An excerpt from 'Courting Disaster: A Report on Inter-Caste Marriages, Society and State', a People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) report published in August 2003.

Talao in Jhajjar district of Haryana retains the appearance of a village despite being situated only three kilometers from the district headquarters. The village has a population of about 4000, with 600 households of which 150 are dalit including 70 families of jatavs (chamars), 30 of balmikis (churhas), 15 each of lohars, nais and dhanaks, besides 300 jat households. Jhajjar is a reserved Assembly constituency and. the present sarpanch, Vijay, belongs to the dhanak caste. The various castes are not clearly segregated spatially into distinctive panas or settlements within the village. Except for a low-lying neglected pana inhabited solely by dalits, houses of jats and dalits are situated adjacent on the same street. Yet the dominance of the jats is amply visible in day-to-day life. A dalit activist who runs a small tailoring shop in the village, attempted to use funds available with the local administration for developmental work in the dalit pana. This was strongly resented and prevented by the jats. Some change is however visible in the economic status of members of different dalit castes. Upward mobility among the jatavs is evident in their pucca houses, some of which at least look as prosperous as the jat households. Some run small shops in the village, others have made use of reservations to secure government jobs, while still others are employed in the army. Many among those working outside still continue to reside in the village and remain vulnerable to the power of the dominant caste.

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Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM) writes to the National Human Rights Commission

on Killing of Mr. Rohit Prajapati by the Police in an alleged fake encounter 

To,

Mr. Satyabrata Pal,

Hon'ble Member,

The National Human Rights Commission,

Faridcourt House, Copernicus Marge,

New Delhi-1

Sub: For investigation and necessary action on a case of killing of Mr. Rohit Prajapati by the Police in an alleged fake encounter near Tamar of Ranchi district of Jharkhand.

Dear Sir,

With due respect, I would like to bring your kind attention on a case of killing of Mr. Rohit Prajapati by the Police in an alleged fake encounter near Tamar of Ranchi district of Jharkhand in the morning on February 7, 2012. Mr. Rohit Prajapati S/o Mr. Sukhdev Mahto was resident of Dumardih comes under Palkot Police station of Gumla district of Jharkhand.

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Appeal from National Dalit Forum

Please write to the addressed authorities by fax, post, or by email, in the format suggested below. Please also talk to them by phone (numbers are listed alongside each public official's name) and pressurize them for the immediate arrest and punishment of culprits involved in the desecration of 4 Ambedkar Statues in Amalapuram and one Ambedkar Statue in Dhavaleshwaram in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. 

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An Appeal from the ADECOM Network 

A dominant caste mob, from Melsathamangalam village,  launched a brutal attack on the Dalit settlement in Kizh Sathamangalam village of Pondicherry, India on January 1, 2012. Nearly 100 Dalits' houses were attacked by 300 upper caste members using swords and other sharp and deadly weapons. Many Dalit houses were destroyed, properties like vehicles which included a TATA van, televisions, grinding machines, vessels were damaged or set on fire. This clash between the two sections of people started over access to water. The problem became aggravated after the Thane Cyclone hit the Pondicherry. 

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-- Write to the NHRC, stand up for the Dalit women of Naraina

(With inputs from Karthik Navayan and R.Ravi Kumar of the National Dalit Forum) 

On 9th December, 2011, around 9 in the morning, Manju Devi of Naraina village, Khagaria district, Bihar, received word that some upper caste men had encroached upon her farm and were destroying the crop ready for harvest by running a tractor through it. At around 10 a.m., Manju Devi, along with five of her neighbours, reached the farm and was immediately surrounded by Sanoj Singh and around 9-10 other upper caste men, armed with lathis and .303 rifles.

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Amnesty International Public Statement

[AI Index: ASA 20/001/2012

1 January 2012 (embargoed for release at 0001 GMT on 1 January 2012)]

Authorities in Orissa should no longer delay justice for the victims and survivors of the Kalinganagar police shootings six years ago when 12 adivasis (Indigenous people) were killed and 37 others injured, Amnesty International said today. Police opened fire when adivasis were protesting against the forcible acquisition of their lands and habitats and the insufficient compensation they received.

The shootings evoked widespread condemnation and prompted India's federal authorities to reconsider the current framework for land acquisition. They were the first in a series of attacks on adivasis and other marginalized communities protesting against forcible land acquisition for corporate-led industrial and extractive sector projects in India during the last six years.

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Representation of Human Rights Organizations on rustication of Mr Kotesh from English & Foreign Languages University to Chairperson, Fact Finding & Inquiry Committee

Professor Amitha Dhanda

The Chairperson

Fact finding and Inquiry committee

EFL- University

Subject- Fact finding Representation of Human Rights Organizations on rustication of Mr Kotesh in EFL- University

Madam

We came to know that you are appointed as a chairperson of a committee to inquire in to a dispute between Asst Professor Ravindra Kumar Vemula and a Student Mr Kotesh. And your committee visited EFL-University and conducted an inquiry on 17th December 2011.

We, five Human Rights and Peoples Organisation also conducted a fact finding on the same issue on 2nd December 2011, and we would like to submit our fact finding representation to your committee on Behalf of Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Telangana Praja Front, and Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samithi and Lambadi Hakkula Porata Samithi

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