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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Demand for SC/ST/OBC and Minority Representative in Lokpal

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Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011

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Demand for SC/ST/OBC and Minority Representative in Lokpal
- Concerned Civil Societies -

New Delhi, August 22, 2011

The Concerned Citizens of India for Social Justice call upon Indian
Government to include the representatives from Scheduled Caste,
Scheduled Tribe, Others Backward Class and Minorities in Lokpal
consultation.

Government's version 'Lokpal' and Team Anna's 'Jan Lokpal' have short
comings and draconian clauses. They need to be debated. As concerned
citizens belonging to SC/ST/OBC and Minority communities, we think
that a Lokpal Bill must propose a Lokpal, consisting representative
member from SCs, STs, OBCs and Minority religious communities. The
presence of the representative of SC, ST, OBC and minority communities
is important because the caste prejudices of the members would work
against the weak and vulnerable in the process of their work as public
functionaries. Even the members of the Lokpal are subject to such
caste and religious prejudices.

Within the Lokpal there should be checks and balances. As we are aware
that in this country caste and religion is important agencies that aid
and abet corruption and also checkmate it. It is, therefore, important
that the Lokpal should have members coming from the SC, ST, OBC and
Minority communities to balance it with a principle of social justice.

The Government Bill proposes that the selection committee will consist
of 5 members of which 3 will be the Government nominees and 2 will
come from the civil society. In effect the Government selects the
Lokpal. This method of selection must change.

We, the concerned civil societies, strongly disagree with selection
committee recommended by the Government and also Team Anna. They do
not represent SC/ST/OBC and minorities and the bill will be bias to
address the corruption based on social and justice. While accepting
the conditions of looking at the integrity aspect of individuals being
drawn into the Lokpal, the social justice principles must be followed
in Lokpal as well as the Selection Committee.

We, the concerned civil societies strongly object Team Anna's absolute
claim of civil society representing whole nation. The supporters are
upper caste, middle class and elites, who do not represent 85% of
SC/ST/OBC and minorities. Such movement is threat to Indian secularism
and democracy.

Released by

Madhu Chandra
All India Christian Council
RZ 61, 4th Floor, Palam Vihar, Sector 6,
Dwarka, New Delhi 110075

(Joint Press Statement of Concerned Civil Societies represented by Dr.
Udit Raj - National Chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST
Organizations, Prof. Kancha Ilaiah - Director for the study of Social
Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University,
Hyderabad, Dr. Joseph D'souza - President of All India Christian
Council, Dr. John Dayal - Member of National Integration Council,
Vidhya Bhushan Rawat - Director of Social Development Foundation,
Sunil Sardar - Director of Truth Seeker International and Madhu
Chandra - Spokesperson of North East Support Centre & Helpline)

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[ZESTCaste] SC to hear PIL for excluding affluent among SC and ST from quota

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-to-hear-PIL-for-excluding-affluent-among-SC-and-ST-from-quota/articleshow/9709457.cms

SC to hear PIL for excluding affluent among SC and ST from quota
PTI | Aug 23, 2011, 07.14PM IST

Read more:Supreme Court|SC and ST from quota|Lokur Committee
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a PIL seeking
to bring "advanced and affluent" Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
out of the purview of reservation and sought a response from the
Centre and all state governments on this issue.

A bench headed by Justice R V Raveendran issued notices to the Centre
and state governments seeking their response to introduce concept of
creamy layer for SC and ST reservation.

The bench passed the order on a petition filed by a retired officer of
Indian Legal Services seeking the court's direction to exclude
advanced and affluent Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from the
ambit of reservation.

O P Shukla, who himself belongs to Scheduled Caste, submitted
"benefits of reservation are not percolating down to the real and
genuine beneficiaries.

"Various government studies and reports found that the benefits were
not percolating down to real and genuine beneficiaries. So, the
purpose of reservation stands defeated," senior advocate Balaji
Srinivasan, appearing for the petitioner contended.

He referred to various surveys conducted by state governments pointing
out that there are affluent castes within SC and ST.

"As early as 1965, the Lokur Committee recommended exclusion of
certain advanced castes/tribes. It was also pointed out by the
committee that vested interests had emerged within SCs and STs as a
result of concessions given to them," the petition said.

"The Centre is unjustified in not extending the principles of creamy
layer to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in spite of various
decisions of the apex court," it said.

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[ZESTCaste] Why hesitating on creamy layer for SC/ST quota, SC asks Centre

http://www.dailypioneer.com/362921/Why-hesitating-on-creamy-layer-for-SC/ST-quota-SC-asks-Centre.html

Why hesitating on creamy layer for SC/ST quota, SC asks Centre
August 23, 2011 11:12:28 PM

Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave wings to a move aimed at reviewing
the list of those beneficiaries under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes who have advanced socially over the years and do not require
the crutches of reservation anymore.

Hitting at the root of reservation politics, the Court issued notice
to the Centre on a PIL to know the reasons why the latter was
reluctant to exclude certain castes whose exclusion was recommended
for by two central panels formed in this regard in 1975 and 2008.

The Court relied on the findings of the two committees - Lokur
Committee (1975) headed by the then Union Law Secretary BN Lokur and
Justice Usha Mehra Commission Report (2008) to issue notice on a PIL
filed by advocate OP Shukla.

The extensively researched petition argued by senior advocate R
Venkatramani brought forth the concern of most deprived castes or
communities within the SC/ST who fail to get benefits due to the
"advanced" castes gathering the benefits of reservation. This not
defeated the purpose of equality sought to be achieved through
affirmative action but also made the scope of Article 341 and 342 (by
which SC/ST lists are drawn out) highly arbitrary and unequal, the
petition said.

Apart from the two Committees constituted by the Centre, the petition
cited similar exercises carried out by States to trim the SC/ST lists.
In 1990, the Haryana Government appointed Backward Classes Commission
under Justice Gurnam Singh, which concluded that the entire
reservation in the State was cornered by one particular caste. To
override this defect, the SC category in the State was bifurcated to
give assured reservation benefit to the poorest castes. However, this
recommendation was stayed by a High Court order.

Within a decade, the Andhra Pradesh Government too appointed a
Committee under Justice P Ramachandra Raju to study whether the
reservation benefits were equitably distributed. The report finally
yielded in a law seeking rationalisation of reservation.

Recently in 2007, the Bihar Government constituted a "Maha Dalit Ayog"
(Extremely Backward Scheduled Castes Commission) which recommended
exclusion of four castes namely Dhobi, Chamar, Dusad and Passi. But
due to protests and political pressure, all castes except Dusad had to
be re-inducted into the list.

The position became clear with the Central panel reports which went
deep into the malaise and did a statistical study based on
representation of castes in education, jobs and economic status.

The Lokur Committee recommended as follows, "In view of the weighty
views expressed above and in the interests of national integration, we
feel that the time has come when the question of de-scheduling of
relatively advanced communities should receive serious and urgent
consideration." Based on this criterion, it prepared a state-wise list
of castes and tribes to be removed from the ambit of beneficiaries.
This view was later reiterated by the Justice Usha Mehra Commission on
which no action was taken till date.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit Woman Raped in Auraiyya, UP

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?732259

Dalit Woman Raped in Auraiyya, UP
PTI | Auraiyya (UP) | Aug 23, 2011

A 23-year-old dalit woman was allegedly gangraped by a contractor and
his aides in Dibiyapur village of the district, police said today.

The incident occurred last night when the woman, who worked as a
labourer at under-construction office of the Chief Medical Officer,
was forced into a vehicle and raped by the contractor and his aides in
Samadhanpur area, police said.

On the complaint of the woman, an FIR was lodged.
Filed On: Aug 23, 2011 21:56 IST

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[ZESTCaste] Martin Luther King’s nonviolent civil rights efforts still inspire around the world

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/martin-luther-kings-nonviolent-civil-rights-efforts-still-inspire-across-globe/2011/07/27/gIQA3Nj9YJ_story.html

Martin Luther King's nonviolent civil rights efforts still inspire
around the world

Coretta Scott King receives a stamp honoring her late husband, from
India communication minister Ram Sultheg Singh, in New Delhi in
January 1969.

By Emily Wax, Published: August 23

During the protests this spring in Egypt, a civil-rights-era comic
book weaving the tale of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent
resistance movement found a fresh audience with the young protesters
who packed Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The comic book, which promotes peaceful civil disobedience, is called
"Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story" and was translated into
Arabic and Farsi by the non-religious American Islamic Congress. It
published 2,500 copies, and young people in the Arab world started
using them to teach peaceful forms of protest that King championed,
such as sit-ins and boycotts.
Workers at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial cleaned and prepared
the new monument for its official dedication, which will take place on
Aug. 28. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the event,
and President Obama is scheduled to speak at the ceremony on the Mall.

Graphic
The legacy of the 'Dream' speech
Click Here to View Full Graphic Story

The legacy of the 'Dream' speech

More on this Story

Multimedia: Memories of MLK
Photos: Unveiling the MLK Memorial
Tell us King's legacy in six words
For those who were there, March on Washington memories still linger

View all Items in this Story

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Full Coverage

In Japan, King's birthday is celebrated in Hiroshima and honored with
a special banquet. His message of peace resonates in the city, which
was the first to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon.

Around the globe, King's message is still used by liberation leaders.
There's a forest in his honor in Israel, a school named after him in
Yaounde, Cameroon, and an MLK bridge in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

In the 1980s, a social movement to advance worker rights in Poland
used the award-winning documentary "From Montgomery to Memphis" as a
training guide for its nonviolent resistance. In China's Tiananmen
Square, student leaders held up signs that read "We Shall Overcome," a
key anthem of the civil rights movement. Many protest leaders said
they had studied the civil rights leader's nonviolence techniques.

"They were singing 'We Shall Overcome' in Czechoslovakia and Romania,"
said Steve Klein, communications coordinator at the King Center in
Atlanta. "Even Nelson Mandela referenced Dr. King the day he won the
South African election, and he invoked King's use of the old Negro
spiritual lyrics 'free at last.' "

In India, Dalits, who were formerly known as "untouchables" and who
rank lowest in the country's caste system, have modeled their freedom
struggle after King. They particularly found power in his "I Have a
Dream" speech and watched televisions set up in markets in Dalit
villages and urban slums.

In India, Dalit activist B.R. Ambedkar led more than 500,000 Dalits to
leave Hinduism and its caste system and convert to Buddhism, just as
some African Americans have moved to Islam.

"Like Dalits, African Americans in the U.S. faced discrimination in
religious centers, public transport, schools and jobs," said Chandra
Bhan Prasad, a Dalit scholar and writer. "Ambedkar was always inspired
by MLK and the black movement in the U.S."

There are dozens of streets and boulevards named after King: in
Terranova, Italy; Niamey, Niger; Kolkata, India; Dakar, Senegal;
Martinique; Tel Aviv; Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and
Recife, Brazil; and Brussels.

"Dr. King is everywhere. There are so many places that we can't keep
track. But it doesn't surprise me at all," Klein said. "King was
liberating an oppressed minority, and in doing so he really showed the
world that principles of nonviolence can be successful."

Staff researcher Eddy Palanzo and correspondent Rama Lakshmi in New
Delhi contributed to this report.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Demand for SC/ST/OBC and Minority Representative in Lokpal

[ZESTCaste] SC to hear PIL for excluding affluent among SC and ST from quota

[ZESTCaste] Why hesitating on creamy layer for SC/ST quota, SC asks Centre

[ZESTCaste] Dalit Woman Raped in Auraiyya, UP

[ZESTCaste] Martin Luther King’s nonviolent civil rights efforts still inspire around the world

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