Saturday, February 12, 2011

Dalits Media Watch News Updates 11.02.11

Dalits Media Watch

News Updates 11.02.11

Names of officials neglecting crimes against Dalits to be made public - The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1328371.ece

Communal violence in Rajasthan village forces dalit exodus - The Times Of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Communal-violence-in-Rajasthan-village-forces-dalit-exodus/articleshow/7472831.cms

India still neglecting SC/ST masses, says ex-civil servant - The Times Of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/India-still-neglecting-SC/ST-masses-says-ex-civil-servant/articleshow/7471933.cms

Mangalore: No water for last four months in Ganjimath Dalit colony - Mangalorean. Com

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=221709

An extraordinary gentleman - The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article1296993.ece

The Hindu

Names of officials neglecting crimes against Dalits to be made public

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1328371.ece

Smita Gupta

National Commission for Scheduled Castes informs Centre of rise in atrocities

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes, headed by Congress MP P.L. Punia, will soon be making public a list, of officials from Uttar Pradesh who had neglected, slackened on, or not taken cognisance of crimes committed against Dalits in the State. The Commission's first step was to write to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, drawing their attention to the rapidly rising graph of atrocities against dalits.

The Commission's Vice-President, Rajkumar Verka, said on Thursday that the object of publicising the names of civil servants and policemen who were not being pro-active in taking action on complaints coming in from dalits was to tell them: "Don't be pressured into not taking action because the crimes have been committed by legislators belonging to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party." He was referring to the case of the dalit girl who was raped by a BSP MLA and then imprisoned by having a false case registered against her.

Evidently, Dr. Punia, who once served as Principal Secretary to Mayawati when she was Chief Minister, had decided to take the battle into the heart of Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls next year. The Commission's actions come even as Congress general-secretary Rahul Gandhi, visiting dalit rape victims in U.P., continues to criticise Ms. Mayawati for the deteriorating law and order situation in U.P..

U.P. will not be the only State to face the Commission's scrutiny — the next will be the Congress-ruled Haryana, another State in which the plight of Dalits is dire, as the incident in Mirchpur last year demonstrated.

Dr. Verka said efforts would be made to bring succour to dalits across the country. In the last four months, 568 crimes against Dalits in U.P., and 348 from Haryana, had come to the Commission's attention. Most of the cases related to murder, rape, land grabbing and atrocities by the police, he said.

Asked whether the Commission was targeting U.P. alone, he denied it, pointing out that the Commission had taken the Congress-ruled Delhi government to task for shifting Rs. 4,000 crore, earmarked for dalit welfare, for the Commonwealth Games, and the Congress-ruled Haryana government for shifting Rs. 3,400 crore to other expenditure heads. He added that Rs. 6,000 crore in U.P. and Rs. 2,600 crore in Punjab had similarly gone astray.

The Times Of India

Communal violence in Rajasthan village forces dalit exodus

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Communal-violence-in-Rajasthan-village-forces-dalit-exodus/articleshow/7472831.cms

Ashish Mehta, TNN, Feb 11, 2011, 06.28am IST

HUSHEYPUR (RAJASTHAN): A mournful silence welcomes visitors to Husheypur village in Alwar district, 265 km from Jaipur. For more than 20 days, men of the 40 Dalit households are missing and their women live in fear of attacks by the village's Muslim community. On January 19, a minor scuffle between the two communities turned violent.

Zahid Khan was shot dead by a group of Dalits after he ran over a chicken with his tractor. A spat led to a bloodbath between the communities that have lived together for over a century. Men from the Muslim community ransacked and set on fire Dalits homes. The families fled and only elderly women with their children, who had also fled, returned last week.

SP Mahesh Goyal said a committee had been formed from representatives of all communities to resolve the tension. ''We are in touch with the Dalits who have fled the village and members of the other community. We have provided enough security at the village and the Dalits should be back in a day or two,'' he said, adding that those who fled are the accused in the firing incident. Haaji Kallu, the victim's father, says, ''From administration to social activitists, whoever comes here, asks us to maintain peace. We want peace but how will I raise five grandchildren... Administration gave ex-gratia to those whose houses were ransacked but no one asked me if I need anything,'' he says.

Kamla Devi, whose house was also attacked, said, ''We were never a part of the violence, yet we were targeted. They looted the cash and jewellery I had saved for my daughter Suman's wedding in May. I feel helpless, it would be easy just to strangulate my daughter and commit suicide.''

The Times Of India

India still neglecting SC/ST masses, says ex-civil servant

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/India-still-neglecting-SC/ST-masses-says-ex-civil-servant/articleshow/7471933.cms

TNN, Feb 11, 2011, 05.32am IST

CHENNAI: The amount of Rs 678.91 crore diverted from the special component plan for scheduled castes to the Commonwealth Games are yet to be restored despite promises by the home minister, according to retired IAS officer P S Krishnan, a champion of the rights of SC and ST. 

Addressing the fourth Gijubah memorial lecture former, Krishnan said the Indian state had long ignored the rights of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in its quest for 9 to 10% GDP growth. "The largest number of landless labourers, the largest number of people below the poverty line, the largest number of malnourished children and the population with the highest infant and child mortality rate, are all SCs and STs," he said.

He said the marginalised group had also been denied quality education with nearly one- third of SC families having no literate adult member, three-fifths having no literate female adult and SC and ST children in many schools being prevented from drinking water or eating mid-day meals with other children. "An amount of Rs 250 crore which was provided in 1996 for establishing residential schools for SC girls in low literacy districts all over India was also snatched away in 2003 and not a single residential school was established with these funds," Krishnan said.

He said that though the Right to Education Act was welcome, in the absence of specific reservation for SC/STs, the goal of removing educational gap between them and the advanced castes would not be achieved. "Manual scavenging, bonded labour, abysmal working conditions and denial of social security for SCs/STs continue to exist despite laws and legislations against these in the country," he said. Commenting on the census, he said that the enumeration for SC/STs and BCs had to be more comprehensive. "Instead of just the number of SC/ST and BCs, it is important to know the numbers who are literate, have proper housing, land, their economic conditions and occupations, " Krishnan said.

He added that the implementation of existing Centrally-sponsored schemes and other existing developmental initiatives was unsatisfactory and needed to be addressed. "The only way to address these issues is by economic liberation of the SC/STs, educational parity at all levels and elimination of untouchability and atrocities from the country," he said. Stressing on the role of the general and civil society, he said that teachers and the society in general needed to bridge this widening gap between the advanced and backward castes.

Mangalorean. Com

Mangalore: No water for last four months in Ganjimath Dalit colony

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=221709

Mangalore,Feb 11: Residents of Ganeshnagar colony in Ganjimath, who comprise Dalits and Kudubis, have alleged that they do not have drinking water supply for the last four months.

Over 50 families, mostly from the Kudubi community, complain that their drinking water supply, which was sourced from a bore well dug up in their area, has become defunct. Ganeshnagar colony is located in Badagulipady village in Ganjimath gram panchayat limits, around 20km from Mangalore. During the gram panchayat elections, candidates sought votes. But it is nearly five months, and they have not solved the problem despite our repeated pleas. We (women) have to walk so much to find good drinking water, that too, after returning from a day's work, said an angry 50-year-old Seethu.

She and several other women in the colony are daily wage labourers. Several of the women complained that they had to wait for several hours for water from a bore well just outside their colony. But they had to push the handle of the hand pump for several minutes before there was any sign of water, they said. For some time, one of the residents of the colony allowed the others to use water from the well of their house. But for the last few days, even that has gone dry, they said. Gopal Gowda said The prices of vegetables have risen so much. We can not afford to wait here for drinking water all day without going for work. Some of us are old, most families have children. We wake up in the morning and there is no water for us to drink.

Seeta, who is an agricultural labourer, said things would have been easier for her if she had daughters. Her three sons went for work in the morning and only returned in the evening, while she went for work as well as arranged for water.

Gram panchayat member G.M. Imtiyaz said in the last four months the panchayat had dug up four wells but none of them had any water. He said that the problem had risen because a bore well had been dug up in the neighbouring of Badaga Yedapadavu, and that the panchayat was working to address the issue of water supply for the colony.

The Hindu

An extraordinary gentleman

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article1296993.ece

K.S.S. SESHAN

Tribute Writer, educator, scholar, poet, and critique C.R. Reddy left an indelible mark.

At a time when western educated Indian intellectuals of the early 20th century were more interested in getting into the British bureaucracy for power and pelf, Cuttamanchi Ramalinga Reddy, a doyen among luminaries from the state, followed his heart and plunged into varied spheres like education, administration and politics and succeeded in every field that he chose.

The diversity of interests at various stages of his life proved to be both his strength as well as weakness. He had the zest and passion to dabble in whatever he thought was right and challenging. In many of these pursuits, he was highly successful and left an indelible mark. However, as an educational administrator, his name still remains almost legendary in the south.

Early years

C.R. Reddy as he was familiarly known, was a writer, scholar, poet, critique, debater, orator, teacher, administrator, legislator and above all a fine human being. Born in Kattamanchi, a suburb of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh on December 10, 1880, he had a brilliant academic career.

Having finished his school education in his hometown, he went to Madras Christian College for graduation. After winning a government scholarship, he went to Cambridge where he was elected as vice-president of the Union society, the first Indian to hold that post. After obtaining a first class in History Tripos, he returned to India to become the vice-Principal of Maharaja's College, Baroda in 1908. From then on positions of power came in succession. As Inspector- general of Education in Mysore, he introduced far-reaching reforms.

The schools for the first time were opened to Dalits in the State. He then became the foundation Vice-chancellor of the newly established Andhra University in 1926. As vice -chancellor he set such high standards in every branch of University administration that his period has become the defining phase in the history of the University. What Ashutosh Mukherjee was to Calcutta University and what Madan Mohan Malaviya was to Benares Hindu University, C.R. Reddy was to the Andhra University.

He was a powerful writer and a skilled orator both in English and Telugu. His work,Kavithatathwa Vicharamu, was almost the last word on literary criticism. It stands testimony to his distinct style in Telugu literature. The values he stated in it and the perspectives he defined provide new insights into the élan of classicism.

The fervour and forthrightness in his works proved that the classical style of writing Telugu was more spontaneous, virile and crisp than the colloquial style of the moderns. His other works like Musalamma Maranamu and Arthika Thathwam also reflects his poetic skills and fertile imagination. Many pundits have paid him tribute for his interpretation of characters and passages in the Mahabharatha of which he was an ardent student.

His English writings were as noteworthy. Some of his published speeches in English have left a record of original thinking and mastery of style. His writings reflect his keen intellect, depth of knowledge and the range of his interests.

Quotable quotes

He had a unique gift of chiselling sentences and crafting new phrases. His random observations and one- liners have become almost bon mots and quotable quotes reflecting his colourful personality. He named the house he built in Chittoor as 'Padma Prabasa'. C.R. Reddy passed away on February 24, 1951 in Chennai.

There is today, as never before, every need to remember and recall to the present generation the fearless spirit of individualism, the unblemished administrative acumen and the path- breaking literary traits of C.R. Reddy, worthy to be emulated.


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


--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

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