DALIT ATROCITIES IN INDIA - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

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assume the shape of the Bill, which requires approval in the House. Nearly two dozen Dalitlegislators belonging to the SP met state Revenue Minister Ambika Chaudhary in front of theAssembly today. "We want the proposed amendment scrapped immediately as it will sound adeath knell for members belonging to lower castes," said Vimla Rakesh, an SP legislator. TheBSP has also decided to oppose tabling of the amended Act, while two SC legislators in theCongress are also likely to join their counterparts. "The Samajwadi Party is playing in the handsof the moneyed people and making suitable amendments in existing Acts to ensure maximumbenefit to these people. The Act had so far restricted selling of land owned by a Dalit to a non-Dalit, while after the amendment, and if it takes the shape of a Bill, any individual will be free tobuy land from Dalits," saidB SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya. (Indian Express 29.7.04)30 th JulyDalit UP farmer commits suicide (2)RAMNAGAR (BARABANKI), JULY 29: TWO years ago, Mansaram's father and two neighbourshad taken a loan to buy a tractor. But the bank auctioned off the tractor and his land for a paltrysum when they failed to repay the debt. Mansaram (2(3) killed himself on Wednesday—the firstevercase of farmer suicide in UP. The inquiry committee has found the district administrationguilty of not following procedures while auctioning off the land And CM Mulayam Singh Yadavhas suspended the DM of Barabanki and five senior officials. But this is too little action, comingtoo late for Mansaram's family. His 60-year-old father, Kallu, has been numbed by the shock.For a loan of Rs 3.4 lakh, Kallu had to pledge his six-and-a-half beegha of land with the UPSahkari Gram Vikas Bank His share was Rs 1.10 lakh. Bank officials say while Rs 3.4 lakh wasdisbursed, the sum evaluated for the tractor was Rs. 2.7 lakh. The bank issued a RecoveryCertificate in June. Then on, it did not follow any procedure for auctioning. As per rules, it were toissue a legal notice and plant a flag on the property but the probe panel says the bank auctionedoff the land on the sly. (Indian Express 30.7.04)4 th AugRIM slaps Rs 55,000 bill on labourer (2)Ahmedabad, Aug 3: A daily wage earner Vagji Parmar is in horns of dilemma saddled with alegal notice for nonpayment of Rs 55,074 served by Reliance India Mobile for two nonexistentmobile phones. He has complained of harassment to police commissioner K.R. Kaushik. A Dalit,Parmar in his letter to the police commissioner has even contended that it was a case of harassmentto a Scheduled Caste. He has also attached copies of the letter written by him to WebWorld owned by Reliance Industries at Maninagar on December 2003 after he was billed by thecompany. He had informed the company that he did not procure any mobile from them nor did heever possessed any mobile phone and therefore the billing in his name was totally misplaced. MrParmar told The Asian Age that he was a poor daily wage earner with his wife working as aconstruction labourer and therefore there was no question of his possesing a mobile phone.(Surprisingly even after Par-mar writing to the company informing them that he had neverprocured any mobile phone from them he was sent another bill on June 1.(Asian Age 4.8.04)5 th AugIn UP, landlord’s Dalit labourer is also his rubber-stamp pradhan (2)SIKRORIHA (HARDOI), AUGUST 4: TRY spotting the village headman, pradhan, in thisphotograph. The man on the left is Harkaran Nath Dwivedi. He owns 200 acres, carries a pistol,claims to be a BJP worker and holds a darbar outside his house everyday. The man on the extremeright is Rudan, a Dalit. He works on Dwivedi's fields, lives in a mudhouse which does noteven have a charpoy. For over nine years, Rudan has been the pradhan of this village.He does not say anything when his master is around, he just scribbles his name whereverDwivedi asks him to sign. In the land of Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dalitempowerment, Rudan has been working as a "bonded" pradhan. How did he become thepradhan? Dwivedi has the answer. "My grandfather Ganga Prasad Dwivedi was pradhan for 32years and my father Ram Nath Dwivedi took over when my grandfather died. I was also theelected pradhan until 1994, when the government declared my village panchayat a reservedarea," says Dwivedi. In 1994, Dwivedi was forced to put Rudan as the candidate from this re-
served village panchayat. Rudan won—and won again in 1999. "My days have gone, now Rudanis the pradhan," says Dwivedi. (Indian Express 5.8.04)8 th AugLand reforms have not helped Dalits in Andhra Pradesh (2)HYDERABAD, AUG. 7. On July 19, six Dalits consumed pesticide to highlight the official apathyin handing over land allocated for them. One of them, Hanumantha Rao, died in hospital. Theissue made it to the front pages of the local press. The problem was settled later with theintervention of the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekh-ara Reddy, who promised a review of the resultsof the land reforms process. This has set in motion a debate on the land reforms and the hurdlesin implementing them. The issue also assumes significance as it is going to be a priority item inthe agenda for talks with the People's War which has gained strength from the protracted landstruggles. Setting up commission At a recent meeting with the Left parties, the Chief Ministersaid a commission would be set up to look into the distribution of the surplus land to the landlesspoor — a demand being aired by several Dalit organisations and the Left. It is a challenging taskfor the new Congress Government to bring the violators (of land rights), to justice. Between 1948and 1970, the abolition of the Estates Act, the Enam Abolition Act and the Telangana TenancyAct effectively transferred the control of over 349 lakh acres to farmers and tillers. But only 0.5per cent of this land has reached the hands of the SCs or the STs. The land reforms movementlater could not really make the Dalits possess land despite being issued pattas (title deeds). (TheHindu 8.8.04)17 th AugDalit MLA not allowed to hoist tricolour on I-Day (2)Damoh, August 16: A DALIT MLA was prevented from unfurling the tricolour during an IndependenceDay function at Patharia in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district. Sona Bai, an MLA from theruling BJP, told HTover the phone that Janpad president Raghuveer Singh and a few policemendid not allow her to hoist the national flag during the function. "They called me Chamaria and alsomanhandled me... I have received an injury on my right hand," she said. When she tried toregister a police complaint, the town inspector and SDM turned her away "If these police andrevenue officers behave in such a manner with an MLA, what will they do with common people?"she wondered. She said that she spoke to chief minister Uma Bharti who assured her that actionwould be taken against the guilty Damoh Collector Sandeep Saxena rushed to Patharia onSunday night and recorded her statement. (Hindustan Times 17.8.04)28 TH AugDalit woman stripped in public by upper caste youth (2)Bhopal - IN YET another incident of atrocity against women, a Dalit woman was disrobed by ayouth belonging to an upper caste at the Nivari village under the Rchli Police Station in Sagardistrict on Friday. The victim has alleged that she was verbally abused, thrashed and disrobedpublicly in the village by Raja, a youth belonging to the Pandit community. The incident pertainsto Friday when the victim had gone to Raja's house to apologise for the damage done to his cropby her cattle that had inadvertently strayed in his agricultural field. Enraged by the damage to hiscrop. Raja refused to listen to her explanation and thrashed her while using caste-specificabuses. The victim said that she was then stripped in public view. However, the district policehave another: version to narrate. Superintendent of Police, Sagar district, KP Khare, whilespeaking to the victim alleged that she had gone to Raja's house to apologise for the damagedone to his crops by her cattle. But Raja refused to listen to her and thrashed her, used castespecificabuses and then disrobed her in public view The Pioneer said: "The argument betweenthe woman and the accused arose over a quarrel between their children. The woman has allegedthat the accused misbehaved with her by manhandling her. We have registered cases against theaccused under sections 323, 506 of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Act, and are lookingfor him. The accused would be arrested by Saturday latest." The incident is one among the manyincidents that have happened in Madhya Pradesh in recent past. (Pioneer, 28-8-2004)3 RD September
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Page 4 and 5: changed the caste and gender dynami
Page 6 and 7: In Punjab, a division along caste l
Page 8 and 9: us from different directions. Some
Page 11 and 12: mangoes, amla, brinjal, papaya, chi
Page 13 and 14: colonies, though. Thoothukudi Distr
Page 15 and 16: 12 th JulyDalit gangrape: Bharti to
Page 17: hicles and even ministers were not
Page 21 and 22: "However, it was not so blatant unt
Page 23 and 24: Ambala, Panchkula, Jamunanagar, Kur
Page 25 and 26: 129 students present and 100 refuse
Page 27 and 28: and representatives of some, women'
Page 29 and 30: Prasad Yadav government responded b
Page 31: the ongoing Winter Session of Parli

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