Dalit Women's Right to Political Participation
in Rural Panchayati Raj
A study of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu

~
Executive Summary

~
Jayshree Mangubhai
Aloysius Irudayam sj
Emma Sydenham

~
(Research done in Collaboration with Navsarjan Trust, Gujarat and Evidence, Tamil Nadu)

~

"More and more Dalit¹ women should contest the elections and get elected to the panchayat, and help the Dalit community become liberated from their bondage. Like the dominant castes², the Dalits should join hands with other Dalit sub-groups and stand together against the dominant castes. They should be able to work independently in the panchayats and stop being proxies for the dominant castes. We Dalits need to focus on our progress, throwing off our subordination."
- Annammal, village panchayat President in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu

"Reservation has meant little difference other than formal elections: it has not meant any real change for women other than their ability to move outside the house."
- Dalit women elected representatives, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat

Direct political participation of Dalit women in local governance (Panchayati Raj) is a central human right in itself and enables the realisation of a host of other human rights. Political voice and decision-making power concerning basic services, economic development and social justice are critical factors in challenging and transforming structural caste-class-gender discrimination, and enabling Dalit women to realise their fundamental rights. Political participation also demands accountability from state and non-state actors to guarantee and respect these women's equal political voice and development. This requires a transformation of power relationships both within institutions of governance and in the women's social environment.

Read more...

Caste and Caste-Based Discrimination among Indian Muslims - Part 6: In the Period of 'Muslim Rule'

Continued from here.

Caste Struggle

Masood Alam Falahi

(Translated by Yoginder Sikand for NewAgeIslam.com)

[Part 6 of Masood Alam Falahi's Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman ('Casteism Among Muslims in India')]

~

With its philosophy of human equality Islam would have rapidly spread across India but this was not to be tolerated by the upholders of Brahminism or Manuvad. With the conversion of vast numbers of oppressed caste people to Islam they saw their hegemony, built on the caste system and untouchability, rapidly crumbling. They realised that if they did not modify Hinduism and if they did not halt the spread of Islam, Hinduism would be destroyed forever. Accordingly, they adopted many different strategies to counter the Islamic wave.

Division of Muslims into 'High' and 'Low'

Because political power over most of India was now in the hands of Muslims, the Brahminists could not quash them in the same way as they had earlier destroyed the Buddhists and the Jains—by physically exterminating them on a massive scale. Instead, they tried every means to prevent the further expansion of Islam. To take revenge on the Muslims for their political defeat and for attracting vast numbers of Shudras to the Muslim fold, the Brahmins spared no effort to promote hatred against the Muslims and their faith. In this way they tried to dissuade the Shudras and others from converting to Islam. They branded the Muslims as despicable Mlecchas, and treated them as 'impure' and 'polluted', a tendency that continues even today in large parts of India. This is why, leaving aside the Dalits, even 'low' caste Hindus refused to consume food or water touched by Muslims or to draw water from wells used by Muslims. If a Muslim touched a Hindu's water pot, he would break it, considering it to have been rendered impure. If a Muslim touched a Hindu, he would consider himself polluted and would have to take a ritual bath to 'cleanse' himself.

Read more...

Report on Non-Implementation of Reservation policy in
University of Hyderabad (A case study of 2011-12 Admissions)

~

Ambedkar Students' Association

[Via Arun Asokan]

Non-Implementation of Reservation Policy in P.G Courses for the year 2011-12 

University of Hyderabad has a clear-cut policy of 'no cut-off marks' for admission into P.G Courses, which means that the seats vacant under any quota must be filled. For reserved quota it becomes obligatory to fulfill mandatory provisions of reservation policy. But University of Hyderabad has violated it. From Table 1, owing exceptions to M.A Urdu and M.P.A Dance, we could observe that almost all departments had candidates available. Despite this, the seats remained vacant.

Table 1: Statement showing the No. of Vacancies and Availability of Candidates

Source: Compiled from Agenda Circulated for 67th Academic Council at University of Hyderabad.

Read more...

Neel Kranti Media

प्रो. मुंगेकरकमेटी रिपोर्ट को लागू करवाने तथा वर्धमानमहावीर मेडिकल कॉलेज केदलित-आदिवासी छात्रो के हितो के लिए 19 अक्टूबर को जंतर मंतर, नयी दिल्लीमें एक प्रदर्शन का आयोजन किया गया. इस प्रदर्शन में जेएनयू, दिल्ली यूनिवर्सिटी, जामियायूनिवर्सिटी, एम्सऔर मौलाना आजाद मेडिकल कॉलेज केछात्रो ने वर्धमान महावीर मेडिकल कॉलेज के संघर्षरत दलित-आदिवासी छात्रोके साथ मिलकर उच्च शिक्षण संस्थानों में हो रहे  जातिवाद के खिलाफ अपनीआवाज बुलंद की. प्रस्तुत है इस प्रदर्शन एवं भारतीय उच्च शिक्षण संस्थानों में व्याप्त जातिवाद का खुलासा करती नील क्रांति मीडिया की विडियो रिपोर्ट -

हर वक़्त मेरिट की दुहाई देने वाले, “सवर्ण” समाज के शिक्षित लोग किस कदर जातिवादी मानसिकता से ग्रस्त  है, इसका अंदाजा आप हमारे उच्च शिक्षण संस्थानों में दलित और आदिवासी छात्रों के साथ लगातार हो रहे उत्पीडन से लगा सकते हैं.

Read more...

Fact Finding Report: Gang Rape of Dalit Girl by Dominant Caste Youth and Suicide of Girl's Father (Dabra Village, Hisar, Haryana)

That the Hindus most often succeed in pulling down Untouchables is largely due to many causes. The Hindu has the Police and the Magistracy on his side. In a quarrel between the Untouchables and the Hindus the Untouchables will never get protection from the Police or justice from the Magistrate. The Police and the Magistracy are Hindus, and they love their class more than their duty. But the chief weapon in the armoury of the Hindus is economic power they possess over the poor Untouchables living in the village.

—Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in 1943.

On 1st October 2012, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) facilitated a fact-finding visit to Dabra Village of Hisar District in Haryana where a Dalit man committed suicide after his minor girl was gang raped by the dominant caste youths.

Read more...

V. Ratnamala

Abstract: The present paper aims to study the representation of biological and symbolical killing of Dalits with reference to Paramakudi Firing in the Print media. Space allotted for Dalits in print media will be analyzed. Six Dalits were shot dead at the Police firing on Sep 11, 2011 in Paramakudi. The Dalits were assembled to pay homage to Immanuel Sekaran, a Dalit leader on his death anniversary which turned violent following the arrest of their leader John Pandian. Content analysis will be the primary research method for this study. To study the inclusion and exclusion of Dalits in Print media, both the English and Tamil dailies will be selected including one week samples from September 11-17, 2011 of Dinamalar, Dina Thanthi, Dinamani, Dinakaran, The Hindu, The Times of India and The New Indian Express (Madurai editions) will be used for the content analysis. All the articles, editorials, photographs, letters to the editor regarding the Paramakudi incident will be the unit of analysis. The variables of the study will be the sources in the article, the news language, the frequency of news occurrence and the themes.

Read more...

Caste and Caste-Based Discrimination among Indian Muslims - Part 5: The Origin and Spread of Islam in India

Continued from here.

Masood Alam Falahi

(Translated from Urdu by Yoginder Sikand for NewAgeIslam.com)

[Part 5 of Masood Alam Falahi's Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman ('Casteism Among Muslims in India')]

~

At a time when in India, as in many other parts of the world, social hierarchy, inequality and oppression were at their peak, with a large section of humanity, such as the Indian Shudras, being treated as worse than animals in the name of religion, the Prophet Muhammad began his mission in Arabia. The core of his message was the oneness of God. 'Say: "He is Allah, [the] One', the Quran exhorts the Prophet to announce to the world. Another central aspect of the divine message the Prophet was commissioned to preach was the oneness and ontological equality of all human beings. Thus, the Quran declares, 'O mankind! We created you from a single [pair] of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other [not that you may despise each other]. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is [he who is] the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted [with all things]' (49: 13). The Prophet very explicitly announced, 'An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor has a non-Arab any superiority over an Arab. Nor has a black man any superiority over a white man or a white man over a black man except by the criterion of God consciousness (taqwa). All of you are from Adam, and Adam is from dust.' This message of social equality is a central pillar of the Islamic dawah or missionary call. It was, undoubtedly, one of the major factors for the powerful attraction that Islam exercised and for its rapid spread, in a matter of just a few years, across the Arabian peninsula and beyond.

Read more...