NCDHR is an Advocacy Platform committed for Dalit Human Rights at the Grass root, National and International levels. Dalits In News aims at sensitizing Civil societies, HR Mechanisms and providing updates of HR violations on Dalits for their Intervention.
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS NCDHR Dalits In News Sunday, August 06, 2006 The Times of India Meira wants railway stalls for manual scavengers Subodh Ghildiyal [ 5 Aug, 2006 0206hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] NEW DELHI: With a view to provide manual scavengers an alternative source of employment, the social jus-tice ministry has requested the railway ministry to allot them stalls/pushcarts in rail-way stations. Manual scavenging was banned with the passage of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. The PM will soon call a meeting to discuss a work plan for the eradication of scavenging and the social justice ministry's plea may prove to be a solution if rail minister Lalu Prasad agrees. lack of employment and social stigma have pushed manual scavengers back to their traditional work and sabotaged all past attempts to eradicate the banned work. In light of these problems, the demand raised by social justice minister Meira Kumar is interesting. According to Kumar, while not much fund and experience is required to start small businesses in rail stations, they can prove to be a source of assured income. The railways as a source of employment has two key advantages: Scavengers will be catering mostly to transit passengers and this would provide them the cover of anonymity. In addition, the railways with its all-India network can also provide local settlement to the target group and save them from massive displacement. http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Times_of_India/400x60/0 NDTV Expressindia.com JNU violence: Varsity's probe panel to submit report in 48 hrs <http://www.expressindia.com/about/[EMAIL PROTECTED] com> Aiman Mustafa New Delhi, August 2 THE JNU administration has appointed an inquiry committee to submit a report within 48 hours on last night's violence at an undergraduate hostel. Four students were injured yesterday when students affiliated to rival political outfits clashed in the Chandrabhaga hostel. Trouble started when a BA first-year student Sourav Kamal and his elder brother Amritashwa went to meet former student Maninder Singh Chauhan, who is affiliated to the rightwing Joint Patriotic Forum. Amritashwa had come along to try and resolve matters after Sourav complained to him over repeated caste slurs by Chauhan over the last five months. Instead, the three of them and Yashwant Singh, whose room they met in, came to blows and weer injured. Sourav, who was a classmate of Chauhan for BA Japanese but had switched to BA Spanish this year, says: "He (Chauhan) and his friends tried to bully others in class and I was one of those who did not give in. Following this, I was the target of constant caste slurs since the last five months and this increased sharply when I qualified in the test for BA Spanish." But Chauhan says Sourav and his brother entered Yashwant's room with seven others and beat him up. He ascribes the violence to a "conspiracy by the (leftwing) SFI to garner support before elections in October" and adds: "There has been a misinformation campaign spread about me ever since I achieved success despite my affiliation to right wing politics..." An inquiry committee comprising five wardens belonging to the Chandrabhaga and Lohit hostels will be investigating the matter. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=195259 Gulf Times Female judges for rape cases after victims ill treated in courts Published: Sunday, 6 August, 2006, 11:52 AM Doha Time NEW DELHI: Under a proposed new law in India, rape cases will only be allowed to be heard by a female judge. The radical measure is just the latest in a recent series of initiatives to improve the country's poor record in prosecuting rapes. One woman is raped every 29 minutes in India. In Delhi, it is far the most common form of violent crime. Muggings and most forms of street crime are far rarer than in Western cities, and the streets are safe for a man to walk even late at night. But for a woman it is a different story. Yet at the end of last year, there were 58,310 rape cases still waiting to go to trial in India's notoriously slow courts. And even when they get there, rape cases have been some of the most glaring failures of the Indian legal system. In one notorious case, Bhanwari Devi, a 41-year old social worker, was gang-raped in front of her husband by their neighbours as a 'punishment' after she tried to prevent a child marriage: a local family was trying to get their one-year-old daughter married. But when the case came to court, the five accused rapists were acquitted in spite of the evidence, on the grounds that they were members of the Hindu upper castes, and Ms Devi was a Dalit, or former Untouchable. "Upper caste men, including a Brahmin, would not rape a woman of a lower caste," the court said in its judgement. In another case, a man accused of raping a seven-year-old girl was acquitted because there was no injury to his penis - despite there being eyewitnesses to the rape, at a bus stop, and the girl had a ruptured hymen. The government is hoping the new law will prevent rape victims from being subjected to the sort of aggressive questioning that is routine in most rape trials at the moment. It believes women judges will be less tolerant of such questioning. "This is a very positive step and will help get justice for the rape victim," said Girija Vyas of India?s National Womens' Commission. "Until now, male lawyers were able to threaten the victim and scare her. A woman judge will help build a sensitive atmosphere." The proposed law will also allow the victim to have her lawyer with her during cross-examination. Until now, cross-examination in rape cases was held in camera to protect the victim's privacy but she was not allowed to have her lawyer present. "A rape victim will also be given a female lawyer because only a woman can understand a woman," said SM Kumar, a government spokesman. The law does not appear to make any new provisions for male rape victims. The government has already introduced new fast track courts to try to clear the backlog of rape and other serious cases. Last month, a court in Bihar state concluded a rape trial in just two days - believed to be a record in India. Gajendra Chaudhury was sentenced into seven years in jail for raping a minor girl who he found gathering vegetables in a field. The proposed new law will also introduce a new witness protection programme for all types of case. There has been a public outcry in India after a series of high profile murder cases collapsed when key witnesses changed their testimony at the last moment, apparently under threats from powerful contacts of the accused. The law will admit video evidence in court for the first time, and will give the victims of alleged criminal cases the right to make a private appeal against a not guilty verdict even if state prosecutors do not appeal. - The Independent http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=101118&ver sion=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22 The Indian Express THE IDEA EXCHANGE: RAM VILAS PAWAN AT THE EXPRESS 'Reservation in private sector is necessary and inevitable. Otherwise there will be an uproar' Posted online: Sunday, August 06, 2006 at 0000 hrs Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel, Ram Vilas Paswan entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1977 (for the highest vote margin) when he first entered the Lok Sabha winning Hajipur in Bihar. Since then, he has slowly emerged as an important player on the national scene. The 59-year-old was a part of the United Front government, a minister in the NDA and is currently with the UPA. He took time off to talk with The Indian Express team over lunch at the Express office. Excerpts: 27 PC RESERVATION TO OBCs: The UPA is committed to give 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in premier institutes of the country. And this will be implemented. But there are some practical problems regarding implementation of reservations in one go. So I think that OBC reservations should not be made a matter of false pride. If sufficient infrastructure is not immediately available, then introducing the entire quota by June 2007 should not be insisted upon, and there must be a phased approach. We should be practical and flexible. RESERVATION IN PRIVATE SECTOR: Reservation in private sector is necessary and inevitable. Otherwise, there will be an uproar. Dalits and tribals have no land or no business. They are dependent on public-sector jobs. After liberalisation, there were many companies privatised, for example Maruti. While these companies had reservations when they were in the public sector, once privatised, there was no provision for reservation. I am sure that there would be reservation in private sector. It may be in one go or in phases but this is inevitable because in democracy every vote has an equal value. SOCIAL AWAKENING: There is social awakening among the Dalits and tribals. And their feeling of isolation from the social mainstream is much less. For instance, the DMK today does not talk about the kind of issues it did in the past. This is all due to the fact that it has a share in power at the Centre and is part of a national coalition. The inferiority complex (among Dalits) is because of what they have gone through. For example, when Babasaheb Ambedkar would deliver a speech, one got the feeling that he was breathing fire. Once, Jawaharlal Nehru complained about this to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji told Nehruji that he should also take into account that Babasaheb Ambedkar was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth like Nehru was. CONFRONTATION IN SOCIETY: Shuroo ke stage main niche ka chattan upar uthna chahta tha to upar ka chattan use niche dabana chahta tha. Aur isi tarah jwalamukhi phootata hai (In the beginning, when the lower castes want to come up, the castes higher in the social order protest. The resulting tension leads to a volcano erupting). DALIT VOTE IN BIHAR: It is not true that Bihar does not have a Dalit leader like Mayawati in UP. The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) got 15 per cent vote share in the last two elections in Bihar. This couldn't have been possible without the overwhelming support of Dalits. When Ram Vilas Paswan was with the NDA in the 1999 General Election, the alliance managed to win 40 of the 54 seats in Bihar. The RJD could only win seven seats. Even RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav lost from Madhepura after he lost the support of Dalits there. But after I resigned from the NDA over the Gujarat riots, in the last General Election, Laluji and I fought together and we bagged 31 to 32 seats out of the now 40 seats in Bihar. So the SC and ST votes, without doubt, are united in Bihar under the LJP banner. DALIT LEADERSHIP: Today Mayawati is the leader of the Dalits in UP. We are in Bihar and the Republican Party is leading Dalits in Maharashtra. But there are many states where Dalits are in sizeable numbers, such as West Bengal (23 per cent) and Punjab (29 per cent), but there is no significant Dalit leader there. But even among the upper caste groups, tell me who is the all-India leader of Rajputs or Brahmins? NATIONAL DALIT PLATFORM: It is not right to say there is no all-India Dalit platform. Today if a Bill is presented in Parliament over reservations in private sector, all Dalits, irrespective of the party they are in, will favour it even if their party issues a whip against it. I can give you an example of killings of 32 Dalits in south India. 113 MPs wanted to meet then president, R Venkataraman. But he said he could only meet 11 MPs as per convention. That very day, we announced that we would not visit Rashtrapati Bhawan unless there was a Dalit president. And then, the sidelined K R Narayanan was put up for Vice-President. COMING ELECTIONS IN UP: No party in UP is going to touch the magic figure. In that case, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati will have to look for support. Mulayam will have to choose between the Congress and the BJP. MAYAWATI: Oh yes, Mayawati is my Enemy No. 1 in UP. Kanshi Ram floated the BSP based on an ideology and tried to unite the Dalits in UP. They also raised the slogan against Manuwadis, but now Mayawati is taking about ''Hathi nahin Ganesh hai, Brahma Vishnu Mahesh hai''. This has confused and shocked the Dalits in UP and they are unhappy with Mayawati. She has also introduced money in politics in a big way and the amount of money decides whether you will be given a ticket or not. CREAMY LAYER AMONG DALITS: It is not justified to talk about the creamy layer among Dalits. But yes I am in favour of giving preference to those who are weaker among Dalits. For instance, Ram Vilas ke bete ko pahla mauka nahin milna chahiye (Ram Vilas's son should not be given first preference). First, the more needy should be offered and if there are not many takers among them then this should be given to those better off among Dalits. ECONOMIC BENEFITS VS SOCIAL JUSTICE: A poor upper caste man is tan ka gharib, that is only poor-he has not lost his self-esteem. But a poor Dalit is man ka gharib, which means he has been stripped of his self-respect. Where jobs come in is that, after a Dalit becomes a daroga, for example, he finds people saluting him, and that gives him a sense of self-worth. ABOLISHING RESERVATION: Reservation should be ended if there are equal opportunities for all. That is why I have said that we should provide equal facilities to all students up to Class X and then abolish reservation. But equal opportunity, via a Comprehensive School System, means all students should be given the same food, clothes and education. THIRD FRONT: I do not agree with those who talk about the revival of the Third Front because the Third Front by definition is minus the Congress and the BJP, and that is nothing. All the governments of the Third Front were either supported by the Congress or the BJP. V P Singh's government had the support of the BJP whereas the Deva Gowda and I K Gujral governments were backed by the Congress. The reason is that all political parties, except the Left, are either with the Congress or with the BJP. Even now, though there are rumblings, I doubt if the Government will fall on account of foreign policy. CONTROLLING DRUG PRICES: I am trying to control the prices of essential drugs, but the people from the drug industry have united against it. They say industry will close down as a result. But we are striving towards it. A Cabinet note has been prepared. V P SINGH SEEING PASWAN AS PM: He is a well-wisher, I am sure he means well. Everybody has ambition. What is wrong with it? http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/10014.html ARUN KHOTE Secretary-Media National Campaign On Dalit Human Rights-NCDHR 8/1,2nd Floor, South Patel Nagar NEW DELHI-110008 ( INDIA) Ph/ Fax-91#11-25842249/ 25842250 Mobile:0-9350183802 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: dalits.org «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥««¤»¥«¤»§«¤» 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! 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