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Saturday, June 5, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Pride and Prejudice: Dalits' symbols of worship

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/pride-and-prejudice-dalits-symbols-of-worship-1-29991.php

Pride and Prejudice: Dalits' symbols of worship

NDTV Correspondent, Saturday June 5, 2010, New Delhi

While political parties calculate gains and losses of a caste based
census in terms of votes. Post Mandal, Dalits have started asserting
themselves in every field, even in matters of faith and belief.

Images of Dalits offering prayers at the Jagannath temple in
Kendrapara, Orissa, through holes in the compound wall shocked the
country. Five years ago a compromise was reached. Only the temple
priest is now allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum.

Today most temples are open to Dalits, but many continue to worship
pictures of gods at home. A trend which started in the 1920s with the
mass production of religious images.

"Where earlier a Hindu image could not be worshipped until it was not
ritually consecrated with the service of a Brahmin priest, the mass
produced image changed this. So, there was a kind of democratization
of image and the relation of the worshippers to the image became more
independent of prescribed norms of worship," said Dr Jyotindra Jain,
an Art historian.

As Dalits began to assert themselves politically, post Mandal, they
also started searching for their own icons in the Hindu pantheon of
gods and goddesses. So, the author of the Ramayan, Valmiki, is
transformed into a modern day deity.

"Valmiki is a Dalit devata so, they want to worship him separately
from the others. Earlier, posters showed Valmiki writing the Ramayan,
with Ram and Sita watching him from the skies and everyone worshipped
that image. Now he is alone," said M L Garg, MD, Brijbasi Art Press.

But outside their homes, for all Dalits, Hindus and neo-Buddhists, Dr
Ambedkar's statue still remains the most powerful and popular public
symbol of pride and identity.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati favouring only her own caste : Paswan

http://www.ptinews.com/news/693000_Mayawati-favouring-only-her-own-caste---Paswan

Mayawati favouring only her own caste : Paswan

STAFF WRITER 22:12 HRS IST
Lucknow, June 4 (PTI) Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan
today accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of discriminating
among Dalits, saying she favoured only her own caste while the rest
suffered.

"The Dalit ki beti is favouring only members of her caste while the
condition of other castes such as Balmiki, Khatik and Pasi among
others has deteriorated," Paswan who was here to attend a function
told newspersons.

Noting that Dalit ideologue Bhim Rao Ambedkar had never discriminated
among the castes, he said, "All her claims of working for the Dalits
are an eyewash."

The maximum number of cases of atrocities against Dalits have been
reported from UP, he said.

To a question on the assets declared by the BSP chief while filing
nomination for the Vidhan Parishad, Paswan said, "She needs to tell as
to how she acquired these assets.

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[ZESTCaste] Is he Cong CM or a Khap chief?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Is-he-Cong-CM-or-a-Khap-chief/articleshow/6013192.cms

Is he Cong CM or a Khap chief?
5 Jun 2010, 0314 hrs IST,ET Bureau

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: There is very little to choose between Haryana
chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Khap panchayats. Mr Hooda
breathed new
life to the controversy on Thursday, over Khap panchayats' decision to
oppose same-gotra marriage, by supporting it. With an eye on electoral
equations, the chief minister who was silent on the issue said: "The
issue was not about Khap panchayats but related to old customs of the
state, as per which such marriages are not solemnised in any castes."
The Jat community comprises 27% of the state electorate.

The campaign of the Jat community had subsided after Union law
minister Veerappa Moily said the Centre was planning a law to allow
same-gotra marriages. Even Congress MP Navin Jindal, who backed the
Khap leaders, had backtracked after this.

The CM's statement said that as per the old customs same-gotra
marriages were prohibited and society did not approve such marriages.

Thankfully, Mr Hooda said that the death sentences pronounced by khap
panchayats were wrong and illegal. When asked on the need to amend the
Hindu Marriage Act, the chief minister played safe by saying that
there is an existing provision in the act.

The Jat leaders of the state don't seem to have the political will to
fight the spate of gory incidents that have taken place of late due to
retrograde mindset of Jat community leaders.

In the past four decades, the only non-Jat satrap to rule Haryana was
Mr Bhajan Lal. The other non Jat CM was Banarsi Das Gupta. Though he
was catapulted to the coveted post twice, his tenures were
short-lived. This seems to have given the impression that a CM can
survive only if he overtly backs the Jat community.

As the Congress and Indian National Lok Dal slug it out to please the
Jat community, Mayawati's BSP has made things tough for the chief
minister by keeping the Mirchpur incident alive. More than 20 houses
of Dalits were torched by Jats resulting in the death of 18-year-old
physically-challenged woman Suman and her father Tara Chand in
Mirchpur.

Political scientists believe that with the changing socio-economic
scenario, Dalits have started fighting for their rights while Khaps,
mainly comprising upper caste landlords, want to maintain status quo.
Dalits constitute 19.3% of Haryana's population and Valmikis
constitute 19.2% of the Dalit population. Meanwhile, Union housing &
urban poverty alleviation and tourism minister Kumari Selja — the
Dalit face of Haryana who criticised Mr Hooda openly on violence
against Dalits — rejected the idea of banning marriages within same
gotra.

On the violence against Dalits, Ms Selja said: "AICC chairperson Sonia
Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi have taken a serious note of
the Mirchpur incident in Haryana where more than 20 houses of Dalits
were torched by the upper community members resulting in the death of
18-year-old physically challenged woman Suman and her father Tara
Chand."

"Whereas we on the one hand we have best of the programmes for people
who belong to lower strata, and on the other hand these people are
made victims. I believe government should adopt tough stance on
atrocities against Dalits. Its time people should come of age," Ms
Selja said.

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

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits: A new faith in religion

Dalits: A new faith in religion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wipdy6vb5es

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[ZESTCaste] Fwd: Successful petition | How mining effects children, women, adivasi, dalits | ISO 26000 Guidance | More

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <g.oonk@indianet.nl>
Date: Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 8:47 PM
Subject: Successful petition | How mining effects children, women,
adivasi, dalits | ISO 26000 Guidance | More
To:

Dear reader,
Here is another round of news on the activities of the India Committee
of The Netherlands (ICN) and some coalitions in which it participates.
Successful petition presented at Global Child labour Conference
Over the last two months we have asked your support for the petition
'Stop Child labour - Every Child to School'. A big thanks to everyone
of you who made this petition a success!
During the Global Child labour Conference on the 10th of May Mr.
Venkat Reddy, co-ordinator of the Indian NGO MV Foundation together
with the chairperson of the Dutch Federation of Trade Unions, Mrs.
Agnes Jongerius, presented more than 12.000 signatures to the
chairperson of the Conference, Minister Piet Hein Donner of the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment of The Netherlands. See also
conference website:
http://www.childlabourconference2010.com/
At the Conference a Roadmap for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labour was adopted after long negotiations of country
representatives, trade unions, employers organizations and NGOs. An
important result of the petition, in which we argued for a global
policy to eliminate all forms of child labour (and not only the worst
forms), is the following statement in the Preamble of the Roadmap:
'Considering that action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour
is most effective and sustainable when it is situated within action to
eliminate all child labour, including through area-based and
sector-based programmes''
The full Roadmap can be found here:
http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/roadmapchildlabour.pdf
Mining and its effects on children, women, Adivasi and Dalits
Reports recently released by Indian NGOs reveal the desperate
situation for children and adults living and working in mining areas
in India. Among them Dalits, Adivasi and women are the main victims.
The report India's Childhood in the "Pits" published by HAQ, SAMATA
and mines, minerals and People (mmP) shows that districts that are
entirely dependent on mining have a lower literacy rate than the
national average. The mortality rate of children under five years of
age is higher. Child labour is rampant.
GRAVIS has released the report Women Miners in Rajasthan, India. The
report explores the harsh everyday life and work of female quarry
workers in Rajasthan. An article on these two reports and the reports
themselves can be found here:
http://www.dalits.nl/pdf/MiningAndItsEffectOnChildren.pdf
Action Plan for Companies Against Child labour presented to Dutch
Foreign Minister
On the 26 of May FNV chair Agnes Jongerius en ICN director Gerard Oonk
presented the Dutch version of the Action Plan for Companies to Combat
Child Labour' to the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Maxime
Verhagen. The Minister wrote a preface to this Dutch edition in which
he urges companies to use the Action Plan in a step-by-step approach
to eradicate child labour in their supply-chains. The presentation of
the Action Plan took place in the store of high-end garment retailer
McGregor in Amsterdam, one of the members of the FairWear Foundation.
The FairWear Foundation is a multi-stakeholder initiative of around 50
companies, unions and NGOs that co-operate to improve working
conditions in the global garment industry and also try to eradicate
child labour. The Minister interviewed participants in the FairWear
Foundation on how they tackled child labour in their production chain.
You can find the Action Plan here:
http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/actionplanchildlabour.pdf
ISO 26000: new international Guidance Standard for Social
Responsibility of Organizations
As representative of the Dutch CSR Platform (consisting of 35
organizations in the field of development, human rights, environment,
fair trade as well as the two Dutch trade union federations) the
director of ICN was closely involved in the development of an
international Guidance Standard for the Social Responsibility of
organizations, a project of the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO).
In May 2010 the Guidance Standard was finalized during a working
conference in Copenhagen. It now has to be voted on by the National
Standard Bodies that are members of ISO. A large number of developing
countries, not only their governments but also their NGOs, unions,
consumer organizations and employer's organizations, were closely
involved in the five year process of developing the standard. Some
crucial issues for ICN like human rights, labour rights, child labour
and caste-based discrimination are also adequately reflected in the
document. Please find the ISO press release on ISO 26000 here:
http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1321
The unedited final version of the ISO 26000 Guidance Standard for
Social Responsibility can (still) be found on www.iso.org/wgsr (see
upper right hand corner of homepage: Meeting 8 Copenhagen: N191 ISO
26000 Revised Draft 21 May)

Kind regards,

Gerard Oonk

director India Committee of the Netherlands
Mariaplaats 4e,
3511 LH Utrecht
tel. 030-2321340; fax.030-2322246

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

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Saturday, June 5, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Pride and Prejudice: Dalits' symbols of worship

[ZESTCaste] Mayawati favouring only her own caste : Paswan

[ZESTCaste] Is he Cong CM or a Khap chief?

[ZESTCaste] Dalits: A new faith in religion

[ZESTCaste] Fwd: Successful petition | How mining effects children, women, adivasi, dalits | ISO 26000 Guidance | More

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