---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: jothiraj mcraj raj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Friends Koratagere Taluk This was perhaps for the first time that the bureaucrats have publicly spoken instead of us on behalf of our people. They have spoken for our people and about our people in earlier times. But this one was different. Both the speeches of the Tahsildhar and the Circle Inspector of police were fiery. It was the formal inauguration of a Dalit Panchayat at Arasapura. Our Hobli leader had carefully avoided politicians because of the recently evolved nexus. However, one independent Taluk Panchayat member found his way into the meeting. Usually we do not send them away. Dominant caste people also came in good numbers to listen. It is a tiny Dalit village of only 46 houses. The rest are all of the dominant caste people. One of the officers even told the people if untouchability practices are there you should simply barge into those places from where you are prevented. Till now such urgent statements used to come only from Jyothi and Raj. Now the bureaucracy is taking over. Then came the vituperative attack and analysis from the other officer of dominant caste ways established by Brahminism. Apart from all the vehement analysis and attack on dominant caste ways and their oppression of the Dalits the following features marked this inauguration of the Dalit Panchayats. The Tahsildhar remarked that Dalit Panchayats in Tumkur District have become INTERACTIVE FORUM between the government officers and the Dalit communities. This noble effort of establishing Dalit Panchayats must spread. He also mentioned that Tumkur District is being marked by outsiders for giving birth to Dalit Philosophy. The Circle Inspector of Police said that he is paid by the government to register cases. Therefore, he is duty-bound to take in individual cases when they come. Then he challenged the Dalit Panchayat by asking them not to go to him with complaints. Instead they should resolve conflicts among themselves in the Dalit Panchayats. This is one of the fundamental principles of establishing Dalit Panchayats, that the Dalit community should internally resolve all its conflicts and not complain to the police against one another. The Social Welfare Officer remarked that Dalit Panchayat is a unique way of building up the Dalit community. It is for the first time in the history of India that this Dalit Panchayat has come. The people of Tumkur should feel proud of this. The best part of the event was the assertion of the President of the Government Panchayat that hereafter the Government Panchayat would establish a direct link with the Dalit Panchayat and sanction government schemes only for those who bring a resolution from the Dalit Panchayat that they should be given the government scheme. This was something! Turuvekere Taluk It is only in December that we stepped into this Taluk for the first time. Already four Dalit Panchayats have been established in this Taluk. The new and fresh Dalit girl Sunanda organized a one day training to the entire Dalit community in Dunda, which is also her village. The training team of REDS was there. It was a dusk to dawn training. People are available only at night. As soon as the training started the dominant caste fellows rushed into the Dalit village and began challenging the people as to how they can organize a Sangha there. Who are the people behind and this was followed by abuses. The Dalit people immediately took up sticks and challenged the fellows. Things became hot and the Dalit literally chased the caste fellows into their village. They ran for their life. Then they called the police. The police came and assessed the situation and asked the Dalit people to give a written complaint against the caste fellows. However, Dalit elders prevented the Dalit Panchayat members from doing that as there was no beating up of any one and let go of the dominant caste people. That is our people and our culture. Sira Taluk In Mayasandra of Sira Taluk one of our educated Dalits occupied the site given by the government for a community building. No amount of negotiation would change his attitude. It was then that our lady leader of the taluk worked out a strategy. The Dalit Panchayat had to be formally inaugurated. When we say formal inauguration of a Dalit Panchayat it means a big celebration and procession with Jyothi and Raj, firecrackers, decorations, community meal and a public function. Each formal inauguration would take more than half a day. She invited the Tahsildhar for the function. He announced publicly that he would take legal action against the person who encroached the community site. In his presence the board of the Dalit Panchayat was set up in the community site. The 'educated' Dalit came when Jyothi and Raj were still there and were blessing the people after the function. His complaint was that he was not invited for the function and said nothing more. The site now belongs to the community and it will be registered in the name of the Dalit Panchayat soon. In Hanumathnagar it was a problem of the 28 housing sites at the side of the National Highway. You may remember the fire that engulfed the huts of the Dalits in this village last year and the Government Panchayat trying to grab all the sites of the Dalits by offering them alternative sites in far off places. We succeeded with the Collector to get the sites clearly marked for the Dalits. Now Houses have been sanctioned to the Panchayat by the government. There was a village meeting to make allocations. Once again the question of ownership of the housing sites came up. The government officers gave clear signals to us that they would be with the Dalit people. Therefore, we needed to mobilize more people to attend the Village meeting and some of our leaders were also there. That was it. In the meeting it was decided that the Dalit people should be allotted houses and that they should be given houses in the same sites that they had on their hand. The Panchayat resolution was signed by the Nodal officer who was present in the meeting representing the government. A major success indeed! Roshini For REDS Team -- The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone -- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything? - Eben Moglen
