of
Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Civil society organisations and trade unions working throughout the
world on ethical cocoa, including the Stop Child Labour campaign, have
joined to speak with one voice on the occasion of the 10th anniversary
of the Protocol. Together they call on national and international
legislative bodies to implement legislation to ensure that companies
get the task done. Core asks are to implement legislation that ensure
that companies have their supply chains audited by an independent 3rd
party, to oblige companies to publically disclose what their efforts
are to eradicate the abuses, and the implementation of an independent
oversight body that reports on progress.
You can read more about and support the campaign here:
http://www.10campaign.com/
By the way: cocoa production in India is growing and Kraft/Cadbury are
expanding their production. We would greatly appreciate more
information about this development from any person or organization
with expertise on the matter.
Kind regards,

Gerard Oonk
director India Committee of the Netherlands
Mariaplaats 4e, 3511 LH Utrecht
tel. 030-2321340

http://www.indianet.nl

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