From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, May 18, 2010 at 2:48 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media watch - News Updates 18.05.10
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 18.05.10
Two Missing: Caste Hindus attack in Satara - Atrocity News
http://atrocitynews.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/two-missing-caste-hindus-attack-in-satara/
Intimidated, Mirchpur Dalits shift to Delhi - The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100518/haryana.htm#1
NFDC told to release Tamil version of film 'Ambedkar' - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051861590600.htm
Dalits petition Collector - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051859130200.htm
Selja hits out at khap panchayats - The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Selja-hits-out-at-khap-panchayats/articleshow/5941922.cms
Wells contaminated in MP village to punish Dalits - PTI
http://www.ptinews.com/news/657217_Wells-contaminated-in-MP-village-to-punish-Dalits
The buzz in Finance Ministry: a Dalit woman's creations - Indian express
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-buzz-in-finance-ministry-a-dalit-womans-creations/620194/0
Atrocity News
Two Missing: Caste Hindus attack in Satara
http://atrocitynews.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/two-missing-caste-hindus-attack-in-satara/
17May10
Mr. Dayandev Tupe ( 42 )and his wife Nanadabai Tupe ( 38 )The resident of Vadzal, Tahesil – Man, District Satara belonging from (Matang ) community brutally attacked by Caste-Hindus, both are found missing.
Mr. Dilip Tupe is a social activist in the region who was a Zilla Parishad member for 15 years. Under his leadership people dared to question Caste-Hindu political leaders for their forgery & illegitimate actions. They even asked Police to investigate into the issue. Only after the complaint was registered with Police, about mob of 50 High Caste Hindus attacked Dalit households with knifes and sticks. It is reported that few Dalits were bitten till they bleeded profusely . caste Hindus threatened them with ramifications on 7th May 2010.
On the day, Police arrested few Caste Hindus and released them in 4 days. Soon jointly Caste Hindus from the village decided unitedly to aggravate the d torture to the Dalit families. Two Family members went missing since then. Police has taken a passive stand.
Therefore thru Atrocitynews, People and organizations are requested to come forward and to raise a help for two missing dalit's families and Dalit households under fear. Lets put pressure on police administration to definitely act fast against the Caste-culprits & protect fundamental rights of the people.
The Tribune
Intimidated, Mirchpur Dalits shift to Delhi
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100518/haryana.htm#1
Jyoti Rai, Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 17
Anguished over social boycott and repeated threats of further attacks, 70 Dalit families of Mirchpur village in Haryana's Hisar district migrated to the national Capital today.
They say an atmosphere of fear continues to prevail in the village after people from the Jat community allegedly torched nearly 26 Dalit houses four weeks ago and killed a polio-stricken 17-year-old girl, Suman, and her father, Tarachand.
Led by the Haryana Dalit Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, the Dalit families, along with several humanitarian and Dalit organisations, are all set to stage a "vishal dharna" on May 20 in the Capital.
Most families alleged that some Jat leaders were already holding a meeting for a second attack.
"They told us that last time they torched our homes during daylight. This time it will be during the night and they will not let even a single person escape," said Harikishore, one of the migrants who came to Delhi today.
"These families earlier staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner's office in Hisar, demanding a separate rehabilitation colony away from Jat supremacy, but the authorities have been silent. As a result the families have now come to the Capital as their last resort," said OP Shukla, convener of the Haryana Dalit Bachao Sangharsh Samiti.
Even as local police officials have repeatedly maintained that the situation is under control in the village, these families strongly voice that this is just a cover-up.
"Cops are hand in glove with them. Where are we supposed to go? Jat men encircle Dalit women in the village and ridicule them by opening their dhotis and roaming around naked in front of them.
"They utter endless abuses. Women and young girls are scared to walk out of their homes. We cannot even complain to anyone," said Sona Devi while speaking to The Tribune.
"Despite claims of compensation and providing security, such atrocities continue to happen in the village. What surprises us is the silence of the National Human Rights Commission.
"Our effort will be to act as a medium so that the voice of the people reaches the government," said Udit Rai, president of the Indian Justice Party and the All-India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations.
"There are nearly 250 Dalit households in the basti, many of whom have already fled the village due to fear. Already nearly 70 families have come to the Capital and more are expected to reach within the next couple of days. These families are in no mood to go back and demand rehabilitation away from the village," he added.
"We have grain, but we cannot go to flour mills. We go days without eating proper food. We cannot buy vegetables in the village. "We have been socially outcast; it is almost like house arrest. Our children cannot go to the school anymore. They are beaten and threatened.
"We are barred from using public toilets," said Rama, another affected person.
Geetanjali Gayatri from Chandigarh: Toeing the party line, Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja today said though khaps were a part of the social fabric of Haryana, the law of the land was supreme and the working of the khaps had to be within the framework of the Constitution.
In the city for tourism-related projects, Selja, member of Parliament from Ambala, said the khaps should not feel that they would be hounded in any way. "A confrontationist attitude in resolving the issue could prove to be counter-productive," she said, emphasising that the entire Jat community could not be placed in the dock for the "handiwork of a mischievous few".
Discreet in her choice of words, she said social tradition laid down that same gotra marriages should not usually take place. "However, if they do, there is no justification for the sharp reaction these evoke from various quarters. We attained Independence long back and Haryana has emerged as a forward-looking state where we all owe allegiance to the Constitution and the law is the same for everybody."
The minister said the khaps could play a constructive role by taking up issues of exploitation and oppression of women, female foeticide, caste atrocities and other such matters that affected the public. "I think these issues require far greater attention of the government and society than runaway couples who depart from social convention to exercise their individual rights," she said.
With the Mirchpur fire continuing to smoulder, causing unrest among the Dalit families on their security concerns time and again, Selja, who visited the village recently and met the aggrieved Dalit families as also Jat families of the area, had a word of advice for the state government. She said it must respond by stepping up confidence-building measures.
"The government should provide security but more importantly, work towards restoring the faith of these (Dalit) families so that they feel safe enough to stay in the village. "The community, too, should participate in this exercise becausebrotherhood in any village should not be allowed to disintegrate for the doing of a handful of people," she added, terming various incidents of caste violence in Haryana as "unfortunate and tragic".
The Hindu
NFDC told to release Tamil version of film 'Ambedkar'
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051861590600.htm
Staff Reporter
Government directed to decide within two weeks grant of tax exemption sought by the distributor
Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed the National Film Development Corporation to release within four weeks the Tamil version of a film on B.R. Ambedkar directed by Jabbar Patel.
Disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate Sathyachandran, a Division Bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice K.K. Sasidharan, also directed the Tamil Nadu government to decide within two weeks the issue pertaining to grant of tax exemption sought by the distributor.
According to the petitioner, the film Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, originally shot in English, was dubbed in Hindi, Marathi and other regional languages. It won three national film awards, including the best feature film in English. Mammootty won the best actor award and Nitin Chandrakant Desai, the award for best art direction.
The State government had earlier announced Rs.10 lakh for dubbing the film into Tamil. However, since no action was taken, the petitioner approached the court.
On behalf of the NFDC, it was submitted that the subtitled version had already been given to the distributor. The Public Prosecutor said that the State government was interested in early release of the film.
The Hindu
Dalits petition Collector
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051859130200.htm
Tirupur: Dalits belonging to 153 families from Kallimedu hamlet under Palladam Panchayat Union petitioned Collector C. Samayamoorthy seeking better amenities to their hamlet. They complained that the house site pattas given to them under a government scheme got cancelled under mysterious circumstances. The residents, accompanied by C. Govindasamy, MLA,explained to the Collector that they were given house site pattas in 2002 by the then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa during a function here.
The residents saidthat despite repeated representations to the authorities concerned, steps had not been taken to improve drinking water and road facilities in their habitation.
The Times Of India
Selja hits out at khap panchayats
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Selja-hits-out-at-khap-panchayats/articleshow/5941922.cms
Himanshi Dhawan, TNN, May 18, 2010, 02.03am IST
NEW DELHI: Taking on powerful khap panchayats, Union tourism minister Kumari Selja on Monday stoutly opposed changes in the Hindu Marriage Act to accomodate the medieval views of the caste groupings that have off late sought to intimidate mainstream political opinion.
With khap panchayats in Haryana seeking changes in law to ban same gotra weddings, many political leaders have been muted in their views with some like INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala seeking to milk the sentiment. But Selja, an assertive Dalit leader, has chosen to differ with the major Jat leaders of Haryana.
Speaking in Chandigarh, Selja also criticised the bloody clashes between Jats and Dalits in which scheduled castes had to bear the brunt of the violence in Haryana. She slammed the killing of Dalits in Mirchpur that had seen Dalits having to flee from their homes.
"What are these panchayats,'' the minister countered when asked for her opinion on self-styled guardians of caste councils. On the demand for amending the Hindu Marriage Act, she said as far as she was concerned the law was fine. "The law of the land is supreme. It has to prevail,'' Selja said.
While she did not comment on party MP Navin Jindal's defence of khap panchayats and INLD support for amending the law, the minister's assertive stance is significant. As a Dalit woman leader she has given voice to the rising economic profile and social aspirations of Dalits and also challenged the deep rooted caste animosity of the Jats towards the SCs.
Selja's comments also reflect the faultlines in the Haryana Congress where the Union minister is opposed to chief minister B S Hooda. The dominant faction has been keen on sidelining the minister who has, however, been favoured by the party since she was made a junior HRD minister during P V Narasimha Rao's tenure as PM. As an articulate Dalit leader, she is obviously seen as an asset.
Selja also condemned last month's Mirchpur incident at Hisar in which a disabled girl and her father were burnt alive allegedly by members of the Jat community. Terming the incident "unfortunate and tragic'', the minister said that it was a "rude and a sad reminder that we are yet rise above caste considerations''.
She said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had taken a serious view of the Mirchpur incident while party general secretary Rahul Gandhi had visited the affected village.
PTI
Wells contaminated in MP village to punish Dalits
http://www.ptinews.com/news/657217_Wells-contaminated-in-MP-village-to-punish-Dalits
STAFF WRITER 21:51 HRS IST
Chhatarpur (MP), May 17 (PTI) To prevent Dalits from fetching water from wells following an enmity related to panchayat polls in a village near here, two upper caste men today allegedly contaminated the water bodies by pouring kerosene into them, police said.
"Two persons, Narendra Singh and Dhiraj Singh, poured kerosene into the wells being used by Dalits with an intention to make the water unsafe for drinking," a police officer told reporters.
In the last panchayat election in Paye village, the candidate supported by the Singh duo lost, leading to enmity between them and Scheduled Caste persons. The two retaliated by pouring kerosene into the wells, he said.
A case under ST/SC (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered, but not arrest has been made till now by the police.
Indian express
The buzz in Finance Ministry: a Dalit woman's creations
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-buzz-in-finance-ministry-a-dalit-womans-creations/620194/0
Tue May 18 2010, 01:27 hrs New Delhi:
The next time you visit the Finance Ministry, don't forget to take a close look at the walls in the offices of its mandarins, from Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla's spacious room to Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra's chamber to Special Advisor Omita Paul's modest space adjoining that of the Finance Minister or even that of the old world- style meeting room.
Adorning the walls are exquisite paintings by a rather unassuming Madhubani painter, Lalita Devi hailing from a Dalit family of national award winners from Koilakh village in Madhubani district of north Bihar. Each one of the finely executed paintings, which take between two to five months of work, narrate mythological stories — of Ram vivaha or Shiv vivaha or even those paying homage to the reigning deity of Dalits, Raja Salhesh — in a unique style that have made Madhubani or Mithila paintings famous.
But there is another interesting story on how the paintings came to embellish the otherwise plain walls of the Finance Ministry. Lalita Devi's husband Charitra Paswan is a Group C employee posted in the Finance Secretary's office. A few years ago he overheard Sushma Nath, then Joint Secretary in the Ministry, instructing her staff to buy some Madhubani paintings from the upscale Cottage Emporium for her room. Hesitatingly, he told her that his wife was a Madhubani painter, adding that it would probably save the Ministry a lot of money if her paintings were brought as she could be compensated with a nominal sum.
For Nath, whose job even now as Secretary (Expenditure) is to cut government expenses, the offer made sense. And soon several paintings were hanging in the rooms of senior Ministry officials.
Lalita Devi's work spread by word of mouth. Jairam Ramesh, then junior minister in the Commerce Ministry, was among those who bought one of the paintings to install it in his Udyog Bhawan office. So did RBI Governor D Subbarao who commissioned a second one to gift it to former Finance Secretary Adarsh Kishore when he left as Executive Director at the World Bank. Corporate honchos who frequent the Finance Ministry too picked up the paintings — Suzlon commissioned some for their Pune headquarters. A couple are also hanging at Nabard's Rajendra Place office.
"In our village in Madhubani district, almost everyone practices this form of art. I have been doing this for the last twenty years," says Lalita Devi, adding that eleven members in her family have received awards. Among them four are national awardees. Her maternal uncle Shivam Paswan and his wife Shanti Devi won the national award for Madhubani painting in 1980. Her paternal aunt Chano Devi, an expert in Goidana, one of the forms of Mithila painting, was awarded the national award in 2008. Another aunt, Ramsundari Devi, received an award from the Bihar government. Her two sisters and elder brother are accomplished Madhubani painters.
Lalita Devi makes at least two trips a year to her village to bring natural dyes and pass on orders she cannot cope with to the villagers. "We use natural dyes in the same way that we have been doing for generations," she says. For rust, it's the bark of the peepul tree, for green the crushed leaves of the bean plant. Black, of course, is lamp soot and blue is a mix of powdered rice and soot.
"Saffron is made from the saffron flowers and then we add preservatives, lac from a variety of tree found locally in Madhubani and surrounding areas, that gives permanency to the colours."
"I do get offers from abroad also to paint, but because of our children, we are not able to go anywhere," says Lalita. The Paswans have three school-going children, two daughters and a son. Needless to say, all three are expert Madhubani painters.
The Madhubani form of art, originally wall and floor fresco paintings, used to adorn fresh walls of mud homes in Mithila region and was practised mostly by womenfolk. It was innovatively transferred onto paper and cloth in the mid-sixties after the region suffered a drought and sold through government handicraft shops.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
..................................................................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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