*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* *May 24, 2007* AIIMS students protest caste discrimination- *The Stateman * http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=157064* * Ban caste itself, say Tamil Dalits- *The Hindustan Times* * http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=56b96ae0-e5f4-454d-8c89-f1f746868380&&Headline=Ban+caste+itself%2c+say+Tamil+Dalits+ * Poor Dalit's son makes it to IAS- *New Kerala.com* http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=32234 *The Stateman* *AIIMS students protest caste discrimination* *http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=157064 *** Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, May 23: AIIMS students under the banner of Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF) today opposed "caste-based discrimination" at the premier institute and demanded implementation of the Thorat Committee recommendations towards ending the discriminatory practices. Around 60 students gathered outside the director's office holding placards deploring the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's alleged patronage to those perpetrating and sanctioning caste-based discrimination in the institute and said the AIIMS administration under director, Dr P Venugopal, had given "silent approval" to this discrimination. "Even though we have repeatedly drawn his attention to the practices that are responsible for discrimination against reserved category students, Dr Venugopal has done little to take corrective measures, and from his attitude it is apparent that he has little desire to do so," the students charged and demanded that all the decisions taken by the governing body relating to the redressal of grievances of SC and ST students should be implemented. The administration must also implement the recommendations of the report submitted by Thorat Committee for removing caste discrimination, they said. Accusing Dr Manmohan Singh of supporting the "oppressors", PMSF members said "Dr Singh is not keen on upholding the rights of students and doctors of reserved categories. He has not met us even once to listen to our grievances." They also opposed projecting of the current battle of PMSF against caste-based discrimination as that between Dr Venugopal and the Union health minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss. The Thorat committee report has sited several examples of discrimination faced by the reserved category students in the academic, cultural and social life of the campus. It also mentions cases of victimisation and discrimination against resident doctors and the faculty members. *The Hindustan Times* *Ban caste itself, say Tamil Dalits* * http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=56b96ae0-e5f4-454d-8c89-f1f746868380&&Headline=Ban+caste+itself%2c+say+Tamil+Dalits+ * *"*The constitution has made untouchability illegal, but caste is still alive in our society. Our goal is to have caste itself banned," says Ravi Kumar, a Dalit MLA. A noisy meeting of tribal students in Cuddalore District, south of Chennai, leaves Ravi Kumar hoarse. But he resolutely prepares for his next meeting in his constituency — the historic Vaishnava temple town of Kattumannarkoil. Kumar is one of the two MLAs from the Viduthalai Siruthaigal (Dalit Liberation Panthers) in the assembly, which has 44 Dalits. His party leader is Thol. Thirumavalavan of the Parayar community, that for centuries announced village deaths by drumming on the parai (a local drum). From the name of this formerly 'untouchable' community had originated the derogatory 'paraiah'. Today, however, 64 per cent of the 1.1 crore Dalits in the state are literate, just 10 per cent behind the state average of 74 per cent. "This high literacy level among Tamil Dalits is not due to the Dravidian movement," says Ravi Kumar. "In British Raj, only two communities had a good English education: Brahmins and Dalits. The Brahmins, because they served the British in offices and the Dalits, for serving them at home as cooks, bearers and personal attendants. A Tamil Dalit, Rettamalai Sreenivasan, attended the Round Table Conference in London with Dr Ambedkar." Dalit political awareness in Tamil Nadu began as early as 1895 with the Adidravida Mahajanasabha founded by M Chinnathambi. His son, MC Raja, made a Rao Bahadur by the British, published a Dalit magazine Parayar (which also means 'to speak out') between 1893 and 1900, with a circulation rivalling The Hindu. However, the last 40 years of the Dravidian movement have not helped Tamil Dalits because of caste demographics. "Forward castes, including Brahmins, Muslims and Christians, constitute 13 per cent of Tamil Nadu. Scheduled Castes are 19 per cent and Scheduled Tribes one per cent. The rest are intermediary castes who control political power," says P Radhakrishnan, Professor of Sociology at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and author of the study, 'Religion, Caste and State' (2007). Says Ravi Kumar, "Of the 234 MLAs in the present assembly, only two are Brahmins: Jayalalitha and SV Shekhar of the Mylapore constituency. Middle castes have run the government for 40 years. So who is responsible for Dalit non-inclusion?" In the 2004 general elections, the Liberation Panthers and another major Dalit party, the Puthiya Tamilagam, were kept out of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) led by M. Karunanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Atrocities against Dalits continue, mostly perpetrated by the two most dominant backward castes — the Thevars (mostly AIADMK supporters) and the Vanniyars (the PMK's vote bank). Two years ago at Thinniyar in Tiruchirapalli district Thevars forced Dalits to eat human excrement. Six months later, Dalits were forced to drink urine at Gounderpatti near Dindigul. "The only radical solution is to ban caste. No wearing caste marks or retaining caste surnames, banning caste-based organisations and abolishing government caste-counting mechanisms like official forms. But will any political party have the guts to do it? Particularly in TN?" challenges Ravi Kumar. Is this a constitutional amendment whose time has come? *New Kerala.com* *Poor Dalit's son makes it to IAS* *http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=32234* Jajpur (Orissa), May 23: The son of a poor landless Dalit in Orissa has done his family and village proud by securing 11th position in the latest civil services examination. Jaladhar Mallick, a resident of Thalakodi village in the coastal Jajpur district, 120 kilometers from state capital Bhubaneswar, lives in a thatched house along with his family. He wanted his son Bishnu Charana Mallick to be a teacher in the village school. However, his son surpassed his expectations and got selected for the Indian Revenue Service two years ago. Bishnu Charana Mallick is at present posted as assistant income tax commissioner at Nagpur in Maharastra. He appeared for the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) again this year and was selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) out of more than 200,000 aspirants. "We had very high hopes from him after he got Indian Revenue Service. He is more than what we think of him," Jaladhar Mallick told IANS. "I had five acres of agricultural land. But I sold most of them to maintain my family and finance<http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=32234>the education of my children. I never neglected Bishnu's studies," Jaladhar said. Bishnu studied at local government schools and graduated from Cuttack's Ravenshaw College. He went on to complete his post graduation and M. Phil in Sociology from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. "My hard labour has borne fruits. These days a large number of IAS aspirants attend coaching classes and pay hefty amount but I never joined any coaching classes. It is also a myth that only English medium students will get the coveted job", Bishnu said. "We are proud of him," said Anadicharana Patra, a retired teacher of Khananagar M.E. School where Bishnu studied. "At a time when government schools conjure up images of barren classrooms, poor results and absent teachers, Bishnu has done an amazing turn around by getting the most cherished IAS job", Patra added. The villagers distributed sweets and celebrated Bishnu's success when he visited his village recently. Some elderly villagers garlanded him. Talking to the villagers, Bishnu said poverty cannot be a hurdle in the face of determination and hard work, so everyone should pursue his or her dream. --- IANS ARUN KHOTE National Secretary National Campaign On Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) 8/1, 2nd Floor, South Patel Nagar, New Delhi-110008 Ph: 011- 25842249 /25842250 0- 9350183802 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.ncdhr.org -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join 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! 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