NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS is an Advocacy Platform committed for Dalit Human Rights at the Grass root, National and International levels. Dalits In News aims at sensitizing Civil societies, HR Mechanisms and providing updates of HR violations on Dalits for their Intervention.

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS

NCDHR

Dalits In News

July, 07, 2008



‘Ramabai firing deliberate, aimed at upper part of body’ - Express India
http://www.expressi ndia.com/ latest-news/ Ramabai-firing- deliberate- aimed-at- upper-part- of-body/332236/
TTD urged to focus on SC, ST welfare - New Indpress
http://www.newindpr ess.com/NewsItem s.asp?ID= IEA2008070702010 3&Page=A&Title=Southern+ News+-+Andhra+ Pradesh&Topic=0

‘Congress in favour of SC categorisation’ - The Hindu

http://www.indiapre ss.org/gen/ news.php/ The_Hindu/ 400x60/0

DSS to hold rally tomorrow - The Hindu

http://www.indiapre ss.org/gen/ news.php/ The_Hindu/ 400x60/0

Teach India : From 'peon' to V-C - The Times Of India

http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/India/ Teach_India_ From_peon_ to_V-C/articlesh ow/3203879. cms



Express India


‘Ramabai firing deliberate, aimed at upper part of body’
http://www.expressi ndia.com/ latest-news/ Ramabai-firing- deliberate- aimed-at- upper-part- of-body/332236/
Express News Service
Mumbai, July 6 For the first time since the Sewree fast track court started with the deposition of witnesses in the Ramabai firing case of 1997, the crucial point of it being a gruesome attack on bystanders was put on record. The doctors who performed post mortems on four of the 10 bodies told the court that the firing was intentional and was aimed at the upper part of the body.

Analysing the shooting, Dr Mangesh Ghadge, who deposed on Friday, told the court that it was close range firing that claimed the life of Kaushalyabai Pathare. Dr Ghadge, who was with the forensic department, JJ Hospital, asserted that the bullet had moved in an upward motion piercing through her right arm to reach her neck. Ghadge also told the court that the injury was, indeed, a fatal one leading to death.

Dr V N Tasgaonkar, who had conducted the post mortem on three of the deceased, supported Ghadge’s contention and deposed against the police's theory of firing for self defence. Tasgaonkar, who had conducted the post-mortem on Bablu Jadhav, Nandu Navre and Vilas Dodke told the court that all injuries were fatal.

Vilas Dodke, who was hit on his chest, suffered two bullet rounds and succumbed to his injuries on the spot. The other two victims were declared dead on admission to Rajawadi Hospital . Dr Kedwekar, who carried out the post-mortem on six other deceased, is expected to depose on July 24.

On July 11, 1997, state reserve police officer Manohar Kadam had ordered his platoon to open fire on a mob of dalits for allegedly rioting at Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar following desecration of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue. The incident claimed 10 lives and injured 26.

A commission was appointed under justice S D Gundewar in November 1997, which completed its inquiry in August 1998.

The report indicted Kadam for firing indiscriminately at the mob.

The state sanctioned Kadam’s prosecution in August 2001 and an FIR was lodged against him with the Pantnagar police station on August 30 that year.

New Indpress



TTD urged to focus on SC, ST welfare
http://www.newindpr ess.com/NewsItem s.asp?ID= IEA2008070702010 3&Page=A&Title=Southern+ News+-+Andhra+ Pradesh&Topic=0



Monday July 7 2008 12:22 IST

Express News Service

TIRUPATI: The SC, ST Association urged President Pratibha Patil to direct the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to place the idols used in Dalita Govindam programme in the main temple.

In a memorandum submitted to the President on Sunday on her arrival for a two-day visit to the temple town, SC, ST Association leaders demanded that some shops in TTD commercial complexes be reserved for SCs and STs.

Their other demands include filling up of SC and ST backlog posts in the TTD, permission for SC and ST children to pursue Vedic education in Sri Venkateswara Veda Viswavidyalayam and effective implementation of Special Component Act.

They also said the TTD should take up a Social Spiritual Justice Project on the lines of TTD Dharma Prachara Parishad for the development of temples and educational institutions in Dalit colonies.

The Hindu



‘Congress in favour of SC categorisation’

http://www.indiapre ss.org/gen/ news.php/ The_Hindu/ 400x60/0

KURNOOL: Minister for Marketing M. Mareppa has said the Congress party was in favour of categorisation of the scheduled castes. Talking to reporters here on Sunday, he said rumours against categorisation had no ground. The party was committed to the categorisation and the government also made the moves accordingly.

Mr. Mareppa underlined the need for bringing the weaker sections into the power structure saying they were underrepresented in varous spheres including politics and bureaucracy.

He took exception to projection of dalits in poor light in a movie. However, he appreciated the spirit of the director and producers for deleting objectionable portion from it.

The Hindu



DSS to hold rally tomorrow

http://www.indiapre ss.org/gen/ news.php/ The_Hindu/ 400x60/0



Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Dalit Sangarsh Samiti has organised a rally and drum beat campaign on July 8 to draw the attention of the State Government to order a CBI probe into the hooch tragedy.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, the samiti State unit president N. Murthy said that a rally would be organised from Government Arts College grounds to Chief Minister Yeddyurappa’s residence. He said over 300 persons had lost their life and urged the Chief Minister to handover the investigation to the CBI. He said a compensation Rs. 5 lakh should be paid to family of hooch tragedy victims.

The Times Of India



Teach India : From 'peon' to V-C

http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/India/ Teach_India_ From_peon_ to_V-C/articlesh ow/3203879. cms


7 Jul 2008, 0000 hrs IST, Anahita Mukherji

Growing up in the heart of a Wadala slum, eight-year-old Narendra Jadhav knew what he wanted to be when he grew up: a gangster.



Somewhere along the way he changed course and ended up as chief economist of the Reserve Bank of India and then vice-chancellor of Pune University, a chair he currently holds. This prestigious post has a special sweetness to it, for a hundred years ago, Jadhav's Dalit ancestors were made to leave Pune city before dark and carry brooms to sweep away their own polluting shadow.



Jadhav's unique success story has often been cited as a sterling example of how education can unchain and transform when seemingly nothing else can. The street and the slum taught the young boy to be resilient but it was the all-consuming emphasis placed on education by his semi-literate father, a Dalit worker with the Bombay Port Trust, that set him on the road to success. His brother excelled too, got into the IAS, and went on to become municipal commissioner in Mumbai.



Jadhav's schooling was split between a municipal primary school and a private secondary school, both united in the poverty of the children who sat in the classrooms. His ambitions changed all the time. First he wanted to be a gangster, and then something far less glamorous, a peon. "I grew up at a time when life was uncertain. I wanted a steady job that nobody could take away from me. A peon's job sounded ideal." Later, he decided he wanted to be a teacher, but by 13, he told his horrified brother that he hoped to be a writer. "My brother threw a fit. He told me I'd starve." But Jadhav's father, who went on to painstakingly pen his own memoirs, overheard the conversation and jumped to his defence. "Don't listen to what others tell you to become. They may tell you to become a doctor, barrister or engineer. But follow your inner voice and do what you want. I really don't care what you choose for yourself, as long as you're at the top, wherever you are. Don't ever be mediocre. Even if you're a thief, make sure you're an internationally acclaimed one."



The boy took his father's words very seriously. At the SSC exam, he topped in Sanskrit, a language he had defiantly chosen because generations of Dalits had been denied access to a tongue considered the preserve of the Brahmins. At Ruia College, Mumbai, he passed his BSc in Statistics and Economics with distinction. After completing the first year of his MA in Economics from Mumbai University , Jadhav got a job as a probationary officer with the State Bank of India . So, during his second year, he juggled his studies with a full-time job. "My brother thought this was a bad idea. He was convinced that my scores would dip and that I could not have my cake and eat it too," said Jadhav. But he proved his brother wrong. He succeeded at his job and set a record by getting a first in Economics, something that no Dalit had done before.

After a three-year stint with the bank, during which he travelled extensively in Maharashtra, he joined the Reserve Bank of India . At 24, he was their youngest researcher. A few years into the job, he felt the need to study further. So, on a government of India scholarship, he headed for the University of Indiana , where he received a Ph.D in Public Finance. He was awarded the Best International Student and won the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Economic Theory.



His classmates at Indiana , where he headed the Indian Students Association, were shocked when he told them he wanted to return to India after his Ph.D. "At that time, no Indian who went abroad to study returned home. Most of them were from rich families who would settle abroad and then complain of how they were subjected to racism. And here was I, from a down-trodden family in India , turning my back on over a dozen job offers to return home instead." Seven days after his got his PhD, Jadhav was back "because I believe there can be no substitute for your motherland. My commitment to my own people was so strong that I would not been happy anywhere else".



When Jadhav passed his SSC, he could barely speak in English, a language he has now consummately mastered. "Of course it was hard for me to switch from Marathi to English. But then, life is hard. You can't use your background as an excuse for incompetence. And there's no substitute for hard work. The fact that I lived in a slum and studied at a Marathi-medium school did not come in the way of my higher education abroad," he says.



When Jadhav returned home, his mother found it hard to understand why her son was still working so hard after all these years of study. Surely a PhD meant he could now take it easy? That's when Jadhav's father stepped in once again with his earthy wisdom. He said a PhD was like a driving licence. You don't stop driving once you get a licence. You start driving. "Here was one illiterate person explaining the value of PhD to another illiterate person. And he couldn't have put it better," says his son.



As a tribute to the man who, although himself uneducated, lived fearlessly and overcame caste and class barriers, Jadhav wrote 'Amcha Baap ani Amhi,' a book on his father's life that has been translated into many languages. Once, while Jadhav was at Indiana , his father fell critically ill. He rushed back to see him, only to be reprimanded. "Don't waste your time in the middle of your studies. Come back when you've finished your degree. I won't die until then."



He kept his word. He died three years after his son returned to India as Dr Narendra Jadhav.





ARUN KHOTE

Secretary

National Campaign On Dalit Human Rights-NCDHR

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