Global Phenomenon Addressed: Land losers duped of compensation -

A case under the Prevention of Atrocities on SC/ST Act was registered against BSP leader last night for allegedly beating up a Dalit and humiliating him publicly at the party office in Civil Lines police station area of Rampur district on June 22.

The accused, Yusuf Ali Khan, is the BSP candidate from Chamrawwa Assembly constituency. Bhukan Lal, the complainant, said that an inquiry had found the BSP leader guilty and the report was handed over to the Rampur Superintendent of Police (SP) a month ago, but the FIR was lodged yesterday.

Superintendent of Police Bhanu Bhaskar, however, said that the report was completed and handed over to him recently.

Lal said that the incident was sequel to a matter related to the cancellation of the licence of his cousin Ashrafi's fair price shop in March. Khan had got the licenced cancelled by Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Tanda Ram Singh, as he wanted it to be allotted to one of his relatives. Lal had then filed an application before the Moradabad Commissioner, seeking his intervention into the matter. The commissioner later issued an order in Asharfi's favour.

Lal said he went to the SDM and apprised him of the commissioner's order, but the SDM refused to let them open the shop till the BSP leader gave permission for it. The SDM even asked him to meet Khan and convince him, Lal alleged.

According to Lal, he went to the BSP district unit office on June 22 and requested Khan to tell the SDM that he had no objection over the commissioner's order. But the BSP leader lost his temper and beat him mercilessly, and humiliated him by making derogatory references to his caste in presence of the party workers, Lal alleged.

Later, Lal met the then SP Ramit Sharma, who ordered an inquiry into the incident. The circle officer (City) conducted an inquiry and submitted his report last month.

The BSP leader, meanwhile, said that charges against him were baseless. "Bhukan Lal had lodged a false complaint at the instance of my political rivals," he said.

IBN Live

Land losers duped of compensation

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/land-losers-duped-of-compensation/204726-60-117.html

Express News Service , The New Indian Express

SAMBALPUR: Three Dalits and a tribal of Pardhiapali village under Ainthapali police limits here have been duped of Rs 15 lakh.

They had received the money as compensation against their land acquired by the Sambalpur railway division for expansion of the Sambalpur-Jharsuguda railway section.

Reports said the families of Gurucharan Banchor, Dasrath Banchor, Pandava Banchor and tribal Ranjit Khadia had parted with 0.31 acre, 0.23 acre, 0.55 acre and 0.16 decimals respectively for laying of the railway tracks.

They were issued separate cheques amounting to Rs 20,89,116.

Soon after they received the cheques, Nrusingha Panda, a resident of Hirakud Colony here and Sudharsan Sahu of Pardhiapali village approached them with Sahu introducing Panda as a railway officer.

Impressing upon them that their signatures were required on some documents, they made them sign some papers and took away the cheques. Sensing foul play, the illiterate families approached Panda at his residence on November 6 who gave them Rs 4,59,000 in cash as compensation for the land acquired and passbooks of IDBI bank.

To their shock, they found the remaining amount withdrawn from their accounts in the bank.

They then reported the matter to ASP Dilip Kumar Deo on Monday Deo said he would investigate and initiate action against the culprits.

IBN Live

LJP demands white paper on mahadalit status

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/ljp-demands-white-paper-on-mahadalit-status/908759.html

PTI | 08:11 PM,Nov 21,2011

Patna, Nov 21 (PTI) Alleging that dalits have been "cheated" in the name of mahadalits, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today demanded that Bihar government bring out a white paper on the work done for mahadalits in the state. "Dalits have been cheated and befooled in the name of mahadalits...We want a detailed white paper from the state government on the work done for the uplift of mahadalits in Bihar," Paswan told reporters here. "We want to know the details as to how many families have actually been given land... We will raise the issue of the pathetic condition of mahadalits in Bihar," he said. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promised to provide land to mahadalit families and bring them under various welfare schemes. Alleging that the state government was a "failure" on all fronts, the LJP president said rampant corruption and chaos have gripped Bihar. "There is talk of commission and bribery at every level... Even the chief minister decided to scrap the MLA/MLCs Local Area Development Fund due to commission and corruption," he said and castigated Kumar for his stand on MPLAD schemes. Paswan said LJP during its foundation day rally at Gandhi Maidan would raise the issue of rampant irregularities in land allotment under Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority. He also took a potshot at Kumar's Seva Yatra and alleged that it reflected that RSS was the source of his inspiration. "Crores of rupees is being spent on Seva yatra and for the comfort of the chief minister ... It is nothing but a cruel joke for people of Bihar," Paswan added.

The Hindustan Times

Govt to fill up vacant, reserved posts by March

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Govt-to-fill-up-vacant-reserved-posts-by-March/Article1-771883.aspx

Prasad Nichenametla , Hindustan Times

New Delhi, November 21, 2011

Last Updated: 00:35 IST(21/11/2011)

The government is attempting to fill up the backlog promotion posts reserved for SC, ST, and OBC categories in central sector on a priority basis, by March 2012.

An estimated 50,000 posts are lying vacant in SC, ST, OBC categories from both fresh recruitments and promotions.

According to the ministry of social justice and empowerment, 40% of the posts are related to promotions reserved for these categories.

On Thursday, minister for social justice and empowerment Mukul Wasnik and department of personnel and training minister V Narayanasamy reviewed the situation of the backlog posts lying vacant across the central sector departments, related institutions and establishments.

The meeting comes after Wasnik wrote to DoPT, two months back, expressing concern over the posts allotted for SC, ST, OBCs not provided to them.

It is estimated that in railways itself there are more than 15,000 vacant reserved posts.

"It is not like there are no deserving candidates. We do not know the reasons for delay in filling the posts. We do not even know what the exact number of these posts in each department are," said a ministry official.

"As direct recruitment will take time for clearances, processes and others, the opinion is that promotion posts should be filled without further delay, removing whatever bottlenecks crop up," the official told HT.

While the move points to the government's pursuit of social equity agenda, it also comes in wake of Dalit organisations criticising the government for not filling the posts lying vacant for years.

"There is an apathy evident in filling the reserved posts. The government should realise the work pressure on government servants and recruit all the backlog posts immediately," Dr Udit Raj, president, All India Confederation of SC, ST Organisations said.

Though the government has in the past launched special recruitment drives to fill up the backlog reserved vacancies in central establishments, thousands of the posts are still lying vacant.

A total of 77,487 backlog vacancies were identified for a November 2008 drive of which 25,560 were for SCs, 28,542 for STs and 23,385 for OBCs.

Though stipulated that all backlogs would be filled up by June, 2011, it was found a large number of vacancies still remained unfilled.

DNA

DNA Special: Homeless in Mumbai pay 300 times more for water

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_dna-special-homeless-in-mumbai-pay-300-times-more-for-water_1614941

Published: Sunday, Nov 20, 2011, 9:15 IST By Yogesh Pawar | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

A new survey has found that the homeless in Mumbai spend 300 times more on drinking water than what Mumbaikars with homes have to pay. The homeless also spend anything from one-fourth to a third of their meagre daily earnings on personal hygiene and sanitation services. And 82% of the homeless in the city belong to SC, ST or OBC.

These are among the key findings of a survey titled 'Needs Of The Homeless In Mumbai' by Shwetank Mishra for the Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD), a city-based NGO. While an average Mumbaikar gets drinking water at Rs3.50 per 1,000 litres, the homeless have no access to such water. "They have to resort to buying from shrines, watchmen of housing societies and even slumdwellers with access to water for as much a rupee a litre," points out Mishra.

The study was done across 16 locations in the city from Borivali to South Mumbai and covered homeless families as well as individuals. "Belying the myth that the homeless are unstable, seasonal migrants, our survey found that as many as 93% of them have lived in the city for more than 5 years," says Mishra. "A common perception about the homeless is that they move out of the city during the monsoons. We found this to be incorrect.More than three-quarters of them remain at the same locations during the rains, which shows their doggedness in taking on a harsh life to survive in the city."

According to him, "This should be reason enough for the state to take cognisance of their existence and create policies for these poorest of the poor."

The study shows how any need for hospitalisation can be extremely tough on the homeless. "Hospitals are virtually out of bounds for the individual homeless since most facilities make it mandatory for an attendant to be with the patient," says the study.

"This can be particularly trying if the individual is in a critical condition." The study recommends that government hospitals should address this lacuna immediately so that the 'right to life' of these citizens is not violated. Only a quarter of the homeless can afford to go to a private doctor and buy medicines from local chemists, says the study.

Most of the homeless are in the city to make a living, but nearly a quarter of them do not get work regularly. However, a majority of them admit to earning a minimum of Rs100 per day. A third of this is spent on hygiene, one of their main expenses after food. A bucket of water for bathing or washing costs Rs10. While men get to use urinals for free, they pay Rs3 to use the toilet and women have to pay Rs3 each time they want to relieve themselves. "Considering that they earn only around Rs100 per day, this is prohibitive," exclaims Mishra.

The homeless face a severe food insecurity especially during non-availability of work. In such hard times, 24% use religious places, 15% ask for food from friends and 6% beg for food.
As many as 86% of the homeless said they are not able to save anything. This keeps their aspiration of finding a home, a dream.

More than half the homeless had no identity documents and only 12% had bank accounts. The homeless do not fit into criteria for issuance of any identity document, points out the study which recommends, "This merits seeing the homeless as a separate group in urban society and the creation of a tailor-made policy for them."

IBN Live

FIR filed against SC/ST panel head

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/fir-filed-against-scst-panel-head/204352-60-115.html

Express News Service , The New Indian Express

HAVERI: Lokayukta police on Saturday registered an FIR against Karnataka State SC/ST Commission chairman and BJP MLA Nehru Olekar and others for allegedly misusing their powers while allotting Haveri Urban Development Authority site leases and submitted the FIR report to court.

Davangere Lokayukta SP S F Kambar booked a case against MLA Nehru Olekar, Haveri Urban Development Authority chairman Girish Tuppad and others. The district Lokayukta Special Court on November 15, referred the case to them for investigation under section 156 clause (3) of CrPc.

Speaking to Express, he said, "I got a registered post from the Lokayukta Special Court on Saturday and I registered the FIR with Haveri Lokayukta police. Police charged the accused with IPC sections 409, 420, 465 and the Prevention of Corruption Act sec 13 and 1 (D)."

--
.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.