DALIT ATROCITIES IN INDIA - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

and representatives of some, women's organisations. The panchayat had ordered- AshJsh,whose lineage is Etegar, and Darshana, who isGahlout, to leave as maririage between membersof two lineages is prohibited. (Asian Age 10.11.04)18 th Nov.Mahapanchayat of Dalits on Nov. 20 (2)NEW DELHI, NOV. 17. The All-India Congress Committee secretary, Jai Kishen, todayannounced that the second Mahapanchayat of Dalits and Backward Classes would be convenedhere on November 20 to decide on the future plan of action in protest against the DelhiGovernment's "failure" to revoke the order barring people of this category from gettingGovernment jobs if they were not of Delhi domicile before 1951. Terming the order issued by theprevious NDA Government and notified by the Delhi Government as "arbitrary" and against theinterests of Dalits and Backward Classes, Mr. Jai Kishen, a Congress MLA from Sultanpur Majra,said the Mahapanchayat was being held at Valmiki Mandir on Panchkuain Road in New Delhi.This meeting would give a direction to the struggle of Dalits against the atrocities committed onthem. He said the six-year of the NDA rule was the worst period for the Dalits and BackwardClasses as the elitist Vajpayee regime left no stone unturned to marginalise this section ofsociety. He said due to the failure to revoke the order, thousands of citizens belonging to theSC/ST community had been suffering for the past many years. The Mahapanchayat would alsorequest the Union Government to provide reservation to this category in the private sector and fillup vacancies in Government jobs that had fallen vacant years ago. (The Hindu 18.11.04)21 st Nov.Mumbai college text caught in caste row (2)Mumbai, Nov. 20: Mumbai University's Marathi literature syllabus has come under fire fromacademician Vijay Barve, who has raised objections to an article by social reformer JyotibaPhule, titled "Casteism", in a textbook for second-year students. Mr Barve has claimed that "themost controversial and provocative piece" makes casteist comments. However, members of theboard of studies of Mumbai University have refuted his allegations. Part of the article deals with adialogue between Jyotiba and his son Yeshwant. His son wonders why God did not interveneinstead of allowing the "Shudras" to suffer for centuries. Jyotiba answers: "The Almighty finallytook pity on the Shudras. To free the Shudras from the trap of casteism, God sent the castelessMuslims. Unfortunately, the Muslims failed the Almighty. They started indulging themselves...Therefore, God, the creator, got quite angry and destroyed the Muslim empire." The son thenwonders: "After demolishing the Muslim kingdom, did the Almighty relax?" Jyotiba's answer is:"No, God did not rest. The English were a barbaric lot at one time and used to live in the jungle.God let the English progress and develop, made them adventurous and sent them to India to freethe shudras from the slavery of the brahmins." (Asian Age 21.11.04)Meet criticizes anti-Dalit decisions (2)NEW DELHI, NOV. 20. Thousands of senior representatives of Dalit communities and BackwardClasses met at the second Mahapanchayat held here today and urged the Central and DelhiGovernments to withdraw certain decisions taken by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-ledNational Democratic Alliance Government and the Delhi Government that had been "harming" thesocio-economic interests of Dalits and Backward Classes. Criticising the previous BJP-ledGovernment for taking anti-Dalit and anti-Backward Classes decisions, convenor of the Mahapanchayat,Jai Kishan said as a result of these decisions taken by the previous Government, noSchedule Caste or Backward Class certificates were being issued to those who had come toDelhi after 1951. This decision has affected more than 50 lakh people of Delhi as they weredeprived of their Constitutional right of reservation. He also criticised the reported move of theMunicipal Corporation of Delhi to privatise sanitation work and said this was not in the interest ofthe Valmiki Samaj and would lead to unemployment and further exploitation of this deprivedsection of the society. Speaking on the occasion, the AICC in-charge Delhi, Ash-ok Gehlot saidthat Congress had always worked for the upliftment of the Dalits and backward classes andassured that Mahapanchayat that the present United Progressive Alliance Government led by thePrime Minister, Manmohan Singh would leave no stone unturned to solve the problems being