Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 23.08.13
Case against panchayat chief's husband for demolishing dalits' houses- The Times Of India
Panel dismisses all 13 cases of atrocities against dalits in a sweep- The New Indian Express
Dalit not allowed in temple: Atrocity FIR filed against Sanand priest- Daily Bhaskar
Ensure SC/ST representation at senior levels: Parliamentary Panel to Govt- IBN Live
SC, ST neglected as vigilance panel holds no meet- Hindustan Times
Zero-fee admission for SC/ST candidates- Hindustan Times
The Times Of India
Case against panchayat chief's husband for demolishing dalits' houses
SIVAGANGA: A case has been registered against the husband of Pappankulam panchayat president in Sivaganga district under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act for allegedly demolishing 28 dalithouses in the name of eviction in the village.
The affected dalits, who have lost their homes which they had constructed on patta land in the village have now sought refuge in the village temple. On August 15, the houses belonging to the dalits which they had constructed on patta land were demolished in the name of eviction in the presence of the police by the revenue and panchayat authorities.
People who lost their homes have been demanding action against the police personnel responsible for the atrocity including DSP Velladorai, the inspector, sub-inspectors, panchayat presidents and VAO of the village. They said that police and revenue officials demolished their houses in spite of being told that they had pattas for the lands on which the buildings stood.
On Thursday, the Manamadurai Sipcot police registered a case under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 3(1)(10) against Thangaraj, the husband of the panchayat president Amsavalli. The Sivaganga SP Ashwin Kotnis visited the village and spoke to the affected dalits. Sivaganga MLA Gunesekaran who visited the people gave each family a compensation of 20 kg of rice, one litre each of palm oil and kerosene and tur dhal. The dalits have demanded that the government should rebuild their homes for them.
The New Indian Express
Panel dismisses all 13 cases of atrocities against dalits in a sweep
By Express News Service - TIRUCHY
Published: 23rd August 2013 08:18 AM
Last Updated: 23rd August 2013 08:18 AM
It became an eyebrow raising disposal of cases in which as many as 13 registered under Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST heard by the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee were disposed as invalid.
Dalit Organisations termed it a farce and charged that the selection of committee members was flawed which even included police officials who had purposefully made the decision. However, the Collector, who is the chairperson of the committee, denied the charges.
As per the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act-1995 section 17(2), district vigilance and monitoring committee which is headed by the district collector should have 16 members including district social welfare officer as secretary and other members includes elected members like MP, an MLA, Superintendent of Police, Group A or Gazetted officials belonging to the Dalit community and Dalit members from NGO.
However, the meeting which was held on June 21, had 22 members among them 13 were from police department with capacities of DSPs and Inspectors and nine other members were non-Dalit community members.
"These cases were disposed without conducting inquiry with the affected persons and most of the police officials were the investigating officers (IO) of those particular cases", said A K Tamilathan, district secretary of VCK.
Tamilathan alleged that the police officials who are against the Dalits and never registered cases when the atrocity were enacted against the Dalits. "A case is pending in the court appealing not to include these police officials as IOs in the HC", he said and claimed that the mass disposal of cases is against the law.
Appealing to cancel the meeting proceedings and the agenda, the VCK had approached the Chief Secretary, home secretary of TN and the Tiruchy Collector. Tamilathan also appealed to re-investigate the cases which were declared invalid.
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan, she rubbished the charges and said the committee was formed as per the norms. "There are lots of queries asked by the non official members when the police officials present the case.
Only the non-official members are convinced the final decision is taken" the collector stressed.
Daily Bhaskar
Dalit not allowed in temple: Atrocity FIR filed against Sanand priest
Ahmedabad: Sanand police on Thursday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the priest who denied entry to a dalit couple in Bhavnath Mahadev temple of the town.
According to the FIR, the priest and his wife are accused under various sections of SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act, including one which indicts them for denying entry to a public place open to all members of the society. Addendums include sections 3 (1) (X) and 3 (1) (XIV) of Prevention of Atrocity Act and section 3 of Prevention of Civil Rights Act.
We had on Thursday reported about the incident that took place on August 19, where Gordhan Jadhav, a retired clerk with National Textile Corporation, and his wife Dhangauri were denied entry into the Shiva temple by the priest because they are members of a scheduled caste. The dalit couple commands much respect in their community. "Primary investigations have revealed that rights of Jadhav and his wife were violated when (they were) denied entry at the temple," said DS Vyas, PI with Sanand police station. The police found that Jadhav and his wife are victims of untouchability.
Jadhav had on Wednesday filed an application in the matter with Sanand police station, following which the FIR was lodged on Thursday. Officials of Social Justice Department met Jadhav and have recorded his statement.
IBN Live
Ensure SC/ST representation at senior levels: Parliamentary Panel to Govt
Observing that SC/ST officers were not represented in senior positions in Ministries and public sector firms due to existing policies, a Parliamentary panel on Thursday asked government to ensure that their adequate presence is ensured there.
In a report on reservation and employment of SC/STs in Ordnance Factory Board, the Committee on Welfare of SC/STs said, "We are of strong view that SC/ST officers are not represented in senior positions of various ministries, banks and PSUs because of government policies pertaining to the appointments to these posts."
The Committee, headed by Gobind Chandra Naskar, said "it is a challenging problem which needs to be seriously addressed by the Government because every department, PSU and bank examined by the committee so far are facing the same problem and are furnishing the same reply."
It said the committee strongly recommends that to have adequate representation of SC/STs in senior positions in government and PSUs including the OFB, "the government, if necessary, should bring in suitable legislation in this regard."
The panel asked the Defence Ministry to put out a draft legislation on policies governing appointments to board-level posts so that adequate number of officers from SC/ST category is represented in board of the OFB also. It said that because of "bad ACRs, discrimination, bipartisan attitude, victimisation, harassment, disciplinary proceedings, flouting of extant rules etc spoils the career progressions of SC/STs."
"If at the crucial stage of their career, if SC/ST officers are superseded, then their prospect of attaining higher posts becomes very bleak," the report said. The Committee also observed that there were reports of people providing false caste certificates to get jobs in the OFB.
Hindustan Times
SC, ST neglected as vigilance panel holds no meet
The administration's apathy towards Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) clearly reflects from the fact that no meeting of district vigilance and monitoring committee (DVMC) either in Jalandhar or Nawanshahr held last year.
DVMC is formed under Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The committee, headed by deputy commissioner includes commissioner of police or SSP, SSP (Rural), Member of Parliament (MP), Members of legislative assembly (MLAs), three first-class officials belonging to SC community, five non-government SC members and three social workers or members of local NGOs as its members. The district welfare officer (DWO) works as secretary of DVMC.
As per the act, the district committee has to meet regularly. Sources in the welfare department said whenever any atrocity occurred with SC/ST people by any upper caste people, the police usually send a copy of FIR to the welfare department and these cases are reviewed into meeting of DVMC.
The committee's chairman and members also discuss about taking measures for effective implementation of schemes for SC/ST people. Sources said the last meeting of DVMC was held in April 2012 and after that, no meeting took place due to unknown reasons.
"The state government had written a letter in last November 2012, intimating about abolishing previous committee due to election of new MLAs in January 2012 elections. But the new MLAs are yet to take part into this meet," a source said.
The situation same in Jalandhar. The DVMC has been reconstituted on August 20 and new members including three MLAs and others non-officials have been nominated.
Nawanshahr district welfare officer Jasdev Singh said the first meeting would be held soon. "The department has enough funds to award aids to victims and their families," he said.
Jalandhar district welfare officer, Rajinder Singh said DVMC's meeting would be held as soon as the department gets agenda of cases from commissioner of police or SSP (rural).
Hindustan Times
Zero-fee admission for SC/ST candidates
The Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) has decided to give admission to Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) candidates whose family income is less than Rs. 2 lakh per annum, at zero fee for the university's 'innovative and contemporary courses'.
The university would however, claim reimbursement of their fee from the states to where these students belong.
A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the university's academic council on Thursday.
The council also considered the proposal for filling up vacant seats of various courses in the Centre for Engineering and Technology/Home Science/MBA and resolved that the departments can take admission in Innovative and Contemporary courses provided that the candidates have appeared in the University Entrance Test.
The council also decided to increase 10 seats each for general and SC/ST category students in various departments.
Also, a seat would be provided to candidates who are orphans even if the course seats are already full.
Apart from this, it was also decided to create a cluster of knowledge centres and share resources.
Teachers of BBAU can guide students of other universities provided that the university is government funded and teachers will follow the BBAU Ph D regulation 1999 as amended in 2010.
News Monitor by Girish Pant
.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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