> > Dalits in a 'Hindu rashtra' > > By Subhash Gatade > > Everyone knows about Gujarat’s bias against Muslims. But consider the > dalits in this ‘Hindu rashtra’: they are confined to ‘dalits only’ > housing societies in Ahmedabad, school quotas for recruitment of dalit > teachers are ignored, and dalits are buried in separate burial grounds > if available and in wasteland if not > > The severe earthquake that hit Gujarat in 2001 and the subsequent > relief and rehabilitation programme revealed to the outside world the > deep-seated caste bias in the Gujarati community, apart from the much > talked about bias against the minority communities. There were reports > that in some places the relief and rehabilitation work bypassed both > the dalits and the Muslims. > > Similarly, the organised killing of Muslims a year later, in 2002, > also saw several dalit casualties. While the co-option of a section of > the dalits in the Hindutva agenda and their metamorphosis as foot > soldiers of the Hindutva brigade was duly reported, the media did not > deem it necessary to emphasise that the riots also affected dalits. > One hundred and eight dalits lost their lives, 38 in the city of > Ahmedabad alone. Quite a few of these deaths occurred when dalits > resisted the Hindutva goons by siding with hapless Muslims. > Interestingly, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar had asked his followers to stop > Hindu Raj becoming a reality at all costs. > > Discrimination against dalits in Gujarat occurs routinely -- in > housing, in education, and even in death. > > No place for the dead > > When Naresh Solanki's two-and-a-half-year-old nephew died in 2001, the > grieving family from Hooda village in Palanpur block of Banaskantha > district buried the child in the community burial ground. No sooner > had they reached home than they heard that a member of the Patel > community from the village had exhumed the body with a tractor. The > powerful Patels had encroached on some part of the land next to the > burial ground and were offended by the burial. > > It has been more than seven years since that incident took place and > the dalits of Hooda village are still waiting for the collector and > the village panchayat to allot them some land for burial. When a > community elder died in 2008, his body had to be carried to another > village, where dalits have a separate graveyard. > > That the problem of burials for dalits is not limited to Hooda is > borne out by a report in Mail Today in the first week of February > 2009. It said that dalits are not allowed to use common burial grounds > in Gujarat and are often forced to bury their dead in wastelands near > villages. Absence of any legal entitlement to this land allows the > dalits to be pushed out of such lands by dominant upper castes. > > A survey conducted by the Gujarat Rajya Grampanchayat Samajik Nyay > Samiti Manch found that out of 657 villages in Gujarat, 397 villages > do not have any designated land allotted for burial for dalits. Out of > the 260 villages where land has been formally allotted, 94 have seen > encroachments by the dominant castes and in 26 villages the burial > ground is in a low-lying area and therefore gets waterlogged. > > When the question of burying their dead comes up, dalits have much in > common with Muslims who also find their graveyards being encroached > upon by the dominant classes. A few years ago, the Gujarat high court > had to intervene and ask the state government to post police personnel > to block attempts to encroach on the graveyard of Muslims in Patan. > > Disclose your caste, lose your house > > If dead dalits have no dignity in a ‘Hindu rashtra’, neither do the > living, and this in the state capital of Ahmedabad. > > It is the common experience of dalits living here that if they > approach an upper caste builder for housing, they are either directly > discouraged or tacitly denied. It is immaterial if the dalit is > economically well-off. > > Such discrimination, deeply entrenched, received a new lease of life > after the 2002 carnage. In Ahmedabad, ‘dalits only’ residential > societies have come up. There are around 300 of them. An article on > the subject in the Indian Express emphasised that it is “not a matter > of choice, but of compulsion”: > > “ ‘Even if a dalit can afford a flat in areas dominated by the upper > castes, they are often denied by the builders or the seller,’ retired > IAS officer P K Valera, who lives in one such dalit society in > Ramdevnagar, says. Some social scientists say the alienation started > since 1982, after the anti-reservation agitation, but agree that the > caste and class distinctions have become more serious in recent years. > This trend can be seen not only in the walled city but also in the > posh areas of west Ahmedabad like Satellite, Vastrapur, Bodakdev, > Ambavadi. Socio-political scientist Achyut Yagnik says, ‘There are > more than 300 dalit societies in the city. In Chandkheda alone, there > are 200 societies, most of which have come up after the 2002 riots > when people moved out from Gomtipur, Bapunagar and Dani limda area. > You will find construction contractors who only build dalit > societies.’ ” > > (‘A Dalit? Go Find a Dalit Society’ by D P Bhattacharya, Indian > Express, Ahmedabad, June 17, 2007) > > Of course this near-segregation of dalits to specific areas under the > great umbrella of Hindu unity does not stop the Sangh Parivar from > using dalits for their sectarian agenda during elections and riots. > The list of the dead and wounded in the 2002 riots contains mainly > Muslim and dalit names. > > Schools flout recruitment rules with impunity > > There are around 3,255 non-grant schools in the state according to the > website of the Gujarat State Secondary and Higher Secondary Education > Board. Almost all of them violate the statutory provisions of the > Education Act, 1972, when it comes to hiring teachers from the > scheduled communities. There are consequently only a handful of > teachers from the scheduled communities in all these schools > > Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1972, it is mandatory for > all grant and non-grant schools to abide by the reservation policy > while making recruitments. Any school found to be violating its > provisions can have its registration cancelled. Experience shows that > the rule is openly flouted by the non-grant schools. The state > government conveniently argues that it can't compel the schools to > comply because they are not given any aid. > > The May 26, 2008 edition of the Indian Express, Vadodara edition, > carried an expose on this scam entitled ‘Government looks the other > way as schools flout recruitment norms for teachers.’ According to the > social justice and empowerment department, which is supposed to > supervise the implementation of the reservation policy, the reason the > statutory provisions of the act are not being implemented is the > absence of a roster reservation act under which it is mandatory that a > certain number of seats – say every third or fourth seat -- be > reserved for SCs and STs. > > It was an application filed under the Right to Information Act by a > leading social worker of Gujarat enquiring about the number of > teachers who have been recruited by non-grant schools under the > reservation policy that led to the expose of these details. Expressing > concern over the state of affairs, the social worker has demanded two > things: cancelling the registration of errant schools and punishing > the officers who have been responsible for subverting the policy. > > Atrocities cases > > The rate of conviction of cases under the Prevention of Atrocities Act > against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST) in Gujarat is a > mere 2.5%, while the rate of acquittal is 97.5%. A 23-page > confidential report submitted by the state social justice department > to the state chief secretary and legal department provides glaring > examples of “mishandling of cases registered under Prevention of > Atrocities Act against SC/ST.” (Indian Express, September 15, 2006). > > The report provides details of how cases are not investigated properly > by the police and the hostile role played by public prosecutors during > trials. It revealed other anomalies. > > - The Act clearly stipulates that offences that are registered under > this Act cannot be investigated by an officer below the rank of deputy > superintendent of police but more than 4,000 such cases have been > investigated by a police inspector or sub-inspector. > > - Acquittal of the perpetrator because the victim is not identified as > a member of SC or ST community. The reason for this is that the caste > certificate of the victim is not attached to the case papers. > > - Public prosecutor’s false claims before the courts that the Act has > been modified by the state government although it is known that it is > a central act. > > - Granting of anticipatory bail although there is no such provision in > the Act. Interestingly, the Parliamentary Committee on SC and ST > affairs had also expressed concern over such anticipatory bail granted > “in atrocity cases in the state of Gujarat”. > > It was a detailed and systematic study of 400 judgments by Vajibhai > Patel, secretary of the Council for Social Justice that compelled the > government to work on this 23-page report. According to the study the > utterly negligent police investigation at both the higher and lower > levels coupled with the distinctly hostile role played by public > prosecutors is the main reason for the collapse of cases filed under > the Atrocities Act. Patel has meticulously documented the judgments > delivered under this Act since April 1, 1995 in the Special Atrocity > Courts set up in 16 districts of the state. His study also blasts the > common perception that the inefficacy of this law is due to false > complaints being lodged or compromises between the parties; in > actuality, it is a complicit state that has rendered the Act > toothless. > > Such a situation has existed for some time. The National Crime Records > Bureau had made an observation a few years ago that went unnoticed. It > said that Gujarat ranks third in the country after Uttar Pradesh and > Bihar in atrocities against dalits (Asian Age, April 11, 2003). An > earlier report by the Bureau, in 1998, also revealed a disturbing > picture of ‘Vibrant Gujarat’. According to this report, the total > number of atrocities against dalits in the country was 25,617. Of > these, 8,894 cases were registered in Gujarat alone, including 28 > cases of rape of dalit women, the seventh highest in the country. > > Nothing was done by the Bharatiya Janata Party government to check > offences against SCs and STs. The special dalit courts envisaged in > all districts under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 > exist in only 10 of Gujarat’s 26 districts, and none of these 10 > courts accord special status to dalit issues, according to dalit > activists. > > Ambedkar’s prognosis > > One can go on belching out statistics about the situation of dalits in > the first ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in secular-democratic India. Two main issues > need to be addressed: > > - Why has the near secondary status of dalits not become an important > issue in the anti-communal movement? > > - Why is a section of dalits still enamoured of Hindutva? Is it a sign > of the upward mobility of dalits within the Hindu religion or is it a > marker of the accumulated hatred towards the minority communities and > getting ready to play out the Hindutva agenda on its own? > > It needs to be emphasised here that all over Gujarat one finds > thousands and thousands of boards put up at prominent places by one of > the affiliates of the Sangh Parivar saying ‘You are entering this or > that locality of Hindu Rashtra’. This is completely illegal and an > open proclamation of secession from the rest of society. > > At this juncture one thinks of Ambedkar’s prognosis vis-a-vis Hindu > Rajya. In his book Pakistan or Partition of India written before the > partition of India, he clearly prophesises: “If Hindu Raj becomes a > reality then it would be the greatest menace to this country. Whatever > Hindus may say, actually it does not make a difference that Hinduism > is a danger to Independence, Equality and Brotherhood. Thus it is an > enemy of democracy. We should make all-out efforts to stop Hindu Raj > from becoming a reality.” (page 358). > > It doesn’t look like anybody is listening. > > (Subhash Gatade is a social activist, translator and writer whose > writings appear regularly in Hindi and English publications and > occasionally in Urdu publications. He edits a Hindi journal Sandhan) > > InfoChange News & Features, June 2009 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. > It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of > human personality." > - Dr BR Ambedkar > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > > >
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