Dalits Media Watch
News Updates - 15.0912
Temple security guard assaults Dalit youth- The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article3897984.ece
Benefactor evicts Dalit families from donated plots- Hindustan Times
Dalits tell woes to commission, demands justice for atrocities- Hindustan Times
Businees Line- The Hindu
A case for quotas in promotions...
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article3897387.ece
Dalits to intensify temple stir- IBN Line
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dalits-to-intensify-temple-stir/291280-60-118.html
The Hindu
Temple security guard assaults Dalit youth
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article3897984.ece
A Dalit man was allegedly assaulted by a security guard hired by the Kukke Subrahmanya Temple authorities after the man and his 50-year-old mother refused to spend the night at a bus-stand meant for the "lower castes".
The assault has left Yadava (24) needing an operation to regain sight completely and to fix his perforated ear drum.
On September 10 evening, Mr. Yadava, an Adi Dravida, and his mother Neelamma arrived at the temple from Nidagal in Belthangady taluk, to pray for Mr. Yadava's health. "He has been suffering from illnesses and because of this he could not continue his work as an agricultural labourer. My husband died a year ago, and we have to earn our livelihood," said Ms. Neelamma.
However, with a public puja having been scheduled the next day, they struggled to find a room to spend the night. On not finding one, they decided to sleep in the verandah of a boarding house close to the temple, where many other pilgrims were present.
As they were about to fall asleep, Ms. Neelamma said a security guard woke them up. "He first asked us where we came from. Then he asked us which caste we belonged to. When I told him we were Dalits, he told us to sleep in the bus-stand," she said.
When Mr. Yadava protested, the guard held him by his collar and allegedly started thrashing him. Ms. Neelamma tried to stop the assault, but was pushed aside. After the five-minute assault —which Ms. Neelamma says was witnessed by pilgrims sleeping there –— her son was hurt in the eye, left with a bleeding ear, bloody nose and severe bruises on the face.
Eventually, they spent the night on the road outside the temple. By morning, he had high fever and the pain had become intolerable. So, he was admitted to hospital in Kadaba on Tuesday morning, and later shifted to Puttur Government General Hospital.
At Kukke Subrahmanya, temple authorities said the incident occurred because Mr. Yadava was drunk and attempted to molest a girl. Authorities came to the defence of the security guard, who, they said, merely sent them out "without using force."
"Mr. Yadava has faked his injuries. Now they have got hold of a Dalit Sangha to blackmail us for money," said an official of the temple management committee to The Hindu. They even submitted to the police a complaint by the girl who was allegedly harassed. She said in the complaint that Mr. Yadava harassed her and "the security guard had done nothing wrong". However, later in the evening, the security guard was called to the Subrahmanya police station, where he apologised and the temple authorities gave Rs. 10,000 as compensation to the victim. Neelamma said she accepted it as her son will not be able to work for a few more months.
Hindustan Times
Benefactor evicts Dalit families from donated plots
Three Dalit families of Mehrampur village of Nawanshahr district have allegedly been evicted forcibly by the family of an NRI from the plots donated by the latter to the former seven years ago. The Dalit families alleged that their 'benefactor' also humiliated them in public. The Dalits claimed
that the NRI's family was expecting them to do menial jobs out of gratitude and when they refused, the plots donated to them were taken back.
Talking to mediapersons here, Sohan Lal (50) said that NRI Milkha Singh and his wife Harjinder Kaur had donated five-marla plots to each of the 34 Dalit families of the village in year 2005. He said that the plots had been donated at a ceremony organised in the village in the presence of the then deputy chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
Lal alleged that their benefactor was expecting the Dalits to work as cheap labour for him. "As I and two other families refused to toe the line, the plots donated to us were taken back," Lal alleged.
Lal alleged that Milkhas Singh's family was asking him to do the job of a watchman at their computer centre for a monthly salary of Rs. 1,500, which he refused to do. "Similarly, my wife was asked to do cleaning work at Singh's home," he said.
Lal said he was not ready to hand over the plot to the Singh family as he had already placed hand pump there and had planted some trees. He alleged that the Milkha Singh sent his men and they dismantled the hand pump and took possession of the plot.
He said the plots of Gurdev Kaur and Joga Singh were also taken back for similar reasons and in similar fashion. Sohan Lal said he had filed a complaint against the Singh family with the Banga police.
Milkha Singh's family members could not be contacted for their comments.
Banga SHO Avtar Singh said that Milkha Singh's wife Harjinder Kaur too had filed a complaint against Sohan Lal, accusing the later of misbehaving with her.
The SHO confirmed that the Milkha Singh had taken possession of the plots. He said that police were probing the matter. He also confirmed that the Singh family removed the hand pump from the plot that had been donated to Sohan Lal.
Hindustan Times
Dalits tell woes to commission, demands justice for atrocities
In a state where the government is making tall claims of the providing good administration to the people a minor girl is struggling to get a case registered against a man who allegedly made obscene remarks on her despite trying to establish relation with her. Following her refusal the man threatened her and her family.
The victim was one of 28 others belonging to schedule castes, who allegedly reported atrocities by the upper caste , to Rajesh Bagha, chairman of the state commission for scheduled castes, during a public hearing at Ambedkar bhavan on Tuesday.
The programme was organised by Dalit Dastan Virodi Andolan (DDVA), an NGO, working for the dalits. Narrating their stories, the victims told the commission that the police did not take any necessary action against the culprits, and demanded justice from the commission.
The minor while complaining to the commission said that the incident took place on September 5 when her mother, Balwinder Kaur, who had been working as a domestic help in the house of the accused fell ill, and sent the victim to work in her place.
She along with her 10 years old younger brother went to the house. The accused finding her alone passed obscene comments on her and also tried to establish a relation. But she managed to flee for the house and narrated the incident to her mother who also stopped going to his house.
She said that now the accused has been threatening her and the family of not telling the incident to anyone and also forcing them to join work again. The case was also not registered, she said.
Another gang rape victim from Ferozepur district while narrating her story said that after six people of her village Basti Dulla Singh raped her, the police booked six upper caste persons identified as Bhakhshish Singh and his five other accomplices but only none of them was arrested.
Sukhwinder Kaur(36) of Taran Tarn complained against a brick kiln owner Harpal Singh of Machhike village of Taran Taran who misbehaved with her in Khem Kharan police station in front of ASI Narinder Singh when she went there in support of bonded labourer who were rescued from the brick kiln of the accused.
She said that this incident occurred in February, 2011 and since then she had made various representations to the deputy commissioner, SSP Taran Tarn but no case was registered.
Pawan Kaler a victim of Nangal Fida village in Jalandhar said that he along some other people were attacked by upper caste men in the village on June 20 after their one of them defeate an upper caste man in a village wrestling match. He said that they stioll feel threatened in the village.
In a similar case Hakam Singh(25) complained that some upper caste men attacked him after he stopped playing kabbadi in their club as he was not given due share in cash prize money.
Gurmel Singh of Nayan Kalan village of Patiala district and Sidhoria Khan of Kaithal, Haryana told the commission how they were forced to work as bonded labourers.
Jai Singh the patron of DDVA said that such public hearing have been arranged only to ensure that that the commsion takes prompt action against the accused.
Rajesh Bagha said that the commission would ensure justice for the victims and would also take preventive measures to curb such incidents in future.
The Hindu
Businees Line
A case for quotas in promotions...
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article3897387.ece
The absence of SCs and STs at higher levels of government shows that our decision-making process is neither inclusive nor democratic.
Amidst the chaos over 'Coalgate', Parliament failed to pass the 117th Constitution Amendment Bill, enabling reservation for the scheduled castes (SC) and the scheduled tribes (ST) for promotion in government jobs. Yet, the hard facts of the issue deserve a debate at the country's highest panchayat.
In a memorandum submitted to Governor General of India in 1942, B.R. Ambedkar estimated that in a cadre strength of 1,056 Indian Civil Service (ICS or today's Indian Administrative Service: IAS) officers, 568 were Indians. Of them, only one belonged to the SC category.
ENTRY LEVEL AND AFTER
The situation, even after seventy years, is no different at the cutting-edge positions of decision-making. There is only one ST and not a single SC among the 126 Secretary-level posts in the Government of India today. Among the rest of the 594 Central posts at the Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary level, there are only 19 SCs and about that many STs.
Inclusion through recruitment is the mere beginning of an empowerment process. It needs to be carried forward in the form of parity and equality in the highest decision-making levels and bodies.
Today, the SCs have an overall 17 per cent representation in central government jobs, which is more or less proportionate to their relative population. But that is only a result of their over-representation – 40 per cent – in 'Group D' services and below. Moreover, there is a huge backlog of vacancies at the higher levels in every department – Central as well as State.
Affirmative action for SC/STs in India has never been the pro-active, consciously inclusionary process that was envisaged by our Constitution drafters. Why is it difficult for an SC/ST IAS officer to become a Secretary to the Government of India? After all, direct recruitment through all-India competitive exams conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) ensures that 22.5 per cent of SCs and STs enter the IAS every year.
JOINT SECY SELECTION
The problem arises when the 'seniority list' for direct IAS recruits is prepared at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie. This is based on 80 per cent weightage for marks at civil services entrance exam and 20 per cent for marks during the training period at the Academy.
Since the SC/ST merit list is normally below the general merit list, the IAS recruits among the former, even after a good probation (that is in itself a subjective matter), end up finishing at the bottom of the 'seniority list' every year.
The selection of Secretaries, Additional Secretaries and Joint Secretaries in the Central Government is done through an empanelment process. Since 1990, the empanelment process for the Joint Secretary level has been based on a quantifiable scale from zero to 10. This method converts all the annual confidential records of IAS officers into marks and calibrates it on a scale of 10 every year.
A recent change introduced in 2010 by the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) decided to mark anybody securing points between 8 and 10 as being under the "outstanding category". But in a batch of 100-150, only 40-45 officers become eligible to work as Joint Secretary. It is from this bunch of 40-45 Joint Secretaries that Additional Secretaries and Secretaries are selected. If, by some chance, no SC/ST figures at the JS level, there would be no Secretaries at the end of the spectrum.
ARBITRARY EXCLUSION
In the case of the IAS batches of 1990, 1991 and 1992, the cut-off for selecting Joint Secretaries was itself fixed at 9.3, despite anything above 8 being termed 'outstanding' by the DOPT. Why cannot there be an affirmative system of selecting SC/ST officers, subject to their obtaining this minimum 8 points that is officially regarded as 'outstanding'? In this case, the objective itself seems to be to deny any opportunity for SC/STs to contribute to nation-building at the cutting-edge of decision-making. Such arbitrary, if not deliberate, exclusion was also seen in the recent empanelment of Additional Secretaries from the 1982 IAS batch, where all but one SC and one ST officer got picked up. It is quite possible that at the next stage for selection as Secretaries, even they may face the axe.
Is it possible that our Dalit and Adivasi officers are so unqualified, or that our bureaucracy at the top is so outstandingly meritorious? Either way, please don't blame Dalits and Adivasis for the current policy paralysis in the Government or the bureaucracy not delivering on its commitments.
SITUATION IN BANKS
The situation is no different in, say public sector banks. There is a common mechanism of "zone of consideration" for SC/STs in promotion up to scale 3. This means that if SC/ST candidates qualify a written test and are found fit for promotion, they are exempted from interview. However, there is no such scheme after this level. Nor do all banks follow a uniform mechanism.
Typically, promotion schemes in public sector banks are based on confidential report (CR) and interview, with both being given equal weightage. It is at the interview stage that SC/ST officers invariably face disqualification for promotion at the senior levels, even if they may have better CRs and have joined as direct recruit officers. Sometimes, they get knocked out even by general candidates, who may have joined the bank at the clerical cadre levels.
All these only highlight how administrative selection procedures at the top have no in-built inclusive, leave alone affirmative, mechanisms. Very rarely do we see meritorious, hard-working SC/ST officers managing to break the 'glass ceiling' that prevents them from rising to the upper rungs of the bureaucracy.
How many of us remember G. Krishnaiah, a Bihar cadre IAS officer, who was killed in 1994 while serving as District Magistrate of Gopalganj, on the orders of a well-connected local criminal politician? His crime? Being a Dalit, who was energetically implementing land reforms in a region where various upper caste landlords-led bhoomi senas ruled the roost.
The kind of social experience, vision, fresh perspective a Dalit or an Adivasi would bring to officialdom the table is something we need to explicitly recognise today.
(The author is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi.)
IBN Line
Dalits to intensify temple stir
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dalits-to-intensify-temple-stir/291280-60-118.html
Dalits of Sesasamudhram in Villupuram district, demanding permission for pulling the new car of their Amman temple through the thoroughfare of the village, are likely to intensify their agitation by roping in political parties after 42 Dalits, 25 of them women, were arrested on Tuesday midnight for organising a hunger strike violating prohibitory orders.
As heavy police pickets have been posted in the village, the Dalits might take the agitation to other places in the district - posters decrying the denial of permission for the car festival have already appeared at many villages - and turn to political parties for support.
VCK would stage a huge protest at Sankarapuram soon in which party leader Thol Thirumavalavan would participate, party state general secretary, Chinthanai Selvan, told Express.
"We have dealt with many problems related to temple festivals. In all those cases, caste Hindus denied permission for Dalits to enter temples. Those problems could be solved by holding talks.
But this problem is peculiar as at this village, caste Hindus and Dalits have their own temples and temple cars. The caste Hindus are not allowing the Dalits to pull their temple car on the public road. This is apparently an unlawful act. As per the law, the police should have registered cases against the offenders and arrested them. Instead, the police arrested the Dalits," Selvan said.
Demanding permission for the festival, 25 Dalit women began a continuous hunger strike four days ago, which led to the RDO imposing section 144 on September 9 and police arresting all the women and 15 men for allegedly violating prohibitory orders.
RDO Elangovan said: "As the women were sitting on the hunger strike, many outsiders were coming to the village in vehicles to extend their support. Fearing the the situation might aggravate, we imposed section 144." The new temple car was donated by the panchayat president of Sesasamudhram village recently, following which the Dalits started preparations for the car festival last month.
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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