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Umh!, Whats this? |
Dalit Drishti / January 2001
<<<Go to
index page
SC/ST commission
for Karnataka
The Karnataka government has decided
to set up a separate com mission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
to improve their standards and check atrocities against them. While announcing
his decision in this regard in December,chief minister SM Krishna expressed
dissatisfaction with the fact that 3,789 cases of atrocities against SCs
and STs were pending disposal. He suggested setting up of special and mobile
courts for speedy disposal of these cases. Local vigilance committees have
been formed in most districts of the state to monitor incidents of atrocities.
The CM was also unhappy that Karnataka lagged behind neighbouring Tamil
Nadu and Maharashtra in the utilisation of central funds for the welfare
of SCs/ STs.
A few days later, on December 11,
activists of the Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samithi led a protest march
and staged a dharna in front of the residence of the state home minister
M Mallikarjuna Kharge, to demand the setting up of special courts to deal
with increasing incidents of atrocities against dalits in the state. Through
a separate press release issued the same day, the state president of the
DSS condemned the increasing assaults on Dalits and demanded that the district
commissioners and superintendents of police be held responsible for the
targeting of Dalits under their jurisdiction.
Dalit woman
stripped, husband commits suicide
Ramesh Rohit, a Dalit from Sarasmund
village of Vadodra district who felt humiliated by the stripping of his
wife by upper caste men and frustrated by the refusal of the police and
other authorities to heed his complaints, consumed pesticides and killed
himself on the premises of the department of social justice in the first
week of December.
Dalits and other poor have been
the worst hit by water scarcity in Gujarat in the last two years, where
the upper caste believe they have the first claim on whatever water is
available. When Rohit raised a dispute about the upper caste people monopolising
the limited water supply, they cut off his water connection. Instead of
registering his complaint, the local sub–inspector manhandled Rohit. Subsequently,
his wife was sexually abused for, left with no choice, she ‘dared’ go to
the village water works to fetch water for the family
Dalits assert
right to temple entry
On December 11, Alagapuram village,
some 25 kms from Jayamkondam in Tamil Nadu, was tension charged for hours
as Dalits insisted on their right to enter the Alageeswarar temple while
over 2,000 Vanniyars blocked their way. However, a strong contingent of
police enabled the Dalits led by S Thirunavukkarasu, state general secretary
of the CPI(M) affiliated Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers Union to
press home their right. Later, peace talks were held between the Vanniyar
and Dalit leaders in the presence of the district collector, K Phaneendra
Reddy. Following the talks, PMK leader R Perunargili promised to impress
upon the upper caste villagers that preventing Dalits from entering
the temple was illegal.
Where villagers
can’t digest the cook’s caste
A government centre for the welfare
of small children and expectant mothers has remained closed for over three
months in Raina village (Midnapore, West Bengal) for the villagers refuse
to have their children eat food prepared by a cook from the “Hari” caste
and considered untouchable. While the cook, Krishna, is distraught, as
she is the sole bread–winner for her old parents and three younger sisters,
some villagers have even demanded that she replace the utensils she handled
at the centre as she has made them “impure”. The child centre was being
run under the Integrated Child Development Scheme. “The situation proves
that the ICDS has lost its relevance as it could not create the social
awareness for which it was formulated”, said the helpless block development
officer in the area. And the zilla parishad’s sabhadhipati, Pulin Behari
Bhaske lamented: “It is unfortunate that despite so many years of Left
rule in Bengal such a thing has happened. We are trying to persuade the
villagers to rise above such petty considerations.”
SC/ST body
rubbishes BSP, Jan Shakti
Kanshi Ram, Mayawati, Ram Vilas
Paswan and other dalit leaders, beware! Ram Raj is watching and he finds
that apart from playing politics with “non-issues” to gather dalit votes,
there is little in your agenda to bring real benefits to the constituency
you claim to represent. At an impressive rally in Delhi on December 11,
Ram Raj argued that expanding the scope of reservations to cover the higher
echelons of the judiciary and the private sector would bring real benefits
to dalits. But neither Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party) nor Ram Vilas Paswan
(recently formed Jan Shakti party) made any mention of this at the rallies
separately organised by them in Delhi. A product of the Jawaharlal Nehru
University and presently deputy commissioner income-tax, Delhi, Raj is
the chairman of the All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes and Tribes
Organisations formed in 1997. Raj also claimed that he would lead a mass
conversion of one million dalits from Hinduism to Buddhism in October this
year. |