[ZESTCaste] Maya back to basics, attempts a decentralisation of power
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/maya-back-to-basics-attempts-a-decentralisation-of-power/506182/ Maya back to basics, attempts a decentralisation of power Sanjay Singh Posted: Aug 24, 2009 at 0151 hrs Lucknow The three separate meetings that Chief Minister Mayawati recently held with senior officials — IGs or DIGs, divisional commissioners and the principal secretaries or secretaries of all departments — clearly indicates her attempt to ensure decentralisation of power at various levels of the administration. Interestingly, after the poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati desperately tried to develop a centralised system of administration by tasking the senior officials to review the development projects as well as the law and order situation in the state. She had also introduced the sector system in which the officers of the rank of principal secretaries were tasked to monitor the government schemes, while the job of ADG, IG and DIG-rank officers was to review the law and order situation. Three months after the Lok Sabha polls, she has rectified her decision by discontinuing the sector system and holding the senior officers of the rank of IG/DIG, divisional commissioners and principal secretaries accountable for the laxity, if any, in their areas of jurisdiction. “She seems to be back to her original frame of mind. Her fresh move reflects her effort to make her officers realise about their respective duties,” said a source in the Chief Minister’s Office. “It reflects her concern for strengthening the position of officers at every level,” said another IAS officer. According to the officer, the government is back to the old system and therefore it has tried to empower the divisional commissioners to monitor the development schemes in their concerned area. “She has sent a message that the divisional commissioners are empowered enough to take action against the respective district magistrates,” said a senior IAS officer. Under the new system, the state government has tried to fix responsibilities for all the officers at each level. The DMs have been asked to hold meeting with his junior officers and send a report to the commissioners every month. The commissioners will also hold a meeting with their respective DMs every month. Finally, on the 10th of every month, the commissioners will attend a meeting in Lucknow and apprise the government about the progress made in various development projects. “At the monthly meeting of commissioners at the state level, the principal secretary-rank officers of important departments will also be present,” said another senior officer. The principal secretary-rank officers are supposed to communicate to the DMs about their plans for the implementation of a scheme related to their department. At the top level, the main responsibility for the implementation of the government’s schemes is given to three persons — Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and the additional cabinet secretary. These officers will hold monthly review meeting with the commissioners and the principal secretaries of every department separately. They would report to the chief minister every month. Similarly, the government has tasked the IGs/DIGs to ensure that law and order is maintained within the state. “Armed with the power to exercise the transfer and postings of policemen — right from constables to inspectors — the IGs/DIGs would now be able to assert their position in various matters,” said a IPS officer. 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: mailto:zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto: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] For We Did This
http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?261408 opinion For We Did This Mayanagari is about a Promised Land, about a Dalit legacy Sudhir Sitapati The really surprising thing about the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal aka ‘Mayanagari’ in Lucknow is not its extravagance but its understated elegance. On the banks of the Gomti river, stretching from the whimsically mannered La Martiniere School to the ersatz colonial Taj Residency, ‘Mayanagari’, spread over 123 acres, is a majestic sight. Constructed entirely with pink sandstone and red Agra stone, the site (with some exceptions like two rows of squat, white elephants) romances the Lucknow light quite lyrically. Indeed, one could be forgiven into imagining one were in Mesopotamia or Nalanda or Fatehpur Sikri. I exaggerate, but only a little. Not since the days of Shah Jahan has something been attempted on this scale in India. Early British architecture, like the Residency in Lucknow, have a tentative, almost sorry-for-intruding, grace about them. The later, more assertive buildings of the 20th century, like the Victoria Memorial or the Rashtrapati Bhavan, have a grandeur that gets somewhat sullied by imperial and orientalist overtones. Post-independence, the first round of national memorials dedicated to Gandhi and Nehru were self-effacing works—unimaginatively modernist or restorations of older buildings. The second round, with a more blatant political agenda like the Valluvar Kottam monument in Chennai or the pastiche BJP convention centre in Lucknow, are just plain ugly. The Lady with the Armani handbag clearly has an aesthetic vision in quite a different league to what has been seen in modern India. What then accounts for the one-sided vituperative that has been flung at Mayawati? On a plaque in Persepolis, there is a quote from Ayatollah Khomeini: “I salute the talent of the ancient Iranians who created such beauty but condemn the cruelty of their kings who drove their people into creating this.” But Behenji is not quite a slave-driving Darius. She has won legal battles that allow her to use the state exchequer into the creation of Mayanagari and its sister sites across UP. At an estimated expense of Rs 3,000 crore, a criminal waste of resources one could say, but then, how different from the Keynesian nregs which is appositely accused of “digging trenches and filling them up”. Certainly not very different from the baroque and purposeless Bada Imambara here in Lucknow itself. Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah, in response to the 1784 drought, paid people money to build it by day and then break it by night! It is the motive of self-aggrandisement that lends the whole venture a sordid air. Sans that, Mayanagari and its allied sites would have changed Lucknow’s landscape for the better and Behenji could have safely written herself into a pantheon containing Ashoka, Shah Jahan and Lord Curzon. But the pantheon she’d rather be part of is narrow. She’s immortalised, in stone and metal, along with herself, Ambedkar, Phule, Birsa Munda, Narayana Guru, Kanshi Ram and Shahu Maharaj. Associating oneself with a group of safely dead, carefully reconstructed historical figures is one of the oldest tricks in the book of gaining political legitimacy. Arrogating a bit of the divine to oneself by paying obeisance to a reconstructed divinity is almost as well-known. But the scale of construction in Mayanagari is far greater than what is required to merely build political legitimacy. Mayawati must know this, and the setback in the recent LS elections must have further driven home the message. Yet, she goes on constructing at a frenzied pace, almost knowing that she may have just three more years to complete her dream project. There is more than mere extravagance or vanity or politics at play here. It’s an unfair caricature to say Mayawati is merely building statues of herself all over UP. In fact, she is building massive public spaces (something Indian cities are desperately in need of) in which there are statues of leaders who have worked for the Dalit cause. Is Mayawati merely a cynical, vain politician or does she see herself as a Moses leading her people to the Promised Land? And once in the Promised Land, don’t people need their myths, their prophets and their greatness cast in stone? For a Hindu can go to Taxila at the Khyber’s mouth and say “We did this”, or an NRI can wax eloquently about the Taj but what does a Dalit, now come of political age, have to establish the greatness of his identity? In a single sweep, Mayawati hopes to transform Dalit identity from that of an oppressed people to one of a great people capable of building grand monuments, for what else makes in history a great people? Mayawati knows that if Mayanagari survives in stone and in the Dalit psyche, so will she. In the long run, thanks to their grandeur, they would have become an integral part of Lucknow’s landscape—bringing them down will be seen as ‘barbarous’. Behenji also knows that in the
[ZESTCaste] Statues of living persons can also be installed: Maya govt
http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/22/statues-of-living-persons-can-also-be-installed.htm Statues of living persons can also be installed: Maya govt August 22, 2009 15:24 IST The Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] government, which had made budgetary allocation of crores of rupees for installation of statues of Chief Minister Mayawati [ Images ] and her mentor Kanshi Ram in the state, has said it is a wrong notion that only statues of dead persons can be installed. The state government expressed dismay over the manner in which the hype is being created over installation of statues of Mayawati and quoted examples of superstar Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee [ Images ] whose statues have been erected. It is a wrong notion that only statues of dead persons can be installed. There is no dearth of examples whether in the country or abroad about statues of living persons. In the Indian context, one can easily refer to A B Vajpayee Institute of Technology and Management, Gwalior and Amitabh Bachchan Institute at Saifai, Etawah, the state government said in an affidavit. Abroad we have wax statues of film stars, cricketers and other living personalities finding place in Madame Tussauds museum, the state said. The Uttar Pradesh government was responding to the petition accusing it of misusing public funds for the installation of statues of Mayawati, Kanshi Ram, other Dalit leaders and that of elephants -- Bahujan Samaj Party's election symbol -- at parks in Lucknow [ Images ] and Noida, adjoining Delhi [ Images ]. The affidavit said Mayawati's statues were installed only to fulfil the wishes of Kanshi Ram, who willed that wherever his statues were installed, the statues of Mayawati, his only heir, must also be installed. The state government provided details of budgetary allocation for carrying out work at parks in Lucknow and Noida stating that Rs 294 crore and Rs 203 crore have been allocated for the two projects. Money has been sanctioned by the state government through budgetary allocations approved by the assembly and every expenditure was authorised by the state legislature, it said. The cultural department made provisions of Rs 194.2 crore in the financial year 2008-09 and Rs 100 crore in the year 2009-10, it said in its 51-page affidavit. The state government said it was a wrong notion that the 'stupa' being built with other statues will cost Rs 500 crore. The cost of stupa is about Rs 203 crore and not Rs 500 crore as stated in newspaper reports, the state government said. The PIL filed by advocates Ravi Kant and Sukumar has alleged that state government was misusing the exchequer to glorify Mayawati by installing her statues. They said statues of living persons should not be installed. While referring to the apex court judgement, the affidavit said, The judiciary must exercise self-restraint and eschew the temptation to encroach into the domain of the legislature or the administrative or statutory authorities. Earlier, the apex court had on July 10 cleared the decks for the Uttar Pradesh government to carry out work for installation of statues of Mayawati and other dalit leaders at a park in Noida. It had refused to interfere in the matter in which the approval has been granted by the state Cabinet. If it has been approved by the government, this court cannot interfere, a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had said, when an application seeking to maintain the status quo on the works was mentioned before it. If the cabinet has approved it, then we can't do anything, the Bench had said. The Uttar Pradesh government had proposed to install statues of several BSP leaders including that of Mayawati and party founder Kanshi Ram in the gigantic 4-km long walled area along the bank of river Yamuna in Noida. The PIL had sought a direction to restrain Mayawati from installing her statues and those of elephants at public places with public fund and demanded a CBI probe into the misuse of state funds.
[ZESTCaste] Maya’s Maya on the wane
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2009/08/3143 Maya’s Maya on the wane Not only is she losing her party's support base, the Brahmins and Dalits too are leaving Mayawati Pradeep Kapoor Lucknow BSP supremo Mayawati is facing tough times. She is almost isolated politically and her traditional Dalit vote bank is eroding. Her much-touted social engineering has failed. To top it all, there are a slew of cases against her including disproportionate assets and Taj heritage corridor case in the Supreme Court. The opposition parties in UP are gaining in strength and readying to take her on. The tide turned sharply against her after the general elections results were out. Not only did she perform poorly at the polls, but parties which projected her as a possible prime minister before the polls, effectively deserted her. After the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati returned to her singular Dalit agenda when she realised that her social engineering strategy, which brought her to power in UP in 2007, has failed. During her series of review meetings, she blamed Muslims and Brahmins for not voting for her party in the Lok Sabha polls. As a result, she announced that Satish Chandra Mishra and Nasimuddin Siddiqui would no longer be the Brahmin and the Muslim face of BSP. She sacked or removed several officials and party leaders. She declared that her successor would only be a Dalit. Mayawati also directed her officers to take steps to prevent atrocities on Dalits and expedite development work in Dalit villages. Meanwhile, her counter-reaction against UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house has boomeranged when Joshi's Lucknow house was burnt and ransacked, allegedly by BSP members. Joshi's arrest and imprisonment has been condemned by all political parties. Ironically, BSP leader MM Intezar Abdi alias Bobby, who has been named in the FIR for burning Joshi's house, has been rewarded with a minister of state status. He has been appointed chairman of the UP Ganna Kisan Sansthan. Joshi had earlier vehemently criticised the government for sending the director-general of police by a helicopter to pay a few thousands of rupees as compensation to rape victims from the Dalit community. In that context, she made remarks about Mayawati in Moradabad, which were uncalled for. Joshi later apologised. But her criticism of the DGP has been vindicated. The UP government has now withdrawn the controversial order to send the DGP by helicopter with compensation for rape victims. Meanwhile, Joshi has demanded a CBI probe into the way her house was burnt and ransacked. Now, for the Congress, it's an all-out war against Mayawati. Joshi said that the Congress will chalk out strategy for the fight on August 4 in Lucknow in the presence of Rahul Gandhi. Mayawati was quick to cash in on Joshi's remarks against her. She called Joshi and the Congress anti-Dalit. She even blamed the Congress for ignoring the Dalits since independence. She went on an offensive against Rahul Gandhi and released a white paper on the power crisis. She blamed the Congress-led government at the Centre for ignoring the power sector. Rahul retorted during his visit to Amethi by condemning the manner in which people were assaulted by the police in his constituency when they were protesting against poor power supply. In Amethi, Rahul said that the main priority of the Mayawati government is to build statues, elephants and memorials. He pointed out that the Congress-led UPA government was sending crores of rupees for NREGA schemes but it was not being distributed properly in districts. Buta Singh, chairman of SC and ST Commission, also stood by Joshi. He said that slapping the SC/ ST Act on her is a misuse of law. He even said that UP topped in atrocities against Dalits. He claimed in a statement that he had sent a circular to the UP government that the SC/ ST Act would only be invoked in cases of murder and rape. The Mayawati government has also been accused of interfering in the Right to Information Act in UP when it withdrew certain provisions and kept many departments out of its purview. It was only when a Congress delegation met Governor TV Rajeshwar that the government was forced to take back the order. Demoralisation is also setting in the bureaucracy. Former officials, SN Shukla and Prakash Singh, moved the court against frequent transfers of IAS and IPS officers in UP. Accusing Mayawati of pushing the state towards chaos and anarchy, major political parties met the governor and submitted memoranda. The Samajwadi Party delegation led by Shivpal Singh Yadav raised the issue of victimisation of political opponents. SP alleged its 8,000 workers were booked under the Goonda Act in Kannauj. In Gonda district, 19 persons were booked under the Goonda Act, two of them are physically handicapped. The SP also alleged that several thousands crores of rupees were spent on erecting statues and building parks when the same money could have been used for uplifting the poor. The SP has
[ZESTCaste] Man immolates himself in Pratapgarh
http://www.ptinews.com/news/244216_Man-immolates-himself-in-Pratapgarh Man immolates himself in Pratapgarh STAFF WRITER 17:21 HRS IST Pratapgarh (UP), Aug 23 (PTI) A Dalit today allegedly immolated himself over a property dispute in presence of police in Sangrampur block of the district, official sources said. Chottu took the step after he had an altercation with his neighbour Baiju over construction of a house. Chottu was rushed to district hospital where he succumbed to injuries, they said. While police claimed that Chottu immolated himself, the victim's family alleged that he was killed by Baiju.
[ZESTCaste] Maya directs officials for security, cleaning drives for festivals
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/lucknow/Maya-directs-officials-for-security-cleaning-drives-for-festivals/articleshow/4923719.cms Maya directs officials for security, cleaning drives for festivals TNN 23 August 2009, 03:24am IST LUCKNOW: Chief minister Mayawati at meeting held at her residence here on Saturday has directed the officers concerned to ensure proper security, maintain law and order, undertake cleanliness drives and make other necessary arrangements in view of coming festivals of Ramzan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Haritalika Teej etc. She asked the officers to keep an eye on anti-social elements, history-sheeters and communal elements and if necessary arrest them as they might disturb communal harmony in the state during festivals. Immediate action should be taken against rumour-mongers, she told the officers. Mayawati said that the government was fully committed to maintain law and order in the state. Nobody will be allowed to disturb law and order and stern action will be taken against such elements, if found guilty. She directed the police officers to ensure proper police arrangements, especially in the morning and late evening during the namaz of the sahri and taravih. Besides, cleanliness at the places of prayers should also be ensured and police personnel should be deployed so that no objectionable thing took place. The chief minister directed to coordinate with nagar nigam/nagarpalikas to make proper arrangement of cleanliness, street-light and water, besides enough arrangements of police and magistrates during Juma, Alvida and Eid prayers at Eidgahs and local mosques. She has also directed for special police arrangements and high-class intelligence on those places, where problems arose during previous festivals so that such incidents could not be repeated. She has suggested for proper police arrangements on the basis of available information at police stations and at the district level. Mayawati said that mohalla and village security committees should be made functional and action should be taken on the basis of recommendations made by these committees. She has also directed for proper allotment of paramilitary police force and PAC to maintain law and order and reserve police arrangements at sensitive places. She has directed for supply of proper equipment and rehearsal to control riots. The chief minister said that cooperation of civil defence and other non-government organisations should be taken to maintain peaceful atmosphere during festivals. Special police officers should be posted. Food items and other essential commodities should be made available and incidents of food adulteration should be prevented. She directed for keeping proper vigil during these festivals and said that stringent action would be taken against the officer concerned, if law and order situation worsened. On this occasion, cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, additional cabinet secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey, principal secretary (home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur, DGP Vikram Singh, ADGs (law and order) Brij Lal and AK Jain and ADG (Intelligence) were present.
[ZESTCaste] Mayawati urges SC to stay away from statues issue
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?843d69b8-fcd6-4190-8f20-e03c900abce5 Mayawati urges SC to stay away from statues issue 8/23/2009 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has urged the Supreme Court to keep its hands off the controversy regarding the installation of her statues in the state. The state government, in its 51-page affidavit filed, reminded the apex court of its own 2008 judgement in which it said, Judiciary should exercise self-restraint and eschew the temptation of encroaching upon the domain of Legislature and the Executive. Justifying the installation of statues of Dr B R Ambedkar, Kanshiram as well as her own, Mayawati contended that all expenses have been duly sanctioned by the state legislature and budgetary allocations of Rs 294 crore were made in the state budget. She has also contended the apex court should not entertain the PIL as the Centrally Empowered Committee, appointed by the court itself, has already seized of the matter. Ms Mayawati also denied the allegation that statues of only these persons were installed and cited the example of the statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee installed in the Institute of Technology and Management, Gwalior. She also cited the example of wax statues of eminent persons in Madame Tussauds Museum in UK. The UP government also gave details of huge allocations made for the upliftment of the poor and weaker sections as well as for all round development of the state in the state budget. According to the government, the cost of stupa in Noida was Rs 203 crore and not Rs 500 crore as alleged in the PIL filed by advocates Ravi Kant and Sukumar. UNI
[ZESTCaste] Mayawati statues to fulfil Kanshi Ram’s wishes: U. P.
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/23/stories/2009082355070900.htm National Mayawati statues to fulfil Kanshi Ram’s wishes: U.P. Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government has justified in the Supreme Court the installation of statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Kanshi Ram at various places, contending that a budgetary allocation had been made for this purpose. In its affidavit in response to a public interest litigation petition alleging that crores of public money were being spent for her personal glorification, the government said it was wrong to suggest that only statues of dead persons could be erected. The petition sought a direction to restrain the government from installing statues of Ms. Mayawati and elephants (BSP symbol) with public money and demanded a CBI probe into the alleged misuse of state funds. The affidavit said the statues of living personalities such as film star Amitabh Bachchan and the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had been erected. There was no dearth of statues of living persons, whether in the country or abroad. “Abroad we have wax statues of film stars, cricketers and other living personalities finding a place in Madame Tussauds,” a wax museum in London. The affidavit said Ms. Mayawati’s statues were erected to fulfil the wishes of Kanshi Ram, who willed that wherever his statues were put up, the statues of Ms. Mayawati, “his only heir, must also be installed.” It said a budgetary allocation of Rs. 294 crore and Rs. 203 crore had been made for works in parks in Lucknow and Noida, where the statues were being installed. “Money has been sanctioned by the State government through a budgetary allocation approved by the Assembly; every expenditure was authorised by the State legislature. The Department of Culture made provisions for Rs.194.2 crore in 2008-09 and Rs. 100 crore in 2009-10.” Denying that a stupa was being built at a cost of Rs.500 crore, the State said: “It was a wrong notion that the stupa, being built with other statues, will cost Rs. 500 crore. The cost of the stupa is Rs. 203 crore, and not Rs. 500 crore as stated in newspaper reports.” The State said: “The judiciary must exercise self-restraint and eschew the temptation to encroach upon the domain of the legislature or the administrative or statutory authorities,” and sought the dismissal of the petition. 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: mailto:zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto: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] BSP: Why crores spent on Rajiv anniv ads?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/BSP-Why-crores-spent-on-Rajiv-anniv-ads/articleshow/4923370.cms BSP: Why crores spent on Rajiv anniv ads? TNN 23 August 2009, 03:16am IST NEW DELHI: A day after it won three of the four assembly by-elections, the BSP raised its ante in the Supreme Court on the controversy over exchequer-funded installation of statues of UP chief minister Mayawati. Contending that BSP's performance has proved wrong the charge of anti-downtrodden and anti-poor levelled against the party by the PIL petitioners in the statue case, the party put a question to the apex court: would it entertain a similar petition questioning hundreds of crores of rupees central ministries spent on advertisements commemorating the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on August 20? The BSP affidavit has a poser also for the PIL petitioners: why have they been quiet on the money spent on advertiesments on the birth and death anniversaries of Congress leaders? If the policies of the Mayawati government were so anti-downtrodden and anti-development, how come the BSP could wrest three out of four legislature assembly seats from other parties in the recently held byelections? the party asked. The double standard alleged by the party fits in well with its charge that it is being discriminated against and that the unfair treatment is a fallout of the prejudice against dalits. It said: All political parties have always propagated to capture public space and the monuments being built and statues erected by BSP followed the same principle so as to make the dalits link themselves to something in history. Countering the suggestion in the PIL that the money spent on these monuments and statues could have been utilised for health care, education and other developmental work, the party said there are budgetary allocations specially earmarked for the purpose and did not eat into other allocations.
[ZESTCaste] Dalit children treated as manual scavengers in Gujarat
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dalit-children-treated-as-manual-scavengers-in-gujarat/99438-3.html Dalit children treated as manual scavengers in Gujarat Meghdoot Sharon CNN-IBN DARK AGES: Children from Valmiki Dalit caste are made to clean toilets and even cart away dead animals. Ahmedabad: Several little children in Gujarat are still suffering as manual scavengers. They are made to clean toilets and even cart away dead animals. Nine-year-old Janakben goes to school like other children her age. But then in school she is treated differently. Janakben is sometimes asked to clean the toilets and sweep the classrooms. All because she belongs to the Dalit Valmiki caste. They make us clean the toilets. We are not allowed to eat food sitting with the others and I also have to sweep the classroom at times, said the class IV student. It's is not just Janakben in Surendranagar, many other Dalit children in schools across Gujarat are forced to do the the same. They work as manual scavengers sometimes for a small remuneration. We have to drag away dead animals like cats and dogs. We are paid Rs 20 or Rs 25, said another Dalit boy Jagdish Harijan. Social activists from the NGO Navsarjan brought this out in the open by organising a rally of about 1,000 such children. Gujarat is one of the 18 states which has adopted the act against manual scavenging. However, the NGO's figures say that manual scavenging exists in 12 districts across Gujarat. And that of the 13 lakh manual scavengers in India, 65,000 are in Gujarat. The government has kept denying that manual scavenging exists. By organising these students, we want to show that this inhuman practice continues, said Executive Director, Navsarjan, Manjula Pradeep. In 1911 it was at this very place that Mahatma Gandhi called scavenging a shame to the country. These children are proof the shame still exists nearly a hundred years on. (With inputs from Shaoli Rudra)
[ZESTCaste] Bihar court acquits carnage accused
http://www.ptinews.com/news/243230_Bihar-court-acquits-carnage-accused Bihar court acquits carnage accused STAFF WRITER 21:2 HRS IST Gaya, Aug 22 (PTI) A Bihar court today acquitted 24 people, accused in the case of Khagaribigha and Jawahirbigha carnage in which 12 Dalits were shot dead. Additional district and sessions judge K N Rai acquitted them of all the charges for want of sufficient evidence to proceed with the trial. Twelve dalits were shot dead by activists of Ranvir Sena, an outfit of landlords, at Khagaribigha and Jawahirbigha in the district on April 11, 1999 during the erstwhile RJD rule.
[ZESTCaste] God's women or god-forsaken?
Who to blame for heinous practices such as this - Devadasi? Their poor families who cannot feed despite back-breaking work all day or the system created such practices with a tag of honor and in the name of culture? Some argue these poor have no right to have children when they cannot feed them, very convincing and intelligent argument for those who do not bother to understand the other side of the fence. Whatever the reason, the sufferers are the children who came to this world with no fault of theirs. They grew up and continue the same cycle however unpleasant their childhood was. Who are the victims and who are the beneficiaries? Why to promote this kind of practices in the name of culture and religion? Hope, some drastic and concrete steps will be taken by the governments of this modern era to decimate these practices with heart and soul putting into it. Benjamin http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/gods_women_or_god-forsaken.php God's women or god-forsaken? Vasanthi Hariprakash , Sunday August 23, 2009, Raichur Huligamma laughs when I tell her that she should have been a 'fillim heroine'. The Narayanpet maroon sari with a green border drapes well around her head, the big red bindi standing out on her dusky forehead. The dozens of green bangles cling-clang on her arms as she adjusts the chains of black beads and gold around her slender neck. She proudly shows off her `muthu' to me - a long chain of white beads that has over four flat silver coins strewn with the images of female deities and strangely, an icon of Hanuman. Her eyes speak a thousand things in a minute. And when she picks up her smaller-than-a-tanpura two-stringed instrument and starts singing, its like you can hear her soul speak. I don't wish to tell you that Huligamma is a devadasi. For, it will colour the way you visualize this feisty woman. Particularly, if you are someone fed on Hindi cinema `classics' for whom the devadasi is a richly clad bejeweled woman waited upon at her home; while she waits for her love. Huligamma is a Dalit, living poor at Kurudi village in one of Karnataka's most backward districts, Raichur. She looks like she is in her fifties, but she doesn't remember how old she is. What she clearly remembers is that she was 8 when her father ordained her to be a devadasi. Devoted to the Gods. If you ask me: `Dedicated to humans' as I will tell you a little later. When I set out from Bangalore to Gulbarga and Raichur, meeting Devadasis or working on a feature on their lives was nowhere on my radar. It was red gram that took me on this journey to the Tur Bowl of Karnataka; why the pulse crop price had shot up is what I had wanted to find out report on. But when I arrived at Raichur, I saw this group of women braving a non-stop strike outside the Deputy Commissioner's office at Raichur, demanding food security and fixing of their ration card anomalies. That's when I decided to stop to take a look at their lives. And that is what took me to Huligamma's village, 20 km further away from Raichur. Meeting her was a revelation. A complete reversal of what I had heard about devadasis. No, they are not glorified prostitutes who are common property of the village. In fact, most of them stay committed to a single partner all their life. No, not all of them are artists or dancers either. Of the two types broadly classified into `Ranga devadasis' 'Anga devadasis', only the former would be dedicated to the arts temples. Huligamma ran away to near the village well when she learnt of her father's plans. How difficult was it for a family to drag back home a wiry eight-year-old? I told him .. throw me into this well, give me away in marriage or give me up for adoption if we are so poor. But Huligamma had to pay the price for being the first-born in a family of only-girls. When there are no sons who will look after them in their old age, the parents are allowed to take shelter with their daughter without the society frowning upon them. Because she is a Devadasi. The Daughter that shall maintain the family, fund the family functions with the price she gets from the man who will `claim' her, all with social sanction. Vasanth'avva she pulls my hand affectionately to squat me down facing her in her mud hut.. How nice it would have been isn't it if I too had `made' a husband for myself - idhenidhu (`whats this' in Kannada)? Living on leftovers.. No matter how `correct' we are, (she pauses, staring long at me), `devadaaasi' they taunt us. And married women.. no matter whatever they do behind their doors.. there is a screen to protect them (she gestures with her hand to indicate `shut'). Am I right? Like Huligamma, Yellamma too was `correct' - she was claimed by a Muslim partner and it is with him that she has been all along. She bore his children. Three sons. Yellamma is much younger, in her thirties, beautiful in a rustic way, fair for her caste, strong for her slender
