Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 12.01.11
BJP accused of dividing Dalits - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/12/stories/2011011256260300.htm
CPI(M) for amenities in Dalit localities - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/12/stories/2011011257270500.htm
CPI (M) to start building Dalits' houses - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/12/stories/2011011264471100.htm
UP govt denying 23% quota to SC: Punia - The Times Of India
Hellhole hostels - Front Line
http://www.frontline.in/stories/20110128280209000.htm
India Inc leaves ivory tower and extends a helping hand - The Times Of India
The Hindu
BJP accused of dividing Dalits
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/12/stories/2011011256260300.htm
Special Correspondent
Police urged to investigate the case of attack on Dalits impartially
GULBARGA: The Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Sagar) has accused the political parties like the BJP of dividing Dalits and pitting them against each other for their political ends.
Stating that the clash between two groups of Dalits in Nilur village in which nearly 20 Dalits were injured was an aftermath of the zilla and taluk panchayat elections, senior Dalit leader Arjun Bhadre and district convener of DSS Suresh Hadimani accused the BJP of fomenting discontent among Dalits by sowing seeds of mistrust.
Clash
Addressing presspersons in Gulbarga on Tuesday, Mr. Bhadre and Mr. Hadimani alleged that the BJP had conspired with 'caste' Hindus in the village to divide Dalits and weaken a case of attack on a Dalit colony in Nilur a decade ago. They accused three 'caste' Hindus of the village, who were accused in the case, of attacking the Dalit colony and being directly responsible for the clash between the Dalit factions on January 4.
Mr. Bhadre said that M.Y. Patil, former MLA, and his sons were fuelling division among the Dalits in the village. The three persons accused in the attack on the Dalit colony in 2000 had earlier tried to influence the Dalit witnesses in the case by offering them money to turn hostile. "When the Dalit witnesses rejected the offer, they conspired with the BJP leaders, including M.Y. Patil, to divide the Dalits and attack those who were witness in the case," he said.
Mr. Hadimani said that a small group of Dalits who were close to the BJP, led by gram panchayat president Krishna Bilkal, attacked Pundalik and other Dalits who refused to toe the line of the 'upper' castes in the village on January 4 when they went to the house of one Hanumantharao Malipatil to release a nine-year-old Dalit boy who had been detained in the house.
A mob led by Krishna Bilkal and others attacked Mr. Pundalik and other Dalits, including women, and inflicted serious injuries. "Later, they inflicted simple injuries on themselves and got admitted to a private hospital in Gulbarga to book a false complaint against the Dalits whom they had attacked," he alleged.
The police have registered three cases against both the Dalit groups. Mr. Hadimani said that the police, instead of blindly booking the case, should investigate the case impartially and booked a case against those responsible for the attack on the Dalits.
The Hindu
CPI(M) for amenities in Dalit localities
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/12/stories/2011011257270500.htm
KURNOOL: Two frontal CPI(M) bodies are planning to launch a lengthy movement to penetrate deep into the Dalit localities by highlighting the deficiencies in their colonies. Kula Vivaksha Porata Samithi and All India Agriculture Workers Union would place a demand before the government for allocation of Rs.22,000 crore for enhancing the civic amenities in Dalit localities across the State. KVPS State secretary John Wesley and AIAWU State general secretary B. Venkatsaid that in the last 19 years, the successive governments could not release the amount meant for Dalit welfare.
The Hindu
CPI (M) to start building Dalits' houses
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/12/stories/2011011264471100.htm
Staff Reporter
KRISHNAGIRI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will enter the house sites allotted to 22 Dalit families in Ramavaram village, Choutealli panchayat in Kaveripatinam Panchayat on January 31 and will start building houses, said K. Balakrishnan, State president of the Tamilnadu Vivasayigal Sangam here on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters, he said, 22 Dalit families were denied entry into their land allotted by the government three decades ago in Ramavaram village despite having a court order in their favour.
In spite of agitations by the CPI (M) on different occasions, the district administration miserably failed to help the Dalit families to occupy the said land. Hence, the CPI (M) has decided to enter into the land on January 31 and start construction activities for the Dalits.
In case, if any law and order problem arose on that day, the district administration will be responsible for that, he warned.
Oppression against Dalits in the district was reported from many parts.
Wherever the oppression against Dalits was reported and the problems identified by the CPI (M), the party intervened and took the issues to the concerned authorities. No concrete action was initiated by the district administration in many incidents.
The Times Of India
UP govt denying 23% quota to SC: Punia
TNN, Jan 11, 2011, 09.32pm IST
VARANASI: Alleging that the UP government had failed to provide the prescribed 23% quota to scheduled castes in government services, chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) PL Punia claimed it was also misutilising the funds meant for the dalit.
Talking to media on Monday evening, Punia said as per the ratio of the scheduled castes in the total population of the state, a provision had been made to reserve 23% seats in government services. However, in class-I only 12% seats had been filled with SC candidates while in class-II and class-III the situation was no better as 15% and 17% seats respectively had been given to the SC candidates.
In class-IV, the state government had claimed that 34% seats had been given to SC candidates, said Punia. But, he said there were orders not to include the figures of safai workers in the reserved seats of this class and the state government had included them in the same 34%. "If the figures of safai employees are separated from this 34%, it can be found that the state government has not ensured the implementation of the orders in this class as well," Punia claimed.
Misutilisation of funds reserved for dalit population in the Special Component Plan (SCP) was also a cause of serious concern for the NCSC chairman. He said the Delhi government had spent Rs 748 crore of SCP in the preparations of the Commonwealth Games despite the fact that the fund should have been utilised for dalits only. The fund was spent in works like flyover construction, stadium and road construction as well as gardening, he said. After the commission took a serious note of it, he said, the Delhi government returned the fund.
"The UP government is also misutilising this fund," said Punia and added SCP fund was being spent in creating five medical colleges in the state at Jalaun, Kannoj, Saharanpur, Ambedkar Nagar and Banda. The SCP fund was also being used in homoeopathy hospitals and in increasing facilities at animal husbandry department. He said how was the dalit population going to be benefited by that? "It should be made clear whether only dalit students would be admitted to those medical colleges or only dalits would be treated there," he pointed out.
Punia said report of the UP government had revealed that there had been an increase of 24% in cases of atrocities against dalit in 2010. He said provisions had also been made to provide compensation to dalits in cases of crime committed against them but the Mayawati government was not showing any interest in giving compensation to the victims. He said his UP visits had irked the chief minister as he created awareness among dalits about their rights.
Punia also delivered a special lecture on social cohesion and national development organised by the social science faculty of Banaras Hindu University on Tuesday. He said the commission had taken a serious note of the suicide committed by Laxman Prasad of Jhansi after humiliation by Rakhi Sawant in a reality show of a television channel. He said that she had been summoned by the commission and a notice had been served upon her.
Punia also attended a camp organised by the Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights in Badalpur to create awareness among the scheduled tribes on Tuesday afternoon.
Front Line
Hellhole hostels
http://www.frontline.in/stories/20110128280209000.htm
S. DORAIRAJ in Chennai
"HOW dare a bunch of students take the law into their own hands, block traffic for nearly five hours on Anna Salai and bring the vibrant city to a halt, just to highlight their plight?" This was the initial response from commuters to the road blockade staged by hundreds of Dalit students in Chennai on December 21, 2010, which choked the entry points to the city's arterial road.
The students were demanding basic amenities at the hostels run by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department of the Tamil Nadu government.
The stranded public's anger against the "wildcat protest" started to dissolve when stories about the plight of the Dalit students and the inhuman treatment meted out to them in these hostels began to spread, to a large extent helped by the electronic media.
The agitation has brought to the fore the sorry state of affairs in the hostels run by the government for Dalit students in the State. A vast majority of these hostellers in Chennai are first-generation learners from poor families, of farm workers, construction labourers, manual workers and small peasants. Most of them are mainly from villages in the industrially backward northern districts, including Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Tiruvannamalai. They join government or government-aided colleges, dreaming about getting decent employment so that their families can come out of the debt trap in which they have been caught for generations. They undergo numerous ordeals. The hostels do not offer them the right environment. In fact, their hostel life is miserable.
Having exhausted every avenue to get their grievances redressed, several residents of the 17 hostels in the city meant for Dalit students assembled near the 50-year-old M.C. Raja Hostel at Saidapet and blocked peak-hour traffic from 9 a.m. An attempt by the police to disperse them by using force failed. The agitating students lifted the blockade around 12 p.m. after the Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare, A. Tamilarasi, and senior officials reached the scene of protest and assured them of measures to solve their problems.
The hostellers raised slogans demanding immediate steps to supply quality food, improve the conditions of hygiene on the hostel premises, enhance basic facilities such as toilets and libraries, evict unauthorised persons staying in the hostels, and order an inquiry into the alleged financial irregularities in the running of the hostels. The Minister inspected the M.C. Raja Hostel subsequently.
It is not difficult to understand the problems encountered by boarders at the M.C. Raja Hostel, the oldest Adi Dravidar students' hostel, which has been named after the well-known Dalit leader M.C. Raja. Plaques on the portico announce that its foundation stone was laid on April 22, 1960, and that the sturdy building was dedicated to students by Chief Minister K. Kamaraj on December 15, 1961. Poor maintenance by successive governments has left the structure in bad shape. The stench of urine and faeces and decayed food hits the senses the moment one enters the premises. Leftover food is dumped in the corridors.
Overcrowding is a major problem. Around 1,600 persons stay in 52 rooms in the three-storey building against the sanctioned strength of 595 boarders.
Some students spoke to Frontline, but were cautious while narrating their tale of woes as they did not want to incur the wrath of intimidating groups with political connections and the agents who enable them to get part-time jobs for a paltry wage.
They said they ate the rice served in the hostel mess but with vegetables and a side dish they prepared in their own rooms or bought from private canteens in the vicinity.
To meet these additional expenses, many students take up part-time jobs, which include serving food at events. They also allow themselves to be used by political parties for their demonstrations. They are occasionally used as "co-stars" in crowd scenes in films. These assignments, undertaken on weekly holidays, fetch them Rs.100 a day. Middlemen corner the lion's share.
Some students even travel to far-off places such as Madurai and Tirunelveli to be servers at marriage functions. These fetch them between Rs.400 and Rs.500. The conveyance is arranged by the catering agent. The job also enables them to eat palatable food.
One of the boarders pointed out that defecation on the nearby ground belonging to the Animal Husbandry Department is common as the number of toilets in the hostel was insufficient for so many boarders. An open space on the hostel premises serves as a bathroom.
The leftover food attracts pigs and stray dogs to the premises. Water supplied to the hostel for drinking and bathing is contaminated as the storage tanks are rarely cleaned, one student lamented. Despite these health hazards, no adequate medical facility has been made available to the boarders, students said.
Although a weekly menu is prescribed by the government, most of the time only rice is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Occasionally, the daily routine is broken when the students are provided "variety rice" for breakfast. As the authorities have stopped serving food in the dining hall, the boarders have to collect the food directly from the kitchen in plastic buckets. Both the dining hall and the "gymnasium" remain locked.
Students alleged on condition of anonymity that genuine residents were intimidated by armed gangs enjoying political patronage, who often instigated group rivalry. "The gangs mercilessly snuff out any protest."
Agreeing with the boarders' charge that they have been herded like cattle, a top official in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department told Frontline that overcrowding was the main problem in the Dalit students' hostels in Chennai. Some unauthorised persons had been staying in these hostels for up to 10 years, he said.
He said that among the 1,000-odd "unauthorised inmates" of the M.C. Raja Hostel were genuine students who did not get accommodation in any government-run hostel, educated but unemployed persons, and persons drawing meagre wages. These persons share the hostel space and food with the authorised boarders as they cannot afford private accommodation. (Social activists point out that landlords in Chennai and other major towns deny accommodation to Dalit students and families.) As many as 30 persons stay in rooms measuring 20 feet x 15 feet.
"Evicting the outsiders is an uphill task as unemployment is the main factor contributing to overcrowding in these hostels," a senior officer in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department said. Most of the unauthorised inmates were also Dalits with a poor economic background. They returned to their native places on completion of their courses only to return to the cities for survival, he said.
Around 25 per cent of the 61.28 lakh job-seekers on the live registers in the employment exchanges of Tamil Nadu as on March 31, 2010, are Dalits (see Table 1). As on May 31, 2009, as many as 12.16 lakh Dalit job-seekers with different educational qualifications had registered their names with the employment exchanges (see Table 2).
According to official sources, 1,27,534 Dalit students have been accommodated in 1,565 hostels. There are 1,229 hostels benefiting 84,886 Adi Dravidar (Scheduled Caste) students and 40 hostels accommodating 2,040 students belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, apart from 296 government tribal residential school hostels benefitting 40,608 students. In addition to this, 36 non-governmental organisations have been running hostels with a total strength of 5,204 Dalit students. In contrast to the situation in the Dalit hostels in Chennai, the number of students in the Adi Dravidar hostels in the rural areas is lower than the sanctioned strength.
The policy note on the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department points out that the government allocates funds towards food charges for the hostellers at the rate of Rs.550 each for college students and Rs.450 for schoolchildren. Apart from this, every college student is given Rs.35 and a schoolchild Rs.25 every month to purchase soap and oil, it says.
The document also claims that wet grinders, colour televisions and water purifiers have been provided in all hostels, besides ensuring library facilities. Bedsheets are supplied to the boarders once in two years, it says. But to the great dismay of education activists, legislators, representatives of NGOs and functionaries of students' organisations, the ground reality is different.
Issues relating to the situation in the Dalit students' hostels were raised at the public hearing held by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Chennai. Even the Petitions Committee of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, which inspected the Dalit students' hostels in different parts of the State in July 2010, found that most of these facilities were absent. Expressing anguish at the appalling conditions, the panel directed the authorities to take remedial measures on a priority basis.
However, reports indicate that little has been done to improve the conditions in the hostels both in urban areas and in rural pockets. The government initiated some maintenance work at the M.C. Raja Hostel only after the December 21 protest. It has formed a team of officials to look into the grievances of the students, according to sources in the department.
Referring to the hostellers' agitation in Chennai, K.S. Kanagaraj, president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Student Federation of India (SFI), said, "The protest only showed that all is not well with the Dalit students' hostels not only in Chennai but in other parts of the State, too." He called for steps to ensure that all eligible applicants were given hostel accommodation.
He urged the government to increase the funds earmarked for food. The wardens should be asked to adhere strictly to the prescribed guidelines with regard to the menu, he said. He favoured the setting up of separate hostels in the city for working Dalit youth and job-seekers.
R. Krishnamurthy, convener of the South Chennai district unit of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, and T. Neethirajan, another activist of the front, who visited the M.C. Raja Hostel, referred to the State government's claim that the Budget allocation for the S.C. Sub-Plan had been increased from Rs.567 crore in 2005-06 to Rs.3,828 crore for 2010-11 forming 19 per cent of the total plan outlay. They called for immediate steps to modernise the Dalit students' hostels in the city and take disciplinary action against those involved in irregularities.
Education activist S.S. Rajagopalan said the plight of the physically challenged students staying in the M.C. Raja Hostel was pathetic. Even if the authorities could not provide nutritious food, they should at least ensure that the food served was hygienic, he said.
Funds earmarked under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (education for all) and the special component plan should be used to improve the conditions in these hostels, he added. "The government should keep in mind that Article 21 of the Constitution reinforces equity and dignity of every citizen."
Social activist A. Narayanan, who had submitted a detailed memorandum to the State Human Rights Commission in December 2008 seeking its intervention to alleviate the problems of residents of the Dalit students' hostels, said the unrest should not be viewed merely as a law and order problem. The prevailing environment in the hostels was not conducive to academic activities, he opined.
"The hostels do not have the minimum complementary infrastructure, such as libraries and recreation rooms, to help the students improve their mental and physical fitness without undesirable diversions," he observed. Also, there was no adequate security in the hostels and the wardens were not motivated to set things in order, he said.
Echoing similar sentiments, P.B. Martin, secretary of the Kancheepuram-based Social Action Movement, said the hostels were in fact "hell away from home" as none of their objectives – providing safety and security, nutritious food and good ambience to study and play – was achieved. These hostels had become safe havens for anti-social elements, he said, adding that even murders had been committed in them. He was alluding to the crime committed in the Adi Dravidar students' hostel at Thayarammankulam village in Kancheepuram district in October.
Stressing the need for sensitising the wardens, he said there were complaints that in some Adi Dravidar hostels, the attendance registers were not properly maintained and Dalit boarders were often asked to run errands for the wardens. In one hostel, it was reported in 2007, the boys were asked to graze cattle belonging to the warden, he said.
Corruption at the local level led to a situation where the actual number of students in the hostels in the districts was far smaller than the sanctioned strength. Most of the children who were withdrawn from the hostels became school dropouts, he said. This, he pointed out, was a cause for concern in a State where the dropout rate among Dalits was much higher than the overall dropout rate, and the literacy level among Dalits – 63.19 per cent in the case of Adi Dravidars and 41.53 per cent in the case of S.Ts – was far less than the State average of 73.45 per cent, according to the 2001 Census.
Steps such as ensuring a better monitoring mechanism, revamping of the Adi Dravidar Welfare panels at the district level and appointment of specially trained persons as wardens were needed immediately to improve the situation in the Dalit students' hostels, he opined.
Some educationists and NGOs have also suggested that in order to end the discrimination, all the schools and hostels run by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department should be brought under the Education Department. The convention held by the State Platform for Common School System in Chennai on December 27 adopted a resolution to this effect.
A healthy sign, which no one can afford to ignore, is that around 10 per cent of the residents in these hostels are from the Most Backward Classes and they coexist with the Dalit students in peace and harmony, sharing the humiliation in a State where caste bias and untouchability are major social issues.
The Times Of India
India Inc leaves ivory tower and extends a helping hand
Mathang Seshagiri & Hemali Chhapia, TNN, Jan 10, 2011, 07.33am IST
MUMBAI: Indian billionaires are usually saddled with stereotypes: Men snuggled in incredible wealth and removed from the grim reality. However, not all conform to the popular notion even as they do their bit for Bharat; their efforts received a boost after Prime Minister Manmohan Singhspoke of introducing a quota in corporate India.
Apart from providing scholarships, funding neighbourhood NGOs and providing midday meals to schools, each industry chamber has chalked out its own plans to drive out poverty from certain parts of the country and start skill promotion programmes in backward places.
For instance, 696 companies, that make up nearly 10% of the members of the Confederation of Indian Industry, have signed the voluntary code of conduct, under which thousands from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes were trained at entrepreneurship development institutes and 100 youths started their own ventures. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India too conducted a similar exercise in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand and Kanpur for SC/STmembers.
For such work, executives, middle-level management and those from the lower rungs were handpicked for intensive training. In stark contrast, a depressed economy, which saw poor hiring and massive layoffs, also saw companies supporting retrenched workers.
Re-engineering their hardwired image defined by the impressive year-end profit numbers they produce, almost every industry body has involved itself in educating the backward; while some have adopted schools and industrial training centres, others have tied up with coaching classes and English and computer trainers, trying to rewire the infrastructure that supports the poor youth.
According to the information provided to the ministry of industries, "An initiative has been taken by multiple stakeholders for providing education to ST children in remote tribal belts. About 10 lakh ST kids are now beneficiaries of various schemes."
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) and Industry also plans to adopt coaching-cum-guidance centres for which industry members are being identified to provide training to SC/ST candidates keen to appear fpr various competitive examinations.For a large nation like India, broken into two hemispheres, grand challenges probably require a much wider breadth of affirmative action. But what is interesting to note is the uber-rich man sitting on top is no just sending off charity cheques and offering polite condolences __ it is generosity reworked.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
--
Palash Biswas
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