08.05.2025.UT NEWS.A collection of SC.ST.Buddhist,Adivasi,reservation atrocity news of India.by Team Sivaji.9444917060.asivaji1962@gmail.com


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When a mob of 300 caste Hindus attacked SC settlement, why only 12 were held, asks NGO

Evidence team learned that SC community women were subjected to verbal abuse and casteist slurs by the perpetrators; the Collector and the SP should have inspected the location and spoken to the victims, but they refrained from doing so, it said

Published - May 07, 2025 08:13 pm IST - MADURAI

A. Kathir

A. Kathir


“When a mob of more than 300 Most Backward Community people rampaged through the Scheduled Caste people’s settlement to destroy their properties, why only 12 of them were arrested?,” asked Kathir, founder of Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO.

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Thursday, 8 May, 2025

Celebrating the legacy of Babasaheb Ambedkar

A thought-provoking and enriching event titled ‘Celebrating Ambedkar’ was organised at New Alipore College by the SC, ST, OBC and Other Marginalized Cell, in collaboration with the Department of Political Science, the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), and Swami Vivekananda University.

Tarun Goswami | May 7, 2025 3:52 pm

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Censoring Caste, Condoning Hate: The CBFC’s Betrayal of Phule’s Revolutionary Soul

Phule’s Gulamgiri challenged the Manusmriti; Ambedkar’s Constitution tried to bury it. But in 2025, the CBFC brings it back, silencing Bahujan voices while amplifying communal ones. The irony is clear: a film about truth is silenced by those claiming to protect society.
The film’s voiceover, which likely explained Phule’s theory of caste and his challenge to myths, was completely removed.
The film’s voiceover, which likely explained Phule’s theory of caste and his challenge to myths, was completely removed.
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When Chhaava hit screens in 2025, its Maratha bravado ignited over riots in Maharashtra, leaving a trail of communal hate. Yet, the Censor Board (CBFC) allowed it without hesitation. At the same time, Phule, a film that celebrated the life and struggles of Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule against caste discrimination, was cut to pieces. The CBFC forced 12 cuts, removing words like 'Mahar,' 'Manu dharma,' and even the harsh truth about untouchability.

In Gulamgiri, Phule had exposed the lies of Brahminical dominance. But in 2025, the CBFC helped to hide them again. While movies like The Kerala Story openly spread hate against Muslims without any trouble, Phule, a film that spoke of equality, was silenced. It even weakened the strong link between Phule and Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy.

This is not about rules. This is about caste. This is about protecting power and silencing truth. As Phule’s broom is banned and Chhaava’s sword is celebrated, we must ask: Whose history is allowed to be told?

Phule’s Gulamgiri: A Blueprint for Revolution

In Gulamgiri, Phule didn’t just criticize caste — he tore down the false religious stories that kept it alive. He showed that Vishnu’s avatars were not gods but Aryan warriors. He saw kings like Bali and Hiranyakashyap  called "demons" in Brahminical stories, but in fact they were brave indigenous leaders who fought against Aryan invaders. Phule exposed how Brahmins created fake scriptures like the Manusmriti to enslave Shudras and Ati Shudras. Through his Satyashodhak Samaj and schools for girls and "untouchables," Phule planted the first seeds of freedom. Years later, Dr. Ambedkar would nurture these seeds.

Ambedkar’s books Who Were the Shudras? and The Untouchables carried forward Phule’s fight to rewrite history. His call to “Educate, Agitate, Organize” came straight from Phule’s dream of empowering the oppressed. His Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha also followed Phule’s model of organizing the marginalized.The film Phule promised to show this powerful journey on screen, but the Censor Board’s cuts made sure that story was silenced.

The CBFC’s Surgical Strike on Phule

On April 7, 2025, the CBFC, under pressure from groups like the Akhil Bhartiya Brahman Mahasangh, demanded 12 major changes before giving Phule a ‘U’ certificate.

Firstly, erasing Caste Terms  like “Mahar,” “Mang,” “Peshwai”, and “Manu dharma” were banned. This severed the film’s connection to Phule’s bold attack on Brahminical text and regime in Gulamgiri. Secondly, the film originally showed a Dalit man forced to tie a broom to his waist, wiping away his own footprints, a brutal reality of caste discrimination. The CBFC, however, replaced this with a softer scene where boys throw cow dung at Savitribai. By cutting such scenes, the CBFC buried the harsh truths that Phule had fought to bring into the light. Thirdly, muted  dialogues like “Jahan shudro ko jhadu bandhkar chalna chahiye” was changed to a weak call for harmony. The powerful phrase “3,000 saal purani gulami” was reduced to “kai saal purani,” removing Phule’s comparison of caste oppression to global slavery. Lastly, the film’s voiceover, which likely explained Phule’s theory of caste and his challenge to myths, was completely removed. Without it, the film lost its intellectual depth and revolutionary power.

These cuts, claimed to be “educational” changes, don’t just edit a film, they erase Phule’s revolutionary essence, reducing his anti-caste war into a harmless reform story.

Erasing Phule, Silencing Ambedkar

The CBFC’s cuts strip away Phule’s portrayal of Jyotirao’s true history. Without key terms like “Manu dharma” and the raw visuals of untouchability, the film loses its critique of Brahminical myths as tools of control. Phule’s racial theory, portraying Brahmins as invaders and Shudras as natives, is erased, reducing the film to a generic reform story. This also disconnects the film from Ambedkar, who used Phule’s ideas to rewrite history and burn the Manusmriti. The cut scenes of the Satyashodhak Samaj fail to show its influence on Ambedkar’s organizations, and the softened dialogues water down Phule’s educational vision, which inspired Ambedkar’s call to “Educate.”

A Casteist Censorship Regime

The Phule controversy reveals a censorship system that supports caste privilege. Brahmin groups, reacting to a two-minute trailer, show their fear of truth, something Phule mocked in Gulamgiri. The CBFC’s approval of hate films, while censoring Phule, highlights this bias. Anurag Kashyap’s Instagram post asks, “Why censor a film about equality but allow films dividing India?” Riots after Chhaava show the real threat to harmony, yet the CBFC targets Phule’s broom, not Chhaava’s sword.

This isn’t just about one film. It’s about a country avoiding its caste sins. Phule’s Gulamgiri challenged the Manusmriti; Ambedkar’s Constitution tried to bury it. But in 2025, the CBFC brings it back, silencing Bahujan voices while amplifying communal ones. The irony is clear: a film about truth is silenced by those claiming to protect society.

“Phule” could have been a powerful reminder of Jyotirao and Savitribai’s fight against caste, inspiring Ambedkar’s work. Instead, the CBFC’s 12 cuts have watered down the film, erasing Phule’s radical message. The CBFC’s double standards, allowing Chhaava’s hate-filled narrative while censoring Phule’s truth, reveal a casteist bias in India’s cultural gatekeeping. If Phule became a national icon like Ambedkar, it would dismantle the 3,000-year-old Brahminical hegemony. They may have tolerated Ambedkar, but they cannot digest Phule’s Gulamgiri, which exposes Brahmin dominance in India. To counter the factional history created by Brahmins over millennia, Phule’s Gulamgiri offers the only root-level solution to break the chains of Bahujan slavery. As caste violence continues, we must ask: Why does India fear Phule’s broom more than Chhaava’s blood? The answer lies in the privilege exposed by Gulamgiri, which the CBFC seeks to protect. To honor Phule and Ambedkar, we must demand uncensored truths—films that burn like Gulamgiri, not fade under censorship.

- The author is an LLB student at the University of Delhi.


 Telangana: Adivasi Farmers Await Solar Pumps for ROFR Lands Telangana Pillalamarri Srinivas 7 May 2025 10:58 PM According to sources, rural development minister Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) will distribute solar pump sets to tribal farmers in Pipri village of Indravelli mandal on May 9. She is also scheduled to launch borewell digging works to improve land productivity and irrigation access. Adivasi farmers, who had pinned hopes on solar pump sets to irrigate their ROFR (Recognition of Forest Rights) lands, are still awaiting the promised support. Under the previous BRS government’s ‘Giri Vikasam’ scheme, ITDA officials had dug borewells but failed to install motors, leaving farmers without irrigation facilities. (Photo: X) Adilabad: Adivasi farmers, who had pinned hopes on solar pump sets to irrigate their ROFR (Recognition of Forest Rights) lands, are still awaiting the promised support. Under the previous BRS government’s ‘Giri Vikasam’ scheme, ITDA officials had dug borewells but failed to install motors, leaving farmers without irrigation facilities. With forest officials refusing clearance for three-phase electricity lines in forest areas, the state government is now focusing on solar pump sets as a viable solution to power irrigation motors. Earlier, during the Congress regime, borewells were dug under the ‘Indira Jalaprabha’ programme to develop tribal lands. The current government has revived those efforts by sanctioning solar pump sets for the same borewells. Also Read - Sridhar Babu Pays Tributes To Mortal Remains Of Greyhounds Constable Killed In Landline Blast Advertisement According to sources, rural development minister Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) will distribute solar pump sets to tribal farmers in Pipri village of Indravelli mandal on May 9. She is also scheduled to launch borewell digging works to improve land productivity and irrigation access. The ITDA has sanctioned 55 solar pump sets under Giri Vikasam for ROFR land development where Adivasi farmers hold pattas. Indravelli Market Committee director Kodapa Srikanth said farmers stand to gain significantly if solar pump sets are provided, especially since many still face issues due to the absence of a three-phase power supply. Small and marginal Adivasi farmers have repeatedly appealed to the state government for solar-powered motors to develop their lands, but their requests have largely gone unanswered. Most ROFR farmers grow rain-fed crops like cotton and the lack of irrigation prevents them from shifting to alternatives such as paddy or vegetable cultivation. ( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
 ROFR ITDA Solar Pump Sets Danasari Anasuya  India Southern States Telangana Adilabad  Download the Deccan Chronicle Android and iOS app on your phone for news and views from around the world - accurate and immediate.
  Author Pillalamarri Srinivas.

Hindustan Times News
  • HT100

‘SC-ST funds are never released in full by the finance department’

May 06, 2025 07:02 AM IST

MUMBAI: ₹746 crore meant for SCs and STs diverted to the Ladki Bahin scheme sparks controversy; spending on welfare has consistently fallen below 75%.

MUMBAI: Although the recent diversion of 746 crore meant for the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) to the Ladki Bahin scheme has stirred up a controversy, data shows that diversion and short spending in the social justice and tribal development departments is a routine affair. These departments overseeing the welfare of SCs and STs respectively have been spending less than 75% of their budgetary allocation over the years on account of the finance department not releasing the full funds to them.

Sanjay Shirsat (HT Archives) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)
Sanjay Shirsat (HT Archives) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

The order to divert 410.30 crore of the social justice department and 335.70 crore of the tribal development department to the Ladki Bahin Yojana was given by the government on Friday. This angered the SCs and STs, as the budget meant for these communities is in proportion to their population and cannot be diverted to other departments. The government’s move led to social justice minister and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat calling Ajit Pawar the “finance department’s Shakuni” without naming him.

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Shirsat’s words have angered the NCP. Hassan Mushrif, NCP leader and medical education minister, on Monday said that Shirsat should have brought the diversion to the notice of the finance department rather than going public. “Ajit Pawar is not diverting the money for his own benefit neither can he conjure up funds from nowhere,” he said. “Shirsat should refrain from making such extreme remarks.”

However, while the diversion of SC-ST funds has led to fireworks in political circles, budget data shows that this has been happening for quite some time. The spending on SCs in 2024-25 was 21,122 crore out of a budgetary allocation of 28,118, and 16,948 crore for STs against an allocation of 22,208. Similarly, in FY 2023-24, 20,672 crore was spent on SCs against an outlay of 28,831 crore while 15,315 crore was spent on STs against an allocation of 21,013 crore. Expenditure, thus, has been ranging between 72% and 75% of the allocation to the two departments.

“The social justice department should get 11.8% of the development budget without any cuts and diversions,” said an official. “Similarly, the STs should get 9.4% outlay. But the actual expenditure is far less. The two departments have not been able to spend the outlay, as the full allocation is never released by the finance department. This largely affects scholarships and the construction and upkeep of residential schools. This year, we had decided to spend 1,200 crore on the construction of hostels, but the diversion of 410 crore in the first month of the financial year may affect our ambitious programme.”

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Shirsat, who had alleged that 7,000 crore was diverted from his department in the last financial year, admitted that the release of money for scholarships gets routinely delayed due to diversions. “We are not opposing the Ladki Bahin Yojana, but we want the chief minister to make a full allocation as per the norms for SCs,” he said.

The Finance Commission, in its 2004 guidelines, had stated that SCs and STs should get a budget outlay in proportion to their population and that this should not be diverted or lapsed (returned to the government). Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana have passed a law for budgetary allocation to these classes in proportion to their population and have prohibited lapse of the outlay in the event of its non-utilisation. Shirsat said he would demand a similar law for Maharashtra from the CM.

Rupesh Keer of Samarthan, an NGO which studies the state budget, said, “Even the CAG, in its report last year, rapped the government for not releasing the budget meant for the backward classes. The finance department is the one responsible for diverting funds and short spending.”

Ladki Bahin payout will not be upped: Shirsat

Social welfare minister Sanjay Shirsat on Monday said that the Ladki Bahin stipend could not be raised to 2,100. This is for the first time that a minister has said on record that the promise made in the assembly elections last year will not be fulfilled. “The payout cannot be increased because of the financial burden on the exchequer,” he said. “We are, however, committed to continuing the scheme, with borrowed money if need be, as it has helped us win the elections.”

All the three ruling parties had announced the hike in the payout, and the government was expected to declare this in the budget presented in March. However, the CM and both deputy CMs said the hike would be implemented at the appropriate time. Ajit Pawar went a step further and recently said that he never had promised to increase the payout to 2,100.

Dalit Samiti to stage protest on May 13

Published - May 07, 2025 09:54 pm IST - KALABURAGI

Strongly condemning the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people died and opposing the anti-farmer, anti-Dalit, anti-Minority policies of the BJP-led Central government, the Karnataka Rajya Dalit Sangharsh Samiti will stage a State-wide protest on May 13.

State convener of the samiti D.G. Sagar, addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, accused the Narendra Modi government of implementing policies that has worsened the economic conditions of farmers. The price hike of petrol, diesel and essential commodities has made life difficult for common people,

 he said.

Dalit boy becomes first from UP village to pass Class 10 since Independence

Ramkeval, a 15-year-old from Nizampur, a village in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, has made history by becoming the first from his village to pass Class 10 since the Independence in 1947.

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Dalit boy becomes first from UP village to pass Class 10 since Independence
Ramkeval, a 15-year-old from Nizampur, a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district, has made history by becoming the first from his village to pass Class 10 since the Independence in 1947. (Representative image)

In Short

  • Ramkeval becomes first in in his UP village to pass class 10 since independence
  • He worked wedding jobs and studied late nights to prepare for exams
  • His story inspires others in the village to aim for education

In a small corner of Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district, history was made this year. Ramkeval, a 15-year-old from Nizampur, became the first student in his village to ever pass the UP Class 10 board exams since India’s independence.

The UP board result 2025, released in the last week of April, has been a big moment for many students across the state, but for this remote village of just 300 people, mainly from Dalit families, it has meant something much bigger.

The caste that doesn’t want to be counted

Names like ‘Paliya’ are not just labels. They are wounds — and also acts of survival, dignity, and resistance. A just census must see without shaming, count without erasing, and recognise without punishing

caste censusIn many villages, Paliyas now call themselves Rajbanshi or Kshatriya — names that offer recognition and less stigma
indianexpress

Dhiraj Singha

May 6, 2025 12:08 IST

In a village on the outskirts of Kaliyaganj, near the Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district, I once sat with Robin, a retired schoolteacher and former census enumerator. “I didn’t mark anyone as Paliya. I counted their names as Rajbanshi. No one should remain Paliya,” he told me. This wasn’t done with the intention to deceive, but out of a sense of duty. As if he was righting some historical wrong — removing a “slur”, read as a caste name that carries social stigma.

This encounter unveiled a dilemma around caste counting: People’s yearning for dignity, individuals negotiating stigma, and the state machinery that both conceals and discloses caste. Amidst the move for a national caste census, my ethnographic experience made me ask: What happens when the state counts caste, but a caste does not want to name itself?

The decline of a community

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The Paliya community, officially listed among West Bengal’s 61 Scheduled Castes (SCs), is facing statistical erasure. Census data reveals a sharp decline in their recorded population: From 1.33 million in 1991, to 1.31 million in 2001, and then a steep fall to 1.01 million by 2011.

This isn’t a demographic accident. It’s the outcome of reshaping identity, everyday acts of concealment, renaming, and reclassification. In many villages across Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur, Paliyas now call themselves Rajbanshi or Kshatriya — names that offer recognition and less stigma.

Chitra, a retired teacher and social activist, told me, “We have to be cultured. Those who still call themselves Paliya don’t know about our heroes, our history, or Panchanan Barma.” He added, “If past generations didn’t know, will we continue to remain ignorant and call ourselves Paliyas?”

The caste that refuses to be counted


Much of this “identity work” is driven by stigma. The term “Paliya” is linked with notions of impurity, “untouchability”, and foreignness. Colonial ethnographers and Hindu scriptures have both framed Paliyas as “depressed”, “pisacha”, or “kuvacha” — beings with demonic tongues and impure habits. Contemporary stereotypes often paint them as a community of “quarrelsome women”, “pork-eating men”, or “unclean” migrants.

These labels are not abstract, they shape the everyday life of the community. Many Paliyas adopt surnames like Ray or Sarkar, participate in sacred thread ceremonies, and seek blessings from Brahmin priests — all to symbolically affirm their Kshatriya status. During census years, they change not only their self-perception, but official identities on documents that influence policy and representation.

Enumerators as agents of erasure

The story becomes complicated as many Paliyas often serve as census enumerators. Robin wasn’t alone. Jitu, another resident, confided he had two caste certificates — one saying Paliya and the other Rajbanshi. “It doesn’t feel good to hear ‘Paliya’,” he said. “So I thought, let it be Rajbanshi.”

Field interviews with an enumerator, now a retired schoolteacher, from the Desia/Rajbanshi community corroborated this pattern. He insisted: “We must write what people tell us. But in this area, everyone says Rajbanshi. Only one in a thousand says Paliya. So that’s what we write.”

Thus, a complex circuit of silence emerges, where individuals avoid naming themselves, and the state stops asking. Stigma creates denial. Denial feeds erasure.

Misalignment — A tactic?

This isn’t just confusion. It’s a politics of misalignment — the widening gap between lived caste realities and official categories. The stigmatised misreport caste to escape caste. Misalignment becomes a survival strategy.

But this misalignment is uneven. Those with bureaucratic savvy or political networks can successfully “pass” as Rajbanshi or Kshatriya. Others — without certificates or rituals of concealment — remain marked. Ironically, they’re stigmatised for failing to escape stigma.
As one elderly resident explained, “The Babu Paliyas can eat everything — even pigs. But we are Sadhu Paliyas. We are clean. We are Barman.” These internal hierarchies — Matal, Sadhu, Desi — reveal how stigma is not erased but percolates within the community itself.

This is not new. In colonial times, Rajbanshi leaders distanced themselves from “semi-Hindu” Paliyas or Koches in their campaign for Kshatriya status. The postcolonial state grouped Koch, Rajbanshi, and Paliya under three broad SC categories, quietly allowing realignments through electoral, welfare and symbolic rewards.

Can the census see stigma?

A caste census, in theory, promises to rectify these gaps by producing accurate data to inform policy, redress injustice, and ensure representation. But in Bengal, where caste is seen as a “non-issue,” this promise is fragile.

Enumeration cannot work when shame, concealment, and fiction shape self-presentation. It cannot capture caste when people, understandably, lie to escape it, and when enumerators are not trained to handle caste sensitivity. The result is a statistical picture that hides more than it reveals. Data cannot produce justice when visibility invites ridicule and silence offers safety.

Moreover, the state’s own actions have muddied the waters. By failing to address sub-caste realities, refusing public engagement with caste stigma, and using umbrella categories, the state has institutionalised misalignment, mirroring colonial-Brahmanical mislabelling.

This has larger implications in times of increasing digitalisation, where this data becomes the basis of decision-making. Digital tools, built on such flawed inputs, amplify these gaps unless we push for a census that captures caste’s complexity — its social, behavioural, ethnic, historical, emotional, and linguistic aspects shaping every one.

Where do we go from here? First, we must reject the myth that Bengal is casteless. Silence signals not absence but internalised stigma. Second, caste must be treated not as a static data point but as lived experience, marked by improvisation, concealment, and pain. A just caste census must listen like an ethnographer, document like a historian, and critique its own categories. Finally, enumeration must be accountable. Forms, classification processes, and enumerator training should be open to public scrutiny.

Names like “Paliya” are not just labels. They are wounds — and also acts of survival, dignity, and resistance. A just census must see without shaming, count without erasing, and recognise without punishing. For the Paliyas of Bengal — and many others — it may be the only way to be seen at all.

The writer is with Research and Advocacy Division, Digital Empowerment Foundation

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