Dalits Media Watch
NewsUpdates 25.01.12
Dalit killed for lodging FIR- Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Dalit-killed-for-lodging-FIR/903822/
Job better than aid, say UP dalits- The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Job-better-than-aid-say-UP dalits/articleshow/11623741.cms
More protests over defiling of Ambedkar statue- The Times Of India
Caste row afflicts AP Cong - The Pioneer
http://dailypioneer.com/nation/37662-caste-row-afflicts-ap-cong.html
How caste matters and doesn't matter- livemint.com
http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/24233008/How-caste-matters-and-doesn8.html?h=B
Indian Express
Dalit killed for lodging FIR
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Dalit-killed-for-lodging-FIR/903822/
Six Dalits were thrashed by three members of another community in Rethal village, about 20 kilometres from Sanand town, on Tuesday night following which one of them died in the hospital. Three others are said to be critical while one has sustained minor injuries.
The reason, police said, is the two FIRs they had lodged against one Yuvrajsinh for allegedly beating up a Dalit auto-driver.
According to villagers, three persons carrying sticks entered Rohitvas, a Dalit-dominated locality in the village, and beat up six of them. Someone called up the medical emergency service and the injured were rushed to the hospital. Later, a team of Sanand police rushed to the village.
According to Ahmedabad district superintendent of police Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat, Yuvrajsinh had beaten up an auto-driver, belonging to schedule caste, in December 2011. The victim, Gautam Rathod, had lodged an FIR at Sanand police station under Atrocity Act.
On Monday, Yuvrajsinh again beat up Rathod for lodging the FIR after which a second FIR was lodged against him by one Rathod's neighbour Ishwarbhai at the same police station. "On Tuesday night, Yuvrajsinh and his two friends beat up Rathod and five others. The victims were rushed to the hospital but one of them, Atul, died during the treatment," Bhagat said.
The injured are being treated at a private hospital in Sarkhej in Ahmedabad.
The Times Of India
Job better than aid, say UP dalits
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Job-better-than-aid-say-UP dalits/articleshow/11623741.cms
GONDA: Uttar Pradesh's dalits aren't living hugely improved lives despite five years of rule by Mayawati, a CM from the community . But she remains their icon and BSP the party they identify with-because it draws legitimacy , inspiration and ideology from Babasaheb Ambedkar.
BSP rule has not made much difference even to Ambedkar villages which were conceived in 1991 to bring their residents, particularly dalits, into the mainstream . When implemented in 1995, the scheme became a source of heartburn exposing Mayawati to the charge that she was excessively focused on dalits.
Take the case of newly-married Raman of Kochwa, an Ambedkar village. He is forced to leave his wife and family for 10 months every year to go to Haryana to work as farm labour.
"Yahan kahan naukri hai?" (Where are the jobs here?) Raman laments. When he stays away from his family, his old mobile is his only link with his family. Raman's story is an often-told one of the state of UP's dalits, denied basic amenities let alone livelihood options . These conditions haven't changed much in these five years.
Dalits seem to be skeptical of the doles and subsidies that Mayawati takes pride in designing for them, saying they are no substitute for employment. To them, empowerment is derived from regular employment. Gulaba Devi, a Pasi widow in Hardoi's Rampur Atwa village sums it up best: "A job is better than any pension or financial aid."
But that does not seem to have affected their loyalty to BSP. Malti Devi of Sitapur, an NREGA labourer, puts it succinctly: "I would vote for the elephant because only God can change our fate. What can politicians do?" Such resignation is not unique to her and gives a clue to why BSP continues to retain a solid core of supporters: Something that enables her to transfer votes to whoever she wishes to and build larger social alliances like five years ago.
The skepticism extends to the memorials dedicated to dalit icons. The statues in Lucknow and Noida which had to be recently draped following an EC order are the buzz even in remote villages. But no dalit TOI spoke to found Mayawati's statues empowering. Instead, they rued the state's inefficiency and lamented the CM's statues . "Poor do not benefit from idols," Gulaba Devi said. Raman, a frequent visitor to Lucknow, says the memorials are beautiful (" sundar hai" ), yet "it would have been better had the money been used to generate jobs" . Despite their poor living conditions their attachment for BSP remains.
Prof AK Singh, director, Giri institute for Developmental Studies , says, "No major initiatives were taken for employment generation among dalits. Welfare schemes meant for dalits had limited reach. So, their lives did not change much." That doesn't stop Ram Khilawan of Bahrimau in Sitapur from celebrating BSP as the bearer of Ambedkar's legacy.
DALIT PROFILE
21.1% UP's population are dalits
87.7% dalits live in villages
41.9% dalits in Sonbhadra, highest concentration
11% in Baghpat, lowest concentration
Jatavs (CM's caste) are 56% mainly in Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Gorakhpur in east UP. In Agra, Bijnor, Saharanpur in west UP
Pasis (16%) have highest numbers in Sitapur, Rae Bareli, Hardoi in east UP & Allahabad
Dhobi, Kori, Balmiki (15%) mainy in Sultanpur in east UP, Bareilly, Ghaziabad in west UP
OCCUPATION
Most SCs are farm labour with 42.5% share in four economic categories
31% have small landholdings, are marginal farmers
Rest in household industry 4.3%. Some labourers at construction sites
Self employed | Cobblers, hyde flayers, bone collectors, sweepers, run piggeries
More than half of dalit poor have no BPL cards | mostly tribal, the most backward and Muslim dalits
Maya Refutes NCRB
CM claimed that since 2007, when her govt came to power, cases of harassment of SC/ST had steadily declined. Murder Cases declined by 29.3 per cent, arson by 50 per cent, rape cases by 19 per cent, cases under SC/ST Act showed decline of 8.8 per cent
NATIONAL CRIME RECORDS BUREAU DATA 2009
UP tops in crimes reported against dalits
Country total of crimes against dalits : 33,594. 22.4% in UP, highest share
Country total of dalit murder cases: 624 UP accounted for 37.7%
Total rape cases of SC/ST: 1, 346, UP was second in India with 23.6% of total cases
195 cases of arson. Bihar highest with 40 followed by Rajasthan 39 and UP 38
11,143 cases under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. UP had 22.9% of total cases.
The Times Of India
More protests over defiling of Ambedkar statue
AMALAPURAM: Uneasy calm prevailed in the town and surrounding areas in Konaseema on Tuesday, a day after statues of Ambedkar were damaged. Sources said four persons were taken into custody in connection with the incident but the senior police officers did not confirm the arrests.
People of Konaseema observed a bandh peacefully and activists of various dalit organisations conducted protest rallies, road blockades and formed human chains in protest against the desecration of the statues. At several places, they poured milk on Ambedkar statues as a cleansing ritual. Shops, schools, business establishments remained closed.
The dalit activists blocked the Ravulapalem-Amalapuram road (40 km) at several places, paralysing traffic. Buses were stranded on the road for several hours as dalits shouted slogans against the desecration of Ambedkar statues.
Dalit student organisations called for a bandh in Andhra University in Visakhapatnam and demanded stringent action against those responsible for the incidents. They took out a huge rally, shouting slogans in support of Ambedkar.
While cops, including personnel of Rapid Action Force, were deployed in large numbers to prevent any untoward incidents, Eluru range DIG Surya Prakasa Rao and district SPTrivikram Varma monitored the situation by camping in Amalapuram. Mobile teams were deployed and pickets organised at various junctions in Amalapuram and surrounding areas for the second consecutive day, while section 144 was in place.
District collector Ravi Chandra and minister P Viswaroop visited the town and appealed for calm. They urged the people not to believe rumors and maintain peace. Additional DGKrishna Raju, who will investigate the defiling of the statues, was closeted with local police officials.
Meanwhile, people across the state expressed their anger and took part in protest rallies and rasta rokos against the defiling of statues.
Mobile teams were deployed and pickets organised at various junctions in Amalapuram and surrounding areas for the second consecutive day. Section 144 was in place.
The Pioneer
http://dailypioneer.com/nation/37662-caste-row-afflicts-ap-cong.html
Bottom of Form
The unceremonious sacking of the Minister for Handloom P Shankar Rao seems to have embroiled the Congress in a row with the ruling party being accused of casteism from within. Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha has reportedly taken up cudgels on behalf of the Minister and targeted Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
According to sources, Rajanarasimha was infuriated with the Chief Minister and the AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad over the "humiliation" of Dalits.
Charging the Chief Minister with being anti-Dalit and undemocratic, Rajanarasimha reportedly told his supporters and confidants that the unceremonious sacking of Shankar Rao will only further isolate the Dalits from the Congress party.
"I had asked the Chief Minister to ask Shankar Rao to resign instead of sacking him but he did not listen", Rajanarasimha was quoted as saying by the sources close to him. The Deputy Chief Minister said that he also drew the attention of Ghulam Nabi Azad to the way Shankar Rao was treated but did not get any response.
"We Dalits can not take things lying down any more", the deputy CM told his supporters. He also promised to take up the cause of Telangana henceforth saying that he was hitherto gagged on the issue.
Apart from the treatment meted out to a Dalit, Rajanarasimha was also piqued with the Chief Minister and Ghulam Nabi Azad over the non allocation of the Home portfolio to him despite being the CM.
Sources said that Rajanarasimha's targeting of Kiran Kumar Reddy could be part of his strategy to emerge as a contender for the post of the Chief Minister in the future.
Rajanarasimha told his supporters that the Chief Minister was behaving like a dictator and was unhappy with the rise of Dalits. He also raised doubts about many of the decisions taken by the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government including the awarding of contracts and allocation of land.
As the local media was splashed with the reports of Rajanarasimha's observations against the Chief Minister, sending shock waves in the party, Rajanarasimha denied any differences with the Chief Minister.
Talking to reporters on Tuesday, he said that it was entirely the creation of a section of media to create problems between him and the CM.
He described Kiran Kumar Reddy as his leader and said that they were all working like a team.
However sources said that the relationship between the two had already reaches a flash point and Kiran Kumar Reddy had lodged a complaint with the party high command against his deputy.
How caste matters and doesn't matter
http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/24233008/How-caste-matters-and-doesn8.html?h=B
Although caste is indeed one of the operative parameters of Punjab politics, there seems to be very little competition among the caste communities of Punjab
Bahujan Samaj Party (BJP) leader and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has urged the electorate of Punjab to vote for her party's candidates in state assembly elections to fulfil the dream of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
The late Kanshi Ram, who has become a symbol of contemporary Dalit assertion and political success, was born in Punjab and was active in the state's politics for a long time.
Notwithstanding its newly projected image of being a party of all, the sarvjan, the core constituency of the BSP has been and continues to be scheduled castes (SCs), or Dalits.
Together, the 39 SC communities of Punjab constitute nearly 29% of the total population of the state, close to double the national average. With such a large population, they are perhaps the largest cluster of caste communities of Punjab.
However, the BSP has hardly ever posed a challenge to the mainstream political parties of Punjab. This time, too, there is little hope of the party winning any seats. How do we explain this puzzle in a democracy where "caste" and "community" frame the grammar of politics? Or does this raise questions about the common sense of electoral behaviour?
The modernist leadership of India had a very clear notion of democratic politics. It was to be based on the idea of the individual citizen. The ties of community and caste were to be forgotten with time. This was not only a desirable state of things, but also a part of the natural and inevitable process of evolutionary change. Modern technology, industrialization and urbanization were to destroy all "parochial" community ties. This, they believed, was what had already happened in the West. There was no reason to think the trajectory of change in India would be any different. Even someone like B.R. Ambedkar, who always suspected the intentions of the largely upper caste-dominated nationalist leadership, hoped that modernization and urbanization would help the Dalits get out of the villages and break free from the oppressive social structure of caste.
Democratic politics and even the modernization process have, however, unfolded very differently. Soon after India introduced electoral politics, sociologists and political scientists reported that not only was democratic politics failing to destroy caste, but caste was in fact going through a process of transmutation and seemed to be surviving very comfortably with the electoral process. Individual caste communities were getting into horizontal alliances and forming what sociologist M.N. Srinivas described as "vote banks". Soon, a new common sense of caste and democratic politics emerged.
By the 1980s, caste and electoral politics had become virtually inseparable. From the lay public to the psephologists of popular media and serious academic analysts, nearly everyone began to treat caste as the most important variable influencing democratic politics in India. According to this common sense, caste communities competed with each other and determined electoral outcomes. Even when they did not directly participate in electoral politics, they operated as pressure groups and influenced the governance agenda of the Indian state at the local, regional and national levels. Over the last three or four decades, several political parties have come to be identified with specific caste communities.
Punjab appears to be an odd case in this national framework of caste politics. Although caste is indeed one of the operative parameters of Punjab politics, there seems to be very little competition among the caste communities of Punjab. The Jats, who constitute only around one-fourth of the state electorate, have remained virtually unchallenged. The last non-Jat who could become chief minister of the state was Giani Zail Singh, and that was way back in the 1970s.
The two major political parties, the Congress and the Akalis, are both Jat-led and Jat-dominated. Even the Khalistan movement was largely a Jat-dominated phenomenon.
A more surprising fact about caste in Punjab is the virtual absence of a challenge from the Dalits. Notwithstanding the positive effect of Sikhism and Islam on the nature and practice of untouchability in the region, the Punjabi Dalits have been quite a deprived population. Even though they are mostly rural, less than 1% of all the agricultural land is owned or tilled by them. In an agrarian society, land determines everything. Even though the Dalits of Punjab are less likely to be below the national poverty line, in relative terms their deprivation is quite stark, and in comparison to other communities they stand far below.
Interestingly enough, Punjab has also been witness to some of the most vibrant mobilizations by the Dalits. From the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s to the recent movement for a separate Ravidassia religion, the Dalits of Punjab have often asserted their distinct identity.
Yet, the BSP seems to be an insignificant force in the regional politics of Punjab, although it succeeded in rising to power in Uttar Pradesh. How can we make sense of this? The answer perhaps lies in the way we have come to understand caste and the excessive heuristic value that we tend to attribute to it.
Notwithstanding its significance in the social and economic life of Punjab, caste has not been an idiom of Punjab politics. The dominant idioms of regional politics are shaped historically. Thanks to its history of partition and communal divide, the most dominant idiom of the politics of Punjab has been that of religious communities—the dynamic of communal relations between the Sikhs and the Hindus. The second important idiom of politics has been the region—the dynamics of relationship between Punjab and the Centre. And the third important idiom has been the social and economic class. At the local level in the region, caste seems to be closely tied to class, perhaps much more strongly than elsewhere.
Jat power is reproduced through a constellation of all these factors, and as of now remains unchallenged in Punjab.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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