From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 16, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 15.05.10
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 15.05.10
This woman wages a lone battle against khaps - The Times of India
Shy of asking caste, census enumerators just guess it! - The Times of India
Caste census to boost caste politics - The Times of India
Dalit literature a distinctive stream: Marathi author - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051555380300.htm
Why caste should be counted in - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051564951700.htm
The Times of India
This woman wages a lone battle against khaps
Sukhbir Siwach, TNN, May 15, 2010, 02.13am IST
CHANDIGARH: Top politicians kowtow to them. The police watch from a distance when they hold their mahapanchayats. Lovers shiver at their mention. But, if the dreaded khap panchayats in Haryana's badlands fear anyone, it's a 50-year-old woman — a former international volleyball player — who is contemptuous of their diktats.
Three decades ago, when three girls from rural Haryana could not join Jagmati Sangwan to represent India in volleyball for Asiad because they were married off by their parents, it marked a turning point in her career: the beginning of a long struggle against oppression of women.
It pained her when India returned with a bronze as she believed the three girls would have got the country gold. What rankled her more was the fate of numerous girls in Haryana whose cause she then took up with a gusto.
It was in 2002 that Sangwan won a major battle when she barged into a mahakhap panchayat at Sir Chhotu Ram Park in Rohtak. Khaps do not allow women into their meetings. But, Sangwan, made of sterner stuff, couldn't be pushed around. None dared ask her to leave.
Jagmati's voice against khap fatwa is so strong that she has become an eyesore for these Taliban-type courts. Irritated by her, khaps have termed her a "gang leader".
"They try to defame me but I continue my fight for the rights of women and the weaker sections. The khaps are anti-women and anti-Dalit," said Sangwan, director of Women's Study Centre, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak.
Sangwan has a force of over 1,000 women activists, being state president of the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA). When the powerful panchayat in Karora village of Jind district was adamant on social boycott of the family of Manoj after the infamous honour killing in which he and his wife Babli were murdered for marrying "despite belonging to the same gotra", Sangwan was the first to support their families.
"It would have been difficult for us even to survive without the support of Jagmati," said Chanderpati, the mother of Manoj. Not only this, when police did not arrest influential khap leader Ganga Raj in the honour killing, Sangwan called for a statewide protest, forcing the leader to surrender.
Sangwan began raising her voice against the khaps in 1988, when a girl was raped for revenge after her brother eloped with a girl from the same village in Jind. "We forced the police to lodge an FIR against the rapists and kept the victim with us for six months to ensure her safety," said Sangwan.
The Times of India
Shy of asking caste, census enumerators just guess it!
TNN, May 15, 2010, 03.36am IST
HYDERABAD (Andhra Pradesh): Census officials in the state are giving the caste column a miss with enumerators in the city shying away from asking the "what is your caste" question.
While there is an exclusive column marked as 'SC/ST/Others' in the census sheets, which has created much controversy across the country, the officials visiting households have taken to peering at name plates before entering the house, or simply guessing just what the caste of the resident would be and marking the column themselves.
Denizens who have been visited by census officials say that enumerators either filled the caste column on their own without asking for it explicitly or just ignored the detail altogether. Interestingly, some enumerators when probed by curious residents confessed that asking about a family's caste was 'awkward' and they were, therefore, not listing that information. "The enumerator, a government teacher, who came to my house said that he guessed my caste from my surname and asking it directly was neither necessary nor appropriate," said a resident of Begumpet.
In some cases, the enumerators even asked neighbours for this detail to avoid being in an "uncomfortable position". "When I asked the enumerator about the caste column, he blatantly told me that he had found it out from my neighbour as he was not sure if we would be comfortable answering that question," said another resident.
Whatever the reason, residents are worried with this 'caste-conscious' attitude of enumerators, pointing out it could lead to serious errors in this crucial exercise.
Said a resident of Hyderguda, "At first the census official gave the question a miss. Later, conversationally he asked whether I was SC or ST. It was evident that he did that with much effort." Besides, with many officials filling census sheets in Telugu, many non-Telugu speaking families resented that they could not even read what details were being filled about them.
Meanwhile, senior census officials said no such instructions had been given to enumerators and that confirming whether a family falls under the SC/ST or Others bracket was necessary. "We have directed our officers to list the caste of the head of the family alone. When the nation-wide census happens in February next year, then we shall be asking each and every person in the family their caste," said a senior officer of the census department.
He maintained that all enumerators were trained to ask all the 35 questions on the census schedule and caste was one of them. "In case people are not being asked they can register a complaint with us and we shall look into it," the officer said. That would mean a hell of a lot of complaints.
The Times of India
Caste census to boost caste politics
Faizan Ahmad, TNN, May 14, 2010, 04.40am IST
PATNA (Bihar): From birth to death, the only factor that counts is caste. From admission in educational institutions to jobs to contesting elections, this factor alone plays a decisive role.
Caste is still a big social reality and it largely determines many socio-political, economic and family issues. The political leaders may be clamouring that they consider caste factor the least and that the caste should no longer be an identity, but in reality, caste reigns supreme.
That is the reason why almost all the regional political parties, which are heavily based on caste, made a strong plea for a caste-based census. The Congress-led UPA government, which is also not averse to caste-based politics, has agreed to discuss the issue in the cabinet. "Caste is taken into consideration from politics to matrimonial deals on a day-to-day basis, then why not the actual reality of caste configuration be updated in the present census," argued social scientist Shaibal Gupta of Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI).
All the three top politicians of Bihar — chief minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U), RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan — have strongly advocated for caste census. Lalu and two other Yadav leaders, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, compelled the UPA government in the Lok Sabha to concede their demand.
"The census should be held caste-wise to establish the correct strength of the backward and extremely backward castes," Nitish said. Pleading for the head count of OBC and EBC sections, the CM said it will pave the way for devising plan for their all-round development as was being done in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Extremely Backward Caste Coordination Committee president Kishori Das said: "Under a political conspiracy, caste census could not be held for 80 years. The upper caste ruling class always opposed this."
Das and others estimated the backward classes population between 55 and 60%. About 3,743 castes had been identified as backward by the Mandal Commission. Of them, only 1,998 had been accepted by the Supreme Court since they were found common in the Mandal and state's list of OBCs, he added.
Senior JD(U) leader and party's Chetna Manch president Bheem Singh, MLC, said the head count on caste basis will also solve many unsolved issues. In higher educational institutions, the backward cannot get reservation as the figures of the castes could not be provided. In the Indira Sahni vs Union of India case, the Supreme Court judges observed that there had never been a caste census from where the 52% OBC population concept was derived.
Das said all the commissions like Kaka Kalelkar, Mandal and Venkata Chelliah had recommended caste census. Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly proposed: "Wherein adequate safeguard shall be provided for minorities backwards, tribal areas, depressed and backward classes of the society." In 1951, the then law minister, B R Ambedkar, in his resignation letter, pointed out: "I will now refer to another matter that had me dissatisfied with the government. It relates to treatment accorded to backward classes."
Gupta of ADRI said the 1931 census was outdated so a fresh caste census was needed. "The updated caste census will be a delight for researchers," he added.
The Hindu
Dalit literature a distinctive stream: Marathi author
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051555380300.htm
Staff Reporter
| Says Dalit authors are activists too |
KOLLAM (Kerala): Marathi author Sharankumar Limbale here on Friday said that Dalit literature was a new and distinctive stream of Indian literature.
He was inaugurating a national seminar on 'literature, art and culture', organised in connection with the State conference of the Purogamana Kalasahithya Sanghom.
Mr. Limbale, at the same time, wondered how long Dalit literature would remain new and distinctive. In order to understand Dalit literature, one would have to understand the caste structure.
Mr. Limbale said Dalit authors were also activists.
Progressive literature
"Progressive writers are those who open the doors of a caste-ridden society and provide entry to the Dalits as human beings." He said progressive literature required a socio-political document.
Mr. Limbale said "the commitment of the author is his way of life." He felt that the State conference was a gathering which inspired him a lot because he could meet several well known Malayalam writers under a single roof.
Historian K.N. Panikkar presided over the seminar. Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University P.M. Rajan Gurukkal delivered the keynote address.
Vice-Chancellor of the Kerala Kalamandalam K.G. Paulose, literary critic Sunil P. Elayidam, Suja Susan George and P.K Pokkar spoke.
A resolution was passed at the conference calling upon the people to isolate those who tried to stymie the development of the State.
The resolution noted that there was a conspiracy to demolish the development agenda of the Left Democratic Front government by unleashing unnecessary controversies and violent agitations.
Another resolution called for ensuring progress of Malayalam language.
The Hindu
Why caste should be counted in
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051564951700.htm
Yogendra Yadav
| Enumeration of the OBCs as part of the Census will help evidence-based formulation and monitoring of policies of social justice. It should have been done in 2001 itself. |
The United Progressive Alliance government has a knack of arriving at the right decisions for the wrong reasons. The latest announcement on counting caste in the Census is a case in point. In this instance, as in the case of Telangana, a policy measure that was long overdue has been made to look like a hasty decision. As in the case of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the government needed some arm-twisting to act in the larger national interest, and its own. The decision to count the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the coming Census is, and should have been, presented as a forward-looking and overdue policy announcement that would help evidence-based formulation and monitoring of policies of social justice. Instead, by presenting it as a reluctant concession to retrograde forces, the government has left itself open to needless and ill-informed criticism from the usual quarters.
The government's silence on what exactly the decision is, has only added to the confusion. Media headlines and parliamentary discussions have spoken of a "Caste Census." This gives the impression that the government has decided to resume the colonial practice of enumeration, and often ranking, of all castes and sub-castes among Hindus. But Pranab Mukherjee's statement to the media indicates that the government proposes to do something more limited — to extend the current practice of recording the SCs and the STs to include the OBCs. In other words, the enumerators will ask everyone if they belong to an SC or an ST or an OBC (enumerators already do so in the case of the SCs and the STs), and if the respondents do, the enumerators will record the exact caste name. Others will not be asked about their caste name. This appears to be the most reasonable interpretation of the demand for a "caste-based census" in the present context.
There are some good arguments for a full caste-based Census, as those advanced by Professor Satish Deshpande. But we may not be ready for it at this stage of the current census operations and national deliberations. If we take 'caste-based census' to mean OBC enumeration, as I do here, this will not be a dramatic reversal of an 80-year-old policy, but only a logical culmination of many earlier attempts. Over the years, partial attempts have been made by several States — Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — to collect this information with the help of specially appointed commissions. Karnataka is the pioneer and exemplar. The Mandal Commission used a sample survey to gather this information at the national level. But in the absence of its inclusion in the Census process, these kinds of evidence have remained partial and unverified.
Vital information
What do we get from such an enumeration? Quite a lot, if we care about putting policies of affirmative action on a sound, empirical footing and putting at rest endless disputes about the size and backwardness of various communities. An enumeration of the OBCs will not only settle disputes about their numbers but also yield vital information about the socio-educational and economic conditions of the communities. Specifically, the Census will now give us robust information about the numbers, demographics (sex ratio, mortality, life expectancy), educational data (literacy, ratio of school-going population, number of graduates and so on) and economic conditions (assets, working population and so on) of the OBC castes. The data will be available for each State and district, and for each caste and community within an OBC. These will become the basis for fine-tuning reservations and other schemes and for adjudicating politically sensitive disputes regarding inclusion or exclusion. It may not be sufficient to design policies of affirmative action – the Census does not record the upper end of salaried jobs as an occupational category — but it will still be a giant leap forward.
Enumeration of the OBCs is not an optional policy. No modern state has the option of not counting the social groups that it recognises in its law and policy. Thus, the policy of reservations for the OBCs in government jobs and educational institutions, besides a host of other schemes for the benefit of backward classes, mandates that this group be enumerated. The judiciary has repeatedly asked for robust empirical evidence for the formulation of any affirmative action policy. OBC enumeration should have begun in 2001, in the first Census after OBC reservations came into effect. Indeed, the then Registrar General had proposed it. It was shot down by the Home Ministry in the National Democratic Alliance government.
Question of timing
Is it feasible to undertake the exercise at this stage, now that Census operations have begun? No doubt this decision should ideally have come earlier, and it is perhaps too late for a full enumeration of all castes. But enumeration of the OBCs is not impossible even at this stage. The National Commission for Backward Classes has already prepared a list of "Socially and Educationally Backward Classes" — legal nomenclature for the OBCs. This can be the basis of identification of these communities across the country. This can be supplemented by the list of all caste-communities in each State, compiled by the Anthropological Survey of India under the 'People of India' project. Listing of castes at the district level will, of course, pose some challenges. But that is no different in terms of either scale or complexity from similar problems encountered with other census categories, notably occupation and language. Objections on practical grounds are clearly misplaced, if not mischievous.
What about objections on grounds of principles? There is an understandable unease about giving caste primacy in public life. But it is unclear how counting of the OBCs is in this respect qualitatively different from counting the SCs and the STs. We have done this for more than half a century. It is true that official enumeration of any category tends to solidify its boundaries a little more than would be the case otherwise. But this subtle and long-term cost has to be weighed against the most evident and short and long term cost of official non-recognition of categories that everyone operates with. If the enumeration of religious communities has not led to the breakdown of secular order in India, and if enumeration of race in the U.S. has not made U.S. politics racist, it is unlikely that the enumeration of one more caste group would push the country into the prison of caste.
In any case, the way to transcend caste is not to close our eyes to it, but to look at it very closely, identify and neutralise its relationship with disadvantage and discrimination, and to discover how caste relates to other social divisions such as gender and class. That is what necessitates a caste-based census.
( The author is Senior Fellow with the CSDS, Delhi. He is currently at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.)
--
.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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