Anna Hazare is anti-Dalit, says CM Mayawati

Lucknow: Social activist Anna Hazare has laid bare his anti-Dalit mindset by not including even one member from the community on the anti-graft Lokpal Bill drafting committee, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said on Friday.

Addressing a special function to mark the completion of four years of her government here, she said: "Just as the Congress-led central government displayed its anti-Dalit approach by not caring to include a Dalit in the Lokpal Bill draft committee, so did Anna Hazare, by not bothering to have a Dalit on his civil society panel, which reflects his anti-Dalit mindset."

According to her, "the exclusion of Dalits from the draft committee as a whole is a betrayal of the entire Dalit population of this country.”

The chief minister said "While I welcome the various anti-corruption movements across the country, I am intrigued about the intent behind Anna Hazare's move to use Uttar Pradesh as a launch pad for his movement.”

"Even though Anna Hazare belongs to Maharastra, where there is no dearth of scams, and likewise, there are scams in several other states too, yet he launched his anti-corruption campaign in UP, where not a single scam has taken place.”

She said "It appears that some people in Anna Hazare's civil society were politically motivated and they had chosen UP as a battleground for their campaign only under the influence of certain political groups.”

"No wonder, the much hyped anti-corruption campaign is fast getting reduced to an anti-Dalit exercise.”

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/UP-anna-hazare-is-anti-dalit-says-cm-mayawati-2101403.html

Set up special courts for Dalit cases: Wasnik

Shimla, April 29 (IANS) States should set up special courts to try cases related to atrocities on Dalits, union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik said Friday. He said a large number of cases were pending in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In Himachal Pradesh, he said, of 698 cases registered between 2007 and 2009, there was convictions only in 18 cases and 120 acquittals. 

"As many as 533 cases are still pending in various courts. This means 76.4 percent of the cases are pending," Wasnik told reporters here. In Haryana, of 2,349 cases, there had been convictions in 110 cases, 501 acquittals and 1,736 cases were pending in courts.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=235678

Questions of name

Dalit”, “Scheduled Caste”, “Ex-Untouchable” and “Harijan”. These are only some of the many words used to refer to the most oppressed sections of Indian society, “untouchable” in the traditional caste order, performers of the most degrading task, and still today caught in the throes of poverty, discrimination and the remnants of untouchability.

“Dalit” is still probably the most widespread of these terms, but it is not uncontested. Many are uncomfortable with its apparent militancy. It means literally “crushed” or “ground down”, and it has an interesting history. It is first found, apparently, in the ’30s, when it was used as a Marathi and Hindi translation for the British term “Depressed Classes.” (As elsewhere, “classes” here meant “castes”, something to remember when we are discussing OBCs.) Ambedkar used it in this way to refer to his Depressed Class conferences, though in English we most often find him using the simple and descriptive term “Untouchable”. His conflicts with Gandhi in the early ’30s were at least partly a matter of terminology. Gandhi had, for him, the brilliant idea of using the term “Harijan”, taken from the bhakti movement. Ambedkar resisted this, just as he resisted Gandhi’s attempt to turn an Untouchable League (which Ambedkar thought should take up general issues of civil rights) into a paternalistic organisation controlled by upper-caste Hindus. Ambedkar, and militant Dalits ever since, have seen the word “Harijan” as demeaning and false, hence oppressive.

Then, in the early ’70s, “Dalit” became a symbol  of the new militant movement of the oppressed, with the formation of the Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra, the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti in Karnataka, and many others. These groups became involved in struggles against atrocities, sometimes in open and violent clashes with caste Hindus. The word echoed in numerous slum and village-based groups that emerged during that period. Its militancy, its open proclamation of oppression, attracted youth restless under the scorn of the so-called “upper” castes, ready to fight. It became generalised, and used even in newspaper reports. It is, after all, a more colourful expression than the cold and official sounding “Scheduled Caste”. And, the Dalit Panther manifesto proclaimed that “Dalit” meant “all oppressed”, including workers and poor peasants. It seemed a fitting term for the new era of assertion of the various “new social movements” of the ’70s and ’80s.

Yet the use of “Dalit” has not gone uncontested. For one, Kanshi Ram rejected it when he formed his Bahujan Samaj Party, though he earlier had used it with DS-4, the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangh, as a militant organisation. For his political party, however, he wanted to formulate a wider appeal, and though the Dalit Panthers had given a broad meaning to the term, still it had come to be used in practice only for the Scheduled Castes. “Bahujan”, meaning literally “majority” (and with some echoes from Buddhism, bahujan hitaya, bahujan sukaya), was meant to be used for SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities. Thus, in all his various disputes with other parties (in particular the Republican Parties based mainly in Maharashtra), Kanshi Ram insisted that his was not in fact only a “Dalit” party.

Some of the more militant Buddhists don’t like the term. Yashwant Manohar, a writer from Maharashtra, said once, “Call me Buddhist, call me Mahar, call me Naga, anything but Dalit!” It was its negative connotations that were rejected. Many of these Dalits wanted a broader, more positive identity, that moved beyond tradition; for this reason some have adopted the term “Buddhist” in preference to any word implying a caste identification.

Today, in addition, with many disputes arising among the various castes of ex-Untouchables, and with the formerly “weaker” SCs asserting themselves in new ways, it seems clear that an all-embracing “Dalit” identity is being rejected by many. The pendulum seems to be swinging back to a caste identification. The conflict between the Malas and Madigas in Andhra is only the most stark example, but similar tensions are seen in north India, between the large and powerful Chamar group and slightly smaller (but still very widespread) castes such as the Valmikis, and in Maharashtra between Mahars and Matangas. In Tamil Nadu, the former Pallars began asserting themselves as DKVs, “Devendra Kula Vanniyars”. “Is Dalit unity possible?” has become an important question and it is quite likely that most of the former Untouchables would simply identify themselves by their caste names.

It is difficult to predict the future, but “Harijan” definitely seems to be out for the conscious and assertive youth, while the ambiguity about caste identities and an all-embracing “Dalit” identity remains. “Dalit” remains the most useful inclusive term and — strikingly — in some ways the least controversial.

Changing terminology should surprise no one. In the US, the oppressed group once known as “Negroes” or “Coloured People” (remember the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, founded by none other than the militant W.E.B. Du Bois) moved to a preference for “Black” in the ’60s and ’70s, to the less colour-conscious, more ethnic oriented “African-American” today. Mobile social groups, finally, chose their own identities, and that is what the former Untouchables, the Dalits, the oppressed sections of India, will do.

Gail Omvedt, a sociologist, has written a biography of Ambedkar express@expressindia.com

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/questions-of-name/338487/3

Owaisi calls for unity among Muslims, dalits and BCs

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad MP and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims, Dalits and other Backward Castes need to work together to bring about a change in the socio-political scenario of the country.

Speaking at a seminar, Ambedkar, Islam and Equality conducted at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (Manuu), Owaisi said though his party has been working to improve the living conditions of the oppressed groups, a better coordination is needed to bring about a real social change in the country. "A real social change can be achieved only by breaking the present caste alliances," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Kancha Ilaiah, director of Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), which conducted the seminar to mark the 120th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, said a deliberate attempt is being made to create a rift between the Dalits and Muslims. He said appropriate representation should be given to Muslims in the Lok Sabha based on their population ration in the country.

Former chief secretary to the state government Kaki Madhava Rao, president Dalit Mahasabha, AP, Kathi Padma Rao and vice-chairman Centre for Dalit Study Y B Satyanarayana and others spoke on the occasion. Manuu in-charge vice-chancellor Khalid Sayeed presided over the function.

Dalit representative should be a Minister: Santosh Hegde

Bill drafting committeePosted: Sun Apr 24 2011, 16:17 hrsNew Delhi:

Amid Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for inclusion of a Dalit in the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, Justice Santosh Hegde said if someone from the community should be included in the panel, then it should be one of the Dalit ministers.

"If at a Dalit is to be included in the panel, it should be one of the Dalit Ministers from the government," he told reporters here.

His comments came in the backdrop of Mayawati's demand for inclusion of a Dalit representative in the Lokpal drafting committee

Hegde, who is a member of the committee, had yesterday said, "if you have to have any caste-wise representation, then this committee can never be constituted."

Another panel member Arvind Kejriwal also said the government could replace one of the five ministers with a dalit representative.

Ekalavaya - The Reality

When ordinary Dalits read the story of Ekalavaya, they feel sympathy for him for the way he was treated by Drona, the teacher of the Pandvas in the epic Mahabharata.

Adivasis by the nature of their lifestyle have been excellent archers. Numerous references testify to the fact that the Nishad tribe was militarised and that the Nishads were not part of the Aryan society but they had contact with it. In the earlier texts Nishads were not disdained, but were seen as warriors, but not as Aryan warriors. It is in the latest theological texts that the Nishads came to be seen as outside of the pale of the Aryan society, untouchables in fact.

There was no need for Ekalavaya to seek a teacher outside of his own tribe, unless he was going to ask for the new iron metal weapons. Only in this technological sense the Aryans could be seen as superior to the Nishads. But it was unlikely that such secrets would be given away simply just by asking. Drona never taught Ekalavaya anything so the question of teacher's fee should have never arisen. Ekalavaya could have refused this unreasonable and cruel gurudakshina or teacher's fee. Considering that the story was written by the Aryans so what is the myth of Ekalavaya trying to tell us?

When the Indian Adivasi society was being broke up by the use of techniques described in the Arthsastara, the remaining militarised tribes were normally absorbed in the caste society under the kashtriya Glossary Link varnaVarna: A theoretical division of classes according to the Hindu religious texts. These are Brahmins (priests), Kshtriyas (warriors), Vaisyas (Farmer/Merchants) and Sudras (Menials) This term is often confused with caste which is a concrete division of social grouping. In theory a caste will belong to a specific varna but this link will often be disputed by the concerned caste and other castes. . If the tribe was not militarised, but craft type, then the poopuation had to find a niche in the sudra varna. Those who resisted to the end would end up beyond the pale, a category denied in theory, but very much apparent in practice. These were the anantvysan or the fifth category or the untouchables, helots like at first, evolving into semi serfs not owned by society nor by individuals but at the disposal of the top three varnas. Those Nishads who refused to make a deal with the Aryans ended up exactly in this situation. The story of the Nishad's fall from grace is well documented1.

What is described was an ideal scenario from the point of view of the Brahamin theoriticians. What would happen if the tribe had already developed class differentitation prior to its contact with the varna socity? Also not all tribes were at the same stage of development in society, technology or class structure. The story in such cases was a little more complex. How do you incoporate some ex tribal members into the warrior class and the rest into the menials?

It is in this context that we can understand the story of Eklavaya.

There is no sympathy for Ekalavaya in Mahabharata for having to be asked to cut off his thumb, thus disarming himself. But there is a reason why Ekalavaya did this seemingly terrible deed. He did benefit from the seemingly non-existent bargain. Previously he could not be accepted by the dharmic i.e. Brahmnincal society. After having offered his gurudakishna or tution fee to the Brahmin Drona, he could be accepted but as a lower level kshatriya warrior doing the bidding of the the higher varnas, that is keeping the dogs silent but without bloodshed, dogs in this context standing for those less powerful Adivasis who were incorporated in the Brahminical dharmic society.

When the Aryans settled down properly, they not only ordred the society into four varnas but actively sought for the co-operation of the local people. The modus operandi was by either appeasement or by coercion. The policy of appeasement was manifest in many ways. Status elevation was within the social heirarchy was one of them. Many local elites were included in the three upper varnas as pointed out by mnay reputed scholars. Apart from that the controversy on pan?a is a surer indication of it. Of the three main interpretation of pan?a, two imply the inclusion of influential individuals and/or groups from the aboriginal people.

More clearly, the relationship of the Aryas with the nisadas, rathkaras and napitas was an evidence of this. All of this groups of people whose prior existence is assumed, received favours from the Aryas. Obviously, they were useful to the dominant group one way or the other. The nisadas help was solicited by the Aryas, and they actively helped them to fight the Asuras. Some are of the opinion that nisadas was the genreic name of a tribes the Aryans met at this stage, and the nisadas helped them to gain new allies and to penetrate into the hitherto inaccessible areas.

The charater of this interaction was later expressed ritually, and this operated at two levels. From among the collobrtors, the nisadas and rathkaras not only participated in the rituasl of the dvijas organised by the Brahmanas but were also allowed to perform their own rituals independently. … Of the three the nisadas were the closest to the Aryas, because they enjoyed the maximum rights; and by the same token the Magdhans were the fartheset from them2.

Dalit literature however, frequently uses the motif of Ekalavaya as someone who betrayed himself and others. Addressing Ekalavaya, one poet stated “since that day they have not even given you a glance”. This of course is not what actually happened. Here also lies another irony of Ekalavaya’s story. Some of the very people who made use of symbology of Ekalavaya joined the ‘other side’ voluantarily. This ironic contradiction is inherent in the caste/class history of India.

If you had kept your thumb

History would have happened somewhat differently

But… you gave your thumb and history also

became theirs.

Ekalavaya,

since that day they

have not even given you a glance.

Forgive me, Ekalavaya, I won’t be fooled now

by their sweet words.

My thumb

will never be broken3.

References:

1. From Tribe to Untouchable: The case of Nisadas by Vivekanand Jha in Indian Society: Historical Probings, People's Publishing House, New Delhi, 1974.

2. Beyond the Four Varnas – The Untouchables of India by Prabhati Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Advanced Study 188, page 82.

3. By Shashikant Hingonekar, “Ekalavaya” Asmitadarsh, No. 12 (April-May-June 1989), translated by From Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar in the Hindus- op cited in The Hindus - An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK - 2010, page 674.