Dalits Media Watch
News Update 12.01.10
Death of Dalit farmer sparks off protest - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/12/stories/2010011251490300.htm
Losing ground - Front Line
http://www.frontline.in/stories/20100129270209700.htm
Schools get minibuses for enrolling SC, ST students - Herald News
Mahadalits finally getting their dues - Zee News
http://www.zeenews.com/news594056.html
The Hindu
Death of Dalit farmer sparks off protest
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/12/stories/2010011251490300.htm
Special Correspondent
Doddamani allegedly beaten up at Chellegeri village in Aland taluk
Protesters want sub-inspector to be suspended for delay in registering a complaint
They refused to remove the body of the deceased farmer till demands were met
Gulbarga: Tension prevailed in the Mini Vikasa Soudha complex for over two hours on Monday when the members of the Dalit Sena, Dalit Yuva Samanvaya Samiti and other Dalit organisations staged a dharna.
The protesters placed the body of Husnappa Lakkappa Doddamani (70), a Dalit farmer, on the steps of the Mini Vikasa Soudha and said that the body would not be removed till their demands were met.
The protesting activists said that Doddamani died in Government General Hospital in Gulbarga after allegedly being beaten by 'caste' Hindus at Challegeri village in Aland taluk of Gulbarga district on Sunday. They demanded arrest of persons who had allegedly beaten Doddamani, suspension of the sub-inspector of Madanahipparga police station who allegedly delayed registering the case and shifting the severely injured Doddamani to the Government Hospital in Gulbarga. Besides, the protesters urged the Government to provide compensation to the family of the victim. Besides the activists, grieving family members of Doddamani were present at the venue of the protest. Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal held a meeting with State vice-president of the Dalit Sena Hanmanth Yalsangi and Dalit leader D.V. Chakravarti immediately after the protesters reached the Mini Vikasa Soudha. Mr. Vishal told the protesters that efforts were being made to arrest the accused in the case and Superintendent of Police B.A. Padmanayan had promised to initiate disciplinary action against the sub-inspector of the Madanahipparga police station for alleged dereliction of duties. The Dalit leaders maintained that they would remove the body from the venue of the protest only after their demand for providing compensation to the victim's family was met. However, Mr. Vishal told the Dalit leaders that the compensation due to the victim's family as per the provisions in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act would be paid and as far as their other demand for compensatory employment to one of the family members of the deceased farmer was concerned, the State Government would have to take a final decision.
It took two hours for Mr. Vishal to persuade the Dalit leaders to relent.
Later, they took the body to Chalageri village in Aland taluk.
According to a case registered in the Madanahipparga police station, the deceased farmer who was tilling the lands owned by one Chennabasappa Ramanagowda Patil on lease for the past 20 years, was beaten up by a gang led by Shrimant Maligi, Dharmaraya and others belonging to Madhugunuki village in Aland taluk. Deceased farmer's wife Parvathi, daughter Neelamma, granddaughter Jyothi, grandson Ashok and son Sharanappa were also beaten up by the gang in Challegeri village.
The attackers who had a dispute with the owner of the land Chennabasappa Patil picked a quarrel with Doddamani and his family demanding the harvested red gram from the land.
The police have registered cases under Sections 302, 307 of IPC and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against 14 persons. No arrests have been made.
Front Line
Losing ground
http://www.frontline.in/stories/20100129270209700.htm
R. UMA MAHESHWARI
Small farmers whose lands were acquired for the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport face an uncertain future.
ON any given day, as one drives through the well-laid roads leading to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, 22 kilometres from Hyderabad, one is most likely to miss, amid the striking hues of lavender, orange and white, the bent figures of Padma, Lalita and others tending the flower beds at the airport complex. Of course, every once in a while their fluorescent uniforms give them away. These women once grew flowers and vegetables on the same land as small farmers.
The land on which the airport terminal, the runway and the thousands of acres of landscaped extravagance around the complex stand is still alive in their collective memory as Galvaguda, Anantareddyguda or Madapally, or Chinna Gollapally – villages that merged to become Shamshabad airport. Several small farmers gave up their holdings and their status as farmers for this "larger private good".
The airport was inaugurated in March 2008. Padma and Lalita are daily wage labourers on temporary contracts. They work nine to 12 hours a day and earn Rs.120. Out of this meagre amount they spend Rs.30 each day on their commute to work.
The Andhra Pradesh government provided 5,400 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) of land for the construction of the international airport. Since the land was found insufficient for the purpose, several privately owned lands were purchased, mainly in the villages of Anantareddyguda, Chinna Gollapally and Galvaguda. Gradually, more land was added to the larger airport complex from other smaller villages. While some of the owners were pattadars (holders of title deeds), several others (mainly Dalits and tribal people) were cultivators on assigned lands. The government arranged for payment of compensation under a relief and rehabilitation programme for the land, categorised as A, B and C on the basis of the "strength of the soil". While most pattadars managed to get adequate compensation, the status of the assigned land cultivators continues to be pathetic.
The government had fixed Rs.4 lakh for category 'A', Rs.3.5 lakh for category 'B' and Rs.3 lakh for category 'C'. Those who lost their homes (that is, the ones who had assigned land) were provided "open plots" near the HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) colony in Shamshabad under the R&R scheme with a financial package of Rs.55,600 to each household. A special cell was set up under a Special Deputy Collector (SDC) to oversee the process of acquisition and compensation, among other formalities.
The land acquisition and development process was completed between 2002 and 2004. As in other cases of displacement, the land acquisition witnessed popular resentment and protests. Today, many families are still waiting for compensation. Those who were given 250-square-yard (202-square-metre) housing plots at what is now called "airport colony" feel cheated.
The majority of the beneficiaries belong to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes. Their fields were not compensated for. The roads of their colony are barely eight feet wide. Water that flows from their community taps has a high fluoride content, as attested by the Water and Sanitation officials who have warned them not to drink it. The residents purchase water from local vendors.
Two of the displaced persons, B. Dayanand and R. Eashwar, filed complaints with the Upa Lok Ayukta in 2005 regarding "malpractices in R&R at Shamshabad International Airport" and sought action. The complaints, submitted with documentary evidence, alleged "misuse" of power by the SDC, Prabhakar Reddy, in terms of denying the R&R package to around 25 people (mostly Dalits and members of Backward Classes) who had lost their lands in the three villages and giving compensation to undeserving persons. Two cases filed against the official in connection with the complaints are in progress.
One of the affected persons, Mudedla Jyothy, was apparently denied compensation on the grounds that she had already been allotted a plot of land. But the allotment was only on paper. Her compensation cheque was allegedly encashed by a middleman, who also owns her plot today. The dejected woman committed suicide, the affidavit dated September 5, 2005, says.
Eligani Pandariah, in his 70s, says: "They took my land – four acres – but they are yet to give me a plot of land under the R&R package. They only gave me a certificate [Form D patta certificate], nothing else. It is very difficult to live in a rented house today, at this age. I pay a rent of Rs.1,200 for a small room. I have lost my land and everything to the airport, and I have no place to call my home."
Nomula Babiah, another person in his 70s, says: "I had four acres of [assigned] land, which they took and recorded in their books as three acres, but only pattadars were given cash compensation for their land. We got only housing plots. None of the [eligible] people got a job, which was the promise made when they came to acquire our lands. We do not have land for agriculture. Life was peaceful when we cultivated vegetables and flowers on our lands. We used to make about Rs.10,000 to Rs.20,000 a month, and even if we made only Rs.5,000 sometimes we were all happy. It was our land and our labour. There was always enough to eat. Today I am living in a rented accommodation. We are not asking for too much – just the plot that was promised to us. We have been living off borrowed money since 2005."
Both Babiah and Pandaraiah figure in the affidavit filed in 2005, but a decision on this is yet to be taken. Many of them remember fondly the human rights activist K. Balagopal, whose passing away has brought the process of adjudication in their cases to a standstill.
Dayanand says: "When we protested in 2002, the big Reddy pattadars also joined hands, since the talk was about better compensation. But when that happened and they got their share, they withdrew from the movement. Most of us who had assigned lands come from poorer backgrounds. We staged several protests between 2002 and 2004. We submitted the affidavit in 2005. But we have no energy or resources to continue fighting as we also need to work for our survival. When we see the terminal and the runway we are filled with remorse, and sometimes anger.… Our children have not even been provided jobs in the airport as a matter of right."
Around 20 persons from these former villages are now working as trolley boys and as daily wage labourers, although some of them are educated. How long they will remain employed depends on the subcontractors' whims.
The educated youth have been given employment on an ad hoc basis and are removed from service on flimsy pretexts. They earn up to Rs.5,000 a month. Initially, women from the colony were employed by contractors as janitors on 12-hour shifts. These women stopped going for work as they found the job below their dignity.
Bobbaru Ramulamma (in her 70s) says: "I was there with many other women when we staged a dharna at the Collector's office here in 2002. We raised our voices of protest and fought as long as we could. But nothing has come out of all that…. Land owners have become labourers…. We have done our bit of fighting, but look at where we have been thrown out…."
The residents of "airport colony" say Members of the Legislative Assembly representing the constituency had initially promised support but later changed their stance.
Dayanand says: "Ninety per cent of our people in the three villages were agriculturists or agricultural labourers. In fact, we used to have agricultural labourers from Mahabubnagar working here. Today, our people are migrating to Mahabubnagar in search of work. We lost our lands for the airport, at least they should treat us with the respect we deserve. The drainage system is bad [in the colony]; our children have no playground; there are no community halls; no parks. We just have one high school here. Some distance from here, the authorities are building a 30-40 feet road but we got only narrow lanes. After much protest and demand, the government allotted a burial ground. But even that has been taken away for real estate projects. Ultimately, we do not have even land to bury our dead."
Most of the people here bury their dead. They make gravestones for the departed and leave there things they liked the most when they were alive. Eashwar's father's grave, for instance, always has a stack of beedis and some water. His father loved to smoke beedis. Eashwar says: "These sentiments are important for us. But for the developers this is just a graveyard. They now ask us to give up this graveyard plot, too."
In fact, it was a custom in the acquired villages to bury the dead in their own fields. But after being displaced, the villagers were allotted a common burial ground. Even the plot meant for the graveyard was changed twice. "God knows where they will ask us to go now if this graveyard is closed," says Eashwar.
Around 600 families affected by the airport project are still picking up the pieces and continuing to fight, although with less vigour. They know the fight is against a power they cannot match. They are resigned to the fact that they need to survive and at least manage to retain the house plots and get jobs in the airport.
What is worrying is the conditions mentioned in the Form D patta certificates issued to the displaced people, considering the larger developments in real estate happening around the "airport colony" and the HUDA land surrounding it. A new 40-foot-wide road has come up on the HUDA land, which will eventually connect to the outer ring road. These developments are happening on the sly. When contacted, a real estate developer said, they were only "cleaning up" the land and that nothing was coming up there.
Would this "cleaning up" eventually lead to clearing the housing plots of the displaced people? Perhaps, because the Form D certificates say "that the assignee shall have no right of alienation of house site assign(ed) to her / him"; "that the government may resume the site without payment of compensation if it is required for any government or public purpose"; and "that the land shall be resumed, if in the opinion of the government any of the conditions of the grant has been contravened if question arises whether there was contravention of any of the conditions of the grant or not it shall be referred to the government and their decisions shall be final".
At the time when the certificates, in English, were issued, few of the affected people realised the implications of signing off their rights for a purpose that need not necessarily be called "public good".
Considering the real estate boom in and around Shamshabad, the displaced villagers stare at an uncertain future. Yet, some of them are busy nurturing seasonal flowers, for life has to go on.
Herald News
Schools get minibuses for enrolling SC, ST students
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 11
There's good news for students belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in the State.
The government on Monday launched the innovative Indira Bal Rath Yojana, wherein minibuses have been provided to schools enrolling ST & SC students. That's not all. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has agreed to extend the scheme to schools enrolling students from the Other Backward Classes from the coming financial year.
The scheme is intended for the ST and SC students from the state countryside, who drop out from the schools for want of adequate transport facility. However, instructions have been issued to the school managements that these buses should not deny the service to children of other communities staying on the route. At a function held at the Ravindra Bhavan here on Monday, around 44 brand new buses were handed over to the management of schools across the State, especially from the StateÂ's countryside.
As per the scheme, besides the bus, the government will provide 300 liters of fuel per month, Rs 50,000 for annual repairs and maintenance, Rs 50,000 for payment of yearly insurance, Rs 10,000 to employ a driver and Rs 5000 for a cleaner or attendant. The buses are to be parked in the school premises after school hours.
In his address, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said the scheme would help the children of the common man to pursue education without having to worry about the transport facilities."My government is sincere in giving education a big boost. The Centre too has supported us in our endeavour with the Union government sanctioning for Goa the National Institute of Technology, National Institute of Fashion Technology and a catering institute," he said.
Referring to the requests made in certain quarters to extend the scheme to OBC students, the chief minister said the government will extend the scheme to the OBC students either immediately or during the coming financial year. Social Welfare Minister Sudin Dhavlikar complimented the chief minister for sanctioning the funds to make the scheme a reality. "This innovative scheme would not have seen light of the day if there were no funds," he added.
In his address, Power Minister Alexio Sequeira complimented the social welfare minister for coming out with the scheme, saying the scheme would immensely benefit the students from the rural areas. He thanked the minister for covering most of the schools in his Loutolim constituency.
Poinguinim MLA Ramesh Tawadkar requested the government to explore the possibility of extending the scheme to government schools. He said students from the ST and SC communities enrolled in government schools should not be denied transport facility.
Prashant Naik and Fr Felix Lobo also spoke on behalf of the school managements and put forward their requests to the government on the schemes. The scheme has so far cost the exchequer Rs 6.8 crore for the procurement of 62 mini buses.
Zee News
Mahadalits finally getting their dues
http://www.zeenews.com/news594056.html
Updated on Saturday, January 09, 2010, 00:50 IST
Patna: Claiming the community in Bihar were getting their dues after 62 years of independence, senior JD (U) leader and Bihar assembly Speaker Udai Narain Choudhry today said the Mahadalit Ekjuta Morcha would organise a rally at the Gandhi maidan here on February 21 to thank Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The mahadalits in the state were finally getting their due "a good" 62 years after independence under the leadership of a dyanamic leader like Nitish Kumar, Choudhry told reporters here.
"We are dutybound to felicitate the leaders who have taken personal interest in improving the lot of have-nots by creating a Mahadalit Commission and appointing Dalits as members of the commission," Minister for SC/ST development Jitan Ram Manjhi told reporters.
Besides Majhi, members of the Mahadalit Commission, former MLAs Shyam Rajak and Ramai Ram were present at the press briefing. The Morcha constituted a 23 member committee to make the rally a success, they said.
Ram and Rajak, formerly with RJD but now with the JD (U), said "we are organising the rally to educate the dalits that only Nitish Kumar could take care of them and hence we should support him wholeheartedly in the next husting. PTI
--
.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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