Lord Alton who is one of our big advocates has some great examples of British Christian stalwarts who spoke up against social and structural evil and Wilberforce on caste!!

Following is the victorious email forwarded from Lord Alton on this very topic.

~ Joseph

Begin forwarded message:

From: "ALTON, Lord"
Date: March 5, 2010 3:57:05 PM GMT+05:30
Subject: Dalits In india

Second Reading of the Anti Slavery Day Bill: Debate March 5th 2010

It is with great pleasure that I add my voice to those supporting the terms of my noble and learned friend’s Bill to inaugurate an Anti Slavery Day.

In 2007, the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, I ran a series of Roscoe Lectures on behalf of Liverpool John Moores University, where I hold a chair, commemorating the passage of William Wilberforce’s Bill to abolish the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and highlighting the nature of contemporary forms of slavery. For those who may not have read it, William Hague’s magnificent biography of Wilberforce cannot be bettered.

Liverpool was at the epicentre of the trade. Even so, brave men, like William Roscoe, the city’s Member of Parliament, would not countenance support for slavery and he voted with Wilberforce.

Sir James Picton, Liverpool's greatest historian, said of William Roscoe:

"No native resident of Liverpool has done more to elevate the character of the community, by uniting the successful pursuit of literature and art with the ordinary duties of the citizen and man of business."
In Roscoe’s epic poem, The Wrongs of Africa, published in 1787, he wrote of the iron hand crushing the people of Africa. He devoted the proceeds of the poem to the London Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

"Blush ye not
To boast your equal laws, your just restraints,
Your rights defined, your liberties secured,
Whilst with an iron hand ye crush to earth
The helpless African; and bid him drink
That cup of sorrow, which yourselves have dashed,
Indignant, from oppression's fainting grasp."

With great strength and clarity the final stanza of Part One of this 35-page poem warns its readers:

"Forget not, Britain, higher still than thee
Sits the Judge of Nations, who can weigh
The wrong and can repay. Before His throne
Confess they weakness; nor with impious voice
Arraign th' immutable decree, that fix'd
The bounds of wrong and right; that gave to all
Their equal blessing, and secures its ends
By penalties severe; which often slow,
But always certain, on the guilty head,
Pour down the terrors of the wrath divine."

Hansard records, on February 23rd 1807, that Roscoe told the House of Commons that:

the slave trade had “disgraced the land” and continued:

"I have,” said the hon.gentleman, “long resided in the town of Liverpool; for 30 years I have never ceased to condemn this inhuman traffic; and I consider it the greatest happiness of my existence to lift up my voice on this occasion against it, with the friends of justice and humanity."

For so lifting up his voice, Roscoe was assailed by the mob on his return to Liverpool and never returned again to Parliament. It is important that stories like this are not forgotten. The courage and determination of men like Roscoe and Wilberforce should remain an inspiration to future generations. The stories matter because many of the same battles remain to be fought in our own generation.

Just a week ago I was in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

At several events I spoke about the plight of India’s untouchables – the Dalits – and the forms of exploitation and slavery which stem from the caste system. Dalit is a term which derives from a Sanskrit word meaning “broken” or “crushed.” One in forty of the world’s population is a Dalit living in India - a quarter of India's population.

I recalled that on June 22nd 1813, Wilberforce made a major speech in the Commons about India. In his remarks he said that the caste system:

“must surely appear to every heart of true British temper to be a system at war with truth and nature; a detestable expedient for keeping the lower orders of the community bowed down in an abject state of hopelessness and irremediable vassalage. It is justly, Sir, the glory of this country, that no member of our free community is naturally precluded from rising into the highest classes in society.”

Two centuries later India’s President, Dr.Manmohan Singh has trenchantly argued that “untouchability is not just social discrimination; it is a blot on humanity”

Yet, in 2010, while India is a rising world power and is rightly gaining a reputation for innovation and excellence in many fields, this “blot on humanity” disfigures India’s reputation and has become one of the world’s greatest human rights challenges. Hundreds of millions of people remain imprisoned by the bondage of what Wilberforce called “the cruel shackles” of the caste system.

Those shackles inevitably lock their prisoners into the most menial forms of labour, trap them in servitude, and leave them susceptible to innumerable forms of exploitation.

In fairness to the Indian Government it must be said that growing social mobility and a series of remedial measures introduced since independence have provided some amelioration. Some individual Dalits have reached high positions in Indian society, not least Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, the senior judge of India’s Supreme Court and Ms Meira Kumar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. Yet, as I heard first-hand, even where Dalit people are securing elementary education, in some cases further educational progress and employment opportunities have been blocked to them.

Few would surely disagree that the caste system, with all the social prejudices and hierarchies which it entails, continues to enforce and compound servitude and exploitation. The perpetuation of humiliating descent-based occupations is the natural and inevitable consequence of the caste system. The rationale for caste was the division of labour, but to paraphrase Dr B.R. Ambedkar, architect of India’s constitution and hero of the Dalits, caste came to enforce a division of labourers.

I illustrate this point with reference to one of the most appalling and disgraceful forms of labour anywhere in the world, known euphemistically as manual scavenging: it involves cleaning human excrement from dry latrines, and is uniquely performed by Dalits as a consequence of their caste. The number engaged in this occupation is not known for certain, but it may be as high (or higher) than the equivalent of the population of Birmingham. An article in The New Statesman explained the link between this occupation and caste exploitation:

“Every society needs its sanitation workers, and no doubt those in any context may face some stigma. However, the deeper reality in India is that this job is reserved for Dalits, the ‘untouchables’ of old, and it is their job for life. As members of the Thoti sub-caste”,

the subject of the article,

“they were destined for this work by their birth, with no right of appeal. Members of equivalent sub-castes endure similar work across numerous districts of India: perhaps as many as 1.3 million of them. The nature of the caste system is that it generates a powerful combination of social and psychological pressures, constraints and expectations, which means that they cannot simply walk out of this work into another job of their choice. Because the scavengers do this work, there is little incentive to bring about change by introducing proper toilet facilities into the areas they work. Yet as long as the scavengers do it, they will be treated as untouchables. Theirs is a story of institutional dehumanisation and the flagrant abuse of their human rights.”

Tens of millions of India’s citizens are subject to highly exploitative forms of labour and modern-day slavery. This often plays into the problem of debt bondage and bonded labour, which affects tens of millions: it perpetuates a cycle of despair and hopelessness, as generations are bonded to the family debt, unable to be educated, unable to escape. Tragically, the debt is often the result of a loan taken out for something as simple and essential as a medical bill.

The caste system also plays into people trafficking - another form of slavery which affects millions in India. According to a report in CNN Asia last year, India’s Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta “remarked that at least 100 million people were involved in human trafficking in India”, whether for sex or for labour. The head of the Central Bureau of Investigation said that India occupied a unique position as a source, transit and destination country for trafficking, and that India has more than three million prostitutes, of whom an estimated 40% are children. These statistics are hugely significant: the situation in India simply must be at the heart of the fight against trafficking globally.

The Dalit Solidarity Network UK, which has been calling for an end to the caste system before this year’s Commonwealth Games, also highlights devadasi - a system of ritual prostitution of almost exclusively young Dalit girls.

During their time in India the British failed to heed Wilberforce and resisted the calls to abolish caste. Although untouchability was barred by the constitution when India secured independence, in 1947, the caste system was not dismantled. Most of the worst forms of exploitation are proscribed by Statute but all too often, the laws are simply not implemented, and the police further entrench, rather than protect against, caste prejudice. This point was made repeatedly in the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in May 2007.

A damning verdict is reached by a recent, in-depth report by the Robert F. Kennedy Centre entitled ‘Understanding Untouchability: A Comprehensive Study of Practices and Conditions in 1,589 Villages’: it describes “the Government of India’s continued ignorance about the depth of the problem and inadequacy in addressing untouchability and meetings its legal obligations in regard to the problem of untouchability”.

Caste discrimination is usually associated with India but, in parenthesis, I might add that there are also an estimated 3.5-5.5 million Dalits living in Bangladesh (2.5-4% of the total population). The majority are landless, and live in chronic poverty in rural areas or urban slums. They are deprived or actively excluded from adequate housing, health care, education, employment and participation in public life. Approximately 96% are illiterate.

To conclude, then, My lords, let me commend the attempt of my noble and learned friend, Lady Butler-Sloss, to remember and highlight the campaign against modern-day forms of slavery.

In my study I have a small terracotta pot given to me by Dr. Joseph D’souza, President of the International Dalit Freedom Network. Such pots must be broken once a Dalit has drunk out of it – so as not to pollute or contaminate other castes. This, in the 21st century. It's not the pots which need to be broken, nor the people, but the system which ensnares them.

Dr. D’souza rightly says: "If we are not intentional about bringing change and transformation in lives and society it will not happen. To love people is to act on behalf of them.”

My learned and noble friend’s Bill will be a stimulus to act on behalf of people like the Dalits and I readily support it.

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/03/04/indias-untouchable-millionaire/

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/most-gender-atrocities-against-dalit-women-p-sivakami-march-8-is-international-womens-day_100330216.html

~Joseph

"In our judiciary, anybody can be bought, says Gujarat Chief Justice"

http://www.facebook.com/l/8dcba;timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-our-judiciary-anybody-can-be-bought-says-Gujarat-CJ/articleshow/5649335.cms

AHMEDABAD: Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhyay expressed concern over the future of Gujarat judiciary when hearing the case of termination of ad hoc fast-track court judges. The high court and the state government discontinued services of 56 judges last November.

Discussing charges of corruption in cases of some of judicial officers on Friday, Justice Mukhopadhaya said: "We are concerned about the future of Gujarat judiciary, where money has become the main source and where you can buy anybody with the power of money."

Justice Mukhopadhyay insisted on maintaining transparency in judiciary in order to uphold its credibility among people. He asked the lawyers representing the FCT judges how else the high court could have reacted to allegations of corruption levelled against the judicial officers.

The FCT judges were relieved from service last year with a remark in their termination letter that they were found 'unsuitable'.

The judge was of the opinion that issuance of a show-cause notice to the judges concerned would have served no purpose. He also made it clear that he was discussing the issue in the context of the judiciary across the nation, and not strictly pertaining to Gujarat.

~Joseph

source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755912-2,00.html

One of the few men who have risen from the malodorous sink which is
below the lowest caste of India is Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, No. 1
Untouchable. This plump, cheery, bespectacled man of no caste, whose
very shadow would outrage high-caste Hindus, managed to get a good
education in Indian Government schools, was staked to courses at the
University of London and Columbia University by the highly democratic
Gaekwar of Baroda. Dr. Ambedkar is probably the only man alive who
ever walked out in a huff from a private audience with the Pope of
Rome. His Holiness Pius XI having heard from Dr. Ambedkar about the
miseries of Indian outcastes, replied: "My son, it may take three or
four centuries to remedy these abuses, be patient."

Impatient Dr. Ambedkar summoned 10,000 raggle-taggle Untouchables to
Nasik near Bombay last autumn, said de liberately: "I had the
misfortune of being born with the stigma of Untouchability. But it is
not my fault. I will not die a Hindu, for this is in my power. I say
to you, abandon Hinduism and adopt any other religion which gives you
equality of status and treatment."

Thereupon the 10,000 adopted a resolution advising India's Untouchables
—some 60,000,000—to desert Hinduism en masse. Then a mob of
Untouchables made a mighty bonfire of the most sacred Hindu books they
could find. At Lucknow volunteers were solicited to force entry into
Hindu temples, from which Untouchables have been barred since time
immemorial. At Barabanki 28,000 Untouchables shouted their support of
Dr. Ambedkar, laid plans for an All Indian Untouchable Conference.
Millions of leaflets bearing Untouchable Ambedkar's message began
fluttering out over India.

To what faith the Untouchables should turn for "equality of status and
treatment," Dr. Ambedkar did not hasten to explain. Since he was
reported dallying with Mohammedanism, Christian leaders in India
exhibited pious skittishness. Declared the National Christian Council
of India: ''The harvest is ripe for the gathering in many quarters and
we urge that volunteer bands be sent forth to gather it."

This week in Zion's Herald, New England Methodist weekly, appears the
first interview with Dr. Ambedkar to be published in the U. S. since
he made his Nasik speech. To get it, able Editor Lewis Oliver Hartman
went to India, sought out its No. 1 Untouchable, plied him with
practical questions. Wrote the editor of Zion's Herald:

"The [Untouchable] leader was rather critical of Christianity's
constant emphasis upon personal experience at the expense of any wider
reference. 'Why have you not seen the importance of a religion that
reaches out into all life and all relationships?' he asked.
Continuing, he declared with deep feeling, 'If you are going to
compromise with evil conditions while you stress personal religion
exclusively, I tell you now I am not with you.

. . . . "I pointed out in answer that, so far as the Methodist
Episcopal Church was concerned, our watchword was this: 'Nothing that
has to do with human welfare is foreign to Methodism.' This seemed to
please him. . . ." Of Hinduism the man whom Editor Hartman calls
"India's Lincoln" said: "Hinduism is not a religion; it is a disease."

Editor Hartman's interview concluded thus: ''This much is settled,' he
said to me, 'we are through forever with Hinduism. We are going
somewhere, but are not ready yet to say in what direction 'Yes,' I
answered, 'you are not strong enough yet to announce a decision. If
you compromise with the Hindus, all is lost; if you choose
Mohammedanism, the Hindus will crush you; if you go Christian, both
the Hindus and the Moslems will be on your back.'

" 'Exactly,' replied Dr. Ambedkar. 'We are not ready—yet.' "

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755912-2,00.html#ixzz0h01lYC4z

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755912-1,00.html#ixzz0h01RbTuX

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/83597/Leisure/Angst+of+the+outcaste.html

~Joseph

www.twitter.com/dsouzajds

Follow me!

~Joseph

John Dayal and Archbishop Cheenath speak up in the wake of the visit of an EU delegation to the area where the attacks took place.

Here's the link: http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article102215.ece

~Joseph

~Joseph

‘Dalits worst hit in floods’
The Hindu: Feb 05, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/05/stories/2010020560100500.htm

HYDERABAD: Discrimination against Dalits, insidious during normal course of life, becomes more pronounced in the aftermath of natural calamities. Despite forming the highest ratio in deaths and property loss, Dalits remain the last to get relief and rehabilitation. This fact has found one more echo in last year’s floods in five districts.

According to a comprehensive study and report by National Dalit Watch -- AP for Relief and Rehabilitation with Dignity, Dalits were the worst hit during the floods, partly due to their deprived status and partly due to apparent discrimination and apathy by the officials.

The study was conducted through 13 NGOs including Sakshi Human Rights Watch, Dalit Bahujan Shramik Union, M.V. Foundation, and COVA which were part of the forum. In all, 1,090 residential areas in 308 flood-affected villages were surveyed, with emphasis on parameters such as losses suffered by Dalits, equitable distribution of compensation, dignity during relief measures, and discrimination.

According to the study, scheduled castes constituted 38 per cent of the affected families, 55 per cent of the dead, and 50 per cent of those who lost or suffered damage to their houses. 28 per cent of the Dalits lost crop in their own land while those losing in leased land formed 27 per cent.

Though compensation was given to lessee farmers, many did not get it owing to absence of written agreements, said R. Venkat Reddy, national convenor of M.V. Foundation. The ratio of Dalits losing cattle was very high in all districts.

Protection from drowning is one more concern, as over 45 per cent of the Dalits in Mahabubnagar district did not get any shelter, and the number was high in Kurnool too.

“Usually, SC colonies are located in low-lying areas, which makes them all the more vulnerable. We demand that Dalits be given highest priority in rehabilitation and be allowed to select their plots first,” said G. Narsimha, from DBSU.

Majority of the Dalits from Mahabubnagar district remained the last in knowing about the calamity, getting relief and compensation, and being rehabilitated. Quite a few families migrated in search of livelihoods, the report stated.

In many villages, Dalits complained that SC colonies were the last to get relief material. NGO relief too was usurped by the upper castes. Many names went missing from the victims’ lists made by officials, especially so in the instances where the victims did not return to the village immediately. Officials refused to include them afterwards.

Mr. Reddy also drew attention to the plight of Dalit children, especially girls, who dropped out from schools. He urged the government to award grace marks to the flood-affected children in Matriculation exams citing their traumatised condition. V. Nandagopal, convenor of the forum, demanded a study by the government to identify the reasons for caste-specific deprivation during calamities, and measures to rule out the same.

~Joseph

Religion, or a prayer for identity
By Amrita Chaudhry

(Source: The Indian Express, February 3, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/religion-or-a-prayer-for-identity/574754/0 )

Dera politics and rows in Punjab got another twist last Saturday when Dera Sachkhand Ballan took one step further and announced the setting up of a separate religion, Ravidassia, with a religious book, Amrit Bani Guru Ravidass, a separate symbol, Har, and a separate motto, Jai Gurudev.

It was another indicator that Dalit assertion has come to stay in a state that has long suppressed the community despite it making up almost 29 per cent of the population. Till recently a struggle for equality, the Punjab Dalit movement has now changed its character. Dalits are no longer asking for an equal space in society, they are claiming their own personal space. They are also no longer shy of their identity, with announcement of a “new religion”, showering of shobha yatras with flowers from a chopper, and the deluge of music albums in the market celebrating Dalithood pointers of the same.

The social change is expected to impact Punjab politics too, with experts afraid that the Dalit assertion — seen by some as more reactionary than rational — could be both creative and violent.

It was late on Saturday that Dera Sachkhand Ballan announced the “Ravidassia religion”, at Seer Gowardhanpur in Benaras, the birthplace of Guru Ravidass. It was the 633rd birth anniversary of Ravidass, a saint of the Bhakti movement. The call for a separate religious identity for Ravidassias came eight months after the killing of Sant Ramananad, the deputy of dera head Sant Niranjan Dass, in Vienna by alleged “radical Sikhs”.

Well-known academic on Dalit issues and the chairman of Department of Political Science, Panjab University, Dr Ronki Ram, sees the development as “an assertion of identity” and not as a “separate religion”. “The manner in which the process is unfolding is not new. The Dalits of Punjab have always laid claim to a separate religion called the ‘Adh dharma’ and this Dera has a registered symbol. The Dalits are doing well economically and this has given them an upward mobility. They are now asserting,” says Ram.

Dr Harish Puri, a Dalit who retired as Head Professor of Dr B R Ambedkar Chair, Department of Political Science, Guru Nanak Dev University, warns against dismissing the developments as mere “reactionary”. “Radical Sikhs killed the Dera head in Vienna and in reaction the Dera decided to assert a separate identity. The manner in which our political bosses handled the murder and the protests that erupted later was to convert the same into a law and order situation and suppress it. No one addressed the anguish of a community, and now we have the results which will have a bad impact on our politics.”

Puri feels that this kind of assertion arising from anger is “destructive”. “No one is talking about upliftment of Dalits. These things are the handiwork of a very small section of Dalits who are either settled abroad and are doing well or those Dalits who come from Doaba where NRI population is high. These people can afford to assert. But no one is addressing the problems of a large section of Dalits who continue to live in highly condemnable conditions.” Dr Puri is also apprehensive of politics getting into the debate, with a large section of political leaders from Doaba followers of one or the other Dera. “How these politicians use these changes will script the future of our politics,” he points out.

Balbir Madhopuri, well-known Dalit writer whose novel Chhangeya Rukh was translated into English by Oxford University Press recently, has another objection. “I do not agree to what Dera Ballan has done, for this is no assertion. This action limits the preaching of Guru Ravidass to a very limited section. Adh dharam, which was established in 1925 and recognised by the British in 1930, incorporated the teaching of 36 gurus belonging to lower castes. Ravidaassia or the Amrit Bani Ravi Das (containing 240 hymns of Guru Ravidass) is very limiting.”

A literary critic and known Dalit scholar, Dr Sarabjit Singh, also cautions against taking the development lightly: “This change is dangerous and disturbs the socio-political fabric of Punjab.”

A POWERFUL DERA

Dera Sachkhand Ballan is one of the most powerful and famous Deras of the Ravidass sect in Punjab, situated some 10 km from Jalandhar. Other equally famous Ravidass deras include Temple Ravidass Chak Hakim near Phagwara and Dera of Sant Jagatjit Giri near Pathankot. These two Deras are said to have been instrumental in bringing social consciousness among the Dalits of Punjab.

Mangoo Ram, founder of the ‘Adh dharam movement’, is said to have visited the Dera Ballan and sought its support to popularise the image of Ravidass among the Dalits of Punjab.

The Dera Sachkhand Ballan was founded by Sant Pipal Dass, father of Sant Sarwan Dass, and is popularly known as Dera Sant Sarwan Das or simply Dera Ballan.

The Dera shot into fame June last year when Sant Ramanand, deputy of Dera head Sant Niranjan Dass, was killed in Vienna, Austria, allegedly by some radical Sikhs. The Dera head was grievously injured in the attack. The incident led to arson in certain parts of Punjab with dera heads announcing shifting of the Guru Granth Sahib from its temples.

While Dera Ballan is not a Sikh institution, as part of tradition, its deras install and worship Guru Granth Sahib. Some of the followers sport Sikh appearances while others could be clean shaven, though the latter are not necessarily Hindus.

Since the Vienna incident, the sect has been since asserting itself, though quietly.

(Source: The Indian Express, February 3, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/religion-or-a-prayer-for-identity/574754/0 )

Subject: Kancha's article on the Jaipur Literature Festival in the ' Deccan Herald ' newspaper

Meeting of streams
By Kancha Ilaiah

Literary festivals teach how to connect oneself to the social mass culture, if one is doing the transformative writing.

I have just returned from the Jaipur Literature Festival having spoken at two sessions, ‘Outcaste and public conscience’ and ‘The journey to childhood.’ A group of writers and artistes has been holding this conference for five years now. The attendance at the conference was amazing. Intellectuals from several fields had gathered in that city of history and culture of its own.

As I participated in this festival for the first time, that too as a speaker on a subject — caste and untouchability — it opened my eyes for two reasons. One, it had shown me how big is the literary world. Two, it also has shown me how small is the presence of Dalit-Bahujan writers and readers in such a globally visible conference.

It had drawn writers, poets, artists, painters, actors and playwrights from all over the world. Of course, the focus was by and large India. Apart from the writers in English language there were some Hindi writers. By all standards it was an elite conference but one could see writers whose interests and commitments went beyond their elitism.

For the first time I realised that literary festivals also teach how one should connect oneself to the social mass culture, if one is doing the transformative writing. Though the writing for pleasure and fun would also have some transformative element in it, the writers who write for radical transformation of the society need to work with a different language and idiom.

I was trying to learn from my readers — surprisingly there were quite few of them in that conference — how my English language and idiom was communicating. I met a cross section of my readers both from India and abroad.

A Bhutani woman writer told me that though she was a writer herself with a vast reading she never knew that caste was such a big problem in India. Of course the responses vary depending on the caste background, age and experience of the readers. But one common point was that the Dalit-Bahujan writings have shown them a different India.

In a conference where the presence of Wole Soyinka to Gulzar-Girish Karnad to Christophe Jaffrelot to Mark Tully to Omprakash Valmiki and P Sivakami (both well known Dalit writers) very different and varied experiences of writing and the themes that they work got discussed.

India revealed itself in many different ways. In a country, where the upper caste elite including the writers do not have a sense of shame and guilt, such literary festivals work as a place for exchange of ideas. This is a country where sex is discussed and written about from Vastayana days onwards but caste was an issue of shame about which they never wanted to discuss and write about.

Copyright

When Nayantara Sehgal (Nehru’s niece) said at a panel discussion on Edwina and Nehru’s relationship that the copyright holders of Nehru’s letters to Edwina wanted to hide the simple fact that “our politicians too have sexual organs,” she was just making a known point.

But this is the same country that had hidden the fact that it has a horrendous system of caste and untouchability from the rest of the world. For all these years the copyright of caste remained with them and they never allowed it to be written about and published.

The caste and untouchability was/is there as part of our day to day life for so long but any writing about it shamed them and they have hidden their guilt as it involved an immoral intercourse between two human beings — a Dalit and a Brahmin. At least this literature festival has lifted the veil.

After Valmiki, Sivakami and I got off the stage there were several young people, who rushed for our autographs. Though I did not ask them about their caste background, there was no way that there could be many Dalit/OBCs among them. Such a response from the upper caste English medium educated youth certainly opens a page of hope.

No positive writer, who writes for the transformation of the society like India, wants a civil war for its own sake. But the change could be smooth and peaceful only when the upper caste intelligentsia begins to act on its sense of shame and guilt. A transformative book writing is meant to work both ways. It is meant to embolden the weakest and also meant to weaken the spirit of exploitation of the oppressors.

If writing helps even a section of oppressors to stop oppressing the oppressed and they begin to understand the point of view of the oppressed the role of writing becomes more meaningful. The Jaipur festival has shown the signs of such positive exchange of views.

But this is only one side of the story. There could be another side as well. The Dalit-Bahujan literature is not yet seen as part of the mainstream. To make the Dalit-Bahujan literature mainstream literature either the streams need to be changed radically or the small steam should become big enough so that the others have no way but cross it by swimming, and not jump it over.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/49214/meeting-streams.html

http://spicezee.zeenews.com/articles/story52059.htm

Outcaste

At this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival, as India commemorates 60 years of being a Republic on 26 January 2010, the focus is on Dalit writing. The panel discussion on Outcaste: The Search for Public Conscience featured S. Anand, publisher of Navayana which focuses on dalit literature, P.Sivakami, novelist and political activist from Chennai; Omprakash Valmiki, author of the bestselling Joothan; and Kancha Ilaiah author of the best-selling Why I am Not a Hindu. Chairing the session, S Anand said that despite the Constitution being piloted by Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit and one of the architects of modern India, Dalits seem to hardly figure in sectors where there is no affirmative action. Consequently, beyond representation in jobs in the government sector (which too is begrudged to them) and in politics, they continue to be shunned in the realms of culture, literature and the arts. Invoking Ambedkar`s 1952 speech, Anand wanted the speakers to examine the “absence of public conscience”, especially among the Hindus.

Ilaiah said the caste system made the brahmins, kshatriyas and vaishyas caste-proud and they therefore did not believe in introspection since they believe dalits and sudras have no right to write forget even speak. The Hindu public has no conscience, he said. Valmiki said that there`s segreagation in every village in India, and the dalits are forced to live in ghettoes to the West of the village or near gutters. Caste envelopes every aspect of life in everyday India. Valmiki said even in Rajasthan today dalits face discrimination. In the vilage Chakwara in Rajasthan, after dalits managed to gain access to the lake, the caste Hindus started defecating there and polluting it, Anand pointed out. Sivakami said that upper caste Hindus have only a caste conscience and not a public conscience; they lack a human conscience. All the writers agreed that there was no reason they would call themselves Hindu since Hinduism offered them no dignity or respect. Valmiki earlier said that it was wonderful that the DSC Jaipur literature festival in its fifth year has welcomed dalit writers.

******

Caste bias against dalits not down: CJI
By Dhananjay Mahapatra, Times of India, 11 January 2010
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Caste-bias-against-dalits-not-down-CJI/articleshow/5431611.cms

NEW DELHI: In what could raise serious concerns over the working of the 60-year-old reservation system to uplift the dalits, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Sunday said caste prejudices had not come down against the dalits.

Reflecting on his journey from a dalit boy to the post of CJI, Justice Balakrishnan said it had not been an easy road for him. Asked whether in the present day, a similarly placed dalit boy would have a smoother journey, the CJI said, “It will still be difficult.”

Speaking to TOI, Justice Balakrishnan said, “The prejudices are on the increase. It may not be visible on the surface, for the prejudices are more sophisticate now.” This remark from the CJI puts in question the efficacy of the current system of reservation for Scheduled Caste population through the Presidential Order of 1950 to compensate them for the centuries of oppression at the hands of upper castes.

But the CJI was not bitter as he looked back on the eve of completing three years in the top post, just five months away from his retirement. “I have suffered caste prejudices. But at the same time, so many people have helped me irrespective of their caste,” he added.

In fact, the Supreme Court in April 2006 had issued notices to the Centre and all states on a PIL filed by an NGO — ‘National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights’ (NCDHR) — citing 20 common instances of indifference of police and authorities that had rendered the SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, a dead piece of legislation. The PIL had sought as many as 28 different directions for the proper implementation of the 17-year-old Act.

******

Dalit girl burnt alive for fighting rape
Tuesday January 5, 2010, New Delhi

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/dalit_girl_burnt_alive_for_fighting_rape.php

She was just 14, and as she waited at home on Monday for her parents to return, two boys broke in.

They tried to rape her, and she fought back. Fed up, the two boys, both under 18, poured kerosene all over her, set her on fire, and left her house. Neighbours rushed to the fields where her parents were working. When they got home, their child was still alive. They rushed her to hospital. She died a few hours later.

"She told the police that both the boys tried to rape her ...when she resisted, they doused kerosene on her and set her on fire. They should be severely punished," says her broken father.

This tragedy took place in Madhya Pradesh in the Burhanpur district. Caste played a big role in the girl's death. She was a Dalit, her attackers were not.

The two boys have been found by the police and have been arrested.

Their young victim dreamt of being a teacher someday, and helping girls in her village to realize their dreams.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/26/stories/2009122652150300.htm

The villages form part of Chief Minister’s constituency
The victims say they are facing wrath of upper castes
The tussle started more than a year ago

BERHAMPUR: Ten dalit families of Thuruburei village of Shergarh block in Ganjam district are alleged to be facing severe casteist social ostracisation.

The irony is that this casteist social ostracisation continues in a village which is part of the Hinjli Assembly constituency represented by the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik.

Exploitive norms

The victims of social ostracisation say they are facing the wrath of upper castes of the village as they are not ready to bow down to their derogatory exploitive norms.

The Thuruburei village is inhabited by around 500 families. Out of them 20 families are ‘washermen’ or ‘Dhobi’ by caste. Pradeep Sethi, an aggrieved dalit of the village said the upper castes have targeted 10 ‘dhobi’ families who refused to bow down to the diktat of upper castes.

It is alleged that the upper castes have barred them from using the village well, tubewell, grocery shop etc. They are not being allowed to harvest the crop in their field.

Tussle

As per Mr. Sethi, the tussle between the dalits and upper castes of the village had started more than a year ago.

The ‘Dhobi’ families had demanded hike in the yearly payment made by the upper caste families.

Each upper caste family was paying Rs. 20 per year to the designated washerman families to wash clothes throughout the year.

Ten ‘Dhobi’ families had demanded the allowance to be hiked to Rs. 50 per year. The other 10 washermen families had preferred to continue with the old payment.

Pay revision

This had irked the upper castes who had decided to ostracise the 10 washermen families who wanted revision in the meagre payment.

Several dalits of the village were also fined by the upper castes when they refused to wash clothes at extreme low price.

Tussle between them had aggravated when dalit families opposed construction of an Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) centre on a patch of land which they claimed to be a road as per the revenue records.

The dalits used to have a cow shed on the patch of land. On Thursday the tussle took violent shape. One dalit, Bhimasena Sethi was seriously injured.

He was admitted in the MKCG medical college hospital. Both warring groups have filed cases against each other in the Hinjli police station.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/26/stories/2009122652150300.htm