CHITTIBABU PADAVALA
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:07:35 -0800
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: CHITTIBABU PADAVALA <afchittib...@gmail.com> Date: 9 March 2010 06:58 Subject: Demanding justice in unjust language To: bahujanstudentnetw...@googlegroups.com Dear Friends, This analogy is striking and oft used in the media. For example this comparison is used in Telugu media, by AP leaders, including Dalit leaders. But, this needs to be used sensitively and carefully. It is quite conformist madness to think that all those in jails are criminals or what they have been convicted of are actually crimes or that only criminals are jailed or even that all criminals are jailed. Rarely do such things happen. Even when they jailed one is a criminal depriving them of decent life serves no good. It is better for us not to use - as a matter of priniciple - the word criminal when we refer to those who serve the jail term because such a thing uncritically accepts the police+judiciary's version. Let's use only one of the alternatives Laxman provided: Inmates. Moreover, it is not a decent strategy to compare with other oppressed category - jail inmates. The use of this analogy in Telugu media quickly became insensitive within no time that jail mates could be deprived of basic decent standards of living given the lack of access to them by outside society, stigma associated with being jailed, complete and unchecked power jail authorities enjoy over them, inmates' lack of access to outside world, inattention of media, risks involved in protesting within the jail and many more such things the conditions in jails are inhuman and degrading. To top it all, most jails involve hierarchical structures within jails in which some inmates are delegated illegal powers by the jail authorities leaving them no possibility of introspection, self-correction. It is almost always the case that those who are jailed hardened by the experience and tend to get rid of any guilt than otherwise. There is another point too. Dalits are more likely to be jailed. They are more likely to get severe punishment relative to their offences. And, they are most likely to be ill-treated and abused within the jail due to lack of support systems from outside and sympathy within. Many of our people are in jails very often not because they have been convicted of something but simply because the jail authorities ignore to take them to the courts to appear before it or attend the hearings. It happens sometimes years together. All these things are highlighted by many human rights organizations and familiar things to those activists who are frequently jailed for being social activists and join the protests and agitations. There are cases of inmates being killed by jail police, goondas within cells and there are no cases of murderers ever getting punished. Very often the inmates suffering from ill-nesses are treated inhumanly and they die without attracting any punishment to those neglected them criminally. When the conditions in jails are so bad, it is insensitive to argue as if their conditions are in any way better than the lot of the Dalit students. It is much humane and radical to argue that so and so is the prescribed standard of living for so and so age group according to a respectable institution's estimates and the actual allocations fall short of such prescription. This temptation to make use of the prejudices of society and state our own justifiable causes is something we fight back by all means. There is no point in now talking about the honorable intentions of those who made such comparisons. Being in and with the social movements involves being able to express our demands as decently as our intentions are. If a respectable gentleman is unfairly treated by others and he expresses his legitimate anger by saying that he was being treated like an untouchable rightly offends us. Why? That obvious answer is the reason for opposing this unfair comparison of the plight of the under-provided dalit students with the inmates of jails. It is quite possible that our Parliamentary Committees are full of people who could understand only such crude forms of articulation as my friend Dr. Laxman thinks. But we don’t have to appeal to their prejudices. May be it is more effective to show what percentage of an MPs monthly petrol bill is equal to the monthly allocation for a dalit student, or some such telling detail. Chittibabu Padavala On 8 March 2010 17:07, C Lakshmanan <lax...@mids.ac.in> wrote: > *Dear Friends,* > > *I draw your attention to analogy that once I was put forth to government > officials in Tamil Nadu (TN). In government run hostels in TN budget per > person per day Rs 15/- (Rupees Fifteen only) to a student of 6th to 12thStd. > In case College student from Graduate to Doctorate - Rs. 20 per person > per day. However, budget for a criminals/ inmates in the Jails is Rs. 45 to > 100 per day, it may varies Class and nature of Crime.* > > *It would be opt analogy to the Parliamentary Committee to understand.* > > ** > > *Warmly,* > > *Lakshmanan* > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: uaday singh <usingh2...@yahoo.co.in> > Date: Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 3:29 PM > Subject: Urgent > To: "Venkatesh(ISM) Naik" <venkil...@gmail.com>, ashees...@gmail.com, > hitendra.pe...@gmail.com, harry...@gmail.com, our-me...@googlegroups.com, > zestcaste@yahoogroups.com > > > Dear Students, > Parlimentart commitee is preparing a report on the Scholarships > for SC/ST/OBC(notification attached). Plz writ individual mails to the > commitee and write a joint letter to the commitee and send by post. In your > mails you may write difficulties in getting scholarships, income criteria, > mess bill etc. > Treat it as urgent. > > Dr. Uaday Singh > Assistant Professor > Deptt. of Mathematics > BHU, > <http://www.bandoo.com/wp/ie.php?plg=ie&ad2=0&subs=yahoo&elm=sign> ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! 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