Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 07.06.12
Dalit panchayat chief alleges discrimination - The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3498083.ece
They got a plot but sleep on the road, cook in the open - Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/they-got-a-plot-but-sleep-on-the-road-cook-in-the-open/958915/0
Sweeper alleges sexual abuse by supervisor - The Times Of India
Couples await 'gift money' - The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120607/punjab.htm#2
School admission war raises spectre of caste discrimination in Coimbatore - The Times Of India
The Hindu
Dalit panchayat chief alleges discrimination
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3498083.ece
S. Vijay Kumar
Says he is forced to sit on the floor during meetings
Seven months after being elected president of the Kottakachiyendhal village panchayat in Virudhanagar district, V. Karuppan (48) claims to be a victim of caste discrimination, criminal intimidation and non-cooperation, which have brought development works in the reserved panchayat to a grinding halt in the last one month.
In a petition to the Director-General of Police, Mr. Karuppan has accused the panchayat vice-president, all six ward members and the clerk of not allowing him to function independently.
Alleging he was forced to sit on the floor during meetings while others sat on chairs, the panchayat president said that he was often humiliated on caste lines and threatened with dire consequences if he lodged a complaint.
After the Kottakachiyendhal in Narikudi Panchayat Union was declared a reserved panchayat, elections could not be held there for a decade owing to pressure from caste Hindus. A similar situation prevailed in Pappapatti and Keeripatti in Madurai districts.
In 2006, officials managed to bring about a consensus and elections were held for the first time in these reserved panchayats.
A construction labourer, Mr. Karuppan said that the vice-president, six ward members and the panchayat clerk took decisions without consulting him. His views were always ignored and none of the panchayat-related accounts or administrative matters were brought to his notice.
When the vice-president, her husband and others forced him to sign some files without perusing them, Mr. Karuppan refused and lodged a complaint with the district administration and sent its copies to the Chief Minister and others. Virudhunagar Collector M. Balaji visited the village and instructed the ward members to cooperate with the president.
Since there was no perceptible change in the attitude of the vice-president and ward members, Mr. Karuppan sought registration of a case against them under the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
When contacted, Mr. Balaji said that the Kottakachiyendhal panchayat secretary had been terminated from service and a new person appointed to guide the panchayat president in administrative matters.
"We are closely monitoring the situation in the panchayat. A basic amenities survey was conducted in the village recently and steps have been taken to provide potable water, streetlights, roads etc. Benefits of the Old Age Pension scheme have been extended to eligible persons. The Block Development Officer has been instructed to coordinate with the elected members and ensure an amicable environment there."
A. Kathir of 'Evidence', a human rights organisation, urged the district administration to conduct monthly meetings with Dalit panchayat presidents to know their problems. "SC, ST and woman panchayat presidents should be given a monthly remuneration as a majority of them hailed from the 'below poverty line' category and worked as coolies."
Indian Express
They got a plot but sleep on the road, cook in the open
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/they-got-a-plot-but-sleep-on-the-road-cook-in-the-open/958915/0
Santosh Singh : Araria, Bihar, Thu Jun 07 2012, 03:03 hrs
Exactly a year ago, just before the rains, Kumiya Devi got her three-decimal (1,306.8-square foot) plot at Kajra in Araria district under the Mahadalit Vikas Yojana, the Nitish Kumar government's showpiece scheme to distribute land to landless Dalits.
Before she could build her home, a seasonal stream flooded the plot and her 10-year-old son Aklu drowned in it while going to school. Reason: there was no approach road to or from the plot — because it was next to agricultural land owned by upper-caste villagers who refused to give up land for a road.
One year later, nothing has changed.
Kumiya and her 87 fellow beneficiaries — all daily wage labourers — don't have even a thatched hut on their plots, let alone the pucca Indira Awas Yojana dwelling the scheme was meant to deliver. Incidentally, all their plots came from land bought, as The Indian Express reported yesterday, from villagers at dirt cheap rates and sold to the government at four to five times the cost via an alleged nexus of brokers and government officials.
The scheme, meant to empower the poorest of the Dalits, has delivered them land — and little else.
Pramila Devi and husband Rajesh Rishidev raised a thatched hut on their plot after they were told that "some officers might come for inspection". The hut today is uninhabitable.
"I cannot cook inside because the walls are straw and dry bamboo sticks, and the hut can catch fire," Pramila told The Indian Express. "I cook in the open with all members of the family sitting around the fire so the wind does not blow it out."
Pramila and Rajesh's neighbours Jilani Devi and Lahiri Rishidev have only been able to raise a curved bamboo-stick frame padded with straw on their plot. The tent-like structure is open from two sides, and stands in the middle of an open field. "We sleep by the side of the road," said Lahiri Rishidev, a father of two children.
An approach road to Kajra was a mandatory requirement under the Mahadalit Vikas Yojana. A circular issued by the revenue and land reforms department clearly stipulates that land given to Mahadalit families should be near habitation and easily accessible.
Asked why the road had not been built, Vijay Kumar Singh, joint secretary in the revenue and land reforms department, said, "We accept there has been inordinate delay in land plotting and giving Dalits final possession. Once we allot land to the rest of the 64,314 Mahadalit families, we will start the process for building approach roads".
Singh said several circle officers had been reprimanded for delay in giving possession of land to beneficiaries.
On Indira Awas allotment to Scheduled Caste families, state Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra said, "As per our records, we have to give Indira Awas houses to 1.06 lakh Mahadalit families surveyed by the revenue and land reforms department. We have initiated the process of giving Indira Awas to several of them. As and when the revenue and land reforms department gives us the list of other land beneficiaries, we will put them up for allotment for the next financial year."
If the lack of a road has left families stranded in Kajra, a few kilometres away, other beneficiary families are saddled with a legal dispute they had nothing to do with.
Records accessed by The Indian Express show that in Belgachhi in Raniganj block, land allotted to Mahadalit families — Khata number 25, Khesra number 234 — has been disputed for over four decades. At least four people were killed in the late 1980s when the dispute turned violent.
In fact, the state government survey shows the plot as part of "controversial Khata 25", which saw tillers fighting with landlords who, in turn, dragged the government to court.
But Raniganj circle officer Ramvilas Jha — the same official who, working with his relative, allegedly fleeced the exchequer (reported by this paper in Part 1 of this published yesterday) — purchased land from one Razi Hamad on April 1, 2011, and distributed it among 71 families.
Said Surendra Noniya, one of the tillers: "I am not going to fight Mahadalits, but I will surely fight the landlord who sold it illegally to the state government." Jha, however, claimed there is no dispute.
The Indian Express also visited Gaya, where 2,196 Mahadalit families were allotted plots. In Konch and Guraru blocks, many beneficiaries who were allotted plots in February are yet to get possession or registration papers.
Like in Kajra, many plots are inaccessible. In Barma village, where 31 families have been allotted land, no approach road has been built. The area is at least a kilometre from the nearest habitation. "We are still living by the side of the road," said Gita Devi, a beneficiary.
At adjoining Malpa village, where 15 Mahadalits were given land, no one has got papers or plots. Said Rajiya Devi, one of the beneficiaries, "When we go to the circle officer's office, no one listens to us. Can you complain about this to Nitish Babu?
The Times Of India
Sweeper alleges sexual abuse by supervisor
TNN | Jun 7, 2012, 06.42AM IST
SIRSA: A woman sweeper of the municipal council on Wednesday accused an assistant sanitary inspector of the civic body of sexual abuse for the past three years. The incident came to light when the victim, accompanied by co-workers, met the superintendent of police, who has ordered a probe.
In her complaint, the 38-year-old victim had elaborated the incidents when she was subjected to sexual abuse. She also accused Vidya Dhar, assistant sanitary inspector, of threatening her with dire consequences.
Vidya Dhar, however, denied the allegations, saying, "Allegations against me are baseless and I am ready to face any kind of investigation or test.''
SP Devender Yadav said, "Yes, workers of municipal council visited the office and gave me a complaint letter. Police will check the matter. If found guilty, police will take action against the accused."
Earlier, high drama prevailed when sweepers staged a protest in the SP office here. It was only after the agitating sweepers raised anti-police and anti-civic body slogans, their representatives, along with the victim, were called by the SP for an interaction.
The Tribune
Couples await 'gift money'
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120607/punjab.htm#2
Balwant Garg/TNS
Faridkot, June 6
In times when honour killings are on a rise, a joint plan by the Centre and the state government to encourage inter-caste marriages in Punjab has run into rough weather.
Under the plan, a couple (with one partner a Scheduled Caste) opting for an inter-caste marriage is given a gift of Rs 50,000 by the Welfare Department for SCs and BCs with half of the sum coming from the Centre. The aim is to help the couple in distress.
But in the past four years, because of Punjab's precarious fiscal condition, no "gift money" has been awarded to these couples. With the state government unable to contribute towards the "gift money", a list of 552 eligible couples is pending with the state's Welfare Department .
Many more such cases are awaiting scrutiny. In the absence of funds, the authorities are going slow on the matter. HS Nanda, Director, and Anjana Sadhu, Deputy Director, Welfare Department for SCs and STs, Punjab, declined to comment on the pending cases. Baldev Singh, a Kamboj Sikh of Naseerewala village in Dharamkot, who married an SC girl against the wishes of his family three years back, is among those awaiting the "gift money".
Varinder Singh, an SC from Malout who had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in May, 2010, for police protection after he married an Arora girl, is yet to get any benefit. Hoshiarpur district leads in the number of inter-caste marriages in the state in the past three years (35) followed by Jalandhar (27), Amritsar (21), Ludhiana (18), Bathinda and Faridkot (13 each), Mansa (10), Muktsar (6) and Ferozepur (5).
The Times Of India
School admission war raises spectre of caste discrimination in Coimbatore
C P Sajit, TNN | Jun 7, 2012, 04.02AM IST
COIMBATORE: Dalit rights'organizations in Coimbatore are alleging that most city schools are flouting government norms regarding admission of SC and ST students and denying admission to children from dalit and tribal communities to higher secondary classes citing lack of seats or insufficient marks.
With schools choosy about admissions, many students from underprivileged communities are losing out to competition. School authorities claim they have limited seats and can't afford to take students with low marks even if they are from these communities and are eligible for reserved seats.
Dalit groups are highlighting the case of Sibi Chakravarthy(16), a student from a schedule caste, who scored 316/500 but failed to gain a seat in the second group in at least three prominent city schools. They say many like him, from the SC, ST and BC communities have failed to get admission despite the government norm.
The issue came to light when Sibi, along with his uncle Raja Ram, took the matter to district education officer on Wednesday. "We approached almost three schools including Sarvajana Higher Secondary School, Mani Higher Secondary School and Gopal Naidu Higher Secondary School, hoping to get admission in second group," said Raja Ram. Chakravarthy, whose parents were killed in an accident, is under the care of his maternal uncle.
None of the schools were even willing to give application forms, he said. All the three schools that were approached want to know the score. In one school, only parents of students who have scored more than 400/500 marks were let in by the watchman. "I want to take second group and am capable of doing well. But none of the schools were ready to admit me," Sibi told TOI. When the DEO spoke to one of the schools, officials offered a seat in the commerce stream, he said.
Lakshmi, another student from a scheduled caste residing in Therthipalayam, said she approached three schools for a seat in the first group but failed to get admission. "I had 389/500 marks, but they wanted students with more than 400. Finally, I took third group," she said.
S Selvakumar, member of Adi Thiravidar Welfare Committte, claimed that few schools implement the reservation norms. As per the law, all schools should allot 18% of seats to students from scheduled castes and tribes and 31% for students from backward castes. However, the data furnished by the matriculation school officer, reveals that none of the schools adhered to these norms, Selvakumar said. Data from the department of education indicates that number of students from communities that are covered by reservation norms are far below the percentage stipulated by the state government. "We have taken up the issue with the district collector M Karunagaran, who instructed the school to implement the reservation policy," he said.
However, schools offer a different take on the issue. R Rajeswari, principal of Sarvajana Higher Secondary school, said accommodating students from other schools is difficult as the seats are limited. When asked for a break-up of students from different communities, she said figures are not available immediately. But the admissions have been made as per the state norms, she said. School secretary Nandagopal said the focus is to take quality students. "Many students come with low marks and we counsel them as experience shows only few qualify and pass the examination," he said.
K Satyanarayanan, principal, Mani Higher Secondary School, also said there are limited seats in the schools. Without revealing the break-up of students, he too claimed that reservation norms are followed.
District collector M Karunagaran told TOI that necessary action will be taken if any case of discrimination comes up.
--
.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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