Dalits Media Watch News Updates 13.11.14 Western UP rocked by three communal clashes in 24 hours - Mail Online India dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2832295/Western-rocked-three-communal-clashes-24-hours.html Just 5% of Indian marriages are inter-caste: survey - The Hindu thehindu/data/just-5-per-cent-of-indian-marriages-are-intercaste/article6591502.ece Pvt companies seek bribe to dig borewell - Deccan Herald deccanherald/content/441160/039pvt-companies-seek-bribe-dig.html Mahadalits participate in PACS polls - The Times Of India timesofindia.indiatimes/City/Patna/Mahadalits-participate-in-PACS-polls/articleshow/45129711.cms ‘Officials will be booked if SC, ST communities don’t receive benefits’ - The Hindu thehindu/news/national/karnataka/officials-will-be-booked-if-sc-st-communities-dont-receive-benefits/article6591841.ece School uniform scam: Cong blames CM for cops’ inaction - The Hindustan Times hindustantimes/punjab/chandigarh/school-uniform-scam-cong-blames-cm-for-cops-inaction/article1-1285450.aspx Recitation row - Frontline frontline.in/the-nation/recitation-row/article6586198.ece?homepage=true Mail Online India Western UP rocked by three communal clashes in 24 hours dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2832295/Western-rocked-three-communal-clashes-24-hours.html By PIYUSH SRIVASTAVA PUBLISHED: 03:48 GMT, 13 November 2014 | UPDATED: 03:48 GMT, 13 November 2014 Three incidents of communal violence were reported from the volatile western part of Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours. On Tuesday night, Dalits and Muslims clashed at Sonata village in Shamli district over sharing water from a hand-pump. At least six houses of both communities were set on fire by the rioters. Half-a-dozen people also sustained injuries. The Dalits alleged that they were prevented from using the hand-pump in the village. “We were not being allowed to use the hand-pump for the last one year. We used to avail the service of another hand-pump. But now we have no option because it is not working,” villager Ram Babu told the police. A large police force has been deployed to prevent further violence in the village. In another incident on Tuesday evening, a Muslim youth died of a bullet injury sustained in a communal clash at Datiyana village in Muzaffarnagar district. Eyewitnesses told the police that trouble broke out when the youth tried to stop a villager from thrashing a labourer. “This led to a clash between the two communities. Both the sides fired at each other. The youth was hit by a bullet and died on his way to the hospital,” an eyewitness said. One person has been arrested in connection with the murder. Matkota area in Hathras district witnessed communal clashes on Wednesday when some people objected to dumping of construction material on the road. The construction material was meant to build a house in the locality. The clash left two people injured. The Hindu Just 5% of Indian marriages are inter-caste: survey thehindu/data/just-5-per-cent-of-indian-marriages-are-intercaste/article6591502.ece Rukmini S 30 per cent of rural and 20 per cent of urban households said they practised untouchability Just five per cent of Indians said they had married a person from a different caste, says the first direct estimate of inter-caste marriages in India. The India Human Development Survey (IHDS), conducted by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland, also reported that 30 per cent of rural and 20 per cent of urban households said they practised untouchability. The IHDS is the largest non-government, pan-Indian household survey. It covers over 42,000 households, representative by class and social group. Its findings, yet to be made public, were shared exclusively with The Hindu. When married women aged between 15 and 49 were asked if theirs was an inter-caste marriage, just 5.4 per cent said yes, the proportion being marginally higher for urban over rural India. There was no change in this proportion from the previous round of the IHDS (2004-05). Inter-caste marriages were rarest in Madhya Pradesh (under 1 per cent) and most common in Gujarat and Bihar (over 11 per cent). Survey finds practice of untouchability The India Human Development Survey said what female respondents interpreted as a “different caste” is likely to have been subjective, but ultimately closer to the lived reality of an inter-caste marriage. “Questions on caste are some of the most complex questions Indian surveys can ask. The same person will say ‘I am Baniya’ today and say ‘I am Modh Banik’ tomorrow; both would be correct,” Sonalde Desai, a demographer who is Senior Fellow at NCAER and Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, who led the IHDS-II, told The Hindu. “So the IHDS took a simple approach and asked women whether their natal family belongs to the same caste as their husband’s family, allowing us to bypass the complex issue of defining what caste means and get subjective percept-ions from our respondents,” Dr. Desai said. The NCAER survey also asked respondents if they practised untouchability, following it up with a question on whether the respondent would allow a lower caste person to enter their kitchen or use their utensils. A third of rural respondents and a fifth of urban respondents admitted to practising untouchability. The practice was most common among Brahmins (62 per cent in rural India, 39 per cent in urban), followed by Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and then non-Brahmin forward castes. The only other estimate on the extent of inter-caste marriage came from an indirect method. Comparing the answers that the husbands and wives of the same household gave to the National Family Health Survey, researchers Kumudini Das, K.C. Das, T.K. Roy and P.K. Tripathy found that 11 per cent of couples in the 2005-06 NFHS stated different caste groups. “This was an indirect way of estimating the extent of inter-caste marriages. We cannot say if it was accurate, but it was a way to approach the truth,” Dr. K.C. Das, Professor in the Department of Migration and Urban Studies at the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), explained to The Hindu. Deccan Herald Pvt companies seek bribe to dig borewell deccanherald/content/441160/039pvt-companies-seek-bribe-dig.html Mysuru, Nov 13, 2014, DHNS Representatives of tribal communities from Hunsur and H D Kote taluks of Mysuru district have alleged that representatives of a company were demanding money for selecting locations to dig borewells. The borewells are being dug under various SC/ST schemes in the district. Speaking at the review meeting SC/ST welfare schemes chaired by MP R Dhruvanarayan, Somanna from H D Kote informed that geologists were demanding up to Rs 1,000 for the same. Moreover, the borewells hence dug were installed with faulty water pumps and old wires, which had rendered them defunct in a short while. “Freshly painted old pumps are being installed. The illiterate tribal communities are being fooled,” Somanna alleged. Dhruvanarayan said that implementing officials should ensure the quality of pumps. Deputy Commissioner, C Shikha, said that the number of beneficiaries were also less, which allowed the officials to conduct spot inspections. While representatives present in the meeting complained that no spot inspections have been conducted, officials said that following inspections, only works of three of the 135 borewells were found to be substandard. Dhruvanarayan asked the officials to serve notices to the contractors, against demanding money from tribals and for the substandard works taken up by them. Hostels During the meeting, officials of the Social Welfare department were instructed to submit a comprehensive report on the state of hostels in the district. Dhruvanarayan, referring to his recent visits to hostels, said that basic facilities were found to be lacking in several hostels of the department. The Times Of India Mahadalits participate in PACS polls timesofindia.indiatimes/City/Patna/Mahadalits-participate-in-PACS-polls/articleshow/45129711.cms TNN | Nov 13, 2014, 04.19 AM IST NAWADA: Eight village panchayats comprising 70 villages went to polls in the last phase of PACS elections to elect their respective presidents and members at Pakribarma and Warisalganj blocks on Wednesday. The most significant aspect of the poll was the presence of a large number of male mahadalits, whose name figured in the voters list despite not possessing even a decimal of agricultural land. As per rules, only those can become members of PACS and have voting rights who are farmers possessing agricultural land. Since majority of the mushars numbering around 5 lakh in Nawada alone had migrated to other states to work at brick kilns, they were brought back in private vehicles by the candidates and off loaded at the booths for their votes. Some of them, who had gathered at Bhualchak village under Makanpur panchayat under Warisaliganj PS appeared drunk and openly demanded liquor from the candidates. The Hindu ‘Officials will be booked if SC, ST communities don’t receive benefits’ thehindu/news/national/karnataka/officials-will-be-booked-if-sc-st-communities-dont-receive-benefits/article6591841.ece H. S. Narasimha Kumar R. Dhruvanarayan, MP, has said the State government has decided to book criminal cases against officers who fail to provide benefits to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities under the Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Special Plan (TSP) as well as under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Participating in the district SC and ST Hitharakshana (welfare committee) Samiti meeting here on Wednesday, Mr. Dhurvanarayan instructed the officials of the zilla panchayat, taluk panchayat and gram panchayat, Mysuru City Corporation, Mysure Urban Development Authority and other departments such as Horticulture, Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry to provide facilities under the 22.75 per cent scheme. He said that laxity on the part of officials in providing facilities to SC and ST communities would not be tolerated. He said that it had come to his notice that part of the grants reserved for SC and ST communities in many local bodies had either been diverted or not been utilised. Hitherto, grants released lapsed if they were not used in the stipulated time period. However, he said the government had issued a circular stating that the funds that could not be used in a particular year could be used in the subsequent year. ‘Keep track’ The MP instructed Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha and Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat Gopal to keep track of all departments, including local bodies, and ensure that funds released for the development of SC and ST communities were utilised. He asked them to monitor the funds and instruct officials to go to people’s houses and inform them of schemes as many people were unaware. The Hindustan Times School uniform scam: Cong blames CM for cops’ inaction hindustantimes/punjab/chandigarh/school-uniform-scam-cong-blames-cm-for-cops-inaction/article1-1285450.aspx HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times Chandigarh, November 13, 2014 First Published: 00:05 IST(13/11/2014) | Last Updated: 07:45 IST(13/11/2014) The Congress has accused the Punjab chief minister of pressurising the police to not register a case against a former district education officer (DEO), who was held responsible for financial irregularities in the payment of Rs. 4.89 crore for school uniform of students from economically backward sections in Gurdaspur district in 2012. At a press conference here on Wednesday, Punjab Congress spokesman Sukhpal Khaira said: “The police have so far not registered a case despite receiving several letters from the education department and the director general of school education (DGSE) for lodging a first information report and initiating criminal proceedings against dismissed DEO Shindo Sahni.” Khaira said he had written to governor Shivraj Patil to intervene and ensure police action in the case so that the alleged role of then education minister came to light. He said an official letter (dated April 17, 2012) written by the then DGSE-cum-state project director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to the Gurdaspur SSP read: “Rs 4.89 crore were electronically transferred to the SSA bank account under the DEO, Gurdaspur, and the money was, in turn, directly paid to three suppliers in violation of the guidelines for spending the SSA grants. According to the guidelines, the DEO was to ensure the purchase and distribution of school uniform to around 1.22 lakh school children, including all girl students, Scheduled Caste students and below poverty line (BPL) students. Khaira stated: “The DEO, under the directions from then education minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan, who hails from Gurdaspur, blatantly flouted the guidelines and directed all block primary education officers, through a letter dated April 7, 2011, to make direct payments to two firms namely M/s Elite Tube Pvt Ltd and M/s Karan Enterprises, both from Jalandhar. Misappropriation and embezzlement of the said grant has been explained in the DGSE’s letter to the Gurdaspur SSP. Similarly, the grant received under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) for the purchase of furniture for schools was also embezzled and the payments were made directly to two firms — Gobind Impex of Jalandhar and Naresh Steel Furniture of Dera Bassi -- instead through statute committees.” The Punjab Congress spokesman said once the investigation began, Shindo Sahni and others would name Sekhwan as the main culprit. The Gurdaspur SSP is dithering to register an FIR and launch criminal proceedings in the matter due to immense pressure from Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal,” Khaira added. Assets case against Badals When asked if the Congress would investigate the disproportionate assets case against the Badals if it emerges victorious in the 2017 assembly elections, Khaira said corruption prevailed in the country irrespective of the change in regimes. He said any abeyance in re-opening the case by the next Congress regime would mean “a connivance of the next Congress chief minister with the Badals”. When asked why the case, which was registered in 2003, had not been solved during the then Congress regime, Khaira said Capt Amarinder Singh would be able to reply to this query. Frontline Recitation row frontline.in/the-nation/recitation-row/article6586198.ece?homepage=true November 28, 2014 Social Issues Does one caste group have the sole right to sit before the deity and sing a set of hymns? This question is at the centre of a long-running feud in a temple in Kancheepuram. By ILANGOVAN RAJASEKARAN THE ancient Sri Devaraja Swamy (Varadaraja Perumal) temple in Kancheepuram, some 75 kilometres south-west of Chennai, is not new to controversy. The latest is an allegation of caste-based discrimination in the temple’s Sri Manavala Mamunigal shrine. A group of non-Brahmin Hindus and Dalits allege discrimination over the mode of entry into it and the recitation of “Nalayara Divya Prabandham”. (“Divya Prabandham” is the collection of 4,000 Tamil hymns, written and sung by the Azhwars in praise of Vishnu. Saint Nathamuni, in the 10th century, compiled them. Manavala Mamunigal, in the 15th century, spread Vaishnavism by popularising these hymns with the help of his disciples.) A section of non-Brahmin Vaishnavite devotees in Kancheepuram claim that it is being denied dignified worship since entry into the shrine is segregated on the basis of caste. “We are barred from entering the shrine through its main entrance and have to enter only through a separate doorway on one side,” an aggrieved devotee said. Many non-Brahmin Hindus who have mastered the hymns of Divya Prabandham say that they are denied permission to recite them at the shrine even during the 10-day birth anniversary celebrations of Mamunigal in the months of October and November every year. The aggrieved devotees say that a section of Brahmins insists on reciting Divya Prabandham at the shrine as a matter of traditional right. This section belongs to the “Thenkalai” denomination, one of the two main sects in Vaishnavism, the other being “Vadakalai”. It also claims to have the right to occupy the front row in the sanctum sanctorum for the recitation. The non-Brahmin singers, also called Bhagavathars, are relegated to the fourth and the last rows on the basis of caste hierarchy. “Non-Brahmin Hindus face the worst discrimination at the shrine, especially during festivals,” said D. Madavan Ramanujadasan, a Bhagavathar and the secretary of the Thirukatchi Nambi Thirumaladiar Sevai Sangam. He said the organisation had been fighting for equality and dignity in the matter of worship in the temple since 2003. The members of the Sevai Sangam claim that acts of discrimination take place despite repeated instructions from the State government’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department that there should not be any form discrimination on caste lines in worshipping and in the distribution of prasadam. Many social groups, besides Tamil scholars, in Kancheepuram have joined the debate. Along with the Sevai Sangam, the Kancheepuram unit of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, the atheism-professing Dravidar Kazhagam (D.K.) and the Dalit political outfit Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) organised a demonstration in front of the temple on October 28 to condemn what they called “some unpleasant happenings” in the temple complex. B. Bharathi Anna, the Untouchability Eradication Front’s Kancheepuram district secretary, told Frontline that the organisation, which is backed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), could not remain indifferent when there were reports of caste-based discrimination happening in the temple. “This practice, which we treat as yet another form of untouchability, has to be eradicated. You cannot claim to have rights, traditional or otherwise, in a ‘Hindu Public Temple’, where everyone is equal,” he said. Even private temples, he pointed out, had been asked to eschew discriminatory practices. “This is a temple maintained by the HR and CE Department and we cannot tolerate any act of discrimination,” said S. Kannan, the Centre of Indian Trade Union’s (CITU) State deputy secretary, who also took part in the agitation. The original plan of the protesters was to enter the shrine and recite the hymns, but G. Sivarudhraiah, the Kancheepuram Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), on instructions from the District Collector, convened a peace committee of the parties to the dispute and prevented such action. After the peace meeting, the RDO announced the formation of a three-member committee, which subsequently conducted an inquiry at the temple. The Devaraja Swamy temple has been witness to unpleasant happenings in the past, too. The brutal murder of Sankararaman, a member of the temple staff, took place on its premises. There have been controversies over rules and rituals, sometimes ending in litigation. The latest controversy involves the “traditional” rights of Brahmins coming into conflict with the rights of others. Since 2003, Madavan has been drawing attention to alleged caste-based discrimination in many Vaishnavite temples in Kancheepuram. In a circular dated October 14, 2003, the then Assistant Commissioner of the HR and CE Department, Kancheepuram, asked the executive officers of all Vaishnavite temples in Kancheepuram not to encourage any discriminatory practices in worship and distribution of prasadam. Circulars circumvented On December 23 that year, the Devaraja Swamy temple administration issued an instruction to its archakas “not to indulge in any acts of discrimination in any shrine inside the temple”. However, Madavan alleged that the sections who insisted on their “traditional rights” to conduct puja and other rituals at the Sri Manavala Mamunigal shrine “continue their practice of discrimination against the non-Brahmin Hindus”. Another outfit, the Sri Devaraja Swamy Bhakthargal Nala Sangam (Devaraja Swamy Devotees Welfare Association), pointed out in a letter to the government in 2006 that the two circulars were followed more in the breach at the Mamunigal shrine. Shortly thereafter, the Sevai Sangam took the case to the Madras High Court through a writ petition. The court, on October 30, 2008, ruled that the instructions issued by the HR and CE Department on October 14, 2003, and again on December 23, 2003, “should and must be complied with by the temple authorities” and that strict action would be taken otherwise. The directions, the court further observed, “have been given in the true tradition of the constitutional provision of removal of discrimination in matters of religious practice… ensuring equality of status and individual dignity”. The HR and CE Department issued a circular on October 17, 2014, quoting the Madras High Court order prohibiting any form of discrimination inside the temple. But aggrieved devotees claim it has been of no avail. The Thenkalai Vaishnavites dismiss the accusation as “wild and baseless”. When Frontline met them at the shrine, they claimed that they never practised any form of untouchability. The sect members residing in Kancheepuram, known also as “Divya Prabandha Koshti”, had held the “right” to recite the hymns at the shrine for centuries, they said. “Prabandham recitation is our traditional right, which we have held for generations as Dhikshitars to the Chidambaram Natarajar temple as its priests. Vadakala Vaishnavites perform puja in the main temple for which we can never stake our claim. Similarly, they, and for that matter no one, can interfere in our tradition,” said Srinidhi, one of the adyabagars (traditional right holders). The adyabagars deny the charge of a separate entry point for non-Brahmins. “The separate gate is meant for the temple kitchen. Whenever the crowd becomes unmanageable, we, too, use the gate to enter the shrine,” he said. “We have been facing many legal problems for decades in connection with this issue. In many cases we have won. A few feeble attempts are being made to forcefully usurp our rights, which we have kept for years,” he said. Temple worship has been a contentious issue in Tamil Nadu, debated and discussed since the days of E.V. Ramasamy ‘Periyar’, who wanted qualified non-Brahmin Hindus to become archakas in Saiva and Vaishnava temples. The State government has also made strong attempts to install non-Brahmins as archakas by amending legal provisions. But these initiatives have been caught in a web of legal issues. Even the Supreme Court, in Seshammal and Others vs State of Tamil Nadu, 1972, pointed out that “if any rule is framed by the government, which purports to interfere with the rituals and ceremonies of the temples, the same will be liable to be challenged by those who are interested in the temple worship”. But activists claim that the same court, hearing a similar case from Kerala in 2002, ruled that caste cannot prevent anyone from becoming a priest and anyone trained and qualified to perform the rituals can also do so. Customs that prevailed during the colonial era, Bharathi Anna said, could not be viewed as unwritten laws if they violated human dignity. “The non-Brahmin Hindu devotees need to be treated on a par with those who claim to be the traditional right holders at the shrine,” he said. “After all, God practises no prejudice,” he added. News monitored By Girish Pant & AJEET
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 09:13:53 +0000
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