Please pass this on to the group..
Caution- this mail contains some hard realities and some may be upset.
====================================================
- One is poor or rich because of his bad or good deeds of previous birth - How many of you believe this ? True or False
- Poor Brahmans are respected and poor Dalits are not - True or False
- Brahman is poor but he is deprived from reservation - i.e. even though the social prestige of Dalits are low, they are more likely to get richer than a Brahman - True or False
- Both poor Dalit and Brahman are eligible for BPL benefits - true or false.
- Dalits are indulged in Brahman bashing even though (Brahman's don't have any thing to do with this ) they are living in a secular country and getting all SC/ST benefits for a while - true or False.
- Karunanidhi - the selfish politician is distributing color TV - spent already Rs. 4000 crore and again ordered 10 Lakh color Tv - Do you think Karunanidhi is stupid ? True or False.
- Now, can the Dalit community thrive, if they daily bash Brahmans - Are they aware of the reason - why powerful kings respected Brahamns - it is because when Brahmans get upset - they may curse them and this is called - 'Brahmha Shyapah'. King Parikshita couldn't survive the 'Brahmha Shyapah' (divine curse) of Rishi Shrungi; King Parikshita called Rishi Shrungi during meditation and when he didn't listen, garlanded him a dead snake - due to this disrespect he was cursed and had to die. In those days - Brahmans used to be intellectually sound. Compare with Mr. Narasmiha rao, Mr. Vajpayee and Dr. Manmohan Singh - for whatever complex - the highly qualified Dr. Singh is proven a disaster for country while other two were awesome. So,let us agree on this that even today - honest Brahmans at higher places can deliver in a secular environment. No offences - I see how Mayawati is performing in UP. So, even given a chance, Dalits can't find a honest and efficient leader in their community - correct me if I am wrong.
Now coming to exclusion..
===================
All poor people - across all religion - are getting socialist food [2/- per kg] and if needed Scholarship/books may be provided to their kids.
We have adopted socialism - i.e. Government has got the right to tax rich for the poor. It doesn't mean that rich will pay for color TV for Karunanidhi's voter and reservation for Paswan's son or daughter.
So, my sincere advise to Dalit friends - don't expect every thing from Government. BPL rice + Educational scholarship + affordable health care (PM has planned health insurance) + 1 reservation job/family
In my opinion - the above 4 items should be enough..one or two more items based on local job conditions.
You demand social upliftment and prestige - you can't get that in near future as nothing was there in our secular school syllabus that would have changed my parents/grand parents mind. Myself has no issues with any Dalits - but in case of marriage in our family - I have to look for all Gotras/Horoscopes/Brahman/family upbringing etc.. Because I believe these criteria are there for a reason - mainly compatibility between bride and groom.
Personally, if I had the authority - I would have allowed all Hindu Dalits to our Temples - Secular Governments look at their vote bank and hence you don't get such rights; courts and law minister can't change our mindset.
So, how to get around this mindset: I think time is the answer - wait... next generation and love marriage..
The point is our western and American people - mostly Abrahamic religion people have got only 2100 years history and they never had this "Jati" stuff. They want to measure India by same yardstick - not possible. So, all I can say that - learn your rich traditions and Papa-Punya. Teach Sanskrit to your kids and encourage them to learn our scriptures. Just because one or two Smriti have got some "bad" for Dalits - the whole scripture doesn't become bad. What is important is whether the current discrimination (mostly in villages) are directly attributed to those stanzas or not. I think - there is no relation - Mayawati may say 'Manubadi' so for Votes and destroy the state by bad governance because of low IQ.
Educate your kids, let them compete with Brahman kids - that may lead to love marriage and kids will revolt against their parents - Dalits get automatic status upgrade.
In America, inter-racial marriage was legalized in 1960s. Now after 50 years - Gays/Lesbians want to marry - 'Ghor Kaliyug'. We see some mixed race color kids..
So, social changes take time - just by Brahman bashing or by seeking easy social benefits from Government - one can't raise their social status in a country where 'Jati' is embedded - in all states irrespective of language.
Thanks
Manoj Padhi
ps see and respond. this debate seems to be at variance with what dalit scholars have been highlighting at varied levels
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
was interested in knowing from where the concept of social exclusion has emerged in NGO developmental discourse and also in funding agencies and Planning Commission documents.
Perhaps this concept has its roots in the political landscape of Europe and is being applied in India and other countries as a jargon. Tribals, handicapped, women, minorities, women, children – almost every social category is clubbed under the social exclusion category and the effectiveness of development programmes is assessed from a "social exclusion lens". This is similar to the generalization of "vulnerable groups" and development programming.
While studying the effectiveness of development programmes in this way, no distinction is made on exclusion arising from larger economic factors. When we talk of dalits, tribals, women being excluded from economic development opportunities – the discourse forgets to mention the high unemployment rates in general for all communities and the declining jobs in the government services and organized sector despite 9% GDP growth rate. This is not to deny that social discrimination does not exist in our society or that economic opportunities are denied based on social and ethnic discrimination.
Found it helpful that Amartya Sen has written a long thesis for ADB on Exclusion that includes the following comment;
"The real relevance of an exclusionary perspective is, thus, conditional on the nature of the process that leads to deprivation—in this case, to a sharp fall in the purchasing power of the affected population. This kind of discrimination is important to undertake in order to separate out (1) the conceptual contribution that the idea of social exclusion can make and the constructive role it can play, and (2) the use of social exclusion merely as language and rhetoric. Both can be effective, but conceptual creativity must not be confused with just linguistic extension." http://www.adb.org/documents/books/social_exclusion/social_exclusion.pdf
It is another matter that Amartya Sen's explanation of famines(as not necessarily resulting from food shortages but lack of purchasing power and a functioning democracy), has been found to be insufficient in explaining and understanding famine deaths - in the 1970s in Orissa(in a book by Bob Curie) despite a so called functional democracy and free press, and by Utsa Patnaik(in her book The Long Transition) who cited the absolute decline in food availability in W Bengal over a long period of two decades preceding the 1940s that set the stage for a large scale famine. There is nothing new that lack of purchasing power creates hunger and can exacerbate famine like situations.
"Sustainable and Inclusive Growth" are expected to be the theme for the 12th Five Year Plan. Lets hope it is not a buzzword for the same things in new language.
Depinder Kapur
http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion
Social exclusion refers to lack of participation in society and emphasizes the multi-dimensional, multi-layered, and dynamic nature of the problem. Definitions of the concept emanate from diverse ideological perspectives, but most share the following features:
(1) Lack of participation. Protagonists differ over which aspects of society are important and where responsibility for non-participation resides. Most agree that exclusion is a matter of degree, since individuals may be participating to a greater or lesser extent, and that it is relative to the society in question.
(2) Multi-dimensional. Social exclusion embraces income-poverty but is broader: other kinds of disadvantage which may or may not be connected to low income, such as unemployment and poor self-esteem, fall within its compass.
(3) Dynamic. The advent of dynamic analysis and a demand from policy makers to investigate cause as well as effect has generated an interest in the processes which lead to exclusion and routes back into mainstream society.
(4) Multi-layered. Although it is individuals who suffer exclusion, the causes are recognized as operating at many levels: individual, household, community, and institutional.
The term 'social where it was used in the 1970s to exclusion' probably originated in France, refer to the plight of those who fell through the net of social protection—disabled people, lone parents, and the uninsured unemployed. The increasing intensity of social problems on peripheral estates in large cities led to a broadening of the definition to include disaffected youth and isolated individuals. The concept has particular resonance in countries which share with France a Republican tradition, in which social cohesion is held to be essential in maintaining the contract on which society is founded.
Social exclusion terminology was adopted at a European Union level in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Right-wing governments, including the Thatcher government in the UK, did not recognize the existence of poverty in their own countries, while commentators on the left were becoming increasingly concerned about the social polarization associated with rapidly growing income inequality. 'Social exclusion' was sufficiently broad to accommodate both these perspectives, and allowed debates about social policy to continue at a European level.
By the mid-1990s, use of the term 'social exclusion' by Labour politicians in the UK was commonplace, and the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) was set up shortly after the 1997 General Election. The SEU defined social exclusion as 'what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown'. This conception fits into the tradition in British <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion> social science of investigating multiple deprivation.
Social <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion> scientists have increasingly placed emphasis on the duration and recurrence of spells in poverty. Just as the shift from income to multiple deprivation expanded the range of indicators of poverty, so the shift from static to dynamic analysis extended the range along the time dimension. Examining those in poverty at one particular time fails to differentiate between those who are in that state only transiently; those who are on the margins of benefit and work, with alternating periods of poverty and relative wealth; and the long-term poor, such as pensioners living below social assistance levels. A dynamic approach also facilitates an investigation of the processes which lead to poverty and, conversely, what helps people recover.
In the international arena, the United Nations Development Programme has been at the forefront of attempts to conceptualize social exclusion across the developed and developing world. A series of country <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion> studies led to the formulation of a rights-focused approach, which regards social exclusion as lack of access to the institutions of civil society (legal and political systems), and to the basic levels of education, health, and financial well-being necessary to make access to those institutions a reality.
Read more: <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion#ixzz1Dq5JfXkx>http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion#ixzz1Dq5JfXkx
On the second, it is true that a section of 'global' feminists have been concerned almost entirely with language and discourse in their critiques. However, this is certainly not true in our context in South Asia. For instance, of the hundreds of papers presented at the IAWS conference on 'Resisting Marginalisations, Challenging Hegemonies, Revisiting Gender Politics' at Wardha in January, there were very, very few that focused only on language and discourse.
I also think it is necessary to analyse the processes by which certain terms (and the ideas reflected in those terms) evolve, become prominent and shape both academic and policy discourse. The material conditions of society and people's perceptions/ ideas about those conditions are not unrelated.
Regarding 'toning down' critiques, the boundaries between activist, practitioner and academic are not always as sharp as is sometimes made out, and we also need to recognise that there are different ways in which the politics of dissent can be played out.
Sumi
--- In jivika@yahoogroups.com, "Depinder Kapur" <kapur.depinder@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks Sumi for the response and the reference of Ruhi Saith.
>
> In the meantime I discussed this issue with a friend and this is what she had to say about exclusion discourse.
>
> Best wishes.
>
> Depinder
>
> gosh! I hear this term so often that I never paid attention to it--bourgeois academics combine inclusion with participation and use it as a way to represent dissenting voices as divisive/angry/aggressive. It is a tyranny of consensus in which the elites act as victims. Also, bourgeois feminists are most likely to use it--as in non-violent communication/dialogue/compassionate communications--because their critique of social structure has by now become centered solely on language and discourse. I am often taken aside and advised by my feminist colleagues to tone down/ reposition, etc. I prefer the conservatives who say she is a marxist...
>
> From: jivika@yahoogroups.com [mailto:jivika@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Sumi
> Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 8:58 AM
> To: jivika@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [jivika] Re: Exclusion discourse
>
> Hello,
> Thanks Depinder for this pertinent post and apologies for the delayed response.
> I am not sure why recognition of the multi-layered processes of impoverishment, inequality, oppression and exploitation need to be subsumed under new terms of discourse, such as 'social exclusion'. Generally, broadening a concept in this way seems to make it more 'acceptable' to mainstream policy analyses, and less 'political' despite the fact that the processes that are sought to be encompassed are indeed critically political.
> We now have university departments of Social Inclusion/ Exclusion and soon this will be yet another de-politicised discipline.
> Ruhi Saith's paper of 2001 is a good critical introduction to the issue. I will upload it in the files but here's the url and the abstract.
> Sumi
> File URL: http://www3.qeh.ox.ac.uk/RePEc/qeh/qehwps/qehwps72.pdf
> Social Exclusion: the Concept and Application to Developing Countries
> Ruhi Saith
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Depinder Kapur [mailto:kapur.depinder@...]
> Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2011 9:49 PM
> To: 'jivika@yahoogroups.com'
> Subject: Exclusion discourse
>
> I was interested in knowing from where the concept of social exclusion has emerged in NGO developmental discourse and also in funding agencies and Planning Commission documents.
>
> Perhaps this concept has its roots in the political landscape of Europe and is being applied in India and other countries as a jargon. Tribals, handicapped, women, minorities, women, children â€" almost every social category is clubbed under the social exclusion category and the effectiveness of development programmes is assessed from a “social exclusion lens†. This is similar to the generalization of “vulnerable groups†and development programming.
>
> While studying the effectiveness of development programmes in this way, no distinction is made on exclusion arising from larger economic factors. When we talk of dalits, tribals, women being excluded from economic development opportunities â€" the discourse forgets to mention the high unemployment rates in general for all communities and the declining jobs in the government services and organized sector despite 9% GDP growth rate. This is not to deny that social discrimination does not exist in our society or that economic opportunities are denied based on social and ethnic discrimination.
>
> Found it helpful that Amartya Sen has written a long thesis for ADB on Exclusion that includes the following comment;
>
> “The real relevance of an exclusionary perspective is, thus, conditional on the nature of the process that leads to deprivationâ€"in this case, to a sharp fall in the purchasing power of the affected population. This kind of discrimination is important to undertake in order to separate out (1) the conceptual contribution that the idea of social exclusion can make and the constructive role it can play, and (2) the use of social exclusion merely as language and rhetoric. Both can be effective, but conceptual creativity must not be confused with just linguistic extension.â€http://www.adb.org/documents/books/social_exclusion/social_exclusion.pdf
>
> It is another matter that Amartya Sen’s explanation of famines(as not necessarily resulting from food shortages but lack of purchasing power and a functioning democracy), has been found to be insufficient in explaining and understanding famine deaths - in the 1970s in Orissa(in a book by Bob Curie) despite a so called functional democracy and free press, and by Utsa Patnaik(in her book The Long Transition) who cited the absolute decline in food availability in W Bengal over a long period of two decades preceding the 1940s that set the stage for a large scale famine. There is nothing new that lack of purchasing power creates hunger and can exacerbate famine like situations.
>
> “Sustainable and Inclusive Growth†are expected to be the theme for the 12th Five Year Plan. Lets hope it is not a buzzword for the same things in new language.
>
> Depinder Kapur
>
> http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion
>
> Social exclusion refers to lack of participation in society and emphasizes the multi-dimensional, multi-layered, and dynamic nature of the problem. Definitions of the concept emanate from diverse ideological perspectives, but most share the following features:
>
> (1) Lack of participation. Protagonists differ over which aspects of society are important and where responsibility for non-participation resides. Most agree that exclusion is a matter of degree, since individuals may be participating to a greater or lesser extent, and that it is relative to the society in question.
> (2) Multi-dimensional. Social exclusion embraces income-poverty but is broader: other kinds of disadvantage which may or may not be connected to low income, such as unemployment and poor self-esteem, fall within its compass.
> (3) Dynamic. The advent of dynamic analysis and a demand from policy makers to investigate cause as well as effect has generated an interest in the processes which lead to exclusion and routes back into mainstream society.
> (4) Multi-layered. Although it is individuals who suffer exclusion, the causes are recognized as operating at many levels: individual, household, community, and institutional.
>
> where it was The term ‘social exclusion’ probably originated in France, used in the 1970s to refer to the plight of those who fell through the net of social protectionâ€"disabled people, lone parents, and the uninsured unemployed. The increasing intensity of social problems on peripheral estates in large cities led to a broadening of the definition to include disaffected youth and isolated individuals. The concept has particular resonance in countries which share with France a Republican tradition, in which social cohesion is held to be essential in maintaining the contract on which society is founded.
>
>
> Social exclusion terminology was adopted at a European Union level in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Right-wing governments, including the Thatcher government in the UK, did not recognize the existence of poverty in their own countries, while commentators on the left were becoming increasingly concerned about the social polarization associated with rapidly growing income inequality. ‘Social exclusion’ was sufficiently broad to accommodate both these perspectives, and allowed debates about social policy to continue at a European level.
>
> By the mid-1990s, use of the term ‘social exclusion’ by Labour politicians in the UK was commonplace, and the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) was set up shortly after the 1997 General Election. The SEU defined social exclusion as ‘what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown’. This conception fits into the tradition in British <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion> social science of investigating multiple deprivation.
>
> Social <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion> scientists have increasingly placed emphasis on the duration and recurrence of spells in poverty. Just as the shift from income to multiple deprivation expanded the range of indicators of poverty, so the shift from static to dynamic analysis extended the range along the time dimension. Examining those in poverty at one particular time fails to differentiate between those who are in that state only transiently; those who are on the margins of benefit and work, with alternating periods of poverty and relative wealth; and the long-term poor, such as pensioners living below social assistance levels. A dynamic approach also facilitates an investigation of the processes which lead to poverty and, conversely, what helps people recover.
>
> In the international arena, the United Nations Development Programme has been at the forefront of attempts to conceptualize social exclusion across the developed and developing world. A series of country <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion> studies led to the formulation of a rights-focused approach, which regards social exclusion as lack of access to the institutions of civil society (legal and political systems), and to the basic levels of education, health, and financial well-being necessary to make access to those institutions a reality.
>
> Read more: <http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion#ixzz1Dq5JfXkx> http://www.answers.com/topic/social-exclusion#ixzz1Dq5JfXkx
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>Ms. Meera Velayudhan, Ph.D.C-22, Amaltas Appt.B/H Fun Republic CinemaSatellite, Ahmedabad 380015Gujarat (INDIA)
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 04.03.11
From: pmarc2008@gmail.com
To: PMARC@dgroups.org
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 11:46:33 +0100Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 04.03.11
4 cops booked for 'atrocities' on Dalit women - The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110304/haryana.htm#10
Dalit group moves SHRC against Botsa - Deccan Chronicle
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/dalit-group-moves-shrc-against-botsa-450
NREGA whistleblower lynched - The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NREGA-whistleblower-lynched/articleshow/7623990.cms
5-point agenda: How to win polls? - The Times Of India
The Tribune
4 cops booked for 'atrocities' on Dalit women
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110304/haryana.htm#10
Tribune News Service
Panipat, March 2
Following protests by Dalits, the district police has registered a case against five persons, including four cops, for allegedly subjecting Dalit women to "inhuman treatment" during questioning in a theft case.
The police has registered a case against the in charge of the Baholi police post, SI Balbir Singh, and three other constables, one of whom has been identified as Reena. The complainant in the theft case, Jaswinder, has also been booked.
Rohtak Range IG V Kamaraj said it was unfortunate that despite clear orders from the Supreme Court that forbid the police from summoning women to police stations for investigations, the Panipat police had violated the rules.
He said in view of the gravity of the situation, a probe had been ordered into the incident and strict action would be taken against anyone found guilty. Meanwhile, the cops who have been booked in the case have been asked to report at the Police Lines, pending inquiry.
The Panipat police had landed itself in trouble after two Dalit women accused it of torturing them to extract information while investigating a theft case.
Deccan Chronicle
Dalit group moves SHRC against Botsa
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/dalit-group-moves-shrc-against-botsa-450
March 4th, 2011
March 3: The parents of Varalakshmi, an engineering student who reportedly committed suicide over delay in fee reimbursement, and members of the Indian Dalit Christian Rights on Thursday approached the State Human Rights Commission demanding the registration of an SC/ST atrocity case against Mr Rattaiah of the Vignan Engineering College and the minister, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana.
In the petition, they said that Varalakshmi had joined the college by paying Rs 18,000 towards library and bus fees as she came from a BPL family. However, the college management had allegedly started harassing her by insisting that she pay Rs 31,000.
When Varalakshmi maintained that she was entitled to fee reimbursement, the college in-charge, Ms Aruna, pulled her up in front of her classmates saying the scholarship was not sanctioned. According to the petition, this allegedly led to the girl's suicide.
The activists said Mr Satyanaranaya misled the public by saying that Varalakshmi's death was not a suicide but an accident that occurred due to gas leak. They said the home minister, Ms Sabita Indra Reddy, had personally called upon the family and admitted that it was a suicide.
The Times Of India
NREGA whistleblower lynched
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NREGA-whistleblower-lynched/articleshow/7623990.cms
TNN, Mar 4, 2011, 02.49am IST
DALTONGANJ: A social activist involved in exposing alleged irregularities in implementing MGNREGA schemes was beaten to death at Jeruwa village inLatehar's Manika police station.
The incident occurred on the intervening night of March 2-3. Niyamat Ansari(53) was associated with former member of the MGNREGA council and present member of the National Advisory Council Jean Dreze.
Latehar SP Kuldip Dwivedi said the sister of the deceased, Shaida Bibi, had lodged an FIR with Manika police station in which she claimed to have identified the assailants.
The Times Of India
5-point agenda: How to win polls?
TNN, Mar 4, 2011, 12.34am IST
LUCKNOW: The month-long statewide inspection drive to assess the progress of developmental projects and implementation of various schemes by chief minister Mayawati was not only an administrative exercise. If sources are to be believed, the drive in fact is part of her five point strategy to romp home in the 2012 UP assembly polls.
During her visits, Mayawati also took feedback of the performance of sitting MLAs and the candidates short-listed for the 2012 assembly polls before making final announcement. The Ambedkar villages selected for visit also had substantial Muslim population, sources said and added that she has already constituted bhaichara (brotherhood) committees at the booth level in districts to bring castes and communities other than dalits, close to the BSP.
Party insiders also said that the BSP supremo is aiming to build an alliance of dalit, most backward classes and Muslims without upsetting the upper castes, particularly the Brahmins.
According to sources, Maya has chalked out a five point programme for her mission 2012.
First: If in 2007 BSP's focus was on dalit-brahmin-muslim alliance, which brought it to power with absolute majority, for 2012, the party is aiming at the combination of dalit-muslims-most backward classes. At the same time, BSP will not say or do anything, which could antagonise any caste or community.
Secondly, Maya wants to declare party candidates one year in advance for polls due in April-May 2012, so that the latter get enough time to groom their constituencies.
Maya is of the view that a candidate should not be barred from contesting election on the basis of criminal record, but party sources said that she is taking extra care to verify credentials of the candidates selected for 2012 assembly elections before announcing their names.
"Recent accusations of rape and murder against some BSP leaders has hit party image and Behenji does not want more controversies. We won 2007 election on law and order issue, hence extra care is being taken to improve the situation," said a senior BSP leader.
The third point in Maya's agenda is to find out a detailed caste configurations of every constituency, as delimitation has changed the demographic profile and old equations in comparison to 2007 assembly elections.
Fourth: Maya wants all development work sanctioned for dalit dominated areas to be completed by July this year to counter Congress's attempt to poach on her dalit vote bank. Committed dalit leaders have been given important positions at district level in party organisation and have been told to convince dalits that the BSP is the only party they can trust on.
PWD minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, has been asked to build an alliance of Muslim-dalit-backward classes to score in 89 reserved assembly seats in the state out of 403 assembly constituencies.
Maya's close confidant and Brahmin face of the party, SC Mishra will continue to focus on the Brahmins. Swami Prasad Maurya and backward leader Babu Singh Kushwaha are working among non-Yadav backward classes and most backward classes (MBCs) close to the BSP.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
.................................................................
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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