Ambedkar Action Alert: Dalit girl severly beaten up after her shadow falls on high caste muscleman

The episode enraged the family of the muscle-man to such an extent that they severely beat the girl and threatened to kill her if she was spotted again at the hand pump.

By: Press Trust of India | Chattarpur | Updated: June 16, 2015 4:07 pm

In a shocking incident, a minor Dalit girl was allegedly thrashed by higher caste women in Ganeshpura village here after the victim's shadow fell on a muscleman belonging to their family, police said today.

The incident took place on June 13 and the complaint was also filed on the same day at Gadi Malhera police station, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Neeraj Pandey said.

According to the complaint lodged by the girl's father, the problem began when his daughter was fetching water from a village hand pump and her shadow fell on muscle-man Puran Yadav (belonging to a higher caste) when he happened to pass from there, the ASP said.

The episode enraged the family of the muscle-man to such an extent that the women of the family severely beat the girl and threatened that if she was spotted again at the hand pump, they would kill her, he said.

Yadav's family also prevented the victim from going to police station, but they somehow managed to reach there.

A case under sections 323, 341, 506 of the IPC has been registered against the accused and further investigation is underway.

In several remote pockets of India, where untouchability is still prevalent, people from the lower caste are forbidden to come in contact with those belonging to the higher rung so much so that they can't share their food, cook for them or even look them in the eye. It is even forbidden for their shadow to fall on higher caste people, who consider it as defiling or polluting.

The New Indian Express

18 Held for Quarry Clash Get Conditional Bail

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/18-Held-for-Quarry-Clash-Get-Conditional-Bail/2015/06/17/article2870771.ece

By Express News Service

Published: 17th June 2015 06:00 AM

VELLORE: Villagers of Kalathur organised a warm welcome on Tuesday evening for 18 persons of their village who were granted conditional bail after being arrested and imprisoned for 14 days following a group clash on June 3 that had arisen over the quarrying of sand in the Palar River bed near their village.

"After producing two securities for each of the 18 before the court, we bailed them out," said Jessy of Makkal Mandram, an organisation working for the upliftment of Dalits and Tribals and which has been supporting the villagers' solidarity against sand quarrying in the area.

The Judge of the Principal District Court, R V R Deenadayalan, granted conditional bail for the 18 and directed them to sign a register everyday in the Judicial Magistrate Court-I in Salem until further hearing.

The Judge, in his order, also requested the police to produce one 17-year-old Chinnarasu, (who was also arrested in the group clash) before the Juvenile Justice Board on Wednesday to determine his age. If the board ascertains that he is a minor, then he shall be released, unconditionally, as per the Juvenile Justice Act.

Kalathur's villagers hailed the 18 persons released on bail and garlanded them after they emerged from the prison's premises at about 7 pm.

The clash between two groups in the village arose when the sand mafia bribed around 30 families into accepting money in return for allowing the quarrying of sand in the riverbed. However, other villagers opposing the sand quarrying began protesting against it. With tensions simmering between the two groups for several months on this issue, it came to a head on June 3, when the two groups clashed. Police arrested 24 villagers from both groups. Of the 24 villagers, 19 villagers, including six women, were against the quarrying of sand. Chinnarasu, also one of the 19 villagers, was taken to borstal school and his age will be established by the Juvenile Justice Board.

The Asian Age

A better way of life for sex workers in Hyderabad

http://www.asianage.com/hyderabad/better-way-life-sex-workers-hyderabad-563

Jun 14, 2015 - TEENA THACKER |

Nestled around the majestic structures of Charminar-Falaknuma, five kilometres from the global icon of Hyderabad is witnessing a change of sorts. The once docile women, vulnerable to circumstances that pushed them into flesh trade have started to live confidently. Equipped with adequate information which is required to protect their rights, they live no more on mercy of others for their daily tasks like demanding free take-home ration from the anganwadi centres for their children, adolescent and pregnant women, thanks to the interventions of government organisations and NGOs like Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) that worked strenuously to help them win their "chores" battle.

Jostled with major issues that contribute to urban poverty, this old city area which constitutes Muslim population has about 60 per cent of sex workers, of the total population. However, for long, this marginalised population remained secluded and denied of the social benefits and the government schemes meant for them.

"They have not been very forthcoming. However, with the help of peer educators that imparted home-based education a lot of behaviour change has been seen," said Dr Riyaz, project director, Hyderabad leprosy control and health society, targeted interventions.

In the talukas for the district, including Bahadurpur, Bandlaguda and Charminar mandals, 25 hotspots have been identified where information is imparted on components like behavioural change, sexually-transmitted infections (STI), condom promotion. A social inclusion plan for socially-excluded and marginalised population has been designed with technical support by CFAR and is providing the basis for the change.

"Providing enabling environment and advocacy is done by CFAR. Here, linkage services for 0-6 years, 14-18 years and adolescent girls is also done. After putting hard work for more than three years, the efforts have started churning results now as more than 120 families have been enrolled, including sex workers, which are now getting the benefit of the government schemes. Earlier, the community was approaching the centres but now with the help of followups and interventions done by us, the trend has started to reverse," said Sudha Rani, project coordinator, CFAR, Hyderabad.

Furthermore, CFAR has also asked the centre for providing double nutrition to the HIV-positive women.

Significantly, most of these sex workers have Aadhar cards too. "We have linked all the eligible children of the area with the aanganwadi centres so that they can take the benefit of government-run ICDS scheme. They are getting adequate nutrition. Other than that the aanganwadi workers also help the community in cases of domestic violence and other critical issues," said 25-year-old Nazima, a peer educator.

Tabassum, 30, has three children and all of them are getting midday meals. "We are happy that our children are getting good quality and healthy food. We did not know that we were entitled to this food. A campaign held by CFAR helped us know about our rights," she said.

The Hindu

Boys sweep engineering entrance ranks

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/boys-sweep-engineering-entrance-ranks/article7324168.ece

Special Correspondent

Boys swept the top ranks in the engineering entrance examinations, the rank-list of which was published here on Tuesday. The results of the architecture entrance examinations were also announced by Education Minister P. K. Abdu Rabb.

The first rank in the engineering entrance examination was bagged by B. Arjun from Thiruvananthapuram. While the second rank went to A.S. Ameer Hassan from Kozhikode, the third rank went to P. Sreerag, also from Kozhikode.

SC/ST rank holders

The first rank in the Scheduled Castes category went to B. Sarath and the second rank to C.S. Karthik Baal. In the Scheduled Tribes category, the first rank went to A. Avinash and the second rank to K.S. Midhun.

The first rank for the Architecture course went to Lisa Therse from Perinthalmanna. The second rank went to M.R. Abhishek from Ernakulam, and the third rank to K. Devi Raj from Malappuram.

Of the 1,11,109 candidates who appeared for the entrance examinations, 55,180 candidates have been included on the rank-list. Of these, 30,708 are male candidates.

While there are 367 candidates from the State Plus two stream in the first 1,000 ranks, there is not a single candidate from the Vocational Higher Secondary Education stream on the list.

While there are 556 candidates in the top 1,000 list from the AISSCE (All India Senior School Certificate Examination) stream, there are 63 candidates in this list from the ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) stream.

District-wise break-up

Based on the district of permanent residence, there are 173 candidates from Ernakulam district in the top 1,000. While there are 139 candidates from Malappuram and 125 from Kozhikode, there are 115 candidates from Thiruvananthapuram. Among the top 100 rank holders, 57 are male candidates.

Standardising scores

Candidates under 25 boards of examination within and outside the country had written the examinations. Of these, 13 boards had made available their marks-related data to the Entrance Commissioner for purposes of standardising the scores of candidates. The rest of the boards were mapped on to the CBSE marks data for purposes of standardisation.

Of the 59,220 engineering seats available in the State across all categories of colleges, the CEE would be making allotments to 35,963 government seats. The first allotment would be done on June 25.

DNA

Government to send 100 Dalit students to US, UK on Ambedkar 'inspiration' trip

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-government-to-send-100-dalit-students-to-us-uk-on-ambedkar-inspiration-trip-2096239

Wednesday, 17 June 2015 - 7:05am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: dna | From the print edition

Rohinee Singh

The ministry of social justice and empowerment is conducting the visit called Dr Ambedkar Foundation's Study Tour. Students with at least a graduation degree will be visiting Columbia University and London School of Economics.

In its continued attempt to win over Dalits, the government is arranging a study tour wherein one hundred Dalit students will get a chance to visit institutes in theUnited States and the United Kingdom where Dr BR Ambedkar studied.

The selection of students will be made by the University Grants Commission. The last date for submission of applications is June 30.

"In a week-long trip, 50 students will be sent to each place. The idea is to make the students understand how a Dalit boy rose to reach such institutions of repute in the UK and the US. The trip is to motivate and mobilise the Dalit youths to reach out to the world," said an official of the ministry.

To ensure that only those deserving make it to the tour, in the criteria laid down by the ministry says that the applicant with family income of not more than Rs 4.5 lakh a year will be eligible for the tour. The UGC, which has been made the nodal body to call applicants, will also ensure that only those students who have never travelled abroad are chosen.

The students will also visit Ambedkar's two-storey house in London that is being bought by the Maharashtra government. The architect of India's constitution had lived in the house during his years in London.

"Besides Columbia University, there is not much about Ambedkar in the US. His documents tell us only about a seminar paper that he had presented in the Colombia University. There is a hostel where Ambedkar
lived," said Dalit rights activist Professor Kancha Ilaiah of Osmania University.

Ilaiah who has been vocal against the ideology of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad also said that the just showing universities and colleges is not enough. "It is a good thought to give this opportunity to the under privileged, but when in the US, they should arrange for an interaction of these students with African-American scholars," added Ilaiah.

Marking the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar, the ministry of social justice is also collaborating with the human resource development ministry to initiate a certificate course on the life and ideology of Ambedkar under the Indira Gandhi National Open University. An Ambedkar coin and a postal stamp will also be released to mark the occasion.

News monitored by Girish Pant & AJEET

.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")

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