Latest News Update: Nov 18, 2011

Friday, November 18, 2011

[ZESTCaste] ‘Proud to be part of dalit literature’

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/others/%E2%80%98proud-be-part-dalit-literature%E2%80%99-245

'Proud to be part of dalit literature'

November 18, 2011
DC
Thiruvananthapuram

Dalit poets do not mind their work being branded as dalit poetry.

"Dalit literature is now the most noted branch in Indian literature
and we are only proud to be part of it," said poet S. Joseph.

"Vailoppilly Sreedhara Menon had once said he had first known
Kumaranasan only as an ezhva poet," he added.

Compartmentalisiton, Mr Joseph said, is a way of life. He was speaking
on the topic, 'We Sing of Earth: Dalit Poetry in Malayalam', at the
Hay Festival here on Thursday.

Dalit poet Vijila Chirappad said tht she was not published in any of
the mainstream Malayalam periodicals. "I don't mind that. If my poetry
is truthful, it will survive," she said.

However, it was a mainstream periodical that thrust another dalit
poet, Mr M.B. Manoj, to the limelight. "I was taken note of after one
of my poems was published in a dalit special issue brought out by
'Bhashaposhini'," Mr Manoj said.

Mr Sunny Kappikad said it was the realisation that even revolutionary
parties were cold-shouldering dalit issues that provoked him to take
up poetry. "I am just trying to give vent to our emotional turmoils,"
he said.

Mr Renu Kumar, a dalit poet and painter, was led into poetry through
the most mundane of activities – the writing of love letters.

"In school my friends used to ask me to spice up their love letters.
The letters that I had corrected seemed to deliver results. They
seemed to have sowed the first seeds of desire in me to write poems,"
he added.

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[ZESTCaste] Two decades and eight death sentences later, a village remains defiant

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/two-decades-and-eight-death-sentences-later-a-village-remains-defiant/877490/

Two decades and eight death sentences later, a village remains defiant

Dipankar Ghose Posted online: Fri Nov 18 2011, 02:13 hrs
Mehrana, Mathura : In 1991, village elders of the dominant Jat
community of Mehrana in Mathura sent out a clear message to its
inhabitants — no inter-caste relationship, especially with any Dalit.
So when Roshni, a Jat woman, eloped with Vijendra, a Jatav youth, they
were publicly flogged on their return, strung from a tree, and their
bodies burnt. A friend who helped them elope met a similar end.

Twenty years after the incident, a Mathura court sentenced eight
persons to death and 27 others to life imprisonment on Wednesday.

But nothing seems to have changed on the ground in Mehrana. The Dalits
still live in fear, marriages in the last two decades have all been
arranged, and the families of the perpetrators of the crime remain
defiant, unrepentant.

Rama Devi, Vijendra's sister-in-law who now lives in the house where
he grew up, said she is known in the village as the relative of that
"ashleel launda (characterless boy)".

"I was married into this family ten years after the incident. But I
still carry that image. Only my sons and I live here, everyone else in
the family has left. After we got news of the verdict yesterday, I
told my children to stay put in the Jatav part of the village. I am
afraid something will happen to them. There is still so much anger,"
she said.

Phuli Devi, also a Jatav, cannot shut out memories of the murder even
two decades later. As a 30-year-old in 1991, she hid in a broken hut
near the tree from which the couple and their friend were hanged.

"Roshni and Vijendra ran away from the village. They returned three
days later to attend the last rites of a woman. The day they came
back, a panchayat was called in the evening. They were beaten
mercilessly and hanged from a tree next to the Shiv Mandir. Later,
their bodies were brought down and burnt," Phuli Devi recalled.

"After they were beaten, the three started pleading and asked for
water. I remember some of the Jats urinated on their faces. Even on
Ram Kishan who was only a friend," she said.

In the eyes of the village elders, Ram Kishan, who had helped the
couple elope, was as guilty as Roshni and Vijendra.

On the Jat side of the village — the prosperous section where there
are concrete houses, unlike the ramshackle huts of the Jatavs — people
remain defiant.

While 35 men of the community are now in a Mathura jail, including
Roshni's father Ganga Ram, the others still believe that the killings
were done to "uphold honour".

Sevak Singh, brother of Tej Singh who has been sentenced to death,
said: "It does not matter if Roshni was a woman of our family. She
defiled herself by being in a relationship with him. She showed us
disrespect. Even when the panchayat called them, she had the cheek to
to say that she wanted to live with Vijendra. I was too young, only
13, otherwise I too would have beaten them to protect the pride of my
family. But I am proud of my brother."

Public Prosecutor Shiv Shankar said the family of the two Dalit men —
Vijendra and Ram Kishan — used to attend case hearings during the
first few years of the trial but had not made an appearance for more
than six years.

"In that time, we made repeated attempts to contact the family,
including Ram Kishan's uncle Ami Chand who had filed the FIR. But they
have not responded. Once we met Vijendra's brother who asked us to
leave him alone since his life was in danger. But the case continued
on the basis of the accounts of witnesses taken earlier. In the larger
scheme of things, justice has been done," Shiv Shankar said.

But far from providing a sense of relief and closure, Dalits in the
village said the verdict had opened old wounds. Many intend to move
out of the village for a while.

"When it happened, more than a hundred Jatavs like me moved away. I
will wait and watch for a few days. I might go if something happens.
For 20 years, there has been peace. When they tell us anything, we
listen, go about our business and keep to ourselves. I had told my
children not to associate with the bhaiyalog and there was calm. But
now we live in fear again," Phuli Devi said.

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[ZESTCaste] Delhi univs voice support for banned Ramayan

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-universities-support-banned-ramayan/1/160403.html

Rohan Venkataramakrishnan and Suhas Munshi New Delhi, November 17,
2011 | UPDATED 16:24 IST
Delhi univs voice support for banned Ramayan

Students and teachers from two universities in Delhi assembled on
Wednesday to express their support in favour of retaining A. K.
Ramanujan's essay, 300 Ramayanas. They also had a discussion on the
various translations of the Ramayana.

While those gathered at Delhi University held a candlelight march, the
scholars gathered at Ambedkar University were audience to a short
documentary called Anek Ramayana.

The gathering at the DU campus saw about 50 people marching from the
department of history to the faculty of arts, shouting slogans against
the administration and the growing influence of communalism on
academia.

"Basically, we're trying to mobilise opinion both within the
university and outside. We are trying to use democratic ways to
express our demand," said Pankaj Jha, a professor of history at Lady
Shri Ram college. "The only thing that will really satisfy us in the
end is for the essay to be reinstated in the syllabus."

The march was preceded by a panel of professors discussing the impact
of the decision to drop the essay, written by renowned scholar A. K.
Ramanujan. History professor and daughter of the Prime Minister, Dr
Upinder Singh chaired the meet.

"In the face of all this intimidation... it seems like the space for
academics to express themselves is under threat, and we need to do
something about that," Singh told the crowd, "This is a question of
safeguarding the university as a place It is a struggle to ensure that
this kind of thing is not taken casually."

Ambedkar University was host to a short documentary film directed by
Sikha Sen, which explored the various translations and historical
depictions of the Ramayan. The documentary was followed by a panel
discussion aimed at debating how autonomous may an educational body be
in teaching its syllabus, and how immune may it be to political
pressure. "The issue before us is to decide whether to succumb to
political pressure. In my opinion we have to fight this political
pressure that pressurises syllabus decisions not on merit but
political basis," faculty member Salil Mishra said.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-universities-support-banned-ramayan/1/160403.html

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[ZESTCaste] Splitting UP not a bad idea

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2636351.ece

Splitting UP not a bad idea
AVINASH K. MISHRA

Mayawati rightly invoked Ambedkar, who had mooted small States for
administrative, not parochial, reasons.

In her latest move proposing the splitting of Uttar Pradesh (UP) into
four states — what is being seen by some as a political masterstroke
ahead of elections to the State assembly early next year — the Chief
Minister (CM), Ms Mayawati, invoked Dr B. R. Ambedkar. The Dalit icon
and architect of India's Constitution, she claimed, was in favour of
smaller States.

It is worthwhile, therefore, to actually look at what Dr. Ambedkar's
views exactly were on the subject, and to what extent they match Ms
Mayawati's proposals. It turns out that her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
Government's resolution to reorganise the State into four smaller
parts — namely, Poorvanchal with 28 districts of eastern UP, Paschim
Pradesh with 17 districts of western UP, Bundelkhand with seven
districts adjoining Madhya Pradesh, and Avadh with the remaining 23
districts in central UP — were pretty much in line with Dr Ambedkar's
views of a reorganised India, detailed in his book, Thoughts on
Linguistic States.

Of course, it can be argued that even if this is true, Ms Mayawati's
action is a mere political gimmick, aimed mainly at the forthcoming
Assembly elections. But that again ignores the fact that she had
raised this issue even earlier in 2007, just after becoming Chief
Minister, and has been consistently doing so during the years. At a
rally in Lucknow in October 2007, Ms Mayawati called for a three-way
split of UP into Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh and Poorvanchal Pradesh,
which, she said, would help in improving the quality of life by making
governance feasible in the backward areas of the State. She promised
that her Government would pass a resolution in the Assembly, while
seeking the Centre's approval in this regard (as required under
Article 3 of the Constitution). In the same year, she wrote to the
Prime Minister urging him to allow the proposed reorganisation, which
she reiterated in March 2008, and again in December 2009, when the
issue of Telangana became hot and shook up the national political
establishment.
AMBEDKAR'S VISION

Coming back to Dr. Ambedkar, after Independence, the circumstances in
the country favoured only a few territorial and functional
arrangements of decentralisation. The decentralisation arrangements
adopted soon proved inadequate. It was at that critical juncture that
Dr. Ambedkar showed how linguistic reorganisation of the States of the
Indian Union was possible, while, at the same time, rising above
narrow and parochial considerations and imbibing a universal and
cosmopolitan vision.

In his book — written in December 1955, just a year before he died —
Dr Ambedkar proposed division of Madhya Pradesh (into two), Bihar
(into two) and UP (into three: West, Central and East with their
respective capitals at Meerut, Kanpur and Allahabad). Moreover, he
advocated a special status for Bombay (as separate 'City State') and
Hyderabad (which, he felt, should become the country's 'second
capital' in view of it being "equidistant from all parts of India" and
also a cultural melting pot that would "remove tension between the
North and the South").

Dr Ambedkar's proposals definitely factored in linguistic
considerations. However, for him, it was not an end in itself.
Reorganising States based on common language was useful only if it met
the requirements of efficient administration and here it helped if a
State was built on "a feeling of a corporate sentiment of oneness,
which makes those who are charged with it feel that they are kith and
kin". But these were only to make governance easy and not for
promoting provincialism and narrow parochialism.

Also, one had to take into account aspirations and sentiments of the
people in different areas, even within a common linguistically
organised State. Not for nothing, then, did the idea of merging the
Andhra State and Hyderabad State (Telangana) into one not even occur
to Dr Ambedkar, despite both being Telugu-speaking regions.

Unfortunately, Dr Ambedkar's views — radical for that time and also
for today — remained out of mainstream public discourse, as the
country's governing class opted for increasing centralisation of
powers under the influence of powerful corporate interests.
Nevertheless, what Ambedkar spoke nearly half a century ago, has
proven to be prophetic: The demand for a separate Telangana never
dies, MP and Bihar have been divided on the lines that he propounded,
and the demand for creation of new states from UP has only gained
traction with Ms Mayawati's latest so-called gimmick.
UP PROPOSAL NOT NEW

In fact, way back in 1972, 14 MLAs in UP — which was then ruled by the
Congress under Mr Kamalapati Tripathi — moved a resolution for the
creation of three new states (Braj Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh and Purbi
Pradesh). It failed, apparently because the Congress leadership at the
Centre didn't want a State where Muslims made up more than a quarter
of the population, right under its nose. There are suggestions now of
the Bharatiya Janata Party generating the same suspicions regarding Ms
Mayawati's proposals.

Since 1972, Uttar Pradesh has had no CM besides Ms Mayawati, who has
ruled for a full five years. She is also the first, in a long time, to
have formed a Government with a clear majority. In that sense, seeking
a break-up of UP may seem somewhat counter-intuitive. But that makes
it all the more daring a venture.

One might probably link this to Ms Mayawati's own upbringing: Like Dr
Ambedkar, who grew up in Mumbai, she too has her roots in city life in
Delhi. That has made her less of a provincial politician with overt
emotional attachment to the idea of a unified UP. Nor has she been
keen on cultivating any particular pocketborough within the State (a
la Mulayam Singh Yadav in Etawa-Mainpuri or Ajit Singh in the western
UP Jat belt).

This relatively cosmopolitan outlook explains her audacious and
unapologetic support for splitting UP into four, akin to Dr Ambedkar's
proposal in 1955 to divide Maharashtra into three (four, including the
'City State' of Bombay).

(The author teaches Political Science at RLAE College, University of
Delhi. The views are personal.)
(This article was published on November 17, 2011)

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[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Dalit man smeared with soot

http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/11/16/nation/dalit-man-smeared-with-soot/228298.html

Dalit man smeared with soot

POKHARA, NOV 16 -
Local people smeared soot on a Dalit teacher's face in Kaski
reportedly for protesting mistreatment against Dalits.

The soot-smearing matter came to light after Karna Bahadur Nepali,
principal of Ghandruk-based Talbarahi Primary School, lodged a
complaint with the police demanding action against the guilty. He said
some local people from the Gurung community smeared soot on his face
and rounded him the village in response to his request to let Dalits
participate in a feast organised on the occasion of inaugural of a
drinking water project. "When they tried to prevent Dalits from
entering the programme, I strongly opposed it. They later beat me up
and smeared soot on my face," he said.

In the complaint, Nepali has mentioned names of eight persons involved
in the incident. One of them, Kisam Gurung, has owned up the incident.

DSP Tul Bahadur Karki said police will investigate the matter.

Posted on: 2011-11-17 09:13

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[ZESTCaste] Why brand yourself as a Dalit poet?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Why-brand-yourself-as-a-Dalit-poet/articleshow/10776196.cms

Why brand yourself as a Dalit poet?
TNN | Nov 18, 2011, 06.22AM IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Dalit poets who met here at a poetry reading
session during the Hay Festival on Thursday looked obviously
discomfited by a question on 'self-branding' from one of the audience.

After all the poets had recited their poems, a listener asked them
quoting from their poems, "If you could write so well in Malayalam,
why do you have to classify yourself? There are a lot of people who
read your poems. So why do you have to brand them as Dalit poetry?
Isn't it like willingly confining yourselves to chains? Why do you do
that?"

The quizzer went on and said, "I ask this intentionally because I want
to provoke you."

The poets just smiled, and the response was subdued. "Dalit poetry has
had strong resonance in the country. You just cannot ignore the
presence of Dalit poetry," said S Joseph.

Dalit poets like MB Manoj, Vijila Chirappad, MR Renukumar and Sunny M
Kappikad were present at the session. Sunny said it was his
disillusionment with revolutionary ideals that had eventually landed
him in the realm of poetry. "I had been an active volunteer of a
revolutionary party. Later I came to realize that the Dalit ideology
was being oozed out from the party. It was this pain that made me
write poems."

Talking about the evolution of her poetry, Vijila said, "My first poem
was a romantic one. I found it insignificant, and so tried to mould
poems around my personal experiences. Whenever I have tried to write
poems for the sake of writing, I have failed miserably. But now I know
that if your poetry is innate, it will always be valued."

Poet Sachithandan said that Dalit literature had completely
revolutionized the entire literary scenario in the country. Renukumar
narrated how he used to give a poetic touch to the love letters of his
friends during college days. "It was strange. But that was the
beginning of my poetry. Today I am a painter and a writer. I believe
that there is poetry in my paintings and vice versa."

The poets who had assembled here read from their poems like Pengalude
Swantham Bible, Swantham, Abhavam, Adukalayillatha Veedu, Pullu
Vilpanakkari and Thudippu.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Honour killers’ sentenced to death

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/honour-killers-sentenced-to-death-1.1180705

SA Time: Friday, November 18, 2011 10:54:09 AM
'Honour killers' sentenced to death

November 17 2011 at 01:35pm
By Sunrita Sen.

New Delhi - Eight men have been sentenced to death and 27 others to
life in prison for a so-called honour killing in northern India 20
years ago, news reports said on Thursday.

The defendants sentenced on Wednesday were mostly members of a village
council in Uttar Pradesh that ordered the hanging of a young man from
the Dalit caste and a woman from the higher Jat caste who had eloped,
the Times of India newspaper reported.

They also murdered the man's cousin for helping the couple.

Marriages between people of different castes, religions or within
certain kinship groups are still frowned upon in large parts of rural
India. Activists say scores of men and women are ostracised or killed
every year for defying the segregation traditions.

On March 21, 1991, Vijendra Jatav, 22, eloped with Roshni, 19, from
Mehrana village. Three days later, they returned, hoping the outrage
would have died down.

But the next day, a village council ordered them to be publicly
hanged, together with Jatav's cousin Ram Kishan.

In a complaint filed with the local police, Ram Kishan's uncle Amir
Chand alleged the couple were brutally assaulted during the hearing
and their private parts set on fire.

Jatav reportedly said he would accept exile from the village, but the
elders refused to relent.

Most of the men who were convicted were over 60 years old, and one was
95. Fifteen of the 54 accused in the case died during the trial, one
was acquitted while three who were minors at the time, including the
girl's brother, were being tried by a separate juvenile court.

There is no composite data on such killings in India as records do not
distinguish them from other forms of murder, but such incidents are
frequently reported.

In May 2011, India's Supreme Court recommended the death penalty for
those convicted of committing "honour killings." Capital punishment is
handed down only in very rare cases in India. - Sapa-dpa

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[ZESTCaste] SP to move no-trust motion against Mayawati govt.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2636021.ece

Lucknow, November 17, 2011
SP to move no-trust motion against Mayawati govt.
PTI

In this November 16, 2011 photo, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh
Yadav addresses a rally in Etah. The party has decided to move a
no-confidence motion against the Mayawati government.
PTI In this November 16, 2011 photo, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam
Singh Yadav addresses a rally in Etah. The party has decided to move a
no-confidence motion against the Mayawati government.

The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it would move a no-confidence
motion against the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government in the
Uttar Pradesh Assembly during the next session from November 21.

"We will bring no-confidence motion in the House against the corrupt
BSP government," Leader of the Opposition Shivpal Singh Yadav told
reporters in Lucknow.

He alleged that be it law and order or development, both had seen a
deteriorating trend in the current regime.

Mr. Yadav claimed that only his party was capable of dealing with the situation.

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[ZESTCaste] Jairam Ramesh's letter to Mayawati

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/jairam-rameshs-letter-to-mayawati-150613

Jairam Ramesh's letter to Mayawati

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: November 17, 2011 11:58 IST

Delhi: Here is the letter Union Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati about the irregularities in NREGA:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/72987700/CM-UP-final (pdf)

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[ZESTCaste] Jairam targets Mayawati again

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2636841.ece

NEW DELHI, November 18, 2011
Jairam targets Mayawati again
K. Balchand

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh
PTI Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh

Says she failed to act against officials who swindled MGNREGS funds,
presses for CBI probe

The war of words between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party in
the run-up to the Assembly elections has intensified, with a Union
Minister blaming Chief Minister Mayawati for failing to act against
officials who had allegedly swindled funds of a Central government
scheme in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh shot off a second
letter to Ms. Mayawati who, instead of responding to his first letter,
wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accusing him of indulging in
politics.

As Ms. Mayawati shot down the proposal for a probe by the Central
Bureau of Investigation into the embezzlement of the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds, Mr. Ramesh has once
again pressed for the investigation, pointing out that she had reneged
on her promise to act against officials whom she had held responsible
for the misappropriation.

In his November 14 letter, Mr. Ramesh said that on March 30, 2010, Ms.
Mayawati told journalists that Raj Bahadur, chief development officer
of Gonda, would be placed under suspension but departmental action was
yet to be taken. This, he said, highlighted how corrupt officials
evaded punishment because of their proximity to the powers that be.

He told Ms. Mayawati that she herself would realise the sad and
regrettable situation if she verified the action taken, as no
employee, let alone any senior officer, was touched and no money was
recovered even 19 months after her announcement.
"No FIR filed"

The 14-page letter cites several instances of irregularities and the
names of officials allegedly responsible, pointing out that enquiry
reports were ignored and no First Information Report was filed in some
cases, even three years after these cases surfaced.

The irregularities, Mr. Ramesh said, only underscored how effectively
the State government had acted. The government's callousness had
prevented the benefits of the scheme from reaching the poor.

Referring to Ms. Mayawati having referred some of these cases to the
Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mr. Ramesh said the EOW had not
effectively investigated other irregularities referred to it.

He hoped that she would agree to his proposal for a CBI inquiry into
the irregularities committed in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra,
Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar districts.

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[ZESTCaste] Kamal Nath slams Mayawati govt for failing to push metro projects

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kamal-Nath-slams-Mayawati-govt-for-failing-to-push-metro-projects/articleshow/10774968.cms

Kamal Nath slams Mayawati govt for failing to push metro projects
Mahendra Kumar Singh, TNN | Nov 18, 2011, 03.21AM IST

NEW DELHI: As assembly elections approach in Uttar Pradesh, the
Mayawati regime in Uttar Pradesh is coming under increasing attacks
from UPA with urban development minister Kamal Nath joining his
colleague Jairam Ramesh in slamming the state government.

Nath on Thursday launched a veiled attack on Mayawati government for
its failure to push metro projects in Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and
Noida that fit in the Centre's criteria of 20 lakh-plus population
cities.

"After getting detailed project report prepared by Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation, there is no word from the state government on metro
project in Lucknow," the minister said.

With Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi at the heart of the party
campaign in UP, ministers are finding fault with Mayawati's governance
and trying to highlight "misrule" in the state. Congress, which has
been out of power in the state for long, is trying to regain lost
ground in the politically crucial state.

Ministry sources said the state government was sitting on project
reports for metro rail projects in the state capital. It has not
approached the UD ministry to get further approval, they added.

The fate of extension of Delhi Metro to the satellite towns of
Ghaziabad and Noida is similar. DPRs for extension of Delhi Metro
beyond Vaishali in Ghaziabad and Sector 32 City Centre in Noida was
prepared long back but there has been no movement since then.

The reason that officials give for the state government's apathy for
metro projects is massive funding and neglect of urban transport.
Metro projects are capital intensive and the state government will
have to pitch in with around 50% of the total cost of the project
while rest is met by Centre even if DMRC model is adopted.

The state government's apathy towards modern modes of transport is
evident as it failed to get even DPR prepared for metro rail project
in Kanpur while it meets UD ministry's cut-off criteria.

States like Rajasthan are way forward is comparison with UP as it has
started building 7 km of metro corridor in Jaipur which is entirely
funded by the state government. It has also approached UD ministry for
approval of viability gap funding for Phase 2 of Jaipur metro which
will be implemented on PPP mode.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati's masterstroke

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/article2636332.ece?homepage=true

Mayawati's masterstroke

The Congress cannot readily support the UP demand without further
queering the pitch in Andhra Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, has time and again
shown that she possesses one of the shrewdest political brains in the
country. Her latest proposal, to carve up Uttar Pradesh into four
smaller states, is a political masterstroke that has unsettled the
Opposition in the run-up to the early-2012 polls to the State
Assembly. With the exception of the Samajwadi Party – which has
opposed the division, given the potentially disastrous break-up of its
caste and community-based vote bank – the mainstream national parties
(Congress and the BJP) have been forced into an uncomfortable corner.
Ideologically and politically, they may not be opposed to the
proposal; but openly declaring their support would only give Ms.
Mayawati the advantage she seeks in the upcoming elections. By moving
ahead, she has managed to shift the focus of the political debate to
State formation, and away from the issues of governance, development,
law and order, and siphoning of money in welfare schemes.

The Congress, in particular, is in a bind. As the principal ruling
party at the Centre, it cannot readily support the UP demand without
further queering the pitch in Andhra Pradesh, where the agitation for
a separate Telangana State has virtually paralysed the administration.
On the other hand, doing well in the UP elections is equally
important, since they could be the launch pad for Congress
heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi's move to a larger role at the national
level. A good show there – similar to the party's performance in the
2009 Lok Sabha polls – may, in fact, restore the legitimacy of a
beleaguered Government at the Centre. Who knows, the Assembly polls
could even give it a second wind and much-needed confidence to bring
economic reforms back on the agenda.

As regards UP's division, there is certainly a compelling economic
logic for it. Even after the formation of a separate Uttarakhand from
its erstwhile hill districts, the State sprawls over nearly 2.5 lakh
square kilometers, where some 200 million people live. On paper, the
creation of Pashchim Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and
Poorvanchal should galvanise governance and focus policy attention to
the specific needs of these culturally, geographically and
economically diverse regions. In reality, though, the track record of
creating smaller States has been mixed. While some like Chhattisgarh
have done well in terms of attracting industry or even reforms of the
public distribution system, they have not been free of corruption and
governance-related problems. Moreover, they have also proved highly
inept in handling the growing challenge posed by Maoist insurgency.
But on the whole, the original logic for formation of States, based on
linguistic commonality, has clearly been rendered obsolete. That
definitely presents the case for a second States Reorganisation
Commission – following the first one constituted in 1953 – that would
examine these issues afresh.
(This article was published on November 17, 2011)

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati's plan to divide UP ignites call to carve state of Vidarbha

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mayawati-s-plan-to-divide-up-ignites-call-to-carve-state-of-vidarbha_1614137

Mayawati's plan to divide UP ignites call to carve state of Vidarbha
Published: Friday, Nov 18, 2011, 9:00 IST
By Shubhangi Khapre | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

A few days after Mayawati proposed to divide Uttar Pradesh into four
parts, political leaders from Maharashtra have renewed their clamour
for a separate state, Vidarbha.

Of the 35 districts and 288 assembly seats in the state, the Vidarbha
region comprises 11 districts and 62 assembly seats. All political
parties, except the Shiv Sena, are for smaller states.
Several NGOs, representing the cotton-growing farmers, have decided to
join the Congress, the NCP and the BJP in their demand for a separate
state. The Vidarbha Jan Andolam Samiti has taken the lead to unite
politicians across the spectrum in this fight.

"The creation of Vidarbha is inevitable for the socio-economic
development of the region," MLA Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP said.
"Also, Maharashtra stands to gain from the split. It will get more
than Rs20,000 crore from the Centre."

Fadnavis, an expert in economics, explained how Maharashtra would
benefit. "The Planning Commission allocates funds to states based on
income distant methods. Currently, Maharashtra falls in the higher
income category," he said. "Once it loses the Vidarbha region it will
fall in the middle income category. This will make it eligible for
additional funds of up to Rs25,000 crore from the Centre. And Vidarbha
will get Rs10,000 crore."

The Samiti might be trying to unite political parties but politicians
have started the game of one-upmanship. Sudhir Mungantiwar, state
chief of the BJP, said party workers would highlight how the Congress
and the NCP have meted out injustice to the people of the region over
the past several years. The BJP has also started a door-to-door
campaign to mobilise support for a separate Vidarbha state.

Not to be left behind, a Congress functionary said MP Vilas Muttemwar
has been fighting for Vidarbha for several years. And Manikrao Thakre,
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief, has already made
his displeasure over water distribution in the state known to the
party top brass in Delhi.
A former Congress minister said caste politics dominate the
governance. "Every year, the state budget is tailored to develop
western Maharashtra, home to the ruling Marathas," he said. "The
region gets maximum funds for irrigation while Vidarbha remains dry
and farmer suicides keep growing." At least 30,000 farmers — the
highest among cotton-growing farmers in the country — have killed
themselves in Vidarbha over the past 10 years.

Vidarbha needs 1,200MW and it generates a surplus power of 4,200MW.
But the region still faces power cuts for eight hours because the
additional power is diverted to Mumbai, Nashik, Pune and parts of
Thane.

The power cuts have also affected industrialisation. Vidarbha, rich in
minerals, could fetch up to Rs5 lakh crore through mining. But there
are only two industries currently functioning. Unable to cope with the
power cuts, several companies either have left or have downed
shutters.

Fadnavis said the Vidarbha region has vast swathes (at least 35 lakh
hectares) of non-irrigated land. "But to make it irrigable, we would
need at least Rs1 lakh crore. And this can happen only when Vidarbha
is carved out of Maharashtra," he said. "Projects languishing in
western Maharashtra take up most of the funds from the annual
irrigation budget."

Kishore Tiwari, chief of Kisan Jan Andolan, said smaller states would
soon become a reality because it "helps in better administration and
development".

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati hits out at opposition for criticising state split

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5599121

17/11/2011
Mayawati hits out at opposition for criticising state split

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday lambasted the
entire opposition for terming her move to divide the state as an
"election stunt".

Claiming that she has been raising the demand right from the time she
formed her government in 2007, Mayawati attacked the centre for not
caring to pay any heed to her repeated letters in this regard. She
also sought to point out that there was no Constitutional binding for
any state to pass a resolution to initiate the creation of a state.

"Nowhere does the Indian Constitution say that the process of carving
out a new state has to be initiated by a state government or by the
assembly of the concerned state assembly," Mayawati said in a
statement.

"The national parliament is fully empowered to suo moto initiate the
creation of a new state and after passing such a resolution it has to
be sent to the president, who may seek the opinion of the concerned
state legislature." she asserted, while citing provisions of Article 3
of the Indian Constitution.

Says Article 3: "Parliament may by law form a new state by separation
of territory from any state or by uniting two or more states or parts
of states or by uniting any territory to a part of any state," while
adding that the parliament can also "increase or decrease the area of
any state as also alter the boundaries or even the name of any state
in the country".

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