NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS 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 February 22, 2007 SC/ST students caught in a cleft stick over course fees- The Hindu http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Hindu/400x60/0 <http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&id=101190##> <Javascript:PopEmail('http://ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?id=101190','Vadegaon%20violence:%20Police%20arrest%20four')> Vadegaon violence: Police arrest four- NDTV <http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&id=101190> http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&id=101190 Caste related violence in Akola- Sahara Samay <http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/articles.aspx?newsid=70587> http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/articles.aspx?newsid=70587 Dalit presidents ‘forced’ to withdraw quit decision- New Indpress.com http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20070221110713 <http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20070221110713&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0> &Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0 `Several Dalits will lose land for SEZs'- The Hindu <http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022121450400.htm> http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022121450400.htm The Hindu SC/ST students caught in a cleft stick over course fees http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Hindu/400x60/0 B.S. Ramesh Students blame the two fee fixations panels and Government for the situation BANGALORE: Scores of students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and studying in private professional colleges are now caught up in a fresh row over payment of fees. The cause: the difference in fees fixed for professional courses by the Murgod and Rangavittalachar fee fixation committees. The students had only on December 8 heaved a sigh of relief when the State Government issued a notification to reimburse in toto the fees of SC and ST students allotted seats in graduate, postgraduate and professional courses by the CET Cell. The notification, however, has not solved the woes of these students. Almost all of them are now in an unenviable position of having to cough up fees on the higher side. If the students fail to pay the fees being demanded by the managements of institutions imparting graduate and postgraduate education, they are unlikely to be allowed to take the examinations. The students blame the two fee fixations committees and the State Government for the situation in which they have been placed. They say that the first fee fixation committee headed by A.B. Murgod had fixed fees for the professional courses. Subsequently, Rangavittalachar, who headed the committee, revised the fees upwards. The students say that the difference between the fees fixed by the Murgod Committee and the Rangavittalachar Committee is too huge for them to bear on their own. They say requests to the State Government to reimburse the difference in the fees have not been favourably considered so far. The students, many of whom joined PG professional courses in 2004, are worried as the managements are insisting that they pay the difference in fees before they are allowed to take up the examination. Citing an example, the students say that the Murgod Committee had fixed Rs. 2,22,750 as fees for PG course in dentistry which was revised by the Rangavittalachar to Rs. 3.76 lakh. The students are sore that the Government has so far not been responsive to their demands. Legal experts opine that the Government is bound to pay the difference in the fee structure as it had not challenged the fees fixed by Rangavittalachar panel. NDTV <http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&id=101190##> <Javascript:PopEmail('http://ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?id=101190','Vadegaon%20violence:%20Police%20arrest%20four')> Vadegaon violence: Police arrest four <http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&id=101190> http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&id=101190 NDTV Correspondent Wednesday, February 21, 2007 (Akola): There has been violence in Vadegaon, a village 25 kms from Akola, after a police chowky was burnt down allegedly by a group of villagers. They were retaliating against the stabbing of the local sarpanch of the village inside the chowky on Tuesday evening. The sarpanch has been taken to a local hospital. A few shops and homes were also targetted by a group of villagers and burnt down. Stones were also pelted at the police. The police have arrested four people so far. Sahara Samay Caste related violence in Akola <http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/articles.aspx?newsid=70587> http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/articles.aspx?newsid=70587 Posted at Wednesday, 21 February 2007 19:02 IST Akola, Feb 21: Caste related violence has been reported in Vadegaon, a village 25 kms from Akola, following attack on the local sarpanch of the village, Sahara Samay sources said. Following the incident, police chowky was burnt down allegedly by a group of villagers. They were retaliating against the stabbing of the local sarpanch of the village inside the chowky on Tuesday evening. The sarpanch has been taken to a local hospital. A few shops and homes were also targetted by a group of villagers and burnt down. Stones were also pelted at the police. The police have arrested four people so far. New Indpress.com Dalit presidents ‘forced’ to withdraw quit decision http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20070221110713 <http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20070221110713&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0> &Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0 Thursday February 22 2007 00:00 IST MADURAI: The presidents of Pappappatti, Keeripatti and Nattamangalam, on Wednesday withdrew their decision to demit office in the wake of Collector T Udhayachandran’s transfer to Erode, all because of the pressure exerted by DMK men. Accompanied by their caste Hindu deputies, the three Dalit presidents Periya Karuppan (Pappapatti), M Baluchamy (Keeripatti) and P Ganesan (Nattamangalam), were brought to Madurai and kept in ‘safe custody’ by the DMK functionaries, at a hotel in the city on Wednesday. Escorted by the DMK men, they were taken to the Collector’s residence twice in the forenoon and evening. Expressing fear of threat to “life and property”, Periya Karuppan and Baluchamy, on Tuesday, had threatened to tender resignation, protesting against the transfer of the Collector. They queried the bonafide of the transfer and alleged it was due to political interference. They also said that his transfer would come in the way of the development works being carried out in their panchayats, where elections were conducted this year after a decade of poll boycott engineered by the caste Hindus. The three Dalit presidents had planned to meet Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in Chennai to press for revoking Udhayachandran’s transfer orders. On Wednesday evening, they were brought to the Collector’s camp office in vehicles by DMK MLA and Madurai Rural District secretary P Murthy, along with party Chellampatti union secretary Ukkirapandi, Usilampatti Municipal Chairman O S R Thangapandian and other DMK functionaries. The drama came to an end with the new collector D Karthikeyan giving an assurance to the presidents during a brief in-camera meeting with them. However, the DMK leaders were also present at the meeting. Emerging from the meeting, Ganesan said they had retracted their stand, following an assurance that the administration would expedite all the developmental works in their panchayats. The DMK functionaries, who prevented them from talking to the media, dumped them into the vehicles and left the place. The CPM, which supported Keeripatti president Baluchamy from the day he filed nominations, was conspicuous by its absence. When contacted over phone, Baluchamy told this website’s newspaper, “We had planned to stage a demonstration in Usilampatti on Wednesday morning. But even before that the DMK leaders, including Moorthi took us to Madurai. They forced us to withdraw our decision to resign the post. The new Collector has promised to expedite developmental works. However, threat to my life still prevails.” Meanwhile, the police foiled the attempts by a section of the public to resort to picketing at Chellampatti, protesting against the transfer. The Hindu `Several Dalits will lose land for SEZs' <http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022121450400.htm> http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022121450400.htm Special Correspondent _____ Dalit organisations urged to launch a struggle against SEZs 8,000 acres of land belonging to Dalits to be acquired for SEZs _____ BANGALORE: The much-hyped Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which are aimed at triggering economic development, will come as a nightmare to thousands of poor Dalit families in Karnataka, according to an expert at the Bangalore University. Jogan Shankar, Director of the Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute, said the SEZ's would result in a sizeable number of Dalits in Karnataka losing their agricultural lands, which had been given to them by the Government some time ago to provide them social and economic security under a welfare scheme. Inaugurating a State-level conference of the Dalit Sangharsha Samithi (Samyojaka-group) in Bangalore on Tuesday, he said the proposed SEZs in Karnataka, especially those around Bangalore, would acquire nearly 8,000 acres of land belonging to poor Dalits. What is shocking is that this land had been given by the Government itself to these families under a welfare scheme. He expressed concern over such acquisition of Dalits' land. "We are trying to make the corporates, NRIs and foreign agencies more prosperous by creating SEZs for them at the cost of poor Dalits and farmers," he said. He described the proposed SEZs as "islands of prosperity amidst an ocean of poverty and pain." The problem of displacement was more around Bangalore as nearly 87,000 acres of agricultural land was being acquired for the SEZs. Of this, the land holding of Dalits was about 8,000 acres, he said. He urged the Dalit organisations to launch a struggle against SEZs and also other projects that displace poor farmers for the sake of development of the corporates. Dr. Shankar alleged that the Dalit victims of various atrocities were yet to get compensation to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore, which is due from the state as well as the Centre over the years. Stressing the need for providing reservation for Dalits in the private sector, he sought to dismiss the view that such a measure would affect the efficiency of the private sector. Keeping the 166 million Dalits and 600 million backward classes out of the private sector is actually a loss to the sector as its options would be limited when it comes to scouting for the talents, he argued. ARUN KHOTE National Media Secretary NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS (NCDHR) Add: 8/1, South Patel Nagar, NEW DELHI- 110008 ( INDIA) Mobile : 91# 9350183802 Ph & Fax- 91#11-25842249, 91#11-25842250 E Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website : www.dalits.org www.ncdhr.org
