[ZESTCaste] The Maharashtra experience is that more women in positions of power will make the system gender-sensitive.

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20100409270712100.htm

COVER STORY

Power to resist

ANISHA PADHEE

The Maharashtra experience is that more women in positions of power
will make the system gender-sensitive.

PTI

The landmark Women's Reservation Bill got passed in the Rajya Sabha
after a long battle. While it has been a huge triumph in the face of
overwhelming odds, there are still many hurdles, put up by intraparty
and interparty politics and vested interests, to be overcome.

Amidst all the opposition and hullabaloo, one needs to think seriously
about the fact that passing of the Bill in Parliament will be a
historic and momentous decision that will pave the way for a
gender-just society. Women's active participation in politics will
have ripple effects in the social arena as well, changing gender
dynamics for the better. Every issue, whether developmental, social or
economic, will be seen from the gender perspective. Moreover, it will
mean that there will be stringent action by the state against
discrimination and violence against women.

The track record of the state in preventing violence against women has
been dubious. In one incident in Maharashtra, a 16-year-old tribal
girl was allegedly raped by two policemen on the premises of the
police station in Chandrapur district. In this case, Tukaram and
Another vs State of Maharashtra (1978), the Sessions Court acquitted
the defendants stating that the girl was "habituated to sexual
intercourse" and her consent was voluntary, and under the
circumstances only sexual intercourse could be proved and not rape.
The Bombay High Court set aside this judgment and sentenced the
accused, but unfortunately this verdict was reversed by the Supreme
Court, which acquitted the policemen.

The Delhi High Court infamously stated in Harvinder Kaur vs Harmander
Singh (1983) thus: "Introduction of constitutional law in the home is
the most inappropriate. It is like introducing a bull in a china
shop…. In the privacy of the home and the married life neither Article
21 nor Article 14 has any place." Of course, the state's response to
violence against women has come a long way from that. While more women
in positions of power will not necessarily ensure prompt
responsiveness on the part of the state towards violence, it will
definitely open the doors for more dialogue with women's groups and
organisations to bring in the gender perspective into all areas of
decision-making.

Many argue that the Bill will be misused as women will be mere puppets
in the hands of men. It is not true. Similar concerns were raised
during the discussions on the 73rd and 74th amendments, which reserved
seats for women in panchayati raj institutions and urban local
self-governments. While the first few years following the amendments
were rocky because it was difficult for women to cope with the
structure, functioning and planning process of panchayati raj, many
organisations in Maharashtra, such as the Resource and Support Centre
for Development, the P.V. Mandlik Trust, and Manavlok, came together
to train women in overcoming these hurdles. This resulted in women
making positive changes on the socio-political scene. The panchayats
are churning out able women leaders. The same trend will be observed
in Parliament as well.

Maharashtra has always been considered a progressive State
economically, socially and politically. It was the first State to come
out with a policy supporting reservation for women in politics. It was
also the first State where the police force took a major step towards
empowering women by opening all mainstream duties to them, in 1994.
Apart from these, Maharashtra is considered one of the safest States
for women in India. The State passed the Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act in 1988 as a
result of work done by various groups. It was subsequent to this, in
1994, that the Central Act was passed.

Despite this history of progressive attitude towards women,
Maharashtra has been in the news for the wrong reasons in the past few
years. According to the report "Crime in Maharashtra 2008", brought
out by the Maharashtra State Crimes Record Bureau, compared with 2007,
crimes against women have increased by 5.42 per cent. A specific
increase of 900 cases was reported at the State level in 2008. Cases
of cruelty by the husband and his relatives increased by 6.4 per cent
and molestation cases increased by 9.47 per cent. As many as 1,558
cases of rape were registered, a 7.37 per cent increase. Mumbai alone
accounted for 9.3 per cent of all crimes committed against women, the
highest share in the State. Of all cases charged under the Indian
Penal Code, 8.31 per cent were crimes against women. A recent report
states that Maharashtra has a higher crime rate against women than
Bihar.

So, is Maharashtra steadily losing its status of being the safest
State for women? No, on the contrary, it is safer for women here than
elsewhere because the high rate at which crimes are reported indicates
the confidence of women here in state agencies such as the police.
More and more women, be they from rural or urban areas, are breaking
their silence and reporting violence against them to the police. Even
domestic violence cases, which were the least reported, have shown a
consistent increase in the number of cases reported, reflecting the
changing mindset of women and their determination to end such
violence.

The participation of civil society in fighting discrimination and
violence against women is also tremendous in Maharashtra.
Historically, Maharashtra has witnessed the rise of women such as
Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde, Savitribai Phule, Anandibai Joshi and
Durgabai Deshmukh who were at the forefront of reformist movements in
the country and fought for the rights of women. For any women's
movement to be successful, the participation of men is equally
important. People such as Acharya Balshastri Jambhekar, who fought
actively against the practice of sati and female infanticide; Dhondo
Keshav Karve, who dedicated his life to the cause of women's
education; and Jyotiba Phule, who revolted against the caste system
and upheld the cause of untouchables and education of women of the
lower castes, were champions of women's causes.

Even today, various groups, along with non-governmental organisations
and community-based organisations, are in the forefront of the battle
against discrimination and violence against women. Their services
include providing counselling, legal aid and medical help; forming
women's groups and empowering them; and lobbying and advocacy. More
and more interventions are made in collaboration with state agencies
such as the police and the Department of Women and Child Development
(DWCD).

D.B. PATIL

On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14, 2009, activists of
the Savitribai Mahila Mandal in Belgaum re-emphasising the need for
continuing the movement initiated by the 19th century social reformer
Savitribai Phule for the empowerment of women.

The State government is taking initiatives to make the system more
gender-sensitive. It has recognised the need for collaborating with
civil society organisations to deliver meaningful service to women.
The result is institutionalised services. The Special Cell for Women
and Children is one such institutionalised service. It was established
in 1984 by the Mumbai Police and the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai, to provide professional support services to women
facing violence. In the past two and a half decades, the Special Cell
has provided services to countless women and has shown that a
strategic alliance with the police can make a significant impact on
women's search for support and justice. "Recognising her pain and the
reality of the violence she faces, social workers at the Special Cell
are trained to bolster a woman's sense of self as she takes the first
step towards ending such violence," said Trupti Panchal, coordinator
of the Special Cell.

The project was taken over by the Government of Maharashtra under the
ambit of the DWCD in 2005. From just one cell in 1984 at the Police
Commissionerate in Mumbai, it has now grown to 20 cells across
Maharashtra. The Haryana, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh governments, too,
have adopted the model. In fact, in a 2003 report, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against
Women, said the Special Cell model was considered one of the most
effective strategies to deal with violence against women worldwide.

The 103 helpline of the Mumbai Police, too, reflects the State's
proactive role in ending violence against women. In December 2007,
when two women were molested outside a five-star hotel on New Year's
Eve, Akshara and 12 other women's organisations, along with [actor and
political activist] Shabana Azmi, approached the Mumbai Police
Commissioner demanding stringent action against acts of violence
against women. This concerted campaign resulted in the launch of the
toll-free 103 police helpline to report crimes against women, children
and senior citizens, on February 28, 2008, by the Mumbai Police in
collaboration with the Campaign against Violence against Women and
Girls (VAW Campaign).

Akshara took up the initiative in 2008 to ensure the smooth
functioning of the helpline by training the police staff, and launched
a media campaign in collaboration with the advertising agency Leo
Burnett to spread awareness about the helpline. "Over the past two
years, the helpline has taken action in 2,810 cases, out of which
1,623 were of domestic violence and 516 were of eve-teasing. It has
helped in a way that women who face any kind of harassment, either at
home or in colleges or in workplaces, feel confident about approaching
the authorities to complain about their problems and seek justice,"
said Police Commissioner D. Sivanandan at the recent launch of the new
media campaign of 103.

Whenever a woman calls the helpline, a police van arrives at the scene
within 10 minutes. The fear of prompt action by the police has
deterred many habitual offenders from committing crimes against women.
Focussing on the importance of such a number, Chandra Iyengar,
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in the State, has announced that the
103 helpline, which is currently functional only in Mumbai and Thane,
will become a State-wide toll free number from April.

There have been many progressive decisions with respect to women in
public space this year in Maharashtra. For instance, on March 8, the
government declared that one police station in every district and five
police stations in Mumbai would be headed by women police officers.
This was done to break the glass ceiling within the force and also to
make the force more sensitive to women who approach it.

For a long time, the State had a skewed gender ratio within the
forces. In the police force, only 7 per cent are women. To counter
this, the State Home Ministry also announced the recruitment of more
women into the force as police drivers. This shows the State's
increasing acknowledgement of gender justice across all spheres of
public and private life. May 1 will mark the Golden Jubilee of
Maharashtra as a State. With the Women's Bill almost on the threshold
of being passed, this year could be the golden year for women in India
as well.

Anisha Padhee is an activist with Akshara, a women's resource centre
working on issues of gender and social justice. The article has inputs
from Nandita Shah, co-director of Akshara.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Upper-caste conspiracy’

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20100409270701000.htm

COVER STORY

'Upper-caste conspiracy'

PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI

Interview with Sharad Yadav, Janata Dal (United) president.

S. SUBRAMANIUM

J.D. (United) leader Sharad Yadav (right), Samajwadi Party leader
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, talk
to the media after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 9.

Sharad Yadav, the Janata Dal (United) president, warned that the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government might fall over the
Women's Reservation Bill issue. He said "we will fight" against the
passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha in its present form. "We will
allow reservation for women only when a quota within the quota, for
Dalit, OBC and minority community women, is incorporated. In that case
we will not mind if the reservation is even 50 per cent," he said in
an interview to Frontline. Excerpts:

What is your objection to the Bill?

We want representation for women belonging to the really depressed
classes. The Bill does not reflect the true picture of Bharat. It
gives no representation to women from the majority bloc of Dalits,
OBCs and minority communities, who constitute 90 per cent of the
population of women. If we allow the Bill to be passed in its present
form, the seats will be captured by a handful of upper-caste women
associated with non-governmental organisations. Women political
workers who have evolved through a long period of struggle in the
political process will be left behind. This Bill is a well-planned
upper-caste conspiracy to reduce Dalit, OBC and minority
representation in the Lok Sabha and in the Assemblies. We will not let
this happen.

But with both the BJP and the Left parties supporting the Bill, the
majority is in favour of passing it. How will you stop its passage
because you hardly have more than 50 MPs with you?

It is a misnomer to say that the majority is in favour of the Bill.
All MPs, cutting across caste and party lines, are scared of losing
their seats, but they are too scared to speak out. In private, they
all beg us to protect their seats. For an MP, his constituency is as
dear to him as his life and he will cling to it until his last breath.
An overwhelming number of MPs are on our side on the issue although
they may not say so.

But these MPs are bound by the party whip. Then how will you prevent
the Bill's passage?

There is something called conscience vote, too. It happened once
during Indira Gandhi's time. It can happen again. There is a revolt
brewing within all parties.

But the government did get the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. It can
do the same in the Lok Sabha too – use marshals to remove the
protesting MPs.

We will see how they get the Bill passed with the help of the
marshals. We will fight and will make the entire country rise in
protest against the Bill. If they try to force the Bill on the people,
it will create tension between communities.

Dalits, backward castes and minorities have suffered the hegemony of
upper-caste people for centuries but we will not allow that to
continue. We will fight and fight to the finish. Yuddh hoga [There
will be war]. The government might even fall.

But why such stiff opposition? Why don't you first allow the passage
of the Bill in its present form and then press for quota within quota?

Very good. You are asking us to allow them to behead us first. What is
left after that? Unless they reserve seats for Dalits, OBCs and
minorities, we will not allow the Bill to be passed.

The government says quota within quota is not constitutionally possible.

Women's reservation, too, is not constitutionally possible, but is the
government not amending the Constitution for this purpose? Why can't
they amend it simultaneously to provide for quota within quota.

Would that not delay the entire process?

So what? Besides, there will not be any delay if there is a will to
give representation to the really suppressed woman, who toils in the
fields, who gets raped by upper-caste people, who is not allowed to
draw water from the same well as the upper-caste people, who is kept
like a slave all her life. This is an upper-caste conspiracy to keep
the lower castes suppressed forever.

Even the Left parties, which have always stood up for social justice,
are supporting the Bill in its present form. How will you explain
their support if what you are saying is true?

Who are the leaders in the Left parties? All upper-caste people. They
have always opposed all other forms of reservation but are supporting
this now because they all come from the upper castes.

You seem to have a basic distrust of all those who are supporting the Bill.

Why not? We have suffered centuries of discrimination by upper-caste
people. There is no reason to trust them now. We want everything in
black and white, clearly spelt out. If their intention is actually to
give representation to women who are deprived or suppressed, then let
them give a quota within the quota.

If the government agrees to your demand for a quota within quota, will
you then agree for 33 per cent reservation?

By all means. In that case, they can even increase it to 50 per cent,
we will not mind. All we are saying is that the majority among the
suppressed women should get representation.

Alternatively, they can also leave it to the political parties, even
that is acceptable to us. But this Bill is not acceptable to us under
any circumstances because it is against all norms of political
morality. There was no survey, no commission. How did the government
arrive at this arbitrary figure without thinking about its
implications?

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[ZESTCaste] Fascinating account of rebellious movements

http://www.hindu.com/br/2010/03/23/stories/2010032351051600.htm

Fascinating account of rebellious movements

NALINI RAJAN

The events in this fascinating book took place in the 1850s and 1860s
across three countries — Britain, the United States, and India.
Rajmohan Gandhi's descriptions of those events are graphic. If the
American civil war centred on the issue of slavery, the Indian sepoy
revolt exposed the class and caste divisions in civil society. In both
cases, the British government, headed by myopic men like Lord
Palmerston, acted ungraciously and undemocratically.

Despite its human rights' rhetoric, Britain refused to support Abraham
Lincoln's anti-slavery stance, hoping for the bifurcation of America
and the monopoly of the southern cotton trade. Without the leadership
of a Lincoln-like figure, the Indian rebels — including Nana Sahib,
Tatya Tope, Firoz Shah, and Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi — lacked focus
on issues of governance. Equally, they were vulnerable to charges
(some true, some fabricated) of massacring British women and children.
Except for Nana Sahib, who escaped to an unknown destination, the
rebel leaders were killed in battle or executed. In the aftermath of
the 1857 revolt, Indians were derisively dubbed 'niggers' by the
colonial British. What is more, alarmed by the Hindu-Muslim unity
displayed during the revolt, the British resorted to the 'divide and
rule' policy by fostering suspicion and rivalry between the two
communities.

Record

Extraordinarily, both the 1857 Indian sepoy revolt and the American
civil war (1861-1865) were witnessed and recorded by William Howard
Russell of The Times (in London), a travelling Irish journalist and a
celebrity of sorts having been acquainted with well-known writers such
as Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Anthony Trollope.

It was probably because Russell had sympathy for the underdog that he
aroused the ire of some of his more conservative contemporaries. In a
letter, titled 'The Sahib and the Nigger', to The Times on August 28,
1858, Russell noted astutely that "The habit of speaking of all
natives as niggers has recently become quite common … Every man of the
mute, white-turbaned file who with crossed arms, glistening eyes and
quick ears stands motionless along the mess-room table, hears it every
time a native is named, knows it to be an expression of contempt." And
while witnessing the auction of a young African slave in Montgomery,
he wrote in the newspaper: "There is no sophistry which could persuade
me the man was not a man — he was, indeed, by no means my brother, but
assuredly he was a fellow-creature."

Views

Apart from giving Russell's accounts of the two revolts, Gandhi puts
together the views of the American and Indian sides about each other's
rebellions. American commentators started out with expression of
sympathy for the sepoys, but soon sided with Britain, following
reports of the massacres of white women and children. On the Indian
side, pro-abolitionist opinions were voiced by the literate elite, who
were all too conscious of the trials and tribulations of being called
'niggers'.

It is observations like these that make for great reading.
Unfortunately, Gandhi includes, in the opening and closing chapters,
tedious interludes on thinkers like Leo Tolstoy, Bankimchandra
Chatterjee, Sayyid Ahmed Khan, Allan Octavian Hume, and Ishwarchandra
Vidyasagar, who had little or nothing to say about the two revolts.
While it is true that Karl Marx and Jotiba Phule followed these events
with great interest, the ideas of both could have easily — and
elegantly — been woven into the main narrative. By tightly editing the
manuscript and weeding out the superfluous portions, Gandhi could have
greatly enhanced the value of his book.

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[ZESTCaste] Cut off by caste

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100409270703000.htm

COVER STORY

Cut off by caste

MEERA VELAYUDHAN

Dalit women's concerns about social acceptance and specific forms of
discrimination need a nuanced approach.

Since the mid-1990s, Dalit women's groups and platforms have expressed
three concerns: impact of state policies, patriarchal bias of Dalit
movements, and upper-caste/middle-class leadership of the women's
movement. Since then concerted efforts have been made to highlight
these through common actions and other forms of engagement. These have
led to wider alliances not only at the national level but also
internationally, with other marginalised sections and communities
facing specific forms of discrimination. This approach has also led to
the inclusion of caste discrimination in various United Nations
conventions to which national governments, such as India's, are
signatory and hence need to respond with time-bound reports, action
plans and mechanisms.

On the other hand, Dalit women's concerns are now a specific but
integral component of informed interventions, be it by international
bodies such as CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women), the European Parliament and the
Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, where parallel
reports are presented, or by civil society platforms such as the World
Social Forum or conferences of women's groups in India, or in
discussions around the Union Budget and the 11th Plan.

More recently, climate change financing and governance mechanisms are
being addressed in terms of the differential impacts of climate change
on communities that play a key role in sectors that are most likely to
witness changes – agriculture and water resources – as well as face
historical disadvantages. Yet, the grim reality of Dalit women's lives
persists.

Social acceptance and the multilayered nature of the caste system
inform not only the social but also the economic and occupational
aspects of the lives of Dalit women. Their occupational pattern is
impacted by resource rights such as land and credit, access to
education and modern skills, and restrictions on labour mobility.
Several village studies (Thorat, 2005) have pointed to exclusion in
the hiring of labour and low wage rates, the discrimination being
greater in the case of Dalit women than men. According to the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) Report (2007) "Equality at
Work – Tackling the Challenges", with limited access to education,
training, and resources including land and credit, Dalits are
generally not considered for any work involving contact with food and
water meant for non-Dalits. They also face discrimination in a wide
range of work opportunities in both the public and private sectors.

A persistent form of discrimination in South Asia has been caste
based, the report states, pointing to the continuing practice of
Dalits being engaged in the most menial jobs of clearing excreta and
removing dead animals. Thus, social origin becomes a powerful obstacle
to equal opportunity not only in highly stratified societies but also
where social segmentation is less rigid, since action to overcome this
barrier covers a range of sectors and policy measures that need
coordination between, and the competence of, different areas of
government.

A study (Action Aid, 2000) of 555 villages in 11 States, including
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Gujarat, held that in 36 per
cent of the villages, Dalits were denied casual work in agriculture.
Denial of use of water sources (well, pond and tubewell) and
restrictions on access to common property resources (grazing land,
fish ponds and other resources) in 21 per cent of the villages
affected Dalit women's entitlement to medicinal and food plants and
increased their burden of household tasks. Also, Dalits were denied
the right of sale of vegetables and milk in the village cooperatives
or to private sellers.

A study of water accessibility in eight villages in Gujarat (Soni,
Jayashree, 2006) indicates the hardship and humiliation Dalit women
face in the collection of water. Dalit women wanted separate water
spots or sumps to avoid quarrels at the time of collection and over
the location of collection.

In Kanpar village, a separate tank was allocated to Dalits. After a
few years, when upper-caste women found out that Dalit women collected
more water in less time, since their number was small, they began to
push aside the Dalit women, forgetting untouchability, and turned the
water tap into a "general" tap, with Dalit women having to stand
aside. Studies conducted in the same villages in the 1970s and late
1990s had pointed to the prevalence of a similar practice of denial of
access to water resources.

Food security

Considering food security as an entitlement, the public distribution
system (PDS) and the midday meal scheme (MMS) assume significance for
Dalit women in ensuring the survival of their households and education
for children, in particular daughters. A survey (Thorat & Lee, 2010)
conducted in 531 villages in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu exposed patterns of caste-based exclusion and
discrimination in the government's MMS and PDS. In Rajasthan and Tamil
Nadu, the MMS is predominantly located in dominant-caste localities.

In Uttar Pradesh, the distribution of dry grain to children of
government schools takes place in dominant-caste localities in 90 per
cent of the respondent villages, while in only 10 per cent of the
villages the distribution is conducted in Dalit localities. Access can
also be conditional and depend on the state of inter-caste power
relations. Often, Dalit children's access to the MMS is cut off by
dominant castes to assert their domination. The opposition to Dalit
cooks, mainly women, also represents a power struggle over livelihood
rights, that is, Dalit entry into new livelihood domains such as
government employment as MMS cooks at the village level.

Intrinsic to these denials and exclusions is violence, in particular
against Dalit women and girls. A study of 500 women (Irudayam,
Mangubhai, Lee, 2006) from 32 panchayat unions/blocks/mandals in 17
districts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, and
Uttar Pradesh showed that the most frequent forms of violence included
verbal abuse (62.4 per cent), physical assault (54.8 per cent), sexual
harassment and assault (46.8 per cent), domestic violence (43 per
cent) and rape (23.2 per cent). Other forms of violence included
forced sex work, kidnapping, medical negligence, sexual exploitation
and child sexual abuse.

The multiple sites of abuse included public spaces, home, workplace,
the perpetrator's home and government offices. Those who inflict
violence included dominant-caste landlords, police and forest
officials, business persons, goondas and thugs, professionals, those
involved in politics, other dominant caste members and other Dalit
persons. The issues included Dalit women's perceived sexual
availability, rejection of sexual advances and attempt to leave forced
sex work; women breaking caste norms, accessing resources, speaking
up, and participation in religious and cultural life; arrest of family
members; and women's assertion of their rights to
land/wages/forests/common property resources, indebtedness, upward
social mobility, exercise of political rights, failure to be dutiful
wives, failure to bear sons, control over earned income, inheriting
marital property, or showing the spirit of independence.

In 40.2 per cent of the cases, women were unable to secure justice
from the law and the community. Women were also prevented from seeking
justice by the perpetrators, the police and sometimes even by family
members. Only in 1.6 per cent of the cases were women able to secure
informal form of justice. The study highlighted the need for
government policy that understood the intersection of caste and
gender.

Role in Panchayats

Another study (Irudayam, Mangubhai, Sydenham, 2009) on women's role in
panchayats in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat shows that only one-third of the
200 women researched were able to, with support, act with freedom to
win panchayat elections. Eighty-five per cent were pushed into
panchayat politics by dominant castes or husbands (as proxy), and only
one-third of the 119 panchayat presidents were able to work with
freedom, with only 35.3 per cent of them calling panchayat meetings,
31.9 per cent chairing the meetings, and 27 per cent voluntarily
signing resolutions. Only 21 per cent voluntarily authorised panchayat
payments and only 23.5 per cent approved contracts for panchayats.
Among the representatives who served as proxies, about 59 per cent
served as proxies to husband/male relatives, and others to people of
the dominant castes and political parties. Over 52.4 per cent of the
166 panchayat presidents and members attended many or all meetings,
while only half of them raised development-related issues.

In the case of over half of the 90 women who raised issues, the issues
were not discussed or approved. Dominant-caste members used abusive
language or refused to share information with Dalit women
representatives and prevented them from speaking.

Separate seating arrangements and pressure to stand up before
dominant-caste members and use separate utensils for tea or food
during meetings were the other discriminatory practices. The status of
being a proxy, fear, lack of confidence, lack of knowledge, poor level
of education, and traditional caste and gender roles were cited as
related issues that led to low political participation, according to
120 Dalit women (72.3 per cent) members.

Lack of access and entitlements to resources leads to the denial of
rights, such as the rights to livelihoods and civil rights, mainly
through varied forms of violence, thereby affecting Dalit women's
ability to protect and assert themselves. The lack of rights to
justice and protection by the law, in the context of violence and
denials that Dalit women face, reinforces the caste hierarchies and
the unequal power relations in society. Hence, addressing Dalit
women's rights remains key to building an egalitarian society.

Meera Velayudhan works as Policy Analyst (Gender and Culture) at the
Centre for Environment and Social Concerns (CECS), Ahmedabad. She has
been involved in gender studies and advocacy since the 1980s and is
currently part of women and land rights networks, both in Gujarat and
at the South Asia level.

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[ZESTCaste] Elephant no longer on sound footing?

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Elephant-no-longer-on-sound-footing-/articleshow/5713810.cms

Elephant no longer on sound footing?
Ashish Tripathi, TNN, Mar 23, 2010, 03.48am IST

LUCKNOW: The Bhaujan Samaj Party started its journey on April 14,
1984, with the objective to bring Dalits, backwards and Muslims under
one political umbrella and provide an alternative to the Congress. It
was successful in this endeavour upto some extent. But 25 years later,
a resurgent Congress threatens to make dent in BSP's political
fortunes. The way BSP supremo Mayawati targeted the Congress in her
March 15 maharally speech, followed by her defiant stand on the
money-mala controversy, perhaps indicate her fear of losing the core
Dalit base to the Congress.

What has added to Maya's fear is Congress' proposed Rath Yatras from
April 14, the birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, whose
ideology the BSP claims to follow. Led by Congress heir-apparent Rahul
Gandhi, these yatras will particularly focus on Dalits. In response,
Maya has drawn her own `battle plan'. Besides demonstrations on March
25 to expose Opposition `conspiracy' to sabotage her maharally,
Mayawati has planned countrywide protests on April 14 against the
Women's Reservation Bill -- brought by the Congress-led UPA government
-- followed by protests in May against the price hike.

The bugle was blown in March 15 maharally itself where most of her
speech was devoted to Congress bashing. She accused the Congress of
betraying Ambedkar and pointed out how Dalits have remained
marginalised in over 60 years of Congress rule in the country. She
described Congress' `Dalit Prem' a drama.

Cornered on the money-mala controversy, the BSP took the Opposition
head-on and tried to generate sympathy for Maya by saying that "No one
objects when Opposition leaders are felicitated with costly items but
all are crying foul when a `Dalit ki beti' has been honoured."

The maharally was organised to mark 76th birth anniversary of BSP
founder late Kanshi Ram. It also kicked off party's 25 years
celebrations and was described as a "Dalit maha-kumbh" by BSP leaders.
The huge Dalit memorials built by Maya were thrown open for party
supporters on that day. The party has also decided to arrange visit of
at least 1000 Dalits every week from various districts to these
memorials for their "psychological empowerment". Further, the party
has started a campaign to publicise the works done by the BSP
government for the upliftment of Dalits.

So, what has forced Maya to desperately reiterate her commitment for
Dalits? She was worried when Rahul started visiting Dalit homes before
2009 Lok Sabha polls, but that worry turned into fear when the
Congress bagged 21 seats in UP, splitting BSP's Dalit votes at many
places. Clearly, it was revival for the Congress which had won only
nine seats in 2004 Lok Sabha polls and 22 seats in 2007 UP assembly
elections. Buoyed by the results, as Congress started an aggressive
campaign to win back the Dalits, BSP began to press the panic buttons.

No wonder that Maya has declared Congress as BSP's enemy number one.
The fight is not only for UP but other states as well -- like Madhya
Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan -- where BSP is gradually gaining
strength. To keep here political fortunes afloat, Maya needs to keep
her Dalit vote bank intact, particularly after 2009 Lok Sabha polls in
which BSP won only 20 seats in UP, despite getting a higher vote share
than other parties. There's another worry. The Brahmin card which
brought Maya to power in 2007, failed in 2009 and she had to face
criticism for alleged dilution of BSP's `bahujan' ideology propagated
by Kanshi Ram.

Under Kanshi Ram, BSP struggled till 1988 when he stunned everyone by
securing 19% votes in Allahabad byelections against stalwarts like
Congress's Sunil Shastri and former prime minister VP Singh. In 1989,
the BSP opened its account in Lok Sabha polls by winning three seats.
Since then, it grew stronger with every election. In 1993, BSP-SP
fought the UP assembly elections together and won 176 seats (SP 109
and BSP 67). But, Maya withdrew support from the then SP government
and became the first woman Dalit chief minister of India in June 1995
with BJP support.

With BJP's support, Mayawati again became the chief minister in 1997
and 2000. Kanshi Ram declared Maya his political successor in 2001.
Kanshi Ram wanted to unite Bahujan (Dalits, backward and Muslims)
against a brahmincal society but Maya adopted the Sarvjan approach.
She added brahmins to her vote bank and won 2007 assembly polls with
Brahmin-Dalit-Muslim combination. The same caste equation had kept
Congress in power for over four decades in UP. Now, Congress is eyeing
to capture UP in 2012 assembly polls. But Maya will not give up
easily. The battle lines are drawn and the state is in for an
interesting contest.

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