http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID==IET20050530113207&Page==T&Title==Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic==0
SOUTHERN NEWS - TAMIL NADU May 31, 2005 Uncertain future for reserved panchayats Tuesday May 31 2005 00:00 IST MADURAI: With the four reserved panchayats� Pappapatti, Keeripatti and Nattamangalam in the Madurai district and Kottakatchiyendal in Virudhunagar -remaining without elected functionaries, and the government not making any announcement about their status, their future remains uncertain. No one is able to state whether the 10-year rotation system which ends next year will be advanced and whether these local bodies will be declared general panchayats before the next elections due in September-October this year. Except for Nattamangalam, which had elected panchayats for a term, the other three had been under the administration of Special Commissioners. Keeripatti and Pappapatti had elected presidents who resigned soon after assuming office. The latest in this democratic farce was the resignation of V Azhagumalai, the village candidate who was elected president of the Keeripatti panchayat with a thumping majority, but resigned soon after being sworn in. No one knows the fate of his resignation. Many parties, including the Dalit Panthers of India, demanded that his resignation should not be accepted, as he had been forced to do so by the dominant caste in the panchayat. But, Azhagumalai maintains that he had resigned and would not occupy the chair of the president, irrespective of the fact whether his resignation was accepted or not. Meanwhile, the DPI, CPI and CPM have been holding fasts and demonstrations, individually demanding the restoration of democracy in the reserved panchayats. These parties are also opposed to the panchayats being made general panchayats until they get elected bodies headed by a Dalit. However, so far, there has been no reaction from the government. There have also been demands that funds should not be allotted to these panchayats for development works. Attempts by the Pudhiya Thamizhagam leader K Krishnasamy to take out a �padayatra� from Usilampatti had also been banned. So was the move by the Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam to take out a rally in the Usilampatti area to declare the reserved panchayats as general panchayats. The statement by the leader of the Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam, Sridhar Vandayar, that reserved panchayats with a majority of non-Dalit voters should be declared as general panchayats had evoked strong protests from K Murugavel Rajan, an MLA of Vandavasi, who claims to be the founder of the Devendrar Ilaignar Sangam. In a strongly-worded statement, Murugavel Rajan pointed out that those who supported the demand for general panchayats should be held under the Civil Rights Protection Act and the SC-ST( Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Whether the momentum demanding elections to the four reserved panchayats would bring about a change could be ascertained only after September-October, when the next round of the bi-annual polls would be held for vacancies in local bodies. www.newindpress.com 310505 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/MCfFmA/SOnJAA/E2hLAA/1dTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> �������������������������������������������������������� This is ZESTCaste whose members watch India's painful journey to society's de-casteisation. Members are encouraged to post messages to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join ==theZESTcommunity====================================== [1] ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/ [2] ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/ [3] ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ [4] ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ [5] ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ [6] ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ [7] ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/ [8] TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
