DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

everybody, but they are being distributed “solely at the discretion of officials”. According to him, “Over a
thousand Minorities in the panchayat area got blankets while other poor people just watched”. He will take
the matter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janta Darbar, Yadav says. The resentment over the
discrimination spilled over recently when local CPM cadres locked up Sonbarsha Block Development
Officer Mohammed Qasim Ansari in his office for six hours without food. The CPM called its agitation
“flood curfew”, and kept it up for four days in the district. There is in fact, no specific instruction or written
order from the state government to adopt any caste or religious criteria in the distribution of relief. But the
district administration issued verbal instructions to panchayat workers to prepare lists of beneficiaries
starting with Dalits, Mahadalits and Muslims. (Indian Express 6/1/09)
A Dalit leprosy-striken driven out of Bihar village (2)
Patna, Jan 9 : A Dalit leprosy-striken man was cast out of the village in Bihar. Driven out of the village
along with his two very young daughters, the man had to struggle for survival under the open sky in this
chilling winter. After being diagonsed of leprosy, Femu Sada, in his late 30s, was first humiliated by the
villagers and was later forced to leave his village, Chatia Mushari in the Purnia district. “Femu was forced
to leave the village due to prevailing stigma, misconceptions about the disease, and untouchability
attached to it,” said Madan Singh, an activist. Femu earned his livelihood by begging and after he was
thrown out has taken temporary shelter in a school's premises outside the village. He and his two
daughters - Putul and Suman - are fighting a battle for life after social boycott, Singh added. Singh
informed the local administration about the incident, but no action has been taken to help him. (New
Kerala 9/1/09)
Sub-categorisation of Dalits: Centre may let states decide (2)
NEW DELHI: In a highly sensitive move, the Centre may constitutionally empower states to create subcategories
among Dalits with a separate quota for each of them. It is learnt that social justice ministry is
mulling a proposal to amend the Constitution to permit the states on what is technically known as "subcategorisation".
Hemmed in by its political compulsion to allow the demand made by Andhra Pradesh and
the sensitivity of doing what is also seen as anti-Dalit, Centre may be looking at a new way to achieve its
objective. Social justice ministry is looking to allow states to sub-categorise, if they wish, and limit the
move to reservations in jobs and education at state level. Such a move would make the Centre only a
facilitator while the final responsibility for such action on dividing SCs into sub-groups would rest with
individual states. The Supreme Court had earlier held that tampering with the SC list was beyond the
powers of states. It remains to be seen if the Union Cabinet agrees to the proposal as and when it is
finalised. Sources said the states have not been consulted on the move and it would draw criticism from
certain quarters. Issue of sub-categorisation revolves around the argument that a few sub-castes among
SCs have cornered the fruits of reservation, stalling an equitable distribution of the benefits. To undo the
'ill', Andhra Pradesh divided SCs among groups and apportioned the 15% quota among them 'to ensure
that all of them benefit'. It was first struck down by the AP high court and then by the apex court. The
issue has become controversial because it is also seen as an attempt to break the political consolidation
of Dalits by turning them into competing blocs. While states are barred from sub-categorisation on
jurisdictional grounds, as the SC list can be tampered only by the President, the National Commission for
SCs seems to have paved the way for such a move. In an ingenious argument, the Buta Singh-led panel
has told the ministry that sub-categorisation is an affirmative action policy for the development of the
backward classes, which has a constitutional mandate. In its opinion, the Dalit watchdog has claimed that
sub-categorisation is governed by Article 16(4) — which empowers states to formulate policies for
'equality in opportunities' — and not by Article 341 which deals with addition and deletion in the SC list.
The NCSC view threatens to turn the issue on its head as till now, it has been well accepted that dividing
Dalits into sub-groups was governed by Article 341 which is the exclusive domain of the President,
requiring a constitutional amendment. (Times of India 11/1/09)
70-yr-old shot dead in Noida (2)
Noida: A 70-year-old man was shot dead in the Achepur village of Rabupura area in Noida on Saturday.
The police said Khacheda, a Dalit, was awarded a piece of land in 1967 in the village, over which a
widowed relative was staking her claim. On Friday night, when Khacheda was overseeing construction on
the plot, the widow, along with some family members, started fighting with him. “The police were informed
and the matter was settled after they intervened. But he was shot later in the night, around 2 am.