DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

More documents

Recommendations

Info

against him for his repeated anti Dalit remarks. The Dalit leaders cited the Kujang case for which Routhad managed to obtain bail form a court. But surprisingly, violating the bail conditions, he again gave antiDalit remarks in a social function held in Paradip on October 24 last year. Though the local police hadregistered a case against Rout but no action had been taken against him till date, rued Manoj Bhoi a Dalitleader, who demanded immediate cancellation of the bail issued to the Minister. Moreover, the Dalitpeople expressed strong resentments saying that oppression cases against them were growing in thedistrict. They cited a case in which a police officer Susanta Satapathy had ill treated a few Dalit women inNaugaon area two months ago. They demanded action against the accused police officer. The dharnawas called off after a group of Dalit leaders met the SP in the evening and the latter assured them that thecases pending against Rout would be investigated and action would be taken as per law. On the violationof bail conditions by the Minister, the SP maintained that he was examining the allegation and if theMinister was found guilty, certainly, the law would take its own course. (Pioneer 9/1/13)Dalit award winner denied passport to visit Netherlands (2)CHENNAI: A dalit activist from Tamil Nadu, who won the Dutch Human Rights Tulip 2012 award, wasdenied passport by the Union government to travel to the Netherlands, apparently due to an objection bythe state police. In his absence, the Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans gave away the award at aceremony in The Hague. The 52-year-old M Bharathan, a native of Tirunelveli district, was recognized byan independent award jury for his "tireless championing of better living and working conditions for hiscountry's Dalits." Bharathan is the director of Human Rights Education and Protection Council, a nongovernmentorganization based in Tirunelveli and has been working for the welfare of Dalits, especiallyagainst caste discrimination and human rights violations for more than three decades. As he could notparticipate in the award ceremony, Bharathan's speech was read out. "My passport was not renewedbecause of a false murder charge," Bharathan told TOI over telephone from Tirunelveli. "By denying mevisa, the <strong>Indian</strong> government has failed to protect human rights and human rights defenders," he said,adding that his case should have been treated as "special" and he should have been issued a passportand visa. The passport office in Madurai, on advice from the Palayamkottai police station, refused torenew his passport on December 18. The police cited a triple murder case pending since 2009, in whichBharathan is accused number 25, as grounds to deny him a passport. Bharathan, who claims to be avictim of caste discrimination when he was young, said he had been campaigning vigorously in severalvillages of Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts against the "double tumbler" system, restricted temple entry,custodial deaths, and reforms in police system. "The Goondas Act is being misused in the state. Thecountry has several laws to protect human rights, but they are not implemented in letter and spirit," saidBharathan, who waged a long battle for the rehabilitation of Dalits, who suffered human rights violations.Nearly 450 types of caste discriminations take place against Dalits in the two districts, he said. "There arestill practices of discrimination in schools, leading to huge drop-outs." Bharathan claimed he hadorganized several picketing programmes in police stations and district collectorates, and faced nearly 20cases, which was why the enforcement agencies were acting against him. Chinese activist Ni Yulan toocould not attend the ceremony last year, as he is in custody and awaiting trial in a case. (Times of India10/1/13)Rape political tool in India: UN (2)New Delhi: Dalit women constitute the worst victims of sexual violence in India, along with rapescommitted by security forces, a UN-authorised status report has said. A large proportion of such crimesagainst Dalit women take place in Uttar Pradesh, a state which until recently had a Dalit woman as chiefminister, according to figures cited in the “Status Report 2012” by the UN’s working group on humanrights in India. The review noted that two women are raped every hour, and every six hours, a marriedwoman is found beaten to death, burnt or driven to suicide. Although the brutal rape of a woman in Delhisparked a national rage, rural women -- often poor, illiterate and from disadvantaged sections – bear the
worst brunt. Only a fraction these cases are reported, the UN group said. Abduction of Scheduled Castewomen are rampant in Uttar Pradesh, which accounted for 58.8% of the cases in 2011, the yearassessed. Rape is often used as a tool for political and social subjugation of Dalit women, doomed to thelowest rungs of society due to caste-based prejudices. “Sexual violence against Dalit women is asystemic way of enforcing status quo of the Dalits…,” the review said. Rapes by security forces is anotherkey offender, it noted. Despite circumstantial evidence, often “probes are thwarted to facilitate theirexoneration”. (Hindustan Times 11/1/13)Dalit crusader forced to sign bank papers (2)Ramgarh (Bihar): A day after HT wrote about how a Dalit man, who brought literacy to his impoverishedlocality, was facing caste bias at the hands of a bank manager, Banwasi Musahar was Friday allegedlyforced into signing some papers by the bank officials. The 58-year-old brick-kiln worker, who for 20 yearshas been working to educate children of Akorhi Mahadalit basti here, was on Friday whisked away fromthe settlement as he was preparing for his sister’s funeral who died earlier in the day. At around 9am,some men came in a white luxury car and took him to a nearby brick kiln. “I went with them thinking theywanted me to complete some brick-casting work. But four persons from the bank came there and mademe sign some papers,” Banwasi told HT. He was not allowed to read the papers. The bank Banwasitalked about is the Ramgarh branch of the Bank of India, which is yet to honour a cheque of Rs. 1 lakhthat HT presented to him in October for outstanding community service. HT wrote on Friday how the bankmanager allegedly insulted Banwasi's caste and told him off when he went to deposit the cheque, whichwas finally accepted on December 12. When contacted Friday afternoon, branch manager Vinay ShekharDas denied forcing Banwasi into signing papers and said he was trying to settle the issue at the earliest.He said Banwasi's cheque, which was misplaced, had been found and would be credited to his accountwithin three days. “However, we are arranging for Rs. 1 lakh to be credited to his account from someprivate source today itself,” he said. The money had not been credited till the closing of banking hours.Kaimur SP Uma Shankar Sudhanshu said he had asked the local sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) tolook into the matter. When contacted, SDPO Suresh Kumar said he was on way to the basti. "I'll be ableto say something only after I've spoken to Banwasi", he told HT. Kumar couldn't be contacted again.Banwasi' sister died of a gall bladder ailment and suspected heart attack at the local hospital. He didn'thave the money to take her to Patna for better treatment, Buxar MP Jagadanand Singh said. (HindustanTimes 12/1/13)CPI(M) stir to check Dalit exodus from party: Kochu (2)KOCHI: Dalit intellectual and president of the Kerala Dalit Mahasabha K.K. Kochu has criticised theCommunist Party of India (Marxist)’s ongoing agitation for land for the landless which, he says, is aimedat keeping frustrated Dalits in its ranks. “How can the CPI(M) which tried to sniff out the Chengara landagitation by Dalits using extreme physical violence carry out an agitation in the name of landless Dalits,”Mr. Kochu wondered. “And how can a party which when in power refused to allot 3,500 acres of land atAralam give the false hope that it will secure ‘excess land’ for landless Dalits?” Mr. Kochu alleged that theCPI(M) agitation was aimed at checking the exodus of frustrated Dalits from the party. Dalits, he said,made up a large chunk of the CPI(M) but had been let down by the party for a long time. “The landagitation is to save the party, and not Dalits or the landless,” he said. “The party wants to keep the Dalitvote bank in tact and to return to power as it thinks the conflict-ridden Congress and UDF would crumblesoon.” He said the CPI(M), through the agitation, also aimed to win back the support of its middle-classconstituency which had lost confidence in the party in the wake of T.P. Chandrasekharan murder and theM.M. Mani episode. Mr. Kochu said the CPI(M) had wound up its land reform efforts way back in 1970,which it had launched in 1957. The agrarian reforms of the Communist government in the 1950s and 60shad not benefited Dalits as they had only been farm labourers and not owners or lessees of the land theytilled. The reforms benefited only the small farmers and peasants who had rented or leased land from
Page 1 and 2: DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013Janua
Page 3: the bit-piece mythology behind the
Page 7 and 8: old girl was allegedly kicked by th
Page 9 and 10: charges. “The accused did not mak
Page 11 and 12: and exclude them from other facilit
Page 13 and 14: Meanwhile, Dalit activists held agi
Page 15 and 16: footing. It was Barla's first publi
Page 17 and 18: km from Majure viallge, were eking
Page 19 and 20: girl over picking up dung from a fi
Page 21 and 22: Debabrata Mohanty reportsUntil a mo
Page 23 and 24: Dalit forums push for law giving st
Page 25 and 26: heard the accused addressing each o
Page 27 and 28: employment generation itself is in
Page 29 and 30: implemented properly leaving a larg
Page 31 and 32: Pioneer that police had recorded th
Page 33 and 34: Mangalore: The issuance of notices
Page 35 and 36: order to compensate the loss caused
Page 37 and 38: gathered at the mini secretariat on
Page 39 and 40: villages across the state where thi
Page 41 and 42: declaration given by the victim, Ch
Page 43 and 44: Man forces dalit boy to carry footw
Page 45 and 46: The National Crime Records Bureau s
Page 47 and 48: United Progressive Alliance governm
Page 49 and 50: Kalam. The activists claimed that t
Page 51 and 52: the village on a horse," said a res
Page 53 and 54: Monday night for attacking the yout
Page 55 and 56:
MADURAI: The Madras High Court benc
Page 57 and 58:
the police to deal with any eventua
Page 59 and 60:
had assured officials of cooperatio
Page 61 and 62:
known for his autobiographical nove
Page 63 and 64:
the case of Nathpal Dhilwan, a dali
Page 65 and 66:
about 25km from here, on Monday as
Page 67 and 68:
caste marriages and waning prejudic
Page 69 and 70:
against it. People accompanying the
Page 71 and 72:
New Delhi: In Gujarat’s Mehsana d
Page 73 and 74:
Rathod said. Organizers claim that
Page 75 and 76:
provisions under the SC/ST Act in t
Page 77 and 78:
Castes recently received complaints
Page 79 and 80:
cancellation of the Dalit certifica
Page 81 and 82:
Bihar: Dalit girl’s rape, murder
Page 83 and 84:
New Delhi: With more than 626 milli
Page 85 and 86:
fish around. Often, young Dalits wo
Page 87 and 88:
(24), in May this year. Fearing ret
Page 89 and 90:
Dinesh Parmar, who had attended the
Page 91 and 92:
country in order to achieve their p
Page 93 and 94:
said Bhardwaj, adding even then the
show all

DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?