25.07.24.U.T NEWS.CHENNAI.600026.
Teachings Of Buddha Part - 3
The Illusion of Soul
The Buddha taught that there is no soul, no essential and permanent core to a living being. Instead, that which we call a 'living being', human or other, can be seen to be but a temporary coming together of many activities and parts - when complete it is called a 'living being', but after the parts separate and the activities cease it is not called a 'living being' anymore. Like an advanced computer assembled of many parts and activities, only when it is complete and performs coherent tasks is it called a 'computer', but after the parts are disconnected and the activities cease it is no longer called a 'computer'. No essential permanent core can be found which we can truly call 'the computer', just so, no essential permanent core can be found which we can call 'the soul'.
Yet Rebirth still occurs without a soul. Consider this simile: on a Buddhist shrine one candle, burnt low, is about to expire. A monk takes a new candle and lights it from the old. The old candle dies, the new candle burns bright. What went across from the old candle to the new? There was a causal link but no thing went across! In the same way, there was a causal link between your previous life and your present life, but no soul has gone across.
Indeed, the illusion of a soul is said by the Buddha to be the root cause of all human suffering. The illusion of 'soul' manifests as the 'Ego'. The natural unstoppable function of the Ego is to control. Big Egos want to control the world, average Egos try to control their immediate surroundings of home, family and workplace, and almost all Egos strive to control what they take to be their own body and mind. Such control manifests as desire and aversion, it results in a lack of both inner peace and outer harmony. It is this Ego that seeks to acquire possessions, manipulate others and exploit the environment. Its aim is its own happiness but it invariably produces suffering. It craves for satisfaction but it experiences discontent. Such deep- rooted suffering cannot come to an end until one sees, through deep and powerful meditation, that the idea 'me and mine' is no more than a mirage...
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புத்தரின் போதனைகள் பகுதி - 3
ஆன்மாவின் மாயை
புத்தர் ஒரு உயிருக்கு ஆன்மா இல்லை, இன்றியமையாத மற்றும் நிரந்தர மையமாக இல்லை என்று போதித்தார். அதற்குப் பதிலாக, மனிதனாகவோ அல்லது மனிதனாகவோ நாம் அழைப்பது பல செயல்பாடுகள் மற்றும் பகுதிகளின் தற்காலிகமாக ஒன்றிணைவதைக் காணலாம் - முடிந்தவுடன் அது 'உயிர்' என்று அழைக்கப்படுகிறது, ஆனால் பகுதிகள் பிரிக்கப்பட்ட பிறகு மற்றும் செயல்பாடுகள் நிறுத்தப்படும் அது இனி 'உயிர்' என்று அழைக்கப்படாது. பல பாகங்கள் மற்றும் செயல்பாடுகளை ஒருங்கிணைத்த மேம்பட்ட கணினி போல, அது முழுமையடைந்து ஒத்திசைவான பணிகளைச் செய்யும் போது மட்டுமே அது 'கணினி' என்று அழைக்கப்படுகிறது, ஆனால் பாகங்கள் துண்டிக்கப்பட்டு செயல்பாடுகள் நிறுத்தப்பட்ட பிறகு அது 'கணினி' என்று அழைக்கப்படுகிறது. நாம் உண்மையிலேயே 'கணினி' என்று அழைக்கக்கூடிய எந்த அத்தியாவசிய நிரந்தர மையத்தையும் கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியாது, எனவே, 'ஆன்மா' என்று அழைக்கக்கூடிய எந்த அத்தியாவசிய நிரந்தர மையத்தையும் கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியாது.
ஆயினும் மறுபிறப்பு இன்னும் ஆன்மா இல்லாமல் நிகழ்கிறது. இந்த உவமையைக் கவனியுங்கள்: ஒரு புத்த கோவிலில் ஒரு மெழுகுவர்த்தி, குறைவாக எரிக்கப்பட்டு, காலாவதியாகப் போகிறது. ஒரு துறவி ஒரு புதிய மெழுகுவர்த்தியை எடுத்து பழைய மெழுகுவர்த்தியிலிருந்து அதை ஏற்றி வைக்கிறார். பழைய மெழுகுவர்த்தி இறந்துவிடும், புதிய மெழுகுவர்த்தி பிரகாசமாக எரிகிறது. பழைய மெழுகுவர்த்தியிலிருந்து புதியது என்ன? ஒரு காரண இணைப்பு இருந்தது, ஆனால் எதுவும் நடக்கவில்லை! அதேபோல், உங்கள் முந்தைய வாழ்க்கைக்கும் உங்கள் தற்போதைய வாழ்க்கைக்கும் இடையே ஒரு காரண தொடர்பு இருந்தது, ஆனால் எந்த ஆத்மாவும் கடந்து செல்லவில்லை.
உண்மையில், ஆன்மாவின் மாயையே மனிதனின் அனைத்து துன்பங்களுக்கும் மூல காரணம் என்று புத்தரால் கூறப்படுகிறது. 'ஆன்மா' என்ற மாயை 'ஈகோ'வாக வெளிப்படுகிறது. ஈகோவின் இயற்கையான தடுக்க முடியாத செயல்பாடு கட்டுப்படுத்துவது. பெரிய ஈகோக்கள் உலகைக் கட்டுப்படுத்த விரும்புகிறார்கள், சராசரி ஈகோக்கள் வீடு, குடும்பம் மற்றும் பணியிடத்தின் உடனடி சுற்றுப்புறங்களைக் கட்டுப்படுத்த முயற்சி செய்கிறார்கள், மேலும் கிட்டத்தட்ட அனைத்து ஈகோக்களும் தங்கள் சொந்த உடல் மற்றும் மனதைக் கட்டுப்படுத்த முயற்சி செய்கிறார்கள். இத்தகைய கட்டுப்பாடு ஆசை மற்றும் வெறுப்பாக வெளிப்படுகிறது, இது உள் அமைதி மற்றும் வெளிப்புற நல்லிணக்கத்தின் பற்றாக்குறையை விளைவிக்கிறது. இந்த ஈகோ தான் உடைமைகளைப் பெறவும், மற்றவர்களைக் கையாளவும், சுற்றுச்சூழலைச் சுரண்டவும் முயல்கிறது. அதன் நோக்கம் அதன் சொந்த மகிழ்ச்சி ஆனால் அது எப்போதும் துன்பத்தை உருவாக்குகிறது. அது திருப்திக்காக ஏங்குகிறது ஆனால் அது அதிருப்தியை அனுபவிக்கிறது. ஆழமான மற்றும் சக்திவாய்ந்த தியானத்தின் மூலம், 'நான் மற்றும் என்னுடையது' என்ற எண்ணம் ஒரு மாயை அல்ல என்பதை ஒருவர் காணாத வரை, இத்தகைய ஆழமான வேரூன்றிய துன்பங்கள் முடிவுக்கு வர முடியாது.
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From,WhatsApp..
*🌹HAPPY SENIOR CITIZENS' WEEK 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽*
*𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑴𝑰𝒁𝑬:*
1. 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒕.
2. 𝑺𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒓.
3. 𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒓.
4. 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒔.
5. 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒔.
*𝑭𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫𝑬𝑫:*
1. 𝑽𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔;
2. 𝑳𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒔;
3. 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔;
4. 𝑵𝒖𝒕𝒔;
5. 𝑬𝒈𝒈𝒔;
6. 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒊𝒍 (O𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, C𝒐𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒕, ...)
7. 𝑭𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒔.
*𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑬𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑻𝑹𝒀 𝑻𝑶 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑮𝑬𝑻:*
1. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑨𝒈𝒆.
2. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕.
3. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔.
*𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑨𝑳 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑪𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑯:*
1. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚;
2. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔;
3. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔;
4. 𝑨 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆.
*𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑬𝑬 𝑩𝑨𝑺𝑰𝑪 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑨𝑫𝑶𝑷𝑻:*
1. 𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 / 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉.
2. 𝑫𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆.
3. 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.
*𝑺𝑰𝑿 𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑨𝑳 𝑳𝑰𝑭𝑬𝑺𝑻𝒀𝑳𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑷𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑬:*
1. 𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓.
2. 𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕.
3. 𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.
4. 𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒅.
5. 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇..
6. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 ...
*𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝑭𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑺 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑨𝑮𝑬 𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑬 (47-90 𝒀𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑺), 𝑷𝑳𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑬 𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑶 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑴.*
From...news papers,
Dalit Voices in Tamil Politics: Pa Ranjith’s Protest against Dravidian Politics
Sakshi Mishra by Sakshi Mishra in Politics, Trending Dalit, Trending, politics
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) effective incorporation of Dalit leaders has limited the impact of filmmaker Pa Ranjith’s protests against Dravidian politics. Ranjith, a Dalit himself and director of the Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali, recently organized a rally in Chennai. The event aimed to demand a fair investigation into the murder of K Armstrong, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) state president.
Dalit Representation in Tamil Politics
Ranjith urged elected Dalit leaders to speak up to those in power. This critique primarily targeted Dalit leaders within the ruling DMK and its ally, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). The VCK, led by Thol Thirumavalavan, is widely regarded as the state’s largest Dalit party.
Armstrong’s death sparked outrage, with Thirumavalavan supporting BSP chief Mayawati’s call for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. He also claimed that the state police had not arrested the real suspects. While this stance briefly embarrassed the DMK, the issue soon subsided, and the state police continued their investigation.
Obstacles for Ranjith’s Political Aspirations:
- Cinema Industry Influence: The DMK’s strong hold over Tamil Nadu’s film industry, particularly through Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant Movies, could create difficulties for Ranjith. As a filmmaker, his career could be impacted if he faces opposition from powerful industry players.
- Established Dalit Leadership: Ranjith would likely face stiff competition from Thirumavalavan, who would fiercely defend his political territory. The VCK leader’s long-standing presence in Dalit politics gives him a significant advantage.
- Controversial Statements: Ranjith’s provocative comments on Hinduism may alienate potential supporters who oppose Dravidian politics. His remarks about eating “their god” (referring to cows) and advocating for the distribution of Hindu mutt lands to Dalits have sparked controversy.
- Fragmented Dalit Vote: The Dalit vote is divided among various groups with established loyalties. This fragmentation makes it challenging for new leaders to consolidate support across different Dalit communities.
DMK’s Dalit Outreach and Vote Bank Politics
The DMK has successfully incorporated different Dalit groups into its alliance, demonstrating its political acumen in managing diverse interests:
- Parayars and Arunthathiyars: These major Dalit groups largely support the DMK alliance. The party has cultivated their loyalty through various welfare schemes and political representation.
- Devendra Kula Vellalars (DKV): This group is split between the BJP, DMK, AIADMK, and Puthiya Tamizhagam. The division of DKV votes among multiple parties reflects the complex political landscape of Tamil Nadu.
- Arunthathiyar Loyalty: The DMK secured their support by granting a 3% sub-quota within the Scheduled Caste quota. This move addresses the specific concerns of the Arunthathiyar community and strengthens their ties to the DMK.
- Parayar Allegiance: This group remains loyal to the VCK and Thirumavalavan. The VCK’s alliance with the DMK ensures that Parayar support indirectly benefits the ruling party.
- DKV and BJP: Some DKV members support the BJP after the party united several sub-castes under the DKV banner. This strategic move by the BJP demonstrates the importance of Dalit votes in Tamil Nadu’s political landscape.
DMK’s Dalit Leadership Strategy
The DMK excels at integrating Dalit leaders into its ranks. If necessary, Udhayanidhi Stalin could even portray a Dalit leader, as seen in the movie Mamannan, to boost the party’s image among Dalit voters. This approach showcases the DMK’s adaptability in addressing Dalit concerns and maintaining their support.
The Future of Dalit Politics in Tamil Nadu
As Dalit awareness and activism continue to grow, the political landscape in Tamil Nadu may evolve. While established parties like the DMK have successfully co-opted many Dalit leaders, voices like Pa Ranjith’s indicate a desire for more direct representation and addressing of Dalit issues.
However, for new Dalit leaders to emerge and challenge the status quo, they must overcome the hurdles of fragmented support, entrenched party loyalties, and the powerful influence of established political machineries. The success of such efforts will depend on their ability to unite diverse Dalit communities and present a compelling alternative to the current political arrangements.
Courtesy : TFIPost
Remarks about Dalits: CCB to probe plaint against Dayanidhi Maran
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), too, had taken note of Maran’s remarks at the State secretariat after the MP stated that the then Chief Secretary treated them like untouchables, which caused a political uproar.
CHENNAI: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the city police has taken over the investigation in a case registered against DMK’s Lok Sabha member Dayanidhi Maran based on a case originally booked by the Coimbatore city police for allegedly making derogatory remarks about oppressed caste people in May 2020.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), too, had taken note of Maran’s remarks at the State secretariat after the MP stated that the then Chief Secretary treated them like untouchables, which caused a political uproar.
Subsequently, cases were registered in four police stations in Coimbatore under Section 3 (1) (u) and 3 (1) (v) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Among them, one of the cases registered at Variety Hall police station has been to Chennai CCB as the incident happened in Chennai. Last week, the Madras High Court disposed of similar cases against Maran after the police filed a closure report.
Courtesy : DTNext
Dalit Groups Protest, Want College Chairman’s Arrest Over Abuse
Dalit Groups Protest, Want College Chairman’s Arrest Over Abuse
Abhijay Jha
Ghaziabad: Protesting members of the Dalit community have warned of a prolonged agitation if the chairman of a private college in Modinagar is not arrested for allegedly abusing a student and making remarks about his caste.
According to the case filed on Monday, the B.Ed student had called up Hari Om Sharma, chairperson of Gyansthali Vidyapeeth College, to ask if he was eligible to get a concession on admission fees under the SC/ST category.
In a six-minute audio clip, purportedly of the phone conversation between the two, a man can be heard abusing the caller. Believed to be the chairperson, the man tells the caller that students from his caste should be charged more.
As the caller pleads with him, saying that his father is admitted to an ICU, the man is heard saying: “Teri vidya ki aarti uthaunga (I will conduct the last rites of your education).” He then mocks the caller by suggesting that he will get the student to whitewash the college building to meet the admission fees. The man also refers to the British-era practice of barring Indians from entering some buildings and says that a signboard should be put up, announcing that a specific community’s “admission is prohibited”.
Mohit Jatav, a member of Modinagar Zila Panchayat who is spearheading the protest, told TOI on Wednesday that community members protested at several spots in the city and called a meeting to discuss the issue.
“We have already placed our demands — cancellation of the affiliation of Gyansthali Vidyapeeth College and arrest of the accused – before Modinagar sub-divisional magistrate and ACP,” he said.
Mohit said they had protested on Tuesday as well and submitted a memorandum to the district administration.
“We demand the arrest of the accused by Thursday, otherwise, we will intensify the agitation and block the Modinagar road,” he said.
Based on a complaint by protesters, police on Monday registered an FIR against the college chairman under BNS Section 352 (intentional insult), Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the IT (Amendment) Act 2008, and Section 3(2)(va) (atrocities against members of SC/ST caste) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Modinagar ACP Gyan Prakash Rai said investigators were collecting evidence.
Courtesy: Times of India
Dalit Memory and Dalit Identity in Annihilate Caste
Remembered histories make up our inner lives, and that of our families and communities. Happy and joyful memories, dimly-remembered and unexplained events as children have a way of inhabiting our lives in unexpected ways. Hence history, and memory, is also about us and others living together. Communities whose histories are neither written nor spoken are considered forgotten. The Dalit communities in India are said to be a people who have lost their histories. How then do they live? Have they really lost their histories? This paper is an attempt to explore answers to that question.
by Cynthia Stephen
To start with, we will break up the ideas under Memory and Identity under several heads: History, Collective Memory, Identity, Culture, State Response, and Individual Voice/Consciousness.
History is defined as an academic and objective representation of the past. The very fact that it is defined as academic means that it is produced by persons outside of the events being recorded. The accounts of war are seldom written by the common soldier. It may be written by a general or a war historian and will contain details of the battles, the resources deployed, the territories lost or gained, lives lost, and the outcome in political, economic, and social terms, from the point of view of the writer of the account. This history will hardly record what went through the mind of the soldier in the trenches or in the front line : the fear, the chaos, the raw courage or the lack of it felt by the foot soldier. Even less, will it record the experiences of the civilians on whose land and farms the battles are fought. Those experiences may be recorded for posterity in the form of stories, poems, songs or just reminiscences shared by people who survived the events. But who will tell the stories of those who died in the war, either as participants or as innocent bystanders? Will their lives and understandings suffer erasure?
Collective Memory is what steps in at this juncture. It may be defined as a socially shared representation of the past that plays and integral role in maintaining the identity of the group. Thus, it fulfills where History fails. It reveals how groups interpret history, and in a very real sense the formal written history, the formal record, is an antithesis of Collective memory. The irony is that this formal written History is considered objective, whereas collective memory is seen as subjective.
Let us now compare and contrast the two:
Where Collective memory reflects a single committed perspective, the formal historical account may be distanced from any particular perspective.
Collective memory may reflect the experiences of a group, or their cultural framework, whereas the formal history may lack this record.
Colletive memory is unselfconscious in its expression, and impatient with ambiguities about the motives and interpretation, whereas the historical account will have a critical reflective stance, and recognises some ambiguities.
It may be helpful to study some examples of how this plays out in our world. Films, especially popular films, often influence the collective imagination very powerfully and have served as a means to attain popularity and even political power in several states especially in South India. In recent years, Hindi films have been a focus of controversy especially where they depict Historical figures like the Mughals, other kings, their wives, and so on. To cite just one example out of many, a film, Jodha Akbar, was released in 2008 and soon became the focus of much controversy.[1] Akbar is considered a secular icon and his marriage to a Rajput princess, Jodha was considered by folkloric accounts to be an example of communal harmony. However, in the present day, according to the report carried by Reuters,
Whether Emperor Akbar, a Muslim, married Hindu Rajput princess Jodhaa some 450 years ago is debated by historians, but the alliance has fed folklore of an enduring love in a country scarred by a history of religious bloodbaths.
Jodhaa Akbar”, which stars former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, plays out the royal courtship to the backdrop of palace intrigues and epic battles.
Some Rajput groups attacked movie halls and tore posters of the film, saying it was historically inaccurate, and that Jodhaa was in fact Akbar’s daughter-in-law.
For fear of violent protests, the film was not released in Rajasthan — an important Bollywood market and the place where many Rajputs hail from.
Protesters disrupted a screening at a mall in Gurgaon, while a mob attacked a cinema hall in Ahmedabad, forcing multiplexes to temporarily close, the Press Trust of India reported.
Here is an example of how collective memory and Historical accounts can diverge and have varying impacts on society including triggering violence and arson.
A more recent example is a Tamil film, Mamannan, by director Mari Selvaraj, which has been doing very well in the theatres. The film reflects a recent trend of films being made by Dalit directors and hence their depiction of Dalits is very different from the way in which mainstream films. While hitherto, audiences have seen them stereotyped as servile, untrustworthy, or as objects of hate or derision, Dalit directors are giving their depiction a make over which is closer to the reality: they are shown as full human beings with their own sense of agency.
Another example, closer home, is the textbooks controversy in Karnataka where the BJP government tried to rewrite the text books by removing references to Nehru, the first PM, and include biographies of controversial right-wing icons such as Savarkar and glorifying Nathuram Godse, the convicted assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, and vilifying Tippu Sultan. Needless to say, after the assembly elections, the newly elected government which defeated the BJP reversed the content and restored the earlier textbooks, which included references to Tippu Sultan as a freedom fighter who rebelled against the British.
Identity
The Issue of Identity could be very fraught in India, riven as it is with numerous layers of fragmentation in society, gender and class being only two layers. Caste, region, language, state, food habits, clothes, skin colour, appearance : there are any number of factors which can operate to create both a sense of community or a sense of alienation. In general, population of the less economically sound states, usually in the East, tend to migrate to the rest of the country to eke out fragile livelihoods in the cities of the South and North, and the fields and factories in Western India. Often these economic migrants, who in addition to being poor, could also belong to minorities like Adivasi, OBC, Dalit, or Muslim, thus making their lives in their place of work very risky and insecure. This is not only in the present day. Dr. BR Ambedkar, eminent constitutional lawyer, economist and thinker, writes in his introduction to an autobiographical account ‘Waiting for a Visa’[2], in which he relates various experiences of his life from childhood till he started working as a consultant to the Maharaja of Baroda, as well as including two telling instances of how untouchability took the life an innocent baby of a dalit man because the doctor refused to treat the newborn as she was “untouchable”, and another Dalit man who was harassed when he reported to duty in a government institution, so much so he had to leave the place and flee
Foreigners of course know of the existence of untouchability. But not being next door to it, so to say, they are unable to realise how oppressive it is in its actuality. It is difficult for them to understand how it is possible for a few untouchables to live on the edge of a village consisting of a large number of Hindus, go through the village daily to free it from the most disagreeable of its filth and to carry the errands of all the sundry, collect food at the doors of the Hindus, buy spices and oil at the shops of the Hindu Bania from a distance, regard the village in every way as their home, and yet never touch nor be touched by any one belonging to the village. The problem is how best to give an idea of the way the untouchables are treated by the caste Hindus. A general description or a record of cases of the treatment accorded to them are the two methods by which this purpose could be achieved. I have felt that the latter would be more effective than the former. In choosing these illustrations I have drawn partly upon my experience and partly upon the experience of others. I begin with events that have happened to me in my own life.
I have explored the issue of Identity from a gender and marginalised lens more fully in an article, “India, the Idea of Nation and the Subaltern Indian Woman”[3] I quote:
Writers such as Bankim Chandra wrote several novels which captured the popular imagination and his poems, especially “Vande Mataram”, a hymn in praise/worship of the Motherland, here depicted as a verdant fertile land, yielding much fruit, pure and glowing with light, adorned with fragrant flowers. This image of the land as a goddess became the order of the day. Depictions of the map of the country, with J&K as the crowned head of the goddess, the Southern Peninsula as the lower part of the body, adorned with the sari, Gujarat being the right arm, holding the palm out in benediction came quickly. From there, to depict Mother India – Bharat Mata riding on a Lion as the incarnation of the Divine Female, Durga or Shakti – was just a flourish of the artist’s paintbrush. As this image was part of the popular religious imagination of the politically powerful East of India, and as Calcutta was at the time an important political and economic capital, this image became the dominant “popular” visual representation of the aspiration of the people of India.
In the article, I go on to show how this is contrasted with the lived realities of the women from the marginalised sections, who tend to be very stressed and deprived of basic necessities of daily life like water, food, and even security of life and limb, living lives of deprivation and poverty for generations,and treated as less than human and untouchables, whereas the Idea of India as a nation is typified as the imagination of an uppercaste male, which casts the country as a woman who is “Sujalam, Suphalam, Malayaja Sheetalam” : verdant, fertile, cool, beautiful.
Culture
One of the most powerful drivers of identity is Culture. According to Wikipedia
“Over the centuries, there has been a significant fusion of cultures between Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs and various tribal populations in India. India is the birthplace of ….Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and other religions. They are collectively known as Indian religions…
India is also the home of numerous folk and indigenous belief systems and faith practices. There have been Jews on Indian soil since the time of King Solomon (circa 900 BC). There are historical evidences to show that Thomas the apostle of Jesus travelled to India in 52 AD, and brought the faith of Jesus with him. He was martyred in Mylapore near present day Chennai in 72 AD. Hence Christianity is also areligion of great antiquity in India. India’s west coast had trade relations with the Arabs even from the time of Kind David, in 1100 AD, and continued down the centuries. When Islam spread among the Arabs, it found its way to Indian shores: [4]
Even before the life of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in the 600s, Arab traders were in contact with India. Merchants would regularly sail to the west coast of India to trade goods such as spices, gold, and African goods. Naturally, when the Arabs began to convert to Islam, they carried their new religion to the shores of India. The first mosque of India, the Cheraman Juma Masjid, was built in 629 (during the life of Prophet Muhammad) in Kerala, by the first Muslim from India, Cheraman Perumal Bhaskara Ravi Varma. Through continued trade between Arab Muslims and Indians, Islam continued to spread in coastal Indian cities and towns, both through immigration and conversion.
Thus the culture of India is a rich amalgam of faith, Belief, food, clothes, and since it is a vast subcontinent with every kind of terrain from the highest of mountains to the driest of deserts, a coastline of several thousand kilometres, and mountains and rivers, with forests which vary widely in the kind of trees, plants, animals, birds, fish and flora, and produce a bewildering array of plant-related foods, medicines, spices, and other useful products the diversity in the food, clothing, language, architecture, and cultural art forms are probably the most diverse in the world. It was home to over 1700 spoken languages, and at the present time, statistics show that there are approximately 122 major languages spoken in India. Moreover, there are more than 1500 other languages or dialects that also exist in India as the mother tongue of various populations. The literature both oral and written is so vast. The oral literature continues in many remote populations since most of these languages lack a script. There are 22 official languages in India, which do have scripts. In some cases the scripts of the locally dominant language is used to write, for instance Konkani, spoken all along the western coast, lacks its own script and is written in the Kannada, Roman and Devanagari script depending on the area which the users live, and is also found in several dialects.
Like Religion, language is an important cultural marker and is often a flash point in India. In South India for instance there is widespread opposition to the use of Hindi because of the large numbers of local languages in south India whose speakers naturally believe here. In the case of the indigenous populations, there are a large number of spoken dialects which richly reflect their cultural diversity and worldview. In an India which is carved up into linguistic states, there are many subcultures in each state with numerous languages. Hence the dominant language can also be seen and experienced as a socially hegemonic factor. In such a context, the numerically smaller communities with their own language, namely the adivasis and Dalits, find it difficult to hold their own. Also among them are the artisanal castes, now called the backward classes. All three categories now constitute the Bahujans[5] communities in India. The problem of access to education for these groups is much compounded by the language issue. Since most of them speak languages without scripts, and the formal government schools run in the medium of the dominant groups in the state, there are many challenges. This is over and above the traditional ban on education for the marginalised and oppressed groups, based on the ideology of caste and discrimination based on one’s caste identity. Ironically, in India the school system is one of the sites of the replication of caste in society, as we will see further into this paper.
Cultural Appropriation by Elite capture of performative arts
However, the Dalit-Bahujans continue to face the loss of and appropriation of their cultural productions and artefacts. One of the most blatant and flagrant such appropriations is of their music and dance forms. What is now considered the acme of Indian classical dance, the Bharatanatyam, was actually, as late as the 1950s, a dance form known as Sadir, which was performed by non-brahmin women in temples in South India, primarily Tamil Nadu, accompanied by the men on several traditional wind and percussion instruments. In fact there is a caste known as Isai Vellalar – Isai meaning Music, and Vellalar the name of a sudra caste. The temple dancers were dedicated to the temples as girls and devoted their lives to this art form. In the early years of Independence, and eminent social and political activist, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, herself a daughter of a devadasi, initiated legislation to end the practice of the dedication of dancers to the temples in the Madras Presidency as early as the 1930s but faced a lot of opposition from both the public and the devadasis themselves. Ultimately the legislation was passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly in 1956.
Around the same time there was a move by another cultural activist, Rukminidevi Arundale[6], to promote the dance form, by performing it for an audience of upper-class /castes. She was herself from a progressive Brahmin family and was married to a white man, George Arundale, who was closely associated with Anne Besant and her Theosophical Society, which was active internationally and was very influential in India at the time. Annie Besant and another of her close associates, AO Hume were instrumental in starting the Indian National Congress and gave the call for “Home Rule”. Thus Rukminidevi had socio-cultural capital which she used to “redeem” Sadir from its “ill-reputed” roots which were linked with temple prostitution and “elevated” it to represent high art which depicted the relationship of the devotee to the Divine in Navarasas[7] or nine expressions/emotions. Along with them the entire presentation, including stagecraft, costumes, music, the relationship with the accompanists… everything passed into the hands of the elites, and a “classical” dance was born, right within living memory. The centre for dance called Kalaniketan, started in the 30s, moved to its present location in the 60s, and is a cultural complex with courses in dance, music, and also has a weaving centre which produces handloom sarees which are used by the students in their dance productions.
The traditional practitioners of the form are now completely isolated and alienated from the entire machinery of dance and cultural representation. In very recent years, one woman, Nritya Pillai, from the Isai Vellalar caste, has attempted to raise her voice against this appropriation and writes and speaks on the subject extensively.[8]
The Untouchables and Cultural Revolt
As seen above, the untouchables have traditionally been excluded from literacy and education in a cultural context which criminalises the education of those from the fourth varna, the Sudras and below them, the untouchables, now called the Dalits. It is for this reason that in recent years Dalits are asserting the need for the study of English by their children to counter the marginalisation that they face in society. Since they are thinly distributed across the country and also speak different languages and have varying traditionally mandated occupations, it is a matter of both common sense and pragmatism to study English which gives them the ability to interact with the world of education, professions, employment, trade, and business, arenas which were denied to them for centuries on account of their social exclusion from education and employment due to casteist mindsets of people in society.
However, the oppressed people did not all take it lying down. The earliest critiques of caste and Brahminism in modern times came from Jotirao Phule, from the backward Mali caste in Pune, who was among the first young men to get access to English education and was powerfully impacted by Thomas Paine’s “Rights of Man”. Phule and his equally illustrious wife, Savitribai, were the first to start formal schools for the girls of all communities in India, and as such are the pioneers in the emancipation of women in India, among many other path-breaking initiatives undertaken by them to improve the lot of the Bahujans, or Shudra-ati-shudras as he termed them
Jotirao Phule never wavered in his quest for truth and justice. The later generations took considerable time to understand and appreciate the profound significance of his unflinching espousal of the ‘rights of man’ which remained till the end of his life a major theme of his writings and a goal of his actions.’ Jotirao Phule also know as ‘Krantisurya’ was the first activist, writer, thinker, social reformer and revolutionary of non- Brahmin community of modern India. Phule was firm in his belief that the emancipation of the women, Shudras and ati-Sudras could be achieved only through the total annihilation of the Brahmanical culture system. Therefore in leading the low caste protest movement, he put himself outside the Brahmanical culture system and sought to create a counter-culture based on truth, justice and humanity,’ which he advocated in his work Sarvajanik Satya Dharma.[9]
On Phule’s life and work, Eminent Scholar of anti-Caste movements in India, Dr. Gail Omvedt, says[10]
Jyotirao Phule represented a very different set of interests and a very different outlook on India from all the upper caste elite thinkers of the so-called Indian Renaissance who have dominated the awareness of both Indian and foreign intellectuals. The elite expressed an ideology of what may be described as the “national revolution;” it was the nationalism of a class combining bourgeois and high caste traditions. Phule represented the ideology of the social revolution in its earliest form, with a peasant and anti-caste outlook.
Any culture rests upon a class society and the dominance of a particular class. In India, Hindu culture and the caste system rested upon Brahmanism; hence Phule linked his thought with a movement of opposition to the Brahman elite. “Non-Brahmanism”, therefore, represented not simply communalism or a result of British divide-and-rule policies; it represented the ? first expression of social revolution. (Omvedt 1971: 1969)
Jyotirao Phule represented a very different set of interests and a very different outlook on India from all the upper caste elite thinkers of the so-called Indian Renaissance who have dominated the awareness of both Indian and foreign intellectuals. The elite expressed an ideology of what may be described as the “national revolution;” it was the nationalism of a class combining bourgeois and high caste traditions. Phule represented the ideology of the social revolution in its earliest form, with a peasant and anti-caste outlook. ….Any culture rests upon a class society and the dominance of a particular class. In India, Hindu culture and the caste system rested upon Brahmanism; hence Phule linked his thought with a movement of opposition to the Brahman elite. “Non-Brahmanism”, therefore, represented not simply communalism or a result of British divide-and-rule policies; it represented the ?rst expression of social revolution. (Omvedt 1971: 1969)
Dr. BR Ambedkar, the eminent jurist, economist and polymath, also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution was inspired by Phule’s life and work. His extensive research and writings on caste, economics and law continue to be influential both in scholarship and public policy right down into the present day. Ambedkar too was from an untouchable caste and despite being from a relatively affluent background due to his father’s employment in the British Army, was subject to much caste humiliation in school and in fact even well after he qualified as a lawyer and had two doctorates, one in economics and another in Law. He was also an eminent scholar of religion and towards the end of his life, after extensive study of religion, decided to convert to Buddhism. His research shows how Buddhism was itself a revolt against the social stratification of the citizens that was prevalent in Buddha’s time. The Buddha’s impact was such that the Sangha was the equal space where all were welcome and were treated with equal regard. Even women found their place in sanghas, something the traditional practices denied them. Thus on 14th October 1956 he converted in a public ceremony in Nagpur at a ground now known as Dheekshabhoomi, and then proceeded to oversee the conversion of about 500,000 of his followers to Buddhism immediately after. This was a clear and public revolt by the Dalits against the brahminical practice of untouchability and caste discrimination.
Sumeet Samos: A Case Study
Sumeet Samos, s young scholar and cultural activist from the Dom Community in Odisha, wrote an autobiographical account[11] of how language, culture and education played out in his life, while also exploring the historical and sociological roots of his community. His community speaks Dom, and his remote village was such that they didn’t even hear Odia, the language of his state, being spoken. In a review of his book[12], carried in Scroll.in, the online news portal, the reviewer says:
Most scholarship on Dalits has typically reduced the burden of caste to their abjection and poverty, or it has fetishised their historical suffering for an upper-caste readership. Samos is interested in turning away from this anthropological gaze, and refers to himself as a “participant observer”, interlacing moments in the contemporary political history of Odisha with episodes of his life.
Steeped in the history and cultural politics of the Desia land, Samos traces the consolidation of local Brahminical identities from the reign of the Suryavanshi dynasty of the 15th century, the migration of upper-caste Hindus from coastal Odisha in the twentieth century, and the generation of Komatis who arrived after the Srikakulam rebellion of the ’70s. Samos clarifies that a Desiaidentity is primarily linguistic; it is referred to as the motherland of several communities, but is never personified with the same nationalist figures like Bharat Mata.
But the local government primary school taught in the Odia medium and had lessons steeped in mainstream Odia culture, very alien to their own lives. As a child, his family was the only one which followed the Christian faith in their Dom settlement, which was right opposite the town’s cremation ground. As children, they were witness to the almost daily cremations of corpses. Since their people were traditionally mandated to work in the cremation grounds, they were the most despised among the various dalit communities. But his grandfather was an itinerant seller of bangles and also the composer of many songs. In the course of his travels someone gave him a Bible, which carried home and placed on the shelf where there were other objects of worship. It lay there forgotten till one day there was a fire which razed the settlement. Only their house was saved. His elders then interpreted this to mean that the Bible had some power to save lives, and then it was opened and his father, then a young man, began to read. He had studied up to high school and was literate in Odia. Thus he discovered the God of the Bible, and began to live by it.[13]
He found a small but regular job in a nearby town and was able to ensure that his two children could go to school. Sumeet’s mother was also employed as a village health worker and served the community around her in the area of health – conducting home based deliveries, issuing basic medicines, etc. This family’s lived example, and his parents’ leadership brought a small praying community together which slowly grew and began to attract more and more young people into itself. This was an organic faith which was not mediated by any missionary work or any intervention from outside – no sops, no clergy. They worshipped singing songs they composed in their own language. There was no pastor or priest, only Sumeet’s father taught them what he learned from reading the Word. His mother led the group in prayers, and continues to have an active mentoring role with generations of their community even now. There were no rice bags or school admissions involved!
Who tells such stories of the people who live forgotten in remote locations? But this story written in English by a young person whose father put him in an English medium school, the only rural dalit boy in the school – he faced endless teasing and torture by his fellow hostellers, but refused to complain either to his parents or the school authorities. He knew that if he was taken out from there he would lose his chance to go out into the world. He applied himself to his lessons and excelled not only in studies but in extra-curricular activities like elocution and debate, and soon made a mark at the district level, winning prizes in these contests. He tried to find ways to earn some money and bought English guides and books in the town nearby and tried his best to practice speaking and reading in English. Eventually he finished well in his 12th, and even won a place in a central engineering college in South India, but found that he couldn’t manage to survive with the lack of resources and social support.
He went back, studied a BA, moved to Delhi to find what he could do next. Someone known to him was in JNU and he heard about its fee structure and academics, and took the tough entrance and passed, completed his masters in Spanish language and then, for reasons of caste discrimination couldn’t get into the MPhil course of his choice. This was the time when JNU was in ferment due to a number of cases, the Rohith Vemula agitations, the ECC, and the JNU’s admin harassment of students for scholarships etc was at its peak.
It was around this time that he discovered that he could compose and sing rap songs. He began to rap in the protest meetings, and his compositions ranged from Dom to Hindi to English. They brought him instant fame, since the news media covered the agitations. He began to receive invitations from young people in campuses across the country. Staff from a French radio station invited him to join their promotional tours in France and soon his rapping went international too!
He wanted to go for higher studies but as a result of the punitive measures by the university against those who had agitated, his marks transcripts were badly delayed but ultimately they were released. He applied for and got a place in Oxford University for an MPhil course. The fees were completely out of his reach and he went for crowdfunding the 36 lakhs he required. He was able to reach his target funding support within a few days! He completed his course and returned to India, and soon was able to publish his remarkable memoirs while still in his 20s. He credits his parents, their faith and hard work, and the family’s faith in God for the extraordinary twists and turns his life took in the face of almost unimaginable odds. Their example has now opened the way for many of the young people in the Dom community to look for opportunities for education and employment, where earlier they only could think of daily wage work in nearby towns. Several have gone on to study in Universities, even prestigious ones like JNU. Many girls have taken up studies in nursing and started working in up-market hospitals in cities far afield like Bangalore.
State Response to the Caste system
The young Indian state attempted to birth a brave new world with the mottos of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, as stated in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution, clearly the imprint of the Liberal values of its architect Dr. BR Ambedkar. While the Indian state has attempted to correct the wrongs of historical and traditional caste discrimination by providing reparations in the form of reservations in education, jobs and democratic representation, the implementation of these and other protective and progressive legislations have suffered by a complete lack of political will to implement them in letter and spirit.
On the contrary, one continues to see disturbing social trends in which the bahujans are continued to be oppressed in increasing ways, even for such trivialities as men growing moustaches, wearing fashionable clothes like jeans and shades, riding motorbikes, etc. Dalits continue to live in segregated settlements, and are subjected to serious destructive attacks on their dwellings and posessions, and the poisoning of their water sources : major hate crimes which recur even in the present day, all over the country. Political mobilisation, education, jobs : nothing seems to make a dent in the stubborn persistence of caste hate in society. It is becoming increasingly common to see that young couples especially where the male is a dalit or bahujan, being killed for daring to cross caste boundaries to love and marry.
Any assertion by Dalits is put down with a firm hand, even by the state machinery. One of the most glaring examples is that of the 16 people who were arrested and some of them incarcerated without charge for several years after a public meeting, the Elgar Parishad, on the eve of an annual celebration at the site of the Bhima Koregaon monument, which was put up to commemorate the defeat of the oppressive Peshwa regime in Maharashtra by a very small contingent comprising of mercenaries mostly from bahujan communities. The year 2017 was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. More details on this are found in this recent update in the Mint.[14]
The lives of the Dalit women are in a category of their own. They are subject to all forms of violence, exclusion and deprivation but continue to display remarkable courage, resourcefulness and humanity in the face of these oppressive systems. For more on this topic, please read my article Feminism and Dalit women in India at
Sumeet’s story while unique in many ways, is repeated in the lives of many young bahujans though the exact details may vary. Thus the struggle to transcend the disadvantages of birth and caste continues into the present day and will continue into the future as well, as long as political and religious ideologies continue to promote unfreedoms and consequently inequality for certain sections in society.
Cynthia Stephen is an Independent Social Policy Researcher
Courtesy : Counter Currents
Press Release
For Immediate Release
Diverting Dalit / Adivasi Funds to Corporate -
New Way of Sidelining Social Justice in India
Union budget 2024-2025 at a Glance
Total Budget | Budget Allocated for SCs | Budget Allocated for STs | Due as per SCSP for SCs | Due as per TSP for STs | Total Due | Denied |
4820512.00 | 165493.00 | 132214.00 | 795384.00 | 395281.00 | 1190665.00 | 297707.00 |
Source: Union Budget 2024-25
(SC.ST allocation must be 25%)24 July 2024, New Delhi: The Union Budget of the year 2024-25 is Rs. 48, 20,512 crore out of which only Rs. 1,65,493 Cr (3.43%) against the due Rs 7,95,384 Cr is allocated for Scheduled Caste and only Rs 1,32,214 crore (2.74 %) for STs against the due amount of Rs. 3,95,281 Cr as per SCSP and TSP of 1975 and 1979. The union budget grossly failed to allocate the budget as per the policy and it shows that the Union Government is totally against the due empowerment of SCs and STs.
The money for direct benefit schemes for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is blatantly diverted to corporate. In this union budget, the Centre government siphoned the budget to irrelevant sectors (against the mandate of SCSP and TSP) like telecommunication, semiconductor, large-scale electronics, and transport industries, fertilizer import, chemical productions etc. from the SC/ST fund. We are highlighting a few of the examples that show how blatantly the government has diverted the budget and violated the Indian Constitution.
Reality of Caste-based inequalities: Negligible budget to rehabilitate manual scavengers and their families
No budget is allocated for the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) in the last two financial years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.
Shockingly low amount of Rs. 1 lakh for the entire year 2024-25 to National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC), agency responsible for financing loans and providing financial assistance to the Safai Karamcharis across India.
In 2022-2023 the union budget allocated for SRMS was 70 crores out of which only 11.1 crore was utilized with a lapse of about 58.9 crores. A similar lapse of more than 50% of the budget can be seen from the year 2020 onwards.
Huge budget of Rs 236.99 crore is given to schemes like National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) which is a token arrangement to give money to corporations without rehabilitating existing manual scavengers.
Diverting SC/ST budget to corporates: Dalits and Adivasis Unlikely beneficiaries
Allocated Rs. 1,543 Cr from SC fund and Rs. 597 Cr from ST fund amounting to a total of Rs. 2,140 Cr from the SC/ST welfare fund for Schemes like “Compensation to Service Providers for creation and augmentation of telecom infrastructure”.
“Modified Program for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem in India” diverts Rs. 573 Cr from SC fund and Rs. 462 from ST fund with a total Rs. 1,035 Cr.
Rs. 508 Cr from SC fund and Rs. 410 Cr from ST fund diverted to large scale manufacturing companies under “Production linked Incentive for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing”
A grand total of Rs. 22,052.15 Cr. given to importers and manufacturers which has no relation to development of SCs/STs through schemes like “Subsidy for import and indigenous manufacturing of urea and other fertilizers Phosphorus and Potassium”. Rs. 14,356 Cr diverted from SC fund and Rs. 7,696.15 Cr diverted from the ST fund.
Schemes like VISVAS, NAMASTE, SEEDS, PM DAKSH Yojana, SHREYAS, SMILE are only fairy tales of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman. We are shocked to see that there is no budget allocation for the Development Action Plan for SCs, with no way to plan and implement the schemes. While there was expectation of a new scheme for the protection and livelihood of Dalit and Adivasi women from the finance minister, it is shocking that no scheme has been introduced for their benefit in the new budget.
On behalf of Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) and People’s Media Advocacy and Research Centre (PMARC), Sewerage and Allied Workers Forum (SSKM), Indian Sanitation Studies Collective (ISSC) we request the Union Government of India to take strong action and allocate the budget as per the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP).
For more details contact: Umesh Babu ( 9810645828) | dashaktimanch@gmail.com
Analysed by: Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM)
In solidarity
Sanjeev Kumar
Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM)
--
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)
Mobile: (+91) 99587 97409 | Phone: +91 1143305316
Email: sanjeevdanda@gmail.com | dashaktimanch@gmail.com
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UT NEWS.TRUTH GOES THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA..GOOGLE..ONLY
BRAHMIN BANIA NEWS PAPERS AND TV CHANNELS WILL NEVER TELECAST THIS TRUE MESSAGES..HENCE OUR PEOPLE MUST STOP WATCHING THEIR TVs AND READING THEIR PAPERS.
Salute to Social Media...
Regressive Indian Society
Omay Aimen
The Hindu scriptures outline the roles and status of the hereditary classes that make up Indian society, known as castes. The Dalits, who were denied the right to education and forced into hard work or menial jobs, are at the lowest of the social hierarchy, while Brahmins, who assert that they alone possess the authority to execute religious rites, are at the supreme and unchallenged caste. During India’s independence, caste discrimination was not as conspicuous as it is today where radical Hindu mobs have even resorted to massacre of Dalits who attempted to proudly declare their status. In Maharashtra, a state jointly ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a 22-year-old was killed by stabbing and beating earlier this month in remembrance of the Dalit economist and lawyer BR Ambedkar, who penned India’s constitution; an utter disregard to national heroes.
Dalits are one of the most marginalized groups in India, even though they only make up 16.6% of the country’s population. More than 400 incidents of crimes against Dalits were recorded in the first two months of 2024 alone; however, many of these acts go unreported and undetected, thus the number of cases that are documented is probably just a small portion of the total. This ongoing issue serves as a reminder of the larger issue of caste-based prejudice that has taken an ugly phenomenon in Indian society. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 10 Dalit women and girls are raped in India every day. This figure is a shocking revelation in a nation that is already well-known for its dismal record on women’s safety. These statistics show a dark reality, notwithstanding India’s self-proclaimed boasts about its laws and programmes targeted at elevating and empowering women. Dalits’ vulnerability is increased by the caste system, which is ingrained in Indian society and continues to be a source of violence and prejudice against them.
UN, US Take Notice of Human Rights Violations in India
The ongoing violence against Dalits and other marginalized communities is a socio-political issue that might have a significant impact on India, beyond merely a human rights concern. There is a growing amount of scrutiny surrounding the nation’s image abroad. The United Nations and members of the US Senate and House of Representatives have begun to take notice, and they are calling for sanctions on India because of Modi’s persistent abuses of human rights. If the government does not implement effective steps to address the root causes of this violence, the attention of the world community to these concerns might have serious diplomatic and economic consequences for India.
Caste Divisions and Education System in India
Despite advancing a narrative of growth and advancement, the Modi administration has come under fire for not doing more to alleviate the situation of the Dalits. In India, the education system perpetuates caste divisions; Dalit students are subjected to harassment and prejudice that impairs their chances for success in school. Discrimination is perpetrated by institutional impediments that persist despite reservations and scholarships, such as the underrepresentation of Dalits in academic and professional fields. Employment discrimination is particularly important as Dalits are frequently excluded from higher-paying professions and forced into low-paying occupations. Modi regime is absolutely averse to any attempt aimed at elevating Dalit people in Indian society. Private sector discrimination also remains rampant, contributing to their economic marginalization and social vulnerability.
The Indian legal system, despite having provisions to protect Dalits, often fails to deliver justice. There are regular complaints of police apathy and court delays in instances involving Dalit victims, as well as uneven execution of status such as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The absence of prompt and efficient legal action fosters a climate of impunity and gives offenders more confidence.
Modi, who visited US last year, has come under fire for his administration’s treatment of minorities, the disintegration of constitutional institutions, and the detention of opposition figures in India. Critics claim that his party wants to convert India into a Hindu nation where minorities like Muslims, Dalits, and others are considered as less than human. The consequences of a Modi’s state visit feel personal to some Americans because they are still being felt overseas. In public speeches, Modi advocates for the abolition of caste, stating lately that the only caste in India is “Indianness.” However, members of his own party back and shield Hindu vigilantes from higher castes. Though animosity towards minorities has often characterized India’s past, the rise of Modi, whose political career began in the wake of a Muslim tragedy in Gujarat in 2002, has given Hindu vigilantes more confidence. Since then, Modi has become as one of the most polarizing politicians in India, and these differences are starting to stir up the Indian diaspora residing in the US. Modi’s radical and apartheid policies towards minorities are reflective of a regressive India falling prey to its divisive mindset. Indian civil society is expected to take stock of the situation to preserve virtues and f plurality and secularism as claimed by so called world’s largest democracy.
–The author is an independent researcher who writes on issues concerning national and regional security, focusing on matters having critical impact in these milieus. She can be reached at omayaimen333@gmail.com
Omay Aimen
The writer is a freelance contributor and writes on issues concerning national and regional security. She can be reached at: omayaimen333@gmail.com
- NATIONAL Govt spreading hatred towards Dalits tribals minorities AAP MP Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) AAP MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday alleged that the government was spreading hatred towards Dalits, tribals and minorities as he criticised the decision of certain BJP-ruled states on display of names of shop owners on the Kanwar Yatra route.
Participating in the Budget discussion in the Rajya Sabha, he also said the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has not benefited any section of the society.
He dismissed the Budget as anti-farmer, anti-youth and anti-businesses.
In an apparent reference to the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments directive to eateries along the Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of their owners, staff and other details, Singh said, "I want to ask the government whether the 10 crore street vendors do not contribute to the economy. They pay tax to the government...you asked street vendors to display their nameplates in front of their establishments...(and inform) whether you are Hindu, Muslim, Dalit, backward or tribal."
He accused the government of creating differences among the society through such moves.
"Such things should not take place in the country. India is a secular country... You hate Dalits, backward classes, tribals, minorities, and Muslims," he added.
On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered an interim stay on the directives issued by the two state governments.
Pointing out that the central government has reduced allocation for jails, Singh took a jibe at the BJP, saying the condition of jails should be improved as "you all will go to jail".
The AAP leader also criticised the government for using probe agencies to jail opposition leaders.
Independent member Kapil Sibal raised issues of unemployment in the country and said there is no roadmap in the budget to address concerns around rising unemployment.
He cited an ILO report which claimed that 83 per cent of India's youth is unemployed.
"You can imagine the crisis that this country is facing. I would have thought that the finance minister should have given a roadmap to deal with the unemployment crisis. "Unfortunately, they have not been able to provide this roadmap because they will have to generate an employment of seven to 8 million people on a yearly basis for the next 30 years," he said.
Sibal said the developed world is having a declining population and aged people are outnumbering the young. He said developed countries need artificial intelligence to get their work done but it is difficult to use AI in India due to 83 per cent unemployment.
Trinamool Congress member Dola Sen said a sensible government would have reduced tax burden on the middle class and increased taxes on billionaires.
YSRCP member V Vijaysai Reddy demanded special status for Andhra Pradesh. He said that the budget has only made provision for Rs 15,000 crore loan.
AIADMK's M Thambidurai, BJP's Bhagwat Karad and Congress member Akhilesh Prasad Singh also participated in the discussion on the union budget.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
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