http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Nitish-takes-care-of-states-lone-Dalit-caste/articleshow/5761463.cms
Nitish takes care of state's lone Dalit caste Faizan Ahmad , TNN, Apr 5, 2010, 06.09am IST PATNA: Know who is a Dalit in Bihar? It’s Paswan. For, all but one Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the state have been rechristened as Maha Dalits. This situation isolated the Paswan caste from the rest of the SCs and it helped certain politicians to lambast chief minister Nitish Kumar and telling Paswans that they have been ignored, while other SC groups have been given extra facilities. Nitish cannot afford to allow this feeling to continue among this dominant caste in the election year and so a Dalit conference was organised here on Sunday to coincide with the birth anniversary of Paswans’ legendry figure Baba Chouharmal. The event was organised by building construction minister Chhedi Paswan with Nitish as chief guest. The CM tried to allay the misconception among them that they have been ignored. Detailing the various steps his government has taken, Nitish asked the crowd where any section has been left out. “The government has decided to give three decimel of land to the landless belonging to SCs for house construction and Paswans are included in this scheme,” the CM announced. Nitish asked, “Who gave reservation in the election of mukhiyas, pramukhs, chairman of district board and civic bodies? For the first time so many people of SCs got elected.” Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, earlier, informed that out of 1,400 Dalit mukhiyas, one-third belong to Paswan community. “There are certain people, the ground beneath whose feet has slipped, who are trying to create misconceptions and trying to break the society by causing misunderstanding. They accuse me of breaking the society but the fact is that I am doing everything to unite the people,” said Nitish. In a hard hitting speech, the CM said he did not care what will be result of his work. But he said he will continue to work in the larger interest of society. “My fate will be decided by the people (in the election),” he said. Nitish said he will take some decisioins soon to remove the misconceptions. The Maha Dalit Commission is studying the condition of Paswans and a decision will be taken on its report. “We will identify professions in which Paswans can be engaged,” he said. He announced that from next year Baba Choudharmal anniversary celebration will be held at official level. He also announced to install a statue of former CM Bhola Paswan Shastri at a park to be named after him. Reacting to a remark by one speaker, Nitish said efforts were on to fill the backlog of vacancies under SC quota in the police and it is anybody’s guess which group will qualify to fill the vacancies. Modi said since there is no biography of Chouharmal, the government will help anybody who can write it and will also publish it. Chhedi Paswan asked the community to remove the tag of loyalty to a particular Paswan leader, who, he said, remained in the Union cabinet for a long period in different government but extended benefits only to his family. ------------------------------------ ---- 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 [email protected], 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 [email protected] TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- 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/ 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: [email protected] [email protected] <*> 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/
