India's Biggest Nationwide Student Protest in a Quarter Century spread across University Campuses :

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Caste: Still a Key Issue in the Minds of Indian Voters[/h][h=2]By M. M. Ali[/h]Even before Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, India's election of May and June 1991 had the potential either to unify or further destabilize the "world's largest democracy." It is disconcerting, therefore, to realize that this election was necessitated partly by a dispute over caste—a question most foreigners assume India put behind it generations ago.
A tempest was created by former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh's decision last year to implement the caste-related recommendations of the Mandal Commission. However morally correct, V. P. Singh plunged into a question that had daunted two of his predecessors as prime minister, the late Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv.
Nothing was done about the Mandal Commission's report for more than 10 years. Then, when the government sought to implement its recommendations, young men belonging to the upper castes indulged in public self-immolation in various cities throughout the country. The actions demonstrated, as never before, that India remains engulfed in a crisis of conscience. Elections can either narrow or widen the divide.
[h=2]A Stratified Society in Turmoil[/h]

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Tackling the Problem of Caste in the Classroom in India[/h]

• ARTICLE
• COMMENTS

• [h=2]CASTE DISCRIMINATION[/h]
• [h=2]EDUCATION[/h]

3

• COMMENTARY
• By
• VIPIN P. VEETIL
• and
• AKSHAYA VIJAYALAKSHMI

Indian children at a government school in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
It’s no secret that government schools in India are of poor quality. Yet few know that they are also breeding grounds for caste-based discrimination, with lower-caste students in government schools often asked to sit separately in the classroom, insulted in front of their peers and even forced to clean toilets. This despite the fact that caste discrimination is illegal in India. What can be done? The work of late Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker has some answers.
Mr. Becker, whose work fused economics and sociology, noted that discrimination is like almost anything else—the higher the cost, the lower the demand. This means trouble for Indian students, because for teachers in government schools the cost of discrimination is zero, since their salaries don’t depend on how they treat their students. It is no surprise, then, that caste discrimination is widespread in government schools.
Imagine a different system of education in which for-profit private schools compete for students. Suppose a teacher in such a system forces a lower-caste student to clean toilets. The unhappy student may leave the school for another one. Ultimately the cost of the discrimination is borne by the owner of the school who loses a consumer. This school owner has every incentive to monitor and discipline the behavior of her teachers

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Pope Francis says ‘world seeks to hide’ persecution of Christians[/h]

by Cindy Wooden
posted Monday, 16 Mar 2015
​

A Pakistani Christian mourns as people gather at a church attacked by a suicide bomber (PA)

14 people were killed and least 78 people were injured in suicide bomb attacks on two churches in Pakistan
Condemning deadly terrorist attacks against a Catholic and an Anglican church in Pakistan, Pope Francis said “the world is trying to hide” a wave of anti-Christian persecution in various parts of the globe.
“With sadness, with much sadness, I learned of the terrorist attacks today against two churches in Lahore … provoking numerous deaths and injuries,” the Pope said on Sunday after reciting the Angelus with visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square.
Suicide bombers that morning detonated themselves outside the churches, which are both in the same predominantly Christian neighbourhood. Officials said 15 people were killed and more than four dozen were injured by the blasts.
Particularly with the persecution of Christians in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, Pope Francis frequently has denounced the growing wave of anti-Christian violence, a violence that is not simply a matter of restricting religious freedom, but a martyrdom of Christians.
At a Mass in early February, when the Gospel reading recounted the killing of St John the Baptist, Pope Francis said it made him “think of our martyrs, the martyrs of today, those men, women and children who are persecuted, hated, chased from their homes, tortured and massacred. This is not something from the past; it is happening today. Our martyrs are ending their lives under the corrupt authority of people who hate Jesus Christ.”
In Pakistan, the Justice and Peace Commission of the Pakistani bishops’ conference issued a statement on Monday lamenting the “minimal” protection the government offered to Christians, despite the fact that threats against Christians had been made in the days before the attack.
The police “present at the moment were busy watching a cricket match on television instead of fulfilling their task of protection the churches. Consequently, because of their negligence, many Christians lost their lives,” said the statement, which was reported by Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi, president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, urged the government “to take strong measure for the protection of the churches and religious minorities in Pakistan.”
“The government, political parties, religious leaders and every citizen of Pakistan (should) stand against extremist forces and with their Christian brothers and sisters,” the archbishop said in a statement, adding that “the whole nation should join hands and stand against terrorism.”
He pleaded with federal and provincial governments “to take effective measures in providing security to the churches throughout Pakistan to ensure freedom of religion and belief.”
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement emailed to reporters, and warned, “There will be more of such attacks.”
In a separate statement, Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore demanded “strong action (be) taken against the perpetrators and that the guilty should be brought to justice.”
Archbishop Shaw said all archdiocesan institutions would remain closed on Monday and urged the provincial government of Punjab, with Lahore as its capital, “to protect the religious minorities.”

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Warwick to host event on issue of caste in India and the UK[/h]
In contemporary India, there are few more contentious issues than caste. ‘Capitalism will eradicate caste!’ say some. ‘India will never be able to hold its head high whilst caste power rules the roost’ say others. Yet caste is not only an issue for India, it is also alive and well in the UK.
On Tuesday 21 April, the University of Warwick will host a day-long public event to table discussions with researchers, policy makers, activists and members of the British Asian community on the subject of ‘Spaces of Caste in India and the UK – Persistence and Resistance’.
The event, which includes an evening performance by poet Meena Kandasamy, is part of a year-long schedule of events titled ‘Another India’ being run by Dr Sarah Hodges from the History department and Professor Shirin Rai of the University of Warwick’s Politics and International Studies (PAIS) department.
Dr Sarah Hodges said: “Whether through formal electoral politics, literature, or the arts, caste in general, and untouchability in particular, struggles around caste have recently become prominent in the mainstream debate. This event will showcase the career of caste, and particularly anti-caste thought, over the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]India’s Caste Culture is a Rape Culture[/h]A Dalit woman explains how the caste system is a lethal one where, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, four Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched every day.
This past week, the world mourned with a town called Baduan in Uttar Pradesh, India. There the raped bodies of two young girls were found hanging in a mango tree while behind them their grim families refused to leave until justice was done. And as the news cycle ran statements from International NGOs, UN Officials, and pundits, there was no denying that the rotting smell of India’s strange fruit had come front and center to the world stage.
I am a Dalit woman, I’m here to tell you that this Strange Fruit has a name and its name is caste. Just as there is no way to understand sexual violence in the history of the United States without understanding racism, there is no way to understand the frequency and lack of punishment of violence against women in India right now without understanding caste.
This system ranks human beings at birth, with your family’s caste determining the whole of your life—your job, your level of spiritual purity, and your social standing. Those at the bottom are branded “Untouchables”, untouchable because we are spiritually defiling to others and thus condemned to a life of exploitation.
We are 200 million people struggling against this unjust system. We are not a small fringe group, we are a critical mass. We reject this heinous system and call ourselves “Dalits.” Dalit meaning broken by oppression, but defined by struggle.
Since independence there has been an affirmative action policy in India that has led to a first generation of Dalit doctors, scientists, lawyers, and public officials. Yet the great majority of Dalits are still condemned to the margins of life. We live in a caste apartheid with separate villages, places of worship, and even schools. It is a lethal system where, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, four Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched every day.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Pakistan PM must take blame for failing to protecting Christians, says archbishop[/h]

by John Pontifex
posted Monday, 16 Mar 2015
​

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (PA)

Archbishop Coutts has accused Nawaz Sharif of leaving minority faith communities open to attack
Pakistan’s Prime Minister must take part of the blame for yesterday’s deadly attacks on Sunday churchgoers, according to the leader of the country’s Catholics.
Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Kararchi accused Nawaz Sharif and his chief ministers of leaving minority faith communities open to attack by failing to act on a 2014 order from the Supreme Court to provide security in all places of worship.
Outlining the significance of the court order, the archbishop, who is President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, said: “This order of the Supreme Court has not been implemented.”
In his message, which he sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the archbishop added: “This new act of terrorism has cruelly shown how defenceless we are due to this neglect.”
The archbishop’s statement came after two suicide bombings were carried out during Sunday services in Lahore in the district of Youhanabad, which is densely populated by Christians – one outside St John’s Catholic Church and the other at Christ Church, part of the Church of Pakistan.
Pakistan Taliban splinter group Jamatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, which targeted one of the largest Christian communities in the country. According to reports, 14 were killed and more than 70 were injured.
Meanwhile, further criticism of the government came from leaders of the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), which acts on behalf of the Catholic Church in Pakistan.


The NCJP accused the authorities and the police of failing to provide basic security for churches despite an ongoing threat of violence faced by Christian communities in Youhanabad and elsewhere.
NCJP national director Fr Emmanuel Asi and executive director Cecil S Chaudhry said: “Although [extremists] claim responsibility for the twin church attack in Youhanabad, Lahore, the fact remains that the… security at the time of [the] attack were busy watching [a] cricket match rather than performing their duty of protecting the churches.
“In result of this negligence, many Christian people have lost their life and families their loved ones.”
Violent protests erupted after the blasts, with reports of the killing of two men, accused by the mob of being implicated in the explosions.
Calling for calm, Archbishop Coutts in his message said: “I particularly appeal to all Christians to voice their protests in a peaceful manner and not to resort to violence and destruction of public property, which serves no purpose.”
The archbishop said that as a mark of respect for the dead and those in mourning all Catholic schools and educational centres in the diocese would remain closed on Monday.
With acts of violence and intimidation against Christians and other minorities commonplace in Pakistan, the archbishop also stated: “Once again, the state has not been able to provide safety to its citizens. Millions of citizens continue to live in a state of constant tension and fear, not knowing what to expect next.”
The archbishop said the faithful should, during this period of Lent, focus on helping the injured and traumatised.
He added: “I appeal to all citizens of goodwill to be united in this time of sadness and loss. Our solidarity is essential to show the terrorists that we condemn their methods of senseless violence.”
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Clifton, Right Rev Declan Lang, who is chair of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ department for international affairs, said: “The weekend massacres in Lahore showed in the most terrible way just how vulnerable Pakistani Christians, and other communities, are to extremist political violence.
“The statement by Archbishop Coutts makes clear what the Pakistan government’s responsibilities are and how much more needs to be done to protect its citizens.”
He added: “My prayers and thoughts are with the victims, their families and with those supporting them pastorally within the Pakistani Church.”
Bishop Lang will remember the victims of the attacks during a Mass celebrated at Clifton Cathedral, Bristol, on the Feast of St Joseph on Thursday (March 19).

 

[Dalit Freedom]

The echoing silence of caste in India


Whenever the caste issue is raised, it is alleged that it is a nefarious design to divide an otherwise united Hindu community, and a problem that is internal to it. How is it a ‘Hindu problem’ when Islam, Christianity and Sikhism in India are equally bedevilled by it?


What then did you expect when you unbound the gag that had muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when those heads that our fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoration in their eyes?
Jean-Paul Sartre
Naran and Kuttan (not real names) were my childhood playmates. While I went on to study in a university, they struggled to complete school education, and became a daily wage labourer and a Class IV government employee respectively. Their parents and grandparents were landless agricultural labourers. Their great-grandparents were bought by friends of my forefathers, and then relocated to our family. Yes, bought.
When agrestic slavery was prevalent in Kerala until the late 19th century, you could buy and sell human beings like cattle, flog them like cattle to work your fields, and keep them as property along with the land you owned. And even as slavery was formally abolished, the violations of their bodies and lives continued for many more decades. But we do have to qualify human beings here — the slaves were overwhelmingly Dalits.
Quietude around caste

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Caste violence: Two Dalit children burnt alive in Faridabad revenge killing, mother critical[/h]
by FP Staff Oct 21, 2015 07:13 IST
#Caste violence #Casteism #Child Rights #children #Crime #Dalit #Faridabad #Haryana #Human Rights #India #Kids #Murder #Sunped #ThatsJustWrong

638 Comments​

• 5784
  
• 23
  

Upper caste Rajputs allegedly set fire to the home of a Dalit family in Sunpedh, a village in Faridabad near Delhi, in the early hours of Tuesday, killing both the sleeping children inside aged 2 years and 9 months while their parents have suffered severe burn injuries.
Police said the attack was an act of revenge that was born out of a year long tussle over a mobile phone.
Vaibhav, 3, and his nine-month-old sister Divya were brought to Safdarjung Hospital around 3 am with 60-70 per cent thermal burns. Both were declared dead. Their mother Rekha, 23, is critical.
Jitender/ PTI

Their father Jitender suffered burn injuries on his palms, he has been discharged.
“The attackers were Rajputs and they had a confrontation with Dalits over a murder in October last year. They barged into our home when we were sleeping and they poured petrol from the window after locking our door from the outside. I could smell petrol and tried to wake up my wife, but by then the fire had started. My children died in the fire,” Jitender told The Indian Express.
Following tension in the village, all shops were closed and heavy police force was deployed in the area.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ballabgarh, Bhupinder Singh said that the situation in the area was tense but under control.
In Chandigarh, a state government spokesman said that three accused - Balwant, Dharam Singh and Kartar of Ballabgarh - have been arrested.
He said that four policemen, who were among the seven police personnel deployed with the victim family for security, have been suspended.

 

[rustam e hind]

pakistan has become hell for boys they are sodomised even in their villages shame

another hell is for minorities

 

[Dalit Freedom]

India: Caste Conflict

OVERVIEW
The caste system is a powerful institution that has shaped Indian society for thousands of years. Castes, or jatis, as they are known in India, are hereditary groupings of people by rank or social class. Traditionally, the caste into which an individual was born determined his or her rights and responsibilities, occupation, and social status, as well as the rituals he or she performed and permissible forms of social interaction with others. A person was born into a particular caste and remained in that caste until death. A basic principle of the caste system was that no one could marry or even socialize with people of other castes. Thus, for centuries, the different castes were kept separate, even though the members often lived together in the same villages. There are still thousands of castes in India today.The caste system is generally associated with the Hindu religion, though some Hindu

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Gang Rape Highlights India's Caste Problem[/h]

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Members of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) shout slogans during a protest against the gang rape of two teenage girls, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 31, 2014.

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Anjana Pasricha
June 03, 2014 9:26 AM

NEW DELHI—The rape and murder of two young girls in northern India has highlighted the sexual oppression of low caste women in the country, particularly in its vast rural areas. The case also demonstrates the serious risks faced by women living in homes without indoor plumbing, which was a campaign issue for the country’s new government.

The grisly images of two 14 and 15 year old cousins hanging from a tree in Buduan district of India's Uttar Pradesh state, after they were gang raped and strangled last week sent shock waves through the nation.

But a retired police official in the state, S.R. Darapuri, was not surprised at the horrific crime, which targeted teenage girls from a low caste family of farm laborers. That is because during his 32-year-stint in the poor and backward state, he has witnessed first-hand many such incidents of exploitation of “dalit” community, members of India's lowest caste.

“The higher castes they have been exploiting the women of the dalits and the weaker section just as a matter of right. And sometimes rape is used as a weapon to suppress these sections of society," said Darapuri. "And these sections they are not able to resort to self defense. The main reason is that they are dependent on the land owning caste and as such they are very vulnerable.”

Victims from low caste

Darapuri, is now an activist working with the Indian human rights group People’s Union for Civil Liberties. He says his analysis of rape cases in Uttar Pradesh in 2007 showed 85 percent of the victims were low caste, minor girls.

Four of the five men arrested for the crime belong to the politically powerful Yadav community. They include three brothers who have been charged with rape and murder, and two police officials for attempting to cover up the crime. The Yadavs are also designated as a backward caste, but are much higher than dalits in the complex caste hierarchy of Hindus.

Faced with outrage, India’s new government is resolving to act quickly. Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, has pledged to set up a national helpline for women and rape crisis centers.

“There is nothing that any ministry or any government can do to prevent people from being violent to each other except give them strong protection and give strong deterrence," said Gandhi. "It is the aim of this government to provide deterrence and protection and we will do that as effectively as we can.”

But activists like Darapuri question where such protection will come from. The latest incident exposes police indifference to the plight of lower castes.

Police indifference

When the father of one of the victims went to seek police help for the missing girls, he was questioned about his caste. He says he was abused. Police did not register the complaint until the next day when angry villagers held protests under the tree where the girls had been hanged.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Kasur reveals the ugly truth about child abuse in Pakistan[/h]

August 11, 2015 @ 4:00 PM
by Omar R Quraishi
Published in Must Read
Comments are off for this post.

The shocking child abuse scandal in Kasur unearthed by a brave reporter of The Nation will maybe now jolt us awake so that we can see this monster prevalent in our society.
The scale of the Kasur scandal is horrific — 400 videos of some 280 children who were forced to have sex while being filmed — and the manner in which the local police and MP tried to cover it up is depressing.
The tapes that were made were then used to blackmail the parents of the victims into keeping quiet and into giving money to the paedophilia ring. These tapes were also being sold to locals in the town for Rs 50 and even, according to one report, were being sold to paedophile websites overseas.
Read more: Pakistan’s largest ever child abuse scandal comes to light in Punjab town of Kasur
That it happened for so long — since 2009 — and was kept under wraps and even the media was unaware of it till now is cause for concern.
The local MPA is believed to have covered it up and even used his power and influence to ensure that the local police don’t follow it up and even managed to secure the release — before the scandal came out in the media — of one of the primary accused.

The matter is now being investigated and — mainly because of media pressure (including on social media) — 15 people have already been arrested and charged. The pressure from civil society and the media will have to be vigorous and consistent if we are to ensure that the victims and their families get justice in this case.

The local administration officials, police and especially the area MPA should also be probed under the premise that how could they have not known all this was happening for so long. The state should seek to charge them with deflection of duty at the very least.
[h=1]Ugly truth revealed[/h]
Kasur had revealed the truth about paedophilia in Pakistan and it is an ugly one.
First, that paedophilia is far more prevalent in society than we are willing to admit or recognize.
Second, it is often done in an organized manner and those agents of the state whose job it is to protect citizens and uphold the law such as police and legislators do the very opposite. In the case of Kasur the police actively sought to stifle and muzzle the protests carried out by the victims and even went so far as to arrest the one villager who wanted to expose the scandal to the media.

Third, there is an active market for paedophile paraphernalia especially videos and pictures and it exists in Pakistan. We can either pretend that ut doesn’t exisyexist and continue burying our heads in the sand or we can wake up and see this clear and present danger ro our children and act against it.
Fourth, many of us ignore this activity which may be present in society as a whole. Take the case of the notorious serial killer and paedophile Javed Iqbal who confessed and was convicted of raping and killing over 100 boys in Lahore in the late 1990s. He was caught several times and even sent to jail for sodomy but always managed to get out of jail.

Javed Iqbal – who sexually assaulted and killed over 100 children in Pakistan in the late 1990s.

Even when he was eventually caught, it was he who surrendered himself at the offices of Jang in Lahore. Later police found his house in a congested part of Lahore complete with two vats of acid in which he would dissolve his victims bodies after raping and killing them. And all this happened without any of his neighbours even bothering to report him to the police even for suspicious activity let alone murder.
Let’s hope the Javed Iqbala of Kasur get what they deserve. If any deserves to hang at all it should be the perpetrators of such horrific acts.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

India Caste Habits : [h=1]The Indian film about beef that turned controversial[/h]

• 7 November 2015
  
• From the sectionIndia

Image copyrightSpecial ArrangementImage captionThe film was made by the group of five students of Tata Institute of Social SciencesA documentary on beef eating habits in India was withdrawn from a recent film festival in Delhi. But was the film really about beef eating? The BBC's Vikas Pandey speaks to the students who made the film.
Reetika Revathy Subramanian says she is still in "shock" because of the "completely avoidable" controversy over the film.
The film, Caste on the Menu Card, was the only film among the 35 sent to India's information and broadcasting ministry to be refused clearance for "technical" reasons last week.
Ms Subramanian says the documentary "became the victim of the current atmosphere of intolerance".
"What hurts the most is that people formed opinions without even watching the film. It is not about beef eating, it looks at deeper issues of India's caste system and food habits related with it," she says.
She adds that "we have mentioned beef several times in the film to explore caste-related food habits".

 

[Dalit Freedom]

Shining India : My Parents Told Me, “Marry A Brahmin, Or Else We Will Cut You Into Pieces”

Oct 15, 201510 Comments









By Rahul:
I am one of the victims of a society that believes caste holds more primacy than their son or daughter’s happiness. A society that is ready to kill their daughters and sons for their false pride. I am not talking about those people who live in cities, but I am talking about most of us who live in villages and face the stigma of caste more than others.

Image source: WikipediaI belong to a middle-class family. My family always wanted to give me a world-class education. Through my education, I learnt many things, and one of them was the idea that there is nothing called casteism. I soon discovered that love does not have any boundary. I started looking for a girl who can love me my whole life because that would make me happy. I trusted my intelligence when it came to making a decision for myself. I fell in love a number of times with different girls but was not able to propose marriage to any one of them. So I stopped trying. In 2013, I met a girl on a train. I fell in love with her simplicity. After a few months, we realized that we are perfect for each other, and it is time to convince our parents for our marriage. But we knew that persuading them would be difficult. My parents always reiterated, ‘marry a Brahmin or else we will cut you into pieces’. When I told them about my love, they started looking for a girl for me because they were worried that I would marry a non-Brahmin girl.
I tried to convince everyone in my family and close relations, but nobody was ready to listen to me. They started threatening me.
We started considering other options, which led us to believe that the only thing we could do was run away from that kind of atmosphere where no one was thinking about our happiness before their ego. Somehow we came up with a plan and left that place in the winter of 2014. We came to Delhi and for a few weeks stayed with one of my cousins who is also a victim of this menace. He helped us and soon I started working.
After a few weeks, we got married as per the Arya Samaj rituals.
We have to stay isolated from my whole family just because I married a girl whom I loved. I cannot give my address to anyone because if I do, there will be a problem. I looked for help from government and non-governmental organizations, but there was no one to help me. I found no law that could help people like me in this kind of a situation. Our law allows inter-caste marriage but has no provision to protect people who do marry outside their caste.For how long can love be dominated in the name of caste and religion? After almost 70 years of our Independence why do we revel in thoughts like, ‘marry a brahmin’, ‘don’t marry a lower caste’, ‘they are not from our caste’ etc. We should be allowed the freedom to choose our life partners. For how long will this chaos go on? When will society take a step to finish off these evils? This social evil has destroyed many lives and unfortunately, it still continues. Today I am unable to live a normal life, just because I chose to marry for love, outside my caste.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=2]Marry for What? Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India[/h]Article Citation

Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, Maitreesh Ghatak, and Jeanne Lafortune. 2013. "Marry for What? Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 5(2): 33-72.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]India's Untouchable Voices: Resisting the Violence of Caste[/h]Colin Kinniburgh

January 28, 2013

Courtesy of Anand PatwardhanJust over twenty years ago, Hindu militants destroyed the sixteenth-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, northern India, prompting riots around the country that claimed thousands of lives—overwhelmingly Muslim—including nine hundred in Bombay (now Mumbai) alone.* Ten years later, a conflagration of violence in India’s northwestern state of Gujarat killed at least as many Muslims, with the support of the state’s right-wing government. These “hiccups” in the rise of “the world’s largest secular democracy” received international attention at the time, though not enough to shatter the narrative of India as a liberal powerhouse propelled into the twenty-first century by economic reforms.
Sandwiched in between the two massacres was a less widely acknowledged incident. On July 11, 1997, the Dalit residents of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar—a slum in the outskirts of Mumbai—woke up to find a garland of shoes hanging around their statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Long known as “untouchables,” India’s Dalits (literally, “ground down”) are no strangers to abuse. Nevertheless, growing anger at the act of desecration against Ambedkar, the Dalit leader perhaps best known for enshrining a kind of caste-based affirmative action in India’s constitution, led to a mass protest. An ensuing highway blockade was promptly met by a vanload of Special Reserve Police, and within minutes the police opened fire in the direction of the crowd, killing ten unarmed Dalits. Fifteen years later, despite a series of court battles, those responsible have yet to be brought to justice.
This story forms the backbone of Anand Patwardhan’s epic documentary Jai Bhim Comrade, a three-hour chronicle of caste struggles in contemporary India. Filmed over the course of fourteen years and released one screening at a time since Patwardhan finished the project in late 2011, the film finally reached New York in December, screening at the Margaret Mead Film Festival as well as at two universities. Jai Bhim Comrade approaches old debates from an original angle, piecing together a narrative of Western India’s historically vigorous anti-caste movement through its music. The voices of virtually unknown Dalit activists and musicians are interspersed with a trove of footage depicting everything from waste dumps to right-wing rallies; interviews with wealthy Chitpavan Brahmins defending their “genetic capacity” meet images of Muslims hacked to death in the 1992-93 riots.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=2]Riots Break Out in India Over a Dominant Caste’s Attempt to Gain ‘Backward’ Status[/h]

• Rishi Iyengar @Iyengarish

Aug. 26, 2015

​

Shailesh Raval—India Today Group/Getty Images​

Hardik Patel, center, and others at the Maha Kranti rally at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad on Aug. 25, 2015. The Maha Kranti rally comes after a monthlong agitation by the Patel community for their demand of reservation[h=2]Hardik Patel has taken Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state by storm[/h]

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Correction appended, Aug. 27
Hardik Patel helps his father run a small business selling submersible pumps in rural areas surrounding Ahmedabad, the largest city in India’s prosperous western state of Gujarat. The 22-year-old has a bachelor’s degree in commerce and belongs to a middle-class family.
On Tuesday, however, he was arrested, sparking violent protests from the tens of thousands of people who had gathered to hear him speak. In response, the state government imposed a curfew and shuttered schools in several parts of the state.
Three police stations were set ablaze by the mob, which also attacked the homes of three state ministers, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Patel is at the helm of a protest movement aimed at declaring the Patidar community he belongs to — an affluent and politically dominant section of Gujarati society — as “backward” under India’s quota system for its historically lower castes, legally termed as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). This would give the Patidars access to the 50% of government jobs and places in educational institutions currently reserved for such “backward” castes under a form of affirmative action.
The Patels (or Patidars) run several small and medium businesses not just in India but also in the U.S., Europe and Africa. They are also key players in India’s diamond trade, and have been major supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs to since the late 1980s.
But as Patel warned during his rally on Tuesday, referencing the party’s election symbol, “the lotus will not bloom” if his community’s demands are not met.
“If you do not give us our right, we will snatch it,” he said, before declaring an indefinite hunger strike, following which he was briefly arrested and then released. “Whoever will talk of Patel interests will rule over Patels.”
The Gujarat government led by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel — who also happens to belong to the same community — has rejected Hardik Patel’s demands, saying that the 50% cap on reservations for lower castes has already been met in Gujarat. This means that including the Patidars could only be done by reducing access for more-needy castes. The protest leader counters that the government quota, which ensures a portion of college admissions and government jobs are reserved for lower castes and classes that have traditionally faced discrimination, puts the Patel community at a disadvantage since they are denied access to those positions despite being eligible on merit.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

How does Poverty and Caste affect India ‘s development

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Transcript of How does Poverty and Caste affect India ‘s development

Reflection

I feel that caste and poverty are very big issues in India’s development. Many other issues/ causes that are associated with the slow development of India are linked to this like India’s international image. I am a witness of this because before I moved to India I always thought it as the country in the world where people don’t care about each other, have no respect for the country and its people and has many beggars and poor villagers on the street. This is our problem.
Because the government don’t separate the money properly , the poor don’t get any money so they can’t get education which causes them to not understand their role in society. If the people even know what is going on , they can’t tell the government or complain because they are low caste and they won’t have a voice in politics or most other matters.
Most of the people in India work for themselves and not for India even sometimes the government works for their benefit. Thus , when Indians tell the government the truth about India the government doesn’t care in most cases because they have to use your tax to build and develop our country , otherwise the tax would go into their pocket.
But to be honest , its not only the government disrupting our development , in fact half of our development is slowed down because of people not following the laws or being fair with their neighboring humans.
Because of the greediness of the government , they have become blind to see plain India which is their responsibility. But it ‘s not only theirs , anyone can change India , the simplest things can make a big difference and its about your courage , inspiration and spirit .India needs you…

Poverty , many people are very poor in India . Thus it causes other problems like corruption, lack of education, population, etc. High population is one of the reasons of poverty in India. If the population grows but not the economy then there will be a shortage of jobs, leaving people very poor . But there are a lot of unskilled workers that are underpaid . They don't change jobs because they have no other choice.
What is Poverty ?

Caste system is the grading of people. The higher caste can treat the lower caste anyway they want to. They have no voice in politics. People in our society are put in different groups . Very much like the hierarchy . The most important people are Brahmins and the lowest are the untouchables. People think because the lower caste people are lower caste they can’t have education or any privileges. Because of this the uneducated people can’t get any jobs or any money. Marriage outside of the caste is usually prohibited.


What is Caste ?
How does Poverty and Caste affect India ‘s development
Poverty and caste are pretty much the biggest problems in Indian society . We lack development because we have so much money but we don’t distribute it properly and it only stays with the important people and that is our international image . Then why don’t we distribute it properly and fairly ? It’s because of Caste . Even the government doesn’t do anything about this , and because they are low caste they have no voice in politics.
People don’t have a voice so even if it comes to their health , they have no education so they don’t know they have a chance to tell the government what is going on.


How does Poverty and Caste affect India ‘s development?
India got independence in 1947 , it’s been nearly 68 years. Look at Singapore , it got independence in 1965 and it is already developed with a good international picture. So what is the government doing with our tax ? Well most of the people in India work for themselves and not for India even sometimes the government works for their benefit. Thus , when Indians tell the government the truth about India the government doesn’t care in most cases because they have to use your tax to build and develop our country , otherwise the tax would go into their pocket.


Government and Tax

The world is a developing place and even though we got independence a long time ago India is still developing . It’s not just the governments work though , it takes courage and spirit to make India a better place . People have to have that spirit and the inspiration. India needs you ……


How does Poverty and Caste affect India ‘s development
Full transcript

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Caste system and poverty in india[/h]On July 28, 2013 By Ankita MitraCategory: National Issues of India

Poverty in India has ever been and still continues in-spite of all efforts at the national as well as at the international levels.​

Though, of course, there appears to be growing affluence in higher level of the society and the lavishness shown by many in the big cities on the occasion of marriages or birthdays presents a scenario which confounds those who say that India is a poor country, but the truth of the matter is that India is a poor country of rich people.

​

It is the proportion which defines the poverty level. The proportion of such lavish-level-expenditure-incurring people among the 1.25 billion of India’s population would be mere 1% or at the most 2% while those below the line of poverty are still around 21%. A large percentage of people are on the line of poverty and the rest are those who live above the line of poverty. A large proportion of people living above the line of poverty merely manage to live their living. Some may be said to be well-to-do out of which 2% to 4% may be affluent proportionately on the higher level. This is what the total scenario of poverty in India is.
There still appear reports in the newspapers how the whole family commits a suicide due to acute condition of poverty prevailing in India. After the earthquake in Gujarat inspite of all relief work, people have died not for anything else but due to their lack of purchasing power. Even if food grains are made available at subsidized rates still there are people who do not have means even to pay the subsidized rates. How many are reported to have died of acute cold as they hardly could afford so much covering as to enable them to sustain themselves against the intensity of the weather.
Also read: Social Issues in India (causes, effects and solutions)
Caste System in India has exaggerated the problem of poverty in India. Poverty is the negative effect of caste system.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]India’s ‘Manual Scavengers’ Rise Up Against Caste Discrimination[/h]

• by Shai Venkatraman (Mumbai)
• Tuesday, January 06, 2015
• Inter Press Service

MUMBAI, Jan 06 (IPS) - Watching Bittal Devi deftly weave threads of different colours into a vibrant patchwork quilt, it's hard to imagine that this 46-year-old's hands have spent the better part of their life cleaning toilets.

A Dalit woman stands outside a dry toilet located in an upper caste villager's home in Mainpuri, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The village has witnessed major violence against those who have tried to leave the profession of ‘manual scavenging'. Credit: Shai Venkatraman/IPS
​

Born in Sava, a village in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, Devi is from a community that, down the centuries, has worked as ‘manual scavengers'.
A caste-based profession, it condemns mostly women, but also men, to clean human excreta out of dry latrines with their hands, and carry it on their heads to disposal dumps. Many also clean sewers, septic tanks and open drains with no protective gear.
3They are derogatorily referred to as bhangis, which translates into ‘broken identity'. Most of those employed are Dalits, who occupy the lowest rung in the caste hierarchy and are condemned to tasks that are regarded as beneath the dignity of the upper castes.
"I started doing this job when I was 12 years old," Devi recalls. "I would accompany my mother when she went to the homes of the thakurs (upper castes) in our village everyday to clean their toilets.
"We would go to every home to pick up their faeces. We would gather it with a broom and plate into a cane basket. Later we would take the basket to the outskirts of the village and dispose it."
They cleaned 15 toilets each day, which earned them 375 rupees (a little over six dollars) per month, plus a set of old clothes from the homes they worked in, gifted once a year during the Diwali festival.
Devi remembers that she was unable to eat during the first week. "I would throw up every time my mother placed food in front of me". Harder still to bear, were the taunts of her upper caste classmates.
"They would cover their noses and tell me that I smelled. I, along with the other children from my caste, was made to sit away from the rest of the students." She eventually dropped out of school.
There was no question of refusing to do the work. "From birth I, like the other children from my community, was told that this was our history and our destiny," says Devi. "This was the custom followed by our forefathers which we had to continue with."
Caste-based discrimination or untouchability was banned in India in 1955 and several legislative and policy measures have been announced over the decades to end the cruel and inhumane custom of manual scavenging.
As recently as September 2013, the government outlawed employing anyone to clean human faeces.
On the ground, however, these measures have proved ineffective, the main reasons being that policies are not properly implemented, people are unaware that they can refuse to work as manual scavengers, and those who do resist face violence and the threat of eviction.
Women unite for change
According to the International Dalit Solidarity Network, which works towards the elimination of caste-based discrimination, there are an estimated 1.3 million ‘manual scavengers' in India, most of them women.