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News Update 12/21/2004 IN SEARCH OF A KINDER GOD TRAVELOGUE By NIRUPAMA DUTT Kaisa hoga Bombai, sochate thhe hum apne Punjab mein...(What would Bombay be like, we would wonder back home in Punjab). This line from an early poem by Deepti Naval lingers in my memory. I wonder if she ever wonders Kaisa hoga Punjab ab... Probably not! For that wonderment is lost in the journey from the provinces to the metropolis; in the journey from home to abroad_ but for the rather sentimental and romantic picture which the non-resident Punjabis nurture in their hearts. So let me tell you Kaisa thha hamara Punjab ab ki baar. It is a journey that I take with a Tele-film maker with trying to put together a travelogue film. We start at Chandigarh_ warming up for the real journey. An evening in photographer Diwan Manna's well appointed home with some artists and journalist becomes a starting point of sorts. Diwan has perfected the art of picturising death and sorrow and his beautiful works, both old and new, convince me that he is our best homegrown prophet of doom. Incidentally, he is holding more shows in London, Paris, Berlin, and so on rather than home. Our sufferings indeed have many takers abroad. Here Painter Malkit Singh recalls some memories of the partition and links them to the present times. He also tells us that the mosque abandoned in his village since the Partition has been re-opened. Malkit belongs to Rode-Lande, the twin villages in the Malwa region of Punjab from where the militant leader, late Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala, hailed. Chal Samrale Chaliye (Let's go to Samrala) Memory by-lanes are rarely geographical. They meander through the mind transcending the barriers of time and place. So I return to Malkit's narrative of the abandoned mosque being reopened in Rode-Lande. This is not an isolated case. The reopening of the Guru di Masid, renovated with community help in a peace initiative started by conservation architect Gurmit Rai, wife of celebrated photographer Raghu Rai. This mosque was built by Sikh Guru Hargobind Rai for his Muslim disciples and had been lying desolate since the Partition of the country. Gurmeet along with her group renovated this monument of a composite culture and handed it over to Muslim believers dedicating the act to the memory of a young girl killed in the Gujarat massacre. A number of mosques have been reopened in the villages and towns of Punjab. The Muslim population in Punjab is also increasing and it has taken more than half a century for the wounds to heal. But for the enclave of Malerkotla Punjabi Muslims were either killed or they had to migrate or take on Hindu and Sikh names, the price for staying on, as was the case with Hindus and Sikhs in West Punjab now a part of Pakistan. Malerkotla is quite another story. History has it that the Nawab of Malerkotla had opposed the state order of bricking alive of the two sons of the Tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who founded the Khalsa and bestowed on the Sikhs a new faith and identity. The Muslims who belonged to Malerkotla or reached Malerkotla were safe for here no killings were done in gratitude to the protest by the Nawab. Strange indeed are the reasons for being killed or being saved! Among those who managed to reach Malerkotla was the father of Punjabi short story writer Gulzar Mohammed Goria. The latter was born in independent India at Padaudhi village near Samrala, a small town between Chandigarh and Ludhiana. Yet another writer, the famous Saadat Hasan Manto, famed for his Partition stories, was also born here although he was bred in Amritsar. Goria is a schoolteacher in Samrala. Interestingly the mosque in Samrala was opened by the initiative of Goria and my friend poet Lal Singh Dil. Dil was the star poet of the Naxalite, the extreme Left movement that started in 1967 in the Naxalbarhi village of North Bengal had its reverbrations in Punjab and other states and was brutally crushed by 1970. When I got acquainted with the literary scene of Punjab in 1977-78, he had already become a mythical figure. The poet who had inspired a movement in the late Sixties in East Punjab and had a great fan following, had gone underground somewhere in the orchards of Uttar Pradesh. He had converted to Islam and in an odd letter home he had written that the crescent moon had appeared on the palm of his hand. In the same letter he had said: 'Allah is very kind to Maoists because he understands cultures!' Dil was born into the low-caste chamar (tanner) community and he dared to be a poet challenging the established order. The first of his clan to finish school and go to college, he could have been a teacher, but Naxalbari intervened. Police torture, imprisonment and rejection forced him to leave Samrala. His conversion to Islam was yet another way of changing his life. And he hoped to find a wife for himself in his new faith. Marriage was not be for him so Dil returned home to Samrala after Punjab's long night of terror ended. Alone and addicted to cheap liquour, he became the caretaker at the mosque with Goria sending him his two meals a day from his own home. For five years Dil said the morning and evening azaan. Goria, who is also Left of the road, recalls: "God is everywhere and our effort in opening the mosque was directed to give confidence to a minority community who should not be afraid of going to their own place for prayer. However, when people started coming to the mosque_ the Wakf Board intervened and took over and now Dil and I are persona non grata there." Well, the Wakf Board must be having its own reasons because political ideology apart, Dil and Goria are just a bit too fond of their drink. Well the great Ghalib had said: Zahid bhi zaroor aata go chori-chhupe peeta, Maikhana gar koi masjid ke karib hota. But Dil and Goria do not belong to the tribe who will do anything in secrecy or be hypocritical. In the tea-maker's shop Once Dil was ousted from the mosque, he was at a loose end again. Then poet Amarjit Chandan, another proclaimed offender of the Naxal days and later rehabilitated as a translator in England, sent money for Dil. With this money his hut was made over into a pucca home and a wooden shack built to serve as a teashop so that he may earn a living by selling tea. I was to meet Dil only in the mid-Nineties at his teashop opposite the automobiles market on the Maachiwara Road. Once I stopped there to interview him for a newspaper over a cup of tea. I was to return many times; we had struck up a literary friendship. Never mind, if Prem Prakash who edits the literary journal Lakeer from Jalandhar chooses to call it a mutually reciprocated crush between two romantic 'outcasts'. Well there are outcasts and outcasts. As for romanticism, pundits in the West now believe that it will succeed post-modernism. Ahead of our time, aren't Dil and I? Dil no longer runs his teashop. He closed it down some two years ago when his partner Pala fell ill. The last time that I had gone to see him, the teashop was locked and I was led to the cremation ground where Pala's last rites were being performed and Dil sat there vacant-eyed. This time in Samrala, we start looking for Dil and we begin at the spot where the teashop once stood. It is no longer there. Whenever in Samrala, a search has to be made for Dil. Each time I have found him at a different spot_ the mango grove, the tractor repair shop, the cremation ground or the liquour shop_ everywhere but home. This time it is Dil is in the home of the Hakim Sahib, who has just shifted home from Old Delhi to Samrala. So it is red-hot chicken curry, chapatis and phirni made by his wife who, Hakim Sahib proudly says, is a Punjabi from Malerkotla. Hakim Sahib once had a wool factory in Ludhiana but it was burnt down in an accident. Hakim Sahib is among the many Muslims who are moving from Central India to Punjab. It is more comfortable for them to be in a state where a national minority, the Sikhs are in majority. Hindutva is less menacing here. And it is heartening to meet Punjabi Muslims. For in our childhood even a decade and a half after the bloodshed of the Partition, one never saw Punjabi Muslims. But now the fears seem to be ending. Next day in Dil's home in the Chamar basti, two images that stand out are a terrace garden, two flower-beds that he has made on his kacha kotha and his little grand-niece who keeps crawling up the stairs asking Taya (Uncle) for a toffee. No matter how harsh life may be but there is yet room in it for a few green leaves, a child's smile and some sweetness. I am reminded on one of Dil's famous poems of the old days: Dance: When the labourer woman Roasts her heart on the tawa The moon laughs from behind the tree The father amuses the younger one Making music with bowl and plate The older one tinkles the bells Tied to his waste And he dances These songs do not die Nor either the dance in the heart... Some wooden planks of the tea shack, remnants of the tea vending days, lie on the terrace, others Dil has given away. Inside his dark room some four dozen trophies and shields are gathering dust literally. Dil now survives on a pension of Rs 500 given to him by a Ludhiana publisher for his autobiography, Daastan, and the money sahit sabhas give him along with the memento when they honour him_ ranging from Rs 500 to 2100. Dil is now sixty plus but the Punjab Languages Department pension for old and destitute writers has still not come his way. Dil Sahib agrees to accompany us to Ludhiana and Amritsar. At lunch by the Neelon canal, Dil Sahib lights three bidis at a time, generously handing over one each to the television guy and me as he tells us of the Sufi traditions of Punjab. The poor young Tele-film maker has a tough time for he is not as much a nicotine addict for he probably grew up in the anti-tobacco campaign times. But he knows that one cannot refuse a bidi when it is Dil who is offering it. See it is Dil offering us bidis and not me offering him cigarettes. The wicked Prem Prakash, an old friend of Dil and an ardent admirer of his poetry, had once written in Lakeer that ever since Nirupama has started taking him to Neelon and interviewing him over cigarettes and beer, he has shed his mild demeanour and keeps booming all the time. The Colour Green Green is the colour of fertility. And this colour has a long association with Punjab in the agricultural revolution the state saw with mechanised farming. Green is also the colour of faith. And it is very visible in the Doaba area of Punjab. Mazaars or tombs of the Sufi saints have always been a part of the Eat Punjab landscape. But if you move through Doaba, the land between Sutlej and Beas, hundreds of new mazars have come up. The old ones are painted anew with and well tended. Green chaddars adorn the tombs and buntings decorate the shrines. When in Jalandhar, it is inevitable to find oneself in Prem Prakash's den in Mota Singh Nagar in Jalandhar. We have come fresh from the Doaba countryside, villages in the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur district, where in the past few years hundreds of mazaars have come up. These mazaars are tended and well kept with green chaddars adorning the tombs and buntings and flowers decorating them. We discuss the phenomenon with Prem Prakash who is sprawiling on his cot. "Do you know the population of the scheduled castes is very high in this area. They too need a God. The temples have always denied them entry and the gurdwaras look down upon them. They also need their place of worship," he says and jumps out of the cot. "Caste is a major problem of our society and even we in the Left never addressed it. We talk only of class but class is also caste. I raised the hornet's nest when I dedicated an issue of the Lakeer to 'Class and Creed'. Some said that I had lost it and others said that I was making mischief. Well, one has to make mischief sometime," Prem Pakash springs up and brings out the issue from his closet full of books and journals. Now what he had done is that in this issue he had published a list of a few hundreds of writers with each one's caste in the brackets. Besides, articles analysing the dispersal of awards and rewards on the basis of caste and creed. "Now look at Lalu (that is how he fondly calls Dil) he remained discriminated against even in the Naxalite cadres. He is one of our finest poets but what has he got?" In Doaba we see the curious phenomenon of caste-based gurdwaras this when the tenets of Sikh religion do not recognise caste but caste prejudice could just not be erased in practice. There is an interesting story about a village near Kapurthala. The lower-caste Sikhs of the village wanted a separate gurdwara for themselves and they did manage to construct it for they felt uncomfortable in the gurdwara where the upper castes dominated and scorned at them. But problems arose there too for the Kabir-panithis (weavers) felt the Ravi-Dasias (tanners), who were there in a majority, felt they were being looked down upon and thus they wanted their third gurdwara. At this the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) put its foot down saying that they could not thus encourage the coming up of caste-based gurdwaras. The Kabir-panthis threatened to convert to another religion and the SGPC allowed them to construct the third gurdwara. So one village has three separate gurdwaras based on caste_ never mind the tenets of the Sikh religion. A young dalit writer-journalist, Des Raj Kali, guides us through the many dalit deras all over the countryside. In a rather large and affluent Ravi-Dasia dera (people belonging to the caste of Chamars or tanners worship Gur Ram Das and are now called Ram Dasia) one is struck by an image. It is a cycle in the huge cemented and covered two-wheeler parking lot. It obviously belongs to a shoeshine man for the box and other tools of the trade are proudly tied to the cycle as he has gone in to pray. Where else can he so confidently keep his bike! In Chowk Husainpura fort in Amritsar, we discuss caste and class with Parminderjit, editor of Akhar, a little magazine featuring poetry and fiction. He tells us; "The dalit organisation in Punjab cannot be looked away. Gone are the days when people were apologetic about their caste. Every day when I come to office, I see at the square a cobbler with the board_ Nathu Chamar and his rates for polish, cream polish, sole and half-sole happily displayed. He is a craftsman and labourer who his selling his hard work. He has no cause to be ashamed." Also in Amritsar we call on Prof. Harish K. Puri who a political scientist and his subject is the modern history of Punjab. Having done excellent work on the Ghadar Party Movement and terrorism, he is now working on 'Role of Deras on Dalit Psyche'. He too has taken note of the growing mazaars. "Mazars never went away from Punjab even though the Muslims were either killed or driven out at the time of the Partition. The growing number of mazaars can be attributed to assertion of the dalit identity and also a reaction to Hindutva." So this is how Punjab is showing signs of change. The growing caste consciousness and the way it is being addressed in the open is a pointer that discrimination in the social fabric of East Punjab is not for all times. The color green of the mazaars and the mosques is yet another happy sign. Change is inevitable but when it is for the better it raises hope. On reservation for Muslims By Asghar Ali Engineer http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/01-15Sep04-Print-Edition/011509200449.\ htm The Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh announced 5% reservation for Muslims in educational institutions as well as in jobs. This has been done by creating category E for Muslims as there already exist categories A, B, C and D for backward classes. The reason for creating the category E for Muslims seems to be that Muslims in A.P. are extremely backward and poor. The order for reservation cited that in A.P. about 65 per cent Muslims live below poverty line whose annual income is less than Rs.11,000/-. It also says that 16% Muslims in A.P. live below double poverty line whose annual income is below Rs.4,500/. Where there is poverty there is widespread illiteracy. The literacy rate in A.P. is just about 18 per cent among men and abysmally low of 4 per cent among women. Thus Muslims are worse than dalits all over India in general and in A.P. in particular. It should open the eyes of those who keep on accusing that Islam spread through sword and that Muslim rulers were busy spreading Islam and breaking Hindu idols. Large parts of Telangana were ruled by Nizam for several centuries and yet Muslims are so poor and backward precisely in that part of the state. It is because only the poor dalits converted to Islam and not highly influential Hindus who enjoyed high status in Nizam rule. No attempt was ever made to convert them to Islam. Even in Hyderabad city, which was the Centre of Nizam rule Muslims are abysmally poor and backward. Thus the A.P. Government created category E for poor and backward Muslims to give them 5% reservation. All those who stand for reservation for the dalits, tribals and backwards have supported this measure. Ram Vilas Paswan has always supported reservation and is now demanding reservation for dalits in private industries and also fully supported the A.P. Government's move to give 5% reservation for Muslims. Lalu Prasad Yadav too extended his support along with Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu. Even a BJP ally and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr. Chandrababu Naidu has endorsed the reservation. The TDP itself had promised 3 per cent reservation for Muslims in its manifesto for Lok Sabha elections and BJP had not objected to it at all. As expected the only party to oppose reservation with all vehemence at its command was the BJP and other members of the Sangh Parivar. The BJP while contesting elections for the Lok Sabha was wooing Muslims for votes and was promising sky to them. Mr. Vajpayee while campaigning in Bihar even promised to appoint 2 crore Urdu teachers if voted to power (yes, that is what he said in his speech and this was not appeasement of Muslims as it was being said by the BJP leader, it becomes appeasement only when the Congress leaders say so). The BJP raised hue and cry as soon as the A.P. Government announced the reservation under E. category for Muslims. The BJP described this reservation as 'anti-national' and announced that it would launch a fortnight long campaign agitation "against appeasement". Mr. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters on 18th July that "The decision to give 5 per cent reservation to Muslims in education and jobs is dangerous, divisive and against national interest. It is a trial balloon for the entire country and part of the ongoing appeasement politics." Not surprisingly Atal Bihari Vajpayee fully endorsed the BJP move to oppose A.P. Government's announcement for 5 per cent reservation for Muslims in jobs and educational institutions. Addressing the BJP Parliamentary Party on 20th July, Mr. Vajpayee described Andhra Government's move as "unconstitutional" and "illegal". He also felt that the controversial decision would give "rise to religious conversion in the state". For Mr. Vajpayee reservations should always be on the basis of social and economic backwardness and not on the basis of religion." Of course one could never expect BJP to support reservation for Muslims and also perhaps for Christians. However, whatever the BJP stand it is bound to be anti-minorities. One could not expect it to be favouring minorities on any issue. But reservation on religious grounds by itself can be a contentious issue. It has to be debated in all its consequences. Many otherwise committed secular people also have expressed doubt on the issue. Even among Muslims there is no unanimity. It is therefore, important to discuss this issue in all its complexities. It should not be debated only in terms of pro and anti-Muslim rhetoric. It is important to note that this issue i.e representation of Muslims in government jobs in U.P. and Bihar had played an important role in creation of Pakistan. The upper class privileged Muslim minorities of U.P. and Bihar were quite apprehensive that they would lose their privileged positions in government jobs in united India as it would have Hindu majority and the Hindu majority would take away most important jobs leaving Muslims high and dry. This fear did play an important role in creation of Pakistan movement. These upper caste and upper class Muslims from U.P. and Bihar migrated to Pakistan for retaining their high positions and for quick promotions. But the low caste poor Muslims had no such inspirations nor they could have got such jobs with few exceptions. These poor and illiterate Muslims who were in large numbers, therefore, remained indifferent to Pakistan movement. They had nothing to gain or lose. But today new middle class among Muslims is emerging from these backward class and low caste Muslims. Until recently in independent India all the benefits of parliamentary seats or government jobs have gone to the so-called ashraf only. Mr. Ali Anwar from Bihar in his Musawat ki Jang (Battle for Equality) has pointed out the plight of dalit Muslims in Bihar and maintains that in all these years of independence no backward caste Muslims ever got an opportunity to become M.P. or MLA though such Muslims constitute more than 90 per cent of Muslim population. Only in the recent Lok Sabha elections some M.P.s belonging to dalit Muslims have been elected M.P.s Though theoretically there is no discrimination on such grounds in Islam but caste discrimination (as the words ashraf and ajlaf i.e. noble and low point out) has always existed and short of untouchability low caste Muslims (ajlaf) have not been equitably treated. The implementation of Mandal Commission Report in 1990 gave new hope to these dalit Muslims and a new awareness have been born among them. Many low caste Muslims like Shabbir Ansari in Maharashtra, Aijaz Ali and Ali Anwar in Bihar and others in U.P. are trying to organise them and struggling for reservations for them under Mandal Commission categories. These Muslims point out that general reservations for Muslims on religious grounds would benefit only the so called Ashraf Muslims and will hardly percolate down to poor dalit Muslims. These leaders would prefer reservation for Muslims only under Mandal Commission categories. This too is not an easy task. The concerned governments and backward caste commission has to take clear and bold stand. Apart from this the important question is should there be reservation on religious ground? I think it is very complex question and would be difficult to answer in yes or no. It has to be examined from different angles. Firstly any reservation purely on religious grounds is bound to invite vigorous opposition particularly from Sangh Parivar. It would give an emotional issue to RSS and BJP looking for emotive issues after loosing power. Many secularists would also not support such a move unreservedly. Even there would be no unanimity among Muslims on this, as pointed out above. This would also necessitate constitutional amendment as Constitution provides reservation only on caste grounds. One can of course argue that there are dalit Muslims and dalit Christians as there are Hindu dalits. And if the argument is that there is no caste system among Muslims and Christianity, one can argue it is only a scriptural view of religion and not anthropological view as in practice there are corresponding castes among Muslims and Christians too. Why not reservations for them? There is no caste system theoretically among Buddhists too yet reservations have been extended to neo-Buddhists? The argument that extending reservations to Muslim and Christian dalits would encourage conversions to these religions is not constitutionally sound. One is free to convert under the Article 25 of the Constitution. Yet, one must realise that politically it is a volatile question. Muslims and Christians too should take politically wise decision. In this era of privatisation the government jobs are contracting. Though there is demand for reservation in private jobs it will not be easy for any government to bring private jobs within the ambit of reservation. Some positive discrimination or affirmative action may be possible but that too will take long time and will not be easy to achieve. The best thing in the given complex situation would be a mixed bag solution. Muslims and Christians could be assured reservation under Mandal categories. Secondly, the governments, Central as well as state could make special arrangements for higher education for weaker sections of society and even create institutions to search for talents among them and ensure jobs for them. Thirdly, on patterns of affirmative action in US industries, private sector foundations could be created for education of such sections among dalit Muslims. Lastly leaders of Indian Muslims should convince well-to-do Muslims in India and abroad to donate generously from Zakat money to create educational endowments and foundations in India to establish educational institutions of good qualities for poor Muslims be they from upper castes or lower castes. There is immense potential for such endowments. I hope the Indian Muslims will give thought to these suggestions and critically reflect on the complex question and would not try to beg for reservation pushing up communal temperature and handing on silver platter a much sought for issue to the Sangh Parivar. « Phoolan mother in revenge role TAPAS CHAKRABORTY http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041220/asp/nation/story_4151150.asp Akbarpur (Uttar Pradesh), Dec. 19: No one knew who she was, but it was obvious the old woman was familiar with their lifestyle. Or else, the questions couldn't have come so fast. When had they last repaired their fishing nets? Did they have cycles to take their catch to the nearest market? What was the price they were getting? A little distance away, Congress flags fluttered from a jeep. The Nishads listened, their curiosity aroused by the 71-year-old, all skin and bones but quick on her feet unlike other village women her age. Then one of the five young women, who had escorted the septuagenarian widow to the village, stepped forward. "She is Phoolan Devi's mother," she said. As if on cue, Mulla Devi opened an album of old photographs. One of the pictures showed her being hugged by her daughter, the bandit queen-turned-Samajwadi Party MP who was gunned down in front of her Delhi home three years ago. "Look here. This is my daughter. She worked for your welfare and her life was cut short by those who knew her." Like the questions earlier, the words came in a rush. The album was to convince the villagers of Haswar, a settlement of about 70 fishermen families, that she was indeed Phoolan's mother. Some Samajwadi Party workers had spread the rumour that Mulla Devi was masquerading as Phoolan's mother. She need not have worried. Dusty mats were already spread out in the courtyard and the village women had come out with tea and sweets. "My daughter was killed by men who were close to the Samajwadi Party, but I have come here for my son-in-law Umedh Nishad, a Congress candidate. See that he wins so that Phoolan could be happy seeing her husband completing her task," she told the villagers. The constituency where Mulla Devi has chosen to campaign for her son-in-law is known more for another woman — Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayavati. After winning three times from here, the Dalit leader had vacated her seat this year for a berth in the Rajya Sabha. The bypoll in Akbarpur, scheduled for tomorrow, has boiled down to a battle between the Samajwadi Party and the BSP. For Mulla Devi, it is a chance to settle scores with the party that once sheltered her daughter. Her face is cracked like drying mud under the crisp winter sun. She has been relentless in her attack on chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party. After Phoolan's murder, her family members had quarrelled over who would inherit her legacy in Mirzapur, from where she had won twice. While Umedh claimed to be an inheritor, her mother and sister demanded a share. Samajwadi leaders were at a loss when all the relatives of Phoolan demanded tickets during the 2002 state polls. Finally, Mulayam Singh dumped all of them. In a clever move, the Congress, which has been searching for backward-caste leaders, fielded Umedh and roped in Mulla Devi for the campaign. Pushed to the fifth position in the May general elections, the Congress is trying to get a share of the 2.5 lakh Nishad votes and three lakh backward caste votes in Akbarpur. "Mulla Devi is dogged in her mission. She is rediscovering what kind of love the Nishads had for her daughter," said Umedh. The old woman is out to rekindle that love. "My daughter did everything for the Nishads on behalf of Mulayam Singh Yadav's party. She was killed. I had demanded a CBI inquiry but Samajwadi Party leaders scuttled it. Had the party okayed the CBI probe, the truth behind the killing would have come out," she said as she campaigned in Jehangirnagar, another village in Akbarpur. A caste laboratory of Mayavati, Akbarpur is split into caste colonies like Yadonagar, Gossainganj, Majhinagar and Mallarpur. Mulla Devi knows her job is tough. "I may not be able to ensure a Congress win but I will see to it that the Samajwadi Party loses," she said. The BSP has fielded Tribhuban Dutt, a former MP. The Samajwadi candidate is Shankarlal Manjhi. RS members back pro-SC/ST reservation Bill New Delhi, Dec 17 (UNI) http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=85651 Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, cutting across party affiliations, today supported a private member's Bill seeking reservations for SCs/STs in admissions to educational institutions. Members, while debating Republican Party of India member R S Gavai's Bill, said the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had suffered for generations and they now deserved more than equal treatment. Mr Gavai said it was mere imagination of the upper castes that the SC/ST would not be able to achieve excellence. Congress member V Narayanasamy said the UPA government was committed to provide reservations not only to the SC/ST but also minorities. BJP member Ramnath Kovind, supporting the Bill, said instead of reservation in jobs, it would be better if it is given in educational institutions. R Shunmugasundaram, DMK, said Tamil Nadu had a history of reservations. AIADMK member from his state N Jothi said Mr Gavai's Bill could just follow what was being already being implemented in Tamil Nadu. Congress member Moolchand Meena also supported the Bill. -- -30- Arrest of 'Hindu Pope' sparks little outrage as anti-caste feeling grows By Edward Luce Published: December 18 2004 02:00 | Last updated: December 18 2004 02:00 http://news.ft.com/cms/s/437652a0-509b-11d9-b551-00000e2511c8.html Followers of traditional Brahmin Hinduism have been in profound despair since the Shankaracharya of Kanchi - leader of possibly India's most august Hindu institution - was last month arrested by police on suspicion of murder. The Shankaracharya, a 70-year-old spiritual leader to millions of Hindus, was yesterday denied his appeal to be freed on bail. The case, which hinges on the pontiff's alleged hiring of contract killers to murder Shakaraman, the former temple accountant, who was allegedly blackmailing the Shankaracharya over corrupt practices, looks likely to culminate in one of the most controversial murder trials India has seen. Yet the arrest - and the media's almost gleeful subsequent humiliation of the Shankaracharya - has singularly failed to ignite the mass outrage many were expecting. Often described as the Hindu Pope, Jayendra Saraswati - the Shankaracharya's actual name - was arrested last month on the eve of Divali, one of the most important festivals in the Hindu calendar. Prosecuting lawyers in Tamil Nadu, the southern state in which the pontiff is based and where he is held in custody, have leaked tales of corruption and sensual indulgence more redolent of Europe's medieval papacy. Leaders of the Hindu nationalist BJP, which was defeated in national polls last May, have repeatedly attempted to galvanise popular outrage over the police's apparent rough handling of the Shankaracharya - but to little avail. Meanwhile, other Hindu leaders have observed the case with disquiet. "Hindus are a very gentle and non-violent people," Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, head of the Art of Living Foundation, a spiritual movement based in Bangalore, told the Financial Times. "We are not easily provoked into outrage. But I feel we are losing our sense of identity. We are no longer reacting as Hindus." Mr Ravi Shankar, whose ashram on the outskirts of Bangalore is a study in marbled opulence, is one of a growing band of modern spiritual leaders with close connections to India's software industry and with legions of western devotees. Unlike the Shankaracharya, whose institution is deeply traditional, Mr Ravi Shankar rejects caste - the birth-based system of social division with which traditional Hinduism is associated. Dressed in white robes and wearing a flowing biblical beard, Mr Ravi Shankar gently suggests the Shankaracharya's resolutely Brahmin, or upper caste, identity, may explain the lack of popular outrage among ordinary Hindus. The Shankaracharya has insisted only a Brahmin cook should prepare his food in jail. Lower castes are traditionally considered to be polluting. "There is a lot of anti-Brahmin feeling in India at the moment," says Mr Ravi Shankar. "Rigidity in the caste system has declined a lot in the last 50 years. But also Hinduism ... is not organised and is more institutionally diverse. This should also be seen as a strength. It means less possibility for mass outrage." Madhu Pandit Das, head of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskon), better known in the west as the "Hare Krishna" movement, also based in Bangalore, says traditional Hinduism has declining appeal. Iskon has been split into two warring factions since its founder's death in 1977. The movement also faces class action suits over alleged paedophilia at its ashrams in the US. Mr Das, whose mission is to "clean up" the sect, believes the Hare Krishna movement still has great advantages over the traditional institutions of Hinduism, perhaps most aptly symbolised by the incarcerated Shankaracharya. Iskon's vast Bangalore temple feeds 60,000 slum children every day, making sure that upper and lower caste boys and girls dine together. It completely rejects caste distinctions. Like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mr Das is surrounded by former software engineers and management graduates who have trained to become gurus. This is one reason why Bangalore, India's software capital, is so popular with the new Hindu cults. "We run our organisation like a modern corporate," he says. "We have boardrooms, liquid crystal displays, transparent audits of our finances and we keep the temple meticulously clean. Have you seen how filthy the traditional temples are?" Egged on by police and lawyers, who appear bent on showcasing the country's system of equality before the law in their treatment of the Shankaracharya, Indian media have publicised a litany of alleged malpractices at the pontiff's temple, both financial and sexual. Whether any of the allegations are true - and regardless of the outcome of any trial that might ensue - most Indians appear singularly unmoved. "Most Indians are not Brahmins," explains Mr Das. "Also I think there have been so many rumours for so long about this particular institution that there is sufficient doubt there in the popular mind." -- -30- Bill on quota for Scheduled Caste students evokes wide support New Delhi, Dec. 18 (PTI): http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200412180301.htm A private member's Bill to provide reservation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in all courses of higher study evoked wide support in the Rajya Sabha on Friday with members saying the measure was needed to offset Supreme Court ruling striking down quota for specialised courses. Terming the legislation as of paramount importance, members cutting across party affiliations, said SC and ST students should not be deprived of opportunities to go in for super-specialised courses. R S Gavai (RPI) said education at all levels should be universal. He said in view of the recent Supreme Court ruling it was essential to restore reservation for SC and ST students in all courses of study - technical, professional and higher learning faculties. The member said the Bill provided for relaxation of age limit for these students and punishment of violators for not enforcing the reservation. V Narayansamy (Congress) said as the UPA Government was committed to this, the Government should support the legislation. Describing the Bill as timely, Ramnath Kovind (BJP) suggested the Government and the Opposition should sit across the table to sort out things to restore reservation for these deprived children. -- -30- From the SACW mailing list Second South Asian Workshop on Racism, Xenophobia, and Discrimination against Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous People March 22-31, 2005, Lahore, Pakistan Applications are invited from South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) for a 10-day residential training course in Lahore, Pakistan (22-31 March 2005) on racism, xenophobia, and issues of minorities and autonomy. The short-term training course is supported by the European Commission. It is being organised by the South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) in partnership with Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, The Other Media (India), INSEC (Nepal) and EURAC (Italy). The course will focus on representatives of minorities and indigenous people, self-determination movements, people from autonomous regions, relevant scholars, jurists and NGOs from South Asian region including Afghanistan, Burma and Tibet. The curriculum of the course will deal with themes of modern state formation, nation and nation state, nationalism, ethnicity, partition, national and international regimes of protection, political issues relating to regional trends in minority protection in South Asia, politics of control of natural and man made resources, media and European mechanisms for protection of minorities. This is an advance level course. Applicants must have (a) five years experience in minority protection, movements for self-determination and self-government in the South Asian region. Proficiency in English language is a pre-requisite for participation. Besides giving all necessary particulars, application must be accompanied by two recommendation letters and a 1000 word essay on how the training course is relevant to the applicant's work and may benefit the applicant. SAFHR will bear accommodation and other course expenses for all participants and will offer limited number of travel grants. Applications, addressed to the course coordinator, can be sent by e-mail or post, and must reach the following address by 31 December 2004 – Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Aiwan-Jamhoor, 107-Tipu Block, New Garden Town, Lahore - 54600 Pakistan. Email: safhr-pk@c... For further information, application form and brochure of the course please visit our website www.safhr.org -- -30- Reservation should be provided to SC candidates in pvt sector : http://www.123bharath.com/india-news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=44376 India News > Karimnagar, Dec 14 : National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Member Devender Vaddeti, today asked central and state governments to implement 15 per cent reservation to Scheduled Caste candidates in private sectors also. He told reporters here the reservation in private sectors for SCs would enable them to get jobs in private sectors. He said due to delay in the investigation of cases of atrocities against SC persons, the rate of conviction has been decreased. He said the commission would make necessary recommendations instructing the investigating officials to probe the matters speedily. PTI -- -30- Caste in the newsroom? http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web2196523711Hoot122711%20AM1229&pn=1 Caste discrimination in the newsroom? Rubbish, say most upper caste journalists in Uttar Pradesh. It's all over, say backward caste journalists. Shivam Vij in Lucknow How many journalists in the Lucknow office of Dainik Jagran, India's largest selling newspaper, belong to the Schedule Castes or the 'Other Backward Castes'? "I have never counted and I will never count. Caste is not an issue in this organisation," says Dilip Awasthi, a senior editor with Dainik Jagran. But a backward caste journalist says that Dainik Jagran in Lucknow in particular has been run as a "Brahminical paper". Unlike Awasthi, backward caste journalists can count their numbers on the fingertips. Ask them and they start listing names — an exercise which some upper-caste scribes are also able to undertake. There are not even half a dozen Dalit journalists in Lucknow, most of whom do not handle the political beat, and no Dalit journalist works for an English paper. As for OBC's, you will find at the most one in every paper. Why are the numbers so few? "They don't go to schools!" says Awasthi. And the ones who do? Has he never met a single SC/OBC journalist who's talented enough for a job? "Never. They can't write a single sentence properly." Is there deliberate discrimination against lower caste candidates who apply for employment? "I refuse employment to 15 people every day, and 14 of them are upper caste Hindus. All that matters is talent. Go to media schools in the city and ask them how many Dalits or OBC's are enrolled with them. The caste situation in the media is no different from what it is in society." Off the record, a Dalit journalist alleges: "I was denied employment by a paper because the editor said I wrote like the spokesperson of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is not true. That their reporters write like spokespersons of [the upper-caste dominated] Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a non-issue for the paper." Interestingly, no one has ever heard of employment discrimination against Muslims in the Lucknow press. In fact it is said that every political bureau has at least one Muslim in it because it is felt that only a Muslim can get stories from inside Muslim society. (Since there has never been a Hindu-Muslim riot in Lucknow, communal relations here are much better than riot-affected cities.) "Naturally," says Awasthi of Jagran, "I would like to have a Muslim to cover Muslims and a woman to cover women's issues." And a Dalit to cover Dalits? "But where are they?" he exclaims. "How is it possible," questions political reporter Kamal Jayant of Aaj, "that in a country with a huge unemployment problem no Dalit comes to them for a reporter's job?" "The root of the problem is ownership. When the media is owned by the upper caste, it has to be dominated by the upper caste," says Kashi Prasad of Eenadu TV Uttar Pradesh, who does not write his surname, Yadav, in his visiting card. Journalists belonging to castes that figure at the lower end of the caste system often hide or change their surnames lest they invite prejudice. JP Shukla, Lucknow correspondent of The Hindu, very emphatically says there is no question of any kind of employment discrimination, because: "An educated Dalit prefers his reserved job in a government office rather than a hard life as an underpaid stringer with a Hindi daily. And English dailies take the convent educated lot." Amit Sharma, Lucknow correspondent of The Indian Express denies that there is employment discrimination, and if the backward caste journalist feels it, "it could be because of his inner feelings [read: complex] that he belongs to a lower caste." Caste here may get inter-twined with class. An upper caste journalist privately admits that he may unconsciously discriminate on class basis, but for backward caste aspirants this discrimination is received as casteist. It is his caste because of which he lacks 'class'. Amidst all this generalisation, backward caste journalists are not short of examples. AP Dewan, a Doordarshan reporter who is Dalit by caste, knows two cases off hand. He remembers one Yogendra Singh who committed suicide because no paper would give him a job, and how Doordarshan would not even take one Dharmendra Singh as a free apprentice. The latter, an alumus of IIMC (Indian Institute of Mass Communications, Delhi), had to forgo the electronic media and work with Rashtriya Sahara in Noida. At the same time, Dewan claims as President of the now defunct Doordarshan India Journalists Association, that jobs reserved for backward castes in Doordarshan have not been filled for years. Some backward caste journalists, very wary of being quoted, recall how they personally faced hardships in initially getting employment, as compared to upper-caste colleagues. "A Muslim friend called me the other day to arrange a newspaper internship for her daughter. But I don't recall any backward caste person approaching me for help in employment," says Ratan Mani Lal, Director of the Jaipuria Institute of Mass Communications. "Employment in the private sector is often given on the basis of connections, and upper caste individuals tend to have connections amongst upper castes." says Vivek Kumar, who left his job with The Pioneer in Lucknow in 2000 to become an academic. He now teaches at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) in Delhi. The Dalit and the OBC suffer from stereotypes of talent. "It is presumed that a candidate won't be talented because he is Dalit," says Dewan. About this tricky issue of talent, Kumar of JNU says: "This is exactly the same as in reserved jobs for backward castes. First it was 'candidate not available' and now it is 'candidate not suitable'. And who decides a candidate's suitability? The upper-caste editor." So would he support reservation in the private media? "Why not? Reservation is nothing but equality of opportunity." The new Congress-led government at the centre has promised to look into the area of caste-based reservation in the private sector. If and when that happens, it will affect the media as well, and you may begin to see the bylines of a greater variety of castes. That was about employment, but those who do manage to get a job, do they face discrimination at the work place? Once again upper caste journalists say an emphatic no and backward caste journalists say an emphatic yes. "Between 1996 an '99 I was with Hindustan," remembers Kashi Prasad of E-TV, "I was posted in Sultanpur when the paper established its office there. As a Yadav I was the only journalist there belonging to a backward caste. I would sit in the same room as my junior upper caste colleagues, and local leaders would come and touch their feet and ignore me. So I asked them to shift to another room." These seemingly petty problems become very humiliating when an individual goes through them. Discrimination manifests itself in the form of marginalisation. Backward caste journalists say they are marginalised not only in places like the Press Club but also inside the newsroom, where upper caste journalists may form a closely knit community. Dewan of Doordarshan claims that in office he is not given basic facilities like a stenographer or a computer or air-conditioning, which have been given to journalists junior to him. Is he sure this is because of his caste? "Absolutely because of that!" he says, "But this is nothing. In the media in UP Dalits and OBC's face much worse. They are forced to be submissive and have to quietly endure everything." Amit Sharma, Lucknow correspondent of The Indian Express, confirmed that backward caste journalists in UP face prejudice amongst their fraternity. "Whatever they say is taken lightly and often ridiculed," he says, "and this sometimes makes them irritable and affects their self-esteem." Sharma, however, denies discrimination in employment. Kashi Prasad of E-TV says, "Not only is there greater discrimination in districts and small towns, a lot many journalists in Lucknow come from small town or rural backgrounds. They carry a greater burden of caste than one would ordinarily perceive in Lucknow." However, JP Shukla of The Hindu, who says he is himself from a rural background, denies that there is any such thing as caste bias amongst journalists. Shukla, a Brahmin by caste, says that the primary caste equation in UP is that of a clash between Dalits and OBC's, and the upper-castes have no role in it. (During an earlier interview for a story on The Hoot, Shukla had read excerpts from a book of memoirs that he was writing, in Hindi, which exalted the caste system.) Secondly, says Shukla, that Maywati and the BSP are such a powerful political tool in UP that nobdu dares discriminitae against a Dalit. After the Mandal Commission report of 1991, says Kashi Prasad, "Society was polarised into those who were for caste-based reservation in government jobs and those who were against it. Upper caste journalists, seething in anger about reservations, have been prone to prejudice against backward caste individuals in the office." There is thus a great need for backward caste journalists to 'prove' their merit. The problem with this, for one, is that a backward caste journalist is seen first as belonging to a 'low' caste and then as an individual. Pawan Kumar, a Dalit who works as a sub-editor with Aaj, says that a backward caste scribe has to work much harder to be accepted, whereas his upper caste colleagues would be regularly promoted even when they are not meritorious. The claim is buttressed by Vivek Kumar of JNU with the example of a friend who would file his stories only in his first name. But the day he started adding his surname Shukla, he was surprised to find his byline on page one off and on. "Now his name bore the burden of his caste," he says. On the other hand, Kashi Prasad claims he was not given an independent beat in a newspaper for years, unlike his upper-caste colleagues. How caste biases operate in the coverage of caste politics has been documented earlier by a couple of stories in The Hoot. But apart from elections, what about the coverage of caste on issues like caste discrimination in society, cases of caste-based violence, etc.? Are they given due space? If it's newsworthy, it finds a place in the paper, says, Jayant of Aaj. "Thanks to competition," he says "if one paper doesn't carry it, another does. But what angle such stories are given may be problematic in some cases." At the height of the Mandal Commission imbroglio in 1991, he says, stories of upper caste protests were exaggerated by the media with an activist intent. It is very obvious, therefore, that you never find a feature in a UP paper about caste discrimination in society, the sort that appear in Delhi editions of papers like The Indian Express and The Hindu. Vivek Kumar of JNU says that while at the Pioneer, he once interviewed the then UP Governor Suraj Bhan, a Dalit, and asked him questions on the position of Dalits in society 48 years after independence. What should have been a page-one eight-column interview, he says, was reduced to two columns on page four. Some days later the paper sent another correspondent to interview the Governor, this time without any 'Dalit angle', and it was right there: eight columns on page one. Vijay Dubey of Eenadu TV points out a rift between Thakur and Brahmin journalists in Gorakhpur over some local issue recently, and other backward caste journalists readily provide specifics of how a journalist belonging to a certain caste would often be assigned the task of covering the leader of that caste. The logic is that caste affinity helps you get a scoop. But this argument is turned on its head when backward caste journalists are said to use their caste to get close to politicians and benefit in getting scoops and other necessities of life. "This is unfortunate branding," says Dewan of Doordarshan, "Before I helped save Mayawati's life in the 1995 "guest-house" attack on her, no one knew what community I belonged to. But after that the world around me changed completely. Upper-caste journalists labelled me a Mayawati stooge and in 1998, got chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to get me transferred out of UP. Later when Mayawati again became CM, some upper-caste journalists instigated her against me and as a result, she hasn't spoken to me for 18 months." Journalists in the English papers may be a little more progressive, but Kumar of JNU complains that the upper-caste individual can choose to be anything in the garb of progressiveness. A source in The Times of India says, "Caste is always implicit. You are always aware of what is the caste of which person and what that means in caste hierarchy." While local English papers remain urban-centric, Hindi papers do cover grassroots level activities, socio-religious affairs and some amount of rural reporting also finds space. But in all this, it is an upper-caste ("Brahminical") culture that is reflected; the lives and customs of a segregated, backward caste society are unimportant. There is no dialogue over this issue; nobody seems to see the need to give so much as a patient hearing to the grievances of journalists belonging to depressed castes. The arrogance with which senior journalists like Awasthi of Jagran dismiss the issue, suggests that a Dalit journalist is persona non grata for them. Says Vivek Kumar of JNU, "When you live life in your own group you never think you are excluding anyone. The only time you think there is discrimination is when Mayawati dismisses you as Manuwaadi." (Some interviewees were not quoted on request. Shivam Vij runs the Zest Reading Group. Contact: shivamvij@h....) Related archives in The Hoot Where are the dalit journalists? Jharkhand's oppressed dalits and the media Journalism and caste in Bihar Story of a dalit journalist Mayawati and the media "Pardafash" and the media The Dainik Jagran flip flop on Raja Bhaiya Commerce, politics and caste in UP election coverage Dalit village in TN awaits electricity Sam Daniel Tuesday, December 14, 2004 (Sivaganga): http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp? slug=Dalit+village+in+TN+awaits+electricity&id=65151 A Dalit village in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu has been waiting for electricity for the past 56 years. Their plight contradicts the Tamil Nadu government's claims to have achieved 100 per cent electrification of all villages. Four of the houses here were built under the state government's group housing scheme. And although internal wiring has been done electricity has been denied for no reason. Everyday problems Half the population has migrated. While close to 15 families are still struggling, their school going children have been put in a local orphanage. "As we are dalits, electricity is denied to us all. Villages around us have lights," says Vetachi, villager. While there is no way to run pump sets, farmers draw water the whole day using primitive methods, just to save their crop so that they can have atleast one meal a day. "If we get power, we can dig a well and can save our crop," says S Subiah, farmer. Bureaucratic tangles The electricity department blames it on the villagers for not approaching them formally. While power connections need to be provided within 90 days, the department says the village may have to wait for yet another year. "After getting sanction and funds we will complete the work. Time frame roughly upto six months to one year," says S P Balasubramanian, Superintendent Engineer. Although there is a power line just 300 metres away from this village, such is the speed of the bureaucracy its going to take another year to connect this village. While development has virtually come to a stand in this Dalit village, there are 78,000 similar villages in the country still waiting to be electrified. |