A different day for dalit reds

Friends

Today was a different day in the history of REDS. After the Public Hearing on the Success of our land struggles some of the Government bureaucrats got interested. One of them is the Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department of the government of Karnataka. This is a top level post in the Government. He knows that we have more than three thousand acres of land struggles on our hands now. We were exploring into possible ways of resolving all these issues. Very prominent among these cases are four villages: Lingikatte, Muddenahalli, Giddayanpalya and Umapathyhalli. Besides this we also have now on hand the case of Dhudha, a non-Dalit Panchayat village.

The Officer is a very sensible person. Therefore, he decided to come to Tumkur and meet all our Dalit Panchayat leaders in the office of the District Collector who is the top manager of the District. Today was the day. It announced as a meeting called for by REDS. That itself was enough to send jitters in many in the District. We remembered one of the journalists wrote in his paper twelve years ago that after ten years there would be no government in Tumkur, there would be only REDS. He wrote in an insulting way. The meeting had the District collector, The Superintendent of Police, the Assistant Commissioners, all the tahsildars of the Taluks and a few other District level leaders. All our Dalit leaders were also in full strength.

We had prepared four main cases which mean a struggle for more than 1500 acres of land. All of them are long struggles. Each cases was presented by one of our leaders and the concerned bureaucrat had to give his/her version of the case. Generally many of them were against giving land to the Dalits. But our arguments by leaders were just astounding. In one case for example, the Forest officer of the District claimed that the land belonged to the Forest Department. The principal Secretary asked him to study the case and make a report if the land can be given to the Dalit people. Immediately Rangiah intervened to say that it was not proper that a forest officer makes a report about land that belongs to the Revenue Department and he showed the clause in the law which mentioned this clearly. The officer was stunned for a minute.

Occasionally there were some heated exchanges between the officers and our leaders but no situation went beyond control. All the people left the hall with a large smile on their faces as it is becoming evident now that they will soon get the land. In Giddayanpalya and Muddenahalli we have asked the people already to plough the land immediately as it was mentioned clearly by the officers.
The officers very openly told us that they have never seen such disciplined leadership anywhere and that they are extremely happy about the meeting.

Later the leaders assembled in REDS and expressed their experience. Some of them are here for you.

• We have not seen the inside of the District Collector’s office. I was happy that we were inside there.

• This was a good model that was set today. It should spread to other districts of Karnataka

• This interaction was much needed. We are never able to meet the District collector. It is not that easy to organize such meetings in other Districts.

• The Officers have come to know the power of the Dalit Panchayat Movement today.

• The way we presented our cases with strong documentation is an eye opener.

• I have never gone beyond our local police station. Today’s meeting is a real prelude to our gaining five acres of land for each Dalit family.

• Caste people will become more afraid of touching the Dalits now.

• Today we achieve what we wanted to achieve in the last 20 years. It was REDS all the way today.

• We felt we were in the High Court of Karnataka. Rangaiah has done a very good job.

• Generally in such meetings our leaders used to shout and go away. Now we know that we must take up to winning ways. Today’s meeting is our winning way.

• Usually Government Officers call the NGOs for meetings. Today REDS has called the government officers for a meeting in their own place. It is a history. Land issue has come to a different level.

Earlier at the meeting the Principal Secretary Mr. Thangaraj IAS very openly told the officers that one NGO has given all its life to the people and has created such a lot of awareness among the Government Bureaucrats. They deserve all our respect.

The issue is not simply one of land. It is that all our leaders have a direct non-confrontational negotiation with top level Bureaucrats in order to win their cases. They were strong, to the point and ready to give and take. At the end of it all our people have started reminding us that they can take care of their future without Jyothi and Raj. That is one of the biggest lessons of today. We are very happy.

Jyothi, Raj and the REDS Team



Rural Education for Development society
Shanthinagar
Tumkur 572102
Karnataka - India
Phone: ++91-816-2277026
Fax: ++91-816-2272515
Web: www.dalitreds.in
Jyothi's Mobile: ++91-9880184667
Raj's Mobile: ++91-9845144893