DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

about 25km from here, on Monday as lower caste groups are not allowed to draw water from these wells,they said. About 10 dalit families of the village were depending on one tubewell in their locality. But sincelast month, the sole tubewell in Dalit Sahi was defunct and scheduled caste persons were forced tosubsist on polluted water of a pond. Driven by compulsion, a dalit woman Kalpana Sethi (25) decided tofetch water from a tubewell in front of the house of an upper caste person, Bhamara Jena, for which someupper caste persons assaulted her and took away her bucket, police said. The woman yesterday filed anFIR against Bhamara, Umakanta Jena and Kishor Jena (all belonging to the upper caste) in the localpolice station and alleged that they hurled abusive language and assaulted her for drawing water from thevillage tubewell. The woman also alleged that some influential upper caste persons have been preventingthe Dalits, including women and children, to take water from the village tubewell. Earlier also, upper castemembers abused some dalits for using the tubewell to draw water but the frightened people did not lodgeany FIR against them, Sethi claimed. "Acting on the FIR lodged by the complainant, cases under sections354, 294, 341, 506 of IPC and section 3 of SC and ST (atrocity prevention) Act have been registeredagainst persons named in the FIR. The matter is being investigated," said Kendrapara sub-divisionalpolice officer (SDPO) Nrusingh Charana Swain. (Pioneer 11/9/13)Dalit kids denied Ganesh worship; case registered (2)KENDRAPADA: The police on Tuesday registered a case against three youths under the ScheduledCaste and Tribe (Atrocity Prevention) Act, 1973 following a complaint that a group of dalit students,including girls, were not permitted to offer prayer to Lord Ganesh in a Government-run school inKendrapada district. Over 50 dalit children studying at the Chakada-Gogua High School in theMahakalapada area were allegedly disallowed to break coconuts and offer prayer to Lord Ganesh whileupper caste students were allowed to do it during the Ganesh Puja on Monday. A separate probe by theSchool and Mass Education Department has also been ordered into the casteist episode. KendraparaCollector Niranjan Nayak said the administration has taken a serious view of the incident. Directives havebeen served on the School and Mass Education authorities to conduct an unbiased inquiry into thereported denial of Puja rights to dalit children. Dalit leader and president of Ambedkar-Lohia VicharManch Rabindra Nath Sethi on Tuesday sought immediate arrest of the perpetrators of the alleged crime.The dalit children are deeply hurt by the caste-discrimination act in a Government-run educationalinstitution, he said. (Pioneer 12/9/13)Dalits of Ragimaruru to get houses (2)Hassan: There is some relief to Dalits of Ragimaruru village in Araklgud taluk, many of whom used towork as bonded labourers for landlords until recently. The Hassan district administration has respondedto their problems and will provide them benefits in the form of houses, toilets, roads, water supply anddrainage system, apart from ensuring that 21 of their children, who had discontinued studies owing tofinancial problems, will continue their education. On August 15, The Hindu had reported about humanbondage system prevailing in the village. Around 40 Dalits of the village had been working as bondedlabourers for many years to clear loans taken from landlords. Following the news report, DeputyCommissioner and other senior officers of the district visited the village and took stock of the conditionsthat forced Dalits to work as bonded labourers. Staff of the Social Welfare Department conducted a doorto-doorsurvey in the village to identify school dropouts. They found that 21 children had discontinuedstudies two–three years ago. Now, they have been admitted to government schools and colleges andalso provided accommodation in hostels run by the Social Welfare Department. “Among the 21, eight arepre-matric students, 11 are PU students, one is a B.A. student and another ITI student. All of them havebeen provided hostel facility,” said H.V. Nagaraj, District Social Welfare Officer. The department hasworked out a proposal to construct roads, provide water supply and drainage system in the village at acost Rs. 16 lakh. “We have sufficient funds in the Hassan Zilla Panchayat to take up these works. Theproposal has been sent to the Commissioner of Social Welfare for approval,” he said. Arkalgud Taluk