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Monday, December 28, 2009

[ZESTCaste] 2009 FFEI donation request

As the year is ending, I requesting you again to consider donating to FFEI. We, at FFEI, and the kids depening on your donations will thank you very much for your generosity. If you cannot sponsor this year, please spread the word around. That doesn't cost anything. Someone may be interested in our work.

With regards

Benjamin

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

Dear Donors, Friends, and Sympathizers,

To those who celebrate, Merry Christmas, the birth of Jesus, the apostle of peace, compassion, and love.

Please ignore this email if you have already helped us in 2009 with your generous donation.

This is the end of the year and most importantly the season of giving. In this charitable season, can you think of helping an underprivileged child to get good education? If so, please consider our project Friends for Education International (FFEI) that has been helping such children since 2003. By doing so, you may help a kid and take the benefit of tax exemption for 2009 as we are a 501(C)(3) organization in US.

Let me first thank you immensely for all the support you have been extending since 2003. It is your help that sustained us all these years to help kids from the most vulnerable and marginalized sections of Indian society – mostly Dalits or Untouchables. Without your help we wouldn't be where we are now.

More than ever, we need your help now. Last year, in addition to giving scholarships to those who performed well in Tenth (Class 10) examinations, we adopted 50 kids from scavenging families to support them educationally from class I. Without your help, they may have to be dropped out of the school this year.

We have several other projects. You may be interested one of them as well. Please check our website www.friendsforeducation.org.

We believe you support us this year as you have done before. Any donation (small, big, cash, or kind) will be accepted with so much gratitude as every penny will be helpful to us.

These kids future depends on you and so we are counting you on.

We gain donors mostly by word of mouth. We do not have any corporate donors. We entirely depend on individuals.

Please spread the word among your friends, relatives, and colleagues and help us reach as many concerned individuals as we can. Please visit our website www.friendsforeducation.org for more details and write to me if you have any questions.

Please use one of the following to contribute:

Online contribution: http://www.friends4education.org/scholarship/0Main/html/donate_address.htm

To send a check:

In USD (We will provide receipt for tax purposes):

In favor of :FFEI (Friends for Education International)
Bank : US Bank, La Crescenta, CA

Address:
Benjamin P Kaila
2755 Sanborn Ave
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Email: benjamin_kaila@yahoo.com

In Rupees:

In favor of: Friends for Education International (India Chapter)
Bank: Corporation Bank, Nampally, Hyderabad

Mr K L Anand Paul
Gayatri Apartments,
Block 1, Flat 407, APIIC Colony, Jidimetla
Hyderabad, India 500 055

With regards

Ben

Note: I never intend to spam anyone. If anyone thinks so, I am sorry. Please let me know and I will stop sending right away.

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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 or www.ambedkarscholarship.org

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[ZESTCaste] Abuse Of Power (Opinion)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Abuse-Of-Power/articleshow/5385074.cms

COMMENT
Abuse Of Power
28 December 2009, 12:00am IST

The way a university professor was branded a 'Naxalite' and assaulted
by policemen in Bihar is most disturbing. According to Jamia Millia
Islamia professor Rahul Ramagundam, he and a companion were beaten up
by the police for asking why homes of Dalits in Amausi village were
being demolished. While we still await the police version of events,
why is it that prima facie we don't find anything surprising about the
events? That's because the police far too often abuse their authority,
and more so in the poorly governed states.

Instances of human rights abuse by the police are too many to recount.
In the past few days, the way former Haryana inspector-general of
police S P S Rathore tried to subvert justice after being accused of
molesting a teen has come to light. This is partly due to the media
having taken up the molestation case as a wrong that needs to be
redressed. But there are many more instances where the police
routinely abuse their authority that go unrecorded and unreported.
Those at the receiving end are more often than not unlettered and poor
people who don't have the means to raise their voices against the
state. It's only when the violations assume shocking proportions such
as the Bhagalpur blindings of nearly three decades ago where several
undertrials were blinded by the police that we sit up and take notice.

There is a different kind of abuse of power in Naxalite-affected
areas. Here in the name of maintaining law and order, the police often
overstep the line. The incident at Amausi falls in this category.
Anyone who is seen to be sympathetic to tribals or the oppressed is in
the danger of being branded a Naxalite. This is an absurd policy on
the part of the administration. There are so many people who believe
that tribals or Dalits have legitimate grievances against the state
but at the same time are critical of Naxalites and their strategy. If
the police and the administration cannot make this distinction, it
would only prove to be counterproductive to their strategy of
containing Naxalites and other militants.

We need to rethink the way the police function as an institution. The
police haven't yet shed many of their colonial-era trappings and still
have an adversarial relationship with citizens. They haven't been able
to win the trust of the people, something that is reflected in popular
culture. Incidents such as the one involving the Jamia professor who
is ironically a respected Gandhian scholar and activist only help in
reinforcing the poor image of the police.

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[ZESTCaste] Rahul weaves self-help magic in Bundelkhand

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rahul-weaves-self-help-magic-in-bundelkhand_1328222

Monday, December 28, 2009 12:30:00 AM

Rahul weaves self-help magic in Bundelkhand

Deepak Gidwani / DNA

"You have to learn to fight for your rights… learn the paperwork
(involved in government functioning)… catch hold of the officials…
learn to fight for what is your rightful due…" That is Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi exhorting women — mostly Dalits — in the Babina block of
Jhansi district on his recent visit to Uttar Pradesh's (UP's)
Bundelkhand region.
The rather aggressive statements are part of Rahul's latest strategy
to galvanise the poor, oppressed and largely illiterate Bundeli women
for the Congress' 'mission Bundelkhand' to counter the BSP's influence
in the region.

The BSP, which too had begun its winning streak in UP from this region
dominated by Dalits and backward castes, has a major presence in
Bundelkhand.

The redoubtable network of women self-help groups (SHGs) created by
Rahul in Amethi and Rae Bareli has formed the backbone of the party's
support structure in the two constituencies. The SHG formula had also
been used to great effect in Andhra Pradesh, before it was brought to
Bundelkhand.

The Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust is providing financial support to
these SHGs. The trust already has its presence in all seven
Bundelkhand districts. More than 300 SHGs are functional in Jhansi
alone, and in the Babina block of the district, a woman from every
second family in an SHG member. The portion of Bundelkhand falling in
Madhya Pradesh would be taken up for a similar exercise in the next
phase, a Congress worker told DNA.
Rahul's strategy could work wonders, Congress leaders felt. "The SHGs
have nothing to do with the party or elections. But Rahulji is doing a
wonderful job for the Bundeli women who have been oppressed and
exploited for ages," Vivek Singh, an MLA from Banda and chairman of
the UP Congress media division, said.

However, Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha president and actor Raja Bundela is
sceptical.
"Bundelkhand is a God-forsaken place. There is no employment, no
industry. Rahul's initiatives are welcome but they have their
limitations," he says. "What Bundelkhand needs is a huge dose of
development… that's possible only when we do away with symbolic
measures and vote-bank politics," he adds.

Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh counters, saying: "UP has a
BSP government and Madhya Pradesh has a BJP regime. We can't release
funds, we can't make the policies. We have to work within
limitations… Rahulji is setting an example that politicians can do
ground work without votebank politics."

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit literature, an uprising against social injustice: Limbale

http://www.thehindu.com/2009/12/28/stories/2009122853740400.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Dalit literature, an uprising against social injustice: Limbale

K.P.M. Basheer

Marathi writer regrets that Dalits are being harassed in literate Kerala

Says caste discrimination is taking new shape in modern India

'Caste violence is collective now'

KOCHI: "Who is a Dalit?"

"One who rebels against the caste system," snap comes the answer from
Sharankumar Limbale, Marathi writer and an icon of Dalit literature.

"And, how do you define Dalit literature?"

"Dalit literature uses the written word as a weapon against the
inhuman oppression of Dalits by the Brahminical social order that
denies them basic human rights and dignity."

Dalit literature, Dr. Limbale told The Hindu, is the uprising of the
written word against the millennia-old social injustice manifesting
itself as brutalities committed on Dalits all over the country.

"It expresses the pains and pangs of the Dalit existence; it is the
lived reality of crores of people living on the margins of life in
India; it verbalises the suppressed anger and wounded pride of those
existing outside the caste identities," says the soft-spoken author of
the autobiography classic Akkarmaashi, which unleashed a typhoon in
Marathi literature over a quarter century ago. "The so-called
mainstream literature is the product of the imagination of upper caste
writers about middle-class issues, but Dalit literature is based on
the lived experience of the writer." Mainstream literature is for
entertainment, but Dalit writing is aimed at removing social injustice
by reflecting the harsh realities of Dalit life.

Varkala incidents

Dr. Limbale, 53, who was in Kerala recently, found that even in
"progressive and literate Kerala," Dalits were being harassed,
discriminated against and denied opportunities.

Referring to the recent incidents at Varkala, he said that an incident
where a Dalit girl wearing a pair of jeans had incited upper caste
jealousies showed that caste intolerance was alive and well in 'every
mind' in a country where scientists are preparing to send human beings
to the moon.

He condemned the way the police and the "upper caste people" were
using the murder of an elderly man to target the entire Dalit
community in Varkala. "This should not have happened in a State which
is ruled by the Left," Dr. Limbale said.

Dr. Limbale, who has 44 books to his credit — novels, poetry, stories,
translations and literary and social criticisms — is no stranger to
Malayalam.

He got introduced to Malayalam readers when his book Akkarmaashi (The
'half-caste') was serialised by a Malayalam weekly.

Akkarmaashi, written when he was just 25, tells his life in a
Maharwada (the living space allotted to the untouchable Mahar
community) on the outskirts of a Maharashtra village near Solapur. He
was one of the 12 children of a Mahar woman, who was kept as a
concubine by the upper-caste village heads.

Those days, he recalls, Dalits could not enter a temple or a
restaurant, the village barber would not cut their hair. They were not
allowed to take a decent name; they could only take the names of
stones, trees or animals. At school, they had to sit in a separate
block outside the classroom; the teacher always insulted and tortured
them, said Dr. Limbale, who is now a regional director and professor
at the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University.

Through unbelievable poverty and inhuman caste brutalities all around
him, he fought to get a decent education. On the way, he wrote poetry
and stories, actively took part in the Dalit Panthers movement and
worked at the grassroots for the uplift of Dalits. At age 22, he
married an illiterate girl.

Untouchability and caste discrimination are taking new shapes in
modern India, Dr. Limbale regrets. "In the past, one upper-caste
person would beat up one Dalit; but now the entire upper-caste
community boycotts the entire Dalit community in the village," he
points out. "Now the caste violence is collective; it is also
political as well as social." Dalits have now got powerful `chairs,'
but no power to go with them. "Dalit IAS officers, professors or even
Ministers are just second-class people in their respective
professions." Despite being a celebrated writer, he faced
discrimination and ill-treatment on a daily basis.

Dalit literature, which is fighting all the different forms of caste
discrimination, is set to become stronger. "It is going to become the
Dalits' gun to fight injustices." He hoped the Varkala incidents would
trigger the emergence of a strong Dalit literature in Malayalam.

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[ZESTCaste] Gangraped in 1998, 13-year-old Dalit girl awaits justice

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Gangraped-in-1998--13-year-old-Dalit-girl-awaits-justice/560250

Gangraped in 1998, 13-year-old Dalit girl awaits justice
Parimal Dabhi Posted online: Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 0039 hrs

Ahmedabad : A 13-year-old Dalit girl from Mokshi village in Vadodara
district, who was allegedly gangraped by the nephew of a local MLA and
his accomplice in 1998, still awaits justice.
The Dalit girl's trauma began on March 13, 1998 when the two accused
abandoned her near a village pond after raping her. The girl's
grandfather took her to the Bhadarava police station, but the police
did not lodge an FIR. Subsequently, he took her to the SSG Hospital.
The victim was admitted in the Psychiatry department and her rape was
ignored. The girl was shifted to the gynaecology ward only after the
psychiatry head ordered it after diagnosing her as a rape victim.

The police lodged the FIR only after the victim's grandfather, with
the help of an NGO, Council for Social Justice, filed a petition in
the Gujarat High Court.

Subsequently, the police filed a chargesheet against the two accused
—Ramesh Chauhan and Ramesh Vankar — and the case was heard by the
Special Court for the offences registered under the provisions of the
Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Chauhan is the nephew of Congress leader Khumansinh Chauhan.

When the trial in the case got over and it was at the stage of
judgment, the Special Trial Judge realised that proper procedure was
not adopted in accordance with the law in the case, especially in
submitting the chargesheet.

The judge referred to the procedure by which the chargesheet of any
case is first submitted to the court of Judicial Magistrate First
Class (JMFC). The JMFC commits the case to the Sessions Court for
trial. In the case of this girl, the chargesheet was submitted to the
Sessions Court directly. So, in May 2007, the Special Judge ordered to
send back the case papers to the Investigating Officer to submit them
to the concerned JMFC first.

Now, 11 years after the minor girl was gangraped, the case still
remains at the stage of issuance of summons to the witness. Against
this, the main accused, Chauhan, has already died. And the other
accused, Vankar, belongs to the SC community and so he faces charges
under the provisions of the IPC.

Disappointed and furious, the secretary of Council for Social Justice,
Valjibhai Patel has written to the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High
Court explaining the plight of the Dalit victim and the negligence
shown by the administration and the judiciary in particular in the
case.Patel has requested the Chief Justice to take suo motu cognisance
of the case and to initiate legal proceedings against the responsible
officers like the Investigating Officer, Court Registrar, Chief Public
Prosecutor and the Special Trial Judge.

Patel said: "The case highlights gross negligence by almost all
concerned offices involved. Despite it being a case of gangrape of a
Dalit girl, the concerned Sessions Court had put it in Lok Adalat for
compromise in 1999. This shows the kind of insensitivity prevailing in
the Gujarati society towards such heinous offences against women and
Dalits."

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

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Monday, December 28, 2009

[ZESTCaste] 2009 FFEI donation request

[ZESTCaste] Abuse Of Power (Opinion)

[ZESTCaste] Rahul weaves self-help magic in Bundelkhand

[ZESTCaste] Dalit literature, an uprising against social injustice: Limbale

[ZESTCaste] Gangraped in 1998, 13-year-old Dalit girl awaits justice

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