Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Dalits Media Watch News Updates 05.04.11

Dalits Media Watch

News Updates 05.04.11

Using word 'Harijan:' Relief for Rout as court grants him bail - The Pioneer

http://www.dailypioneer.com/329208/Using-word-%E2%80%98Harijan%E2%80%99-Relief-for-Rout-as-court-grants-him-bail.html

Mirchpur killings: Court orders inquiry into witness protection - Zee News

http://www.zeenews.com/news696584.html

Rs 1,250 crore for roads in Ambedkar villages - The Pioneer

http://www.dailypioneer.com/329161/Rs-1250-crore-for-roads-in-Ambedkar-villages.html

A different take on Dalit studies - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/br/2011/04/05/stories/2011040551421700.htm

The Pioneer

Using word 'Harijan:' Relief for Rout as court grants him bail

http://www.dailypioneer.com/329208/Using-word-%E2%80%98Harijan%E2%80%99-Relief-for-Rout-as-court-grants-him-bail.html

April 05, 2011 6:36:43 PM

PNS | Paradip

Local MLA and Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout, accused of hurting sentiments of Dalits by uttering the word "Harijan," was on Monday granted bail by a lower court at Kujanga in Jagatsinghpur district.

The Judicial Magistrate (First Class) of Kujanga, while allowing the bail, asked Dr Rout to cooperate with the investigating agency in the case and not to influence witnesses. The court also cautioned him against uttering the word Harijan in future.

Dr Rout, who personally appeared before the court, furnished a bond of Rs 20,000 and two sureties for getting the bail.

It may be noted that while addressing a public meeting at Kujanga in August last year, the Minister had used the word Harijan, which hurt the sentiments of the Dalit community. He had used the word allegedly to insult his adversaries in politics and administration.

On a complaint by one Manoj Kumar Bhoi, an FIR was lodged at the Kujanga police station on August 21, 2010 against Dr Rout for his utterances.

Dr Rout moved the lower court after the Odisha High Court denied him an anticipatory bail in the case. The High Court had, however, suggested him to approach the lower court for a regular bail.

The issue was even echoed in the State Assembly with Dr Rout clarifying that he "will not attend the Assembly if the court issues warrant against me."

Zee News

Mirchpur killings: Court orders inquiry into witness protection

http://www.zeenews.com/news696584.html

Updated on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 18:35

New Delhi: Irked over Haryana police's reluctance to comply with its orders to provide protection to the witnesses of Mirchpur dalit killing case, a Delhi court has directed the Inspector General (IG) of police of Hisar range to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

"I hereby direct that an immediate inquiry be conducted by the Inspector General of Police, Hisar Range, with regard to the default committed at the level of the Haryana Police with regard to the non compliance of the directions issued by the court," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said. 

The court also directed the IG to inform it about the action taken on erring police officials within one week.

The court's order came after it was informed that some of the witnesses had come on their own before it for deposition and not under Haryana police's protection.

The court had earlier issued directions to the Delhi and Haryana government to ensure protection of witnesses and victims of the violence. The court had also directed to house the witnesses at a place allotted by Delhi government for them till the completion of their examination.

The Pioneer

Rs 1,250 crore for roads in Ambedkar villages

http://www.dailypioneer.com/329161/Rs-1250-crore-for-roads-in-Ambedkar-villages.html

April 05, 2011 6:38:27 PM

Pioneer News Service | Lucknow

Catering to its Dalit vote bank, the Bahujan Samaj Party government has sanctioned Rs 1,250 crore for construction of roads in Ambedkar villages that were identified in the party's last three regimes but where work had come to a halt with the fall of the party's governments.

A highly placed official in the PWD told 'The Pioneer' that the government had decided to construct pucca roads in Ambedkar villages that were identified in the fiscal years 1995-96, 1997-98 and 2002-03.

Incidentally, in all these three fiscals, Mayawati was Chief Minister and she had formed government with the support of Bharatiya Janata Party. With the fall of her government, the construction of roads in these villages had come to a halt and the sanctioned money was diverted to other villages.

The State Road Management Committee that met on March 31, decided to revive the projects in these villages and sanctioned Rs 1,250 crore for construction and renovation of roads there. "With this money the Ambedkar villages will be connected with the state highways," the official said.

In contrast, the same committee sanctioned just Rs 150 crore for construction of roads in 2,500 other villages and Rs 209 crore for special renovation of culverts in villages. The committee sanctioned just Rs 10 crore for construction of roads in industrial areas reflecting the priority of the government.

Besides, the government has also sanctioned Rs 10 crore for broadening and beautification of main crossings in the state capital. Though the officials are yet to identify the crossings, these are likely to be those having statues of Dalit icons.

Interestingly, the committee, which met under the chairmanship of PWD Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, had sanctioned Rs 1,414 crore under State Road Fund for the present fiscal. For the spillover projects (unfinished projects of last fiscal year which need financial support in 2011-12) the committee has allocated additional Rs 250 crore.

Two BSP MPs, Ashok Kumar Rawat from Sitapur and Rizwan Ahmad from Basti, had also attended the meeting.

The Hindu

A different take on Dalit studies

http://www.hindu.com/br/2011/04/05/stories/2011040551421700.htm

BHUPENDRA YADAV

The caste system has resulted in the creation of an elaborate pecking order or hierarchy into which the 4,000-odd castes in India have been slotted. Hence the arguments and counter-arguments and the claims and counter-claims about the relative status of different castes. Secondly, the caste system is based on a difference created by the 'accident' of one's birth, a feature that is sustained and perpetuated by a societal ethos that bars inter-caste marriages. As a consequence, the socio-cultural life of different castes is mostly spent in 'splendid isolation' of one another.

Hierarchy

The basic thrust of Dalit Studies has been mostly on the different dimensions of hierarchy and the pain inflicted by it. This book, on the other hand, is a welcome addition to the relatively small volume of work on difference and its implications for Dalit assertion. It has 15 chapters grouped under four thematic heads — the Dalits, Dalits in history, society, literature and among the minorities.

The term 'Dalit' denotes one single unit, but, like an orange, it has several segments. In the opening essay on "Resolving Dalit identiy", Jyotsna Macwan and Suguna Ramanathan note, regretfully, that "caste divisions flourish among poorer sections whom they hurt the most."

The horror story Smita Patil narrates from the autobiography of Baby Kamble, a Dalit writer, runs along these lines. For the women among Dalits, it is 'triple whammy'. Patriarchy victimises Dalit women as much as 'impurity' associated with their caste and the social exploitation. Dalit girls are married at as young an age as eight or nine. They are punished by their in-laws without inhibition or restraint for not meeting their endless demands in housekeeping. Should the harassed girl try to escape, she is caught, and a wooden log is fastened to her leg through a hole hewn in the foot. In "Exploring Dalit Women's Oppression," Padma Velaskar says, the experience of Dalit women is "destructive" due to what she calls the "multidimensionality, simultaneity and intensity of oppression." It is no secret that caste differences exist even in religions other than Hinduism, and this in fact shows that Christianity and Islam are indeed the organic products of the Indian soil. The extent of stigmatisation and exclusion faced by the lower castes among Muslims and Sikhs respectively is discussed by Imtiaz Ahmad and Ronki Ram.

Yoginder Sikand says that contemporary Indian Muslim scholars advise against marriage between people of unequal status. Arguing that the divide between the high-born and the low-born among Muslims goes as far back as the 14th century, he refers to Ziauddin Barani, a Turkish scholar, who in his Fatwa-i Jahandari requests his master, Mohammad bin Tughlaq, to order that nothing other than the religious injunctions related to fasting, praying, charity and pilgrimage should be taught to the 'mean' people. Barani also wants teachers to be punished if they imparted education to the 'low born' because "plenty of disorders arise owing to the skill of the low born in knowledge."

Prathama Banerjee's "Caste and History Writing" is interesting, but somewhat disappointing. She tries to show that the history of caste may not have the same chronological trajectory as that of a nation or a religion. While proposing the centrality of the body in the history of caste, Banerjee says people of different castes live in separate areas, limit contact with each other according to the pecking order, and observe different social etiquette with people of other castes, etc.

Intimate knowledge

At the same time, Banerjee quotes, approvingly, a statement which says that Dalit women scavengers had intimate knowledge of the households from which they were excluded and goes on to specify the means by which they do so. Surely, there have been much simpler methods of getting to know others' habits, what they ate and so on. Unlike technologists, social scientists are not expected to solve problems or even answer fundamental questions. They would have done their job well if they raised some searching questions. By raising such questions from diverse perspectives, the contributors have enriched this volume. The book deserves to be read by those who are tired of listening to the wails of the "pilgrims of darkness", while those who are put off by the writings of the narrowly focussed specialists in Dalit studies will find its wide sweep particularly appealing.


-- 
.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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