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Sunday, October 31, 2010

[ZESTCaste] An open letter to President Obama about dalits and tribal people in India

Dear friends,

I do not know if Indian media gave much publicity to, and whether it caught your attention, but on July 24 of 2007 the US Senate as well as House of Representatives passed a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should address the ongoing problem of untouchability in India. Well, Dr. A.K. Biswas did remember that resolution and would very much like to remind President Obama of the same. We have placed "An open letter to President Obama about dalits and tribal people in India" at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ToObama/

As you would note from the online Open Letter, realizing that these things take time, we propose to keep on reminding President Obama and the US Congress on July 24 of the next couple of years, anniversary dates of the well considered resolution passed by the Congress on July 24 of 2007, to review any follow up actions taken. In the mean time we will continue to invite more and more endorsements from across the globe sympathetic to the cause of dalit and tribal communities to complement the voice of voiceless.

Keeping the above in view, please sign the said online "Open Letter" and let us all try to collect thousands of endorsements to present to Obama not only when he is in India, but the next year as well as the year after with thousands more signature on the open letter. In this endeavor you can send letters to your friends and to other forums stating something to the effect:

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Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"An open letter to President Obama about dalits and tribal people in India" hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ToObama/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Best wishes,

----

Thanking you very much,

With best regards,

Satinath Choudhary

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[ZESTCaste] Buddha Dhamma Conference at Alapalli Dist Gadchiroli (India) on October 30-31, 2010. [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from Dr. Milind Jiwane included below]

Buddha Dhamma Conference at Alapalli Dist Gadchiroli (India) on October 30-31, 2010.

Dr Ambedkar Memorial Committee, Mahamaya Women's Committee, Nagsen
Buddha Vihar, Ramai Women's Committee, Sidharth Women's Committee jointly organized " Buddha Dhamma Conference" at Community Hall,
Alapalli, Tah. Aheri Dist Gadchiroli on 30-31 October 2010. on the
inauguration following dignitaries were participated
* Panchsheel Flag Hosting : Ven. H. Satyanand Thero
* Chairperson : Ven. Shantarakshit Mahathero
* Blessing : Ven. Rakhita Dhammo (Myanmar)
Ven. Payya Tissa ( Srilanka)
Ven. Sanghratna Manke (Japan)
Ven. H. Kashyapayan (England, UK)
* Inauguration : Hon. Prof. Pradeep Agalve
* Chief Guests : Dr. Milind Jiwane (Ashwaghosh Bddhists Foundation
Hon. Amar Ramteke ( Ambedkarite Drama Writer )
Hon. Rajabhau Taksande ( Ambedkarite Social leader)
Yours in the Dhamma,
Ven. Rajratna

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Attachment(s) from Dr. Milind Jiwane

1 of 1 Photo(s)

Dhamma Parishad Alapalli Dt. Gadchiroli on 30-32 October 2010 004.jpg

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Mr Obama's visit - sincere request to SC/ST officers in India

Dear SC/ST officers of India, especially from AP,
 
Please read this article and my humble request for you. Please allow me to take liberty in saying this.
 
We all know that Mr Obama is coming to India in November. Though I am not a great fan of him, it is the truth that he is the president of the most powerful nation in the world. He is able to influence if he really cares on any matter.
 
There is an euphoria of his coming to India. Media is agog about it. He is giving interviews of his great impressions of India, Gandhi and what not. How much he knew (or he pretends not know) of Dr Ambedkar, the real hero of the oppressed, the Dalits, and their sufferings. In the history, heroes are always needed for oppressed, not for already powerful.
 
The real Hero of India is Dr Ambedkar ( if one admits or not) as he struggled all through his life for the most oppressed and got them human dignity after centuries of discrimination - unlike Gandhi who said and never practiced what he preached with 100% commitment. Some may take objection to this statement, but that is the reality. While saying it I don't care what his limitations are as some try to defend.
 
I strongly feel, Mr Obama has to know more of Dr Ambedkar than Gandhi due to his background.
 
I don't care where he goes, what he does, and whom he pays homage to. But, I want him to know a bit about Dr Ambedkar and Dalits in this historic and much publicized tour.
 
I urge officers to see the possibility of meeting him and apprise him of the condition of Dalits. Please present him a good collection of books on Dr Ambedkar and Dalit situation and memorabilia.
 
Being in power, I feel, it is not impossible for SC/ST officers to have an opportunity with him, if good groundwork is done by the all-India cadre of SC/ST officers. After all, they are indispensable in every place he visits and in every meeting he attends.
 
I sincerely urge all officers in AP to work with their counter parts in Delhi, Mumbai and other places where he is supposed to visit or stay.
 
I wish him not to go without knowing much about Dr Ambedkar or Dalits as it was the case of Dr ML King. I do not want him wash his hands later saying that he did not know the real sufferings of Dalits in India during his presidency.
 
If doesn't care, it will be his fault. If we do not present our case, it will be our fault. 
So, urge, again and again, please do something collectively to meet Mr Obama during his visit to India. 
 
I doubt how far online petitions go. When we have a opportunity to present our case in person, why not try it out? If it doesn't work, so be it. Atleast we tried our best.
 
May I count on you to do something good to the suffering masses?
 
With regards
Ben Kaila
========================================================= 
 
http://www.newstate sman.com/ blogs/the- staggers/ 2010/10/india- caste-ambedkar- dalits

Being untouchable no longer

Posted by David Griffiths - 28 October 2010 12:36

Increasingly powerful voices in India are calling for a true end to
untouchability and discrimination based on caste.

Every day, Uma walks through the village with her basket to the
communal latrine. Nobody touches her along the way. She has an enamel
toilet in her own home, but she cleans the excrement of others because
this is the job assigned by her caste. This practi

When President Obama visits India next month, it is quite certain that
he will pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, perceived around the  world as
one of history's most celebrated symbols of liberation, and a source
of inspiration for the American president himself.

But there are calls within India for Mr Obama to look further than
Gandhi in his homage to Indian heroes. For India's community of 167
million Dalits, once known as 'untouchables' , their true icon is Dr
B.R. Ambedkar. Himself an untouchable, Dr Ambedkar gained doctorates
from Columbia University, where Mr Obama himself was educated, and at
the London School of Economics, before becoming the architect of
independent India's new constitution.

Relatively little-known internationally, Ambedkar has accrued almost
divine status as the focal point for Dalit aspirations. Within India,
Ambedkar appears everywhere. His statues easily outnumber those of
Gandhi. Deep in communities of Dalits, you will hear the greeting,
"jai Bhim", meaning "hail Bhimrao [Ambedkar]". You will see  Ambedkar's
portrait in any self-assertive Dalit's home, and his name is spoken
with pride. When the nation marked his fiftieth death anniversary in
2006, over 800,000 Dalits crowded to pay him their respects in Mumbai.

Dalits stress that unlike the Mahatma, Ambedkar challenged the very
existence of the caste system as the basis for discrimination against
Dalits. It is because of Ambedkar, they say, that the oppressed Dalits
play any part in India's political and administrative structures -
albeit a limited part. That is why anti-caste activists are urging Mr
Obama to pay homage to Dr Ambedkar, as a true giant of the cause of
liberation from oppression.

These calls are just one sign of the increasingly powerful
vocalisation of Dalit aspirations for the recognition of their cause,
and for social, economic and cultural equality. Dalit aspirations for
liberation from caste oppression - and it is important to  add that
Dalits suffer discrimination in every religious community - are
resonating increasingly loudly around the world. The issue has gained
profile at the UN, with the Committee for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination having charged the Indian government to bring about
clear improvements in a number of areas. NGOs continue to press
companies investing in India to tailor their corporate social
responsibility (CSR) policies to address the specific challenges of
caste discrimination.

Two campaigners against caste discrimination, S. Anand and Meena
Kandasamy, visited London last week to highlight the cause, by
speaking at events around a photography exhibition, Being Untouchable.

The exhibition, by Marcus Perkins for CSW, offered a sympathetic
series of portraits of the many different faces of untouchability in
modern India, in a powerful reminder of the tens of millions of
victims among the  Dalits whose plight needs to be addressed: the woman
who cleans excrement from a dry latrine because it is her caste job,
the young girl pushed into burning ashes because she walked on a path
reserved for 'high' castes and who may never get justice, the
destitute who may always be excluded from education and opportunities.
Theirs are the stories that truly need to be heard amid the cacophony
of coverage of India's economic boom.

Reading from her deeply moving 2006 poetry collection at the launch
last week, Meena Kandasamy offered a poignant reminder of the depth of
Dalit aspirations for drastic change:

We will rebuild worlds from shattered glass and
remnants of holocausts.
[...] It will begin the way thunder rises in our throats and we
will brandish our slogans with a stormy stress and
succeed to chronicle to convey the last stories
of our lost and scattered lives.

David Griffiths is South Asia  team leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
 
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An educated man without character and humility was more dangerous than a beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of poor, he was a curse to society. 
-Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar
Please visit www.friendsforeducation.org

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[ZESTCaste] Post-Mirchpur, SC panel to have offices in 8 more states

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101030/main5.htm

Post-Mirchpur, SC panel to have offices in 8 more states
Haryana to have a separate office in Gurgaon
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 29
In the backdrop of April 21 Dalit atrocity in Haryana's Mirchpur, the
government is considering setting up eight new state offices of the
National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to ensure larger
coverage of the SC population.

The country presently has only 12 state offices of the commission,
with the government now realising that they are insufficient to
deliver justice in lakhs of pending cases of SC atrocities and to
foster confidence among Dalits, who will like to report their problems
closer home. At the end of 2008, 98,702 such cases were pending in the
Indian courts for disposal.

Of the eight new offices being actively backed by the new chairman of
NCSC PL Punia, one will come up in Gurgaon to cater to 40.91 lakh SCs
exclusively in Haryana, which by government's admission has a large
number of cases of caste abuse and land grabbing.

Until now, Haryana's Dalits had to go to the NCSC's state office at
Chandigarh for justice, which ironically is also handling the SC
atrocity cases of Punjab, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh.
"The state office of Chandigarh is finding it very difficult to attend
the frequent spot inquiries on atrocity on SCs. It is proposed that an
office of the director for SCs, Gurgaon, may be set up; it can also
have the jurisdiction for Himachal," says a proposal of the Ministry
of Social Justice, actively pursuing the new offices.

The government documents with The Tribune reveal another strange
scenario, when the State Departments of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes were bifurcated and two separate national commissions were set
up for SCs and STs, the assets and staff of most of the state
directorates went to the ST Departments, leaving close to 3.70 crore
Scheduled Castes unattended.

Additionally, 0.79 crore Dalits in J&K (0.08 crore), Himachal (0.15
crore), Haryana (0.41 crore) and Uttrakhand (0.15 crore) have been
finding it hard to protect their interests. Crimes against SCs have
surged with 40,000 cases registered in 2008, which are 3,600 more than
in 2007.

Until today, Orissa's Dalits go to Deputy Director for SCs in Kolkata,
who also has to look after the interests of SCs in West Bengal,
Tripura, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar, if they want justice.

Similarly, Madhya Pradesh's SCs are under the jurisdiction of director
for SCs, Hyderabad, also in charge of the SC affairs for Andhra
Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Rajasthan's Dalits and SCs report their
grievances to Director, Scheduled Castes, Ahmedabad, also in charge of
SCs of Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

The SCs in Jharkhand, if they have grudges, report to the Director, SC
Patna and affected Dalits of Chattisgarh likewise go to the state
office in Hyderabad. Delhi for its part has no state office of SC
Commission, though it has the highest number of cases of
discrimination against the SCs in the government offices. The NCSC has
now sought a separate office for Delhi.

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[ZESTCaste] 'English Devi' set to find more devotees in India

http://sify.com/news/english-devi-set-to-find-more-devotees-in-india-news-education-kk3qklhebfc.html

IANS
'English Devi' set to find more devotees in India

2010-10-29 16:10:00

Lakhimpur-Kheri (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 29 (IANS) An eager bunch of
devotees await 'English Devi' in many towns and hamlets of India -- or
so it seems from the requests pouring in at the doors of those behind
a unique temple being set up in a village here to popularise English.

'We have received requests from our sister organisations in Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra for setting
up this novel 'English Devi' temple,' said Chandrabhan Prasad, a
researcher at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who is the
brain behind the move.

Prasad chose the nondescript Banka village of Lakhimpur-Kheri
district, about 170 km from Lucknow, to undertake his dream project of
an 'English Devi' temple simply because of his old association with
the place.

'Way back in 1991, I had started a 'Dalit Shiksha Andolan' - a
campaign to promote education among Dalits; and Lakhimpur-Kheri was
among those few places where the response was tremendous,' he said.

'Even now, when I mooted the idea of setting up a temple with a view
to promoting knowledge of English among Dalits, one of my old
associates promptly offered to undertake the project in his native
village Banka,' Prasad added.

If Banka is in the spotlight because of this unique effort, it is the
Nalanda Public Shiksha Niketan there which gets all credit for making
Prasad's dream a reality.

Amar Chand Jauhar and his wife Nisha Pal Jauhar, who have been running
the only intermediate college under the banner of Nalanda Public
Shiksha Niketan in Banka, happily gave away 800 sq feet of land of
their institution for building the only temple of its kind.

The 'English Devi' deity planned for the temple is as unique as the
concept of the temple. The 'Dalit Goddess English', as the deity is
referred to, is cast more on the lines of the Statue of Liberty.

'It is three-feet tall, attired in a British gown and sporting an
English hat while standing atop a pedestal in the shape of a computer,
with a pen in one hand and a copy of the Indian Constitution in the
other,' explained Jauhar.

Said Prasad: 'We were hoping to complete this temple latest by October
25 when we had planned to hold a grand ceremony that would
simultaneously mark the birth anniversary of Lord Macaulay, the
architect of promotion of English language.'

Jauhar added: 'However, the work could not be completed, so we are now
hoping to see 'English Devi' installed in the new temple latest by the
end of November.'

Jauhar feels very strongly about English because he considers lack of
knowledge of the language as the biggest handicap to growth.

'You may have the best of degrees but unless you know English, you
cannot grow in today's modern world; and that is what I perceive as
the reason for continued deprivation of Dalits, who have been losing
out on account of poor English,' he pointed out.

The temple building that is now being given a final cladding of black
granite all around will have steps matching a computer keyboard.
Jauhar's wife Nisha Pal proposes to later have the granite walls
engraved with popular English sayings, besides a few physics,
chemistry and mathematics formulae to convey that this was a complete
temple of learning.

Asked why they chose this way to promote teaching of English among
Dalits, Nisha replied: 'Well, in any case we lay a lot of emphasis on
the teaching of formal English, but we could not think of a better way
to promote English learning than by making it a religious mission.'

'And you can see for yourself how the idea is being lapped up by the
entire media - local, national and even international! Don't you
believe that well begun is half done,' she added.