[ZESTCaste] Towards caste majoritarianism? (S Anand)
http://www.himalmag.com/Towards-caste-majoritarianism_nw4672.html Towards caste majoritarianism? September 2010 By: S Anand With the Census of India set to count caste for the first time since the colonial era, the focus shifts to the ramifications of doing so. I was recently forced to overhear a conversation between strangers, two Indian women, who met on the Bhopal-Delhi Shatabdi Express. They quickly zeroed in on each other’s caste. One was a Kayastha (a privileged non-Brahmin) and the other, the younger woman, a Brahmin. Both were happy to discover that they had a Kayastha connection – the Brahmin woman revealed that she had married a Kayastha man. Then they dwelt briefly on the many subcastes and hierarchies within the Kayasthas – Mathur, Sinha, Saxena, Nigam and Shrivastav. The Brahmin woman, employed in the information-technology department of an insurance company, stated with distinct pride that, when all is said and done, Brahmins had ‘sharper minds’ and were born more ‘intelligent’. To substantiate, she talked of how her Brahmin brother always outwitted her non-Brahmin husband in decision-making. The Brahmin brother, it seems, could always convince his Kayastha brother-in-law of his point of view, whether on a financial matter or where to go on holiday. The quieter Kayastha woman did not protest any of this. Even when the diminutive Brahmin woman later concluded – with her own theory of caste eugenics – that her children had developed a ‘better physique’ owing to the Kayastha father, she underscored that she did not compromise on a vegetarian diet. Now, what would be the caste of the children of this Brahmin-Kayastha marriage, with its own power dynamics? Surely, given an option, it is unlikely they would register as ‘no caste’ in the forthcoming Census of India – the first to include a section on caste in nearly seven decades. Even in such mixed-caste offspring, the importance of caste in their minds would not be discounted. That caste inflects almost every aspect of life in India, and large parts of Southasia, is a fact, as highlighted in Himal’s April 2010 issue on its pervasiveness. In a society where caste is an overwhelming reality, it would seem that counting castes would have begun long ago. Surely it is not as though India will now become a caste society when caste is, finally, counted; but when every caste does get counted, there would be official recognition of what post-Independence India has been trying to ignore for decades, seeking to present a homogenised identity to the rest of the world. So far, since only the Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes have been getting counted, debates around caste have tended to focus on issues of reservation and atrocities against Dalits. For long, questions of ameliorating the disabilities forced upon people owing to the practice of caste or its utopian annihilation (which someone like B R Ambedkar dreamed of) have been jettisoned. Among the Brahminical castes, the question of caste has been reduced to a skewed debate around quotas – wherein the incursion of the Dalits and Backward Classes into hitherto-reserved public spaces is equated with the loss of ‘merit’ and therefore lamented. While maintaining the ideological bulwark, a majority of urban Brahmins also deny the very existence of caste, and behave as if they have ‘exited’ caste. While conceding the need to count castes, what might be the political fallout of such an exercise – especially in terms of how it might affect the polarisation between Dalits and the ‘Backward’ and ‘Other Backward’ Classes (BCs and OBCs, as a bulk of the Shudra castes are designated by the Indian Constitution)? For the moment, let us set aside what could be characterised as the Brahminical objections to counting castes – represented by a medley of both liberal and neo-con voices that includes Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Barkha Dutt, Dipankar Gupta, Nandini Sundar and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, among others. That ‘empirical’ need for this ostensibly comes from the fact that in 2007 the Supreme Court of India stayed the order against the admission of OBCs to educational institutions citing lack of ‘reliable data’. The demand for this, however, predates the reservations-related recommendations of the Mandal Commission, of 1980, or more recent debates around the issue. Calculus of backwardness It is often believed that Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, was opposed to reservation for the Backward Classes, and he limited himself to being concerned with Dalits and Adivasis (the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, in official parlance). However, while resigning from Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet in October 1951 (primarily over the failure of the Hindu Code Bill), he referred to ‘another matter’ that had left him ‘dissatisfied’ with the government of the day. ‘It relates to the treatment accorded to the Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes,’ Ambedkar said. ‘I was very sorry that the Constitution did not embody
[ZESTCaste] Caste discrimination — U.K. Dalits win the argumen t, nearly
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article611931.ece Opinion » Op-Ed Published: September 4, 2010 00:48 IST | Updated: September 4, 2010 00:48 IST September 4, 2010 Caste discrimination — U.K. Dalits win the argument, nearly Hasan Suroor There's a palpable mood of optimism among Britain's 2,00,000-strong Dalit community as it waits for the Government to take a decision on its long-standing campaign for caste discrimination to be recognised as racism. The buzz is that, barring a last-minute hiccup, Britain could soon become the first European, indeed Western, country to declare caste prejudice unlawful under its race laws — a move which will not please New Delhi which has consistently opposed caste being clubbed with race. Britain's new Equality Act already empowers the Government to declare “caste to be an aspect of race” without seeking fresh parliamentary approval. Clause 9 of the Act says: “The fact that a racial group comprises two or more distinct racial groups does not prevent it from constituting a particular racial group. A Minister of the Crown may by order — (a) amend this section so as to provide for caste to be an aspect of race …” Much will depend on the findings of a study it has commissioned to determine the extent of caste discrimination. The report of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a leading independent research body which is conducting the research, is expected in the autumn and campaigners are confident that it will back their own claims about how “widespread” caste prejudice in Britain, really, is. CasteWatchUK, Britain's oldest Dalit campaign group, says it is no longer a question of “if” but “when” an official announcement is made. “We have provided enough evidence to researchers and have no doubt in our minds that their report will be positive. Besides, we have full faith in the fairness of the British state. The fact that they have included it in the equality act is half the battle won. It is not a question of ‘if' but ‘when' it happens,” claims its general secretary Davinder Prasad. There has been widespread cross-party support for the campaign, the “only reluctant voices being those of Asian MPs,” according to Lekh Pall, general secretary of the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA), an umbrella group. Leads to division The issue has divided Britain's Indian diaspora and right-wing groups such as the Hindu Forum of Britain have launched a counter-campaign arguing that the Government has no right to intervene in what they claim is the community's internal affair. Ramesh Kallidai, secretary-general of the Forum, says it is “not right for the U.K. Government to take a position on the rites, beliefs or practices of a particular religion”. “Social interactions and personal choices are an expression of people's freedom, and any barriers should be removed through education and awareness, not through legislation,” he argues. In a report, “Caste in the U.K.”, the Forum denied claims of caste discrimination saying its own research had found that it was “not endemic in British society”. However, a study — “Hidden Apartheid, Voice of the Community, Caste and Caste Discrimination in the U.K.” — by ACDA in collaboration with academics from the universities of Hertfordshire and Manchester and the Manchester Metropolitan University, concluded that there was “clear evidence” of widespread caste-based discrimination. “There is clear evidence from the survey and the focus groups that the caste system has been imported into the U.K. with the Asian diaspora and that the associated caste discrimination affects citizens in ways beyond personal choices and social interaction. There is a danger that if the U.K. government does not effectively accept and deal with the issue of caste discrimination the problem will grow unchecked,” it said. The report claimed that “tens of thousands of people in the workplace, the classroom and even the doctor's surgery” suffered discrimination because of their caste. Forty-five per cent of the respondents alleged they had either been treated negatively by co-workers or had comments made about their caste. Nine per cent felt they were been denied promotion, and 10 per cent that they were paid less because of their caste. Some also claimed that they faced “threats”. One woman, who worked for an Indian-run radio station, complained that she was demoted after her manager discovered her caste background, while an elderly woman alleged that her care worker discriminated against her on caste grounds. One transport company reorganised its duty roster so that a “higher caste” inspector would not have to work with a “lower caste” bus driver. Caste-related name-calling was one of the most commonly-reported complaints. More often than not, incidents of discrimination go unreported as people are reluctant to talk about them, activists claim with one activist saying that “there is a silent majority out there that we never hear about”.
[ZESTCaste] Development, not caste, will be Nitish’s card
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Development-not-caste-will-be-Nitishs-card/articleshow/6509368.cms 7 Sep, 2010, 02.10AM IST, Ashok K Mishra,ET Bureau Development, not caste, will be Nitish’s card PATNA: In a state where politics is mainly driven by caste considerations, chief minister Nitish Kumar is flaunting the development card which, he firmly believes, will place NDA in an advantageous position in the coming electoral battle. “The ruling NDA has done enough by way of development and this should make sense with the electorate. I am sure they will shun caste loyalty and vote for development this time. Those believing in the credo of caste-based politics will get a rude shock in the elections ” the chief minister told ET. The installation of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government on November 24, 2005, led to significant changes which are visible across the spectrum. The road sector started buzzing as never before, resulting in tremendous improvement in the road network. New life was breathed into the moribund health care and education sectors. The ‘kidnapping industry,’ the only flourishing industry during the Rabri-Lalu era, saw its demise. Bihar was scripting a turnaround story, the message was clear for the experts to acknowledge the development story of Bihar. No wonder, Mr Kumar is not hesitating to play out the development story before the electorate this time, something which no politician had done in the recent past. At the same time, a wily Mr Kumar has also played the role of a hard core politician who would get his social engineering acts right by carving new constituencies, which, in his case, saw the creation of extremely backward caste (EBCs) and Maha-Dalit vote banks. First, he announced reservation for EBCs in the panchayati raj and local bodies, a decision which led to the grouping rooting for the ruling NDA in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The creation of Maha-Dalits, accounting for the poorest of the poor among the larger Dalit community, will also come in handy for Mr Nitish Kumar, who, apart from doling out largesse, has also made provision for allotting land to them. Both EBCs and Maha-Dalits account for nearly 40% of the electorate and they will constitute the core vote bank of Nitish Kumar. As for Muslims, who would have felt more comfortable with Mr Kumar, were he to sever his ties with BJP, a section of them will still be inclined to support at least JD(U) candidates on the basis of ‘good work’ done by the Nitish government for minorities. The reopening of the 1989 Bhagalpur communal riot cases leading to conviction of some accused, payment of life-long pension to the kin of those killed in the riots, fencing of graveyards, his aggressive take on Mr Narendra Modi and the fact that not a single communal riot happened during his tenure are highpoints which are likely to influence the voting-pattern of the minority community. The upper castes, who had backed Mr Kumar to the hilt in 2005, and later in the Lok Sabha elections, however, may be open to the idea of supporting Congress now that it has completely distanced itself from RJD. All this may, however, opens up the possibility of Mr Lalu Prasad being pitchforked back to centre stage, a prospect which is expected to convince a majority of the upper castes to back the JD(U)-BJP combine eventually. What is more, there will be voters from among the upper castes who’d be ready to support the development plank of Nitish Kumar. All in all, Mr Nitish Kumar will serve before the electorate a political menu which is going to be a heady mix of politics and development. The chief minister, however, will vouch that the development plank alone will help win a second term for the ruling NDA. “Last time, people voted for us because they wanted to get rid of RJD. But this time people will vote for us because of our performance. It will be positive vote for us,“ remarked Mr Nitish Kumar. His clean and honest image is a bonus. The soft-spoken leader, to many, stands in sharp contrast to the controversial RJD supremo, who has been tarred with the corruption and nepotism taint. 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! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia:
[ZESTCaste] Dalits to gherao CM house
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=46655 Dalits to gherao CM house Category » Bhopal Posted On Monday, September 06, 2010 By Our Staff Reporter Bhopal, Sept 6: For demand to simplify the process of issuing caste certificates and eliminating mandatory requirement of revenue records of 1950, the Bahujan Hitaya Samajik Jan Chetna Samiti, Bhopal is going to Gherao the Chief Minister on September 27. The decision was taken after organisation conducted a meeting. TR Ahirwar, Secretary said that massive demonstration would be organised in front of CM house. He further said that they would continue their protest until the demands are fulfilled. Anti encroachment drive by BMC Bhopal, Sept 6: Under ongoing anti encroachment drive, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished more than 30 illegal constructions including various marriage halls at Bairagarh main road, which were hurdles in the path of BTR road construction. The drive was conducted under direction of Dy Commissioner APS Gaharwar and City Engineer Sunita Singh.
[ZESTCaste] Untouchability still practised in Gandhi's land
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Untouchability-still-pratised-in-Gandhis-land/articleshow/6502937.cms Untouchability still practised in Gandhi's land Radha Sharma, TNN, Sep 6, 2010, 05.50am IST AHMEDABAD: Rajniben, a village panchayat member from Ahmedabad district, does not have a chair to sit in the panchayat office. Unlike the other members, who all have a chair, there is a gunny sack reserved for Rajniben which she uses to sit on the floor when the panchayat meets. This is because Rajniben is a dalit and is not allowed to sit on par with panchayat members belonging to upper castes. The untouchability factor remains high in Gujarat, the land of Gandhi. A survey on discrimination in offices has revealed that nearly 65 per cent dalit sarpanchs report they have separate cups to drink tea or water in their own office. About 40 per cent are not allowed to sit on chairs. The survey, Dalit Women's Right to Political Participation in Rural Panchayati Raj', has been conducted on 200 dalit women sarpanches and panchayat members in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Carried out by an NGO, Navsarjan Trust, in Gujarat 100 dalit women of these, 86 were sarpanchs, while the rest were nominated for the office but could not contest the elections following political or social pressure were studied. The survey was released at the women's tribunal, organised by Waada Na Todo Abhiyan along with other members here where nearly 200 women from marginalised sections like tribals, dalits and Muslims have participated. The survey revealed that assuming office did not mean an end to discriminatory practices for dalit women. A good 64.5 per cent dalit women reported that they were not able to drink tea from the same cups used by other representatives and 38 per cent said that they could not eat food or snacks in the same plate or utensils used by others. A dalit woman may become the sarpanch, holding the highest office in the village, but is still forced to drink from a separate cup because of her caste, said Manjula Pradeep, director of Navsarjan Trust.
[ZESTCaste] Proud to be a Dalit
http://ww.telegraphindia.com/1100905/jsp/7days/story_12898243.jsp Sunday, September 5, 2010 Proud to be a Dalit A quiet revolution is underway in the Dalit world — assertiveness is replacing defensiveness. Many Dalits, buoyed by prosperity, are flaunting their caste on their sleeves and celebrating it in rap and pop albums. Seetha and V. Kumara Swamy look at how Dalits are changing the way the world looks at them STANDING TALL: Cars with a defiant chamar or chamar da munda scrawled on windshields are common in Jalandhar; (below) P. Nagrare started an engineering college along with other Dalits; (bottom) H. Bhaskar, who set up Kota Tutorials, says he is proud to be a Jatav Sons of chamars are six feet tall Riding bikes at the speed of bullets And making headlines everywhere Upcoming Punjabi singer Lovely Bhatia’s Chadadh Chamaran Di (Rising Chamars) is a big hit in parts of Punjab. That’s not surprising, for the song is the anthem of the young Dalit. You can be imprisoned, under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for using the word chamar — a term for a scheduled caste community that traditionally worked with leather — as an abuse. In parts of Punjab, though, rap and pop albums celebrating the chamar identity are the new rage. Cars and scooters sporting a defiant chamar or Chamaran da Munda (son of a chamar) stickers are a common sight in Jalandhar. “When I was young, I feared saying that I was a chamar, thinking that my colleagues would look down upon me. But now I say that I am proud to be a chamar,” says Sriram Prakash who, after retirement from the Punjab police, has been working with a Dalit religious group, the Ravidasias. It isn’t just in Punjab. Agra’s Harsh Bhaskar, 32, who set up the multi-city Kota Tutorials and the Edify Institute of Management and Technology, outside Agra, declares he is “proud” to be a Jatav. J.S. Phulia, who runs a Delhi-based shipping and logisitics firm, says: “We don’t want to be servile.” Alongside atrocities by upper castes in villages and discrimination in the work place, another chapter is being written in the Dalit story — assertion is replacing defensiveness. In Punjab, the assertion is in your face; in other parts of the country, it is quieter, but palpable. “Dalits are sick of taunts about their poverty, their so-called unclean habits and their dependence on reservations for education and jobs,” says Dalit writer and activist Chandrabhan Prasad. “They want to change these impressions.” What is more, Dalit entrepreneurs are expanding, and even have their own apex body — the Pune-based Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dicci), which has over 400 members. Dalits are also setting up schools and colleges — often as an avenue for helping the community. Pradeep Nagrare, secretary of the Nagpur-based Nagarjuna Institute of Engineering Technology and Management , says the idea for the institute, where 60 per cent of students are Dalits, came from the Babasaheb Ambedkar National Association of Engineers, a group of scheduled caste engineers. “If we have to take Babasaheb Ambedkar’s mission forward, it can only be through education,” he says. Dalit movements seeking to change lives have taken various forms, says S.S. Jodhka, professor of sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Political mobilisation saw the rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party, human right struggles focused on atrocities and discrimination while socio-economic development dealt with education and business. Religious movements have ranged from Dalits embracing Buddhism to the recent Ravidasia assertion in Punjab, spearheaded by followers of Ravidas, a 15th century saint who belonged to the chamar community. The hub of the Ravidasia movement is Dera Sachkhand, near Jalandhar. A huge Ravidas temple is being built in Jalandhar, young men sport T-shirts and headbands with the Hari symbol of the Ravidasia community. Dalits in Punjab — Sikhs and non-Sikhs — are being encouraged to list Ravidasia as their religion in the 2011 census. The movement grew as a reaction to years of discrimination. Dalits, who tilled the fields of Jat Sikhs, were not allowed inside the latter’s gurdwaras. So small gurdwaras mainly for Dalits cropped up. “The Jats of Punjab have been asserting their identity for long; it’s our turn now,” says Manohar Lal Mehey, an industrialist who proudly displays the Ravidasia symbol on his Mitsubishi Lancer. The movement got a fillip after the killing of a sect leader by upper caste Sikhs in Vienna, Austria, last year led to widespread violence. The trigger wasn’t so specific in the case of Dalit entrepreneurship, which is mainly a post-1990s phenomenon. The shrinking government sector, after liberalisation was launched, reduced regular job opportunities. Simultaneously, as companies began outsourcing activities to become more competitive, avenues opened up for non-business communities. Phulia, for instance, started as a
[ZESTCaste] Two huts of Dalits set ablaze
http://hindu.com/2010/09/05/stories/2010090555090400.htm Karnataka - Mysore Two huts of Dalits set ablaze Muralidhara Khajane These families were boycotted for refusing to beat drums during a festival The police were forced to register complaint against 13 people Dalits reportedly decided not to beat drums some 20 years ago MYSORE: An uneasy calm prevails at Ankahalli village of Gundlupet taluk in Chamarajanagar district, where “upper castes” allegedly torched two huts of Dalits early Friday for having complained to the police about the social boycott imposed on them. Foodgrains and other belongings in the huts of Rachaiah and Chikkasiddaiah were reduced to ashes in the incident. According to Superintendent of Police, Chamarajanagar district, B.S. Prakash, the situation was under control with two platoons of the District Armed Reserve (DAR) and senior police officers guarding the village. “Cases have been registered against 13 people in connection with the incident, but no arrests have been made so far. The accused will be arrested soon,” he told The Hindu. Chikkasiddaiah (46) said that “caste” Hindus imposed a social boycott on Dalit families for refusing to beat drums during the Mahadeshwara Swamy festival 15 days ago. Dalit leaders of the village had resolved not to beat drums during the festival some 20 years ago after a clash with “caste” Hindus. Nobody forced them to reconsider their decision till recently. However, when the new village head asked them to change their decision, the Dalits refused to do so. Irked by this, “caste” Hindus conducted a panchayat and fined the Dalits for disobeying the decision, and imposed a social boycott on them. The “caste” Hindus even warned people in the neighbouring villages of dire consequences if they helped the Dalits. The Dalits had been prevented from praying to the village deity even from outside the shrine, he said. When the Dalits complained to the police, they refused to register the complaint. The police were forced to register a complaint against 13 “caste” Hindus, who were instrumental in imposing the social boycott, after the intervention of the Dalit Mahasabha on August 20, said mahasabha president Venkataramana. Accusing “caste” Hindus of torching the houses of Chikkasiddaiah and Rachaiah, another Dalit leader of Chamarajanagar Arakalavadi Nagendra alleged that the houses were locked from outside before being torched. “But timely intervention of other Dalits, who doused the fire, saved the lives of two families,” he said. Had the police arrested the accused, the incident would not have occurred. “Interestingly, although the police were deployed in the village in view of the tension, they were not present when the huts were torched”, he alleged. Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan and Gundlupet MLA H.S. Mahadeva Prasad visited Anakahalli on Saturday and consoled the victims. Mr. Mahadeva Prasad attributed failure of the police to the torching incident. “Although a complaint was registered against the 13 accused on August 20, the police failed to arrest the culprits. The police are directly responsible for the incident,” he said. Angered by the apathy of the district administration in protecting the interest of Dalits in the district, Mr. Nagendra cautioned against launching district-wide agitation in case of not arresting the accused by Monday. 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! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[ZESTCaste] Absence of vettiyans pose problem to residents
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/absence-of-vettiyans-pose-problem-to-residents/204265.html Absence of vettiyans pose problem to residents U Tejonmayam First Published : 06 Sep 2010 03:04:59 AM IST Last Updated : 06 Sep 2010 09:14:13 AM IST CHENNAI: It is not an easy end, both for the dead and their relatives who arrive at the graveyard located at Ambedkar Nagar in Tambaram as there is no employee or vettiyan to do the final rites there for many years. The graveyard, located in the 20th ward at Tambaram, is more than five decades old and is under the control of the Tambaram municipality catering to the needs of both Hindus and Christians. Absence of a vettiyan had raised many problems among the residents as the relatives have to make the pyre or bury the body themselves that sometimes leads to improper cremation or burial. Residents claim that the bodies were cremated in odd hours especially between 4pm and 1 am, as there is no one to maintain the yard or question the people. The five-acre site is used for cremation by over 10,000 families of Ambedkar Nagar, Bharathi Nagar, Avvai Nagar, MGR Nagar, Indra Nagar and Rajaji Nagar. According to the residents, at least two to three bodies were cremated a week there. “There has been no vettiyan or a watchman to maintain the graveyard for more than 20 years. We should bury the bodies ourselves and cannot obtain a burial certificate. The worst is, at times, stray dogs drag parts of bodies even as it is in the pyre,” said 40-year-old Prakash, a resident. “Sometimes, we won’t even know if the person being cremated had a natural death or committed suicide,” the resident quickly added. Many local youth offer to cremate the bodies and take Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 but they don’t stay there till it burns completely, complain people. Repeated requests to the municipality to come up with halls to perform final rites and meditation have not been yielded any result. “We have invited applications for both watchman and vettiyan job, but none approached us. But another ground with all facilities for funeral rites is under construction at West Tambaram. That will solve the issue once it’s ready,” said Lion E Mani, President, Tambaram Municipality. 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! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[ZESTCaste] UP to regularise services of daily wage work charge workers
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/up-to-regularise-services-of-daily-wage--work-charge-workers/293150.html UP to regularise services of daily wage work charge workers PTI | 04:09 PM,Sep 04,2010 Lucknow, Sep 4 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government today decided to regularise services of daily wage and casual workers appointed by it before 1991.The decision to rergularise those appointed in various departments, local bodies, housing board and development authorities will put an additional burden of Rs 80 crore on the state exchequer.In a meeting held this morning, the cabinet chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati approved a proposal to regularise services of daily wage and work charge appointed before 1991, Principal Secretary Information Vijay Shanker Pandey told reporters here.The decision will benefit 26,800 part time employees and will create an additional financial burden of Rs 80 crore on the state exchequer, he said.Pandey said that additional posts will be created to accommodate work charge and daily wage employees.At present there are 10,000 work charge and 9,800 daily wage employees in different departments, who were engaged before 1991, the principal secretary said, adding that their regularisation will create an additional financial burden of Rs 20 crore on the government.Similarly, there are 3,000 daily wage employees in the local bodies and 4,000 daily wagers and work charge employees in housing board and development authorities.The decision will create an additional financial burden of Rs 60 crore on the local bodies, housing board and development authorities, which will be borne by these institutions, he said.He said that employees of local bodies, housing board and development authorities were already getting salary equivalent to class four as per the court order.The decision will solve a big problem as thousands of cases related to regularisation of service were pending in the courts. While the employees were spending money on these cases, the government had to make extra efforts, Pandey said.He said that the government had already banned appointment of daily wage and work charge employees from June 29, 1991.
[ZESTCaste] Seer to campaign against untouchability
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysore/Seer-to-campaign-against-untouchability/articleshow/6502171.cms Seer to campaign against untouchability TNN, Sep 5, 2010, 11.02pm IST MYSORE: Vishweshwarateertha Swamiji of Pejawar mutt on Sunday said he will continue his crusade against untouchability and is planning to convert his visits dalit colonies in the state into a movement. At a press meet here, he said he will involve even the seers of others mutts in the state who are inclined to join him. I will start staying in villages and this will begin from coastal districts, he added. The swamiji said he will build a free hostel at Mysore for poor students of all communities and castes and preference will be given to dalit and OBC students during admissions. The seer said he will visit Naxal-affected areas of Orissa and Chhattisgarh next month and meet both victims of Naxal attacks and the Naxalites. I will try to assuage the feelings of the victims' families and appeal to the Naxals to join the mainstream, he said. When asked about keeping the dalits and OBCs from mass-feedings done at Brahmin mutts in the state, the seer said: Not only Brahmins even the other vegetarians will not like to eat meals with non-vegetarians. We cannot compel the people to sit together and have a meal, he added. But this does not mean that there are no mass feedings involving all castes and communities at Brahmin mutts, he added.
[ZESTCaste] Dalit outfits accuse police of inaction
http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/06/stories/2010090659740300.htm Karnataka - Mangalore Dalit outfits accuse police of inaction Staff Correspondent Accused in a case of atrocity over daily wage worker still to be booked: leaders A daily wage earner was assaulted by four persons in 2009 Dalit leaders seek compensation, job for the victim MANGALORE: Dalit organisations have alleged that members of Bajrang Dal, accused of stripping and assaulting Sridhar (27), a Dalit daily wage-worker from Peraje village of Kodagu district, in Bantwal taluk on July 5, 2009, were still to be arrested. The police registered a case against four persons after The Hindu brought the atrocity case to light. But all of them are now out on bail. Speaking at the monthly grievance meeting for SCs/STs organised by the district police here on Sunday, leaders of various Dalit organisations said that the police had failed to book cases against six more persons, who allegedly played a crucial role in the atrocity against the same victim. Expressing fears about the safety of Mr. Sridhar, they said that unless the police moved the court and got the bail order cancelled, the accused would try to harm or bring pressure on the victim again. The leaders demanded that Mr. Sridhar be paid compensation, provided medical care for the permanent deformities he sustained during the attack, and a Government job .
[ZESTCaste] Dalit woman's plea alleging rape dismissed
http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/05/stories/2010090553460300.htm Tamil Nadu - Madurai Dalit woman's plea alleging rape dismissed Staff Reporter Court says she filed case with mala fide intention She had signed agreement that she would not interfere with life of rape accused Police had conducted probe following complaint by petitioner and matter was settled: judge MADURAI: The Madras High Court Bench here has dismissed a petition filed by a Dalit woman post-graduate from Madurai seeking a direction to register a rape case against an employee of the Police Department. Justice R. Mala refused to entertain the case on the ground that the petitioner had approached the court, with a “mala fide” intention, a month after signing an agreement that she would not interfere with the life of the rape accused. The judge pointed out that the police had conducted an enquiry following a complaint lodged by the petitioner and the matter was settled by signing the agreement in the presence of a Dalit leader, a notary public and an advocate. “Even though the petitioner belongs to a depressed class, she is well educated and an M.A. graduate and knows the consequences of the agreement. The occurrence is alleged to have taken place in 2007, but she has come forward with this complaint only after a lapse of three years. Hence, I do not find any merits in the petition and the same deserves to be dismissed,” the judge said. According to the woman, the accused, a caste Hindu, came into contact with her when she was undergoing her second-year in the post-graduate course. He had a physical relationship with her on the promise of marrying her by convincing his parents. However, he did not keep up his promise and married another girl. A complaint was lodged with the Superintendent of Police to register a case against the accused under Sections 376 (rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman's consent), 506 part II (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, besides a few other provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The complaint was referred to T. Kallupatti police station but no case was registered and hence the present petition. Filing a status report before the Bench, the police claimed that both the victim as well as the accused had entered into an agreement in the presence of C.M. Periyasamy, the State president of Ambedkar Jana Sakthi, on June 3 stating that they would not interfere in each other's life. 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! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[ZESTCaste] Will India Become a Caste Society if Caste is Counted? (K. Satyanarayana)
http://casi.ssc.upenn.edu/iit/satyanarayana India in Transition Will India Become a Caste Society if Caste is Counted? K. Satyanarayana 08/02/2010 Why is there so much opposition and anxiety among some sections of the Indian elite – particularly among its upper-caste intellectual class – on the question of enumeration of caste in the Census of India 2011? My answer is simple: India would legally become a caste society. The formal recognition of caste as a national category implies that the Indian state is going beyond the constitutional recognition of caste as a category to measure disability (i.e., untouchability, atrocity, and social backwardness). The Indian constitution views caste as a source of disability or discrimination, and laid down a set of clauses to root out these practices of inequality. It assumes that caste is an exception to Indian social life and will fade away. In other words, the constitution conceives the Indian citizen to be a casteless individual and it bars acknowledgment of ascripitive ties. Though the constitution is categorical about eliminating disabilities caused by caste, it is vague about the status of the caste groups in Indian social life. However, the decision to enumerate caste would mean a legal acceptance of caste groups – especially lower caste groups such as Other Backward Classes (OBC) – as legitimate political actors. This implies that India would legally become a caste society; the Indian elite are shocked by this implication and the larger social transformations that might follow this legal acknowledgment of caste. The view that Indian society is a caste society is not a new perception. The Dalit and other anti-caste social movements asserted the centrality of caste in Indian society. It was Phule and Ambedkar, the two prominent voices in the colonial period, who argued that caste determines status, wealth, knowledge, and power in Indian society. It was again in the post-emergency period, that a new generation of dalit writers, critics, scholars, and activists not only reiterated that India is a caste society but also articulated a new notion of caste. They critiqued and rejected the elite view of caste as a singular entity that causes divisions in society and advanced a new concept of caste as a source of everyday experience of violence as well as an identity for mobilization. In fact, the tremendous pressure to recognize caste as a national category begins with the rise of the contemporary Dalit movement in the context of mass killings of Dalits in the 1970s and 1980s. In the context of atrocities on Dalits, the Congress Government enacted the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. This Act signaled an important change in the legal view of caste. While the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955 recognized “untouchability” – not caste – as a cause of disability, the SC/ST Act, 1989 identified “caste” as a cause of atrocity, and caste related atrocities as national crimes. The Supreme Court also came under public pressure during the Mandal agitation during the period of 1991 to 1993, and accorded legal sanction to the category of caste as a national entity (Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India, 1992). Therefore, the demand for enumerating caste in the Census 2011 is a demand of the Dalits and the OBCs who are consolidated as social groups and operate as a force in contemporary society. The Indian elite are defending the idea of India as a homogeneous entity and neutral space beyond ascriptive identities. They represent themselves as a special group of Indian citizens (“meri Jaati Hindustani”). This group is a small minority of English-educated urban elite – mostly upper caste intellectuals and some politicians – who view caste as divisive and evil. This group includes yet another small section of liberal and left-oriented intellectuals who advance the view that enumeration of caste in the Census will prevent a meaningful and complete transformation of India as a democratic society. They view the debate on caste only as an issue relating to reservations or other policy issues related to SC/ST/OBCs. Both of these sections of the elite represent themselves as casteless people (i.e., true Indians) and stigmatize Dalits and OBCs as caste people. They never concede that the recognition of different castes and therefore, the existence of different social groups in the country is an important decision in and of itself. One must take note of the Dalit critique of the dominant conceptions of caste. The literary and activist writings and academic scholarship of Dalits underscore the view that caste is a source of everyday discrimination, brutal forms of violence, dehumanization, and inequality. This scholarship, drawing on experience, simultaneously brings to light the role of caste as a marker of privilege, caste arrogance, social worth, and power, and dismantles the view that secular/modern Indian citizens are casteless. It
