Dalit woman assaulted, tonsured in Odisha; 10 held

Dalits Media Watch

News Updates 09.09.12

 

Dalit woman assaulted, tonsured in Odisha; 10 held - The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3875103.ece

Protesters lock Mini Vidhana Soudha - Deccan Herald

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/277238/protesters-lock-mini-vidhana-soudha.html

SC/BC students find it difficult to get govt grant - The Tribune

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120909/punjab.htm#1

 'It's tough for Dalits to enter hospitality and hotel sectors' - The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article3867201.ece

 

The Hindu

 

Dalit woman assaulted, tonsured in Odisha; 10 held

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3875103.ece

 

PTI

 

A Dalit woman was assaulted, tortured and tonsured, in Jayaghanta village under the Dhama police station limits of Odisha's Sambalpur district. Locals held her responsible for the death of a youth, police said on Saturday.

 

Police inspector G. Barla said 10 persons were arrested on the basis of the victim's complaint.

The 18-year-old daughter of Subidha Buda (45) had eloped with Sudam Mahananda, who is from the same village, on August 11. But Sudam fell ill on the way and was declared brought dead at the government hospital at Jharsuguda.

 

Holding the woman and her family responsible for Sudam's death, agitated villagers staged a protest with the body on August 12, demanding a probe into the incident and the arrest of the culprits. They also asked the family to leave the village, the police said.

 

Buda went to her elder daughter's place in nearby Baunsura. On Thursday she came back to her house to collect some household goods, when the villagers dragged her out, assaulted her and shaved off her head. However, no case was registered under the SC/ST Atrocities Act as both the complainant and the accused belonged to the same caste, the police said, adding that cases were registered against 18 persons and efforts were on to nab the others involved.

 

Deccan Herald

 

Protesters lock Mini Vidhana Soudha

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/277238/protesters-lock-mini-vidhana-soudha.html

 

Mulbagal, Sep 7, 2012, DHNS :

Members of Dalit organisations locked the Mini Vidhana Soudha on Friday, in protest against the razing of huts belonging to Dalits on the premises.

 

The tense situation that followed forced the police forces to provide heavy security to the Soudha.

Members of the Jaya Karnataka, taluk unit, took out a procession demanding rehabilitation of the Dalits who lost their homes.

 

They also urged a quick completion of public-related work at the Nemmadi Kendra and submitted a memorandum to H Nanjaiah, the tahsildar.

 

Various Dalit organisation members, accompanied by the Dalits who lost residence, then walked till the Mini Vidhana Soudha and locked the building.

 

They insisted that they had received the title deeds during the tenure of former legislator R Venkataramaiah, asking if the deeds given to them on behalf of the government were fake.

 

They also questioned the mutation as part of the land acquisition process that declared the site of their huts as part of the State sewage area.

 

The Tribune

 

SC/BC students find it difficult to get govt grant

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120909/punjab.htm#1

 

Amarjit Thind, Tribune News Service

Ferozepur, September 8

 

The order issued by the Education Department for releasing scholarship to post-matric Schedule Caste and Backward Class (SC/BC) students by way of credit to their bank accounts is proving impractical.

 

With such category of students finding it difficult to open a bank account, funds earmarked for this purpose will lapse if not disbursed by the end of the year.

 

Sources said the orders were necessitated to avoid misappropriation while disbursing the scholarship amount in cash. There were allegations that the money was either pocketed by disbursing officials or released only after some "facilitation fee" was paid.

 

Jaswant Singh, chief of the Education Reforms Committee, said the department took policy decisions after getting suggestions from the schools. But the suggestions remained only on paper and were hardly followed, he added.

 

The post-matric scholarship to SC students, having family income up to Rs 1 lakh per annum, has been fixed at Rs 140 per month plus Rs 558 per annum. In the BC category, the scholarship is Rs 160 per month for students with family income of Rs 1 lakh. An additional Rs 50 per month is given to girl students having a family income up to Rs 60,925 per annum.

 

The scholarship amount is to be given to 15-20 lakh students through online banking system.

 

Jaswant Singh said teachers of 20,000 primary schools of the state had been trying to open the bank accounts of these students since June 2012. But despite their efforts, the accounts of not even 50 per cent of the students had been opened till date, he said.

 

"Without ID proof, the accounts cannot be opened and none of the banks is ready to open the accounts with 'zero balance'. Moreover, there are certain branches in villages which do not have the core-banking system (CBS), further affecting the exercise," he added.

 

"The scheme is thus rendered almost defunct as a large number of beneficiaries have not been receiving a single penny for a long period," he claimed.

 

The committee has urged the department to release the amount directly to the schools against a receipt as per the previous practice to avoid the lapse of funds till the time all accounts are opened. At the same time, alternative arrangements have to be made for students residing in areas where the core-banking facility is unavailable, it said. 

 

The Hindu

 

'It's tough for Dalits to enter hospitality and hotel sectors'

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article3867201.ece

 

TALKING POINT DICCI chief on how caste groupings come in the way of Dalit entrepreneurship

The recent launch of the Karnataka Chapter of the Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) has generated interest not just among industry watchers but also among entrepreneurs from traditionally marginalised communities.

 

Raja Nayak, president of DICCI-Karnataka, speaks to The Hindu about the fledgling trade body's aims and challenges.

 

Excerpts…

 

Q. How do you plan to promote Dalit capitalists in the State?

A. Karnataka is the 18th State where a DICCI unit has been set up. Our first objective is to have district-level units.

 

We will be starting one in Mysore within one month. Belgaum and Gulbarga will follow. Dalit entrepreneurs are very excited; we have been getting several enquiries.

 

Our slogan is, 'Become job givers not jobseekers'. Most Dalits continue to depend on the government for jobs: we want them to come out of that mentality.

 

We plan to create awareness about the many Union and State government schemes for promotion of Dalit entrepreneurship. Hundreds of crores of rupees worth of government schemes for Dalits are not availed of.

 

What sectors have Dalits in Karnataka managed to succeed?

Of the few Dalit businessmen there are, most are in the garment and leather processing sectors. In Gulbarga and Bijapur, there are many Dalits in the dry fruits business. But they all lack proper networks and facilities. Most often they are exploited by middlemen and agents. There is a small population of entrepreneurs in the IT and ITeS sector.

 

It is well established that some castes among Dalits are more backward and have faced greater injustices. Which castes and sub-castes do the State's Dalit entrepreneurs mostly come from?

We have some broad ideas about the backgrounds of Dalits in business. But we are planning to conduct studies to understand these dynamics better. The study will also give us statistics about which Scheduled Castes have managed to succeed in trade and commerce.

 

Several trades continue to be ferociously guarded by certain castes, clans and communities. How tough is it for Dalits to make inroads?

The toughest sector for Dalits to enter is hospitality and hotels. People are still conscious about the caste of the person cooking their food. In fact, most Dalits find it extremely hard to penetrate the food and food processing industries. Agricultural produce marketing also has an apartheid-like system. Most traditional sectors of trade and manufacturing are out of bounds for Dalits as they are protected by certain dominant caste groupings. Modern industries, such as IT, are far more welcoming.

 

Is that why you embrace neo-liberalism?

Yes, global and modern industries are caste-blind. Neo-liberalism has the potential to reform an outdated, semi-feudal economy that revolves around caste. What we really want is supplies diversity in the procurement process. Large corporations should actively seek out Dalit suppliers. The Tatas have already pledged that 20 per cent of all their procurements will be from Dalit suppliers.

 

We want the government to relax tender norms. When a government agency says that only a firm with Rs. 100 crore turnover can participate in a tender, it immediately alienates several Dalit businessmen. We want relaxation of certain criteria, not reservation.

And there need not be any compromise on the quality of deliverables.

 

The main problem for aspiring Dalit entrepreneurs continues to be seed capital and networks.

We are working in that regard. We will soon have a venture capital arm within the DICCI. We also hope to pressure Union and State governments to come forward and fund Dalit ventures.

 

 

--
.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.