Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 02.10.12
Dalit woman sarpanch assaulted in Haryana - The Times Of India
Dalit panchayat president complains of threat to life - The times Of India
National SC/ST commission gives ultimatum to vigilance bureau - The Times Of India
UP government issues guidelines for SC/ST scholarships - The Hindu
Discrimination against Dalit children: administration denies charges, NGOs up in arms - The Hindustan Times
The Times Of India
Dalit woman sarpanch assaulted in Haryana
TNN | Oct 2, 2012, 04.22AM IST
CHANDIGARH: A 37-year-old dalit woman sarpanch was assaulted on Sunday when she was presiding over a meeting to broker peace between two groups fighting over distribution of land for poor families at Aambwalan village in Haryana's Yamunanagar district.
The sarpanch, Rajrani, and two other villagers were seriously injured in the attack and were admitted to a government hospital.
Yamunanagar SP Mitesh Jain said the injured were not in a position to give a statement in this regard. "The police will take further action once the injured people give their statements," Jain added.
Investigation officer Satpal Singh, who had visited the spot, said the sarpanch was assaulted after arguments over the land distribution.
The sarpanch's husband, Sandeep Singh, who also received injuries in the attack, said around 20 dalits attacked the sarpanch and others present in the panchayat.
The dispute began at a meeting called on September 27 to remove encroachments on a 7.5-acre plot so that it could be distributed among poor families to build houses as part of Haryana's government 'Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna'. It was launched in 2008 to allot 100 square yard residential plots to below poverty line families, Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.
"Two villagers — Pala Ram and Krishan Kumar — picked up a fight at the meet," said Sandeep. "To resolve the matter, a panchayat was called in the village on Sunday. When the panchayat was going on, a group got angry and started pelting stones at people present in the panchayat. They were also carrying swords and iron rods."
The times Of India
Dalit panchayat president complains of threat to life
TNN | Oct 2, 2012, 05.03AM IST
MADURAI: A dalit panchayat president from L Kottanipatti in Peraiyur block, along with cadre of Adhithamizhar Peravai, submitted a petition to the district administration complaining that the clerk and her husband have been threatening him after he refused to act as per their wishes.
P Janakar, the president submitted the petition to district collector, Anshul Mishra during the public grievance redressal day on Monday. In his petition, he stated that the panchayat clerk, G Murugeswari and her husband Ganesan, who are caste Hindus, have been forcing him to act as a rubber stamp and they even forged his signature in panchayat-related documents. When he challenged this, they began to threaten him with dire consequences, he claimed.
"I have submitted five petitions earlier to the district administration and there has been no action till now. If there is no action after this, I will resign my position to safeguard my life," he told the media persons. He also charged that the panchayat clerk maintains no accounts and refused to show the books to him.
R Selvam from Aadhitamizhar Peravai said that though the Thevar community is dominant in the village, Janakar was elected as the panchayat was set aside for dalits. While he faces no threat or problems from the villagers including the caste Hindus, the panchayat clerk and husband were trying to intimidate Janakar.
"He refused to act like the previous presidents who were mostly uneducated and worked as per the panchayat clerk dictated. Janakar is educated and wants to assert his rights as the panchayat president. In fact, many villagers including Thevar community people have come with Janakar to represent his plight to dist administration," he said.
The Times Of India
National SC/ST commission gives ultimatum to vigilance bureau
Yudhvir Rana, TNN | Oct 2, 2012, 04.12PM IST
AMRITSAR: National Commission for SC/ST has given one month ultimatum to vigilance bureau to complete investigations in rural development funds scam and submit its report with them else the Commission has warned to recommend the investigations into scam by CBI.
Cabinet minister Gulzar Singh Ranike has to resign following exposure of the scam in recent past. While talking to media persons Chairman of the Commission Dr. Raj Kumar Verka blamed on vigilance bureau for deliberately slowing the investigation process.
"The Vigilance Bureau investigation is mere an eyewash , if it was sincere it should have widen its scope in the whole state" he said. Meanwhile General Secretary of Communist Party of India , Amritsar (Rural) Balwinder Singh Dhudhala informed that they had conducted an independent inquiry into the scam and have found that 40 and 85 cheques of Rs 15000 each under Shagun Scheme were given in villages of Gurwali and Fatehabad.
"None of the 40 beneficiaries of Gurwali were resident of village and there were similar discrepancies in antecedents of 85 beneficiaries of Fatahpur village"he said. He also produced a copy of letter signed by Panchayat of village stating the none of the 40 beneficiaries belonged to the village. Dhudhala said during investigations they were surprised to know that marriages of 200 girls of Fatehpur village were shown in one month time only. Rajkumar informed that members of Commission were also individually touring the villages to reach depth of the scam.
The Hindu
UP government issues guidelines for SC/ST scholarships
TNN | Oct 2, 2012, 05.23AM IST
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday issued guidelines to bring transparency in the fee deposition and scholarship distribution process meant for students belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes who have passed in class 10{+t}{+h}. It has also issued timetable for the session 2012-13 along with the SC/ST scholarship guidelines - 2012 for these students.
Minister for social welfare, Avdhesh Prasad said that under these guidelines, institutes and their syllabus would be registered in the master database of the department. He said, "Those belonging to these categories can get application forms for scholarship and fee till November 30. The head of the educational institute can then submit his approval to the district (area) officer of the education department by December 15." He also added that the district officers in the education department can submit their approval to the Scholarship Approval Committee after verifying the institute and syllabus by December 31.
After these formalities, the approval of the committee will be informed to the district information technology officer till January 15, 2013. The scholarship or the fee amount will be accordingly transferred to the related students' bank accounts by January 31. "The software / website for the first step of scholarship /fee distribution will be locked by the NIC Lucknow on January 31, 2013", said Prasad.
Students appearing in the half yearly or final examination of the first semester who want to apply for the second semester would be able to get the fee amount for the second semester in the second phase only. The minister said that the amount for the second semester will be uploaded on the website by February 1, 2013. The approved amount will then be transferred to the student's account by February 15. For students who are eligible and are studying in institutes outside the state, their information, syllabus and institute's verification would be done separately at the district level. The director of social welfare department has been directed to prepare separate software for students living outside the state with the help of National Informatics Centre, so that these students can also get the amount according to the set timetable.
The Hindustan Times
Discrimination against Dalit children: administration denies charges, NGOs up in arms
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Harda, October 02, 2012
For a second day in row a huge team of district administration visited village Dagawashankar and held discussions with the villagers on the issue of discrimination with dalit school children. After the visit, the sub-divisional magistrate of Harda Manjusha Rai, who led the team, told HT
that the allegations were wrong and no discriminatory practice was adopted at the school. However Sunita Rodge of NGO Ambedkar Vichar Manch, who was present at the village during the interaction, alleged that the administration was trying to hush up the matter and not recording the actual facts.
"If the children and their parents are openly making the allegations before media (HT has audio and video records of the allegations) and us (NGOs) how can the administration say there is no discrimination?," Rodge asked adding that the self-help group that prepares mid-day meal for the school had no dalit member.
Rodge has also alleged that the discriminatory practice was not limited to Dagawashankar, but similar cases have been reported from villages like Balagaon, Nausar, Kartana and others in the past.
NGOs send representations: Meanwhile, other NGOs like Ambedkar Vichar Manch and Nagarik Manavadhikar Parishad have faxed representations to the office of principal secretary of SC welfare department M Mohan Rao demanding unbiased inquiry into the matter. President of Ambedkar Vichar Manch Lakhanlal Osle and office bearers of the Parishad Arpit Tiwari and Anand Rai have strongly condemned the discrimination and termed them as violation of human rights.
Silent Protest:
Another NGO Ambedkar Chhatra Sangathan would be holding a two-hour silent protest before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Tuesday (Gandhi Jayanti) to protest the discrimination.
.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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