DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

would move amendments to the Bill when it comes up before the Lok Sabha and the Government is open
to considering them. (Indian Express 19/2/09)
Paswan slams Maya, says amended SC/ST Bill to be tabled in LS (2)
New Delhi: After BSP MPs created a ruckus in the Lok Sabha and forced an adjournment, Union Minister
and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters that all the ‘objectionable portions’ of The Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Jobs and Posts) Bill 2008, including exemption of
reservation in the teaching faculty of government-owned institutes of higher education, will be amended
and brought in the Lok Sabha during the current session. “Objectionable clauses including the one that
said there will be no reservation in the teaching faculty of 47 scheduled universities have been amended.
The Bill with amendments ensuring provision for reservation for the SCs and STs even in the teaching
faculty of Central institutes would be brought in the Lok Sabha during the current session itself,” Paswan
declared and added that the Bill with amendments will be reverted to the Rajya Sabha. Interestingly, the
original Bill with controversial portions had been passed by the Rajya Sabha during the last session of
Parliament. Castigating BSP chief Mayawati for demanding withdrawal of the Bill, Paswan charged that
her concern for the cause of the SCs and STs was cosmetic. “None of her MPs turned up when the
Government called meetings to suggest amendments to the Bill. Now when the amendments have been
accepted, Mayawati has written to the PM demanding withdrawal of the Bill. After 25 years of struggle I
have got this Bill and anybody opposing it is an enemy of the Dalits,” he said. (Indian Express 20/2/09)
Dalits fear caste-wise budget allocations will create divisions (2)
Bangalore: The provisions made in the 2009-10 budget in the social welfare sector is striking for the
number of allocations made to specific caste groups and caste-based organisations. However, Dalit and
backward class activists fear that this will only create divisions and convert castes into vote banks rather
than contribute to their social empowerment as a whole. The budget makes an allocation for improving
infrastructure for organisations of communities such as Vishwakarma, Kshatriya, Uppara, Kuruba,
Devanga and a host of other communities. There is yet another allocation for providing loans to Kambara,
Badiga and other professional communities. It makes a significant allocation for communities such as the
Banjaras and Valmikis too, but the emphasis here is on building bhavans for these communities.
Institutions run by Christian, Buddhist, Jain and other minority communities get yet another allocation.
The accent in most allocations is clearly not on educational and social advancement. For instance, while
there is a promise of building bhavans in 200 Lambani tandas at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh each and districtlevel
Banjara bhavans at a cost of Rs. 10 crore each, the total allocation for improving 500 Banjara
tandas remains Rs. 50 crore, pointing to the imbalance in priorities. It is also significant that many of the
allocations made to maths and temples are again aimed at Dalit and backward class groups. Allocations
made to no less than 10 maths and temples — in the range of Rs. 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh each — are
targeted at them. “Dalit communities need quality education and access to healthcare rather than
bhavans built in their name to please a few leaders in each community,” said M. Venkatesh, an activist of
the Dalit Bahujan Samaj. Indudhar Honnapura of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti said, “The biggest tragedy
is the division being created within the Dalit community on caste lines.” While internal reservation has
been a much-debated issue, random allocation without scientifically taking into account the population
share is no more than divisive, vote-bank tactics, he added.Another much emphasised aspect of the
budget is the three-fold increase in the targeted allocation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in
the “pooled fund”, to be disbursed through the Social Welfare Department, from Rs. 200 crore to Rs. 600
crore. Dalit activists are sceptical as to whether this will mean anything at all considering that the 18 per
cent set aside by all government departments under Special Component Scheme does not get spent
even by half, year after and year, and some of it even being diverted for works not related to Dalit welfare.
The budget proposes renaming LIDKAR, the State-owned leather industry which is now in doldrums, as
Jagjivan Ram Development Corporation. This too comes across as a mere tokenism in the absence of a
clear vision on how the beleaguered industry will be revived and artisans helped. While the long-pending
demand of Dalit groups to allocate 23 per cent in the budget for social welfare in proportion to their
population has remained a distant dream, even the allocation made in the budget seems far from aiming
at addressing their real issues. (The Hindu 22/2/09)
Ahead of polls, attacks on Dalits on the rise (2)