From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 4:34 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 29.12.10
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 29.12.10
Public hearing on HR violations, untouchability held - The Pioneer
http://www.dailypioneer.com/307005/Public-hearing-on-HR-violations-untouchability-held.html
Wedded to untouchability, even in cyberspace - Express Buzz
http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/wedded-to-untouchability-even-in-cyberspace/235081.html
No need for ID, submit notarised affidavit to get SC/ST benefits - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/29/stories/2010122964370400.htm
Beyond the rat race - The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Beyond-the-rat-race/articleshow/7182371.cms
Six years on - Deccan Herald
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/124411/six-years-on.html
Peace camp to instil communal harmony - The Times Of India
The Pioneer
Public hearing on HR violations, untouchability held
http://www.dailypioneer.com/307005/Public-hearing-on-HR-violations-untouchability-held.html
December 29, 2010 4:00:47 PM
PNS | BHUBANESWAR
A Public Hearing of Human Rights (HR) violations and Caste Discrimination against the SC victims, organised by NGO Development Initiative, was held here at the Red Cross Bhawan on Monday.
While 15 cases from five districts of the State were heard by eminent Jury members, the HR defenders and selected jury members will meet the Governor to redress the issues of discrimination and HR violations against the SC communities.
Before the jury, comprising of former Justice Chaudhury Pratap Kehari Mishra, former Odisha Chief Secretary Sahadev Sahoo, former IGP Surendranath Swain, Odia daily The Aromva's publisher Chandra Mishra and senior journalist Rabi Das, the victims narrated their ordeals.
Jharana (35), wife of Chandramani Mallick of Dhanabalakateni under Gondia block in Dhenkanal district, despite having the requisite qualification was allegedly turned down the job of an Anganwadi helper as she hailed from an "untouchable community" and even the ANM reportedly commented that Mahatma Gandhi failed to eradicate the age-old practice of untouchability following which Jharana had brought the matter to the notice of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) on June 19 and the NCSC intervened in August.
Consequently, the selection process was postponed. Sabitri (35), widow of Ankura Mallick of Sukaran village under Sukinda block in Jajpur district, was appointed as helper of the mid day meal (MDM) cook at the village primary school with a monthly salary of `100 and irregularly paid. She was allegedly kept at arm's length and warned against touching the food and water. She was only allowed to wash the utensils after the meal and collect firewood. The village, dominated by the Yadav caste, allegedly unleash a reign of terror on the Panas (SCs) till date. Consequently, Sabitri was sacked from her job and the MDM programme was handed over to the women SHG of the Yadav community.
Sonu Mallick, a Class V student of the Baidyakateni Primary School of Baidyakateni village of Bega GP under Gondia block in Dhenkanal district, used to be compelled to wash her utensils after the MDM in a nearby stream instead of the school tubewell. Daughter of a migrant labourer, Sonu's two siblings Sidhant and Ranjan also study in the same school and bear the brunt of the caste discrimination even by the teachers and other staff. Same is the fate with other SC students.
Sonu has meanwhile withdrawn from the school and pursues her Class VI study at her uncle's village Rudrapur in Cuttack district while her two siblings still continue and languish.
Such harrowing experiences, even after 63 years of Independence and amid harsh laws, are tip of the iceberg and same way or other, the rest of victims also recounted their untold miseries.
Express Buzz
Wedded to untouchability, even in cyberspace
http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/wedded-to-untouchability-even-in-cyberspace/235081.html
Express News Service
Last Updated : 29 Dec 2010 07:35:31 AM IST
COIMBATORE: sample the way untouchability is making it to cyberspace: 'Caste no bar (SC/ST excuse)'. The entry, made by a girl as part of her profile posted on Bharatmatrimony.com, horrified city resident P Jayan. "I wonder how the website management allowed the client to post such an entry. It's an affront to the country's Scheduled communities," Jayan told Express.
On Monday, he called up the girl's mother. That night, he found the profile having been yanked off the site.
Portal founder Murugavel Janakiraman says BharatMatrimony has been neutral towards caste and religion. "If we sight an objectionable entry, we modify the description and educate members on the subject."
Jayan doesn't see this as an isolated case. He claims many matrimony sites bear similar entries. He now plans to move a court seeking directions to all such portals to moderate content to prevent untouchability.
K Samuel Raj, State secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, says he is surprised to learn that untouchability had crept even into matrimonial portals. A recent survey by the Front had found untouchability in 82 different forms across the State, but it did not include cyberspace. Terming the issue as serious, he said his Front would take it up with the government.
The Hindu
No need for ID, submit notarised affidavit to get SC/ST benefits
http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/29/stories/2010122964370400.htm
Chitra V. Ramani
| 'Regressive decision' taken at meeting chaired by the Mayor |
Circular signed by BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah who now says he is unaware of it
Several applications have already been filed in BBMP's eight zonal offices
Bangalore: It now emerges that anyone with an affidavit that has been notarised can avail himself of benefits under the 22.75 per cent scheme. There is no need to produce any other documents, not even caste certificate or proof of residence. This decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Mayor S.K. Nataraj on October 23 this year.
According to Venkatesh M. from the Dalit Bahujan Movement, until recently citizens belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who wanted to get benefits from the 22.75 per cent scheme, were required to produce eligibility certificate, caste certificate issued by the local tahsildar and residential address proof.
"However, at the meeting, the officials decided that those belonging to backward communities can just submit a notarised statement saying they belong to the communities. BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah even issued a circular stating the same," he said.
Commissioner's note
Mr. Venkatesh had got a copy of the circular which has been signed by the Commissioner. The last paragraph states that if the beneficiary does not have a ration card, voter's ID or caste certificate, he/she may produce just a notarised affidavit to get the benefits.
Based on the circular, several applications have already been filed in the eight zonal offices of the civic authority.
Irregularities
Mr. Venkatesh said already there were many irregularities surrounding funds reserved under the scheme with benefits due to those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes not reaching them.
"Officials from the West Zone have submitted before the Lokayukta that under Suru Neeru, which is part of the 22.75 per cent scheme, the benefits have been claimed by persons who don't belong to the backward communities. When this is the case, how can the BBMP take such a regressive decision?" he asked.
Cancellation sought
He said he has submitted memorandums seeking cancellation of the circular to Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of the Social Welfare and Urban Development departments and BBMP Commissioner.
Siddaiah 'unaware'
Meanwhile, Mr. Siddaiah has claimed he was not aware of the circular.
The BBMP Commissioner told The Hindu that to get benefits under the scheme, one had to submit all the requisite documents.
"We cannot bypass these requirements. I will look into it and immediately withdraw the circular. The BBMP will take steps to ensure that the benefits reach the needy," he said.
The Times Of India
Beyond the rat race
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Beyond-the-rat-race/articleshow/7182371.cms
TNN, Dec 29, 2010, 06.29am IST
Jyoti Devi had never met Nitish Kumar, nor did she know anything about his politics or what his party stood for. So when the call came from the Magadh commissioner while she was planting tomato seeds in her small field, she almost jumped out of her skin. He asked her to come to Gaya immediately and after a hurried meeting broke the news to her: the Bihar chief minister wanted to meet her.
"I was terrified,'' she says. "Why was the CM calling me? What wrong had I done?" But there was no time to think. Jyoti Devi and her husband Baleshwar Bhuiyan caught the next train to Patna and reached 1, Anne Marg, the official residence of Nitish Kumar.
"When we entered the CM's chamber, Nitish ji turned towards us and asked rather abruptly what had brought us to his house. Though I was shocked at the question, I gathered all my courage and said, 'Tuhi na bulaye ho hamra ke' (It's you who invited me.) He laughed and began talking about the work I was doing in my village, on my fields, for my community. We left after a few minutes."
There was more shock in store for her. A fortnight after the meeting with Nitish Kumar, someone told her that her name had appeared in newspapers as the JD(U) candidate from Barachatti in Gaya district. Soon, another call asked her to collect the party's symbol.
It was a blur after that. "I had absolutely no idea what was happening and why they were happening," she says, smiling. "I had never imagined I would contest elections. I got the ticket without asking when people all the time talk about even the highly influential and rich lobbying endlessly for such an opportunity."
Forty-two-year-old Jyoti Devi's life story is as amazing as the prelude that brought her to politics, making her a legislator from a caste marginalised by even the most marginalised, a Dalit even for the Dalits — the rat-eating Musahars, a community that feeds on rodents for want of proper food and in 2010 still struggles with a literacy rate that's below 10 per cent.
It didn't help that the woman who is now the JD(U)'s MLA from Barachatti — she trounced her RJD rival by over 23,000 votes in Bihar's recent assembly elections — was left to fend for herself and put in an orphanage by her parents when she was just five. "I was only five when I was deserted by my parents, poor, landless farmers that they were. It must have been 1973." It was also the place where she met and married Baleshwar.
Authorities at the orphanage later sent the couple to Bapu Gram to work among other Musahars like them. "A villager, Ganesh Manjhi, donated a tiny patch of land on which we built a small hut, but we had no source of income. I started stitching clothes and moved from one village to another requesting people to give me clothes for stitching," Jyoti Devi remembers.
It was later, after she got three acres of Bhoodan land from the government, all barren though, that things started looking brighter. She laboured hard for two decades after that and made the land cultivable. Fate finally smiled on Jyoti Devi and her husband after they learnt a new technique in farming from a Gaya-based NGO, Pradan, and experimented with it on their land a couple of years back. "The result was unbelievable,'' the MLA now says. "In one katha of land, the rice yield through the new technique was over 150 kg against 30 kg that we were getting earlier."
About 300 families, largely Musahars, in Bapu Gram and Sarvodyapuri villages now follow the technique that Jyoti Devi made popular. And these two clusters are like an oasis in a difficult, arid belt with barren land that is too hard for even thorny hedges to grow. Rainfall, too, is scanty and there are no systems of irrigation in place yet.
In fact, it was this tremendous greening of the twin villages that got Jyoti Devi noticed in the JD(U). They saw a winner in her — and a courageous one. Barachatti, her constituency, and Fatehpur, where she lives, are extremely poor and a breeding ground for Maoists. Not surprisingly, she was a target to be won over by the rebels. "Once a gang of theirs locked us in my house and asked us to join them. But I told them I work for the uplift of the most downtrodden, and through peaceful means. If they also believe in empowering this section, they should join me instead. They went away."
Those around her are deeply indebted to the feisty leader. "We owe our empowerment to this couple," says fellow villager Lutan Ravidas. "They dragged us out of the darkness of poverty and hunger, and showed us the way to progress. This is a big social revolution."
The change is quite visible. About a dozen boys have done their graduation and 10 villagers have been able to buy motorcycles; a few even have colour TV sets. There is at least one mobile phone with each family. Their children go to the only middle school in the village. And they don't eat rats anymore.
Deccan Herald
Six years on
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/124411/six-years-on.html
'Many victims have not yet been rehabilitated.'
Six years after the giant Indian Ocean tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, many of those who lost their homes and livelihood are yet to be rehabilitated. Over 8,000 people were killed in Tamil Nadu, which bore the brunt of the tsunami in India. Over a lakh were rendered homeless in Nagapattinam district alone. Relief and reconstruction work in Cuddalore has been widely lauded. The government and NGOs here worked well to provide accommodation to the homeless and to help rebuild livelihoods. Around 40 per cent of the women who were affected by the tsunami are said to have become entrepreneurs. However, there are sections that failed to receive adequate support.
It is well-known that caste considerations played an important role in distribution of aid. Relief was provided to dominant caste people in the affected villages, ignoring Dalits and others lower down in the social hierarchy. This discrimination persisted in the provision of housing and assistance for rebuilding livelihoods as well.
Consequently, in the tsunami-hit districts Dalits either live in temporary shelters or in hutments located in areas that suffer annual flooding. It is time the government intervened to set right the discrimination that has denied them support for six years.
Is the world better prepared to face a tsunami than it was six years ago? Marginally better, it seems. People are more aware today of the devastation a tsunami can bring. However, alert systems have rarely worked when tsunamis struck Indonesia in more recent years. Equipment has been put in place at enormous cost. But in several instances, crucial parts were found to be not working, thus failing to alert when crisis struck. An important shortcoming in the alert system has been the dissemination of information. In Indonesia, authorities have not been able to spread the word about an impending tsunami to remote areas.
India has been spared major tsunamis since 2004. A tsunami warning centre has been up and running since 2007. Alerts have been issued and villages even evacuated when tsunamis have struck Indonesia. However, disaster experts say that evacuation is not fast enough. A part of the reason is that the public does not co-operate. Many villagers are reportedly reluctant to leave behind their cattle. This is foolhardy. A sustained public awareness campaign needs to be undertaken.
The Times Of India
Peace camp to instil communal harmony
TNN, Dec 28, 2010, 09.58pm IST
VARANASI: The Peoples' Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), in collaboration with the US-based Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA), is going to organise a two-day peace camp in the city on January 10 and 11.
Talking to reporters on Tuesday, PVCHR president Lenin Raghuvanshi said chairman, National Commission for SC/ST, PL Punia would come to attend a public hearing on dalit harassment at Paradkar Bhawan on January 11 and would also attend the peace camp. Around 20 persons from different communities would take part in the peace camp, he said and added the basic objective of the peace camp was to instil a sense of communal harmony and responsibility in youth. The PVCHR would also hold a discussion on the problems of madarsas on January 5.
Lenin was recently honoured with the 2010 Human Rights Award of the city of Weimar (Germany) on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day on December 10. He said PVCHR was going to begin a three-year programme to minimise police torture of those belonging to minority community from January 1. Four districts viz Varanasi, Aligarh, Moradabad and Meerut had been selected for the programme, he said and added during the period of three years, 1,500 cases of police torture would be documented.
According to him, the PVCHR and Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture victims (RCT) in Copenhagen, Denmark, had undertaken a pilot training project of testimonial therapy on torture victims in the past in Varanasi to investigate the usefulness of the testimonial method. The project involved the development of a community-based testimonial method, training of community workers, development of a manual and a monitoring and evaluation system comparing results of measures before the intervention and two to three months after the intervention. Twenty-three victims gave their testimonies under supervision. In the two first sessions, the testimony was written and in the third session survivors participated in a delivery ceremony. The human rights activists and community workers interviewed the survivors about how they felt after the intervention. After testimonial therapy, almost all survivors expressed satisfaction with the process, especially the public delivery ceremony. Besides Varanasi, the programme of testimonial therapy was also conducted in 50 villages on Sonebhadra, Ambedkar Nagar districts of UP and Nainital of Uttarakhand, he said.
In July last, the PVCHR and RCT organised a function to honour the victims of torture and organised violence. The testimony of 12 victims was read to the public. Though it was a small pilot study of testimonial method, it helped improve the well being in survivors of torture, he said and added a national alliance on testimonial therapy (NATT) had been constituted to expand it across the country. Around 100 organisations and individuals in 17 states joined hands to put a check on torture and organised violence, he said.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
..................................................................
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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