Dalits Media Watch News Updates 22.06.11

Dalits Media Watch

News Updates 22.06.11

Dalit beaten to death over petty issue - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062261250200.htm

Woman injured in clash with police dies in hospital - NDTV

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/woman-injured-in-clash-with-police-dies-in-hospital-113892

Demand for action against caste atrocities in village - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062262710300.htm

Haryana loans for SC beneficiaries - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062262910300.htm

Dalit panchayat chief's complaints ignored: report - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062264900700.htm

It's complicated - The Indian Express

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/its-complicated/806913/0

The Hindu

Dalit beaten to death over petty issue

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062261250200.htm

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: A Dalit was allegedly beaten to death following a quarrel on a petty issue of filling petrol in apump at Tiruchendur in Tuticorin district.

Pakshirajan (48) of Keezhanalumoolaikinaru, who came in his two-wheeler along with Kumar (33) to fill petrol was reportedly beaten with an iron rod and ran over by a van by Muthu of Kulasekarapattinam.

A field report done by Madurai-based non-governmental organisation, Evidence, says that on June 14, Pakshirajan had gone to a petrol station located on the Tirunelveli road. While waiting to fill petrol, Muthu came there in a van and shouted at him to leave way for him to fill petrol.

But Pakshirajan, who came first, did not allow him following which there was a quarrel between the two in which Muthu had allegedly abused Pakshirajan by his caste and attacked him with an iron rod and ran over him.

Pakshirajan, who was admitted to the Government Hospital in Tiruchendur, died, and the Tiruchendur police registered cases under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3(2)(5) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The NGO claimed that this was a murder done with a caste motive and the investigation should focus on this aspect. The police should not close the case as an occurrence of previous enmity or personal reasons.

NDTV

Woman injured in clash with police dies in hospital

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/woman-injured-in-clash-with-police-dies-in-hospital-113892

Indo-Asian News Service, Updated: June 22, 2011 07:17 IST

Chandigarh: A woman who was injured in a clash between police and protesters in Hisar town of Haryana earlier this month died in hospital here on Tuesday, police said.

Santosh Devi, 45, was among the nine people, including four policemen, injured June 13 during the protest against the alleged intolerant attitude of police against Dalits and non-Jats.

The woman from Bamniwala village in Kaithal district was critically injured and was first admitted to Hisar civil hospital but was later referred to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) BS Sandhu said: "After the post mortem, the body will be sent to her village for cremation."

"Right now, I cannot say anything about action against the policemen, who were involved in this clash," he said.

Led by Non-Jat Association (NJA) president Ved Pal Tanwar, the protestors, including dozens of Dalits, staged a protest outside the Hisar mini-secretariat complex, 300 kiloneters from here.

Police arrested 12 people, including Tanwar. They are currently in judicial custody.

The Hindu

Demand for action against caste atrocities in village

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062262710300.htm

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: Members of Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam organised a protest near the Collectorate here on Tuesday demanding action against the people who practice untouchability and commit atrocities against Dalits at Villoor in the district.

The protestors, led by T. Saravana Pandian, said that it had been more than 60 years since we got independence but atrocities and practices of untouchability was continuing unabated. The State government should intervene immediately and take stern action against those persons involved in such practices.

In the recent past, there had been more than two instances where Dalits were attacked and abused by dominant caste members. The perpetrators must be booked under Goondas Act, they said.

The Hindu

Haryana loans for SC beneficiaries

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062262910300.htm

Special Correspondent

Under various categories in agriculture and industrial sectors

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (HSCFDC) has provided financial assistance totalling Rs.2.07 crore, including Rs.38.52 lakh as subsidy, to 464 beneficiaries under various schemes so far in the current financial year.

Haryana Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal said on Tuesday that people belonging to Scheduled Castes were being provided loans under various categories in agriculture, allied, industrial, trade and business, professional and self-employment sectors. These include loans for dairy farming, sheep rearing, piggery farming and camel cart or mule cart.

She said financial assistance of Rs.6.68 lakh had also been provided under the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation schemes.

The Hindu

Dalit panchayat chief's complaints ignored: report

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/22/stories/2011062264900700.htm

Staff Reporter

"Krishnaveni faced discrimination right from day of her announcement to contest elections"

MADURAI: The Dalit (Arunthathiyar) panchayat president, P. Krishnaveni of Thalaiyuthu panchayat in Tirunelveli, who was brutally attacked by a gang recently, had repeatedly filed complaints with police officers and the district administration citing caste-based discrimination, but the administration failed to act, says a fact-finding report.

A fact-finding team, comprising members of the Confederation of Federations of Elected Presidents of Panchayat Government, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry; Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Presidents of Panchayat Government; and Dalit Panchayat Presidents Federation of Tamil Nadu, visited the village twice and spoke to villagers, members of gram sabha and officials.

The report, which was released here on Tuesday, stated that Ms. Krishnaveni faced discrimination right from the day of her announcement to contest elections. She was not allowed to sit on the chair allotted for the elected president.

Since May, 2007, she had filed 12 complaints with the police and district administration about the discrimination and on her right to function independently but no action was taken. The fact-finding team has found that Ms. Krishnaveni had to seek the help of District Collector to execute her duties as the vice-president thwarted all attempts made by her to work independently.

There were reports that the vice-president and his supporters usually disrupted the proceedings of gram sabha meetings and she had to seek police protection to conduct them.

Irrespective of caste affiliation, she functioned in an unbiased way, said the villagers. She had taken many bold decisions, which invited the wrath of a few sections of dominant castes.

The team also came to know that Dalit presidents belonging to 125 panchayats in the district were subject to one form of discrimination or the other.

The State government should ensure legal and administrative safeguards and guarantees enshrined in the Constitution. State and district administration should intervene immediately and provide non-discriminatory and atrocity-free political environment for the chiefs to function independently and effectively.

The Indian Express

It's complicated

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/its-complicated/806913/0

Wed Jun 22 2011, 00:45 hrs

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has called an all-party meeting to discuss the Women's Reservation Bill, a prelude to its inevitably dramatic reception in the monsoon session. If it goes through, one-third of all seats, in the SC/ ST and general categories, will be reserved for women in Parliament and state legislatures. Though the idea of reserving seats for women had come up during the nationalist struggle, the Constituent Assembly had rejected the idea as a patronising imperial imposition. However, as the years went by, it became obvious that patriarchal political parties were not going to take the initiative to open up routes for women to acquire and wield power. While women are split across community, caste and interest, they are also united by a common discrimination, and often face cumulative layers of disadvantage. And now, there is wide consensus that if there is to be a significant women's lobby for legislation, a quota is going to have to be carved out for them.

While the aim of the bill is an unreserved good, it will also have explosive and unsettling effects on our electoral democracy, which is why its passage has been such a wrenching process for 15 years. Many OBC leaders feared an elite takeover, which is rather unlikely. Others have pointed to design imperfections in the current bill. It raises troubling institutional questions — for instance, it has been argued that a system of rotating constituencies leaches out democratic accountability and leaves too much to a political party's central decision-makers. It could weaken one of the few things that work — the essential link between the electorate and the incumbent legislator. There has, till now, been little attempt to patiently work through these tangles, or look at alternative suggestions like multi-member constituencies or increasing representation within parties instead, so that every political party gives, say, a certain percentage of tickets to women. When the question was debated in Rajya Sabha, acquiescing parties issued whips, while opponents like the RJD, SP and JD(U) simply disrupted proceedings, giving up on parliamentary persuasion.

Now, in this last decisive stage of the Women's Reservation Bill, those contradictions must be seriously analysed by all parties. While many of the early reflexive objections can be swatted away (like the concern about the biwi/ beti brigade, which ignores the way privilege and nepotism have anyway been entrenched in Indian politics for the benefit of men), the question of electoral mechanics calls for thorough consideration by Lok Sabha.

-- 
.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.