26.11.2023.Untouchables of India,Pay back to Society Help the Poor,and Dr Ambedkar Ambulance Assn.by Sivaji.GS.Follow us in Twitter,instagram,face book,you tube,telegram.
1)Democracy in India is facing a growing assault.
“It is being killed by a 1000 cuts”, as Professor Tarunabh Khaitan who teaches Public Law in the London School of Economics said in a recent interview to journalist Karan Thapar.
2)The Constitution of India, which the Drafting Committee Chairman Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had famously described as a top dressing of democracy on an undemocratic soil, is bearing the brunt of this attack.
3)The RSS which had rejected the Constitution right at the time of its adoption as an un-Indian document has mounted a renewed offensive attacking the Constitution from all corners.
Thought bubbles calling for a new Constitution for India after seventy-five years of Independence are already afloat. The principal economic advisor of the PM, Bibek Deb Roy floated one such balloon through a newspaper article even as India was observing the seventy-fifth anniversary of independence.
4)Yet the Modi government has been busy invoking and manipulating the Constitution to claim constitutional legitimacy for all its conduct.
5)It was this Modi government which in 2015 started observing 26 November as the Constitution Day in memory of the adoption of the Constitution on 26 November 1949.
It keeps reminding us that the epithets ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ were inserted in the Preamble through a subsequent amendment and continues to propagate and pit the original version against the current version.
6)After shifting Parliament to the new building, it promptly named the earlier building as the Constitution Bhawan. And in his latest RSS foundation day address, Mohan Bhagwat asked his audience to read Ambedkar’s addresses at the Constituent Assembly.
7) Indeed, now that the Constitution of India is facing this combination of a renewed attack reminiscent of the rightwing conservative reaction during its formative phase and early years and simultaneous attempts to appropriate and misrepresent it, it is instructive to revisit Ambedkar’s enunciation and explanation of the fundamental constitutional principles and perspective.
8)Apart from Ambedkar’s historic address of 4 November 1948 while presenting the draft constitution before the Constituent Assembly and the one delivered a year later on 25 November 1949 at the time of adoption of the final text of the Constitution,
we should also revisit “States and Minorities”, the memorandum that Ambedkar had prepared for submission to the Constituent Assembly on behalf of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation. The latter gives us a blueprint of the kind of constitution that Ambedkar actually wanted and which informed his vision while discharging his role as chairman of the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly.
Ambedkar was pleasantly surprised to have been elected the chairman of the drafting committee and he shouldered that heavy responsibility by presenting the draft at the seventh session of the Constituent Assembly (4 November, 1948 – 8 January, 1949) and finalising it by the eleventh and concluding session (14-26 November, 1949).
9)In his 4 November, 1948 address presenting the draft constitution, Ambedkar discussed the special features of the Indian constitution and answered the criticisms then being levelled against it.
He began with a discussion on the form of government preferred and prescribed in the draft – parliamentary democracy as opposed to a presidential system.
Ambedkar argued that a democratic executive must satisfy two conditions – stability and responsibility, adding that “unfortunately it has not been possible to devise a system which can ensure both in equal degree.” He then told us that the draft considered responsibility (accountability) more important than stability in the Indian context and hence the conscious preference for a parliamentary system.
The executive in a parliamentary system, Ambedkar emphasised, is subject to both daily and periodic accountability – daily accountability to Parliament and other institutions through parliamentary procedures and other norms of democratic functioning and periodic accountability to the people through elections. If an executive loses majority support between two elections, it has to quit office and face the people.
This defining feature of the Indian Constitution, this fundamental premise of Indian democracy as explained by Ambedkar in his address, is now being daily overturned through the relentless centralisation of power in the hands of the PMO and now through the move towards ‘one nation, one election’ which will effectively convert India’s parliamentary democracy to a US-style presidential system.
Ambedkar also discusses the specific features of Indian federalism. He calls India a dual polity with a flexible federal system where the idea is to combine federalism with certain unitary features like a single all-India citizenship, a single judiciary and an all-India civilian bureaucracy. The growing centralisation of power and the systematic undermining of the federal system, of the separation of powers and the system and spirit of daily accountability of the executive to Parliament and to the public mark the 1,000 cuts Professor Khaitan mentioned in his interview which are killing the Constitution.
Ambedkar then goes on to rebut the criticism about the alleged lack of ‘originality’ and ‘Indianness’ of the Constitution. Every written modern democratic constitution, he asserted, should reflect common or universal features and the efficacy of the Indian constitution should be assessed in terms of adapting those basic democratic features to the diversity and particularities of the Indian context.
There were strong opinions that the Constitution should uphold the democratic heritage of the ancient Indian polity and base itself on India’s so-called self-sufficient village republics. Ambedkar refuses to romanticise the so-called ‘village republics’ and boldly declares that he is “glad that the Draft Constitution has discarded the village and adopted the individual as its unit.”
He also responds to the allegation that the Constitution had borrowed heavily from the 1935 Government of India Act in matters of administrative details. While acknowledging the scope for future amendments and administrative evolution, he emphasised the role of developing an administration compatible with the Constitution and ensuring that the legislature could not pervert the administration and make it inconsistent with and opposed to the spirit of the Constitution. It is in this context that Ambedkar highlights the need to cultivate constitutional morality as the guiding spirit and reminds us so prophetically that democracy in India is a top-dressing on an essentially undemocratic Indian soil.
10) The inference that inevitably follows from Ambedkar’s warning is the need to democratise the Indian soil, deepen and firmly uphold the spirit of constitutional morality in every sphere and not allow the legislature to ride roughshod over the system of administrative checks and balances.
But today we are faced precisely with the danger of executive tyranny subjugating the institutional system of monitoring and accountability. Laws are being made and even judgements are being delivered in the name of satisfying an imaginary ‘collective conscience’ and ‘majority opinion’ in brazen violation of what Ambedkar considered the litmus test of ‘constitutional morality’.
In the same address Ambedkar underlined the importance of the rights and safeguards for minorities and reminded the majority of the need to ‘realize its duty not to discriminate against minorities’. Whether and how long the minorities need special rights and safeguards depends on when ‘the majority loses the habit of discriminating against the minority’. For Ambedkar, stopping discrimination against the minority was the point of departure, but today the discourse has been turned on its head – it is now all about satisfying the majority that the minorities are not being 'appeased'! Instead of the reality of discrimination against the minorities, the focus has been shifted to the fiction of 'minority appeasement'.
This is nothing but unmitigated majoritarianism going berserk, which is bent upon crushing the minorities in the society, targeting the opposition in the political arena and silencing every dissenting voice in the academic, media and the wider cultural world.
11)The eleven sessions of the Constituent Assembly consumed 165 days in all out of which the last 114 days were spent in considering and finalising the draft constitution. Considering the volume of the Constitution – it was eventually adopted with 395 Articles and eight schedules after considering no less than 2,473 amendments – the finalisation of the Constitution happened fairly quickly. Yet Ambedkar had to respond to the criticism of the drafting committee having taken too long in discharging its functions. He made it clear that he had joined the Constituent Assembly with ‘no greater aspiration than to safeguard the interests of the Scheduled Castes’ and was pleasantly surprised to be eventually entrusted with the key responsibility of chairing the Drafting Committee to write the Constitution itself. Like his November 4, 1948 address explaining the main features of the Draft Constitution at the time of its placement, Ambedkar took the opportunity to use his concluding address on the eve of the adoption of the Constitution to respond to major criticisms and explain some core principles guiding the constitution.
In his November 4, 1948 address Ambedkar had referred to the rightwing conservative and reactionary criticism. Without naming the Hindutva brigade’s constant invocation of the Manusmriti he had addressed their charge of neglecting the framework of ancient India and defended the idea of taking the free individual as the basic unit of the constitutional republic. Early on in his public life Ambedkar had consigned the Manusmriti to flames in the course of the Mahad Satyagrah on December 25, 1927. There was no way he could use this code of caste oppression and patriarchal violence as the guiding spirit of the Constitution of modern India. In his concluding address of November 25, 1949 Ambedkar dealt with criticisms coming from other quarters including Communists and Socialists. Ambedkar said the communist criticism revolved around the class nature of parliamentary democracy while the Socialists advocated nationalisation or socialisation of private wealth without any compensation. It is instructive to note that Ambedkar did not reject the communist and socialist ideas per se, he only referred to the balance of forces within the Constituent Assembly to defend the Constitution as the opinion of the drafting committee and the constituent assembly.
It is instructive to read Ambedkar’s exact response in full: ‘I do not say that the principle of parliamentary democracy is the only ideal form of political democracy. I do not say that the principle of no acquisition of private property without compensation is so sacrosanct that there can be no departure from it. I do not say that Fundamental Rights can never be absolute and the limitations set upon them can never be lifted. What I do say is that the principles embodied in the Constitution are the views of the present generation or if you think this to be an over-statement, I say they are the views of the members of the Constituent Assembly. Why blame the Drafting Committee for embodying them in the Constitution? I say why blame even the Members of the Constituent Assembly? Jefferson, the great American statesman who played so great a part in the making of the American constitution, has expressed some very weighty views which makers of Constitution, can never afford to ignore. In one place he has said: “We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of the majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.”’
This clearly means Ambedkar did not ideologically reject these debates but left these possibilities open for the political wisdom and choice of a future generation. Indeed, if we read the memorandum “States and Minorities” which Ambedkar had prepared on behalf of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, we get a clearer picture of Ambedkar’s own political preferences. In this memorandum Ambedkar describes India as United States of India, and promises for all its citizens a set of fundamental rights with comprehensive judicial protection against executive tyranny, unequal treatment, discrimination and economic exploitation. It promised the minorities effective remedies against social and official tyranny and social boycott and provided scheduled castes with due safeguards to ensure proper representation in all spheres. The memorandum wants the state to organise the main spheres of economic life including agriculture on socialist lines through comprehensive nationalisation and collectivisation, but it wants this to happen within the framework of parliamentary democracy. To lend stability to state socialism it wanted the Constitution to guarantee it in a way that every government would have to abide by it. This explicit combination of state socialism and parliamentary democracy could not be enshrined in the eventual text of the Constitution, but a closer look at the fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy clearly indicates such a direction.
We should also recall that the All India Scheduled Caste Federation was preceded by Ambedkar’s experience with the Independent Labour Party. Formed in 1936, the ILP fought simultaneously against caste and capital. In 1937, ILP won 14 of the 17 seats it contested in the Bombay Legislative Assembly. This was when Ambedkar wrote his famous monograph on Annihilation of Caste, organised a 20,000 strong march of tenants from the Konkan region to Bombay with the support of the Congress Socialist Party and joined hands with the communists to organise Bombay textile workers against the Industrial Disputes Bill. From 1942 to 1946 Ambedkar also served as de facto Labour Minister in the Viceroy’s Executive Council and pioneered the beginning of labour legislations in terms of an eight-hour working day and collective bargaining rights. Today when the government is pushing for indiscriminate privatisation and unbridled corporate power while rendering labour increasingly insecure and devoid of rights, it is important to revisit Ambedkar’s radical legacy of socialist economics and fighting worker-peasant unity.
In this address Ambedkar beckons us not to be content with just ‘political democracy’ but to strive for ‘social democracy’. Social democracy or democracy in society means recognition of liberty, equality and fraternity as core principles of life. Ambedkar tells us to look at liberty, equality and fraternity not as three separate items in a trinity, but as a union where one cannot be divorced from another. Divorcing one from the other defeats the very purpose of democracy, affirms Ambedkar. Without equality, Ambedkar warns us, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many, whereas equality without liberty, he argues, would kill individual initiative. And fraternity would ensure that liberty and equality will become a natural course of things and will not have to be enforced by a constable. But Ambedkar reminds us that the Indian social reality is far removed from this ideal state of affairs. With the adoption of the Constitution India entered a life of contradictions – while the Constitution will ensure the political or electoral equality of one person one vote, India remains mired in massive economic and social inequality. If this contradiction is not resolved at the earliest, it will blow up the structure of political democracy, warned Ambedkar.
Ambedkar then goes on to tell us how there can be no fraternity in a caste-divided society. Caste is a system of graded inequality and as such it is an impediment to India becoming a nation. He tells us why the drafting committee chose the expression ‘the people of India’ over ‘the Indian nation’ – declaring caste-ridden India a nation would be ‘cherishing a great delusion’. Ambedkar compares the Indian situation with the racial divide in America and tells us that caste marks an even greater obstacle to the development of real fraternity without which India could not possibly emerge as a cohesive nation. The anti-colonial struggle surely created the environment and laid the foundation, but the freedom movement remained predominantly about winning political independence and not gaining social equality. With the BJP trying to redefine Indian nationalism on an aggressive Hindu supremacist basis, the fault-lines have only widened in recent years. Here again we are reminded of another prophetic warning Ambedkar had issued in the early 1940s while discussing the Pakistan question: Hindu Raj will be the greatest calamity to befall on India and must be avoided at all costs. The Partition could not be avoided, but the Constitution ensured that India managed to avert that calamity despite the trauma of Partition by proclaiming a social compact based on comprehensive justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all citizens without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, language and culture.
This emphasis on complementing political democracy with social democracy by establishing liberty, equality and fraternity as principles of social life and on achieving national unity through annihilation of caste has become all the more pertinent in the face of the Hindutva bulldozer of the Sangh-BJP establishment. The fraternity or solidarity that Ambedkar emphasised presumed liberty and equality as its inseparable companions and is therefore diametrically opposite to the ‘samrasta’ or ‘harmony’ that the RSS now advocates under the overarching umbrella of a regimented Hindu identity. For Ambedkar, national unity could not be achieved as a conglomeration of castes, he wanted liberty, equality and fraternity to prevail in society by annihilating the caste-based order of social slavery and injustice.
Ambedkar was keenly aware of the threats to India’s fledgling constitutional democracy. He wanted the Constitution to be the supreme arbiter in governing independent India’s political and social life, he wanted the people to stick to constitutional modes of protest and reject what he called the grammar of anarchy. The underlying assumption here was of course that the Constitution would be implemented by people who could be trusted with it. At the outset of his concluding address he had said, “however good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. However bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it, happen to be a good lot. … It is, therefore, futile to pass any judgment upon the Constitution without reference to the part which the people and their parties are likely to play.” He therefore placed utmost reliance on the vigilance of the people, reminding them of John Stuart Mill’s advice not “to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions”. He knew that “in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world” and he had no doubt that “in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship”.
For Ambedkar, the adoption of the Constitution marked the advent of responsible and accountable governance. The concluding remarks of his final address before the Constituent Assembly summed it up in the following words: “By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is great danger of things going wrong. Times are fast changing. People including our own are being moved by new ideologies. They are getting tired of Government by the people. They are prepared to have Governments for the people and are indifferent whether it is Government of the people and by the people. If we wish to preserve the Constitution in which we have sought to enshrine the principle of Government of the people, for the people and by the people, let us resolve not to be tardy in the recognition of the evils that lie across our path and which induce people to prefer Government for the people to Government by the people, nor to be weak in our initiative to remove them. That is the only way to serve the country. I know of no better.” The ideology that threatens the Constitution in today’s India is the good old fascist ideology which had been waiting in the wings for so long and is now desperate to dump and kill the very Constitution which allowed it to come to power.
Ambedkar lived for only seven years after the adoption of the Constitution. It did not take long for Ambedkar to get into a debate with the people who were entrusted with the responsibility of administering the Constitution. The Hindu Code Bill brought him in conflict with the conservative political majority, and unhappy with Nehru’s pragmatic incremental approach deferring and diluting Ambedkar’s radical reform agenda, he resigned from the cabinet and functioned as an independent Rajya Sabha MP from 1952 till his death on 6 December 1956. By September 2, 1953 we could see Ambedkar tell the Rajya Sabha, “Sir, my friends tell me that I have made the Constitution. But I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person to burn it out. I do not want it. It does not suit anybody. But whatever that may be, if our people want to carry on, they must not forget that there are majorities and there are minorities, and they simply cannot ignore the minorities by saying, ‘Oh, no. To recognise you is to harm democracy.’ I should say that the greatest harm will come by injuring the minorities." The anger of Ambedkar then was directed at the well-entrenched conservative and reactionary social elite of India. A few weeks before his demise, Ambedkar used his constitutional right to choose his religion to embrace Buddhism with hundreds of thousands of his followers.
Today Ambedkar the radical democrat and champion of social equality would have found himself languishing in prison under UAPA in a fabricated Bhima-Koregaon type case. And yet the fascists also have the audacity to try and appropriate Ambedkar. Defenders of democracy and social justice will have to uphold the radical legacy of Ambedkar and turn it into a powerful weapon to defeat this fascist conspiracy. To use Ambedkar’s own words, we must not be tardy in recognising the evils that lie across our path or weak in our initiative to remove them.
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Dalits News no 1.
In Dalit outreach, JD(U) to hold Bhim Sansad today
PATNA: In a major move aimed at mobilising the support of dalits ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls, the JD(U) will hold a ‘Bhim Sansad’ in Patna on Sunday. Leaders in charge of the programme said more than one lakh people were expected to attend the gathering, which would be a big boost for the leadership of Bihar chief minister.
Manoj Chaurasia
The event holds much significance in the light of the recent caste survey, which revealed that the SC/ST community comprised more than 21% of Bihar’s population – a finding that could prove a game-changer for JD(U) in the parliamentary elections, if the party is able to project itself as their benefactor.
“This is not a display of our strength, but to show unity to save the Constitution and democracy, which are at risk,” said building construction department minister Ashok Choudhary.
However, JD(U) has started wooing them aggressively ever since the findings were submitted to the government.
Last month, Nitish flagged off Bhim Sansad raths at his residence. The move is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the dalit and madadalit communities ahead of elections. At the same time, Nitish is also trying to project himself as a champion of the OBCs.
To counter JD(U), is also organising outreach programmes targeted at various caste groups. It first held Swami Sahajanand Jayanti to consolidate its hold over upper caste Bhumihar voters. Earlier this month, the party held ‘Yaduvanshi Sammelan’ to reach out to the politically significant Yadavs. On Saturday, BJP held a rally to woo the weaving community
Courtesy : TOI
Tamil Nadu schools become battlefields of caste pride
Caste is so well ingrained in society that many Dalit students say they go to schools several kilometers away from their villages to escape discrimination.
TIRUNELVELI: Vivid shades of yellow, red, green and blue paint dot electric poles and public walls in some of Tamil Nadu’s villages. These colours are not meant to add to the vibrancy of the villages but to distinguish and assert the pride of various castes.
Caste pride has become blatant in some districts of Tamil Nadu — the state that has a history ofprogressive movements inspired by the legendary E V R Periyar, who advocated for theannihilation of caste. Today, the paradox between progress towards equality and regression is stark.
For instance, Tamil Nadu was the first state to say that caste had no role to play in the appointment of temple priests, as early as 2007. Today, caste discrimination has permeated classrooms in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Tenkasi districts. The violence that has persisted highlights the complex social fabric, where both caste pride and discrimination can coexist with the narrative of social justice and progress.
It is in this setting that members of each caste community — including the Maravars, Nadars and Scheduled Castes (SC) — proudly display these colour codes, turning even the anniversaries of freedom fighters into exclusive caste events.
For instance, Maravars use yellow and red and Nadars have claimed blue and green. The Yadavasuse yellow and blue. The Pallars, Parayars and Arunthathiyars, who are classified as Scheduled Castes, red and green, blue, and red and blue respectively. In the state’s villages, people sport threads of these colours to flaunt caste pride.
A gory incident on August 9, when a 17-year-old Dalit student and his 14-year-old sister were brutally attacked by three of his schoolmates with a sickle in Nanguneri, Tirunelveli district, underscores how caste pride can have a devastating impact. The attackers all belonged to theMaravar community, an influential Other Backward Class (OBC), part of the Mukulathors.
After multiple surgeries and a 75-day stay at a government hospital, the boy and his sister have now moved to Tirunelveli town, 40 km from Nanguneri, where the state government has allotted them permanent accommodation.
Though their wounds have begun to heal, the fear lingers.
“I do not know how I survived,” the boy said, pointing to the stab wounds, scars, and marks on his body. “I cannot lift my left hand fully, even now. It may take a couple of years for me to use my hands normally. My focus is now on writing my public exam,” the boy said.
“We want to relocate to Chennai once my son completes his plus-two. We cannot live in fear forever. That may bring peace to our lives,” their mother Ambikapathi told DH. She is an Anganwadi worker. Her children study in two different schools now, while the attackers, also minors, have been rehabilitated in a government school.
Villagers of Marukalkurichi, from where two of the attackers hail, deny the caste angle. They pin the blame entirely on the school management, claiming it fosters caste and religious differences between the students.
“These children were close friends, and they went to school together. They used to roam around together before the incident. If caste was an issue as is being projected, why did our children (Maravars) be friends with him (the survivor) in the first place?” Pandithurai, a village elder asked.
Murugan, the father of one of the three teenagers who attacked the boy, said they sent their children to a school away from their village only to ensure they mingle with other communities. “The caste angle was introduced by the school and the relatives of the survivor,” he said.
Caste in classrooms
Caste markers in Marukalkurichi and Peruntheru, where the survivors stayed, are hard to miss.
The village sports banners with Forward Bloc leader Muthuramalinga Thevar and Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, both revered by Mukulathors. The walls of Peruntheru are painted blue with images of B R Ambedkar and Dalit leaders of the state.
The Nanguneri incident is not isolated, as violence involving students from intermediary castes and Dalit communities has been on the rise in Tirunelveli region for the past few years. Most, in fact, have either gone unreported or brushed under the carpet.
Experts say that the considerable political power concentrated in the hands of intermediary castes, dominance over land, education and financial influence are some factors contributing to the violence.
In 2022, caste tensions ruled classrooms in the region, especially in government and government-aided schools, after students began wearing coloured wristbands as markers of caste.
The government did ban caste markers, hoping this would bring an end to differences. However, this altercation was followed by the Nanguneri incident.
Caste is so well ingrained in society that many Dalit students say they go to schools several kilometres away from their villages to escape discrimination.
A case in point is Gopalasamudram, just outside Tirunelveli. Though the hamlet has a higher secondary school, people who live in the Dalit colony stopped sending their children to the institute in 2013, after a clash with Maravars.
“Only one girl from our colony goes to that school now. The rest of us send our children to schools in nearby villages and towns. Why should we admit our kids in a school knowing that they will be discriminated against?” Rajakumari, a resident, asked.
The backstory is that a Dalit girl in Pannai Venkatarama Iyer Higher Secondary School was pushed to the floor by Maravars after she refused to accept sweets on the occasion of the birth and death anniversary of Muthuramalinga Thevar, the patriarch of Mukulathors.
The showdown claimed two lives – one each from the Dalit and Maravar sides.
“These revenge killings, sadly, have become frequent. Head for a head does not make sense, but unfortunately, people believe in it. Students are affected by this atmosphere and are influenced,” M Bharathan, a Dalit activist, who works with children, said.
A few months back, a Dalit student was attacked inside the government school in V K Pudur, Tenkasi district by students belonging to the Moopanar community. The attack occurred after the Dalit student was referred to by his caste in an argument during a kabaddi match.
“I was even more shocked when no student came forward to help me,” the survivor told DH.
Hegemony
Boys from intermediary communities are fed the thought from a very young age that they are superior to scheduled castes, explained Professor Samuel Asir Raj, Head, Department of Sociology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU), Tirunelveli.
“Caste differences are visible in most educational institutions and caste hegemony extends over the entire landscape. Add to it the political power that the intermediary castes enjoy,” Raj told DH.
The school incidents are contextualised at a time when violence against Dalits is on the rise in Tamil Nadu. By the end of October, two Dalit youths were stripped by six Maravar men and were urinated upon in Tirunelveli. A group of Dalits were attacked by Gounders in Krishnagiri, and faecal matter was found in an overhead tank at an SC colony in Pudukottai district last year.
The Dalit Intellectual Collective flagged the rise in violence through a letter addressed to Chief Minister M K Stalin on November 6. They said anti-Dalit violence had become normalised and had formed a “strong political culture in Tamil Nadu.” This provided a template for atrocities against Dalits.
Professor K A Manikumar, who has chronicled caste violence in the region, blames successive governments in Tamil Nadu for not addressing the issue through “systemic corrections”.
“Both DMK and AIADMK have failed Dalits. They only see violence against Dalits as a law andorder problem, not a societal issue. There is also no Dalit solidarity in Tamil Nadu,” Manikumar, former V-C, Swami Vivekanand University, Madhya Pradesh, told DH.
In fact, it was only in 1995 that Dalit communities began vocally resisting discrimination, Manikumar said.
“The assertion of Dalits fuelled by the economic growth, thanks to the proliferation of education, has threatened all intermediary castes who have taken to different forms of discrimination against them. Classrooms are the new battleground,” he said.
The assertion and independence exhibited by Dalits, who leave the agricultural labour sector to enter the more formal industrial workforce, is found to be a challenge by the intermediary castes, said Raj.
“Dalit political assertion is also on the rise. Nadars, the other major intermediary caste, wield extraordinary clout through their enterprising nature. They are also capitalists as they control small and medium-sized businesses. Maravars, who are primarily landowners, are now besieged between the two communities,” Raj added.
Markers
Caste markers are a manifestation of the schism in society and also a cause for violence. Many in the region told DH that these markers serve as a ‘warning’ to people from other communities that they need to be careful while crossing ‘their areas’. Besides colours, social and political leaders also serve as markers of caste.
“Every community has exclusive songs played at marriages and at temple festivals. When these songs play, you can conclude that the person who is getting married belongs to a particular community. And you can see youngsters wearing t-shirts with images of caste icons,” Kannan, a resident of Tirunelveli, told DH.
After the Nanguneri incident, district administrations in Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Thoothukudi have embarked on a massive drive to erase the caste markers on government properties in villages across the region.
“The drive is ongoing but there is resistance at some places. We are trying to convince the people and make them erase these markers themselves,” a government official said. But the initiative has received opposition from some communities.
V Maharajan, founder of Netaji Subhash Senai, a Thevar outfit, opposes erasing the caste markers in entirety, saying it would only lead to more problems.
“They can take off the colour codes on public properties. But there should be a board or some marker to tell us which caste is dominant in that village. This will serve as a warning sign to us to be careful when we cross a village that is dominated by other communities,” Maharajan told DH. Government intervention
Government interventions also need to change significantly. Manikumar frowned upon the government for solely relying on rehabilitation and compensation in addressing caste violence.
“They should also find ways to prevent such incidents. Not just move on by providing compensation. The conviction under SC/ST Act is very less in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
Manikumar suggested systemic changes from the government, opening more schools, and improving infrastructure in existing schools, besides empowering Dalits in every possible way as the solution for the problems in the region.
Raj suggests all-around development in the district, which already has two industrial parks where Tata Power and other major companies have set up shops.
“Caste pride will break down when there is development. The character of the place changes with development. Economic prosperity is vital to nullify the challenge,” he said.
Bharathan attributes the sudden rise in caste-related violence in schools to the increasing presence of caste outfits on social media. “In these WhatsApp groups, everything boils down to caste. This is the case with every community. Since caste is everything that children see and hear in their homes and societies, it is reflected in classrooms too. The majority of the victims of caste-based violence are Dalit students,” he told DH.
But Maharajan rejects the contention that violence against Dalits inside classrooms is on the rise.
“Introducing caste angle to crimes after they take place has now become a fashion. Dalits do this often because they know they are being protected under the SC/ST Act. Such protection isn’t there for OBCs. They (Dalits) also get more compensation than those from other communities. They blow things out of proportion,” he claimed.
A government school headmaster, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said caste is now the major problem inside classrooms with students identifying themselves by their community.
“There is not much of a problem in primary classes. However, students from 7th to 12th standard tend to believe what they see and read online. We see school students making reels with songs that eulogise their caste. Unhindered access to social media is becoming a huge problem in classrooms. Though we confiscate phones, they are of little use,” another headmaster said.
The way forward Identifying usury as one of the major reasons for increasing violence against Dalits, Raj said the government should end private money lending by creating other kinds of institutional lending for marginalised communities.
“The land is owned by the intermediary castes and they control the informal money lending market too. Serious steps should be taken to ensure that people are protected and their basic rights are not trampled upon,” Raj added.
After the Nanguneri incident, the Tamil Nadu Government appointed Justice (retired) K Chandru to study the issue in detail and come out with measures to eliminate caste and racial differences among students in educational institutions.
“Our committee has just started its work. We are receiving comments and suggestions from different quarters. We will be issuing specific questionnaires to different groups soon,” Chandru told DH.
Tirunelveli district collector K P Karthikeyan told DH that consistent efforts are being taken to eliminate caste feelings among students, besides a massive drive to erase caste markers in public spaces.
The district administration, through an elaborate consultation process with teachers, students and parents, has come up with about 48 factors that lead to caste differences.
It has commenced a special project “Anbadum Mundril” which includes counselling sessions for students and parents among others, at 45 government and government-aided schools to sensitise them on the issue, Karthikeyan said “We have teamed up with Chellamuthu Foundation and an NGO for this pilot project. A two-day long workshop has been conducted for headmasters and in-charge teachers on handling issues.
Experienced counsellors will talk to the students and parents and counsel them. We will complete this pilot by April 2024 after which we will extend this to other schools,” he told DH.
The administration has also constituted teams for all 11 blocks in the district consisting of Tahsildar, child protection officials and police officers. The district administration has also formed WhatsApp groups with headmasters to keep track of the developments.
Courtesy : DH
Dalit news no 3.
‘Edu important for upliftment of backward communities’
Mysuru: Education is most important for the upliftment of Dalits and backward communities, as it enables them to carve their future and lead a respectful life, said district minister HC Mahadevappa on Saturday.
Speaking after inaugurating the free entrance coaching classes for PUC students residing in various government students’ hostels at Manasagangothri, the minister stressed that education was the only tool to build a bright future. It will allow people to get key posts in government and private sectors through which they can serve society, he said.
Mahadevappa also mentioned that the world had become competitive with candidates having passed with second-class marks not being considered for jobs. There are students scoring 95% or more marks. The students belonging to backward and Dalit communities must compete with such students and the teachers must play an inspirational role, he added.
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Amit Shah accuses Congress, Ashok Gehlot government of being ‘anti-backward class’Amit Shah accuses Congress party and Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan of being anti-backward class. Congress in Rajasthan appeased its vote bank and opposed Mandal Commission report. Narendra Modi-led government gave constitutional recognition to Backward Classes Commission and provided 27% reservation in education systems. 27% of ministers in Modi government are from backward classes. Assembly elections in Rajasthan on November 25.105386504
Bihar hikes quota percentage for SCs, STs and Backward Classes, EWS to avail 10 per centBihar government formally notified the Bills to increase reservation for deprived castes in government jobs and educational institutions. Bihar now has the highest reservation percentage among bigger states, with a total of 75% quota including 10% for economically weaker sections. Tamil Nadu has a total of 69% quota with no provision for EWS. The gazette notification converts the Bills into new Acts, increasing the quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, extremely backward castes, and backward classes. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar emphasizes the implementation of the new quota system.105394709
Courtesy : TOI
Dalit news 4.
Dalit youth stabbed to death in Ballia over a dispute over commenting on Facebook
Ballia (UP), (Language) A Dalit youth was stabbed to death in a dispute over allegedly commenting on Facebook at Mudadih Tirahe in Sahatwar police station area of Ballia district. Police gave this information on Saturday.
Bansdih area police officer (CO) Shiv Narayan Vais said on Saturday that Dipu Paswan (21), a resident of Adhaila village, was seriously injured by a knife attack at Mudadih intersection of Sahatwar police station area.
The CO said that in this case, a case has been registered against unknown people on the complaint of the deceased’s mother Shubhawati Devi. He said that during the investigation of the case, the fact came to light that deceased Deepu had a dispute with the attackers over commenting on Facebook.
According to the police, before this there was a dispute between the two parties during a conversation on mobile phone. Police said that the police are trying to arrest the attackers.
Courtesy: IBC24
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Dalit news 5.
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CJI Chandrachud: 'Affirmative action emerges as a transformative force challenging established caste dynamics'
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud delivered the keynote address on the topic 'Identity, the Individual and the State: New Paths to Liberty' at the 36th LawAsia conference in Bengaluru. He said that affirmative action emerges as a transformative force challenging established caste dynamics and reservation for socially underprivileged groups in education and jobs is among the affirmative actions prescribed in the Constitution of India. Reports ETV Bharat's Sumit Saxena
By Sumit Saxena
Read more at: https://www.etvbharat.com/english/state/karnataka/cji-chandrachud-affirmative-action-emerges-as-a-transformative-force-challenging-established-caste-dynamics/na20231125195620024024738.
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