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

[Dalit Freedom]

CHURCHES BURNED DOWN AND CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN INDIA?

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS CIRCULATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA:"Brothers and sisters, urgent prayer request. Pray for the Church in India. Buddhist extremists in India burned down 20 churches last night. Tonight want to destroy more than 200 churches in Olisabang province. They want to kill 200 missionaries within the next 24 hours. All Christians are hiding in villages... Pray for them and send this message to all Christians you know. Ask God to have mercy on our brothers and sisters in India. When you receive this message, please urgently send it to other people. Pray for them to our Lord Almighty, victorious.Kind Regards,Nilza SiqueiraNational Missions Director"[Note: the message was previously sent out under Dalit Freedom Network.]

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[hilar][hilar][hilar][hilar] ...So this means YOUR OWN ENDIAN ARMY is killing your own people

Amnesty Reports promote violence in J&K and blind upon persecuted Hindus: RSS.



Amnesty’s ‘Lopsided’ Report on Jammu and Kashmir Will Create Ground for Violence in State, Warns RSS.

PTI | NEW DELHI | JULY 11, 2015:: Slamming a US-based NGO’s report on alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, RSS mouthpiece‘Organiser’ has said such “lopsided” approach will create grounds for violence and animosities, and even accused the United Nations of being “biased” on such issues.Quoting a Chinese report, the ‘Organiser’ said human rights are conceptualised as a strategic tool of certain vested interests and conceived in favour of certain countries, corporations and socio-economic, ethnic and political groups.“The UN also cannot escape from criticism of a biased approach on such issues,” it said.The ‘Organiser’ editorial, “Making human rights universal”, said such “lopsided” approach on human rights by Amnesty International is not going to further the cause and such reports strengthen the perception that even NGOs are creations of certain vested interests.“Such lopsided approach on human rights is not going further the cause. In fact, they are going to create grounds for further violence, animosities and violations of each other’s rights. They also strengthen the perceptions that even non-governmental organisations are creations of certain vested interests,” it said.“Chinese reports countering each other”

It said the US and Chinese reports countering each other’s human rights track record in the last year question this basic premise about conceptualisation of human rights.“Both these reports clearly indicate that the concept of human rights is not uniformly conceived. Therefore, some critics from countries like China opine that the human rights are conceptualised as a strategic tool of certain vested interests and conceived in favour of certain countries, corporations and socio-economic, ethnic and political groups,” it said.The editorial further said while the reports focusses on alleged human rights violations by security agencies it cannot miss the fact that “armed groups” are nothing but trained and supported groups by Pakistan.[Read also: RSS Mouthpiece Takes a Dig at China in Lakhvi Case.]“Report is Kashmir Valley centric”

It said the Amnesty International report is Kashmir Valley centric and does not even consider discrimination and violence incurred on Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists of Jammu and Ladakh regions.“It is the same Indian State where in the name of giving special status to Jammu & Kashmir, people are denied basic rights such as voting right in the Assembly elections to West Pakistan Refugees, which crossed over to India in 1947 after Partition. The Report does not take even cognisance of that.“The mention of Pandit community, which faced persecution and displacement since 1990s, find a mention only once that is also in the historical context. Most strikingly, the independent agency does not make the same noises about the complete absence of any form of democratic mechanisms or rights of the Kashmiris in the Pakistan occupied territories of the State,” it said.The RSS mouthpiece also attacked the United States alleging violations of human rights by it and cited examples of Baltimore riots, Fergusson killings and other atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the US through agencies like CIA.[Read also: Islamic Terrorism and Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits].“Human rights are equal to human beings”

Attacking the Amnesty International report, it said human rights are supposed to be “universal and inalienable” and equal to all human beings, but the report strengthens doubts about the conceptualisation of human rights.Talking about rights violations in Kashmir, the editorial termed the report by “supposed to be an independent body like Amnesty International” as “disturbing”.“This report is not an exception. Most of the reports by International Human Rights groups are one sided, missing the complete picture,” it said.

Hello! Amnesty International. Are these pictures in WB and BD real or morphed?
​

“Hindus facing persecution”

The RSS mouthpiece lamented that Hindus facing persecution and violence in Bangladesh and West Bengal, tribals of North-east being misguided and turned against the State by certain religious groups and Naxals using terror tactics to keep tribal communities in their fold never get space in special reports or press conferences of these organisations.“Rights irrespective of duties will not be accepted by any nation, which these international NGOs miss out. Unless we revise the human rights discourse, address rights of all individuals and groups concerned equally and link them with some form of proportionate duties; human rights will never be truly universal,” it said. [Courtesy: PTI and the links used above].POST SCRIPT BY HINDU EXISTENCE: The Editorial in Organiser, “MAKING HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSAL“, is a good revelation of biased threads of Human Rights diaspora as drawn by the vested Amnesty International. But, this editorial should haven’t been forget the mention of specific Hindu persecution occurring in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in these days.Hindus in Pakistan and Sri Lanka are being dangerously persecuted there alike Hindus in Kashmir, West Bengal and Bangladesh. Amnesty International must take note of these.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

Beefing Troubles: Are Indian Muslims Being Targeted in a Hindu Regime?

Posted On 04 Nov 2015
By : Jatin7811
4 Comments
Tag: Beef, BJP, Indian Muslims, modi



Last year when India threw out the corrupt UPA government, it was expected that there would be a better government at the center. The BJP stormed the elections with “The Development Man” Narendra Modi at helm. There were a few skeptics who pointed out Modi’s Hindu extremist background and said that he would make India difficult for minorities. Like it happens most of the times in politics, apparently the skeptics were right.
Ever since Modi took oath as Prime Minister, the extreme Hindu outfits have become emboldened and there have been attempts at cutting down the minorities to size, especially the Muslims. There were conversions of Muslims back to Hinduism, which made headlines. There were attempts to muzzle the Muslims raising their voices. And then the Hindu extremists found the Holy Cow!
The cow is believed to be a sacred animal in Hinduism and Hindu outfits have been demanding a ban against cow slaughter for a very long time. The beef industry, which was a profitable industry encouraged during the previous regime, was now going to be a target. Overnight, the support for the industry disappeared and vigilante cow protection groups began harassing the breeders, transporters and all others involved in the beef trade.
Two states where the BJP came to power in elections promptly banned all types of cow slaughter. India had banned the killing of cows for beef long ago. The new laws banned killing of bullocks and calves as well. However, this is not where the extremists stopped. There have been reports of the vigilantes, government officials and the law enforcement officers harassing the people involved in the beef trade. And last month, the beefing troubles just got murderous.

- See more at: http://muslim-academy.com/beefing-t...s-targeted-hindu-regime/#sthash.5FAmu0kK.dpuf

 

[Dalit Freedom]

abey ch@ddi salay to India ki hi burai Pakistani forum pay ker raha hai ...[hilar][hilar][hilar]

Abey News parhna to seekhlay nalaik haramdev kay pil@yyy [hilar][hilar][hilar]

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Persistent anti-Muslim violence in India (1992-2015): Gainers and losers[/h]BY KADAYAM SUBRAMANIAN on OCTOBER 25, 2015 in ASIA TIMES NEWS & FEATURES

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Pakistan's Ahmadiyya: An 'absence of justice'[/h][h=2]After attacks that killed three in Gujranwala, minority Muslim sect feel persecution 'institutionalised' in Pakistan.[/h]Asad Hashim | 07 Aug 2014 19:33 GMT | Human Rights, Asia, Pakistan, Tehreek e-Taliban

Rabwah, Pakistan - Seeing her lying in her hospital bed, it’s difficult to tell what Mubashara Jarra has been through. Outwardly, she appears fine. No intravenous tubes snaking into her body, and no bandages covering up her wounds.
"I'm feeling much better," she says, in a low voice.
It is, perhaps, only her vacant eyes that betray her ordeal. Jarra, 32, was trapped in a room, along with many of her family members, in her home in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala, as an angry mob burned down her neighbourhood on July 27. She saw her nieces - Hira Tabussum, 7, and seven-month-old Kainat - and mother, Bushra Bibi, 55, die of smoke inhalation, as she, her brother and his children struggled to stay alive.
Jarra barely survived, but her unborn child - she was seven-months pregnant - was stillborn at the hospital where she received treatment following the attack.
Their crime? Being Ahmadi in Pakistan.

'Institutionalised persecution'
Ahmadi, or Ahmadiyya, are a minority sect who identify themselves as Muslims and follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran. They believe that the founder of their faith, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who was born in the Punjab town of Qadian in 1835, was a messiah and prophet.
There are estimated to be between 600,000 and 700,000 Ahmadis in Pakistan, with worldwide numbers of several million more. Most reside in South Asia, but there are large diaspora communities in Europe, and there are also indigenous Ahmadi communities in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 1974, Ahmadis have been declared "non-Muslim" under Pakistani law, after a constitutional amendment was passed under the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
That amendment allowed Islamist military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, who succeeded Bhutto, to further restrict Ahmadis' freedom to practise their religion in Pakistan through a 1984 ordinance that outlaws "posing as Muslims".
The law imposes three-year jail terms on Ahmadis "who directly or indirectly, poses himself as a Muslim, or calls, or refers to, his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his faith, or invites others to accept his faith, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims".
It also makes it illegal for Ahmadis to refer to their places of worship as "mosques", or their calls to prayer as "azaan", in addition to other restrictions.
The 1984 law opened the door for an increase in attacks on the community by mobs and anti-Ahmadi groups. Since 1984, 245 Ahmadis have been killed in such attacks, while another 205 have been assaulted, according to the community's data on such attacks.
So far in 2014 alone, 13 Ahmadis have been killed for practising their faith - most in targeted attacks on individuals - and another 12 have been assaulted.
"This is all happening because of a law that has institutionalised the persecution of Ahmadis," says Mujib-ur-Rehman, an advocate at the Supreme Court and a senior member of the Ahmadi community. "This is the kind of legal framework which sanctions the persecution of Ahmadis, and it is done under the cover of law. This does not happen to any other community [in Pakistan]."
Pakistan has been racked by attacks related to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates for years, but sectarian violence, especially targeting Shia Muslims, has also been on the rise in recent years. More than 3,600 people have been killed in sectarian violence since 2002, with 722 of those being killed in 2013 alone.

Ahmadi community leaders, however, say that the persecution of their sect is different, in that it is sanctioned by law.
"The discrimination against an Ahmadi begins at birth, and even after death when they are being buried, it continues," says Saleemuddin, the community's spokesperson in Pakistan, explaining how cases have been lodged against Ahmadis for saying the 'azaan' into the ears of newborns (a traditional Muslim practice), and how their gravestones have been defaced for carrying Quranic verses.
The law is also broad and open to interpretation, critics say. Cases have been lodged against Ahmadi Muslims for everything from having minarets on their mosques to reading the Quran, from having Quranic verses printed on wedding invitations to praising the Prophet Muhammad, according to police reports seen by Al Jazeera.
"[Outraging the sentiments of Muslims] is something that I am not doing, it is something that [the other person] is feeling. Now if I am sitting at home and reading the Quran, your sentiments are outraged. If I am watching a TV programme, your sentiments are outraged," says Rehman. "Using this as a basis, anyone can do anything […] I don't even know what the criminal actions are!"
Killing 'a religious obligation'
Anti-Ahmadi groups, meanwhile, continue to be free to spread their message and to organise rallies where they call the killing of Ahmadis a "religious obligation".

One such gathering was held several days after the incident in Gujranwala, where a local cleric demanded that those arrested in connection with the arson and killings be released immediately.
Most prominent among these groups is Khatm-e-Nabuwat (Finality of Prophethood), which organises regular rallies and conferences against the Ahmadi community, terming them heretics for not accepting the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad.
The group also distributes a number of pamphlets, several of which call upon followers to consider killing Ahmadis a religious obligation.
"Awaken your conscience and become a mujahid [of the organisation] and kill [Ahmadis] to attain the status of a martyr," reads one pamphlet distributed in the city of Multan, in Punjab province.
Another, issued in the town of Qamber in Sindh, says that "under the Shariah of Muhammad it is an obligation to kill [Ahmadis]".
Despite several complaints, community leaders say action is seldom taken against such groups under Pakistan's existing hate speech laws.
Conversely, applications moved by Khatm-e-Nabuwat to police and courts have seen the community ordered to restrict their practises, according to police reports obtained by Al Jazeera.
In several instances, the community was ordered to take down lighting and bunting displays during religious celebrations, for example, according to those reports.

'In their eyes, we are weak'
Rameeza*, 39, says that the police, courts and even the public seldom support Ahmadis, even after attacks on the community.
Rameeza's husband, Rizwan*, was killed on August 6, 2009, in a targeted attack on their Multan home while she and their three children watched on.
Rizwan's killers, who have since been captured and are undergoing trial, said that he was targeted because he played a prominent role in the local Ahmadi community's activities.
"I took [his wounded body] to the gate of the house," she told Al Jazeera, of the moments after the shooting. "I asked people to bring a car or to call the rescue services. No one was prepared to help me. There was a rickshaw parked in the street, even he was not prepared to go for help."
Rameeza said that she has faced constant threats during the course of the trial, and that mobs would often form outside the courthouse on the days she and her family members were testifying.
Fearing another attack, she has since fled to Rabwah, a small town of about 60,000 people that serves as the community’s headquarters in Pakistan.
Rameeza and her three children are just one of the more than 100 families who are currently taking refuge in Rabwah following attacks on them, according to community leaders. Most fled to Rabwah after the twin attacks on Ahmadi mosques in the city of Lahore in 2010, which killed 94 people.

Saleemuddin, the community’s spokesperson for the last eight years, says that police have often approached the community to "accept" the demands of those who would persecute them, rather than charging those people with hate speech.
"In their eyes, we are weak. They try to pressure us as much as possible [after attacks]. They know that we are not going to take out protest rallies or marches after any attack, so for them it’s very easy to call the local community and tell them that local Maulvis [religious scolars] have too much power, and that the Ahmadis must accept the situation. That is their usual behaviour," he said.
Zohra Yusuf, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), says that the police are "deeply entrenched" in the persecution of Ahmadis.
"There is a reticence to file [cases] or to pursue killers by the police," she told Al Jazeera. "There really is a total absence of justice when it comes to the Ahmadi community."
Meanwhile, Muhammad Boota, Mubashara's brother, has filed a legal case against the mob and the instigators of the July 27 attack on his home, and those of seven others. Community leaders, however, say they do not expect much to come of it.
The police, they say, have asked the community to hand over a boy, Aamer*, whose Facebook posts allegedly sparked the violence.
"Will his family be ready to hand over their son to the same police in front of whom a mob killed other members of their family?" asks Saleemuddin, adding that the family and all other Ahmadis from the Gujranwala have gone into hiding, where the community is trying to protect them.
"But what protection can we give them? They have fled from [Gujranwala], but what had to happen, it has happened. The three people died, their homes and property were burned. What can happen more than this?"
*Some names have been changed at the request of interviewees, to protect their identities in the event of reprisal attacks.
Follow Asad Hashim in Twitter: @AsadHashim
[COLOR=#8E8E8E !important]Source: [COLOR=#212121 !important]Al Jazeera[/COLOR]
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[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Untouchability still rules Goa post-liberation for Dalits[/h][h=2]Untouchability still shamefully rules the roots of rural Goa despite 40 years of liberation.[/h]

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Written by Agencies | Pernem,goa | Published:October 22, 2010 11:15 am
Passing the interior road of Tuem village in Goa’s Pernem taluka,one cannot miss a tiny house located amongst the cluster of houses.
This small-time shelter has a biggest human interest story to tell.


Kale family’s saga speaks the tale of how untouchability still shamefully rules the roots of rural Goa despite 40 years of liberation.
Sadashiv alias Shambhu Kale,his wife and three minor children were literally stoned out of Poraskaden village in Pernem taluka. Their fault: Blessing the wedding of a Harijan couple.
Kale,who was eking out a living by performing puja at Shree Mauli Devasthan,had to abandon his house in Poraskaden and run for a cover. Entire village was against him. He was thrown out of the temple and later was forced to leave the village.
Shattered,his wife committed suicide.
Kale was forced to take up rented accommodation in the nearby village and faced social stigma. He has two girls 12 and 9 years each and a four year old boy.
The issue hogged limelight in after local MLA Jitendra Deshprabhu raised it in the state Legislative Assembly forcing the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to given an assurance of help to this family.
Seven years down the line,the same Harijan community because of whom he lost his house and was declared social reject,joined hands to give him another house in the nearby village of Tuem.
It took several years for this financially unsound community to move forces and get Kale a House.
A social movement was built up giving justice to Kale.
Right from getting piece of government land sanctioned to raising funds,the Harijan community stood firm with the Brahmin.
This month,the house was completed and formally handed over to the family.
Kale’s own society,Purohit community,too contributed for this shelter,which was handed over to him,this month.
“Untouchability still exists in Pernem taluka. When we realised that Kale is left to fend for himself,many felt that he should be helped out to rise from the injustice,” said Nivrutti Shirodkar,a journalist and social activist.
Harijan community,Purohit community,social workers and Goa-based Dhavalikar Trust came together for the project.
“Any politician would have been ready to construct shelter for Kale family but we decided that only non-political contributions would be entertained,” Shirodkar said.
Former Deputy Superintendent of Police Apa Teli,who was the part of fund raising team,said that unprecedented help poured in for Kale.
“Pernem Shetkari Sanghatna gave electricity connection to the house while Parsem citizens’ forum took responsibility of paying for the roof,” Teli said.
Pernem,bordering Goa-Maharashtra,still harbours tradition of untouchability.
Shirodkar said it’s a rule that no Brahmin can bless Harijan’s wedding.
Interestingly,this tradition also exists in Morjim village,a tourist hotspot famous amongst Russian visitors.
The constituency is represented by BJP’s Goa Unit President Laxmikant Parsekar.
“Harijan couples have to go outside the state or in some undisclosed locations to get their weddings blessed. If a Brahmin is caught participating in the wedding,he is shunted out of the temple and socially banned,” Shirodkar added.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

India :Bihar villagers blame Dalit killing on elections

Villagers said this was the third incident of atrocity against Dalits in the last one month.

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Written by Santosh Singh | Gurhmiya (vaishali) | Published:November 16, 2010 2:11 am
Three days after Babulal Ram,a Scheduled Caste man in his late 50s,was reportedly beaten to death by three upper-caste men,villagers here are blaming the fresh incidents of atrocity against Dalits on the Assembly elections.
According to reports,on November 12,Babulal was in his house when he heard the cries of 10-year-old Ruban Ram,who was reportedly being beaten up by three upper-caste men — Satendra Thakur,Sanjay Thakur and Deepak Thakur — for going to the ghats which was “out of bounds” for Scheduled Caste members.


Babulal,a daily wager,tried to intervene,but the trio reportedly started beating him with wooden sticks. Baburam died half-an-hour later. According to the post-mortem report,he died of head injuries.
Villagers said this was the third incident of atrocity against Dalits in the last one month. Machhia Devi alleged that her 22-year-old son Navin Ram was beaten up by upper caste Bhumihars and was undergoing treatment at Sadar Hospital in Hajipur. Santlal Ram,25,alleged he was also beaten up about a fortnight back for refusing to accept Rs 50 as his daily wage.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

INDIA : Three Dalits paraded naked for stealing

Three Dalit youths were allegedly paraded naked by a panchayat for stealing a grass cutting machine at Sonta village here.




0 0

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Written by Agencies | Muzaffarnagar | Published:January 24, 2011 4:26 pm
Three Dalit youths were allegedly paraded naked by a panchayat for stealing a grass cutting machine at Sonta village here.
Not just that,teh atrocities against Dalits also encompassed a fine of Rs 3,000,which was imposed on Adesh,Ajit and Nitu,all aged between 20 to 25 years,sources said today.


Anil,a farmer belonging to Jat community had approached the community panchayat and complained against the three Dalit men,claiming that they had stolen his machine,the sources said.
According to the trio,a compromise was reached between the two parties yesterday after they confessed to their crime and the panchayat ordered that they be paraded naked and pay the fine.
Police denied receiving any information about the incident.






- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/in...aded-naked-for-stealing/#sthash.iPEwG1tH.dpuf

 

[Dalit Freedom]

India: Caste System Faces Challenges


12/22/2011 02:38 pm ET | Updated Feb 21, 2012

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TIM SULLIVAN

AGRA, India — As far back as he can remember, people told Hari Kishan Pippal that he was unclean, with a filthiness that had tainted his family for centuries. Teachers forced him to sit apart from other students. Employers sometimes didn't bother to pay him.
Pippal is a dalit, a member of the outcast community once known as untouchables. Born at the bottom of Hinduism's complex social ladder, that meant he could not eat with people from higher castes or drink from their wells. He was not supposed to aspire to a life beyond that of his father, an illiterate cobbler. Years later, he still won't repeat the slurs that people called him.
Now, though, people call him something else.
They call him rich.
Pippal owns a hospital, a shoe factory, a car dealership and a publishing company. He owns six cars. He lives in a maze of linked apartments in a quiet if dusty neighborhood of high walls and wrought-iron gates.
"In my heart I am dalit. But with good clothes, good food, good business, it is like I am high-caste," he said, a 60-year-old with a shock of white hair, a well-tailored vest and the girth of a Victorian gentleman. Now, he points out, he is richer than most Brahmins, who sit at the top of the caste hierarchy: "I am more than Brahmin!"
But in an increasingly globalized nation wrestling with centuries of deeply held caste beliefs, there is little agreement about what that means. Do Pippal and the handful of other dalit millionaires reflect a country shrugging off centuries of caste bias? Does caste hold still hold sway the way it used to?
Even Hari Kishan Pippal isn't sure.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

INDIA : Caste discrimination against India's 'untouchables' is an international issue

The caste system may be outlawed in India, but legislation is poorly implemented, and the country’s 200 million Dalits continue to suffer appalling forms of discrimination, writes Rikke Nohrlind.





[/COLOR]

By Rikke Nohrlind

10:49AM BST 16 Apr 2010

10 Comments


For years, the Government of India has opposed efforts to place the issue of caste discrimination on the agenda of the international community. This attitude is counterproductive as it would be to India’s advantage to support such efforts and take the lead in the global struggle against a form of discrimination which affects an estimated 260 million people around the world.

The caste system may be outlawed in India, but legislation is poorly implemented, and the country’s 200 million Dalits – formerly known as ‘untouchables’ – continue to suffer appalling forms of discrimination. Murder, rape and other crimes against them are mostly committed with impunity, while many Dalits experience forced prostitution and other forms of modern slavery.

India has much to gain from encouraging international involvement in this issue. Its endorsement of a UN framework to eliminate caste discrimination would set an example to other countries and strengthen its own unsuccessful efforts to end this human rights problem. Such a framework exists in the form of the draft UN Principles and Guidelines to eliminate caste discrimination, which have been published, but not yet adopted, by the UN Human Rights Council.

Recently, civil society activists and an Indian MP have urged the government to stop opposing the inclusion of caste discrimination in the international human rights regime, and to become a champion of the draft UN Principles and Guidelines in the UN. However, government officials continue to reject such claims based on misguided interpretations of caste discrimination in the context of international human rights law.

Some officials claim that caste is not part of the existing international human rights regime and oppose the adoption of a new and specific framework to address this form of discrimination in the UN. IDSN believes that caste discrimination warrants separate and distinctive treatment in the UN human rights system because of its unique nature, the vast numbers of people affected and the severity of the associated violations.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]INDIA : Caste Is Not Past[/h]By LAVANYA SANKARANJUNE 15, 2013


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Boys in the Dharavi slum next to Mumbai’s international airport. CreditRaghu Rai/Magnum PhotosAdvertisement

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BANGALORE, India — CASTE is not a word that modernizing India likes to use. It has receded to the unfashionable background. Newspapers reserve their headlines for the newer metrics of social hierarchy: wealth and politics, and those powerful influencers of popular culture, actors and cricket stars.
There are two stories we tell ourselves in urban India. One is about how education transforms lives. It is the golden key to the future, allowing people to rise above the circumstances of their birth and background. And sometimes, it does. In my own neighborhood, a few sons and daughters of cooks and gardeners are earning their engineering and business degrees, and sweeping their families into the middle class. Not many, certainly. But enough that this is a valid hope, a valid dream.
The other story is about how the last two decades of economic growth have fundamentally changed the country, creating jobs and income and nurturing aspiration where earlier there was none. New money and an increasingly powerful middle class are supposedly displacing the old social hierarchies.
These are exciting stories, even revolutionary in a country where, for centuries, the social order was considered immutable. Traditionally, Indian society was divided into four main castes. At the top, Brahmins, as priests and teachers; second came the Kshatriyas, the warriors and rulers; third, Vaishyas, who were merchants; last, Shudras, the laborers. And below them all, the Dalits, or untouchables, called Harijans, or “children of God,” by Mahatma Gandhi (for indeed, who isn’t?).

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN INDIA[/h]

Professors Smita Narula and Jayne Huckerby listen as an IHRC student speaks at the launch of CHRGJ’s report, “Hidden Apartheid”​

More than 165 million people in India continue to be subject to discrimination, exploitation and violence simply because of their caste. In India’s “hidden apartheid,” untouchability relegates Dalits throughout the country to a lifetime of segregation and abuse. Caste-based divisions continue to dominate in housing, marriage, employment and general social interaction—divisions that are reinforced through economic boycotts and physical violence.
Working in partnership with the International Dalit Solidarity Network, India’s National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, and the Gujarat-based Dalit grassroots organization Navsarjan, IHRC works to hold the Indian government accountable for its systematic failure to respect, protect, and ensure Dalits’ fundamental human rights.
In 2007, for instance, the IHRC issued a series of statements and a report based on its analysis of India’s failure to uphold its international legal obligations to ensure Dalit rights, despite the existence of laws and policies against caste discrimination. The report Hidden Apartheid—which was produced in collaboration with Human Rights Watch—was released as a “shadow report” in response to India’s submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. IHRC also participated in proceedings related to the Committee’s review of India’s compliance with the Convention and

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"][h=1]India's "Untouchables" Face Violence, Discrimination[/h]Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News

June 2, 2003
More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human.
Human rights abuses against these people, known as Dalits, are legion. A random sampling of headlines in mainstream Indian newspapers tells their story: "Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits".

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"Dalits are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls," said Smita Narula, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, and author of Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "Untouchables."Human Rights Watch is a worldwide activist organization based in New York.
India's Untouchables are relegated to the lowest jobs, and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, paraded naked, beaten, and raped with impunity by upper-caste Hindus seeking to keep them in their place. Merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood is a life-threatening offense.
Nearly 90 percent of all the poor Indians and 95 percent of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits, according to figures presented at the International Dalit Conference that took place May 16 to 18 in Vancouver, Canada.
Crime Against Dalits
Statistics compiled by India's National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year 2000, the last year for which figures are available, 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched.
No one believes these numbers are anywhere close to the reality of crimes committed against Dalits. Because the police, village councils, and government officials often support the caste system, which is based on the religious teachings of Hinduism, many crimes go unreported due to fear of reprisal, intimidation by police, inability to pay bribes demanded by police, or simply the knowledge that the police will do nothing.
"There have been large-scale abuses by the police, acting in collusion with upper castes, including raids, beatings in custody, failure to charge offenders or investigate reported crimes," said Narula.
That same year, 68,160 complaints were filed against the police for activities ranging from murder, torture, and collusion in acts of atrocity, to refusal to file a complaint. Sixty two percent of the cases were dismissed as unsubstantiated; 26 police officers were convicted in court.
Despite the fact that untouchability was officially banned when India adopted its constitution in 1950, discrimination against Dalits remained so pervasive that in 1989 the government passed legislation known as The Prevention of Atrocities Act. The act specifically made it illegal to parade people naked through the streets, force them to eat feces, take away their land, foul their water, interfere with their right to vote, and burn down their homes.
Since then, the violence has escalated, largely as a result of the emergence of a grassroots human rights movement among Dalits to demand their rights and resist the dictates of untouchability, said Narula.

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[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]The Economist explains[/h][h=3]Why caste still matters in India[/h]Feb 24th 2014, 23:50 BY A.R. | DELHI

• 

INDIA’S general election will take place before May. The front-runner to be the next prime minister is Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party, currently chief minister of Gujarat. A former tea-seller, he has previously attacked leaders of the ruling Congress party as elitist, corrupt and out of touch. Now he is emphasising his humble caste origins. In a speech in January he said “high caste” Congress leaders were scared of taking on a rival from “a backward caste”. If Mr Modi does win, he would be the first prime minister drawn from the “other backward classes”, or OBC, group. He is not the only politician to see electoral advantage in bringing up the subject: caste still matters enormously to most Indians.
The country’s great, liberal constitution was supposed to end the millennia-old obsession with the idea that your place in life, including your occupation, is set at birth. It abolished “untouchability”—the practice whereby others in society exclude so-called untouchables, or Dalits, as polluting—which has now mostly disappeared from Indian society. Various laws forbid discrimination by caste. At the same time (it is somewhat contradictory) official schemes push “positive” discrimination by caste, reserving quotas of places in higher education, plus jobs in government, to help groups deemed backward or deprived. In turn, some politicians have excelled at appealing to voters by caste, promising them ever more goodies. For example Mayawati, formerly chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state (population: over 200m) and just possibly a future prime minister, leads a Dalit party. In another northern state, Bihar, parties jostle to build coalitions of caste groups. Everywhere voters can be swayed by the caste of candidates.
But don’t blame politicians alone. Strong social actors—such as leaders of “khap panchayats” (all-male, unelected village councils) or doughty family elders—do much more to keep caste-identity going. Consider marriages. In rural areas it can be fatal to disregard social rules and marry someone of a different, especially if lower caste. Haryana, a socially conservative state in north India, is notorious for frequent murders of young men and women who transgress. Even in town, caste is an important criterion when marriages are arranged. Look at matrimonial ads in any newspaper, or try registering for a dating site, and intricate details on caste and sub-caste are explicitly listed and sought (“Brahmin seeks Brahmin”, “Mahar looking for Mahar”) along with those on religion, education, qualifications, earning power and looks. Studies of such sites suggest that only a quarter of participants state that “caste is no bar”. Such attitudes also reflect the anxieties of parents, who are keen for children to marry within the same group, because marriages bring extended families intimately together.
As long as marriages are mostly within the same caste, therefore, don’t expect any law or public effort to wipe away the persistent obsession with it. That seems set to continue for a long time: a survey in 2005 found that only 11% of women in India had married outside their caste, for example. What is changing for the better, if too slowly, is the importance of caste in determining what jobs, wealth, education and other opportunities are available to an average person. No caste exists for a call-centre worker, computer programmer or English teacher, for example. The more of those jobs that are created, and the more people escape India’s repressive villages, the quicker progress can come.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

India is still fighting over its caste system. Here’s why this is a problem for all of us.

By Sam Jones on Sept. 4, 2015

Last week more than 500,000 people in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat took to the streets to protest what they saw as the unfairness of India’s caste system, but not for the reasons you would expect. Rather, members of the affluent Patel caste were demonstrating about the ‘reservation’ system which guarantees government jobs to members of minority communities, arguing that they are being unfairly chewed out of opportunities and deserved their own reservations. After the leader of the protests, 22 year old Hardik Patel, was arrested the protests turned unruly- nine people were killed in violent clashes, more were injured and a curfew was instigated.
The fact that the issue of caste is once again of political significance has more to do with the fight to end extreme poverty than you would think.
Caste; what is it?

First of all, some background. A caste system is a way of dividing a society into differently ranked tiers of people. Although much of the caste system was defined by early Hindu Scriptures the system became what we know it as today under colonial rule. Both the Portugese and subsequently the colonial British regime segmented groups by caste and gave senior administrative jobs to higher castes. Lower castes were denied access to basic healthcare and education and often shunned entirely from society, left to do jobs considered ‘unclean’ such as waste disposal, toilet cleaning and cremation. Dalits, also known as ‘untouchables’ who were considered to be outside of the caste system, suffered particularly badly under this system- stories abound of ‘untouchable’ children being spat on and forced to bathe in the same water as animals.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of pioneering social campaigners like B.R. Ambedkar, caste inequality was forced onto the agenda. After India achieved independence, quotas on employment- known as ‘reservations’ were introduced into the Constitution, and discriminating against the lower castes was made illegal. By 1990, the quota rose to about 49%, and it applied to groups that were classified as "Other Backward Classes”, "Scheduled Castes," and "Scheduled Tribes" (groups of historically disadvantaged indigenous Indians).

 

[Dalit Freedom]

Tales of lower-caste citizens of India

ByArpita Chakrabarty

Gopen (name changed) is barely 23 year-old. With a short height and thin figure and a black wide moustache, he resembles popular Tamil actor Dhanush. When I tell him about this new-found similarity between Gopen and Dhanush, he disregards my opinion with a big laugh. “He is such a big name and I am merely an insect crawling on the ground”. I become silent.
Gopen is always conscious about being a lower-caste. He is a Dalit, traditionally considered as untouchable in the Indian caste system. Both of his parents are illiterate and he is the first generation of his entire family to have gone to school, college and become a graduate. His father has always been a landless farmer, and receives his due of wages through vegetables and fruits from landlords. “In spite of being an illiterate, my father was intelligent enough to send me to school, while my other relatives scorned him for that. Their argument was, “Why are you sending your son to school when all his life he has to work for our sahib (landlord)?”
Gopen comes from a backward village in Maharajganj district in the biggest state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Uttar Pradesh has the highest Dalit population at 20.5%. The literacy rate in Maharajganj district stands at only 56%, even lower than the national average. Child-marriages are rampant here with around 73.6 per cent of females are married before the age of 18 and the female literacy rate stands at merely 28 per cent. Landless Dalits form a good part of the population of the district. Nearly 40% of the district population holds Below Poverty Line (BPL) ration cards.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

Student's Suicide Ignites Public Debate Over Indian Caste System


Updated January 22, 20164:46 PM ETPublished January 20, 20164:24 PM ET


JULIE MCCARTHY

2:30


A 26-year-old Ph.D. student killed himself in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. A Dalit, he was one of five students protesting their expulsion from the university's housing facility.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
In India, the suicide of a university student has led to a very public debate about one of that country's most sensitive issues, the caste system. NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from New Delhi that the case spotlights the treatment of the lowest class in the Hindu hierarchy.
JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: The body of 26-year-old PhD student Rohith Vemula was found hanging in a student hostel Sunday. He was a member of the Dalit community, once known as Untouchables. His death touched off a furor on social media. His Facebook profile reveals he was a fan of B.R. Ambedkar, the Dalit who helped write the Indian Constitution. Vemula was among five Dalit students at Hyderabad University, members of the Ambedkar Student Association, who were suspended for allegedly brawling with a conservative student group aligned with the ruling BJP party of Narendra Modi. University officials had earlier cleared Vemula but reversed their decision in December. His stipend withheld, he had been living in a tent outside the campus gate since his suspension. Vemula's appeals to the University went unanswered. Delhi University political scientist Narayan Sukumar says on campuses across India, complaints by Dalit students about discrimination frequently go unheeded.
NARAYANA SUKUMAR: There is a systemic segregation of these particular students, and they are not able to enjoy the equal status of the other upper caste students that they are having in the classroom and outside the classroom.
MCCARTHY: Protesting students say pressure from a federal minister persuaded the university to punish Vemula. The minister alleged that the school had become a den of casteist, extremist and antinational politics. He's since been charged under the law preventing atrocities against castes such as the Dalits. Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde says that while he believes Vemula's suspension did trigger his suicide, a legal case against the minister is unlikely to succeed.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Mob reportedly attacks Christian homes in Lahore after blasphemy row[/h]

by Staff Reporter
posted Wednesday, 27 May 2015
​

Pakistani Christians have faced persecution for some time

'This is simple growing hatred against Christians,' says human rights activist
A mob has reportedly attacked Christian homes and a church in Pakistan after blasphemy allegations were made against a Christian man.
According to reports by the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), the Pakistani Christian human rights group, a number of local men opened fire, threw missiles and threatened to kill Christians in Sandha, Lahore, after 27-year-old Humayun Masih was accused of burning pages of the Koran. The incident took place on Sunday.
Father-of-two Mr Masih, who is believed to be mentally unstable, was arrested and placed in police custody, where the hospital diagnosed him as unstable.
Witnesses claim a local cleric provoked the people in Sandha and as a result local Muslims gathered around and started throwing stones at the Christian houses and local church.
They also threatened to burn homes in the area, as happening during the March 2013 incident in Joseph Colony, when over 100 houses were ransacked and torched.
The incident comes around two months after a suicide attack on two churches in Youhanabad, the most heavily populated Christian area of Lahore, when 17 people were killed and 70 injured. Residents of Youhanabad are still living in fear, according to CLAAS.
CLAAS has already submitted a petition in the Pakistani High Court against the local government and the police’s illegal arrest of Christians. The organisation was also able to arrange bail for 10 Christians, and is hoping to provide bail for a further 18.
Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS UK, said: “Although blasphemy is a very sensitive issue, nobody should be allowed to take the law into their own hands. While Pakistan has local police and courts to punish those who commit such crimes, even on mere accusations being made against Christians, local Muslims turn violent and attack whole communities that have nothing to do with the individual’s act. This is simple growing hatred against Christians.”
He said there are several examples where one individual has been accused of committing blasphemy and their whole village is set on fire.


“The law is widely being misused to settle personal vendettas and even the government has admitted this,” he said. “But sadly it has still failed to take appropriate action to stop the misuse of the blasphemy law, and ensure security to Christians.”

 

[Dalit Freedom]

kahan bhag gaya hai ch@ddi ...kaheen haramdev nay bula to nahi liya ?? ...kaheen thak to nahi gaya tu ?? [hilar][hilar][hilar]