From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 8:26 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 18.03.10
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 18.03.10
Upper caste Hindus lock temple after Dalit entry - Express Buzz
Lathicharge on Dalit protesters - PTI
http://www.ptinews.com/news/571156_Lathicharge-on-Dalit-protesters
It's still touch and go for SC/ST in Tamil Nadu - Express Buzz
'Outlay for SCs/STs as per population' - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/18/stories/2010031862610500.htm
JNU: Meet today to debate quota for teaching posts - Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jnu-meet-today-to-debate-quota-for-teaching-posts/592237/0
Teachers from oppressed sections would help change stereotypes - Economic Times
Bright prospects for a better life - Deccan Herald
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/58475/bright-prospects-better-life.html
Express Buzz
Upper caste Hindus lock temple after Dalit entry
Last Updated : 18 Mar 2010 06:50:12 AM IST
MANDYA: Tension gripped Kanahalli village in Mandya taluk, a day after Dalits entered Chanakeshva Temple to participate in the Ugadi festival on Tuesday.
Upper caste Hindus have reportedly locked the temple.
Dalits have been denied entry into Chanakeshva Temple — which falls under the Endowment Department of the state government — for generations.
On Tuesday, a few people from Dalit communities entered the temple and offered prayers to the local deity.
A Few hours later, upper caste Hindus locked the temple.
Their representatives stated that Dalits had 'defied the sanctity of the temple'.
Recently, in a peace meeting chaired by Mandya MLA M Srinivas, upper-caste Hindus had agreed to allow Dalits into the temple. In turn, the Dalits had agreed to withdraw a police complaint against members of the upper castes who had assaulted Chandru, a Dalit, for touching an idol during a procession on March 13.
Incensed by the attack, Dalits had 'threatened' to enter the temple. They had also launched a protest against caste discrimination in hotels and lodges in Mandya district. With the temple locked and amid preparations for an elaborate 'cleansing' of the temple, threat of a caste clash looms large over Kanahalli village.
PTI
Lathicharge on Dalit protesters
http://www.ptinews.com/news/571156_Lathicharge-on-Dalit-protesters
STAFF WRITER 18:51 HRS IST
Mandya (Karnataka), Mar 18 (PTI) Police used canes to disperse a group of Dalits today when they turned violent on allegedly being refused entry into a nearby temple.
Three policemen were injured in the clash, police said.
Ten persons have been arrested in this connection and prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC have been clamped for three days in Kannali village, 20 km from here and its surroundings from today, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajanna said.
The problem arose when some Dalits protested against the closure of temple door when they wanted to perform worship, he said.
When the situation turned violent, police made lathicharge to control the situation, he said.
Security has been beefed up in the village to prevent any untoward incidents and the situation was now under control.
Express Buzz
It's still touch and go for SC/ST in Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI: Periyar would perhaps turn in his grave if he were to look at Tamil Nadu's annual plan for 2009- 10, which violates the guidelines of the Planning Commission on the Scheduled Castes Special Component Plan (SCSP) and the tribal sub-plan (TSP).
In a letter to the State Chief Secretary, Planning Commission's State plans division's joint secretary T K Pandey said Rs 2,721.62 crore allocated by the State in its 2009-10 annual plan for the SCSP and Rs 36.36 crore for the TSP did not conform with the guidelines of the Commission.
"The proportion of SC population is 19 per cent and of ST is one per cent as per the 2001 census.
Based on this, the government should have earmarked Rs 3,250 crore for SCSP and Rs 175 crore for TSP," the letter argued.
However, this seems feasible only on paper and things hardly go by the rule book. Funds either lapse or are diverted for other developmental schemes, says Father Irudaya Kumar, research consultant of Social Watch, Tamil Nadu.
In 2005, Rs 500 crore was spent under the SCSP plan. Over the years, the State claims to have spent over Rs 2,500 crore on welfare schemes for SC. But, budget analysts say this is more an act of jugglery than a real expansion in fund flow.
The State's annual plans of 1996-2009 show that Rs 14,224 crore has been denied to Dalits. Several SC suspect that funds were diverted for purchasing TVs and for building the new Secretariat complex.
The Hindu
'Outlay for SCs/STs as per population'
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/18/stories/2010031862610500.htm
Special Correspondent
| Separate budgetary heads to be identified to ensure complete expenditure |
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal on Wednesday announced the State Government's resolve to make budgetary expenditure on welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their percentage of population in the State. All the departments would make full utilisation of funds allocated for these sections, he said.
Replying to supplementary questions in the State Assembly, Mr. Dhariwal said the separate budgetary heads would be identified in the 2011-12 Budget to ensure complete expenditure on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. During the current financial year, sufficient expenditure has been incurred out of the Annual Plan of Rs.22,421 crore and the additional Central allocation of Rs.1,400 crore.
Mr. Dhariwal said there was confusion about actual expenditure in the absence of separate heads despite the financial flow in accordance with the percentage of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in population. He assured the House that the actual expenditure would be spelt out ever year in future.
"A circular of the Planning Commission provides the guidelines about financial flow for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. I appeal to the members of this House to give suggestions on how best to implement this system," he said.
In reply to a question by BJP MLA Rao Rajendra Singh, Mr. Dhariwal said the financial flow during the three-fourths of the current financial year was 14.98 per cent for the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and 11.40 per cent for the Scheduled Tribe Sub-Plan.
JNU: Meet today to debate quota for teaching posts
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jnu-meet-today-to-debate-quota-for-teaching-posts/592237/0
Thursday , Mar 18, 2010 at 0015 hrs New Delhi:
The academic council of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is set to address the question of implementing the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe category reservation for the posts of professor and associate professor on Thursday.
The faculty remains divided on whether the December 6, 2005 directive from the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) and a subsequent order from the University Grants Commission (UGC) on the implementation of the 22.5-per cent reservation are legally binding.
On the council's agenda are the "results" of an opinion poll conducted among the JNU schools and centres to gauge the support.
'Ayes' and 'nays'
In the poll, the faculty of the Centre for Historical Studies voted 13 to 10 against the proposed policy.
The Centre for Persian and Central Asian Studies (CP&CAS) "unanimously resolved" that not only should the SC/ST reservation for the said posts be scrapped, but the 27 per cent reservation proposed for the OBC category at the level of assistant professor should also be done away with.
The School of Arts and Aesthetics, the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, the School of Computer and System Sciences, the Centre for Political Studies and the Centre for Study in Science Policy favoured the reservation.
Clarity required
The notion that the reservation is not legally binding seems to have affected the faculty's view. A few schools and centres have sought more clarity on the matter.
Questions have also been raised on the roster system, which determines the number of reserved seats a centre gets against the total announced positions. Complaints have been raised over the fact that a skewed implementation of the roster system will lead to some centres or schools having more reserved positions than others.
"A concentration of reserved posts in one department and virtually no reservation in other departments would be unfair," response from the School of Arts and Aesthetics (SAA) said.
The SAA, the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament and the Centre for Study in Science Policy felt the university should make exceptions for specialised courses and those that have not been taught in India for long. "All effort needs to be made to train (the) most suitable MPhil and PhD students for future recruitment ... so that candidates from the reserved quota may apply from a position of strength," the SAA said.
In the council agenda, JNU has failed to place on record its own affidavit that could decide the debate once and for all. Filed in August 2008, it stated: "JNU is only implementing the policy or guidelines framed by the government or MHRD or UGC. As far as JNU is concerned ... it has no alternative but to implement the direction of the Central government."
The document was filed in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Citizens for Equality against the SC/ST reservation.
Economic Times
Teachers from oppressed sections would help change stereotypes
18 Mar 2010, 0514 hrs IST, Sanjaya Kumar Bohidarv-P ,
Opposition to reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) candidates in teaching faculty positions has much in common with widespread general opposition to reservations per se. The same argument of merit and excellence is adduced by anti-reservationists in all fields.
Even those who believe that social exclusion, deprivation and discrimination are better addressed through radical affirmative action and that mandated quota system is limiting, wrongly posit affirmative action against reservation. They get appropriated by rank upper caste chauvinists and strengthen the opportunist political elite that restricts the struggle against caste inequities to narrow reservationism. The need for reservation will remain perpetual without radical affirmative action to empower the deprived.
There are, in fact, good reasons for SC and ST quotas in teaching positions. School or university education is not just about imparting skills, it is also about getting socialised into a particular way of life with its own attendant system of values. Having teachers from the traditionally-oppressed sections of society would go a long way in changing traditional stereotypes on caste-occupation linkages and cultural prejudices that go with them.
There are some who argue that it is okay to have quotas even in faculty positions, but only if they are limited to the junior faculty: let there be reservations for lecturers but not for readers and professors . This argument is flawed. The junior faculty members are also engaged in teaching and research If reserving teaching positions for the traditionally-deprived would hurt the quality of the education , the harm would be done by allowing reservations even at the level of junior faculty.
The reality is: to be eligible to teach at the college level, a person has to pass a National Eligibility Test, conducted by the University Grants Commission. Moreover, each university has a process of selection where the ability of the candidates is judged. The quality of the teachers would, thus, be a function of how good this eligibility test and selection process are, not of the teachers' caste.
Further, professors are entrusted with a greater role in administration and policy-making , and direction of research and teaching. Hence, it will be enriching for educational institutions to have socially-diverse representation.
That it is often difficult to fill reserved posts because of a paucity of eligible candidates from the reserved groups doesn't become an argument against reservation. Where inadequate faculty strength hurts the academic process, administrative arrangements allow creation of additional positions till suitable candidates are identified from among the intended beneficiaries of quotas.
A separate strand in the opposition to reservation in faculty positions points out that the arguments for reservation for dalits cannot be extended to other backward castes (OBC). The OBC category indeed comprises highly-differentiated social groups ranging from near-dalits to rather prosperous communities. Instead of arguing for reservation for all OBCs and for none, appropriate economic and social identification should be sought.
Reservations actually raise the levels of merit and quality over the long run, because they broaden the talent pool for merit and quality, from a narrow section of society to its entirety. Unaided by a radical affirmative action, the timeframe from such broadening will be inordinately long.
(Sanjaya Kumar Bohidarv-P , Democratic Teachers' Front, Delhi University)
Deccan Herald
Bright prospects for a better life
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/58475/bright-prospects-better-life.html
Alka Pande , Women's Feature Service
One of the biggest challenges that schools in rural India face is poor power supply. A UNICEF-IKEA initiative brings a ray of light into the lives of girls in government schools, writes Alka Pande
Divya has a dream. Says this 12-year-old student of Class 8, now studying hard to get promoted to Class 9, "I want to study more. My dream is to become a teacher when I grow up and educate the children of my village."
Her elder sister, Meeta, isn't as lucky. Meeta stays at home because she has to cook for the family when their mother goes out to work. The girls lost their father, Ram Prasad, about two years ago, after he committed suicide because he was unable to pay back a loan of around Rs 45,000.
The one spark of hope for the family lies in Divya, who has been a student at the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalay (KGBV), a residential school functioning from a small section of a government school in Sarosa Bharosa village of Kakori block in Lucknow district in Uttar Pradesh.
Educate to empower
KGBVs are residential schools started by the Government of India in 2004-05, providing education from Class 6 to Class 8, especially for girls belonging to marginalised communities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) project.
UP today has 454 such schools, some of them in the most remote and backward areas of the state. Over 80 per cent of these girls are from SC/ST families living much below the poverty line. Each school houses 100 girls and there are more than 39,000 girls in the state are studying in them. The present infrastructure for these schools is very poor but Lalita Pradeep, State Project Officer, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, UP, hopes this will change.
The biggest challenge these schools have to face is poor power supply in a state where there is only one power connection for a population of 21, as against an all-India average of one connection for every 9.5 persons.
So bad is the situation in terms of proper lighting that even during lunch, which is served at the school corridor, the girls sit in darkness.
Vijay Laxmi, the crafts teacher at the KGBV school in which Divya is studying, says: "The girls also often keep the windows shut, especially during educational programmes on health or during cultural activities, so that the boys from the adjoining areas can't peep in."The most unfortunate aspect is that the girls cannot study after sunset, so there is no homework and no studying after school hours, according to Shuchi Mittal, the school warden.
Dispelling darkness
It is to help change this reality that a project, sponsored by IKEA, a Swedish company dealing with lighting and interior décor products, through UNICEF. The company will make available 60,000 solar lamps, known as 'Sunnan', or 'bright sun' in Swedish, to the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Angela Walker, Chief Communication Specialist, UNICEF India, believes that these solar lamps "will help children, especially girls, to play, read, write and study at night".
She points out that the objective behind these lamps is to ensure that girls who want to study, don't have to depend anymore on an erratic power supply, in order to do so.
According to the project plan, in the first phase 12,000 lamps will be distributed in 454 KGBVs so that a group of four girls gets one lamp.
The lamps that go to India and Pakistan are equipped with sturdier batteries so that they can perform in very high temperatures and are long-lasting.
They are expected to change the ways in which KGBVs have functioned until now. "So far, all the evening activities are based on oral exercises since there is no electricity at night. Now, the girls would be able to study or do any creative work after sunset. In such a situation, even one solar lamp among four girls would have a major impact on recreational as well as academic activities," says warden Shuchi Mittal.
Tackling dropout rates
This is potentially a big step forward since, invariably, as girls get older, they drop out of school.
In its Annual Status of Education Report, 2009, Pratham pointed out that while 9.5 per cent of girls in the age group of 11-14 are out of school, the number jumps to 23.5 in the age group of 15-16. UP government records confirm this trend: From Class 1-Class 5, only 10 per cent of children drop out. From Class 6 to Class 8, the figure goes up to 34 per cent.
The new solar lamps may just help shine the light on the benefits of such education. And if that happens more KGBV students like Divya can continue working towards realising their dreams.
--
.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.
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