Vijaysinh Parmar

CHITALIYA (RAJKOT): In the villages of Jasdan taluka in drought-hit Saurashtra, dalit women prefer to remain silent. That's for the fear of the upper castes in a state whose chief minister Narendra Modi is busy trying to conjure up an eclectic image to subserve his perceived prime ministerial ambitions for 2014 polls.

"Those people (upper castes) will abuse us again if we speak," mumbled one of the women, only to be given a warning look by the others.

The water scarcity in Saurashtra is due to deficient rainfall, but the calamity is man-made for the dalits. Members of the community claim they are not allowed access to Narmada water, the only source of drinking water, by upper caste members. Ironically, upper caste farmers have their own borewells and don't need Narmada water as much.

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Sachin Sharma

VADODARA: In the tribal heartland of central Gujarat, where it is difficult even to find persons who are literate, a group has started an initiative to ensure that residents become graduates. The tribal residents, who have enrolled for the programme, are now busy reading newspapers to learn to read and write fluently so that they can take a preparatory test that makes them eligible for taking up graduation.

A group of likeminded persons that include retired government officials and businessmen have come together after city-based Anil Satapathy working on tribal development took the lead. So far the group has encouraged 39 persons to enroll for the bachelor's preparatory programme (BPP) of Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University.

The group that calls itself Rural Institution for Stimulating Tribal Area (RISTA) works in villages of Pavijetpura taluka in Vadodara district and Ghoghamba taluka in Panchmahal district. As many as 15 persons enrolled for BPP are from the Mudhiyari village of Pavijetpur taluka while 26 are from the Gajapura-Kantu and Ambakut villages of Ghoghamba taluka.

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Satyanarayan Pattnaik

KORAPUT: As Odisha celebrated Utkal Divas on Monday, tribals living in villages bordering Andhra Pradesh in the district are oblivious to it.

"We have no idea about Utkal Divas. Neither have we ever celebrated it, nor has anyone told us about it," said Pangi Suka, a resident of non-descript Upper Sembi village, in Kui language.

Not a single resident of this remote village in Pottangi block along Odisha-Andhra Pradesh boundary can read, write or understand Odia. This despite the Odisha government opening a primary school in the village many years ago.

People said though there is a school in the village, they have not seen a teacher for many years now.

The story is the same in almost all the 21 villages of Kotia panchayat. "We don't know anything about Utkal Divas and its significance," said Pangi Lachana of Dhulipadar under the panchayat.

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Kottayam: A study conducted by researchers from the Conservation Research Group (CRG, Kochi) and Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD, Coimbatore) at the Peppara WildLife Sanctuary in Thiruvananthapuram, found that people unethically photograph the Slender Loris, a small, nocturnal primate, by exploiting the Kani tribal community.

This is posing a threat to these wild animals, protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 as a Schedule 1 species.

"Interviews with Kani tribes revealed that the lorises were collected for wildlife photographers. We were shown the animal which was holding on to a short branch", says the study. The tribals capture the animal from its habitat for the benefit of wildlife photographers. The team from CRG and WILD too got a chance to see the animal with the help of the tribals who caught hold of it.

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Deepender Deswal

ROHTAK: Family members of two dalits including a 10-year-old boy in who were shot dead allegedly by upper-caste men in Madina village in Haryana's Rohtak district staged a demonstration outside Haryana chief minister's house in Rohtak on Sunday.

They left the bodies of the victims on the road in protest and demanded all the accused be arrested.

The two victims - Sudhir Kumar (10), son of Sansar Kumar, and his cousin Vikram Kumar (22) -- were shot dead by three Jat youths of the same village when they were returning from the fields on Sunday. A third victim -- Sandeep -- is in hospital.

The victim's family alleged that the assailants, two of them identified as Bhumi and Mandeep, harbored enmity towards them for last eight months.

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National Award winner Usha Jadhav was often rejected by film and TV producers for being a dark, lower middle-class girl

When the national film awards were annoucned on March 18, 30-year-old Usha Jadhav realigned her life with fresh zeal. Being adjudged the Best Actress for her performance in the Marathi film Dhag, Jadhav feels the award is a validation of her right to dream big despite past rejections.

By the time she entered Pune on that seemingly ordinary day of March 18, OB vans and media persons were ready to record her feelings about the recognition. Jadhav nearly died of happiness. She had nursed the ambition to pursue an acting career ever since she played a small part in the 7th standard school play in Kolhapur. Braving parental disapproval, she abandoned her engineering course and took to an air ticketing job in Pune, with the sole intention to brush up her Hindi and English soft skills. Her initial years in the distant suburb of Mira Road were excruciating. The search for meaningful work (other than shampoo ads) led to mental depression. The thought of giving up on Mumbai was even scarier. 

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S. Dorairaj 

Dalit panchayat presidents continue to face caste-based discrimination and intimidation in several districts in Tamil Nadu.

A. Shaikmohideen

S. Palraj, elected president of Nakkalamuthanpatti village panchayat in Tirunelveli district.

"My hands are tied. I have not been allowed to discharge my democratic duties. A couple of ward members belonging to the dominant caste hurled verbal abuses at me. I left the village as I faced an imminent threat to my life. I have returned [on March 19], ending my 10-day-long self-imposed exile, following assurances given by the local police and the revenue authorities. But the problem is far from over as casteists, who want to usurp my powers and pose a threat to my life, are yet to be booked. Yet, there is no question of buckling under pressure," S. Palraj, elected president of the Nakkalamuthanpatti village panchayat in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, said.

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