Latest News Update: Mar 8, 2012

Thursday, March 8, 2012

[ZESTCaste] From Bhatta Parsaul to Dalit homes, Rahul, party lost in all

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-bhatta-parsaul-to-dalit-homes-rahul-party-l.../921057/

From Bhatta Parsaul to Dalit homes, Rahul, party lost in all

Ravish Tiwari Posted online: Wed Mar 07 2012, 02:08 hrs
New Delhi : Most issues picked up by Rahul Gandhi and his senior
Congress leaders during the UP elections appear to have been rejected
comprehensively by the electorate relegating the party to a distant
fourth with 28 seats. The party, which had led in 95 assembly segments
during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, won only nine of those today.

Consider:

* Rahul supported the farmers' agitation at Bhatta Parsaul in Jewar
assembly segment. Congress fielded Dhirendra Singh, a brick kiln owner
who shot to limelight for getting Rahul to sneak into Bhatta Parsaul
despite prohibitory orders. Singh lost to the BSP candidate by over
9,000 votes. But in Tappal in nearby Khair (SC), where farmers and
police clashed, Rahul gave the seat to the RLD which defeated the BSP
by 40,000 votes.

* Rahul went on a padyatra from Bhatta Parsaul to Aligarh where he
held a farmers' mahapanchayat. In both Aligarh and adjoining Koil
Assembly segments, Congress lost to SP.

* In Azamgarh, Salman Khurshid claimed that Sonia Gandhi wept after
seeing the pictures of the Batla House encounter. Of the 10 Assembly
segments in the district, the Congress failed to win even one while SP
won nine and BSP one.

* In Farrukhabad, Khurshid, campaigning for his wife Louise, took on
the EC on the subject of Muslim quotas. His colleague Beni Prasad
Verma, too, underlined this. The Congress failed to win even one of
the four Assembly segments here, SP won three. Khurshid's wife ranked
fifth.

* Union Coal Minister and Congress MP from Kanpur Sri Prakash Jaiswal
threatened President's rule in the state if the Congress didn't get
the numbers — a view echoed by Rahul Gandhi, too. In three of the five
Assembly segments in Kanpur city, the BJP won; one went to SP, the
Congress got only one.

* As per some bizarre post-caste logic, Rahul told the world that Sam
Pitroda belonges to carpenter caste during a rally of backward classes
in Ramabai Nagar. Congress did not win a single seat in Ramabai Nagar.

* Rahul made a big show of tearing up the list of promises of
Opposition parties to woo voters in Lucknow. Congress won the Lucknow
Cantt seat among the nine seats in Lucknow, SP won seven.

* Rahul began his travel to Dalit homes from a village in the
Mauranipur assembly segment of Bundelkhand. The Mauranipur assembly
segment went to the SP and the Congress candidate was relegated to
fourth place.

* He formally launched his UP election campaign from Phulpur, the
erstwhile constituency of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the birth
anniversary of Nehru last year. His speech here became the template
for the over 200 rallies he held. The SP won the Phulpur seat, the
Congress came fifth.

* Team Rahul made much of a strategy to poach into Mayawati's Dalit
votes through Rahul's "personal touch" and a high-power team led by
ex-Mayawati aide P L Punia. The Congress won only five of the 85
constituencies reserved for SC candidates.

* On February 4 in Mehdawal, Sant Kabir Nagar district, Rahul first
announced that he would not tie up with SP. He didn't need to.
Mehdawal has gone to SP and Peace Party won another seat in the
district, the Congress has drawn a blank.

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[ZESTCaste] Samajwadi Party's 'cycle of violence' continues, Dalit women, children beaten up

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/2-injured-in-community-clash/972534.html

Samajwadi Party's 'cycle of violence' continues, Dalit women, children beaten up

Anant Zanane, Updated: March 09, 2012 12:11 IST

Lucknow: The revelry is yet to abate, the new Samajwadi Party
government is yet to be formed. Indeed, even the new Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister has not been decided upon and what would be Akhilesh
Yadav's worst nightmares, have come to haunt. In the aftermath of a
spectacular electoral win, there have been several incidents of
violence in the state and most, reportedly, involve SP workers.

Throughout the much-feted campaign that won him UP and in his
thanksgiving, Akhilesh Yadav emphasised that law and order was his
party's one big agenda. He promised UP freedom from "Goonda Raj" and
said, "We will deal with an iron hand with SP workers who indulge in
goondaism and violence." Three days later, he has those "iron hands"
full already.

On Holi, a BSP village pradhan, Munna Lal, a Dalit, was brutally
murdered in Mansukhpura Agra; six assailants stormed into his house,
ransacked it, and then repeatedly stabbed Munna Lal with a spear till
he died. They were all allegedly Samajwadi Party workers. No arrests
have been made yet.

Over the last three days, Dalits have been soft tarThe revelry is yet
to abate, the new Samajwadi Party government is yet to be formed.
Indeed, even the new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has not been decided
upon and what would be Akhilesh Yadav's worst nightmares, have come to
haunt. In the aftermath of a spectacular electoral win, there have
been several incidents of violence in the state and most, reportedly,
involve SP workers.

Dalits in Sitapur say their homes were burnt by alleged SP supporters
because they supported an independent candidate. In Balia, five women
and children were allegedly beaten by SP workers because people from
their village voted for the Janata Dal United candidate.

In Firozabad, supporters of an SP candidate who lost, blocked the
highway to show their disappointment. On Tuesday, even as the SP's top
leaders were thanking UP for the gift of 224 seats, an unruly mob of
SP supporters attacked and cornered journalists in Jhansi till
Akhilesh Yadav had to intervene.

Then, a former BSP minister Ram Achal Rajbhar's son Sanjay Rajbhar
opened fire at villagers in Ambedkarnagar after he landed in the
village to confront those who had not voted for him. Two villagers
were injured and an angry mob later put fire to Sanjay Rajbhar's cars
and a rice mill owned by the former minister.

All this is bad news for Yadav Junior, who resurrected the political
fortunes of the Samajwadi Party with that image make-over that had at
its core a promise that the SP was no more the "party of goons" that
its political rivals still insist it is.

Mayawati has declared that she is grabbing ringside seats to watch
what she promises will be an era of lawlessness in the state that she
ruled for the last five years before she was given marching orders by
voters this week. Uma Bharti of the BJP said, "If you remember you had
asked me earlier how I felt when I got to know that SP was in the lead
during counting, I had said that I felt sorry for the people. I felt
worried about what would happen to the state. SP has always been a
criminal party and they propagate violence. The incidents that
happened are worrisome."

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[ZESTCaste] 2 days after, no end to SP goondaism

http://bit.ly/AffgO7

2 days after, no end to SP goondaism
DNA Correspondent
March 9, 9:45 IST

Lucknow: Incidents of violence involving Samajwadi Party (SP) workers
show no signs of abating. The incidents which started soon after SP
posted a huge win in the UP assembly election on Tuesday, continued on
Thursday raising serious doubts over repeated statements by the
party's youth icon Akhilesh Yadav that 'goondaism' would not be
tolerated. In fact, it was precisely because of the severe law and
order problem during the last SP regime that the party was booted out
of power in 2007.

SP workers indulged in firing and brick-batting in Bimbiya village of
Reusa area in Sitapur district on Thursday. They later set several
huts afire. A local police official told reporters that the workers
were supporters of the local SP candidate who had won. Six people were
injured in the incident. The attackers allegedly beat up these people
in Reusa and set their huts afire, charging them with voting for
another candidate. A case has been registered against 12 miscreants,
while two of the attackers have been arrested.

In the Gangu Nangla village of Garh Mukteshwar in Panch Sheel Nagar
district of west UP, SP workers damaged a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar.
They were also reported to have beaten up several Dalit supporters of
the BSP in an election-related dispute.

In Agra, the husband of the 'pradhan' of Parvatipura village falling
in Bah assembly constituency was killed in election-related enmity. A
number of SP workers are alleged to have been involved in the murder.
In another incident, SP workers damaged huts belonging to Dalits in
Bhadohi in eastern UP. Reports reaching here said the dispute was
related to the recently concluded election.

The disturbances had, in fact, broken out at several places in UP on
Tuesday evening soon after it became clear that the SP had bagged a
comfortable majority on its own.

The first incident was reported from Sambhal in Bhimnagar district of
western UP where rejoicing SP workers indulged in indiscriminate
celebratory firing in which a seven-year-old boy was killed.

In Jhansi, rampaging SP workers damaged government property at a
counting centre in Babina area. The party men were upset over a
technical snag in the EVMs. SP workers damaged media cameras and held
over a dozen journalists hostage for several hours.

SP workers agitated over the loss of a candidate in Ferozabad blocked
traffic on National Highway-2 and indulged in stone-pelting. Police
had to fire tear gas shells to quell the mob. One person was killed in
the incident.

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[ZESTCaste] Haryana: Jat agitators to block roads to Delhi?

http://zeenews.india.com/news/haryana/haryana-jat-agitators-to-block-roads-to-delhi_762819.html

Haryana: Jat agitators to block roads to Delhi?
Last Updated: Friday, March 09, 2012, 09:06

Haryana: Jat agitators to block roads to Delhi? Zeenews Bureau

Hisar: Jat agitators seeking reservation in government jobs for the
community in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category have threatened
to intensify their stir if the demand was not met.

The agitators yesterday had served an ultimatum asking Haryana's Hooda
government to unconditionally release by Friday all those who had been
taken into custody during the movement.

All India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti, which is spearheading the
protests, yesterday said they will give the government time till
Friday afternoon to act after which they will intensify their stir and
block all the roads to Delhi and other parts besides launching their
agitation in other parts of the country.

Hisar, located 155 kms from the national capital, had been virtually
under a siege y the protesters demanding OBC quota.

District authorities in Hisar in Haryana called in the Army on
Wednesday after agitators set a police station on fire and ransacked
and damaged a bank and its ATM in escalated violence following the
death of a youth in police firing on Tuesday.

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[ZESTCaste] Jat agitation: Protestors serve ultimatum

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jat-agitation-Protestors-serve-ultimatum/articleshow/12187357.cms

Jat agitation: Protestors serve ultimatum
PTI | Mar 8, 2012, 06.14PM IST

HISAR (Haryana): The agitating Jats, demanding job quota for them,
today served an ultimatum asking Haryana government to unconditionally
release by tomorrow all those who had been taken into custody during
the movement and threatened to intensify their stir if the demand was
not met.

"The government should order release of all those Jat protesters who
had been taken into custody two days ago," Jitender Chattar of All
India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti said here.

He said they will give the government time till tomorrow afternoon to
act after which they will intensify their stir and block all the roads
to Delhi and other parts besides launching their agitation in other
parts of the country.

Hisar, located 155 km from the national capital, had been virtually
come under a siege of the protesters demanding OBC quota.

Meanwhile, Delhi-Hisar highway which had remained blocked yesterday
opened to road traffic.

The district administration had yesterday ordered closure of all
educational institutions for three days.

Security forces had conducted a flag march here last evening as Hisar
remained on the boil. Uneasy calm prevailed in the district today.

At Garhi village near here, mobs smashed window panes of trucks
triggering a major jam on national highway last evening. The
protesters had placed tree trunks on roads at some places.

Jats are seeking reservation in government jobs for the community in
OBC category and have accused Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda of "going back on promises" in this regard.

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[ZESTCaste] Meet Mary Madiga – our new Dalit blogger from India

http://panos.org.uk/2012/03/07/meet-mary-madiga-our-new-dalit-blogger-from-india/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-mary-madiga-our-new-dalit-blogger-from-india

Meet Mary Madiga – our new Dalit blogger from India
Mary Madiga, a Dalit activist from India - Stella Paul | Panos London

Panos London would like to introduce Mary Madiga as the newest
contributor to our Voices from the Ground blog. Mary Madiga, 39, is a
Dalit social activist in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh
state in southern India.

Dalit, which literally means "the downtrodden", refers to a group of
communities who are considered as socially "backward" (an official
Indian government term of categorisation) and "impure" by non-Dalit
communities.

As part of the caste system, identified in particular with Hinduism,
they are considered the lowest rank, which is why many Dalit families
have converted to Buddhism and Christianity in the past few decades.
Despite this, they still continue to be seen as Dalit and are treated
as "untouchable" and "polluting" even after converting.

Whether in the government or the private sector, Dalits are offered
the lowly jobs like sweeping, cleaning roads and drains,
waste-collection, skinning of animals etc. In most places in India,
they are barred from entering temples and are not allowed to share
food and drinks with non-Dalit people. The constitution of India has
given special status and guaranteed special facilities such as quotas
in government jobs in order to place them at a par with non-Dalit
communities. But little has changed at the community level where the
majority of the Dalits still live in utter poverty, with little
education as other communities refuse to treat them as equals.

Mary Madiga fights against this continuous ill-treatment of her
community. Mary was born into a family of cobblers – considered one of
the lowest professions in the society as they work with leather, the
skin of dead animals, which is considered polluting. Girls in the
community had never been educated.

Mary was the first girl in her community to go to school and has risen
to the level of a firebrand social activist who relentlessly campaigns
for Dalit people's rights to education, work, land and participation
in the political process.

Since Mary cannot write in English, her experiences will be recounted,
in her own words, by Indian journalist Stella Paul, who will meet up
with Mary once a week to hear what she has been doing.

Stella said that she wanted to interview Mary because she is an
amazing example of how an ordinary woman can rise as a leader, despite
living in abject poverty and experiencing utter humiliation, physical
abuse and discrimination as a Dalit woman.

Stella writes: "In rural Andhra Pradesh, each year scores of Dalit
youths join the armed Naxalite movement to avenge the social and
political injustice they experience. Mary has also undergone a lot of
humiliation and abuse all through her life; she was even jailed and
tortured for seeking a better status for Dalit people. Yet her faith
in the constitution has remained unshaken and instead of taking the
path of armed revolution, she firmly stands on the path of democracy
and fights for social justice through peaceful means."

After working and fighting for various civil society organisations and
political parties, three years ago Mary founded an all Dalit women's
organisation called Telengana Mahajan Mahila Samity. The group works
to highlight and curb atrocities against Dalit youth and women and
police harassment of Dalit women. She organises street protests,
sit-in demonstrations and rallies and also encourages Dalit men and
women to exercise their rights by casting votes and participating in
elections. This makes her a true leader who stands for democracy and
peace in a land where ambushes, mine blasts and killings are features
of everyday life.

Panos London set up the Voices from the Ground blog to provide
first-hand accounts from local people in developing countries whose
lives are affected by the Millennium Development Goals.

Mary joins Bhan Sahu, a grassroots social activist in Chhattisgarh
state in central India, "Ambra" (Takhelchangbam Ambravati), a
grassroots volunteer with a local NGO near Imphal, the capital of
Manipur in northeast India, Maimoona Shahzadi, a teacher in a rural
school in Pakistan and Kaidia Samake, a widow who lives in a village
in Mali.

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[ZESTCaste] Routed in state polls, India's ruling party now a virtual lame duck for final 2 years of term

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/f02a8c62cc684a49939271cf01583275/AS--India-Elections/

Routed in state polls, India's ruling party now a virtual lame duck
for final 2 years of term

MUNEEZA NAQVI Associated Press
First Posted: March 06, 2012 - 11:35 pm
Last Updated: March 07, 2012 - 11:01 am

NEW DELHI — India's ruling party needed a series of state election
victories to reinvigorate its scandal-plagued government. The drubbing
it received instead has crippled its ability to enact urgent reforms
or act decisively, leaving the Congress party a virtual lame duck over
the final two years of its term.

The most damaging results came from India's most populous state of
Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress party's star campaigner and prime
minister-in-waiting Rahul Gandhi had canvassed for months. The party's
hopes of tripling their presence from a paltry 22 in a 403-strong
assembly were dashed as it won only 28 seats. The results from three
out four other states were dismal, too.

"This is bad news for the Congress. After being defensive for one and
half years on various scams, they had hoped the elections would turn
the mood around," Neerja Chowdhury, a political analyst said
Wednesday.

The embattled government has a tough two years ahead of it with
poverty still widespread, its economy suddenly cooling and a spate of
crucial — and controversial — legislation on its agenda. That includes
bills guaranteeing food for its poorest citizens, creating an
ombudsman to tackle endemic corruption and regulating the purchase of
farmland for development.

The government was already floundering before the election debacle as
senior ministers and officials faced corruption charges stemming from
scandals in the hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the sale of
cellphone spectrum that auditors said lost the country billions of
dollars.

Its own mercurial ally, Trinamool Congress that runs West Bengal
state, forced it to retreat from its plan to allow foreign companies
like Wal-Mart to own 51 percent of supermarket chains. That move had
been expected to spark infrastructure investment that would help fix
India's broken-down food distribution system.

The party tried to minimize the impact of the loss.

"I do not think the results will damage the UPA government," Congress'
president, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi told reporters in New Delhi on
Wednesday. The Congress-led alliance is called the United Progressive
Alliance.

But Congress's poor showing in the state polls is expected to put
every difficult decision on hold.

"Congress has been weakened at the center and any government in that
position is buffeted around that much more by its allies," said
Chowdhury. "They will try and extract their pound of flesh on every
initiative."

It had hoped that better numbers in Uttar Pradesh would make it
kingmaker in the state and give it more control over the state's
Samajwadi Party, a crucial but temperamental supporter of the national
government.

Instead the Samajwadi Party won by a massive margin, proving it
doesn't need Congress' help and gaining the ability to dictate to the
national government.
PHOTO: Congress party President Sonia Gandhi speaks to the media after
a party meeting to review the results of recently concluded state
elections, outside the party headquarters in New Delhi, India,
Wednesday, March 7, 2012. India's ruling party needed a series of
state election victories to reinvigorate its scandal-plagued
government. The drubbing it received instead has crippled its ability
to enact urgent reforms or act decisively, leaving the Congress party
a virtual lame duck over the final two years of its term. (AP Photo)
Congress party President Sonia Gandhi speaks to the media after a
party meeting to review the results of recently concluded state
elections, outside the party headquarters in New Delhi, India,
Wednesday, March 7, 2012. India's ruling party needed a series of
state election victories to reinvigorate its scandal-plagued
government. The drubbing it received instead has crippled its ability
to enact urgent reforms or act decisively, leaving the Congress party
a virtual lame duck over the final two years of its term. (AP Photo)

On every count the government has a daunting to-do list and very
little help to tackle its agenda.

India's economy grew at its slowest pace in over two years in the last
quarter, even as inflation remained stubbornly high. The government
has scaled back growth expectations to around 7 percent for the year
ending March, down from an earlier projection of 9 percent.

New Delhi is also struggling to plug an unwieldy fiscal deficit, which
economists predict will exceed the target of 4.6 percent of GDP by a
percentage point or more.

Political gridlock has dampened business sentiment in India, which has
been trying to revive stalled investment to kickstart growth. Many had
been anticipating the March 16 budget announcement with high hopes
that the government would take clear steps to rein in spending and
reinvigorate its stalled economic reform agenda.

Now economists fear that the budget may end up being too soft as the
government scrambles to keep its hopes alive for the 2014 national
elections.

"Having taken a big beating the Congress-led government may try to
push through an overly populist budget," said Samiran Chakraborty, an
economist at Standard Chartered.

In July the country will elect a new president, a post currently
occupied by Pratibha Patil, a Congress party loyalist. The position of
the Indian president is largely ceremonial, but it's vested with
powers that can be significant in times of political crisis.

This time around the Congress controls only about a third of the
electoral college of federal and state lawmakers who elect the
president and will be forced to negotiate with its powerful allies.

The issue of increased foreign investment in retail is likely to stay
on the back burner as are other important decisions like the setting
up of a National Counter Terrorism Center, an idea already criticized
by several state leaders as encroaching on their turf, both analysts
said.

"Every time a hard decision is to be taken they're likely to go into a
shell and stay there. The indecision is likely to continue," said
Chakraborty.

That indecision will also be at play in the 2014 elections where
regional parties, empowered by their victories at home, will likely
play an important role.

"It's too early to say how that will be reflected in national
politics, but it will definitely be a factor," Chowdhury said.

___

Associated Press Writer Erika Kinetz contributed to this report from Mumbai.

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[ZESTCaste] State election routs cripple India’s ruling party

http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-07/news/31132706_1_congress-party-ruling-party-sonia-gandhi

State election routs cripple India's ruling party
March 07, 2012|Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press

India's ruling party needed a series of state election victories to
reinvigorate its scandal-plagued government. The drubbing it received
instead has crippled its ability to enact urgent reforms or act
decisively, leaving the Congress party a virtual lame duck over the
final two years of its term.

"This is bad news for the Congress. After being defensive for one and
half years on various scams, they had hoped the elections would turn
the mood around,'' Neerja Chowdhury, a political analyst said
Wednesday.

The party tried to minimize the impact of the loss.

"I do not think the results will damage the UPA government,''
Congress' president, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi told reporters in New
Delhi on Wednesday. The Congress-led alliance is called the United
Progressive Alliance.

But Congress's poor showing in the state polls is expected to put
every difficult decision on hold.

"Congress has been weakened at the center and any government in that
position is buffeted around that much more by its allies,'' said
Chowdhury. "They will try and extract their pound of flesh on every
initiative.''

Instead the Samajwadi Party won by a massive margin, proving it
doesn't need Congress' help and gaining the ability to dictate to the
national government.

On every count the government has a daunting to-do list and very
little help to tackle its agenda.

New Delhi is also struggling to plug an unwieldy fiscal deficit, which
economists predict will exceed the target of 4.6 percent of GDP by a
percentage point or more.

Now economists fear that the budget may end up being too soft as the
government scrambles to keep its hopes alive for the 2014 national
elections.

"Having taken a big beating the Congress-led government may try to
push through an overly populist budget,'' said Samiran Chakraborty, an
economist at Standard Chartered.

This time around the Congress controls only about a third of the
electoral college of federal and state lawmakers who elect the
president and will be forced to negotiate with its powerful allies.

"Every time a hard decision is to be taken they're likely to go into a
shell and stay there. The indecision is likely to continue,'' said
Chakraborty.

That indecision will also be at play in the 2014 elections where
regional parties, empowered by their victories at home, will likely
play an important role.

"It's too early to say how that will be reflected in national
politics, but it will definitely be a factor,'' Chowdhury said.

––

Associated Press Writer Erika Kinetz contributed to this report from Mumbai.

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