Ambedkar Action Alert: Bill extends time limit for quota to SC/ST, OBCs in Central institutions

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed a crucial Bill that extends the time limit from three to six years for providing reservation to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes in the Central education institutions.

The Bill also seeks to add a proviso that if there are Central educational institutions in a tribal area, the State seats in those institutions shall have reservation for the SCs, the STs and the OBCs. The State seats refer to seats allocated for eligible students of the State in which the Central educational institution is situated.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Bill, 2010, was adopted by voice vote after Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal assured members that the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs would be fully implemented in the Central institutions well within the three years' extended time period. Besides, 27 per cent for the OBCs, the national policy provides for reservation of 15 per cent seats for the SCs and 7.5 per cent seats for the STs.

The Bill says that if the total number of reserved seats exceeds 50 per cent then there shall be no reservation for the OBCs and the total percentage of reserved seats shall be reduced to 50 per cent in all areas except the specified north-east region.

The implementation of the Act, took effect from 2008 calendar year, says the amended Bill and thus, the time frame has been extended till 2014.

Some of the Central Educational Institutions, particularly medical institutions and the Delhi University, found it difficult to adhere to the time limit of three years for creation of requisite physical and academic infrastructure owing to various reasons beyond their control, the Minister explained.

The Principal Act (the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006), requires institutions to increase the total number of seats in such a manner that the number of unreserved seats (general category) is not reduced due to reservation for OBCs.

This was based on the number of seats available for general category before the Act was passed.

The Principal Act states that in case the Central government decides that a Central educational institution is not able to increase the seats to its annual permitted strength due to financial, physical or academic limitation, it may allow such institutions to increase the seats within three years. The Bill increases the time period to six years.

It states that reservation of seats shall begin in 2007, while the new Bill amends this to 2008. Thus, the time-frame has been extended to 2014 from 2010.

Responding to demands for increasing the percentage of reservation and provide it in accordance to the population of communities, Mr. Sibal said the Bill concerns concerned only the Central institutions and States were free to take decisions on increasing reservation in state institutions as such.

"If required, States can make more reservations. You talk to your Chief Ministers. This Act only applies to the Central education institutions,'' he told members from Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

The Hindu

Court appreciates SP for ending caste animosity

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/article3359901.ece

The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday appreciated Madurai Superintendent of Police Asra Garg (31) for efforts taken by him in putting an end to long pending hostility between Caste Hindus and Dalits of Villoor near here through talks.

Justice D. Hariparanthaman recorded his appreciation for the SP and his team of policemen while closing a writ petition filed last year by Villoor Panchayat President S. Subbulakshmi seeking a judicial enquiry into the incidents that led to a police firing in the village on May 1.

The case was closed with the concurrence of the petitioner as well as the respondents after recording the contents of a status report filed by the SP, according to whom some forms of untouchability was in existence in the village, inhabited by Agamudairs and Dalits, from time immemorial.

Mr. Garg said that Dalits were not allowed to ride their vehicles through streets occupied predominantly by Caste Hindus in the village. Double tumbler system was also practised in tea shops and Dalits could not dare to sit on the benches in the local eateries.

Abhorring such practices, he said: "I feel that we should realise that God never made man that he may consider another man as an untouchable. And to say that a single human being, because of his birth, becomes an untouchable, unapproachable or invisible is to deny God."

On April 30 last year, the local police received a complaint that a 22-year-old Dalit G. Thangapandi was assaulted by Caste Hindus when he attempted to ride a two-wheeler through their street. A case was registered on the basis of the complaint and five of them were arrested on May 1.

"Since the matter seemed to be a serious one involving untouchability, I visited the village in the afternoon on May 1 in order to assess the actual situation. After I left, a few Dalit houses were damaged by a big mob of Agamudiar community people.

"On hearing about this, again I returned to the village. While I was approaching the area with a few policemen, suddenly another crowd armed with weapons such as swords and stones started attacking us. Because of being outnumbered, we retreated back to the Villoor police station.

"Finally, they surrounded the police station and attacked it. As all other legal steps taken by us did not yield any result, in order to protect our lives and the police station, myself and my PSO (personal security officer) fired a few ammunition rounds (in the air) under which the miscreants ran away," the SP said.

Stating that as many as seven criminal cases had been registered in connection with the firing incident, he said that a team of policemen headed by him recently took efforts to bring about peace between the two warring groups by holding a series of peace committee meetings.

The efforts bore fruit as leaders from both the communities signed an agreement on April 24 agreeing to iron out their differences and live peacefully. It was also resolved that all out efforts would be taken to ensure that no form of untouchability should be practised in the village.

The other terms of the agreement stated that Dalits should not be forced to perform menial jobs. At the same time, they must not prevent any individual who willingly assists Caste Hindus and exaggerate small personal and trivial issues as a communal problem.

"They (Dalits) shall also ensure that if any such anti-social element indulges in magnifying trivial issues and disturbs communal harmony, they shall themselves hand him over to the police… It is therefore humbly submitted that this status report may kindly be accepted and this court may pass any order as it may deem fit," the SP concluded.

NEWS Track INDIA

SC quashes reservation based promotion for SC/ST in Uttar Pradesh

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/04/27/394-SC-quashes-reservation-based-promotion-for-SC-ST-in-Uttar-Pradesh.html

New Delhi, Apr 27 (ANI): In a major jolt to former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Friday quashed the reservation based promotion for socially backward classes (SC/ST) in the state.

Discussing the Supreme Court's verdict in New Delhi on Friday, advocate Sanjeev Kumar said reservation would no longer be a criterion for promotion and it would now take place on the basis of seniority.

"The Supreme Court has quashed the rule 8A and also quashed the reservation in promotion. Now there will be one seniority list and the promotion will be given according to the seniority list so the judgment of the Lucknow bench has been upheld by the Supreme Court," said Sanjeev Kumar, an advocate.

"The judgment of the Allahabad High Court has been set aside by the Supreme Court because it had, on the first day of hearing, upheld the rule 8A and without calling counter affidavit from the respondents so the Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Allahabad High Court," added Kumar.

He further condemned the introduction of the reservation policy by Mayawati in 2008 and said that all top posts were filled by SC/ST's and they were given undue favour.

"See in the state of UP there was 21 percent reservation for scheduled castes and two percent for scheduled tribes. So according to the reservation policy and the quota for the SC/ST they were getting but what happened in 2007 again this Mayawati government introduced rule 8A means the consequential seniority so the SC/ST were entitled for consequential seniority also," Kumar said.

The verdict has come as a blow to Mayawati who had implemented the policy.

The order of providing consequential promotion to SC/ST persons was issued by Mayawati in 2008 and it was quashed by the Allahabad High Court after which her government moved to the apex court.

In 2011, the Allahabad High Court had scrapped the policy after several writ petitions by individuals and organisations were filed. Soon a Special Leave Petition (SLP) was filed in the apex court.

As many as two hundred thousand officers and employees in 56 government departments such as power and irrigation bore the brunt as they waited for the apex court's verdict.

The newly elected Uttar Pradesh Chief Minsiter Akhilesh Yadav had also stood against such reservation and dubbed it as 'unnecessary'. (ANI)

The Times Of India

Electric shock in hostel kills tribal student

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Electric-shock-in-hostel-kills-tribal-student/articleshow/12889412.cms

Keonjhar: A 12-year-old tribal student was killed by electric shock in SC/ST department-run Kadakala High School, under Banspal block on Wednesday evening.

The Class VI student was identified as Gurucharan Munda, a resident of Nuagaon village. According to police, Gurucharan was electrocuted while climbing on to his cot at night in the school hostel when he accidentally touched the solar light wire hanging near his bed.

Gurucharan was rushed to Keonjhar district headquarter hospital, where he was declared dead. "The student died of electrocution. A postmortem has been conducted. We are investigating the incident and have registered an UD case," said Nayakote police station IIC S K Kisan.

Parents of the deceased student alleged the accident took place due to the negligence of the school authorities.

"Assistant district welfare officer is inquiring into the incident. After investigation action will be taken against those found guilty," said district welfare officer Basanta Kumar Sethy.

There are about 430 students in the hostel.

The Times OF India

Girl raped, murdered in Kanpur

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Girl-raped-murdered-in-Kanpur/articleshow/12889701.cms

KANPUR: A 16-year-old girl was abducted on gun-point, raped and murdered by her neighbour in Kripalpur village, situated under the jurisdiction of Jahanabad police in Fatehpur district on Wednesday night.

The girl had gone to see the 'jaimal' ceremony of the daughter of Ram Pratap in the same village.

She was abducted by her neighbour Rajesh on gun-point. He took her to an isolated spot, raped and strangulated her to death.

A few hours later, when she did not turn up, her parents launched a hunt. The girl's body was recovered from the fields in the outskirts of the village on Thursday morning.

The police launched a manhunt for Rajesh and arrested him from the outskirts of the village. The girl's family members lodged a named FIR against Rajesh, who was found loitering in the vicinity of 'jaimal' ceremony venue on Wednesday evening. The police also recovered a country-made gun from his possession. He was sent to jail.

Superintendent of police RK Chaturvedi said that the accused, who was arrested on Thursday morning, had confessed his involvement in the crime.

The body of the girl was sent for post-mortem examination. It bore multiple injury marks on head, throat and eyes. She died possibly due to strangulation.

The Times OF India

'Schools not following the admission schedule'

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangalore/Schools-not-following-the-admission-schedule/articleshow/12904300.cms

MANGALORE: Representatives of various organizations including Ahinda, an organization of backward, minority and dalits, and Federation of Education Resource Centres conducted visits to seven unaided primary schools in the city to check whether the rules related to admission are followed strictly.

As per a circular issued by the department of public instructions on December 8, 2011, schools are supposed to start distributing application forms from April 20 and the third final list of students to be admitted should be published on May 16. However, it was found during the visits that many institutions did not adhere to the rules properly and some institutions had already admitted students flouting the directions in the circular.

Authorities of some schools did not even know about the circular issued by the department. A major aspect noticed by the representatives during the visits is that there was very less takers for Kannada medium schools. Canara Lower Primary School headmistress Mohini said that teachers were forced to search and find children of labourers from construction sites to fill the available seats in the school.

In a memorandum submitted to deputy commissioner NS Channappa Gowda, organization representatives pointed out that the circular issued by the department with regard to the implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act has not been adhered to by some schools.

Ahinda working president P Lolaksha said that department's instructions were not followed and admission process had been started in many schools prior to the prescribed date. "None of the schools have published in their notice board the number of available seats and the schedule for the admission process. As per the circular, the last date to distribute admission application forms is April 30. However, it is unfortunate that many of the institutes have already completed the process. RTE Act insists that 25% of the available seats should be reserved for poor students, but institutes have already filled their seats," he added.

The circular also instructs schools to display on notice board the maximum fee to be collected from parents. "It was found during the visit that some schools have already collected anything between Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,600 from parents," he said. Further, he pointed out, that the department had not taken any initiatives to make schools adhere to rules regarding admission. FERC president Umesh Nirmal, Campaign Against Child Labor co-ordinator Renny D'Souza, Ahinda president Purushotham Poojari and Mangalore ERC president Kamala Gowda participated in the school visit programme and later submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

The Asian Age

Sc/St case lodged in meghalaya cm niece suicide

http://www.asianage.com/delhi/scst-case-lodged-meghalaya-cm-niece-suicide-642

The police has registered a case under the SC/ST Act against the staff and management of Amity University in connection with the alleged suicide of MBA student Dana Sangma, niece of Meghalya chief minister Mukul Sangma.

The mobile phone and answersheet of Dana, who allegedly took her life in her hostel room on April 24, have also been seized, the police said.

The first year MBA student is said to have taken the extreme step after being allegedly humiliated by an invigilator who claimed to have caught her cheating in the exams.

The police has invoked the SC/ST Act beside pressing abetment to suicide charge (306 IPC) against the staff and management of Amity University at Punchgaon campus, Gurgaon in the case.

No arrest has been made so far. Due to the sensitivity of the case, the investigation has been handed over to ACP Ravinder Tomar, deputy commissioner of police (south) Hamid Akhtar said.

The Meghalaya CM had described his niece's suicide a "result of discrimination" by the institute authorities.

"Primary evidence suggests that the girl was thrown out of the examination hall after investigators found her with a mobile phone," he had said.

--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.