Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 30.10.11
Mirchpur killings: Court's verdict on Sunday - Zee News
http://zeenews.india.com/news/haryana/mirchpur-killings-court-s-verdict-on-sunday_738855.html
'Gandhi has always been little short of God to me' - Bangalore Mirror
'Finally, a place that's our own' - The Times Of India
Is movement matching monument? - The Times Of India
Zee News
Mirchpur killings: Court's verdict on Sunday
http://zeenews.india.com/news/haryana/mirchpur-killings-court-s-verdict-on-sunday_738855.html
Last Updated: Sunday, October 30, 2011, 09:29
New Delhi: A local court is likely to deliver on Sunday its verdict on the quantum of sentence against 15 people, convicted for burning alive a 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter at Mirchpur village in Haryana's Hissar district last year.
"Case be listed for orders on sentence on October 31," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau had said after hearing the arguments on sentence from the prosecution as well as the defence counsel.
The judge had also asked for a report of the probation officer of Hissar regarding seven of the 15 convicts, who were first-time offenders, after the defence counsel had said they would be entitled for the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act as they were not booked under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The court had earlier acquitted 82 out of 97 accused in the case saying the allegations levelled against them were not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The 15 convicts, belonging to Jat community, were held guilty for setting ablaze victim Tara Chand's house, which caused the deaths on April 21. The incident took place after a dispute between Jat and Dalit community of the village.
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The court had convicted Kulwinder, Ramphal and Rajender on charges of committing unintentional killing under Section 304 of the IPC. The trio might get life-term, which is the maximum sentence for the offence.
Besides these three, 12 others were convicted on milder charges of arson, rioting and making unlawful assembly. Six of them -- Monu, Baljeet, Karamveer, Karampal, Dharambir and Bobal -- were convicted for setting ablaze the houses of Dalits.
Another six persons were held guilty for rioting, unlawful assembly and causing damages to properties by stone-pelting.
The court had convicted the 15 accused after examining 68 prosecution witnesses, 44 defence witnesses and one court witness.
The accused were tried under various IPC sections dealing with murder, rioting, making unlawful assembly, promoting enmity between different communities, physical assault, creating mischief and damaging public property.
The accused resorted to rioting and attacked the houses of people of Dalit community on April 21 as a pet dog of a Dalit had barked at a group of Jats two days ago when they were passing through the colony, according to the charge sheet.
They got enraged when a Dalit boy objected to hurling of stones by Jat youths at the dog, it said, adding that later it led to the killings of Tara Chand and his physically-challenged teenage daughter. PTI
Bangalore Mirror
'Gandhi has always been little short of God to me'
Posted On Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 07:43:15 PM
Veteran Journalist Mark Tully once again draws on 30 years of reporting on India to pen Non Stop India. He crisscrosses the country in search of answers where he encounters interesting human stories; tales that might jolt contemporary, urban India. Excerpts from the book...
The third village we visited was Isanpur. It was shared by Dalits and upper caste Thakurs or Rajputs, traditionally landlords. We found the Dalits as usual living in a separate part of the village. They were less upbeat and more angry than the Dalits living in their own villages. One of the older villagers, Harkesh, did say that there had been changes, "We now sit on the same level. They respect me," he explained and went on, "Before, if they were sitting down to eat they would tell us to eat separately. If we went to meet them we had to sit on the earth, not on the carpet."
But Battan, an angry, elderly villager with a long, lugubrious face, contested this view hotly, "These are small matters.
here's been no change in their hearts. We still cannot offer water in their Shiva temple. I am sixty-two years old, and what I saw in my father's day I see today."
Some of the villagers tried to interrupt but Battan wasn't going to be stopped: "They still hate everything I touch. I cannot sit with them on a charpoy. When everyone has eaten then they feed us. I haven't been to any function for twenty-five years but my family tells me what happens. Yes, some things have changed. Before, we lived in huts, now we have a house but that has made them angry. They are jealous that we wear decent clothes but they can't say it out loud."
Battan paused for a moment and then added, "Before, if we were talking to a Thakur we had to stand downwind of him. They can't insist on that now."
This group of Dalits didn't think their economic circumstances had improved. There was less work on the land because there were no bullocks, and so no ploughing. They did get work at harvest times and got paid in grain. None of them had land of their own.
As there was no ploughing and there were no bullocks I assumed that the halwaha system had died out. But when I asked whether that was so, the villagers shouted, "Bhura – he is a halwaha." However, Bhura, an elderly man wearing a vest, which seemed to be the standard dress for the Dalits of this village, said, "That's not exactly so. Yes, I work every day for a farmer but I am not bonded. I have worked for the same farm from the beginning to now and, see, I'm in my old age, but that doesn't mean I am bonded. He pays me one hundred rupees every day." "What do you mean beginning?" someone asked.
Bhura pointed to a young teenager and said, "A little smaller than him. About twelve, I suppose."
When I asked what change he'd seen in his long working life he replied: "There have been improvements in the last twenty years. They don't swear at us and curse us any longer. My employers' family is not rude to me. But I can't sit on a charpoy with them, or eat from their dishes. I keep my own dishes there because they give me one meal a day."
…….When I asked about education I was told there were no graduates in the Dalit community of Isanpur. But then someone pointed to a young woman and said, "She's a graduate." The woman muttered, "I'm high-school failed."
As we drove back to Khurja I thought of that statue of Ambedkar with his thick glasses and the villager who said to me, "He is god." Gandhi has always been little short of God to me, although he would be appalled to hear that as he always resisted any attempt to sanctify him, let alone treat him as divine. I have seen countless similar statues of Ambedkar in different parts of India but for the first time a statue made me wonder whether in my admiration for Gandhi I had paid insufficient attention to Ambedkar. I had often written of Gandhi's movement to eradicate untouchability and ensure the Dalits were honoured, of his calling them Harijans, or Children of God. But that was perhaps romantic or at least unrealistic, whereas Ambedkar had been thoroughly realistic in calling those who belonged to his and other untouchable castes Dalits, or the oppressed.
In the late thirties the Mahatma devoted himself to dealing with the problems of villages and villagers. The problems he addressed were lack of sanitation, deficient diet, and inertia. Ambedkar on the other hand saw the problem as cultural. He once asked, "What is a village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow mindedness and communalism?"
Although Ambedkar's words are very harsh I can now understand why he passed that judgement on village India.
.......If he were alive now how would he judge village India after nearly sixty-five years of Independence?
The Times Of India
'Finally, a place that's our own'
Parakram Rautela, TNN | Oct 30, 2011, 07.44AM IST
With Rs 685 crore, a government can do a lot. It can build primary schools for thousands of children , much-needed hospitals for the sick, roads for those still unconnected. Instead, Mayawati chose to use the money to build a park in Noida in memory of dalit leaders and herself. An earlier park in Lucknow was built at a whopping Rs 1,200 crore. So how does a park, which seems largely decorative, serve the dalit community? Isn't it a colossal waste of money?
The dalit community, however, stands solidly behind Mayawati's creations, be it parks or monuments. For them, the money could not have been spent better. Vinod Arya, 29, an assistant professor at the Central University of B i h a r i n Patna, says, " N o b o dy seems to complain when a Nehru or a Gandhi park is bu i l t . N o r when crores are spent on t h e Kumbh Mela or the Haj. But when dalits build something, everybody has a problem."
Vivek Kumar, associate professor of sociology at JNU, says dalits were excluded from every walk of life. They were not allowed to enter temples and were isolated in villages where they did menial jobs which no one else would deign to do. And because of their backwardness , they were not found in large numbers in the government or the private sector. The parks have changed the way they perceive themselves . "Finally," says Kumar , "we have a place that is our own." He says he spoke to 5,000 dalits - rich, poor and Muslim - for a research project he was doing on UP and nowhere did he come across anyone who was "embarrassed by the monuments" .
But could the money have been better used? Commentator Gurcharan Das says that economically speaking, yes. The money could have been used on schools, hospitals and infrastructure . At the same time, it would be foolish to underestimate these symbols of dalit assertion, he adds.
And that's exactly how Surendra Singh felt on October 14, the day Prerna Sthal was inaugurated by Mayawati in Noida. Singh, 30, is president of Youth for Social Justice, an organization that works for dalits. "I was there that day," he says. "And just like your belief is strengthened when you go to a temple, my belief was strengthened as I stood in the middle of the Sthal."
The parks, then, asserts Kumar, will foster confidence among dalits. "In fact, the parks announce that the cultural hegemony of nondalits and the exclusion of dalits are finally over. They are more than mere ornamental entities."
As Arya says, when Kanshi Ram first began campaigning, he often had trouble finding space to hold a rally. With these parks, that will never be a problem again. In that sense, they serve a very tangible purpose.
Kumar adds another qualification. It's not as if infrastructure suffered during Mayawati's regime, he says, rattling off a list of statistics: 1,47,500 homes built for dalits under the Kanshi Ram Shahri Garibi Awas Yojana and 22,000 Ambedkar villages with roads, electricity, schools and polling booths. In 2007, UP's GDP stood at 5.2%; today , it's 7.2%. UP has become a revenue surplus state and in 2009 was the highest producer of jobs. But there's still a long way to go. Perhaps, as Arya says, Mayawati should now focus on education and health.
The Times Of India
Is movement matching monument?
Ashish Tripathi, TNN | Oct 30, 2011, 07.35AM IST
NEW DELHI: The colossal statues, gargantuan memorials, swathes of parks. As Mayawatigoes on a building spree, we look at how dalits have actually fared in Uttar Pradesh.
Agiant statue in a Lucknow square made 12-year-old Rashi curious . Whose statue is this, she asked her father. Although a BSP worker, Jhanki Ram couldn't go beyond the name - Jyotiba Phule. But not wanting to show his ignorance, he added, "He was a Mahatma who did a lot for the dalit community" . Both had come from Etawah to take part in Kanshiram Parinirvan functions this month. For them, the tour of dalit memorials raised by Mayawati was empowering. "It shows that we also have a history," said Ram, especially impressed by the massive memorial of dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar.
The memorials, built at a cost of more than Rs 3,000 crore, are described as places of dalit pilgrimage by the BSP, UP chief minister Mayawati's party. Dalit aspirations and assertions have increased manifold during her regime. They now have a 'history' to be proud of and icons to follow. It's reflected not only in the statues of Ambedkar installed in almost all villages with a dalit population but also in the increase in dalit outfits such as Valmiki Samaj, Pasi Mahasangh and Charmkar Parishad.
Vital parameters, too, have changed for the better in UP. The recent Human Development Index report reveals that its Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) grew by 76% in the last five years, almost at par with Gujarat. The planning ministry revealed that UP was among five states which had higher growth rates than their 11th Plan (2007-12 ) targets. Its GDP grew to 7.28% as against a target of 6.10%. It was also awarded "best performing state in agriculture" by the UPA this year.
But all this wasn't achieved in a jiffy. Political observer Sudhir Panwar said the condition of dalits started changing only from the '50s with land reforms, followed by loan waivers for schedule castes by Indira Gandhi in the '70s, abolishing of bonded labour and development of urban centers. This opened new avenues for landless dalits who were dependent primarily on farm labour. Reservation in government jobs added a much-needed impetus to dalit empowerment.
Mayawati, in a way, has taken forward this movement. In the last five years, she has pumped over Rs one lakh crore into various schemes, particularly for dalits and the marginalized . These include development of Ambedkar villages, giving more than two lakh free houses for the urban poor, Rs 400 monthly pension for those deprived of the benefits of BPL, and scholarships and free bicycles for girls in class XI and XII. In addition, there's 23% quota for SCs and 27% for OBCs in industrial units under a publicprivate-partnership , 23% quota for dalits and tribals in government contracts , land for those living in slums for at least five years and filling up more than a lakh vacancies reserved for dalits and backward communities.
Economic growth has also been spurred by heavy investment in real estate in the National Capital Region, in expressways, in the power sector and in small and medium enterprises-Politically , there's been stability. Before Mayawati's regime, from 1989 to 2007, no party in UP had absolute majority.
However, a study, 'Rethinking Inequality : Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era' , by Devesh Kapur, director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India ( University of Pennsylvania), says Mayawati is the product of dalit empowerment, not the cause. But, yes, processes have accelerated under her.
"The transformation started in the '90s when dalits started migrating to cities and got their children educated," said Lenin Raghuvanshi , an activist. A new dalit middle class emerged. Some of UP's leading doctors are dalits. But Lenin says, "Ambedkar had said that dalits would have to organize, agitate and educate. Mayawati hasn't been able to change the feudal mindset. Memorials may make dalits feel good, but the caste system has just the opposite effect."
Former IPS officer and dalit activist S R Darapuri finds the memorials a criminal waste of money. "Babasaheb was not in favour of installing statues. Mayawati could have done wonders had she established Ambedkar libraries in every village," he said. There are other harsh realities. While the Human Index Report lauds UP for NSDP growth, it also states that the Human Development Index is below the national average of 0.467 due to poor health services and low incomes. Caste-based rivalry can still be found in government departments, universities and educational institutions. Also, the fruits of welfare schemes haven't reached the grassroots level because of corruption, said Darapuri. Cadres collecting money for donations , party funds, etc, aren't above board. Mayawati, he alleged, had also created a rift between dalit sub-castes .
Whatever be the case, there's no doubt that dalits are seeing better days, at least in cities. For example, in Para, a locality in Lucknow, they live in houses donated by the government. For Shewta, a dalit student, the free bicycle she got has revolutionized her life. "Now girls can easily go to school and run errands," she said.
But some 15 km from Para, in Ismailganj , dalits are still treated as untouchables. "Earlier, we weren't allowed to draw water from the public hand pump by higher castes. They have relented now, but they still wash the pump after we use it," said Hema, a local resident. There are no drains, sewer lines or roads here. The primary health clinic is a garbage dump.
Even crime against dalits has increased , says Lenin, due to their newfound assertiveness. Mayawati claims that since 2007, when she came to power, murder of dalits has shown a decline by 29.30%, arson against them has been brought down by 50% and rape of dalit women by 19%. Ministers, MLAs and MPs who are involved in criminal activities have been booked by the police and sent to jail - no other party has done this in India. But Darapuri claims that 40% of atrocity cases against dalits aren't registered because of pressure from top police echelons to keep crime rates low.
At the socio-economic level, says Ashok Chaudhary, a well-known social activist, significant growth isn't visible . Despite all that the BSP has done, the state machinery has not changed. "BSP's role in economic empowerment remains the same as any other mainstream party." Social and political growth of disempowered sections, he says, comes with rising consciousness about their rights and eagerness to use whatever political space is available. "This consciousness will grow in the coming years whether Mayawati remains in power or not," he says. There will be many, both dalits and upper castes, waiting for that dawn.
--
.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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