DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

Panchayat has prepared a Rs. 48-lakh action plan to take up works in the village under the MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act so that those in need work could be offered jobs. Thisis to discourage poor people from opting to work for landlords at meagre salaries. Officials have identified51 families to sanction toilets and 53 families for providing houses under different schemes. Also, eightyouths have been chosen for training in computer usage, six for driving training and eight for training insewing. Mr. Nagaraj said Dalits of the village were very poor. “Many children had discontinued studies tohelp their parents earn a living. They are all now studying. The department will bear their education fee,”he said. V. Anbukkumar, Deputy Commissioner of Hassan, has constituted a committee under thechairmanship of Srividya, Assistant Commissioner of Sakleshpur subdivision, to file a report on theprevalence of bonded labour system in Ragimaruru. The committee has held meetings with residents ofthe village. So far, 28 Dalits have appeared before the committee. The committee will submit a reportafter completing its inquiry. (The Hindu 13/9/13)1 arrested for driving minor dalit girl to immolate self in Haryana (2)KAITHAL: A youth has been arrested on Monday for allegedly driving a 14-year-old dalit girl to immolateherself in Haryana's Kaithal district. The Girl immolated herself in Kalayat on Sunday. A case has beenregistered against Amit Kumar (19) and Vikram (17) for allegedly harassing the victim. Both the accusedare also from the Dalit community. The girl set herself on fire after pouring kerosene over her on Sundayevening. She died on way to hospital. A team from the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes(NCSC) visited Kalayat on Monday accompanied by the Kaithal superintendent of police, to look into thedetails of the incident and seek quick action against those responsible for it. Assuring support to thefamily members of the victim, NCSC team also demanded compensation for them. The scheduledcommission director Raj Kumar Channena, who visited the girl's family, said, "We met the familymembers and assured them of proper action the accused. We also promised to provide them policeprotection for their safety. I have asked the Kaithal SP to ensure arrest of the accused and also givesecurity cover to the victim's family." Kaithal SP Kuldeep Yadav said, "A case against the accused hasbeen registered and Amit has been arrested. We hope to nab Vikram soon. As told by NCSC director,police protection will be given to the family of the girl on priority." The girl's father has mentioned in hiscomplaint to the police that both the accused used to harass his daughter. "On being pressured by thevillagers, the boys stopped teasing her for a while. But they again started tormenting her due to which mydaughter got depressed and killed herself as she was not able to bear the humiliation at being molestedeveryday," he alleged. (Times of India 17/9/13)Steady rise in inter-caste marriages involving dalits (2)NEW DELHI: Maharashtra has notched a four-fold increase in inter-caste marriages involving dalits, afigure that points to liberalizing social values if not a radical makeover. The growing inter-caste marriagesin Maharashtra tie in with the jump in national figures. According to figures available with the Centre, thenumber of people tying the knot with dalits is constantly going up, touching 9,623 in 2012 from 7,617 in2011 and 7,148 in 2010. While the national statistics are on the up, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh andKerala appear to be the top examples in the phenomenon long suggested by social reformers as the besttool to weaken the barriers of caste segregation. To encourage the trend, the Centre pays up to Rs50,000 to each inter-caste couple that has one spouse as dalit. Maharashtra seems to be ahead of otherstates in taking to the liberal tradition, with 2,296 marriages between dalits and non-dalits in 2012. Therise appears sharp when compared with the meager 563 marriages in 2011 and 628 in 2010. In fact, thestate has made a rally after the tally fell to three figures from 1,050 in 2009 and 1,017 in 2008. Thenumbers, though small when compared to the population, are only of couples that come forward todeclare the marriage and claim the incentive -- obviously belonging to lower-middle class strata.Observers view it as a "representative trend". K Raju, former IAS officer and head of the ScheduledCastes cell of Congress, said, "It is a positive sign that indicates greater sense of acceptance of inter-