Latest News Update: Feb 20, 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012

[ZESTCaste] Aspirations of Chamars in North India

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article2913316.ece

February 20, 2012
Aspirations of Chamars in North India
Bhupendra Yadav

Dalits is a catch-all term for people variously called 'Untouchables',
'Harijans' and the 'Scheduled Castes'. Chamars, the caste to which the
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, belongs, are the most
prominent among the Dalits. In Uttar Pradesh, Dalits constitute more
than two-fifths of the State population, and two-thirds of them are
Chamars. This community has had a difficult and chequered history. By
convention, its occupation was to skin dead animals, tan the leather,
and make articles out of it. An interesting aspect is that the
proportion of Chamars engaged in leather-related occupation has been
declining over decades — what was four per cent in 1931 came down to
0.6 per cent in 1961. Yet, the occupational stereotype of the Chamar
being a leather worker persists.

Agents of history

The book under review breaks this and also challenges the assumption
of colonial and nationalist historians that Chamars poisoned animals
so as to flay their skin and eke out a living. Above all, it seeks to
establish them as 'agents' of history, instead of being just passive
recipients.

The Annales School of France wanted historians to study problems of
the present. Oliver Mendelsohn and Marika Vicziany in their book, The
Untouchables (1998), said the Dalits face three problems — poverty,
discrimination, and low self-esteem. They did not mention
'untouchability', as such, as an acute problem of the Dalits. In this
book, Ramnarayan Rawat, explores untouchability. Untouchability may
not have been totally eradicated. But it does not strike the scholars
as the acutest problem of the Dalits now.

Reconsidering Untouchability, which looks into the life, history and
aspirations of the Chamars in U.P., is noteworthy for three reasons.
First, it brings new facts to light. Rawat has culled out data that
show that more than 80 per cent of them are agriculturists, peasants,
and farm workers.

Secondly, the book has some new methodological insights. The
credibility of material available with government archives is always
open to question. Nationalist historiography based itself on oral
interviews and memoirs. Subalterns insisted that we read the colonial
archives against their grain. Rawat found that the narrations based on
information hubs like London and Delhi were less accurate. He prefers
to draw on regional archives and information contained in local
resources.

Thirdly, it is refreshingly devoid of any jargon (about subordination)
and post-modern mumbo-jumbo regarding difference. It's a historian's
expedition to familiar territory. Rawat questions, among others, the
assertions of Gyanendra Pandey that Chamars did not participate in
peasant struggles and that they poisoned animals to get their skins
cheap.

I do have a couple of bones to pick with the author. First, it is
fashionable to be equidistant from colonial and nationalist
scholarship. But, in doing so, Rawat seems cavalier about the ravages
of colonialism. We know that colonialism was propelled by greed, and
the debate about its consequence rages on. The question is whether
colonialism was rape or murder? Rawat approvingly quotes Chandra Bhan
Prasad who thinks "the British came too late and left too early." He
seems to imply that colonialism was like some philanthropic enterprise
for the Dalits. Secondly, Rawat, while using Hindi sources, has
mistranslated a few critical words. He calls murdamans beef; it
actually means carrion. Worse is the use of achut. Rawat believes that
the Dalits consider themselves achut or uncontaminated/pure. The word
achut actually means 'untouchable'. The correct word for
uncontaminated is achuta or unchuaa. 'Untouched' is like Nature at
some pristine point. 'Pure' is like orthodox Chitpavan Brahmins, who
consider no one else eligible to touch them.

On the other hand, in the case of the Dalits, it is social convention
that makes them unworthy of being touched, and the orthodox cultural
practice that forbids others from mixing with them. They are condemned
to be achut or untouchable. A scholar who gets this wrong, risks the
validity of his (or her) theoretical assertions.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits’ torture: SC panel briefed

http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/dalits%E2%80%99-torture-sc-panel-briefed/363681.html

Dalits' torture: SC panel briefed
Express News Service
Last Updated : 15 Feb 2012 09:18:52 AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa State Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribe Youth
and Students' Council has drawn the attention of the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) about the increasing torture of
the dalits in the State.

Council president Haladhar Sethi discussed the matter with NCSC
chairman PL Punia and invited him to visit Kamadhenukot village in
Dhenkanal district where 22 houses of the dalits were burnt after the
first phase of the panchayat polls.

Sethi alleged that dalits were attacked as they did not vote for a
particular candidate in the panchayat polls as a result of which he
lost. He said supporters of the candidate vandalised the houses of
dalits in the village and burnt them down. Over 100 dalits are now
homeless and exposed to more attacks, he said.

A three-member team of the council, headed by Sethi, visited the
village on Monday and discussed with the tahasildar, the district
welfare officer, the police circle inspector and the district
collector.

The council demanded compensation to the dalit families who have lost
everything because of the attack on them.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Congress has betrayed Dalits during the last 64 years

http://bjp-delhi.blogspot.in/2012/02/congress-has-betrayed-dalits-during.html

Sunday, 19 February 2012

Congress has betrayed Dalits during the last 64 years

SHEILA GOVERNMENT MISAPPROPRIATED 680 CRORE RUPEES OF SC WELFARE FUND
– VIJENDER GUPTA

Hundreds of people belonging to SC Community resolved before BJP
Pradesh President Shri Vijender Gupta that they are completely
disillusioned with the Congress party and Government. Congress
Government has made false promises to them to secure their votes
during the last 64 years. The dalits of the Country and Delhi fully
understand it. The dalits of Delhi have decided that only the BJP can
do good to them. He told that in the forthcoming MCD elections,
Assembly elections and Loksabha elections, lakhs of SC people should
vote in favour of BJP and help to form BJP Government so that the loot
of Congress may come to an end and everybody may be treated with
respect and equality.

On the 9th day of Jan Sangharsh Yatra today Yatra passed through
Mundaka, Kirari, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri and Nangloi Assembly
Constituency. Thousands of BJP workers and leaders stood on both sides
of the road and accorded unprecedented welcome to the Pradesh
President by showering flowers on him. Shri Gupta told that the
Congress is so much busy in loot and it misappropriated 680 crore
rupees of SC welfare fund which was part of the planned expenditure by
transferring the fund to the Games fund. When this was exposed then
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told that this money will be refunded
but till date this money has not been refunded. Delhi Government is so
much anti dalit and it used insulting word like 'CHUDA' in the SC
certificate and insulted the dalits. BJP went to the court against it
and only after that this world was dropped from the certificate. Chief
Minister Sheila Dikshit has not apologized for it. Just before the MCD
elections many populist announcement have been made by Delhi
Government. Shri Gupta has raised a question that from where the
Government will arrange the money to fulfill the promises made?

Shri Gupta has further said that the Congress is the ruling party for
the last 13 years and it has promised that the people of SC Community
will be provided free pucca houses. But not a single pucca house has
been provided to them by the Government. Government is so much anti
dalit that it demolished the colonies of dalits but did not made
alternatives arrangements for them. During the chilly cold weather
thousands of dalits passed their nights in the open and not provided
food, ration and other essential commodities by the Government. PDS
system has completely collapsed. The Government could not provide
facilities of education, health, power, water etc. to the dalit
children during the last 13 years. Congress has played fraud with the
dalits again and again. But now they have awakened and understand the
reality of the Congress Government.

Before the start of Jan Sangharsh Yatra today, National Secretary of
BJP Shri Shyam Jaju etc. addressed a public meeting in Karala Village.
Shri Jaju told that this Yatra is for drastic change of Delhi. BJP
Pradesh President Shri Vijender Gupta has taken out this Yatra for
public awareness among 2 crore people of Delhi. The people of Delhi
have awakened. Congress Government has always betrayed the lakhs of SC
families and committed atrocities on them. Congress has used their
sentiments only for sake of votes. They have not been provided any
facility in return. The people of dalit community will take revenge
from the Congress Government in the forthcoming elections. BJP will
win and work for the welfare of all.

The Convernor of Yatra Shri Yogendra Chandolia told that the Jan
Sangharsh Yatra passed through Karala Village, Madanpur Road, Bhagya
Vihar, Mir Vihar, Agar Nagar, Prem Nagar, Kirari Furniture Market,
Suleman Nagar, Sultanpuri, Jalebi Chowk, Mangolpuri Assembly
Constituencies and also passed through Mangolpuri West, Kala Mandir,
Kamdhenu School, Mangolpuri East, Rohini South, Awantika Chowk, Jaipur
Golden Hospital, Piragarhi, Guru Harikishan Chowk, Nangloi Chowk,
Nilothi, Kamruddin Nagar, Nihal Vihar, Nangloi Village and finally
concluded at Lokesh Cinema. Pradesh General Secretary Pravesh Verma,
Legislator Manoj Shokeen, District President Sansar Singh, Jayendra
Dabas, Devendra Dahiya, SC Morcha President Kishan Lal Dhilod etc.
were with Shri Gupta in the Rath Yatra.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Anti-incumbency threatens Maya, SP her key challenger

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/antiincumbency-threatens-maya-sp-her-key-challenger/914716/

Anti-incumbency threatens Maya, SP her key challenger
Sanjay Singh Posted: Feb 21, 2012 at 0314 hrs
Lucknow Rahul's hectic campaigning brings Cong in the reckoning in UP politics

Two things are clear at the end of the fourth phase of polling in UP:
one, the ruling BSP faces the anti-incumbency factor which is fairly
pervasive and, two, the Samajwadi Party is its main challenger.

A third important development is the emergence of the Congress as a
respectable factor in state politics after a gap of more than two
decades. For the first time, none of its rivals is taking the Congress
lightly, thanks to Rahul Gandhi's energetic campaigning and some deft
moves by the party.

The election process has already covered 226 of the 403 constituencies
in eastern and central UP. The remaining 177 constituencies, which
will be covered in the last three phases, are mostly in western UP and
parts of Bundelkhand.

The anti-incumbency factor against the BSP has much to do with the
state government's failure to provide a corruption-free administration
in its interface with the people. The voters' main grievance is that
they are forced to pay bribes even for getting things like income
certificates, caste certificates, police verification report for the
issuance of passports, birth certificates, old-age pension, in short
almost everything, like never before.

A second grievance is the "officer raj" where the voice of the
people's representatives on issues of public interest has ceased to
matter. The third major charge is that the BSP government is only
taking care of Dalits, and Prevention of Atrocities Against the SC Act
was being misused.

The SP seems to have been the most successful in tapping this
disenchantment with the BSP. Its candidates were well placed in almost
all regions which went to the polls in the first four phases, despite
the stigma of the lawlessness of the previous Mulayam Singh government
and constant reminders by Chief Minister Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi and
BJP leaders.

Apparently, young Akhilesh Yadav's appeal, and Mulayam Singh Yadav's
constant reassurance that the SP would not repeat past mistakes, have
improved its acceptability beyond its traditional supporters.

Also, although Muslims are no longer voting as a bloc, most of them
still seem to prefer the SP. Initially, Muslims in constituencies like
Tanda in Ambedkar Nagar and Mubarakpur in Azamgarh were influenced by
the Congress announcement of the quota within OBC quota for backward
Muslims and the special package for weavers, but they later developed
hesitation in fully backing the Congress.

However, the BSP's support among its core Dalit voters hasn't suffered
much erosion. It is mainly because the BSP rule has given the Dalits a
sense of security from dominant landed communities in rural areas and,
generally, from the police which tended to side with the powerful.
Although schemes like development of Ambedkar villages, allotment of
land to landless, and free houses under the Kanshiram Shahari Garib
Awas Yojna have benefited people of all communities, the Dalits have
been the largest section of beneficiaries.

The BSP is hoping that the unstinted support of Dalits, combined with
the division of anti-government votes among three main contenders —
the SP, the Congress and the BJP — besides several smaller parties,
will help it retain power.

The Congress decision to increase representation to OBCs, MBCs and
Muslims and, among Dalits, the Koris and the Pasis in the selection of
candidates has troubled both the BSP and the SP. Leaders in both
parties admit that the Congress is going to cut into their vote base.

This has also affected the BJP indirectly. For example, in Devipatan
range, which was traditionally considered to be a pro-BJP field due to
its high Muslim population before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Congress
candidates are reported to be locked in triangular or four-cornered
contests in many seats. In many urban areas too, the Congress
candidates are well placed.

Rahul Gandhi's campainging has created a situation where no party can
afford to take the Congress lightly. The Congress as a respectable
factor is back in political debates after a gap of more than two
decades.

Like the Congress, the BJP has also tried its own version of
Mandalisation in ticket distribution, although on a smaller scale. The
party is hoping to boost its tally from polarization of Hindus votes
as a reaction to wooing of Muslims by the SP and the Congress, and
smaller outfits like the Peace Party. It is highlighting the weavers'
package, the quota within quota, Congress leaders' contradictory
statements on the Batla House encounter, and statements of Law
Minister Salman Khurshid and Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on
Muslim quota as evidence of the Congress's appeasement policy.

The campaigning by Babu Singh Kushwaha, Mayawati's former family
welfare minister who is an accused in the NRHM scam, may help the BJP
to an extent in Bundelkhand and some other areas by getting Kushwaha
votes, but it is double-edged sword which may also harm the party in
urban areas.

Whatever the claims, the heavy polling in all four phases seems to
have foxed all parties. Opposition parties believe that it reflects a
strong anti-government sentiment driving the voters, but are not sure
whom it will help. BSP leaders hope the high polling is driven by
Dalits. Behind the conjectures is the fact that, for the first time,
about 60 per cent voters are 40 years or younger.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati says BSP will return to power with clear majority

http://www.livemint.com/2012/02/20233421/Mayawati-says-BSP-will-return.html?h=B

Posted: Mon, Feb 20 2012. 11:34 PM IST

Mayawati says BSP will return to power with clear majority

Rejects accusations of corruption made by Rahul Gandhi; says her
policies empowered various groups
A Staff Writer

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati said her Bahujan
Samaj Party would return to power with a clear majority in an
interview with the Al Jazeera English television channel.

She derided the challenge posed by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party
and dismissed reports that there wouldn't be a clear verdict in the
ongoing state polls, saying that a hung House had also been predicted
in the elections of 2007 that she won.

Hoping for a comeback: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. Photo: AP

Hoping for a comeback: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. Photo: AP

Mayawati said that a political conspiracy aimed at destabilizing the
country's biggest state would fail as the people would reject such
moves. "The state, which has had a history of instability, is being
sought to be destabilized again for political motives," she said.

Elections are being held in seven phases in Uttar Pradesh to determine
who will rule India's most politically crucial state.

Key rivals of Mayawati's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) include
Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP), the Congress and the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Uttar Pradesh has had 40 chief ministers since India's independence in
1947, the most in the history of India's states. It also chooses the
largest number of members of Parliament among the states.

Mayawati dismissed the challenge of the Congress party led by general
secretary Gandhi, saying that his campaign was with an eye solely on
the 2014 general elections.

"For the Gandhi family, the UP elections have always been a big
picnic. Brother-sister-mother, and now even brother-in-law, come for
outings, sometimes with foreign friends," Mayawati said in the
interview with the channel.

Gandhi has been campaigning vigorously in the state in a bid to revive
the party's fortunes in the state. His mother and Congress party chief
Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka have also been seeking support from
voters. Brother-in-law Robert Vadra, who has hitherto stayed away from
politics in public, has also put in an appearance.

Mayawati said people would vote for her as she had fulfilled promises
made in the 2007 elections, adding that law and order had been
restored after an alleged reign of terror under the previous
administration headed by the Samajwadi Party.

"People voted for us in the hope that we will get rid of goonda raj,"
she said in the Al Jazeera interview. "The criminals of the Samajwadi
Party had made life difficult for the people of this state. For the
last five years we have changed that. We have given a government where
people feel safe and the criminal is scared."

She rejected accusations of corruption made by Rahul Gandhi against
the BSP, saying that it was the rival party that was guilty of
siphoning off public money.

Mayawati said her policies had empowered various groups. "We have
given Dalits a life of dignity and Brahmins, who were exploited by
Congress and BJP alike, were given their due by BSP."

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati sucks happiness of sugar mills to give one sweet deal to 3.5 million sugarcane farmers in UP

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/mayawati-sucks-happiness-of-sugar-mills-to-give-one-sweet-deal-to-3-5-million-sugarcane-farmers-in-up/articleshow/11968843.cms

21 Feb, 2012, 01.03AM IST, Man Mohan Rai,ET Bureau
Mayawati sucks happiness of sugar mills to give one sweet deal to 3.5
million sugarcane farmers in UP
Passing by dense sugarcane and mustard fields, and potholed tracks on
the outskirts of rural Lakhimpur Kheri, one reaches the large
residential enclave of Mithun Kumar on the Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border.

Introductions done, the 52-year-old proudly informs he has just booked
a 2,000 sq ft plot in the upcoming Omaxe City township in Lucknow. "It
will also have a club house and a mini golf-course once fully
developed," he adds.

As farmers in UP go, Kumar is well off, and has become even better off
in the past two years. This year, he sold cane worth Rs 6 lakh and
expects to add another Rs 2 lakh when he clears his fields by
end-March. Last year, he sold cane worth Rs 6 lakh.

It's not a bumper crop, but it's a bumper realisation. For the fourth
straight year, the Mayawati-led UP government has effected a chunky
increase in the price sugar mills in the state have to pay farmers for
cane. This year, the increase in the state advised price (SAP) of the
normal variety of cane is 17%, taking the increase under Mayawati's
tenure to 92%.

Put another way, farmer incomes would have doubled for the same level
of cane produced. By comparison, in the preceding five years, when
Mulayam Singh Yadav, her bete noire, was the chief minister, the
increase in cane prices was 32%.

In UP, when it comes to political capital, cane follows only caste,
and Mayawati has the numbers on her side. sugar is the largest
industry in UP and, according to Mukesh Gautam, director agriculture,
UP, cane accounts for 14% of the area under cultivation in the state.

Mayawati has given one sweet deal to 3.5 million farmers, mostly
sucking, in the process, the happiness of about 125 sugar mills. If
the core of Mulayam's sugar policy was to incentivise mills to expand
capacity, Mayawati tore into them - in the fields, at the policy table
and in the courts. Her administration reversed Mulayam's sugar policy,
that too with retrospective effect, and slapped cases against
prominent mill owners for allegedly giving an unfair deal to farmers.

Instead, her singular focus has been the farmer, who has benefited
from not only higher cane prices, but also from speedier payments and
a growing clout.

Mayawati has set new standards on cane prices. Not only are cane
prices irreversible - no government will dare cut them - the other
political parties are posturing to cut an even sweeter deal to
farmers. For example, the BJP, whose election manifesto devotes almost
two pages to cane, says it will increase the SAP by 25% to Rs 300 per
quintal next year.

/photo.cms?msid=11968909

/photo.cms?msid=11968912

The Congress and Samajwadi Party, in their respective manifestos, too
assure policy changes to yield similar outcomes. "Cane SAP has become
a political tool for most parties," says Abinash Verma, general
secretary, Indian Sugar Mills Association, the main grouping of sugar
mills. "It is not just about this year or any government in
particular."

In a February 8 letter to the Centre and UP government demanding a
relief package, ISMA estimated that sugar mills in UP will lose Rs
3,750 crore this year. It complains that companies have exhausted
their working capital and banks have stopped lending. The Mayawati
administration's typical response to such missives has been to look
the other way.

Mayawati versus mills

The steepest increase in cane prices - of 46% - has happened in the
last two years, leading up to the state elections. Between 2009-10 and
2011-12, by comparison, the support price of paddy and wheat fixed by
the Centre increased 8% and 4%, respectively, according to the
Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

It's politics, says Dr GSC Rao, president of the Sugarcane
Technologists Association of India and the executive director of
Simbhaoli Sugar Mills. "Every politician talks about increasing the
support price of cane, but not wheat or paddy," he says.

"That's because private millers pay for cane, while the state pays for
most of the wheat or paddy." With private sugar mills paying, under
Mayawati, incomes of cane farmers have more than doubled.

Spurred by the higher prices, they have increased the area under cane
cultivation. According to UP sugarcane department, the area under cane
cultivation, peaked at 28.5 lakh hectares in 2007-08, but plunged to
17.88 lakh hectares in 2009-10. It's rising again, standing at 22.5
lakh hectares in 2011-12.

The state government has estimated that farmers should realise Rs
16,000 crore by selling cane to mills this year - a near three-fold
increase over the 2008-09 figure of Rs 5,700 crore. Equally
importantly for farmers, the Mayawati administration has ensured that,
in another departure from the past, mills do not delay farmer
payments.

Till about five years ago, cane arrears of 50% was the norm, says
Lucknow University professor Sudhir Panwar who is also the president
of Kisan Jagriti Manch, a grouping of farmers. Sugar mills would
challenge the SAP fixed by the state government in court, and hold
back payments to farmers. "Cane arrears have reduced in the last three
or four years," says Panwar.

"Payments are mostly on time, though a few issues remain." Even for
the ongoing season, the Eastern UP Sugar Mills Association challenged
the SAP in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, terming it
"unreasonably high". On February 10, the court ruled the SAP was
"neither excessive nor unreasonable", and fined the petitioners Rs 50
lakh.

A senior official of a private sugar mill, speaking on the condition
of anonymity, alleges the Mayawati administration forced companies to
start their mills earlier than usual.

The crushing season is usually from end-November to mid-March,
extending latest till the first week of April. "They wanted farmers to
start encashing their crops as the election momentum picked up," he
says. "This has led to a lower amount of sugar being extracted from
cane."

Mayawati versus Mulayam

The hostility felt by private sugar mills towards the Mayawati
administration is a contrast to the generosity of the Mulayam regime.
A 2004 scheme gave liberal incentives - like capital subsidy, entry
tax exemption, and reimbursement of transport cost, stamp duty,
registration charges and purchase tax - for 5-10 years to companies
investing above Rs 350 crore in new sugar capacity.
/photo.cms?msid=11968930

Biggies like Balrampur Chini Mills and Bajaj Hindusthan rushed in. For
example, Bajaj Hindusthan, whose entire sugar business is in UP,
increased its capacity five-fold, with Mulayam even inaugurating some
of those plants.

However, soon after taking over in May 2007, the Mayawati
administration scrapped the scheme, that too with retrospective
effect, saying the policy was not comprehensive and that certain
incentives were not needed. In one stroke, in the state where vendetta
politics run high, Mayawati had demolished whatever Mulayam had
created.

Sugar mills were left saddled with new capacity, with deteriorating
economics. This was to prove just the first of many flashpoints
between the Mayawati administration and sugar mills. Last December,
the state government lodged FIRs against top executives of a few sugar
companies operating in the state for alleged under-weighing of cane.

The executives charged included Bajaj Hindusthan chairman Shishir
Bajaj and MD Kushagra Bajaj, Balrampur Chinni Mills chairman Vivek
Saraogi, and Triveni group MD Dhruv Mohan Sawhney. The executives
approached the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, which has
stayed any government action against the millers.

The private mill official quoted earlier says governments arm-twist
companies to pay up. "Politicians see us as easy targets and party
funders," he says. "If you try to avoid, they come down on you like a
ton of bricks. They file FIRs, seize sugar stocks, stop distilleries
from functioning, and more."

All four industry officials that ET spoke to expressed anger and
frustration that they neither have control on the input or the output
side. "State governments, at times, do not fix the SAP in a
transparent manner and act arbitrarily, which leads to a situation
where either the miller or the farmer takes a hit," says Verma of
ISMA.

/photo.cms?msid=11968937

/photo.cms?msid=11968939

/photo.cms?msid=11968940

The Lucknow HC, on February 10, conceded this point while dismissing
the plea of a sugar mills association that the SAP for 2011-12 was
high. "There appears to be no uniform principle adopted by the
government with regard to fixation of cane price," it observed in its
judgment. "SAP should be linked to input price and the consumer price
index," says Professor Panwar of Lucknow University.

What makes it worse is that mills have to hand 10% of their produce at
60-65% of the market price to the government public distribution
scheme (PDS) and they don't have the freedom to export sugar. "How can
we pay high cane price and not be allowed to sell our produce (sugar)
at market rates?" he says. "Every commodity explores its own market
price, except sugar, which has seen repeated government intervention
to keep it subdued."

Mayawati versus Congress

In terms of return on political capital, the government intervention
is seen another way. The Rs 16,000 crore that UP sugar mills will pay
cane farmers this year is about four times the state's Rs 3,600 crore
labour outlay of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(NREGS), which is credited with the Congress Party's improved showing
in the state in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

"It (higher cane prices) was a clever and ingenious way to woo the
farmers, and it cost the state exchequer next to nothing," says
Professor Panwar.

The impact of the higher cane payouts is pronounced and visible. For
example, Parmanand Shukla of Razaganj village in Lakhimpur Kheri
district has moved on from a Maruti Alto to a Mahindra Xylo.

Mahindra & Mahindra even opened a dealership in the district in
October 2011. "There was some consideration whether it would be a wise
expansion, but sales have crossed expectations," says Arun Malhotra,
senior VP, sales and customer care, Mahindra & Mahindra.

Malhotra says his company is seeing greater sales growth in rural and
semi-urban areas in UP than its cities. S Sivakumar of ITC adds that
economic growth in villages of western and central UP - both sugarcane
belts - has been good in the recent past.

"Higher incomes are fuelling consumption in many segments such as
packaged consumer goods, farm inputs, mobile phones, and two- and
four- wheelers, says the divisional chief executive of ITC's
agri-business division. "Many farmers now send their children to
better schools in nearby towns." All this has helped Mayawati claim
the high ground in sugar - for now. It's a place coveted in UP
politics.

When Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi first took charge of the
party's campaign in UP in the run up to the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,
he raised two issues: the state of drought-hit Bundelkhand, a
stronghold of Mayawati's party, and the condition of the sugarcane
farmer.

In November 2009, thousands of farmers, led by the late farmer leader
Mahendra Singh Tikait and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh,
gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against a new Centre
pricing mechanism they feared would give them less.

Within hours, Gandhi met the Prime Minister, and the Centre announced
it would not go ahead with any proposal cane farmers were against. The
Congress had since tried to blunt Mayawati by entering into a poll
alliance with Ajit Singh of RLD, which has sizeable influence in
Western UP; Singh was made the Union civil-aviation minister in
December 2011.

Professor Panwar says Mayawati's record on cane prices will be a
factor this elections, but not the only one. Agrees Rajpal Singh, a
23-year-old student in Shahjahanpur, whose family grows cane on 70
bighas. "Our families are much better off than they were earlier, but
it's not entirely Mayawati's doing," he says.

"Farmers, especially in western UP, are getting increasingly assertive
and demanding a fair deal. Look at anti-land acquisition protests in
western UP, especially in Tappal, Bhatta and Parsaul, and how farmers
opposed the government." Panwar feels farmer unity is taking a new
shape over the last year or so.

"They have now started uniting under a non-political platform to raise
issues concerning their farm, as the realisation has dawned on them
that political parties easily divide them on caste lines," he says.
And some part of the empowerment can be attributed to the way Mayawati
has dealt with sugar prices.

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[ZESTCaste] Cong is responsible for Muslim community’s backwardness: Maya

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Cong-is-responsible-for-Muslim-communitys-backwardness-Maya/articleshow/11969603.cms

Cong is responsible for Muslim community's backwardness: Maya
TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 02.35AM IST

HATHRAS: BSP supremo and UP chief minister Mayawati while slamming the
Congress party for its conspiracy of providing reservation to the
Muslims by out of the backward reservation quota said that Congress
itself is responsible for the backwardness of the Muslim community.
"After the country's independence, the Congress, which remained in
power for more than four decades, did not formulate policies and
programmes for the betterment of the Muslims. Now, at the time of
election, they are being befooled in the name of giving them 9%
reservation," alleged Mayawati.

Muslims know very well that Congress is again using them as vote bank,
she added. Addressing an election meeting on Monday, the BSP chief
also charged the Congress, BJP and their allies of hatching a
conspiracy to infringe upon the constitutional rights of the dalits by
ending the provision of reservation given to the SC/ST categories by
the Constitution. The BSP will never allow these parties to succeed in
their designs under any circumstances, she warned.

Reminding the people about the `jungle raj' of the Samajwadi Party
(SP) government in UP, Mayawati cautioned the people to remain alert
while casting their votes because if SP came to power, the goondas and
mafias would raise their heads again.

The BSP government, she said, had dealt the SP goons with an iron hand
and put the anti-social elements in jail. She also asked the people to
ensure the defeat of the BJP candidates in the assembly election
because if it came to power, it would implement its communal and
fascist agenda and minorities, particularly Muslims would suffer the
most.

Attacking the Congress on the issue of corruption Mayawati said that
62 scams of Rs 20 lakh crore took place in the Congress-led UPA
government at the Centre. She asked why the party was not uttering a
single word on graft and price-rise in its regime. Enumerating the
achievements of the BSP government, Mayawati said that the opposition
parties were making hue and cry over the law and order situation in UP
but the fact is that the law and order is far better in UP in
comparison to the states ruled by the Congress and the BJP.

"The BSP has given the best government to the 'sarva samaj', it
improved the power situation in the state, increased the cane prices
from Rs 125 per quintal to Rs 250 per quintal and formulated schemes
for the all-round development of villages and cities".

She has appealed to the people not to get misled by the opposition
parties' propaganda and ensure victory of the BSP candidates with a
thumping majority in the light of the works done by the government.

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[ZESTCaste] Once an ardent Maya fan, now 25 and a Samajwadi Party candidate

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/once-an-ardent-maya-fan-now-25-and-a-sp-candidate/914513/

Once an ardent Maya fan, now 25 and a Samajwadi Party candidate
Manish Sahu Posted online: Tue Feb 21 2012, 03:45 hrs
Lucknow : At 25, Kiran Ramesh Chandra Jatav might possibly be the
youngest candidate in the UP elections. And by that age, she has
already been let down by a party she once idolised and gone on to join
another.

Kiran, a postgraduate in political science, and her Dalit family used
to be ardent BSP supporters and admirers of Mayawati. That changed in
2008, after Kiran arrived in Lucknow hoping to meet Mayawati and
complain that the district administration had refused pensions to
about 250 women of her Lala Mohammadpur village in Meerut.

She was denied access to Mayawati. She started a dharna in front of
the Assembly and was sent to jail. It was the Samajwadi Party that
intervened and arranged legal help for her release 15 days later.

She has been dedicated to the SP since, participating in its
programmes. The party has now fielded her from Hapur, a seat held by
the BSP.

"The party cleared my name last May," she says. "In my speeches, I
tell people I will be their postwoman and raise their issues in the
Assembly."

Kiran, daughter of Shyam Kor Devi and Ramesh Chandra, who works as a
guard, is the youngest of six children, four of them girls. Hapur
being 25km from home, she has rented a house to run her campaign.

Her first tryst with politics came when she was visiting her sister
Suneeta in Meerut in 2008. Some elderly women approached her, hoping
that she, being educated, could help them get their pensions. She
helped 250 women fill up forms but "the social welfare officer
wouldn't accept them, saying they didn't have the funds".

When the district magistrate too pleaded helplessness, she sat on a
fast, calling it off four days later when officials promised to hold a
camp within three days. At the camp, however, all but seven of the
forms were rejected.

That October, Kiran set off on a bicycle procession to Lucknow and met
the OSD to the CM. The latter assured a solution in 15 days, the
police sent her back to Meerut, and the deadline passed.

As Kiran kept on staging dharnas, her elders frequently scolded her
and she started living with her sister in Meerut. In December, she set
off on a padyatra to meet the CM and reached Lucknow in a fortnight.
Before arresting them for the dharna outside the Assembly, she
alleges, the police beat them up.

It was after their release 15 days later that she learnt about the
legal assistance arranged by Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh.
She met and thanked Mulayam, and was soon participating in party
events.

Once, she tied a rakhi to Akhilesh's wrist. "The purpose was to drive
home the point that Yadavs and Jatavs can come on the same platform,"
she says.

The ticket came after she had applied forone, on the advice of a
senior SP leader. And the elders in her family, who were once angry
about her agitations, are now joyfully helping in the campaign.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya questions Cong's silence on graft, price rise

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayawati-attacks-congress-on-corruption/914404/

Maya questions Cong's silence on graft, price rise
Agencies Posted online: Mon Feb 20 2012, 15:56 hrs
Hathras : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday attacked the
Congress on the issue of corruption asking why the party was not
uttering a single word on graft and price rise.

"The Congress is not uttering a word on corruption and price rise in
its regime. If you all made a mistake while exercising franchise, you
all have to face life of insult and hooliganism," she said while
addressing an election meeting.

Attacking the Congress for defaming her government on the issue of
corruption, Mayawati alleged 62 scams of Rs 20 lakh crore took place
in the Congress-led government at the Centre. Promising to provide
24-hour electricity, Mayawati said contrary to Oppositions' claim, BSP
would get absolute majority in the state.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati is scared of Rahul: Congress

http://www.timesnow.tv/Mayawati-is-scared-of-Rahul-Congress/articleshow/4396308.cms

Mayawati is scared of Rahul: Congress
21 Feb 2012, 0938 hrs IST, TIMES NOW
Rahul Gandhi's Kanpur road show ran into trouble with an FIR being
registered against Rahul and 40 others. The congress is standing by
its leader saying he didn't flout any norms even as the BJP accuses
Rahul of deliberately challenging the Election commission.

It was this road show of the Gandhi scion that ran into massive
trouble when an fir was slapped against Rahul and 40 others for
deviating from the set route.

The road show became the latest political flashpoint giving the
opposition the chance to tear into the congress over this incident and
the spate of violations in the recent past.

A political blame game is what ensued with the congress hitting out at
the Mayawati government, continuing to staunchly support Rahul.

But all eyes are on the Election Commission now as their action and
decision on not one but 3 congress leaders and one ally will determine
their tough posturing.

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[ZESTCaste] UP elections: Mayawati set to hold a mega rally in Agra today

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/up-elections-mayawati-set-to-hold-a-mega-rally-in-agra-today/articleshow/11973969.cms

21 Feb, 2012, 11.16AM IST, IANS
UP elections: Mayawati set to hold a mega rally in Agra today

AGRA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is set to hold a mega
rally in Agra Tuesday, one of the biggest during the seven-phased
assembly elections.

People from distant places have already started inching towards the
Kothi Meena Bazar ground in the Shah Ganj area in a dazzling display
of power and influence in the Dalit capital of northern India.

"More than what she says, it will be the turnout that will be
demonstrative of her hold on the voters of the party," said activist
Naresh Paras about Mayawati, who is also the chief of the ruling
Bahujan Samaj Party that champions the cause of Dalits.

Preparations have been going on for the past three days with stage and
sound engineers from Lucknow specially summoned to execute the event
in style.

Agra's traffic schedule has been changed for the day with heavy
vehicles being diverted from the city's life line, the Mahatma Gandhi
Road. A helipad close to the stage is ready and the whole ground gives
the impression of a blue ocean with banners, flags and cut-outs.

Agra goes to polls Feb 28 in the penultimate round of the polls. All
parties are now totally concentrating on western Uttar Pradesh, which
could decide who will rule the state.

The Congress held road shows with actors Raveena Tandon and Sanjay
Dutt Monday evening. Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh
Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh are scheduled to
address a series of meetings in the next few days, intensifying
campaigning.

The rallies of the BJP and the joint rally of the Congress and RLD in
the past week have been rather unimpressive in terms of crowd
mobilisation.

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[ZESTCaste] BSP will do better than last time: Mayawati (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeX43U6b_BM

BSP will do better than last time: Mayawati

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati Not Anti-Brahmins, Says Satish Mishra

http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/India/Mayawati_Not_Anti_Brahmins_Says_Satish_Mishra-14397.html

Mayawati Not Anti-Brahmins, Says Satish Mishra
PTI [ Updated 19 Feb 2012, 08:25:34 ]

Ghaziabad, Feb 19 : Claiming party chief Mayawati was not
anti-Brahmin, BSP general secretary Satish Mishra on Saturday said the
perception about UP chief minister was created by "miscreants" to
confuse the community.

"Some miscreants have created confusion in the minds of Brahmin voters
by saying that Mayawati is anti Brahmin, but it is wrong and she has
proved that she regards all castes, including Brahmins and Baniyas,"
Mishra said at an election meeting in Vaishali colony here.

He said all parties were criticising the chief minister for building
statues, but Dalits favoured it. "Today all other parties are harping
against Mayawati for spending money on statues but Dalits favoured
it," he said.

The BSP leader claimed Mayawati was the only chief minister in UP
after independence who has completed five years term because she gave
good administration and all-round development to the state.

During Mulayam Singh's tenure, it was goonda raj, but now it is known
as better raj, Mishra said. He said the decision of the election
commission to cover the statues of Mayawati and elephants had
benefitted the CM as it was not liked by poor voters.

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Re: [ZESTCaste] Stark pictorial tribute to Jotiba Phule

I congratulate you for bringing the book on Fuley. I do not agree to the statement that Fuley was Hindu. He derided Hindu religion and how still he can be called Hindu? He founded "Sarvajanik Satya Dharma" (Religion based on Common Truth) to counter Hinduism. In all his life he was against Hindu ideology. He was also for multy religion family. He said in a single family the members can adopt different religions like Christain, Islam, Buddha or Sikhism. He did not mention Hinduism.

--- On Thu, 16/2/12, Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com>
Subject: [ZESTCaste] Stark pictorial tribute to Jotiba Phule
To: "zestcaste" <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, 16 February, 2012, 7:59 AM

http://news.in.msn.com/exclusives/it/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5849746

Updated: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:33:56 GMT | By Gillian Wright, India Today
Stark pictorial tribute to Jotiba Phule
Pictorial biography of the Phules who saw education as an antidote to
caste conflict

This startling black and white graphic book is the latest offering
from Navayana, India's first and only publishing house to focus
exclusively on the issue of caste from an anti-caste perspective.
Navayana means New Vehicle, and it was the word that Ambedkar chose to
give to the new school of Indian Buddhists-those who, like him,
renounced the caste system by renouncing Hinduism altogether. Of the
two founders of the Navayana publishing house, one was elected as a
Dalit Panthers MLA to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, and the other is a
former journalist. On their website they invite manuscripts on caste
issues, and this welcoming attitude must have encouraged Srividya
Natarajan and Aparajita Ninan as they created this pictorial biography
of the 19th century Maharashtrian social reformer Jotiba Phule and his
wife Savitribai.

Jotiba Phule had great ambitions for the Sudras and Ati-Sudras, and
saw equal rights to education for all as the means to fulfil those
ambitions. He and his wife ran schools, and stood up not just for
widow remarriage but for a wide range of women's rights. However,
Phule probably never imagined that he and Savitribai would become such
potent symbols in 21st century India for the sections of society they
represented. All over the country, educational institutions are coming
up in their names. I saw one of them beside the highway from Jaipur to
Delhi-the site for a Mahatma Jotiba Phule University.

This book clearly reveals why he and Savitribai, whom he married when
she was just eight years old, were so remarkable and why they remain
such potent symbols today. The title A Gardener in the Wasteland
refers to the fact that they belonged to the Mali caste and spent
their lives trying to clear the wasteland of caste and grow a healthy
society. Their opponents in Maharashtra were the Brahmins, depicted in
the book as hairy, heavily moustached thugs in dhotis, whom Phule
believed had used religion to enslave other castes, especially the
lower castes and untouchables. To fight back, Phule, who himself
suffered oppression, used the pen. In his writings he ridiculed the
scriptures that he was convinced were created as instruments of
enslavement. Ninan and Natarajan's lively pictures illustrate his
spirited and rational demolition of the Vedas, the Puranas, and the
Laws of Manu. For Phule, Parashuram was a genocidal maniac and Vamana
a deceiver and slimebag who destroyed the golden age of Bali. Phule
mocks Brahma's giving birth to the four varnas by arguing that this
meant he had vaginas in his mouth, arms, groin and legs and would have
spent most of the month menstruating.

Natarajan and Ninan also explain why he did not feel any sympathy for
the leaders of the nascent freedom movement. He owed his own education
to a Scotsman and drew inspiration for his cause from the emancipation
of slaves in the United States. He could have had little hope of
justice from any caste Hindu-led organisation.

It's not only the illustrations in this book that are black and white.
The story too is one of stark opposites. The authors admit that in a
graphic book they cannot include all the nuances and details of this
courageous and determined couple's life. For example, although Phule
derided Brahmanism, he remained a Hindu and is said to have adopted a
boy who happened to be a Brahmin. But they can inspire their readers
to try and understand the world from the perspectives of those who
have been underdogs for centuries.

Source:

www.indiatoday.in

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