Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 20.05.11
Mob goes on the rampage, sets vehicles on fire in Gujarat's Sanand - DNA
NCP to push schemes for Dalits - The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/NCP-to-push-schemes-for-Dalits/articleshow/8449772.cms
Bonded labourers get land title after 70 yrs - The Times Of India
No politics for me & no extension of stint as Lokayukta, says justice N Santosh Hegde - DNA
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray under fire over 'U-turn' on varsity renaming - The Times Of India
DNA
Mob goes on the rampage, sets vehicles on fire in Gujarat's Sanand
Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 15:36 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA
What started as a minor quarrel over a minor issue took the form of a riot as more than a thousand Dalits and Darbars came face to face in Sanand late on Thursday. The mob set ablaze many vehicles, shops and also the police outpost near the bus stop in the main market of Sanand.
According to police, the trouble started when a person went to an electronic shop and accidentally dropped an electric fan. The shopkeeper asked the customer to put the fan back to its place, but the latter refused to do so.
"This led to a verbal clash between the customer and the shopkeeper, which turned violent. Very soon, more people from the two sides joined the fight, and took to violence," said Sanand PI, AR Desai.
Sources said that hundreds of people from both sides started attacking each other with wooden sticks, swords, and other weapons.
The angry mobs went on the rampage as they pelted stones, and burnt down vehicles and shops in absolute fury. Sources said a police vehicle was also targeted by the mobs but officials refused to ascertain this.
Desai said that the frenzied mob burnt down four to five shops and a number of vehicles. A police outpost was also set on fire by the rampaging mobs.
Police said that the situation was tense till late night as rumours of fresh clashes kept circulating in the area, even as policemen from other police stations and SRP personnel were rushed to Sanand to control the situation. A team of fire fighters from Ahmedabad was also rushed to Sanand late in the night because of the fire incidents in which vehicles and shops were burnt down.
District superintendent of police Sandeep Singh could not be reached for comments despite several attempts. The traffic from Sarkhej to Sanand has been diverted.
The Times Of India
NCP to push schemes for Dalits
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/NCP-to-push-schemes-for-Dalits/articleshow/8449772.cms
TNN | May 19, 2011, 11.45pm IST
PUNE: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) would submit a memorandum on the Rs 950-crore worth pending schemes for dalits to party chief Sharad Pawar and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in Mumbai on June 12.
Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, water supply and sanitation minister Laxman Dhoble said that the NCP will celebrate its 12{+t}{+h} foundation day on June 12.
Dhoble said, "Most of the schemes for dalits are for affordable housing and for starting small business ventures. But these schemes are not completed so far, depriving the dalit community of basic amenities and opportunities."
The government has made allocations for construction of affordable houses for the oppressed class but lack of smooth supply of funds to contractors resulted in delay in completion of these houses, Dhoble added.
Dhoble represents the party from Solapur and is a senior leader from the dalit community. His statement could be the party's attempt to consolidate its rural base as well as the dalit vote bank. The 2012 elections to the zilla parishads, especially in the rural areas of the state, are crucial as many MLAs come from rural parts and dominance in zilla parishads has significance.
Another reason could be the recent meeting between Ramdas Athavale, a dalit leader representing the Republican Party of India, and Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief, after which Athavale announced that dalit voters will support Shiv Sena.
When asked why the NCP, being in the power for 12 consecutive years, could not push the schemes, Dhoble said, "The incomplete status of various schemes designed for the uplift of dalits
It is due to the lethargy of the state administration as well as the ruling combine. I am also responsible. for the slow progress of these schemes, but we are ensuring that things will improve in future."
The Times Of India
Bonded labourers get land title after 70 yrs
Ashish Tripathi , TNN | May 20, 2011, 02.50pm IST
LUCKNOW: Octogenarian Sita Devi was in tears when district magistrate of Gonda, Ram Bahadur, handed her the land ownership title. She was five-year-old when her family was forced into bonded labour by British forest officers posted in Gorakhpur. The family was given a piece of land for planting trees and to grow crop for its survival. They family was shifted to other place after five years for the same job. From 1930 to 1985, Sita's family was constantly on the move. Even after Independence, it did not get the rights guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution. However, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 seems to have undone the historical injustice.
Sita is among 33 families, residents of forest village, Maheshpur in Gonda who were given land ownership title by the district magistrate, Ram Bahadur on Saturday. Each family got around 16 hectare land for agriculture and around 13 hectare for building a house under the FRA. These families belong to Taungya community, which has been working as bonded labourers for the forest department since 1925. Maheshpur is the first Taungya forest village in the state to get land rights under 'other forest dwellers' category of FRA. The Act provides that besides tribals, communities traditionally dependent on the forests for their survival for last three generations, that is, 75 years, will be entitled for individual and community ownership of forest land.
A Burmese term, Taungya means planting trees between crops -- hill (Taung) and cultivation (Ya). British officers, posted in Burma when sent to UP in 1920s, used bonded labourers for forestation in regions, where forests were plundered for timber. The labourers comprised dalits, backward castes and backward Muslims. The labourers were given a piece of land for five years for plantation and then shifted to another place for the same job. They were not paid for the service, but allowed to grow crop in the allotted piece of land for livelihood. The Taungyas regenerated one lakh hectare of forests in 12 districts of UP between 1925 and 1980. The practice was abolished in 1980. But, Taungyas were not given the land to settle down, as promised by the rulers.
The community continued to live in the forests, although declared encroachers and told to evict. There are around 100 Taungya forest villages with a population of around two lakh in UP. These villages are in Gonda, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Shravasti, Balrampur, Bahraich and Basti. Members work as daily wagers and have no access to basic facilities such as education and health. Their names are in electoral rolls, but do not exist in revenue records, hence they cannot get below poverty line cards.
DNA
No politics for me & no extension of stint as Lokayukta, says justice N Santosh Hegde
Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 14:10 IST
Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA
Justice N Santosh Hegde on Thursday said that he was not interested in continuing as the Karnataka Lokayukta after his five-year term ends this August.
Participating at the Vidyamana Vedike talk on 'Tirade against Corruption and Hopes from the Forthcoming Jan Lokpal Bill', Hegde said that he would not continue for another term. Neither was he considering entering politics after retirement. "I would not stay for even an hour after my term is over. I won't join any of the three major political parties," he said.
Justice Hegde said that the Centre was keen on scuttling the Lok Pal Bill. "There have been questions about how only five members can be part of the joint committee for drafting the Bill. Why is there no woman or Dalit member on the committee? These are issues raised just to derail the whole process," he said.
He refuted the argument that women and Dalits were among the biggest victims of corruption, and so their presence on the committee was especially necessary. "I do not agree that women and Dalits are the worst victims of corruption. In fact, there are many Dalits and women who have been booked on charges of corruption by the Lokayukta in the state," justice Hegde said.
The Lokayukta exuded confidence that the Lokpal Bill would be tabled in parliament in the monsoon session. Highlighting the need for the Lokpal Bill, he said that just as the Lokayukta works at the state level, it is essential that a Lokpal be instituted at the Centre to ensure that politicians and administrators are held accountable. "There are four lakh government employees in Karnataka over whom the Lokayukta keeps an eye. We cannot allow the 70 lakh Central government employees to fleece the country. From a village postman to the cabinet secretary, everyone should be held accountable," justice Hegde said.
The Times Of India
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray under fire over 'U-turn' on varsity renaming
PTI | May 20, 2011, 03.12pm IST
MUMBAI: Two days after he lambasted political opponents for insinuating that he opposed renaming of Marathwada University after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray is now in middle of a contorversy, with a section of media terming it as his 'U-turn'.
"From 1994 to 2011, Thackeray has done a 180-degree turn on the renaming issue," leading Marathi newspaper Loksatta claimed in its lead story on Friday.
Marathi channel Star Majhaa aired a special programme last night, highlighting the change of stance, apparently with an eye on Dalit votes, in backdrop of his cosying up with new-found ally, Dalit leader Ramdas Athawale.
"At a public meeting in Parbhani on February 21, 1994, Thackeray said he will continue to oppose the varsity renaming till he is alive," the newspaper said.
"Thackeray also said that Dalits were paying obeisance at the university gate, thinking it was the Chaityabhoomi," it said. Chaityabhoomi, in Dadar area, is where Ambedkar was cremated and lakhs of his followers visit the memorial on his anniversary each year.
Rubbishing critics who questioned the contradiction of his alliance with Athawale, whose party RPI has a large Dalit following in the state, and also his old stance against the renaming, Thackeray had said on May 16: "Let me make it clear once again. I never opposed renaming of the university. I had suggested that the name Marathwada University be retained and Ambedkar's name be added to it."
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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