The girl's father complained to the police that his daughter, a student of Class VIII, was harassed by the two youth following which police have registered a case under Section 306 IPC (abetment to commit suicide) against them.

The complaint said that after the victim told her father about the boys' conduct, he approached their families. However, the boys' families did not show any interest in setting things right which resulted in exchange of heated words among them in the recent past.

The girl, after being harassed by the youths again this morning, came home where she poured kerosene on herself and set herself ablaze.

When the girl's father heard her cries, he rushed into the house and saw her in flames.

She was taken to Indira Gandhi Multi-Speciality hospital at Kaithal where the doctors referred her to PGIMER Chandigarh in a critical condition.

However, she succumbed to her burns on the way. The body was handed over to family after post-mortem.

PTI

The New Indian Express

Temple row: Attur village tense

http://newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Temple-row-Attur-village-tense/2013/09/16/article1786496.ece

Oonathur, a village near Attur in the district, that was on the boil after a dispute between Dalits and caste Hindus over pulling the car of a village temple and subsequent harassment of a Dalit woman continued to remain tense on Sunday.

Sources said that heavy police pickets were posted as uneasy calm prevailed in the village. The village has three temples - Mariamman Temple, Maniamman Temple and Karupaiah Temple. For several years, members of backward communities (BCs) alone offered worship in Mariamman Temple and Maniamman Temple, while dalits prayed at Karupaiah temple.

Meanwhile, the Mariamman and Maniamman temples were taken over by the HR &CE following which dalits demanded they also be allowed to offer worship in those. However, members of BCs opposed the demand following which the HR & CE stopped conducting temple festivals in 1992.

Recently, the old temple cars of the two temples were renovated at cost of `5 lakh through contributions made by members of backward communities. The renovated cars were to be consecrated on Friday. But the rituals were called off as the dalits sought permission to pull the cars which again was rejected by caste Hindus, who claimed that the funds for the work was contributed by them. But dalits argued that the temple and the cars belonged to the government and they had right to participate in the consecration.

Fearing the dispute could trigger a clash, police and the revenue authorities held a peace meeting the same day in the presence of HR&CE officials. The HR&CE officials made it clear that since the two temples belonged to the department all communities had right to worship and take part in the festivals. They also said that if all the communities were not allowed the festival would be called off.

As the meeting failed to arrive at a consensus, both the communities, agreed to stop the consecration and gave it in writing to the RDO Pon Muthramalingam.

A day after the altercation at the temple, a dalit woman was allegedly denied medicine in a shop and this aggravated the situation at the village, which was already tense. But the heavy presence of police prevented the incident from snowballing into a major clash.

Attur DSP Siva Velliappan said the situation was under control. He said the keys of the Mariamman and Manniamman Temples have been taken from the traditional trustee Subramani and handed over to HR &CE. The department would send a priest regularly to the temples to conduct rituals and the keys would be in the custody of a representative.

Mainstream Weekly

British Legacy in Education: Is it "Cultural Pollution"?

http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article4445.html

In an impressive seminar a noted Dalit columnist of The Pioneer, Chandra Bhan Prasad, had once said some years ago in Delhi that the Britishers "came too late to India and left too early". India would not have been a modern state today with inclusion of all communities if the Britishers had not invaded the country with their language and culture was his argument. Without mincing words, he had asserted that the lives and cultures of the subaltern communities had no place as long as the Brahmanic education and culture was the only form of education that was existent. In contrast to Sanskrit education, English language has liberated the Indian minds and culture, he had opined.

There are others who have said that the established literature before the coming of the British was Brahmanic literature and all literature pertaining to subaltern classes had no place there. They have even questioned the entire concept of Indian literature and have raised questions on whose literature is it and what constitutes Indian literature. The engagement of the subaltern classes with literature of the times before the coming of the British and during the British era has made them to conclude that much of Indian literature has been elite, upper caste and Brahmanic. Even the anti-colonial literature did not have space for the writings of minority and subaltern communities. The purpose was perhaps to keep the traditional Indian society intact without changes since it allowed a group of people to be parasites living on the labour of the subaltern classes.

English have been Liberative

To the subaltern communities the coming of the British with a modern, universal and egalitarian agenda may have been socially liberative though the British had their economic agenda to transform India into a colony.

That is why what Chandra Bhan said at that meet and other Dalit and minority scholars have been stating in recent years is not without basis. While one cannot deny substance in their argument since it contains partial truth, it may not be the full truth.

On the other hand Rajnath Singh, the BJP President's statement that our education is a British legacy aimed at "subjugating Indian minds" that had led to "cultural pollution" may have a lot to do with the hidden agenda of the RSS and its affiliates who have never worked for a social transformation. As a representative of the RSS and its affiliates what does he mean when he says education has to be tuned to Indian thought and culture? Which Indian thought is he talking about?

In spite of some of the very positive aspects of English education, one may not be able to make a complete case for the bygone British rulers and the way they decided to get a hold on the country by using all kinds of devices including education. However, one needs to be more critical when Rajnath attacks British education as cultural pollution. What does he mean by cultural pollution? Does he mean that India should have remained a hierarchical society with Brahmanic education with its caste culture without the freedom of the mind? Is he aware that his so-called Indian culture silenced the voices of the subalterns and minorities and continues to do so?

English Language contains Universal Values

The prime attack of Rajnath and his associates on English education is because of its universalism and egalitarianism. Every attempt is made to hide these two characteristics of British education that united the country even for the freedom struggle. There would not have been the possibility of a united struggle without the English language. Of course, the freedom struggle does not matter for the RSS. They weren't a part of it.

Even after independence there is little the group has done to make India free from myths and dogmas. The group is still least interested in the social liberation of the weaker sections. To further their agenda, the Macaulay minutes and all the statements of British rule in India are misrepresented by the party and its associates. Not that one makes a case for British rule in India or its return. British rule had definite designs to loot and plunder as far economics was concerned. But it is quite different when misrepresentation of statements is continuously carried on for vested interests. Let us look at British education in the perspective in which it was offered. That would give us an insight into the real motives of English education in India.

Lord Macaulay, as the first Law Member in the Governor General's Council, had advocated introducing the English system of education in the country. Governor General William Bentinck had agreed with Macaulay's minutes and wrote: "The great object of the British Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and Science among the natives of India." Does that create 'a new generation of English speaking Indians, loyal to the British crown, to act as an army of clerks'? To the Hindu Right every statement that is there has to be interpreted to suit their hidden agenda though the group has taken all advantage of English learning. What does that text mean? It is a practice among communalists to quote texts that suit their agenda and go on repeating them to make it enter into the consciousness of the people. Since there are hardly many persons who would go to the original text of Macaulay, it becomes easy for the children of Golwalkar and Savarkar to take sentences out of context and go on repeating the texts to suit their agenda. The purpose of course is to tell the country that they are patriots and the Britishers were foreigners who destroyed the very idea of a golden Indian that existed in their figment of imagination.

What is the Truth?

Let me quote some of those texts to bring out the truth of those texts. "It would be far better for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of us, than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that they were performing their salaams to English collectors and English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English manufactures… In order that India might remain a dependency, would make it a useless and costly dependency, which would keep a hundred millions of men from being our customers in order that they might continue to be our slaves." (Minutes: July 10, 1833) Britain may have preferred India to be a country of traders and businessmen than a colony for business interests. They would have traded better and more profitably. At least both Macaulay and William Bentinck wanted the English language to open the Indian mind for better governance.

Unfortunately we have not looked at higher education in the country as an exercise in the training of the mind so that those who pass out of institutions of higher learning learn to be independent and autonomous in their thoughts and ideas. We have created a system where the mind is controlled with archaic views with ideologues of various hues and cries indoctrinating our minds. Faithfulness to the teachers and their views has become more important in universities and colleges for students than creating an atmosphere for the circulation and discussion of ideas.

When Rajnath talks about education what he desires from students is adherence to those norms of Indian culture that are manufactured—a set of myths, beliefs and dogmas—and through which his organisation desires to indoctrinate the country. We have seen that attempt during the regime of National Democratic Alliance in this country when Dr Murli Manohar Joshi presided over the Human Resource Development Ministry.

Let me once again quote a text from the Macaulay minutes. Further; [July 10, 1833] "It may be that the public mind of India may expand under our system till it has outgrown that system; that by good government we may educate our subjects into a capacity for better government." To expand the mental horizon, new ideas and thoughts need to be listened to and responded. Will the RSS and BJP ever allow education to expand the minds of students so that they are able to question and interrogate the present system and work for change? The British education was a tool towards better governance whatever may have been the limitations of that governance. It would be damaging to Indian history to have a single factor explanation of colonial education.

Equality before Law

On the question of "Equality before Law" the minutes of July 10, 1833 read, "… the worst of all systems was surely that of having a mild code for the Brahmins, who sprang from the head of the Creator, while there was a severe code for the Sudras, who sprang from his feet. India has suffered enough already from the distinction of castes, and from the deeply rooted prejudices which that distinction has engendered. God forbid that we should inflict on her the curse of a new caste, that we should send her a new breed of Brahmins, authorised to treat all the native population as Pariahs! Should native Indians hold high offices...? We are told that the time can never come when the natives of India can be admitted to high civil and military office... I allude to that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause which enacts that no native of our Indian empire shall, by reason of his colour, his descent, or his religion, be incapable of holding office."

Where then is the cultural pollution and subjugation? Is making a shift from a hierarchical system where those at the top of the ladder benefited and the lowest were brutally treated to an egalitarian system where everyone was to be treated as a human person cultural pollution? Why does Rajnath not make a critique of India's cultural pollution of caste instead of subtly calling for its revival?

English and Freedom of the Mind

Was Macaulay attempting to create 'intellectual slaves' for the British Empire or men and women of open minds? Does the often quoted statement that "we must at present do our best to form a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect" a proof of it? Once again, the quote is twisted, taken out of context, and thus presents Lord Macaulay as a villain. But one must read the full paragraph of February 1835 "Minutes" on Indian education. "It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present to our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population." One must once in a way pay a tribute to the broad under-standing of Macaulay's goals of education.

The communalists practice their communalism against Macaulay by taking his quotes out of context. The British system wanted to create a group of persons who are open-minded and see beyond the rigid system of caste culture. In fact, the Britishers were critical of their own system and had learnt a lot from other systems.

"The first instance, to which I refer, is the great revival of letters among the Western nations at the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. At that time almost every-thing that was worth reading was contained in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Had our ancestors neglected the language of Cicero and Tacitus; had they confined their attention to the old dialects of our own island; had they printed nothing and taught nothing at the universities but Chronicles in Anglo-Saxon, and Romances in Norman-French, would England have been what she now is? What the Greek and Latin were to the contemporaries of More and Ascham, our tongue is to the people of India."

When the Britishers feel proud that they had learnt a lot from other cultures and traditions, we do not have to denounce colonial education entirely. The Britishers may have had their designs in introducing English education in the country. All those goals may not have suited us. But to say that English education polluted Indian minds is to insult Indian minds. Does Rajnath believe that students do not have the capacity to think differently from what is imparted to us? The comment demeans Indian minds.

Modernity in India

Macaulay wanted modernity in India. Some term him as a finest rationalist of his time. On English education in India, the British officials were divided into two camps. The powerful Orientalists wanted the indigenous system of education to continue, with Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian as the media of instruction. The Anglicist camp, led by Lord Macaulay, argued for the European kind of modern education, with focus on modern sciences.

Macaulay won.

What if the indigenous education continued, with Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian as the media of instruction? Our minds might have become more attentive to the Talibanistic voices like that of Rajnath and the country might have been in various kinds of conflicts with plenty of violence on issues of caste, class, gender, religion and ethnicity. We would have been most probably like Afghanistan, some of the Arab states, Pakistan and present-day Syria. We would not have had a secular democracy premised on 'one person, one vote and one value", rational thought and interaction with the global knowledge and economy.

Chandra Bhan Prasad compares Macaulay to Gandhi and Nehru. If Gandhi epitomised freedom movement Lord Macaulay gave us a new freedom of the mind, he says. He was the late Jawaharlal Nehru, if Nehru epitomised modernity. Did English language open us to the wider world and make it possible to access classics and science? Why don't we give credit when it needs to be given to the English language? If India is a global player today thanks to the global language of English offered to us by the colonial masters.

However, this is not to deny that the advancement of English language has caused other problems of lack of development of local languages and culture. But one does not have to brood over those problems as long as we are able to address them. What needs to be denounced is the romanticisation and glorification of ancient Indian culture as propagated and promoted by the RSS and its affiliates.

Dr Ambrose Pinto S.J. is the Principal of St. Aloysius Degree College, Bangalore.

NIN

Does anyone give a s**t?

http://newint.org/blog/2013/09/13/india-caste-cleaners-dalit-scavenging/

Growing up in Kolkata brought me face to face with homeless, poverty stricken people from an early age. Kolkata's streets make it impossible to be shielded from poverty unlike some major Indian cities. As part of a student movement I worked in slum and village projects. Still, nothing, not even the worst Kolkata slum or 15 years immersed in adivasi (indigenous) villages, had prepared me for the face-to-face meeting with the filthy, inhuman reality of manual scavenging.

I have often written about scavenging in blogs for the New Internationalist and last year I described its practice and the recent struggle of the cleaners to throw down their brooms and 'reclaim their pride'. Despite bills and acts being passed, real change is needed.

The first time I came across manual scavenging was in the state of Gujarat. I followed Leelaben, a sanitation worker, on her 6am trek to the huge, dry latrine which was her workplace. It took all my self control not to vomit violently. As I watched her sweep liquid shit into a basket with her bare hands and a broom, my stomach convulsed. That was January 1997. My journey into the world of manual scavenging and dalit* issues began through dalit leader Martin Macwan with the Navsarjan Trust in Ahmedabad, the former capital of wealthy Gujarat.

In 1993, India passed the Abolition of Manual Scavenging Act. Gandhi began the debate in 1901 when he talked about the shame of manual scavenging and untouchability at a national political meeting. The issue was raised by other politicians with monotonous regularity. Monotonous because nothing changed for the oppressed community, the debates remained mere rhetoric and hot air. The passing of the 1993 Act armed activists and human rights lawyers with a weapon to fight for the rights of the people, mostly women, who still carried shit on their heads. I wrote an article in Frontline magazine in 1997 as India celebrated 50 years of independence. And then I wrote a book, Endless Filth, in 1999. I covered most states of India and I was happy to see change being brought about by Action Aid, shortly followed by Christian Aid that sponsored work to stop the scourge.

The Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) (Sanitation Workers' Movement) led by Bejawada Wilson did a tremendous job. The entire team were from the community of balmikis, caste-based cleaners; the only people in India who were destined (condemned more like) for centuries to clean human and animal excreta. The SKA team were committed and passionate, it was their personal war for themselves and for future generations of their own people. The SKA led a nationwide movement and took the issue to the Supreme Court, backed by a team of dedicated lawyers and activists. There was a nationwide movement of protest and awareness raising which went from the northernmost Kashmir to the southernmost tip of Kanyakumari and there was a famous declaration of the end of manual scavenging. But today, hundreds of thousands of women continue to manually clean excrement in private and public toilets all over India.

About ten years ago, I interviewed Ashif and LaliBai, founders of the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan (National Campaign for Dignity and Elimination of Manual Scavenging), who recently led balmiki women on a national journey or yatra to abolish manual scavenging. The Maila Mukti Yatra or the 'Freedom From Shit journey' covered more than 10,000 kilometres, 200 districts and 18 states in 65 days. They knocked at the doors of more than 200 parliamentarians, organized various events and protests and held hundreds of meetings with the different ministries, state governments, the National Advisory Council, Planning Commission and various political leaders.

Meanwhile, other groups and individuals have worked quietly and diligently all over India to educate balmikis and move them out of the dehumanizing occupation. A new Bill has been passed 20 years after the 1993 Act yet this hasn't excited me. Having watched and documented the struggles of this community since 1997, I'm cynical.

Highlighted repeatedly by Indian politican A Narayanan from Chennai are the sickening deaths of sanitation workers all over India everyday. These men die by asphyxiation. They are hit by toxic gas as they open manhole covers and fall in, unconscious. They literally drown in liquid shit. Yet no one gives a damn.

The Hindu newspaper's editorial sums it up aptly. 'Get serious' it advised the government. The only new and encouraging feature of this recent bill is that it focuses on pinning responsibility on officials whose duty it is to ensure that these horrendous dry latrines are removed from every corner of their districts.

There is a crying need for better technology with regard to hygiene, and there must be rehabilitation opportunities for manual scavengers. But more importantly there needs to be the political will to eradicate a filthy aspect of India and liberate the balmiki community from this national shame.

* Dalits = members of the most discriminated against castes in India, historically regarded as 'untouchables.'

The Hindu

Celebrating resistance art, music and film

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/celebrating-resistance-art-music-and-film/article5130758.ece

Kranti featured music by Makkal Mandram and Kabir Kala Manch, and sessions with filmmaker Anand Patwardhan

Barely a fortnight after Dalit resistance music group Kabir Kala Manch's first performance in two years made headlines after they were attacked by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a part of the group performed here on Saturday.

"It feels good to perform, to do what we love most — educate young people about caste and social issues," says Jyoti Raghoba, a 27-year-old clinical psychology student, who lost two years of her student life when she had to "go underground" following a crackdown on the manch. A few members of the group are still in prison, charged under the UAPA for allegedly being part of naxalite groups. "Our song and its message is why we're here. We've used our art to speak up against the State and casteist forces, and we'll continue to do so," adds Lakshman Kallada, a key singer.

Their performance is part of a two-day festival 'Kranti' that features and celebrates resistance art — be it music, like that of the Manch and Kanchipuram-based group Makkal Mandram, or films by activist and filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. Kabir Kala Manch's dynamic routine was followed by an energetic percussion-led performance by Makkal Mandram, a Kanchipuram-based group. The latter's performance drew the audience into the well of the Ravindra Kalakshetra amphitheatre, and had them dancing for a good hour-and-a-half with the group returning for two encores.

State oppression

What the two groups have in common are that both have been at the receiving end of State repression. Meghala, a 28-year-old advocate and percussionist, told The Hindu that her 'parai' — a percussion instrument where the diaphragm is made of cows' skin — was her voice against caste oppression. "It is for this reason that the police, and the State, tried to suppress us. They felt it isn't respectable to beat the parai, considered the instrument of the untouchable, on stage," she explains. Also, the very sight of us women, performing and dancing for 45-minute itself is a powerful feminist statement, she says.

Meghala and her group sang songs that were as nuanced as radical. For instance, a lyrical piece they performed spoke about the differences between the ideology of M.K. Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar.

Contradictions they sing about include the difference in approach to evil, such as Mahatma Gandhi's 'speak/see/hear no evil' versus B.R. Ambedkar's missive to speak up and fight against evil. Another verse said that Gandhi's devotional songs pale in comparison to the radical messages of Ambedkar.

"These differences must be highlighted because the way history has been taught is lopsided. Ambedkar told us that the caste system must be abolished, while Gandhi just renamed the untouchables as Harijans and expected us to move on. There is a need for counter-narratives to this," she emphasised, adding that her life's mission is to popularise Ambedkarite thought.

Film and discussion

The second day focussed on films and activism. On Sunday morning, students and film enthusiasts gathered early for an Anand Patwardhan retrospective. Mr. Patwardhan told students that for him taking the film to new and diverse audiences was as important as making the film. His recent film Jai Bhim, comrade was also screened.

The Hindu

Appeal

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/appeal/article5131354.ece

State SC/ST Ikyavedika vice president Gadda Manikyala Raju on Saturday urged the Samaikyandhra protagonists not to obstruct the meeting of MRPS founder president Manda Krishna Madiga scheduled at Guntur on September 29.

The Hindu

Campaign for SC / ST

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/campaign-for-sc-st/article5133019.ece

Branch MSME Development Institute, Government of India, and Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Coimbatore, will organise an industrial motivator campaign for Scheduled Castes on September 23, and for Scheduled Tribes on September 25, at Padmasri Kalyanamandapam, Udumalpet.

The campaign is to select candidates to undergo a two-week EDP programme and six weeks Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme to start micro / small enterprises, according to a release.

Those who have passed Standard VIII, who are above 18 years and have a definite proposal to start a micro / small enterprise are eligible to attend the programme.

There is no fee for participating in the motivation campaign. On successful completion of the training and subject to merit of the project, need-based credit facilities will be recommended for the project under the Government schemes.

Those interested can contact the Assistant Director, Branch MSME Development Institute, Patel Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore – 641009; or call 0422-2233956 / 2230426 / 94422-41361.

News Monitor by Girish Pant

.Arun Khote
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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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Monday, September 16, 2013

Fwd: [pmarc] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 16.09.13

Temple row: Attur village tense

British Legacy in Education: Is it "Cultural Pollution"?

Kranti featured music by Makkal Mandram and Kabir Kala Manch, and sessions with filmmaker Anand Patwardhan

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