Latest News Update: Nov 22, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Mayawati govt misusing state funds: Rahul Gandhi

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mayawati-govt-misusing-state-funds-rahul-gandhi/204660-37.html

Politics | Updated Nov 22, 2011 at 02:37pm IST
Mayawati govt misusing state funds: Rahul Gandhi
CNN-IBN

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi started his
five-day Jan Sampark Abhiyaan (public contact programme) in election
bound Uttar Pradesh on a more sedate note than his November 14 rally
in Jhoosi, Phulpur, near Allahabad where he was very strident and
aggressive.

Embarking on his Jan Sampark Abhiyaan from Barabanki in central Uttar
Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Congress was committed to
provide the state a government that would take care of the 'aam aadmi'
(common man), a slogan than he has used several times to target the
Mayawati government.

Addressing party workers in Barabanki, the Congress scion carefully
chose his words to target the state government, perhaps to avoid the
controversy that erupted after he called the migrants from Uttar
Pradesh beggars.

"If you don't do well, you will have to go out, the way you go out
every year, to Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana. You will have to go
out and work there. Hyderabad are ahead in Information Technology.
Even if UP wants to go ahead in Information Technology, they can't
because Bangalore and Hyderabad have already reached the top spot.
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are doing well in automobile industry.
India is moving ahead, but UP is lagging behind. Other states are
moving ahead, in 20 years nothing has changed in UP," he said.

Accusing the state government of not utilising Central funds and not
implementing Central schemes properly, he said, "Congress party wants
to bring 'aam aadmi' government in UP. We want to see truth win
against money. We send money from Delhi but it doesn't reach people in
UP. We want to employ people through MNREGA scheme, but it doesn't
reach people. Money goes to middlemen, ministers, officials. It
doesn't reach the common man. UP Chief Minister has said that MNREGA
is not needed and doesn't benefit anyone."

"We started 'Janani Suraksha scheme' for women but the money reached
the wrong hands. The officials keep the Rs 1400 that every woman
giving birth to a child deserves. If people want to change UP, it's
not possible to do it from Delhi. The government has to change in UP.
Our effort is that every person in the country gets a UID number, so
that the money that each person deserves in the country reaches his
account directly. The money that belongs to the poor does not reach
the poor, the money gets stopped at Lucknow. We want to reach out to
people directly. We will not do one caste politics, we will bring
development oriented government," he added.

However, infighting marred the first day of his programme as Congress
ticket seekers clashed and even stopped Rahul Gandhi's cavalcade in
what can be called a security breach as he enjoys Z+ security.

Even before Rahul started on his starts his five-day public contact
programme from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, Congress factions belonging
to Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma and Barabanki MP PL Punia
clashed over ticket distribution. There was more trouble for the
Congress some party workers jumped before Rahul's cavalcade outside
Lucknow airport claiming discrepancies in distribution of tickets for
the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

The Congress workers claimed that they wanted to draw Rahul's
attention towards the denial of ticket to Subodh Srivastava from the
Lucknow Central Assembly constituency.

However, unlike Jhoosi where several Congress leaders including Union
Ministers rushed to beat up the protesters who had managed to reach
near Rahul's helicopter and wave black flags, no party leader was seen
taking on the protesters.

His five-day tour that will cover Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti
will end with a public rally in Kushinagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh on
November 26.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits told to mention their caste as Madiga during census

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2645361.ece

Dalits told to mention their caste as Madiga during census
Staff Correspondent

The former MLA and Dalit leader H. Anjaneya has urged the Dalit
communities to mention their caste as Madiga during the caste-wise
census, which would soon be commencing in Karnataka.

Addressing presspersons here on Sunday, he said that Dalits should
necessarily mention their caste as Madiga to get themselves
differentiated from other Scheduled Caste communities.

"Since more than 100 communities have been categorised as Scheduled
Caste, the mentioning of caste as Madiga will help in knowing the
exact population of this community. This will further help the
Government frame specific policies for the welfare of this backward
community," he said.

Mr. Anjaneya, who is a Congress leader, said that the Union Government
had launched the caste-based census only for the purpose of framing
caste-specific reservation policy.

Owing to lack of specific data, many Scheduled Caste communities were
unable to take advantage of the reservation policy, he said, claiming
that under the present scenario, several communities had been included
in a singe category. "The completion of the census will help the
Government provide internal reservation, based on the socio-economic
conditions of each community," he said.

He alleged that some caste Hindu people were availing themselves of
the reservation benefits by producing false caste certificates. A few
of them had even become judges while a few others had become MLAs by
producing false certificates, he said.

Mr. Anjaneya alleged that K.G. Kumaraswamy, MLA from Shimoga Rural
constituency, was actually belonging to Vokkaliga community but had
contested in the election by claiming to be from Bhovi community "Some
people belonging to Scheduled Caste have complained against him in
this regard and the case is before the High Court," he said.

Mr. Anjaneya criticised about 12 MLAs belonging to Bhovi community for
not raising any objection against Mr. Kumaraswamy for producing a
false caste certificate.

At present, more than 100 communities have been identified as
Scheduled Castes: Dalit leader
'Several caste Hindus taking advantage of welfare schemes by producing
false certificates'

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[ZESTCaste] BSP chief Mayawati eyes bigger role in national politics with move to divide Uttar Pradesh

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/up-division-mayawati-bsp-mulayam-singh-trs/1/161053.html

Headlines Today Bureau New Delhi/Lucknow, November 22, 2011 | UPDATED 15:27 IST
BSP chief Mayawati eyes bigger role in national politics with move to
divide Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati believes and often claims that
she is cut out for the nation's top job. Is dividing UP her first
concrete move to seek a role beyond running a state?

Reorganising UP might be long overdue, but Mayawati has got her
mathematics right. Her core Dalit vote remains intact in spite of the
move.

Supporting the BSP government move, former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader
Amar Singh said: "Division of UP will be in favour of people. Why SP
is against it is beyond my understanding. Even Ram Manohar Lohia was
also in favour of small states. I thank Mayawati for this move."

By sounding the division bell, Mayawati has won herself some fans in
and even outside the state.

Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been
heading a campaign for a separate Telangana state, said: "I appreciate
and welcome the decision of Mayawati to divide UP. She also spoke in
favour of Telangana so we are thankful to her."

Analysts say in UP where the party and the government are virtually
the same, the proposal means that Mayawati has set her eyes beyond the
state. Helping her along is the Congress's ham-handed handling of the
Telangana issue, which is further fuelling the demand for smaller
states.

Maya's vote bank
The Third Front might have been routed in the general elections in
2009, but Mayawati's dream of prime ministership is still alive. She
would evidently benefit most as her vote-bank, which is no longer just
restricted to Dalits but also includes upper caste Brahmins, would be
spread in all four states.

Dalits are evenly spread throughout the state with 18.17 per cent
presence in western UP or Paschim Pradesh, 21.15 per cent in eastern
UP or Purvanchal, 25.14 per cent in Bundelkhand region and 26.1 per
cent in central UP or Awadh Pradesh.

SP may suffer post-division
Perhaps the one party that would suffer the most due to this decision
would be the SP, an archrival of the BSP in the state. Party chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav's major seat is Etawah, which is in eastern
districts. However, in the new proposed states, he would not have one
major area where his vote bank would be concentrated.

The SP's around 10 to 12 per cent core Yadav vote is not uniform, with
one great chunk in the east and one in the Etawah-Mainpuri-Etah belt.
That means the party's base would split. This could mean other
backward castes and even Muslims ignoring a depleted SP.

Big challenge for Congress
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 it could be the launch pad for Congress heir-apparent Rahul
Gandhi's move to a larger role at the national level.

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[ZESTCaste] Harassment glare after Dalit campus suicides

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111122/jsp/nation/story_14783483.jsp

Harassment glare after Dalit campus suicides
BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY

New Delhi, Nov. 21: Manish Kumar could not take it any more. The
harassment he had been suffering for three years only because he was a
Dalit was showing no signs of abating. So, the IIT Roorkee student
killed himself.

That was on February 13 this year. Manish had been a third-year BTech
student and was the only hope of his family, his shattered father
Rajinder Kumar said.

"Manish was my only son and the future of our family. He was a
brilliant student. He wanted to become a technocrat. But he died
depressed with the constant humiliation he had to face at the
institute. He was called a chamar (low caste)," Rajinder said.

After his suicide, the local police did not file a case against the
accused. Only recently, a case was registered on the orders of a local
court. There has hardly been any progress in investigations.

"I have met Uttarakhand DGP J.S. Pandey and demanded a fresh probe. He
has agreed," Rajinder said.

Manish's suicide is not an isolated case. The Insight Foundation, a
group working against discrimination against Dalit and tribal students
in higher education institutions, recently released a report on
suicides by 18 Dalit students in the last four years.

"Despite reservation in education and jobs, most of the administrative
staff and faculty in higher education institutions are from the upper
castes. They think Dalit students are not meritorious. They harass
Dalit students and in many cases these students commit suicide. We
have found 18 such suicides in reputed institutions in the last four
years," Gurinder Singh Azad, the students' co-ordinator of the Insight
Foundation, said.

The organisation brought the matter to the notice of National Advisory
Council member Aruna Roy, who wrote a letter to NAC chairperson Sonia
Gandhi in May this year.

The Telegraph has accessed the letters between Sonia and Roy under the
Right to Information Act. In her reply to Roy, Sonia said the
authorities concerned would examine the issue.

The NAC then directed the human resource development ministry to look
into the alleged suicides. The ministry asked the University Grants
Commission if it was aware of such a problem and if it had taken steps
to prevent such incidents.

The UGC quickly issued two circulars in July to universities under it,
directing them to take steps to prevent caste discrimination.

"The UGC's circulars may not yield any result. They are advisory in
nature," said Udit Raj, the chairperson of the All India Confederation
of SC/ST Organisations.

The Insight Foundation claimed that faculty members deliberately
harassed Dalit students, regardless of merit.

One such case is of Jaspreet Singh, an MBBS student of Government
Medical College, Chandigarh, who committed suicide in 2008.

The suicide note found in Jaspreet's pocket said a senior faculty
member had been harassing him regularly and had failed him in one
subject.

Based on a complaint filed by Jaspreet's father Charan Singh, a team
of professors from PGI Chandigarh re-evaluated the paper and awarded
Jaspreet pass marks.

Jaspreet's younger sister killed herself a year later on Rakshabandhan
day, apparently because she could not tie a rakhi on her brother's
wrist.

"Is it a mistake to be born in a Dalit family in this country? My son
was a brilliant student but was harassed deliberately by an HoD. I
lost my youngest daughter, who committed suicide being depressed over
his brother's death," Charan said.

"I cannot say why the HoD has not been arrested and suspended from the
job. The suicide note clearly mentioned his name."

The matter is pending in a local court in Chandigarh.

Of the 18 students who committed suicide, five are from IITs, one from
IISc Bangalore and one from AIIMS.

Allegations of caste-based discrimination have earlier been filed
against IIT Kanpur authorities. Many Dalit students had to terminate
their courses for "bad performance" in IIT Kanpur last year.

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[ZESTCaste] BSP candidate booked for beating up a Dalit

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/BSP-candidate-booked--for-beating-up-a-Dalit/879028/

BSP candidate booked for beating up a Dalit

Express news service Posted online: Tue Nov 22 2011, 05:57 hrs
Lucknow : A case under the Prevention of Atrocities on SC/ST Act was
registered against BSP leader last night for allegedly beating up a
Dalit and humiliating him publicly at the party office in Civil Lines
police station area of Rampur district on June 22.

The accused, Yusuf Ali Khan, is the BSP candidate from Chamrawwa
Assembly constituency. Bhukan Lal, the complainant, said that an
inquiry had found the BSP leader guilty and the report was handed over
to the Rampur Superintendent of Police (SP) a month ago, but the FIR
was lodged yesterday.

Superintendent of Police Bhanu Bhaskar, however, said that the report
was completed and handed over to him recently.

Lal said that the incident was sequel to a matter related to the
cancellation of the licence of his cousin Ashrafi's fair price shop in
March. Khan had got the licenced cancelled by Sub-Divisional
Magistrate of Tanda Ram Singh, as he wanted it to be allotted to one
of his relatives. Lal had then filed an application before the
Moradabad Commissioner, seeking his intervention into the matter. The
commissioner later issued an order in Asharfi's favour.

Lal said he went to the SDM and apprised him of the commissioner's
order, but the SDM refused to let them open the shop till the BSP
leader gave permission for it. The SDM even asked him to meet Khan and
convince him, Lal alleged.

According to Lal, he went to the BSP district unit office on June 22
and requested Khan to tell the SDM that he had no objection over the
commissioner's order. But the BSP leader lost his temper and beat him
mercilessly, and humiliated him by making derogatory references to his
caste in presence of the party workers, Lal alleged.

Later, Lal met the then SP Ramit Sharma, who ordered an inquiry into
the incident. The circle officer (City) conducted an inquiry and
submitted his report last month.

The BSP leader, meanwhile, said that charges against him were
baseless. "Bhukan Lal had lodged a false complaint at the instance of
my political rivals," he said.

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[ZESTCaste] South Asia conference tackles discrimination

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=South+Asia+conference+tackles+discrimination&NewsID=310151

South Asia conference tackles discrimination

Added At: 2011-11-22 3:35 PM

Last Updated At: 2011-11-22 3:35 PM

"The raising of people of the Dalit community to government positions
in Nepal after the establishment of republic stands as an example of
political empowerment of the Dalits in the world."

DHAKA: A South Asia regional level conference on solidarity against
social discrimination here heard that the problem of racial
discrimination and the practice of untouchability were being promoted
in this part of the world in the name of social tradition.

This was pointed out in course of a discussion session entitled
'Cultural Revolution in the Process of Reducing the Racial
Discrimination' organised in connection with the South Asia Social
Conference. The discussion was hosted by the Dalit NGO Federation
Nepal at the Dhaka University.

Professor Mehab Kamal of the Dhaka University said the incidence of
racial discrimination and practice of untouchability is more in
countries that rank low in infrastructure development. He stressed the
need of spreading social awareness for addressing this problem.

Leader of Pakistan's backward tribe movement, Ramesh Jaipal said that
the raising of people of the Dalit community to government positions
in Nepal after the establishment of republic stands as an example of
political empowerment of the Dalits in the world.

Leader of the Indian Dalit Movement, Vijaya Pratapa stressed on
capacity building of the Dalits rather than their inclusion based on
reservation.

Vice-president of the Dalit NGO Federation, Nepal, Ramlakhan Harijan
presided over the discussion. Another leader of the Dalit Movement of
Nepal, Motilal Nepali presented a base paper on racial discrimination
in South Asia, problems and solution.

The South Asian Social Conference began on November 18 in Dhaka. Civil
society leaders and representatives of different organizations
campaigning for the elimination of racial discrimination from Nepal,
India, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh are attending the conference.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit Literatures In, Out and Beyond

http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/43850

Dalit Literatures In, Out and Beyond - Synopses by January 31, 2012

Series PoCoPages - Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée
contact email:
judith.misrahi-barak@univ-montp3.fr, joshilabraham@gmail.com

Dalit Literatures - In, Out and Beyond

Call for Contributions

Series PoCoPages, Coll. « Horizons anglophones »
Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée
http://www.pulm.fr/index.php/collections/horizons-anglophones/pocopages....

The history of Dalit literature can be traced back to centuries. But
Dalit literary/cultural expressions were never taken into
consideration due to the hegemonic nature of the field of literary
production. The emergence of Dalit as a political category and
identity coincide with the emergence of Dalit literature. Current
researches by scholars reveal the widespread character of Dalit
writings in various parts of India. Research also shows that Dalit
literature had long before acquired a distinct language through its
heterogeneous and plurivocal character which challenged dominant
literary canons. Dalit literature acquired a recognizable identity
towards the middle of the twentieth century. The term 'Dalit
literature' – 'Dalit' meaning oppressed, broken and downtrodden — came
into use officially in 1958 at the first conference on Dalit
literature in Mumbai. The emergence of the Dalit Panthers (a political
organisation formed in 1972 in Mahrastra) is a significant moment in
the history of Dalit literature which was furthered by various
political/literary movements across India.
Dalit literature for a long time was disregarded and not taken
seriously in the literary circles. The publication of translations
from modern Marathi literature entitled Poisoned Bread edited by Arjun
Dangle with a prefatory note by Gail Omvedt had already sparked
debates in the literary circles. Under the impulsion of such academics
as Arun Prabha Mukherjee (York University, Toronto) who translated
Omprakash Valmiki's Joothan (1997) into English in 2003 and wrote an
introduction to it, the initial reluctance to accept new literary
genres by the dominant literary discourses, has, over time, given way
to wider acceptance and circulation of Dalit literature in and outside
India. The recent volume on Dalit writings from two south Indian
states No Alphabet in Sight edited by Susie Tharu and K.
Satyanarayana, opens up a new debate on the long history of Dalit
literature and its current prominence in the contemporary scene of
literature and politics. It also shows how Dalit literature moves
beyond the usual discourses of literary modernity.
The debate between Gandhi and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956), one
of India's foremost revolutionaries, an untouchable and a fierce
critic of Gandhi, is a major event in Indian history. Ambedkar
famously said 'Mahatma, I have no country'. Fictionists like Avinash
Dolas and others have explored the depth of this theme. This
discussion between Ambedkar and Gandhi has provoked debates on
nationhood and Hindu religion. The well-known book by D.R. Nagaraj,
The Flaming Feet, is a case in point. Although untouchability was
abolished with the 1950 Constitution of India (drafted by Ambedkar),
Ambedkar's experiences continue to be the lot of India's 170 million
Dalits today.
Dalit literature in its initial stages (and in a broader sense, even
today) was identified as specific protests directed against everyday
humiliations that individual dalits and Dalits as a community face. In
this context, contradictions between Marxism and progressive literary
movements (which works on larger abstractions) with Dalit literature
(and Dalit movements) have to be taken into serious consideration.
Most of the debates around/about Dalit Literature have failed to
adequately acknowledge the new vocabulary of imagination and
aesthetical sensibility produced by these literatures. Dalit
literature cannot be reduced to an engagement with victimhood. In the
hands of poets like S. Joseph, it has spawned new literary cannons by
disturbing the usual language available in the pre-existing canonical
literary circles. Dalit Literature today has established itself as a
new mode of literary/aesthetic imagination and writing.
The fact that John Berger, Arundhati Roy and Joe Sacco saluted the
publication of the graphic novel Bhimayana : Experiences of
Untouchability (Delhi: Navayana, 2011), may be the sign that something
is changing in the context of Dalit literatures. The visual, the
literary and the political dimensions closely intertwine in this
graphic biography of Ambedkar. The artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash
Vyam, together with Srividya Natarajan and S. Anand for the story,
crafted a book that has broken new ground, not least because it did so
in a controversial way. The publication of Bhimayana could be a signal
that Dalit cultures are edging out of the restricted areas where they
were formerly circumscribed. This could also be an opportunity to
examine Dalit expression and literatures in a renewed way and from
different perspectives.
Far from concentrating on the historical, social and economic
circumstances of the untouchable communities that are described by
Dalit writers or non-Dalit writers (such as Raja Rao, Arundhati Roy or
Rohinton Mistry), the editors of the projected volume of PoCoPages
encourage contributions that will foreground the following issues:
- the linguistic questions linked to translation from regional Indian
languages into English and other international languages; more
generally the question of accessibility; questions linked to
sub-Indian and international distribution; magazines, books and the
web;
- the attention Dalit literatures are getting outside the limited
circles of activists in India and outside India; more generally the
question of reception; Dalit literature and its readership; who writes
for whom;
- the generic questions linked to the literary choices made by the
writers : poetry, short story, novel, autobiography, biography,
graphic novels, photo-journalism, recorded oral narratives, theatre,
etc; the poetics and politics involved in such literary choices;
- the gender question: male and female writers; male and female
readers; the relationship between caste and gender, in the specific
context of the Dalits;
- the relationship between Dalit literature and Dalit politics,
including the impact of literature on the social situations faced by
the untouchables; the transformative value of such literature and on
what grounds;
- the contact zones between Adivasi literature and Dalit literature;
- the marginalisation of minority Dalit literature (Christian, Muslim,
Sikh Dalit literature for instance);
- the resistance that Dalit literature is facing from dominant
literary groups and the legitimacy it is slowly being granted, or not;
- the pitfalls of literary fashion and stereotypes;
- Dalit literatures and the film industry (film adaptations,
documentaries, etc);
- the relationship between Dalit literatures and the Indian literary
canon; the relationship between Dalit literatures and other
literatures (postcolonial, African-American, subaltern and trauma
literatures, etc); intertextuality within Dalit literatures;
- the relationship between Marxism and Dalit literature, specifically
in terms of how the questions of class and caste overlap and conflict;
the perspective of Indian Marxists;
- Dalit self-writings and their specificities; narrative voice and perspective;
- last but not least, the problematics of inside and outside: writing
on or from a Dalit perspective; the academic perspective and the
non-academic perspective; the perspective of Indians, and Indian
writers, of the diaspora; the Indian and the non-Indian perspective;
bridging the western and the eastern perspective on Dalit writing.

PoCoPages is a peer-reviewed series in the collection "Horizons
anglophones" published by the Presses universitaires de la
Méditerranée (Pulm). India and the Diasporic Imagination is the latest
volume (2011).
http://www.pulm.fr/index.php/collections/horizons-anglophones/pocopages....

General Editor : Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak (Paul-Valéry University –
Montpellier 3, France).

This volume, to be published in 2013, will be co-edited with Joshil K.
Abraham (Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi). Please submit a 300-word
abstract with a short bio (200 words maximum) by January 31, 2012 to
Joshil K. Abraham and to Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak .

If the preliminary proposal is accepted, final essays (33,000
characters, spaces and footnotes included, bibliography on top) will
be due by May 31, 2012.
cfp categories:
journals_and_collections_of_essays
postcolonial

By web submission at 11/19/2011 - 13:04

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[ZESTCaste] LJP Demands White Paper on Mahadalit Status

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=742125

LJP Demands White Paper on Mahadalit Status
PTI | Patna | Nov 21, 2011

Alleging that dalits have been "cheated" in the name of mahadalits,
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today demanded that Bihar government bring
out a white paper on the work done for mahadalits in the state.

"Dalits have been cheated and befooled in the name of mahadalits...We
want a detailed white paper from the state government on the work done
for the uplift of mahadalits in Bihar," Paswan told reporters here.

"We want to know the details as to how many families have actually
been given land... We will raise the issue of the pathetic condition
of mahadalits in Bihar," he said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promised to provide land to mahadalit
families and bring them under various welfare schemes.

Alleging that the state government was a "failure" on all fronts, the
LJP president said rampant corruption and chaos have gripped Bihar.

"There is talk of commission and bribery at every level... Even the
chief minister decided to scrap the MLA/MLCs Local Area Development
Fund due to commission and corruption," he said and castigated Kumar
for his stand on MPLAD schemes.

Paswan said LJP during its foundation day rally at Gandhi Maidan would
raise the issue of rampant irregularities in land allotment under
Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority.

He also took a potshot at Kumar's Seva Yatra and alleged that it
reflected that RSS was the source of his inspiration.

"Crores of rupees is being spent on Seva yatra and for the comfort of
the chief minister ... It is nothing but a cruel joke for people of
Bihar," Paswan added.
Filed On: Nov 21, 2011 20:08 IST

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[ZESTCaste] Saffron party ropes in Dalit leaders

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/bengaluru/saffron-party-ropes-dalit-leaders-224

Saffron party ropes in Dalit leaders

November 22, 2011
DC
Bellary

Leaders of the ruling BJP tried to play catch-up a day after senior
Congress leader and Union minister for labour M. Mallikarjun Kharge
toured Bellary (ST) Assembly constituency to garner the support of
25,000-odd Scheduled Caste voters here on Monday. In a show of
strength, Kannada and culture minister Govind Karjol, Members of
Parliament Ramesh Jigajinagi and K.B. Shanappa, chairman of Dr B.R.
Ambedkar Development Corporation, A.R. Krishnamurthy and leaders of
Dalit Sangarsh Samiti (DSS) toured the constituency along with state
BJP chief K.S. Eshwarappa. The leaders criticised the previous
Congress regime as well as former tourism minister G. Janardhan Reddy
and his supporters. They charged that interests of Dalits were ignored
when Mr Reddy was the district in-charge minister.

Meanwhile, on the second day of his campaign, Mr Kharge appealed to
voters in Kakka Bevinahalli, Paramadevanahalli, Ibrahimpura, Hagari,
Joladarashi and Challagurki villages to vote for party candidate B.
Ram Prasad. Mr Kharge was accompanied by local leaders including Mr
Anil Lad, MP, K.C. Kondaiah, MLC, and former KPCC president Mr Allum
Veerabhadrappa. The Union minister said his party would seek a mandate
on the basis of achievements of the UPA government rather than harp on
failures of the state government. He also criticized BJP patriarch L K
Advani for launching "Jan Chetna Yatra", saying such nation-wide tours
do not help achieve much.

Speaking to reporters later, Mr Kharge called for electoral reforms to
curb unnecessary expenditure such as that incurred in bypolls like the
one thrust on the electorate by former health minister B Sreeramulu.
The independent ought to realize that politics ought to be taken
seriously. "I have decided to write to the Chief Election Commissioner
(CEC) and Union minister for law soon and convince them about not
holding by-elections because of unjustifiable decisions taken by
elected representatives. Such decisions are proving a heavy burden on
the exchequer," he added.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits should aim to be job-givers and not job-seekers: Milind Kamble

http://news.in.msn.com/exclusives/it/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5612021

By B. S. Srinivasalu Reddy, Mail Today, Updated: 21/11/2011
Dalits should aim to be job-givers and not job-seekers: Milind Kamble

The spark for setting up Dicci has come from the industry lobby group,
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). Dalits
consist of castes and tribes, scheduled or listed in India's
Constitution as the under-privileged sections of society.

Mumbai: The Dalit movement has turned contemporary. The new slogan is
- Fight the caste system with capital.

"Ultimately, we would aspire to see a Tata or Birla from among the
Dalits," said Milind Kamble, chairman of Dalit Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (Dicci).

The spark for setting up Dicci has come from the industry lobby group,
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). Dalits
consist of castes and tribes, scheduled or listed in India's
Constitution as the under-privileged sections of society.

The Dalit Chamber came into being in 2005 as a lobbying platform for
the ambitious Dalit entrepreneurs. It also plans to support education
and training, entrepreneurship and mentoring in the community. It
mandates at least 50 per cent of the jobs in the firms of its members
for Dalits.

"With this, we also want to break the general perception that Dalits
are always dependent and cannot do anything on their own. They need
reservation for jobs, scholarship for education, BPL card for mid-day
meals, etc, is the perception," Kamble said.

At the vanguard of the capitalist movement of Dalits, Kamble, son of a
school teacher from Latur district of Maharashtra, said, "Our aim is
to be a job-giver and not a job-seeker." Kamble himself is a job-
giver, being the managing director of the Rs.101-crore Fortune
Construction Company.

He was among the few Dalit engineers who spurned the easy way of
getting into a government job using reservation. Instead, Kamble
worked with a private firm as a civil engineer for five years before
floating his own firm - FCC. He also serves as director on the boards
of two more firms.

Dicci was formed by members who have established themselves as
industrialists without taking advantage of government sops. From five
chapters and 500 members, Kamble wants to grow it 10 fold in the next
12 months.

So, how difficult is it for a Dalit to become a successful
entrepreneur? Kamble said, "In his book 'Imagining India', Nandan
Nilekani explained how difficult it is for a new comer to become a
successful entrepreneur. For Dalits, it is a doubly uphill task. No
parental guidance, lack of capital amd credit facilities."

"Banks seek collateral, whereas we don't have land or other assets to
pledge. When I had become a contractor, I had to borrow from friends
and relatives in lots of Rs.5,000 for completing my first assignment
of Rs.1 lakh," he added.

"Quality and cost are what matters to a client, and nothing else. That
way after globalisation, caste does not matter much," said Kamble, who
has been inducted as an invitee member of the National Advisory
Committee (NAC) of the UPA government.

"Dicci wants to take advantage of reservations and grow as part of the
system to build capital and remain job givers. That way we seek
inclusive growth as against exclusive growth others advocate," Kamble
said.

Source: http://www.indiatoday.in

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