Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 01.06.11
Dalits prohibited from using public well - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/30/stories/2011063065180300.htm
IIT-Delhi CREST workshop not restricted to SC, ST - Indian Express
Police officer assaulted: 5 DHRM activists held - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/30/stories/2011063056490300.htm
'Moger should be a Scheduled Caste in all districts' - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/30/stories/2011063051860500.htm
Too many cooks - The Week
The Hindu
Dalits prohibited from using public well
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/30/stories/2011063065180300.htm
Mohamed Imranullah S.
MADURAI: Kodikulam, a village located under the foothills of Yanamalai (elephant hill) near here, is a gifted place. It boasts of an age old public well that provides tasty water round the year. People from far and wide throng the place with cans and drums to fetch the water home. But the Dalits of the village cannot dare even to go near the well.
"The SCs (Scheduled Castes) cannot go beyond this point," says a 61-year old farmer, A. Akkniveeranan, pointing to a distance of about 150 metres away from the well. "They (Dalits) can ask any of us to fetch the water for them and we will oblige. But they cannot do it on their own. This practice has been there for ages and it cannot be changed," he adds with no shilly-shallying.
The caste Hindus of the village, occupied predominantly by people belonging to Kallar and Moopar community, do not hesitate to talk about the discrimination of Dalits even to journalists. The well has been associated with four small temples built close to it and religious sentiments were given as a reason to keep the Dalits away from it.
"They (Dalits) will not be spared. Honeybees will sting them if they try to go near the well," says Packiam, an aged widow. Concurring with her, 26-year-old P. Suresh, a construction labourer, says: "The youngsters of our village will be in these temples all round the clock. Some of us even sleep here in the nights to prevent anyone from defiling this holy place."
The well is surrounded by trees that are home to thousands of honeybees. Strangers must be careful while nearing the well as they might suffer a sting or two. The villagers have intentionally left the honeycombs untouched as it serves their purpose of discriminating the Dalits. "The bees do not sting us and we will not allow anyone to clear the honeycombs," says C. Karuthapaiyyan, a 19-year-old youth.
A lawyer practising in the Madras High Court Bench here and residing at Othakadai near here says that he and many of his neighbours fetch water from that well for drinking. They travel in two-wheelers to the village, which could be accessed either through the Government Agricultural College or from the Madurai-Chennai four-lane, and bring the water filled in cans.
"Once when I had gone there, some children asked me if I could give them some water to drink. I asked them why they don't take it themselves. They said they were not supposed to go there. Then, I understood and felt very sad for the poor children. This atrocity is being practised there for ages and nobody is able to raise their voice for the fear of earning the wrath of the dominant caste," he says seeking anonymity.
Indian Express
IIT-Delhi CREST workshop not restricted to SC, ST
Fri Jul 01 2011, 02:06 hrs New Delhi:
IIT DELHI has reworded the notice for its 10-day "self-enrichment course" for students from marginalised backgrounds, on its Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) website. From inviting just SC/ST students enrolled into B Tech programmes for the new academic session, the course will now be open for all students.
However, institute Deputy Director M Balakrishnan said preference would still be given to SC/ST students.
The 10-day workshop, which will be organised by the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST), will commence from July 10 for a maximum of 200 students. "This will be the second year of the workshop. Last year, around 150 students attended our programme. We will open a registration system this year, clearly stating that it will be on a first-cum-first-serve basis for a cap of 200 candidates," said Professor Balakrishnan of CREST, which is an autonomous institute under the Kerala government.
Mounav Das, a second-year B Tech student from IIT Delhi who had attended the course last year, told Newsline: "The students knew it was a confidence-building measure for reserved category students. It was a very positive experience because we were told how to deal with specific situations, and it helped build our confidence."
A former student of Delhi Public School-Dhaligaon in Assam, Das said the course was designed to help students "develop their personality".
"Most of my batchmates from the general category also knew about the course. There was nothing discriminatory about it. I thought it was a brilliant experience," he said.
Explaining the philosophy behind such a workshop, Dr Balakrishnan said, "In 2009, the Bangalore-based National Institute of Applied Sciences conducted a meeting for all IITs, where CREST made a presentation. Their course — which we adopted last year — provides for confidence-building measures to help students shed their inhibitions and come out of their shells."
Balakrishnan said that on an average, the SC/ST students who attended last year's programme managed to clear one course more than those who did not. Of the 240 SC/ST candidates admitted last year, 100 had attended the course. Quoting the Supreme Court verdict in a 2009 case, he said institutions have been directed to provide special facilities for the betterment of students from socially and economically backward classes.
Professor D D Nampoothiri, executive director of CREST, said the course was modelled on the lines of a course developed by the University of Michigan, and had three components.
"The first part deals with developing communication skills, so students are able to articulate themselves freely. The second segment of the course helps students develop their academic writing skills, and the final part deals with theatre workshops. Last year, we had trainers coming from the National School of Drama for this component."
Balakrishnan said that IIT-Delhi, which spends around Rs 15 lakh for the course, had selected the students, and CREST was not aware of the caste specifications of the selected candidates. "Both IIT-Delhi and IIT-Bombay conducted the course last year. This year, several NIITs have also invited us," he said.
The Hindu
Police officer assaulted: 5 DHRM activists held
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/30/stories/2011063056490300.htm
Staff Reporter
PATHANAMTHITTA: A civil police officer attached to the Pathanamthitta police station was assaulted allegedly by a group of Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) activists at Puthenpeedika Scheduled Caste Colony, near Omalloor, on Wednesday.
According to the police, the incident occurred when Thomas Mathew, 46, went to the colony for an address verification.
A group of DHRM activists reportedly questioned him and detained him there. He was later released by a police party which came from Pathanamthitta.
He was admitted to the Pathanamthitta General Hospital with contusion all over the body.
The police arrested five DHRM activists from the colony in connection with the incident. The arrested were identified as Ramesh, 23, Santhosh, 30, Rajeev, 24, Reghu, 23, and Vishnu, 19.
In a statement here, Seleena Prakkanam, DHRM State organiser, alleged that the civil police officer had abused and assaulted Dalit women who were attending a study camp at a house in the colony.
Ms. Seleena alleged that the police officer dressed as a civilian was drunk and had assaulted a Dalit woman who had asked him to show his photo identity card when he tried to enter the house.
The agitated women questioned him and he ran away on seeing more people rushing to the spot. He fell down while trying to run away from the colony. The women folk at the colony caught him and detained him.
Ms. Seleena said the police had registered a false case against DHRM activists and called for action against the civil police officer.
The Hindu
'Moger should be a Scheduled Caste in all districts'
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/30/stories/2011063051860500.htm
Staff Reporter
Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday declared that the status of Moger caste as a Scheduled Caste community should be applicable to the entire State and not only to those residing in Dakshina Kannada district and Kollegal taluk of Chamarajnagar district.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice H.G. Ramesh passed the order in a public interest litigation petition filed by Uttara Kannada Zilla Moger Sangha questioning the action of the authorities in not extending the status in other districts of the State.
The difficulty faced by members of Moger caste to procure Scheduled Caste certificate, merely on the premise that it is not included in the Scheduled Caste list for the entire State would be a matter of concern, the court observed.
The Bench also directed the Government to issue circular to all officials concerned who are dealing with the grant of Scheduled Caste certificate to ensure that the order of the High Court is complied with.
The Week
Too many cooks
After many committees, poverty line continues to be a disputed issue
By Vandana
We cannot at all stop at the most elementary thought that poverty is no more than deprivation of income, since a great many critically important problems would remain unaddressed if we based our anti-poverty policy only on that rudimentary understanding of the many-headed hydra that is called poverty.
Amartya Sen
Sen is sure about his approach towards the multi-faceted nature of poverty, but the authorities who are entrusted with the task of alleviating it seem baffled. Though committee after committee has been formed to define the poor, there is yet to be a unanimous definition of the poverty line.
Below poverty line (BPL) numbers have always been important but they have assumed greater significance of late thanks to the food security bill (a draft of the bill has been submitted by the National Advisory Council and it promises to give 35kg of rice at 03 a kilo to BPL families) and the BPL census being conducted by the ministry of rural development.
The Planning Commission had been estimating the number of BPL families in the country by the National Sample Survey Organisation data. Experts, however, say the data might not be accurate because it is only a sample survey. "The debate on defining BPL goes back to the '60s when the Planning Commission constituted a task force on Projections of Minimum Needs and Effective Consumption Demand. The task force had defined poverty in terms of per capita monthly expenditure corresponding to per capita daily requirement of 2,400 calories in rural areas and 2,100 in urban areas," said Dr Shashank Bhide, senior fellow at the National Council for Applied Economics Research. On the basis of this definition, poverty was estimated from the consumer expenditure survey data of the NSSO.
However, problems emerged when the NSSO data showed a dramatic decline in poverty. The Planning Commission then set up an expert group chaired by Professor D.T. Lakdawala and the committee submitted its report in 1993. "The Lakdawala Committee used the same measurement criteria for poverty decided in 1979 by the task force, the only difference was that it used a region-specific price index," said Bhide. Although the government accepted it in 1997, the report was criticised for the faulty price adjustment factor (the prices were not adjusted according to time frames. For example, prices in '79 were used for '93) and an outdated consumption basket.
Based on the Lakdawala methodology, in 2004-05, poverty lines were calculated as 0356.30 per person per month for rural areas and 0538.60 for urban areas. But the debate on the need for these poverty lines to be redefined continued.
The Planning Commission then constituted an expert group under Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar. The committee suggested that there should not be a difference in the basket of commodities for calculating urban and rural poverty lines. The report is widely accepted as a "scientific study on poverty" and the Planning Commission accepted it in the mid-term appraisal of the 11th Five Year Plan. The Tendulkar Committee estimates 41.8 per cent of rural population and 25.7 per cent of urban population as BPL.
Experts, however, have doubts about the practical implementation of the committee's suggestions. "The approach cannot be used in the BPL census to identify poor and non-poor families because that would require going to every person and asking for the minimum nutritional requirement and other such factors," said an economist at the Indian Institute of Public Administration.
In a separate attempt, the ministry of rural development constituted an expert group headed by Dr N.C. Saxena to recommend a suitable method for the identification of BPL families in rural areas. The committee recommended the criteria of automatic exclusion and inclusion of certain sections and suggested to do away with score-based ranking of rural households. It assumed the national poverty rate at 50 per cent, which seemed unrealistic.
The World Bank goes by international poverty line of $1.25 a day using purchasing power parity. As per its estimates, 42 per cent of Indian population live below it.Meanwhile, an all India BPL census, conducted by the ministry of rural development, has started in Tripura. It will entail a spending of Rs:4,000 crore. The beneficiaries of the BPL programmes, however, will be decided by the Planning Commission. The Commission has capped the BPL population for each state raising a furore from state governments.
"We will rank people on a score from 100 to 1. A score of 100 will be the poorest. We will go by the Planning Commission cut-off for states. But, if states feel that they have more than what the Commission suggests, they are free to choose their own cut-off," said P.K. Padhy, chief economic adviser, ministry of rural development. States like Bihar and Chhattisgarh claim that the number of poor they have is much more than the Planning Commission's estimation.
"The BPL census gives people an entitlement for the public distribution system and anti-poverty programmes. While the Planning Commission's figures are meant to estimate poverty at central and state levels for effective distribution of resources, the census will identify people eligible for BPL cards," said Prof. R. Radhakrishna, member, National Statistical Commission.
Caste is included as one of the variables in the BPL census, as a Planning Commission study covering 166 villages in 22 states revealed that dalits are the poorest of the population. Though it has been criticised as vote bank politics, many experts say it is necessary. "Including caste in the BPL census is a good idea as it will give some idea of how different castes are performing," said Himanshu, assistant professor, Centre for Study of Regional Development at Jawaharlal Nehru University. "For example the Sachar Committee report helped in knowing the deprivation of Muslims. It will act as a reckoner for including people who are not a part of the growth process."
Economists say the terms 'BPL' and 'poor' have been misused in India, as poverty alleviation programmes seldom benefit these people. But it has a direct effect on the subsidy burden, spending on social schemes, fiscal deficit and a large vote bank. So the scientific estimation of BPL families continues to be a matter of political and economic importance for the government.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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