From Frontline : July 15th to July 28th, 2006
Empowered victim
AMAN SETHI in Chhatarpur
A woman sarpanch belonging to an Other Backward Classes community in Madhya Pradesh is asaulted and paraded naked. The deserted street outside Indira Kushawa's house a week after she was attacked and paraded naked by 'upper caste' men. A FRAIL green door, locked and secured with a steel chain, is all that stands between Sarpanch Indira Kushawa's home and a hostile world in Mohoikala village. She and most of her family fled the remote village in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, soon after she was attacked, stripped naked and paraded through the village by local goons on the evening of June 17. A first information report (FIR) was filed in the Chhatarpur police station on June 19 and five men have been arrested. Santosh Shukla, the alleged architect of the incident, is absconding.
In a series of statements made to the press, before she left for Bhopal, Indira Kushawa, who belongs to an Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, Kashi, told reporters that Santosh Shukla, a Brahmin and his gang attacked her when she refused to give them Rs.50,000 from the village development fund. She said that the police refused to file an FIR on June 17 and that they began investigations only after the District Collector was approached, on June 19, by Vijay Bahadur Singh Bundela, the local Samajwadi Party Member of the Legislative Assembly.
"They forced open her door and dragged her out into the streets," said Mathuria Kushawa, Indira's mother-in-law, and the only member of the family still in the village. "Some of us tried to stop them, but they didn't listen. They thrashed her, stripped her and then paraded her through the village for three hours. No one could do anything." Mathuria and her neighbours said that the dispute between Santosh Shukla and Indira Kushawa was common knowledge, with the former constantly asking the latter to part with the development funds entrusted to her. They also confirm that Indira was stripped naked and paraded in the streets as an example" to those who dared stand up to the local gang leaders. This, however, is at odds with the official version of events released by the police. "While there is definite evidence that Indira Kushawa was assaulted, we have found no independent witnesses, or evidence to suggest that she was paraded naked," said Superintendent of Police Pramod Sinha. Villagers claim that Santosh Shukla's men accompanied the police at the time of the recording of witness statements to ensure that no one came forward. "The police come here once a year, but the gang operates here every day," said another villager. "How can people come forward when they see the goondas standing next to the police?" the villager said. Well-placed sources in the police also suggest that the dispute between Indira Kushawa and Santosh Shukla goes beyond the motives suggested by the press thus far.
brahmin control
Six hours away from the nearest railhead at Jhansi, and more than a hundred kilometres from the district headquarters at Chhatarpur, Mohoikala village is a remote outpost on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border. The village comprises two clearly defined bastis, one for Brahmins, and one for OBCs such as Kashis, Koeris and Domars. Almost everyone in the village is engaged in one-crop-a-year farming and is almost uniformly poor.
Historically, the Shukla Brahmins controlled significant parts of the area through extortion, intimidation and land-grab, and seem to have considerable clout over the local administrative and political processes. Santosh Shukla was the sarpanch before Indira Kushawa won the 2005-panchayat elections. He continued to control village life. When Frontline visited the village, and asked for the sarpanch's house, the team was directed initially to Santosh Shukla's residence.
"The Shukla gang was originally jointly headed by Rajesh and Santosh Shukla, and they used to force most villagers to pay them a pre-determined sum every month, and would assault anyone who stood up to them," says a villager who preferred to remain anonymous. "Quite a few families were forced to leave the village, and their land was divided among the gang leaders," the villager said. Rumour has it that a dispute arose between the two over a piece of land, and subsequently they declared war on each other. Both had criminal records, and Rajesh Shukla had been declared an absconder in a particular case and carried a reward of Rs.10,000 on his head.
It is alleged that Indira Kushawa, in an attempt to break Santosh's stranglehold on power, had allied herself with Rajesh Shukla - a decision that was to cost her dearly. On the night of June 15, Rajesh Shukla was reportedly spotted entering Indira's brother-in-law Kallu Kushawa's house. Santosh Shukla's men surrounded the house and informed the police. A cordon was set up and Rajesh Shukla was arrested after a brief exchange of fire. Enraged by the Kushawa's support to his rival, Santosh Shukla set fire to Kallu Kushawa's house on June 16 and assaulted Indira Kushawa on June 17.
In their defence, the police point out that Kallu Kushawa filed an FIR on June 17, recording his allegation that Santosh Shukla burnt his house, but he made no reference to the attack on Indira, which must have occurred a few hours ago. Indira did not approach the police before June 19. Mathuria Kushawa, Indira's mother-in-law, says that the gang held Indira captive in her own house for two days, which is why she filed the FIR two days later.
Indira Kushawa is only one of hundreds of women victimised by the nexus of caste and gender. In the same week that Indira Kushawa was paraded naked in Mohoikala, Sukari Nayak was accused of murder, stripped and beaten by villagers in Jharkhand, and upper-caste men stripped and attempted to rape a Dalit woman for filing a police complaint against them in Bihar's Gopalganj district. A greater involvement of women, particularly Dalits and OBCs, in local administration has provoked chauvinistic, upper-caste male backlash in an attempt to maintain the status quo. While administrative officials attribute the violence to the "backwardness" of the respective districts and "a lack of education", such conclusions are simplistic and easily drawn. The brutal reprisals against women daring to face up to tyranny point to a clearly thought-out policy of intimidation targeted at even the most fleeting attempts at empowerment.
As per latest reports, Indira Kushawa's case has been taken up by the National Commission for Women and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Indira herself has left for Bhopal and could not be contacted by Frontline. The villagers have no idea when she will return, if at all. While four of his brothers have been arrested, Santosh Shukla continues to evade the law. In the meantime, Mathuria Kushawa sits by the green door, waiting for her son and daughter-in-law to return.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Blocking the Blogs
Dangerous Path
Fighting with the Idea of Freedom By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Thanks a lot to the bloggers, mediamen and other freedom loving people that forced the government to withdraw its draconian notification which barred bloggers and websites. In this age of modern technology, if the government's babu's remain caged to 18th century wisdom, then we need to ponder over the state of affair in the country.
We can understand that the aftermath of Mumbai blast have been very tiresome for the security agencies in India. They have not been able to pin point who the perpetrators of the ghastly crimes are yet with leaking stories to media about various outfits our intellegence and security agencies are trying to communalise the entire issue. Today, every Muslim is being seen as suspicious person with his loyalty to nation being questioned every time. Till this date, despite several arrests and crucial indication of Pakistan's involvement, our agencies still do not have proofs strong enough to implicate Pakistan internationally. Bloggers and authors do not come in government's way to find the truth. Ofcourse, many of them may have their own doubts and loyalties like anyother fellow and government. The government has every right to question people and prohibit sites that spread hatred yet to generalise the entire community as dangerous to the security of the country is not only foolish but frought with grave implication for the future of Press Freedom and civil liberties.
The response to Mumbai's bomb blast cannot come from the likes of Narendra Modi who have not been brought to book by the superficial structure that we have. Neither have the law of the land been able to cage that Maratha tiger of Mumbai who has time and again used media and political clout to spread hatred against the minorities.
In wake of this, when the Muslim leadership is in denial mode and without any perspective, when Mullahs are starting giving slogan for a separate Muslim state, when Ashok Singhal and his brand of hate politics want elimination of Muslims from the earth, the government of India has come out with an absurd solution. It has blocked various internet website and blogspot.com which host a number of blogs. It is strange that after having occupied a large space in the air including print and electronic media, the government of India now feel threatned with a few blogs.
We all know that those in power abhor ideas, for ideas change the world. The government of India, its boorish advisers should consult their security experts that they cannot win any war fare by 18th century mind. Even if some blogs may have traits which do not confirm with mainstream Indian ideas, there is no need to fear from them. Let the ideas flourish and people exchange views.
We at Manukhsi.blogspot.com consider freedom of expression the first and foremost principle of a democratic nation. No democracy can survive if it muzzle independence of thoughts and action. It is the dissenters which provide fodder to the rulers to make laws and protect people. To fight against manace of terrorism and hatred, the government must come out with a better idea. It is strange that the Babus of the South Block and North Block have felt threatened by a new community of bloggers who the mainstream 'experts' look down upon and who even the government rarely acknowledged. We thank the government that it consider the webloggers as the most serious stuff. A certificate for the webloggers by the government and its securities agencies is a matter of pride. In the meanwhile, those who are bloggers or not bloggers, those who read news papers or watch TV channels, must understand that government has no idea about how to tackle with the important issue of terrorism. By stiffling the freedom of expression, the government will get nothing except wrong information by its inefficient agencies which gave Indira Gandhi the information that she was going to win the Lok Sabha Elections with a heavier mandate. Mrs Gandhi believed them in 1975 and order for the Lok Sabha Polls and the result was : Massive defeat of Indira Gandhi. While many of her colleague term ordering the polls as her democratic spirit, the fact was that Mrs Gandhi depended too much on her 'intellegence agencies'. In the absence of criticism a goverment sleeps and the result is chaos.We sincerely hope that the goverment of India would realise that by blocking the sites, it cannot block the ideas. Terrorism and ideas are two different things. Terrorists spread hatred and cannot debate on an issue. We are debating a issue, asking for a healthy debate on every controversial and conflicting issue. If the government cannot understand difference between discussion, debate and terrorism then it need to change for better. Please do not make India a police state where every criticism is considered as antinational. A healthy society cannot run by sick mindset. Violence and terror can only be eliminated by a debating society which has knowledge and sensitivity towards others, which respect the dissent despite disagreement. Debates and discussions do not kill people. They inspire people to solve their issues by democratic means. Terror and Violence are the mean of cowardly people who have run out of ideas, who think they can kill an idea with their guns. Sorry, both the government and the terror mongers seems to be on the same side at the moment. To look different, the government must come back to realise that it is representing a secular, democratic state and not a old faishoned communists state or other religious state where freedom is considered dangerous by the ruling elite. Please run India on democratic secular values of freedom and dignity. Improve yourself for a healthy debate. Do not try to kill ideas from the guns and policing.
Fighting with the Idea of Freedom By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Thanks a lot to the bloggers, mediamen and other freedom loving people that forced the government to withdraw its draconian notification which barred bloggers and websites. In this age of modern technology, if the government's babu's remain caged to 18th century wisdom, then we need to ponder over the state of affair in the country.
We can understand that the aftermath of Mumbai blast have been very tiresome for the security agencies in India. They have not been able to pin point who the perpetrators of the ghastly crimes are yet with leaking stories to media about various outfits our intellegence and security agencies are trying to communalise the entire issue. Today, every Muslim is being seen as suspicious person with his loyalty to nation being questioned every time. Till this date, despite several arrests and crucial indication of Pakistan's involvement, our agencies still do not have proofs strong enough to implicate Pakistan internationally. Bloggers and authors do not come in government's way to find the truth. Ofcourse, many of them may have their own doubts and loyalties like anyother fellow and government. The government has every right to question people and prohibit sites that spread hatred yet to generalise the entire community as dangerous to the security of the country is not only foolish but frought with grave implication for the future of Press Freedom and civil liberties.
The response to Mumbai's bomb blast cannot come from the likes of Narendra Modi who have not been brought to book by the superficial structure that we have. Neither have the law of the land been able to cage that Maratha tiger of Mumbai who has time and again used media and political clout to spread hatred against the minorities.
In wake of this, when the Muslim leadership is in denial mode and without any perspective, when Mullahs are starting giving slogan for a separate Muslim state, when Ashok Singhal and his brand of hate politics want elimination of Muslims from the earth, the government of India has come out with an absurd solution. It has blocked various internet website and blogspot.com which host a number of blogs. It is strange that after having occupied a large space in the air including print and electronic media, the government of India now feel threatned with a few blogs.
We all know that those in power abhor ideas, for ideas change the world. The government of India, its boorish advisers should consult their security experts that they cannot win any war fare by 18th century mind. Even if some blogs may have traits which do not confirm with mainstream Indian ideas, there is no need to fear from them. Let the ideas flourish and people exchange views.
We at Manukhsi.blogspot.com consider freedom of expression the first and foremost principle of a democratic nation. No democracy can survive if it muzzle independence of thoughts and action. It is the dissenters which provide fodder to the rulers to make laws and protect people. To fight against manace of terrorism and hatred, the government must come out with a better idea. It is strange that the Babus of the South Block and North Block have felt threatened by a new community of bloggers who the mainstream 'experts' look down upon and who even the government rarely acknowledged. We thank the government that it consider the webloggers as the most serious stuff. A certificate for the webloggers by the government and its securities agencies is a matter of pride. In the meanwhile, those who are bloggers or not bloggers, those who read news papers or watch TV channels, must understand that government has no idea about how to tackle with the important issue of terrorism. By stiffling the freedom of expression, the government will get nothing except wrong information by its inefficient agencies which gave Indira Gandhi the information that she was going to win the Lok Sabha Elections with a heavier mandate. Mrs Gandhi believed them in 1975 and order for the Lok Sabha Polls and the result was : Massive defeat of Indira Gandhi. While many of her colleague term ordering the polls as her democratic spirit, the fact was that Mrs Gandhi depended too much on her 'intellegence agencies'. In the absence of criticism a goverment sleeps and the result is chaos.We sincerely hope that the goverment of India would realise that by blocking the sites, it cannot block the ideas. Terrorism and ideas are two different things. Terrorists spread hatred and cannot debate on an issue. We are debating a issue, asking for a healthy debate on every controversial and conflicting issue. If the government cannot understand difference between discussion, debate and terrorism then it need to change for better. Please do not make India a police state where every criticism is considered as antinational. A healthy society cannot run by sick mindset. Violence and terror can only be eliminated by a debating society which has knowledge and sensitivity towards others, which respect the dissent despite disagreement. Debates and discussions do not kill people. They inspire people to solve their issues by democratic means. Terror and Violence are the mean of cowardly people who have run out of ideas, who think they can kill an idea with their guns. Sorry, both the government and the terror mongers seems to be on the same side at the moment. To look different, the government must come back to realise that it is representing a secular, democratic state and not a old faishoned communists state or other religious state where freedom is considered dangerous by the ruling elite. Please run India on democratic secular values of freedom and dignity. Improve yourself for a healthy debate. Do not try to kill ideas from the guns and policing.
Hunger and Caste
Hunger could not gave way to caste prejudices By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Tragic, but true. Many of us have this firm opinion that India caste system is notoriously insensitive and rigid. Despite being victim of caste prejudices, we continue to be rigid in our system. We talk among the 'converts'; we work among our own communities. Indian caste system has virtually blocked all way for inter caste dialogues.
The grave fact is that many of the Most Backward Communities ( MBCs) living in Uttar-Pradesh are suffering more than the Dalits. When I speak like this, I mean many things. Dalits have positively developed rationalist traits; of course, a number of Dalit communities are victim of brahmanical superstructure theory and follow the 'God' as destructively as any other 'God' fearing person. Some of the Dalit communities have been well politicized and have used education as well as Ambedkarism for their benefits. That Ambedkarism could not reach to a large number of other Dalit-MBC communities is a failure of the 'educated elite'. Identity of the Poor. As I said, in many of the cases these MBCs are economically worst than the Dalits. Mushahars, Rajbhars, Kols, Koaries etc have lost whatever forest rights they had. There is no politicization of the communities. There is no land for them. There is no movement among them. No political formation ever thought of providing them land, education and work. So after ignoring such grave realities we are back in the business of mobilization in the name of communities. So every community in Uttar-Pradesh has its own Panchayat now and perhaps by the time next elections are called, most of them would have their own political parties with 'Supreme' leaders who would manipulate things for their own purposes and ultimately trengthen the perpetrators of the caste system. Tragically, there is no effort to bring each one of them together and fight against the brahmanical social system because 'leaders' are experimenting the BSP experiment, where one community can solidly back its leader without questioning him/her. Unfortunately, such things do not work all the time. In this'identity' business, the 'poor''dying' communities do have a satisfaction in their mind that they are 'above' the other community in the 'social' set up. And therefore, caste prejudices do not melt that easily even in death. And a recent case of hunger death in Balia which I have already reported to the National Human Rights Commission raises many questions before us.
Identity of the Poor
As I said, in many of the cases these MBCs are economically worst than the Dalits. Mushahars, Rajbhars, Kols, Koaries etc have lost whatever forest rights they had. There is no politicization of the communities. There is no land for them. There is no movement among them. No political formation ever thought of providing them land, education and work. So after ignoring such grave realities we are back in the business of mobilization in the name of communities. So every community in Uttar-Pradesh has its own Panchayat now and perhaps by the time next elections are called, most of them would have their own political parties with 'Supreme' leaders who would manipulate things for their own purposes and ultimately strengthen the perpetrators of the caste system.
Tragically, there is no effort to bring each one of them together and fight against the brahmanical social system because 'leaders' are experimenting the BSP experiment, where one community can solidly back its leader without questioning him/her. Unfortunately, such things do not work all the time.
In this 'identity' business, the 'poor' 'dying' communities do have a satisfaction in their mind that they are 'above' the other community in the 'social' set up. And therefore, caste prejudices do not melt that easily even in death. And a recent case of hunger death in Balia which I have already reported to the National Human Rights Commission raises many questions before us.
Hunger Death of Gangajali, My friend Mr Jai Ram Anuragi, Secretary, Dr Ambedkar Social Welfare, Society, Asanwar, Balia, phoned me today about the hunger death of Mrs Gangajali Devi w/o Shri Suresh Verma on July 16th, 2006. She was 35 and had three children. One elder daughter is about 14 years of age. For many days, they were virtually without food. The condition of their children is pathetic and if something was not done immediately, they might face the same fate. According to villagers, including the Village Sarpanch Mr Subhash Chandra, who is a Dalit and who, I spoke on phone, confirmed that the said family was living in utterly miserable conditions for the past few months. The family belonged to backward Koeri community. Gangajali and Suresh Verma had three children- one daughter and two sons.Suresh used to work as a factory labour in Kanpur. After the death of his father Satya Narain Verma, in 2005, he came over to Balia and started living in the village only. The father had 3 Bighas of land. The land is now technically in the hand of his elder brother who immediately dissociated with Suresh and his family. The hapless family started living separately in a nearby hut. With no land to survive, Suresh would work as casual labour for Rs 50/-. That was not a permanent income for him to survive.
Hunger Death of Gangajali
My friend Mr Jai Ram Anuragi, Secretary, Dr Ambedkar Social Welfare, Society, Asanwar, Balia, phoned me today about the hunger death of Mrs Gangajali Devi w/o Shri Suresh Verma on July 16 th, 2006. She was 35 and had three children. One elder daughter is about 14 years of age. For many days, they were virtually without food. The condition of their children is pathetic and if something was not done immediately, they might face the same fate.
According to villagers, including the Village Sarpanch Mr Subhash Chandra, who is a Dalit and who, I spoke on phone, confirmed that the said family was living in utterly miserable conditions for the past few months. The family belonged to backward Koeri community. Gangajali and Suresh Verma had three children- one daughter and two sons.
Suresh used to work as a factory labour in Kanpur. After the death of his father Satya Narain Verma, in 2005, he came over to Balia and started living in the village only. The father had 3 Bighas of land. The land is now technically in the hand of his elder brother who immediately dissociated with Suresh and his family. The hapless family started living separately in a nearby hut. With no land to survive, Suresh would work as casual labour for Rs 50/-. That was not a permanent income for him to survive.
Despite being landless, his family did not get a Below the Poverty Line Ration Card or Antyodaya Ration card or Annapurna Ration card which would make free quota of ration for him every month. While this year, the Sarpanch gave him a BPL Card yet that Card does not provide everything except wheat and rice for a limited quantity. Living in utterly desperate situation his wife died two days ago.While government may claim that the death have other reasons, yet most of the people, I have spoken, confirm that the condition of the family was hand to mouth. The people confirm that if he had gotten the ancestors land, such a situation would not have arison.The Condition of the elder daughter of Suresh is equally bad according to villagers. The local people contributed and took her to doctor yet if something is not done immediately, the other siblings may also die.When death revived caste. And thinking of a hunger death in the village Basanwar in Chilkar village, its Pradhan Subhash Chandra who is a Chamar, a scheduled caste community, extended his helping hand to Suresh Verma, a Koeri. Subhash went to his house offering his condolences and with grains and other eatables. To his horror, Suresh refused to accept the Food grains from the Subhash, suggesting that he cannot accept food from the Dalits. Even when his daughter is in desperate need, Suresh refused to accept food. He is surviving on Food provided by some backward community and upper caste people. One is sure; he would not get it for long. People even contributed money for the cremation of his wife. Rs 2,500/- were collected for his family but Suresh spend most of the amount in conducting the last rites and offered handsome money to the Brahmins and gave them good food.
Despite being landless, his family did not get a Below the Poverty Line Ration Card or Antyodaya Ration card or Annapurna Ration card which would make free quota of ration for him every month. While this year, the Sarpanch gave him a BPL Card yet that Card does not provide everything except wheat and rice for a limited quantity. Living in utterly desperate situation his wife died two days ago.
While government may claim that the death have other reasons, yet most of the people, I have spoken, confirm that the condition of the family was hand to mouth. The people confirm that if he had gotten the ancestors land, such a situation would not have arison.
The Condition of the elder daughter of Suresh is equally bad according to villagers. The local people contributed and took her to doctor yet if something is not done immediately, the other siblings may also die.
When death revived caste
And thinking of a hunger death in the village Basanwar in Chilkar village, its Pradhan Subhash Chandra who is a Chamar, a scheduled caste community, extended his helping hand to Suresh Verma, a Koeri. Subhash went to his house offering his condolences and with grains and other eatables. To his horror, Suresh refused to accept the Food grains from the Subhash, suggesting that he cannot accept food from the Dalits. Even when his daughter is in desperate need, Suresh refused to accept food. He is surviving on Food provided by some backward community and upper caste people. One is sure; he would not get it for long. People even contributed money for the cremation of his wife. Rs 2,500/- were collected for his family but Suresh spend most of the amount in conducting the last rites and offered handsome money to the Brahmins and gave them good food.
Dalits and backwards cannot get justice as long as they are part of such notorious social structure which discriminate and which refuses to die down despite \'death\' hanging over our head. I have seen such discrimination in Tsunami also where Arunthatiars, Dalits were exclusively called to pick up dead bodies. Poverty create superstition and I have mentioned many time, how the Mushahars who are dying of hunger are going to local \'Babas\' and Ojhas to get rid of evil spirit. The tragic case does not end here only. Any fight for right to food and dignity has to take a definite ideological shape. Gangajali has died. A Dalit community wanted to help her and yet her husband refuses. This is sickening how people are chained to an idea or a perception that death is sweeter than following the caste system. Suresh's case is a case of typical Indian village system where caste identities are dominant and where we need to work more aggressively. Remember, whether it is right to food or right to land or right to gender equality, we cannot win a battle against poverty and hunger as long as we are caged in such atrocious caste system. Hunger is a socio-cultural issue in this country and an exclusive 'economic' dose would not resolve the crisis. India suffers from this crisis of exclusion and identity. Here humanity dies regularly due to an insensitive class yet whenever the poor Dalits comes with a large heart to provide support to their fellow villagers, the old prejudices are revived. True, caste does not die in India even in death. Suresh Varma's idiotic and ignorant acts should not discourage people like Subhash Chandra in providing help to all those who need it. May be some day, such acts will help us eliminate caste system in India. Hopefully, that day, Suresh would not go spoil his money to a 'Brahmins' house, to wash ' his' 'sins'. If there is one big sin in India, which has thoroughly played havoc with the Dalit communities in India and particularly in this cowbelt, it is donating large sum of money and gift to Brahmin on the death of the person. 'Mrityubhoj', (party on the death of a person) must go, if we want Dalits, MBCs, tribals to survive without debt. A large war against such evil practice is necessary otherwise Suresh Varma and his kind of people will not be able to live. Their lives would be more miserable than the deaths as they would not be able to pay back the debt they have taken to 'appease' the 'insensitive' gods', through the Brahmins. Time to stop this nonsense of Mrityubhoj.
Dalits and backwards cannot get justice as long as they are part of such notorious social structure which discriminate and which refuses to die down despite 'death' hanging over our head. I have seen such discrimination in Tsunami also where Arunthatiars, Dalits were exclusively called to pick up dead bodies. Poverty create superstition and I have mentioned many time, how the Mushahars who are dying of hunger are going to local 'Babas' and Ojhas to get rid of evil spirit.
The tragic case does not end here only. Any fight for right to food and dignity has to take a definite ideological shape. Gangajali has died. A Dalit community wanted to help her and yet her husband refuses. This is sickening how people are chained to an idea or a perception that death is sweeter than following the caste system. Suresh's case is a case of typical Indian village system where caste identities are dominant and where we need to work more aggressively. Remember, whether it is right to food or right to land or right to gender equality, we cannot win a battle against poverty and hunger as long as we are caged in such atrocious caste system. Hunger is a socio-cultural issue in this country and an exclusive 'economic' dose would not resolve the crisis. India suffers from this crisis of exclusion and identity. Here humanity dies regularly due to an insensitive class yet whenever the poor Dalits comes with a large heart to provide support to their fellow villagers, the old prejudices are revived. True, caste does not die in India even in death. Suresh Varma's idiotic and ignorant acts should not discourage people like Subhash Chandra in providing help to all those who need it. May be some day, such acts will help us eliminate caste system in India. Hopefully, that day, Suresh would not go spoil his money to a 'Brahmins' house, to wash ' his' 'sins'. If there is one big sin in India, which has thoroughly played havoc with the Dalit communities in India and particularly in this cowbelt, it is donating large sum of money and gift to Brahmin on the death of the person. 'Mrityubhoj', (party on the death of a person) must go, if we want Dalits, MBCs, tribals to survive without debt. A large war against such evil practice is necessary otherwise Suresh Varma and his kind of people will not be able to live. Their lives would be more miserable than the deaths as they would not be able to pay back the debt they have taken to 'appease' the 'insensitive' gods, through the Brahmins. Time to stop this nonsense of Mrityubhoj.
Is it not ironical that a person whose wife die of hunger and for whose cremation people collect money give a wonderful feast to the Brahmins to keep his wife's 'soul in peace? Shame on a society which enjoy feasting on the deaths of a poor hungry person
Is it not ironical that a person whose wife die of hunger and for whose cremation people collect money give a wonderful feast to the Brahmins to keep his wife's 'soul' in peace? Shame on a society which enjoy feasting on the deaths of a poor hungry person.
Tragic, but true. Many of us have this firm opinion that India caste system is notoriously insensitive and rigid. Despite being victim of caste prejudices, we continue to be rigid in our system. We talk among the 'converts'; we work among our own communities. Indian caste system has virtually blocked all way for inter caste dialogues.
The grave fact is that many of the Most Backward Communities ( MBCs) living in Uttar-Pradesh are suffering more than the Dalits. When I speak like this, I mean many things. Dalits have positively developed rationalist traits; of course, a number of Dalit communities are victim of brahmanical superstructure theory and follow the 'God' as destructively as any other 'God' fearing person. Some of the Dalit communities have been well politicized and have used education as well as Ambedkarism for their benefits. That Ambedkarism could not reach to a large number of other Dalit-MBC communities is a failure of the 'educated elite'. Identity of the Poor. As I said, in many of the cases these MBCs are economically worst than the Dalits. Mushahars, Rajbhars, Kols, Koaries etc have lost whatever forest rights they had. There is no politicization of the communities. There is no land for them. There is no movement among them. No political formation ever thought of providing them land, education and work. So after ignoring such grave realities we are back in the business of mobilization in the name of communities. So every community in Uttar-Pradesh has its own Panchayat now and perhaps by the time next elections are called, most of them would have their own political parties with 'Supreme' leaders who would manipulate things for their own purposes and ultimately trengthen the perpetrators of the caste system. Tragically, there is no effort to bring each one of them together and fight against the brahmanical social system because 'leaders' are experimenting the BSP experiment, where one community can solidly back its leader without questioning him/her. Unfortunately, such things do not work all the time. In this'identity' business, the 'poor''dying' communities do have a satisfaction in their mind that they are 'above' the other community in the 'social' set up. And therefore, caste prejudices do not melt that easily even in death. And a recent case of hunger death in Balia which I have already reported to the National Human Rights Commission raises many questions before us.
Identity of the Poor
As I said, in many of the cases these MBCs are economically worst than the Dalits. Mushahars, Rajbhars, Kols, Koaries etc have lost whatever forest rights they had. There is no politicization of the communities. There is no land for them. There is no movement among them. No political formation ever thought of providing them land, education and work. So after ignoring such grave realities we are back in the business of mobilization in the name of communities. So every community in Uttar-Pradesh has its own Panchayat now and perhaps by the time next elections are called, most of them would have their own political parties with 'Supreme' leaders who would manipulate things for their own purposes and ultimately strengthen the perpetrators of the caste system.
Tragically, there is no effort to bring each one of them together and fight against the brahmanical social system because 'leaders' are experimenting the BSP experiment, where one community can solidly back its leader without questioning him/her. Unfortunately, such things do not work all the time.
In this 'identity' business, the 'poor' 'dying' communities do have a satisfaction in their mind that they are 'above' the other community in the 'social' set up. And therefore, caste prejudices do not melt that easily even in death. And a recent case of hunger death in Balia which I have already reported to the National Human Rights Commission raises many questions before us.
Hunger Death of Gangajali, My friend Mr Jai Ram Anuragi, Secretary, Dr Ambedkar Social Welfare, Society, Asanwar, Balia, phoned me today about the hunger death of Mrs Gangajali Devi w/o Shri Suresh Verma on July 16th, 2006. She was 35 and had three children. One elder daughter is about 14 years of age. For many days, they were virtually without food. The condition of their children is pathetic and if something was not done immediately, they might face the same fate. According to villagers, including the Village Sarpanch Mr Subhash Chandra, who is a Dalit and who, I spoke on phone, confirmed that the said family was living in utterly miserable conditions for the past few months. The family belonged to backward Koeri community. Gangajali and Suresh Verma had three children- one daughter and two sons.Suresh used to work as a factory labour in Kanpur. After the death of his father Satya Narain Verma, in 2005, he came over to Balia and started living in the village only. The father had 3 Bighas of land. The land is now technically in the hand of his elder brother who immediately dissociated with Suresh and his family. The hapless family started living separately in a nearby hut. With no land to survive, Suresh would work as casual labour for Rs 50/-. That was not a permanent income for him to survive.
Hunger Death of Gangajali
My friend Mr Jai Ram Anuragi, Secretary, Dr Ambedkar Social Welfare, Society, Asanwar, Balia, phoned me today about the hunger death of Mrs Gangajali Devi w/o Shri Suresh Verma on July 16 th, 2006. She was 35 and had three children. One elder daughter is about 14 years of age. For many days, they were virtually without food. The condition of their children is pathetic and if something was not done immediately, they might face the same fate.
According to villagers, including the Village Sarpanch Mr Subhash Chandra, who is a Dalit and who, I spoke on phone, confirmed that the said family was living in utterly miserable conditions for the past few months. The family belonged to backward Koeri community. Gangajali and Suresh Verma had three children- one daughter and two sons.
Suresh used to work as a factory labour in Kanpur. After the death of his father Satya Narain Verma, in 2005, he came over to Balia and started living in the village only. The father had 3 Bighas of land. The land is now technically in the hand of his elder brother who immediately dissociated with Suresh and his family. The hapless family started living separately in a nearby hut. With no land to survive, Suresh would work as casual labour for Rs 50/-. That was not a permanent income for him to survive.
Despite being landless, his family did not get a Below the Poverty Line Ration Card or Antyodaya Ration card or Annapurna Ration card which would make free quota of ration for him every month. While this year, the Sarpanch gave him a BPL Card yet that Card does not provide everything except wheat and rice for a limited quantity. Living in utterly desperate situation his wife died two days ago.While government may claim that the death have other reasons, yet most of the people, I have spoken, confirm that the condition of the family was hand to mouth. The people confirm that if he had gotten the ancestors land, such a situation would not have arison.The Condition of the elder daughter of Suresh is equally bad according to villagers. The local people contributed and took her to doctor yet if something is not done immediately, the other siblings may also die.When death revived caste. And thinking of a hunger death in the village Basanwar in Chilkar village, its Pradhan Subhash Chandra who is a Chamar, a scheduled caste community, extended his helping hand to Suresh Verma, a Koeri. Subhash went to his house offering his condolences and with grains and other eatables. To his horror, Suresh refused to accept the Food grains from the Subhash, suggesting that he cannot accept food from the Dalits. Even when his daughter is in desperate need, Suresh refused to accept food. He is surviving on Food provided by some backward community and upper caste people. One is sure; he would not get it for long. People even contributed money for the cremation of his wife. Rs 2,500/- were collected for his family but Suresh spend most of the amount in conducting the last rites and offered handsome money to the Brahmins and gave them good food.
Despite being landless, his family did not get a Below the Poverty Line Ration Card or Antyodaya Ration card or Annapurna Ration card which would make free quota of ration for him every month. While this year, the Sarpanch gave him a BPL Card yet that Card does not provide everything except wheat and rice for a limited quantity. Living in utterly desperate situation his wife died two days ago.
While government may claim that the death have other reasons, yet most of the people, I have spoken, confirm that the condition of the family was hand to mouth. The people confirm that if he had gotten the ancestors land, such a situation would not have arison.
The Condition of the elder daughter of Suresh is equally bad according to villagers. The local people contributed and took her to doctor yet if something is not done immediately, the other siblings may also die.
When death revived caste
And thinking of a hunger death in the village Basanwar in Chilkar village, its Pradhan Subhash Chandra who is a Chamar, a scheduled caste community, extended his helping hand to Suresh Verma, a Koeri. Subhash went to his house offering his condolences and with grains and other eatables. To his horror, Suresh refused to accept the Food grains from the Subhash, suggesting that he cannot accept food from the Dalits. Even when his daughter is in desperate need, Suresh refused to accept food. He is surviving on Food provided by some backward community and upper caste people. One is sure; he would not get it for long. People even contributed money for the cremation of his wife. Rs 2,500/- were collected for his family but Suresh spend most of the amount in conducting the last rites and offered handsome money to the Brahmins and gave them good food.
Dalits and backwards cannot get justice as long as they are part of such notorious social structure which discriminate and which refuses to die down despite \'death\' hanging over our head. I have seen such discrimination in Tsunami also where Arunthatiars, Dalits were exclusively called to pick up dead bodies. Poverty create superstition and I have mentioned many time, how the Mushahars who are dying of hunger are going to local \'Babas\' and Ojhas to get rid of evil spirit. The tragic case does not end here only. Any fight for right to food and dignity has to take a definite ideological shape. Gangajali has died. A Dalit community wanted to help her and yet her husband refuses. This is sickening how people are chained to an idea or a perception that death is sweeter than following the caste system. Suresh's case is a case of typical Indian village system where caste identities are dominant and where we need to work more aggressively. Remember, whether it is right to food or right to land or right to gender equality, we cannot win a battle against poverty and hunger as long as we are caged in such atrocious caste system. Hunger is a socio-cultural issue in this country and an exclusive 'economic' dose would not resolve the crisis. India suffers from this crisis of exclusion and identity. Here humanity dies regularly due to an insensitive class yet whenever the poor Dalits comes with a large heart to provide support to their fellow villagers, the old prejudices are revived. True, caste does not die in India even in death. Suresh Varma's idiotic and ignorant acts should not discourage people like Subhash Chandra in providing help to all those who need it. May be some day, such acts will help us eliminate caste system in India. Hopefully, that day, Suresh would not go spoil his money to a 'Brahmins' house, to wash ' his' 'sins'. If there is one big sin in India, which has thoroughly played havoc with the Dalit communities in India and particularly in this cowbelt, it is donating large sum of money and gift to Brahmin on the death of the person. 'Mrityubhoj', (party on the death of a person) must go, if we want Dalits, MBCs, tribals to survive without debt. A large war against such evil practice is necessary otherwise Suresh Varma and his kind of people will not be able to live. Their lives would be more miserable than the deaths as they would not be able to pay back the debt they have taken to 'appease' the 'insensitive' gods', through the Brahmins. Time to stop this nonsense of Mrityubhoj.
Dalits and backwards cannot get justice as long as they are part of such notorious social structure which discriminate and which refuses to die down despite 'death' hanging over our head. I have seen such discrimination in Tsunami also where Arunthatiars, Dalits were exclusively called to pick up dead bodies. Poverty create superstition and I have mentioned many time, how the Mushahars who are dying of hunger are going to local 'Babas' and Ojhas to get rid of evil spirit.
The tragic case does not end here only. Any fight for right to food and dignity has to take a definite ideological shape. Gangajali has died. A Dalit community wanted to help her and yet her husband refuses. This is sickening how people are chained to an idea or a perception that death is sweeter than following the caste system. Suresh's case is a case of typical Indian village system where caste identities are dominant and where we need to work more aggressively. Remember, whether it is right to food or right to land or right to gender equality, we cannot win a battle against poverty and hunger as long as we are caged in such atrocious caste system. Hunger is a socio-cultural issue in this country and an exclusive 'economic' dose would not resolve the crisis. India suffers from this crisis of exclusion and identity. Here humanity dies regularly due to an insensitive class yet whenever the poor Dalits comes with a large heart to provide support to their fellow villagers, the old prejudices are revived. True, caste does not die in India even in death. Suresh Varma's idiotic and ignorant acts should not discourage people like Subhash Chandra in providing help to all those who need it. May be some day, such acts will help us eliminate caste system in India. Hopefully, that day, Suresh would not go spoil his money to a 'Brahmins' house, to wash ' his' 'sins'. If there is one big sin in India, which has thoroughly played havoc with the Dalit communities in India and particularly in this cowbelt, it is donating large sum of money and gift to Brahmin on the death of the person. 'Mrityubhoj', (party on the death of a person) must go, if we want Dalits, MBCs, tribals to survive without debt. A large war against such evil practice is necessary otherwise Suresh Varma and his kind of people will not be able to live. Their lives would be more miserable than the deaths as they would not be able to pay back the debt they have taken to 'appease' the 'insensitive' gods, through the Brahmins. Time to stop this nonsense of Mrityubhoj.
Is it not ironical that a person whose wife die of hunger and for whose cremation people collect money give a wonderful feast to the Brahmins to keep his wife's 'soul in peace? Shame on a society which enjoy feasting on the deaths of a poor hungry person
Is it not ironical that a person whose wife die of hunger and for whose cremation people collect money give a wonderful feast to the Brahmins to keep his wife's 'soul' in peace? Shame on a society which enjoy feasting on the deaths of a poor hungry person.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)