Sunday, January 2, 2011

Fwd: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 02.01.11



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From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 3:25 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 02.01.11
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>


Dalits Media Watch

News Updates 02.01.11

Dalit denied last rites - The Telegraph

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110102/jsp/nation/story_13381151.jsp

Girl set ablaze in Wardha village - The Times Of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Girl-set-ablaze-in-Wardha-village/articleshow/7193345.cms

Magistrate promises action in dalit teacher case - NDTV

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/magistrate-promises-action-in-dalit-teacher-case-76050

UP: Minor Dalit girl raped, put behind bars - IBN Live

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/up-minor-dalit-girl-raped-put-behind-bars/139055-3.html

Funds meant for welfare of SCs, STs underutilised - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/02/stories/2011010255920500.htm

From the margins, dalit tycoons take centrestage - The Times Of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/From-the-margins-dalit-tycoons-take-centrestage/articleshow/7194028.cms

The Telegraph

Dalit denied last rites

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110102/jsp/nation/story_13381151.jsp

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Hyderabad, Jan. 1: A 65-year-old Dalit farmer was denied last rites in Andhra Pradesh because the upper castes refused to allow him to be cremated in the village and let his body rot at home for two days.

Potla Ganganna, who died around 11am on Thursday, was buried on government land outside the village tonight. His body was too decomposed to be cremated.

Ganganna's relatives had been turned away from the cremation ground by the upper castes in Basampalli village in Anantpur, 415km from Hyderabad, and told to find another resting place for the farmer. The family who belong to the Namdhari sect of Dalits returned home with the body.

The Mandal Revenue Officer, Mehabub Peera, suggested an alternative site but the Modikallu Dalits — a higher sect than the Namdharis — objected because it was close to their homes.

"We will not allow a Namdhari burial near our homes," said Nagappa, head of the Modikallu sect, which is dominant among the Dalits in the village.

The Namdhari last rites include the ringing of bells and beating of drums and are considered a bad omen by the superstitious.

The 15 Namdhari Dalit families in the village clashed with the others for stopping the cremation.

Revenue officer Peera rushed to the spot this morning amid reports of tension and the health hazard caused by the decomposed body.

Police forces also reached Basampalli and the revenue department held discussions with both sides to sort out the problem. But Ganganna could not find a resting place in his village.

"Untouchability" has always been practised in the village that has a population of around 3,000, Dalit elders in Basampalli said. Around 40 Dalit families live in the village.

The Times Of India

Girl set ablaze in Wardha village

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Girl-set-ablaze-in-Wardha-village/articleshow/7193345.cms

TNN, Dec 31, 2010, 12.23am IST

WARDHA: A group of 7 persons set a school going Dalit girl of their own village ablaze. The girl reportedly suffered 90% burns and said to be in a critical condition in hospital.

Manoj Landge and six other villagers of Loni (Deoli) allegedly manhandled Gyaneswar Fuge of their village first and then beat him up. The seven then set his daughter afire. The girl was admitted to the government hospital of Deoli. The police have arrested all the accused, and they were sent to police custody remand till Jan 5. The accused have been booked under Atrocities Act too.

The mother of the victim said that Manoj used to harass her daughter and eve-teasing by Manoj and others was common while studying in the Deoli high school. There was reported to be some tension in the small village with barely 60 houses after the incident. Deputy SP Vinayak
Susadkar is enquiring into the matter.

NDTV

Magistrate promises action in dalit teacher case

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/magistrate-promises-action-in-dalit-teacher-case-76050
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: December 31, 2010 11:09 IST

Gopalgunj: Two days after NDTV ran the story of a dalit teacher denied a chair at her school in Bihar's Gopalgunj district, allegedly on the grounds of caste, the District Magistrate has taken note and promised action in the case. (Read: Teacher not allowed to use chair
because of caste) The teacher, Seema Kumari, met with the DM yesterday and submitted a
written complaint in the matter.

The DM has now called a meeting with district education officials, and asked the principal of Seema's school to be present at the meeting, likely to be held in a day or two.

Seema sits on the floor while she's coaching her students. In her classroom, there is no chair for her. "I am from a lower caste. That's why they don't let me sit on a chair. I have gone through a lot of agony because of this discrimination," she says, matter-of-factly.

IBN Live

UP: Minor Dalit girl raped, put behind bars

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/up-minor-dalit-girl-raped-put-behind-bars/139055-3.html

CNN-IBN
Posted on Dec 31, 2010 at 09:35am IST

Lucknow: A minor Dalit girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by a BSP MLA and then found herself behind bars after the MLA accused her of stealing from his house in Uttar Pradesh.

The man in question is Purshottam Narain Dwivedi, an MLA from Banda in Uttar Pradesh. The Victim claims he threatened to kill her as well.

Dwivedi has denied all the allegations, countering them instead by saying that he caught the girl stealing clothes and cash from his house. The victim has refuted this.


UP: Minor Dalit girl raped, put behind bars The opposition Congress has taken up the girl's cause and UP Congress President Rita Bahuguna Joshi is expected to meet the victim.

The Hindu

Funds meant for welfare of SCs, STs underutilised

http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/02/stories/2011010255920500.htm

Nagesh Prabhu

15 departments have used less than 30 p.c. of their funds

Horticulture and Forest departments are among many that have spent less than 25 p.c. of funds

Planning and Statistics Department has not spent anything of the allocated Rs. 28.45 crore

Bangalore: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government claims that it has implemented several programmes for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, several departments have not used funds released for the schemes for the benefit of poor families in the current fiscal.

The performance of 15 government departments in utilisation of the released funds for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has been below average and they incurred expenditure less than 30 per cent of the allocated outlay as on November 10, 2010.

According to the officials in the Social Welfare Department, several departments including agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, rural development, health, forests, cooperation, tourism, housing, labour, commerce and industries, public works, major irrigation, minor irrigation, and planning and statistics had spent very little of the released funds under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.

A sum of Rs. 3,142.28 crore had been allocated under the SCSP for initiating welfare measures by 25 departments. But only a few departments such as Revenue (65 p.c. funds spent), Urban Development (66.24 p.c.), Social Welfare (50.52 p.c. spent), Higher Education (50.44 p.c.), Primary and Secondary Education (68.30 p.c.) and Energy Department (100 p.c.) have spent more than 50 per cent of the funds released.

The Labour Department spent 8.82 per cent of the allocated amount of Rs. 65.31 crore. The percentage utilisation of the amount by other departments is: Agriculture – 21.05, Fisheries – 0.46, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj – 26.39, Forests – 25.77, Cooperation – 19.31, Tourism – 21.98, Housing – 20.08, Commerce and Industries – 19.34, Public Works – 24.33, Major Irrigation – 16, Minor Irrigation – 24.44, Health – 28.03, and Planning and Statistics – 0.38.

The Planning Commission has issued guidelines to the Government suggesting it to allocate 16.2 per cent and 6.55 per cent of the total State plan outlay for the implementation of programmes for the benefit of SCs and STs from the next financial year (2011-12).

The Social Welfare Department officials said a majority of the departments have also failed to utilise the amount sanctioned under the Scheduled Tribes Sub-Plan (STSP) in the current fiscal. Out of the allocated Rs. 1,283.34 crore, only Rs. 415.43 crore had been spent as on November 10, 2010, which accounts to 32.37 per cent of the total outlay.

The departments that have spent less than 25 per cent of the total outlay are Horticulture Department (20.24 p.c. funds spent), Fisheries (0.44 p.c.), Forests (22.91 p.c.), Housing (6.86 p.c.), Commerce and Industries (11.95 p.c.), PWD (10.89 p.c.).

Interestingly, the Planning and Statistics Department has not spent a single rupee out of the net allocated sum of Rs. 28.45 crore. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has expressed dissatisfaction over the low utilisation of funds by various departments. He has sought explanation from the Ministers concerned.

The Times Of India

From the margins, dalit tycoons take centrestage

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/From-the-margins-dalit-tycoons-take-centrestage/articleshow/7194028.cms

ARATI R JERATH, TNN, Dec 31, 2010, 05.06am IST

NEW DELHI: Dalit entrepreneurs will make a historic journey to Delhi next week for a pre-budget meeting with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. This is the first time that business leaders from the country's most marginalized communities will be
included in the government's budget consultation process.

The meeting is scheduled for Monday afternoon with 40 entrepreneurs from different parts of the country expected to attend. It marks the emergence of a nascent trend in India of enterprising dalits choosing to create independent businesses instead of depending on quotas in government jobs to get ahead.

Some of them have built impressive empires like Kalpana Saroj who heads Kamani Tubes with an estimated turnover of Rs 500 crore and Ratibhai Makwana whose Rs 300-crore Gujarat Pickers is one of the country's largest polymer distributors. The delegation will be led by Milind Kamble who has taken the initiative of grouping dalit entrepreneurs into a Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Kamble saw the invitation from the Plan panel as an acknowledgement that Dalit entrepreneurs are making their presence felt in Indian business circles. "It's a great day for us that the government wants to hear our expectations from the union budget," he said. "We want the government to formulate a policy to help Dalit businesses to grow so that we get out of the reservation trap."

But there's more to the Delhi visit than a meeting with Montek. The presence of such a large group of dalit business leaders in the Capital will also be an occasion to do some image re-engineering by presenting the changing face of these communities. On Sunday evening, delegation members will hold an open dialogue with intelligentsia representatives on their plans for 2011 and their dreams and ambitions.

"Somebody will announce his plans to buy a private jet, another will be purchasing a helicopter," said Chandrabhan Prasad, a Dalit writer and intellectual who is organizing the dialogue. "The idea is to tell everybody that Dalits have arrived and have the same social and economic capacity as business leaders from other communities."


--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
..................................................................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.

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