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[1] From: "DALIT MONITOR" <pradip@pwtn.org Date: Mon Aug 22, 2005 Subject: Dalit Human Rights Monitoring - People's Watch-Tamilnadu Insulted Dalit youth sets up his own hotel Monday August 22 2005 BIDAR: Mohan Keladoddi is a simple young man but he had the gumption to stand up for his rights. Born a dalit in the backward Bakachoudi vilalge in Bidar district, he was insulted by a hotelier, who abused him for refusing to wash the cup from which he had had tea. That was the ???custom??™ in the villages. Dalits had to drink from cups kept in fourangis, iron buckets hung outside the hotels. After using the cup they had to wash it and put it back in place. Three years ago, Mohan and his friends were asked to wash their cups. When they protested against the discrimination, a heated argument followed. That was when Mohan decided to start his own hotel, where he would not discriminate between people. On Friday Mohan Keladoddi is doing well in his roadside coffee shop. But the treatment meted to dalits by the ???elite??™ community has made him and his friends ban the ???superior??™ community instead. They refuse to step into the lanes where people of the upper community reside. ??????We do not want to discriminate, but are forced to take such a stand because they do not realise that we are also educated and informed. Why should we take the insult any more???™??™ he asks. The village has a population of around 1600, but it has been difficult to eradicate untouchability. ??????Our forefathers converted to Christianity to escape from the discrimination, but our circumstances have not changed. There is no change at all,??™??™ says Charles Shamanna. In villages like Ekalar, Tulajachur, Chintaki, Karanji (K) and Allapur untouchability is still rampant. Dalits are not allowed to enter temples or use water from the same well. Jambagi, a Dalit colony in Bidar, has no electricity and is in the dark. In Enakur village, Bhalki taluk, dalits are ridiculed with the nickname government swamijis. Forcing a dalit to wear footwear garland, calling them by their caste name are all usual occurrences. Lodging complaints against those who insult dalits has not yielded any results. More than 100 instances of atrocities against dalits and fatal assault on 7 dalits have not been registered in police stations. Mohan Keladoddi has shown one way of fighting the indignity in his own novel way. Mohan Keladoddi at his tea stalls at Bahachoudi village, serving exclusively the dalits after a hotel owner insulted him. www. newindpress. com 220805 Building on unity: Dalit colony seeks acceptance NDTV Correspondent Sunday, August 21, 2005 (New Delhi ): The desire for upward mobility has been growing among the country's dalit community. But as contemporary reality refuses to accept the community, Dalit officers in the capital have decided to help themselves as far as homes are concerned. Gaurav Apartments in East Delhi 's Patparganj area were built by a group of Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribe officers who felt they needed a colony for Dalit officers. "People used to live in the scheduled caste colony in Karol Bagh earlier, but now some have moved here," said Nakse Lal, President, Gaurav Apartments. But getting the finances together was especially tough. Many had to leave because they could not get the money together, which led the founders of the colony to think of inviting some upper caste officers to join. "We were short of funds so we asked upper caste officers to join us saying we will keep you with respect. But when people realised that the name of the colony was SC/ST, they left," said a resident. Gathering dust The construction of the apartments began in 1979 and was finally completed in 1996. It took 17 long years and those who live here believe the name of the colony, SC/ST was what led to the incredible delay. Other buildings in the same area for instance were completed in half the time. Flat owners say that their files would lie in government departments for years gathering dust without being cleared. Finally they gave up the fight and decided to call the society Gaurav apartments, which is devoid of all caste connotations. The benefit was almost immediate as 25 non SC/ST families agreed to become members. But even today the minute a property dealer points out that a majority of the flats are owned by SC/STs there is a fall in prices. "Even today if there is someone interested in this colony and enquires with a property dealer, he is told that this is a scheduled caste colony," said a resident. Harsh reality It is perhaps a sad reflection of modern India where a large chunk of its population still struggles to be accepted simply because they were not born with the acceptable name. This is not just a story of dalits building a housing society but that of their aspiration to become part of the middle class. In the last 50 years an estimated 2.5 crore dalits all over the country have gained from reservations in government jobs. This is the section that has the money and the clout to influence politics and consequently the pride to inhabit an apartment block whose name reflects that sentiment. www. ndtv. com 220805 Students help out Dalit farmers in Orissa NDTV Correspondent Monday, August 22, 2005 ( Bhubaneshwar): NDTV had reported how several cashew plantations owned by Dalits in the Khurda district of Orissa had been destroyed by an upper caste land mafia last year. This virtually put an end to the only source of livelihood for the Dalit farmers. Now there's hope again after their cause was taken up by students' groups who are replanting cashew trees to revive the destroyed plantations. Helping hand The students are hoping to salvage plantations nurtured by 41 Dalit families under a government rehabilitation program for the last decade. Last year their upper caste neighbours violently mowed down over four thousand trees in attempts at grabbing the land from these people. And that spelled desperate times for the Dalit families earning between Rs 4,000-12,000 a year from the cashew crop. "Over 41 families were affected last year due to the felling of the trees. We though that if we plant some trees, these families will get some relief," said Bibhudatta Das, Chairman, Eco Club, Bhubaneshwar. NDTV Impact In fact it was when NDTV reported the incident that these groups got together to help the adivasis. "Over a year ago, when we saw the news on NDTV, one of our teams had come here. After that, we joined hands with Stuart School of Management and are taking up this plantation today," said Prasanna Kumar Nanda, Member, Y's Men Club. And clearly for the Dalit and adivasi families living under the fear of constant intimidation this new initiative is nothing less than a miracle. "This is like being born again. We think they are not children but Gods disguised as children who are trying to help us. After the trees were cut we lost our only source of income. Now it means that if not us then at least our children will benefit from this," said Panchanan Behera, Dalit resident. The question is whether this may be enough to secure the Dalit families. These organisations insist they are here to stay to protect them from another backlash. www. ndtv. com 220805 ----------------------------------- [2] From: "dn.rath" <dn.rath@gmail.com Date: Sun Aug 21, 2005 Subject: M. S University, Baroda campus being turned into policebarrack ALL INDIA DEMOCRATIC STUDENTS' ORGANISATION 16/126, G. H. B. Colony, Akota Road, Vadodara - 390020. Ph: (0265) 2351418. E-mail: dsoguj@... URGENT To, Date: 21st August, 2005. Honourable Naval Kishore Sharma Governor of Gujarat Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Sub: Your immediate intervention to prevent M. S. University, Baroda campus being turned into police barrack Sir, We on behalf of All India Democratic Students' Organisation (All India D. S. O.) would like to bring to your notice that M. S. University authority has turned University campus into a Police Chavani to crush the students' movement. Students' are demanding that their democratic right of right to election be restored. Honourable Sir, we would like to draw your attention that M. S. University authority has banned students' Union election for one year on the plea to curb violence in campus. All students' organization and students' community unitedly have registered their protest against this undemocratic move and have decided to launch peaceful protest movement to restore their right of students' election. But University Authority keeping aside all democratic norms have deployed 400 SRP Jawans along with 7 Police Inspectors and 14 Police Sub-Inspector so that common students do not join the protest out of fear. Honourable Sir, in democratic country students has their democratic right to protest against autocratic, dictatorial and anti-students decision of University Authority. So this democratic and constitutional right should not be curbed by anyone and by any means. We urge upon your office to intervene immediately to restore normalcy, faith and democratic atmosphere in M. S. University campus. Thanking you, Yours Sincerely, (MUKESH SEMWAL) Secretary, Baroda Unit, All India D. S. O. Copy to: 1) The Education Minister, Gujarat. 2) The Commissioner of Police, Vadodara. 3) The Collector, Vadodara. 4) All Press. ALL INDIA DEMOCRATIC STUDENTS' ORGANISATION 16/126, G. H. B. Colony, Akota Road, Vadodara - 390020. Ph: (0265) 2351418. E-mail: dsoguj@... Date: 22nd August, 2005. MEMORANDUM To, The Vice Chancellor M. S. University of Baroda, Baroda. Sub: Declare Students' Union Election immediately Stop Police Interference in the University Campus Sir, All India Democratic Students' Organisation strongly opposes the M. S. University Authority decision to ban Student's Union Election for one year and huge deployment of police personnel in the University campus to gag the voice of protest from the students' community against the autocratic decision of University Authority. Election is a hard won democratic right achieved by innumerable struggles for years. It is a process to democratize society. There may be many flaws in the process. Instead of improving this institution authority is throttling the entire process. Violence and vandalism cannot be the reason to ban students' union election. If so, then the parliamentary and assembly election should have banned much earlier as country is witnessing wide scale violence in these elections. No sane person would suggest banning of this election and to bring dictatorial, autocratic rule. During freedom struggle of our country Bhagatsingh, SubhasChandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru and thousands of freedom fighters have groomed from students politics. No one has resisted students' from joining political activities, rather they have encouraged them. It is also extremely shocking to see the way our M. S. University is becoming a police chhavani. To deploy such a huge number of police personnel in the campus is detrimental to academic atmosphere and creates a fear psychosis among students. Moreover how far it is constitutional to use police force to crush democratic student movement? We demand that the deployment of police in University campus should be stopped with immediate effect. Any genuine concerned person would agree with reforming the student representative system of electoral process with time. But reform does not mean undemocratic means like ban or replacing election by selection. We believe that the reform is only possible by continuing the election process and not by banning it. Thus, we suggest that you revoke the syndicate decision with your special power. We also suggest that to reform M. S. University electoral process following measures should be taken to make it more participatory and democratic. 1) Right to publish leaflets, manifesto to reach more than 35, 000 students in M. S. University. 2) Students Union Election should have Lady Representative (LR) to effectively represent girls' student. 3) M. S. University being residential University, Hostel Representative (HR) is needed in Students Union Election. 4) Platform speeches in various departments and faculties should be organized for contestants to put forward their views and ideas before students' community. Thanking you, Yours Sincerely, (MUKESH SEMWAL) Secretary, Baroda Unit, All India D. S. O. ----------------------------------------------------- [3] MN Sanil: Re-Coca cola ; village.... Middleclass in kerala is not interested in the anti-coke political assertion. Poor too are caught in the world of aspirations which is determined by the pro-middleclass attitudes. Cultural elites employed anti-coke atruggle to place themselves withiin the map of new political assertions. Print/visual media used to glamourize politcal struggles without knowing its potentials/pitfalls. But, anti-cola struggle can not survive in the postglobalised condition. MNCs used to capture anti-MNC activites with the help of new management strategies. Corporate social responsibility becomes a buzzword in the field of market fundamentalism. "India Thinkers Net at Zinester. com" HTML version online: http://archives.zinester.com/76029/60663.html From: viji Date: Fri Aug 19, 2005 Subject: Cola-free village declared in Kerala (First time in the country) Cola-free village declared in Kerala http://www.newkerala.com/news.php? action=fullnews&id=14958 --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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