---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 10:53 AM
Subject: Oh!What a wonderful religion!
To:
"... "We pray to the same Gods, so why are we treated so badly?" ..."
Dalits punished for entering temple: Government steps in
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/dalits-punished-for-entering-temple-government-steps-in-114179
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: June 23, 2011 15:48 IST
Puri: A board outside a temple for the Goddess Kali orders Dalits to stop at this point. "Harijans can pray from here," it declares. The warning sign was put up in August last year after three schoolgirls entered the shrine to offer Prasad to the Goddess, an icon of empowerment and Shakti.
The caretaker of the temple in Orissa's Puri district offers no apologies for the discrimination. "It is against tradition," he says, "Our fathers did not allow harijans to step inside the temple, and we will also bar their entry. We will die rather than let it happen."
Now, based on NDTV's report this morning, the Centre has asked the Orissa government to provide more information on why this was not stopped.
Chandana Bhoi is one of the young girls who visited the Goddess, triggering a vengeful response. "There should be no discrimination. We can do the same work as the upper-castes," she says. "We pray to the same Gods, so why are we treated so badly?"
Her entire village waits for the answer. Ranapada is home to 80 Dalit families who earn their living as sharecroppers. But since the temple controversy last year, they have been given no work. Upper caste leaders from surrounding villages decided to teach them a lesson. Landlords in the area took back the land given for cultivation to the Dalits.
"They did not call us to cultivate their land - neither women nor men," says an out-of-work farmer. "We used to work in their fields and share the harvest. Then they stopped hiring us."
When they wakened to the problem, local officials employed the Dalit farmers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or NREGA. They spent months working on constructing a road. But they have been paid just half of what they are due. Wages not being handed out are a common problem with NREGA - middlemen or contractors are also known to pocket part of the money that's due to hires.
The Dalit farmers say elected representatives in the area are from upper castes - and will not protect them at the risk of upsetting their vote bank. Sanjay Dasverma, who represents the area, refutes this allegation. "There is no vote-bank politicking in my constituency. I always try to keep the constituency above these issues," he says.
But the board outside the temple proves that there is little political will in undoing the wrongs inflicted here - or in challenging archaic and illegal conventions rooted in the caste system. A young couple in their wedding finery crouches outside the temple, seeking the Goddess' blessings, forbidden from drawing any closer. Nobody blinks.
---------------------
Orissa: Dalit MP denied entry in temple - IBN Live
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/orissa-dalit-mp-denied-entry-in-temple/162457-37-64.$
Jajati Karan , CNN-IBN, Updated Jun 25, 2011 at 09:23am IST
Puri: The chairman of the National Commission for Schedule Castes was denied entry at a temple in Puri. PL Punia, who is a Dalit himself, was allowed entry just till the compound, but found the main temple doors shut.
The Congress MP has said that he will take up the matter.
It seemed more like a police raid than a temple worship escorted by a police force and Dalits from a nearby village. Punia was there to look into complaints that he received from Dalits over the issue.
"I will summon the Chief Secretary of Orissa within 15 days and seek explanation from him over the matter. After that I will take action against this illegal practice which is very much within the jurisdiction of my commission," Punia said.
Dalits have been denied entry to the Kali temple for the past 80 years, but protests began when last year, few Dalit school girls dared to cross the boundary to offer prayers. They were dragged out by higher caste villagers and insulted, which led to a series of violent clashes.
However, the humiliation did not end there. The Dalits who are basically sharecroppers were denied cultivation from the upper cast land owners.
"Now that we are also denied cultivation, we have not much to eat. We will be forced to leave the village and migrate as labourers," said a Dalit farmer.
This is not the only temple in Orissa where entry of the Dalits is restricted. There have been several such controversies in the past. But due to lack of political will, the age old practice still continues though it's illegal and unconstitutional.
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 10:53 AM
Subject: Oh!What a wonderful religion!
To:
"... "We pray to the same Gods, so why are we treated so badly?" ..."
Dalits punished for entering temple: Government steps in
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/dalits-punished-for-entering-temple-government-steps-in-114179
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: June 23, 2011 15:48 IST
Puri: A board outside a temple for the Goddess Kali orders Dalits to stop at this point. "Harijans can pray from here," it declares. The warning sign was put up in August last year after three schoolgirls entered the shrine to offer Prasad to the Goddess, an icon of empowerment and Shakti.
The caretaker of the temple in Orissa's Puri district offers no apologies for the discrimination. "It is against tradition," he says, "Our fathers did not allow harijans to step inside the temple, and we will also bar their entry. We will die rather than let it happen."
Now, based on NDTV's report this morning, the Centre has asked the Orissa government to provide more information on why this was not stopped.
Chandana Bhoi is one of the young girls who visited the Goddess, triggering a vengeful response. "There should be no discrimination. We can do the same work as the upper-castes," she says. "We pray to the same Gods, so why are we treated so badly?"
Her entire village waits for the answer. Ranapada is home to 80 Dalit families who earn their living as sharecroppers. But since the temple controversy last year, they have been given no work. Upper caste leaders from surrounding villages decided to teach them a lesson. Landlords in the area took back the land given for cultivation to the Dalits.
"They did not call us to cultivate their land - neither women nor men," says an out-of-work farmer. "We used to work in their fields and share the harvest. Then they stopped hiring us."
When they wakened to the problem, local officials employed the Dalit farmers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or NREGA. They spent months working on constructing a road. But they have been paid just half of what they are due. Wages not being handed out are a common problem with NREGA - middlemen or contractors are also known to pocket part of the money that's due to hires.
The Dalit farmers say elected representatives in the area are from upper castes - and will not protect them at the risk of upsetting their vote bank. Sanjay Dasverma, who represents the area, refutes this allegation. "There is no vote-bank politicking in my constituency. I always try to keep the constituency above these issues," he says.
But the board outside the temple proves that there is little political will in undoing the wrongs inflicted here - or in challenging archaic and illegal conventions rooted in the caste system. A young couple in their wedding finery crouches outside the temple, seeking the Goddess' blessings, forbidden from drawing any closer. Nobody blinks.
---------------------
Orissa: Dalit MP denied entry in temple - IBN Live
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/orissa-dalit-mp-denied-entry-in-temple/162457-37-64.$
Jajati Karan , CNN-IBN, Updated Jun 25, 2011 at 09:23am IST
Puri: The chairman of the National Commission for Schedule Castes was denied entry at a temple in Puri. PL Punia, who is a Dalit himself, was allowed entry just till the compound, but found the main temple doors shut.
The Congress MP has said that he will take up the matter.
It seemed more like a police raid than a temple worship escorted by a police force and Dalits from a nearby village. Punia was there to look into complaints that he received from Dalits over the issue.
"I will summon the Chief Secretary of Orissa within 15 days and seek explanation from him over the matter. After that I will take action against this illegal practice which is very much within the jurisdiction of my commission," Punia said.
Dalits have been denied entry to the Kali temple for the past 80 years, but protests began when last year, few Dalit school girls dared to cross the boundary to offer prayers. They were dragged out by higher caste villagers and insulted, which led to a series of violent clashes.
However, the humiliation did not end there. The Dalits who are basically sharecroppers were denied cultivation from the upper cast land owners.
"Now that we are also denied cultivation, we have not much to eat. We will be forced to leave the village and migrate as labourers," said a Dalit farmer.
This is not the only temple in Orissa where entry of the Dalits is restricted. There have been several such controversies in the past. But due to lack of political will, the age old practice still continues though it's illegal and unconstitutional.
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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