<Thats common sense. If that seems reasonable then next
steps should be --how to acclimatize NE tribals to
North Indian culture OR --better --why not improve the
college education in NE -so that few have to come to
Delhi etc. Given that only Biharis come to study in
Delhi in larger numbers speaks a lot about NE's
college system.>
Manoj-you can start serious discussions on this. Many Engineers/Scientists/Docs in this group.
Begin with what I placed3-4 days back on the issue of "Technical University for Assam"
mm
From: umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Assam] (Assam): Racism in North India
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006 06:24:09 +0100 (BST)
>Bhuban-da,
>
>i lived in college hostel of Delhi Univ 's KiroriMal
>College and twenty percent of the hostelers were from
>North East wih Mongoloid features. I had a good friend
>Maryom karlo from Arunanchal pradesh in the history
>dept and was quite sincere in studies. He was very
>strongly built too and nearly all were expected to
>have great skills in football, judo karate etc.
>
>It was an all boys hostel but it had a heavy traffic
>of girls from North east . It was early 1990s and even
>a few physical liasons made instant news . Now I hear
>it is quite common in Delhi, Bangalore etc for
>unmarried couples to live together - then only NE
>tribals dared to lived together -or even in groups
>-Western style.
>
>Unlike Biharis who constituted 60% of the hostelers
>and paying guests etc --NE tribals were not known for
>their academic excellence --but for flashy clothes,
>Japanese latest mbikes and rock music. My friend
>Maryon Karlo was an exception -he had little money.
>Further, he himself told me about remote Arunanchal
>Pradesh -on China border --that it had 7 or 8 tribes
>-and he was one of the few which behaved amicbly with
>outsiders. Others were quite aggressive --and thats
>the view most students had about NE tribals -always
>ready to fight and take out their swords and other
>stuff.
>
>In college and hostel -introductions/hazng/ragging etc
>NE tribals (and sports quota students in general) were
>exempt. They never attempted to interact with the
>local students -except for a minority (inlc Maryom
>Karlo) . They led a singularly utopian and secluded
>life -even while being in the heart of India. Most
>likely they were neither good in spoken English nor in
>local language --so barriers existed.
>
>I guess the situation is the same still. However,
>there were a few Keralites and Tamilians from South
>India -who made attempts to learn the language and mix
>with the locals. Even the Nepalis survive more easily
>in North and Central India --since they learn the
>language and are ready to "do in rome as romans do."
>
>If one has to study or work in any place one has to
>adjust to the local environment --or the locals
>reject/oppress you.
>
>Thats common sense. If that seems reasonable then next
>steps should be --how to acclimatize NE tribals to
>North Indian culture OR --better --why not improve the
>college education in NE -so that few have to come to
>Delhi etc. Given that only Biharis come to study in
>Delhi in larger numbers speaks a lot about NE's
>college system.
>
>Regards and good that you raised the issue.
>
>Umesh
>
>
>--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > Dear Netters
> >
> > The following letter from Aparna Pallavi appearing
> > in today's Sentinel is
> > food for thought and reflection by all of us.
> >
> > Bhuban
> >
> > Last updated : SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2006
> >
> >
> > Racism in North India
> > As an undergraduate student at Delhi University in
> > the early 1990s, Dr Renu
> > (Gupta) Naidu took little notice when her friends
> > routinely referred to
> > students from the Northeast as âChinkiesâ or
> > hurled obscenities or racial
> > insults at them.
> > âAny Northeastern student entering a college
> > campus earns the epithet â
> > Chinkyâ on day one, and has to live with being
> > looked at as, at the very least,
> > an oddity, for the rest of her or his stay,â? says
> > Naidu. âStudents told me
> > about being asked questions like whether they eat
> > rats.â? This racial hostility
> > comes unbidden from the non-Northeastern student
> > community.
> > Naidu had herself faced discrimination as a
> > ânon-Marathiâ student during
> > her post-graduation at Nagpur, and it dawned on her
> > that Northeastern students,
> > with their distinctive ânon-plainspeopleâ
> > epicanthic features, behaviour
> > and dress habits, were in all likelihood
> > confronting far more discrimination
> > than she had. In June 2006, Naidu was awarded a PhD
> > for her work on the lives
> > of Northeastern tribal girl students in Delhi, with
> > her research based on
> > interviews with 200 students from 10 colleges in
> > Delhi Universityâs North Campus.
> > The first disturbing fact â statistics compiled
> > from official records of
> > various colleges in the city â that Naiduâs
> > study has uncovered is that the
> > dropout rates of Northeastern students touches 50
> > per cent, with more girls
> > dropping out than boys. The reasons for this trend,
> > according to Naidu, lie in
> > the intense sociocultural conflict, and the
> > resultant stress, that impact all
> > aspects of the lives of students from the
> > Northeast.
> > âFor a student from the Northeast, irrespective of
> > whether she or he is from
> > an urban or tribal background, Delhi is like an
> > alien land,â? says Naidu. â
> > The language is unfamiliar, the cultural and social
> > terrain is unknown. Even
> > getting a letter of introduction to open a bank
> > account is a mammoth task.
> > What is more, their distinctive physical features
> > immediately mark them out as
> > outsiders among the local populace.â?
> > Being cheated as a matter of course is one direct
> > fallout of this situation.
> > Angom*, a Manipuri student at Miranda House told
> > Naidu, âEven
> > rickshaw-pullers, auto-drivers, vegetable vendors
> > and bus conductors cheat us because they
> > know that we are not aware of the price of things
> > here, and are not in a
> > position to drive hard bargains.â?
> > For girl students, the situation is worse still: in
> > the conservative Delhi
> > milieu, their Westernized style of dressing and
> > easy camaraderie with the
> > opposite sex â owing in large part to their
> > liberal tribal culture â they are
> > seen as âfastâ or âof easy virtueâ. This
> > imperception exposes girls from the
> > Northeast to the worst sorts of sexual harassment,
> > both within campuses and
> > without. Diana, a Mizo student at Indraprastha
> > college, said, âDelhi men
> > believe that north-eastern girls are easily
> > available. They look at us with only
> > one thing in mind: sex. If we protest, they warn us
> > to clam up, because we
> > are alone and there is no one we can turn to for
> > protection.â?
> > The attitude of college authorities and the local
> > police to incidences of
> > sexual harassment and teasing is usually nonchalant.
> > âIncidents of this nature
> > are treated as routine, and often the girls are
> > blamed for them.â?
> > Furthermore, she says, âPolice stations refuse to
> > provide data on the sexual harassment
> > of Northeastern girls.â? One police official, in
> > fact, told Naidu: âYeh to in
> > ladkiyon ka roz ka naatak hai, kahan tak complaint
> > darj karien? Aur waise
> > bhi bina chingari ke aag nahi lagti (This is a
> > daily drama these girls play
> > out; how many complaints do we register? Anyway,
> > there's no smoke without a
> > fire).â?
> > The vulnerability of the girls is underscored by
> > the fact that most
> > Northeastern girl students live in rented
> > accommodation. Nine colleges of the 13
> > (three are womenâs only colleges) in the North
> > Campus have hostels; only four of
> > these have girlsâ hostels.
> > âRented accommodation exposes girls to different
> > kinds of harassment,â? says
> > Naidu, âThey are subjected to sudden and
> > arbitrary hikes in rent, and
> > threatened with immediate eviction if they donât
> > comply.â?
> > Here, too, sexual harassment is omnipresent. During
> > their conversations with
> > Naidu, many Northeastern girls confided to being
> > harassed for sexual favours
> > by landlords and their families. âThe son of one
> > landlordâs family even
> > offered a rent waiver in return for sexual
> > favours!â? exclaims Naidu.
> > Apart from sexual harassment, Northeastern girl
> > students have to face
> > discrimination at other levels too, and this
> > impacts their education adversely âThe
> > general impression is that these students are not
> > good at studies and are
> > (here) just for a good time. The stamp of
> > âreservationâ sticks to them, and
> > the resentment that comes with it has to be
> > faced,â? says Naidu.
> > According to her data, of the 200 students
> > interviewed, only 10 per cent
> > said that their classroom participation is high,
> > while around three-quarters
> > registered below average classroom participation. A
> > sizeable proportion felt
> > that teachersâ attitude to their classroom
> > participation was either neutral or
> > discouraging. Of the 200 students, 111 said their
> > participation in
> > co-curricular activities was âminimalâ; 107 felt
> > discrimination during co-curricular
> > activities; 58 felt âisolatedâ; 167 students
> > registered feelings like
> > helplessness, discouragement, irritation and stress
> > in academic activities.
> > This overall pressure drives many students to drop
> > out, Naidu feels. Those
> > who stay on find it difficult to meet academic
> > goals burdened with so much
> > stress.
> > Consequently, most Northeastern tribal girl
> > students are not particularly
> > keen on getting jobs in Delhi after completing
> > their education. âComing to
> > study in Delhi, for most Northeastern students, is
> > a matter of prestige,â? says
> > Naidu. âThe unstable political situation in the
> > Northeast has caused
> > educational standards to drop, which makes it very
> > easy for Delhi-educated students to
> > get the best jobs once they return. This, coupled
> > with the fact that the
> > atmosphere does not offer much by way of
> > encouragement to reach out and mingle,
> > causes most students to see their student days here
> > as just a stopover.â?
> > Students told Naidu that social work interventions,
> > such as the presence of
> > social workers in colleges in enabling and
> > facilitating roles, and steps to
> > fight discrimination and enhance sociocultural
> > exchange between communities of
> > students, could help alleviate the problems. But
> > the single-most important
> > step that Naidu feels needs to be taken with a
> > sense of urgency is arranging
> > sufficient hostel facilities for Northeastern girl
> > students. âThis one step
> > will go a long way in providing stability and
> > security to their lives and help
> > them concentrate on their academic goals,â? she
> > says.
> > This is why Naidu is currently working on a policy
> > paper to call attention
> > to the issue of this manner of student
> > discrimination, which she wants to send
> > to the ministries of tribal welfare and social
> > justice. âThe problem of
> > Northeastern girl students needs recognition in the
> > right places,â? she says. âAt
> > present, the different kinds of stress that these
> > students have to put up
> > with is impacting their studies seriously, and
> > every effort should be made to
> > ease the situation.â?
> > (* Names of all students changed.)
> > Aparna Pallavi
> > (Womenâs Feature Service
> > > _______________________________________________
> > assam mailing list
> > [email protected]
> >
>http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >
>
>
>Umesh Sharma
>5121 Lackawanna ST
>College Park, MD 20740 USA
>
>Current temp. address: 5649 Yalta Place , Vancouver, Canada
>
> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
>Canada # (607) 221-9433
>
>Ed.M. - International Education Policy
>Harvard Graduate School of Education,
>Harvard University,
>Class of 2005
>
>weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>
>
>
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