| April 2007: Seminar [New Dehli]
AGAINST THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT'S DEFENCE OF CASTE BEFORE THE UN Misrepresenting caste and race by Balmurli Natrajan Before issuing its report (see March 2, 2007 below) on caste oppression in India, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racism met with a delegation from the Indian government that included the anthropologist Dipankar Gupta, who defended the government's position that since caste is not race, the committee had no jurisdiction. In this interesting commentary, Balmurli Natrajan takes on Gupta's arguments, which are reprinted below his remarks in summary form. March 2, 2007: IBNLive FOREIGNERS AND NON-HINDUS TREATED AS OUTCASTES American pays fine for entering temple "Roediger still seems to be in the dark as to why he was treated this way. 'It was like an entrance fee or something I guess. I was not aware of the rules for entering into the temple,' said Roediger." See also: Activists criticise destruction of food in the name of religion (IANS) March 2, 2007: CBC News [Canada] REPORT BY UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACISM UN report slams India for caste discrimination "The report found more than 165 million Dalits continue to face segregation in housing, schools, and access to public services. It also said many are forced to work in degrading conditions and are routinely abused by police and upper-caste community members who enjoy the state's protection." February 24, 2007: How the Other Half Lives (theotherindia.org) EVERYDAY OPPRESSION photo by Jacob Carlsen with caption: “On the outskirts of a slum a man is milking his cow. But he cannot sell the milk to the caste people. They consider it unclean because it comes from a cow belonging to an outcaste and an outcaste handled it.” February 13, 2007 NEW HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT India: ‘Hidden Apartheid’ of Discrimination Against Dalits "Exploitation of labor is at the very heart of the caste system. Dalits are forced to perform tasks deemed too “polluting” or degrading for non-Dalits to carry out. According to unofficial estimates, more than 1.3 million Dalits – mostly women – are employed as manual scavengers to clear human waste from dry pit latrines. In several cities, Dalits are lowered into manholes without protection to clear sewage blockages, resulting in more than 100 deaths each year from inhalation of toxic gases or from drowning in excrement. Dalits comprise the majority of agricultural, bonded, and child laborers in the country. Many survive on less than US$1 per day." February 4, 2007: Agence France Presse ESTIMATED 1.3 MILLION MANUAL SCAVENGERS IN INDIA Manual waste disposal occupies millions in India, despite ban "Chandravati, who is over 70 and like many Indians uses a single name, takes home about 300 rupees (6.60 dollars) a month. When she is lucky, she also gets a slice of chapati bread from her employers. 'They throw the chapati at us from a distance. If this is not untouchability, then what is? We are not allowed into the house,' she says, flashing a toothless smile." January 29, 2007: Telegraph (UK) MUKHTAR MAI: EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A LOW-CASTE PEASANT WOMAN WHO STOOD UP After being gang raped by her village elders, Mukhtar fought back... "Mukhtar and her family are from the lowly Gujar caste and are expected to be subservient to the Mastoi. She thought that she was being asked, as a respectable woman, to speak to the village elders on behalf of her brother. As Mukhtar, accompanied by her father, Ghulam Farid Jat, an uncle and a family friend, approached the mosque, she could see a large gathering of men outside. This was the panchayat, the village council. What she didn't know was that it had been taken over by the Mastoi men, who had resolved that to appease the honour of their caste, she must be raped in revenge for what they claimed was the rape of one of their women by Shakur." See also: Breaking the silence: review of Mukhtar Mai's new memoir, In The Name of Honor (The Asian News.co.uk, February 9) Mukhtar Mai: history of a rape case (BBC News, June 28, 2005) anti-caste: Muslims and Caste January 22, 2007: Outlook India COURAGEOUS EXILED WRITER SPEAKS OUT TASLIMA NASRIN: Let's Burn the Burqa "My question to Shabana and her supporters, who argue that the Quran says nothing about purdah is: If the Quran advises women to use purdah, should they do so? My answer is, No." See below: September-October 2006: CLERICS VS. SHABANA AZMI AND SANIA MIRZI ON MUSLIM WOMEN'S DRESS And see also: Britain: Racism and the Islamic Veil (Workers Hammer, newspaper of the Spartacist League/Britain, No. 197, Winter 2006-2007) January 2007 NO JUSTICE FOR THE OPPRESSED UNDER CAPITALISM Khairlanji updates: 23 suspects released, witness intimidated and abused "[The government] is engaged in efforts to intimidate the key witness Sidharth Gajbhaye. Illustrating this he told the press conference held at AKG Bhavan after meeting the home minister that charge sheets have been filed against only eleven persons enabling twenty three persons including two of the main accused to get bail. Shockingly, within two days of their release on bail the accused organised an offensive, drum beating, victory celebration outside his house." See Khairlanji: Prevent Denial Of Justice (People's Democracy, organ of the CPM, January 21) "The Khairlanji Action Committee and Rajendra Gajbhiye, one of the key witnesses of the Dalit massacre, have demanded immediate arrest of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator, Nana Panchbudhe for hurling casteist abuses on Gajbhiye recently. ...The action committee alleged that Panchbudhe was taking revenge against Gajbhiye because his relatives were involved in the massacre. H Dhande and his wife, who were arrested in connection with the Khairlanji killing, were the relatives of Panchbudhe." See Khairlanji action committee insist arrest of NCP MLA (Hindustan Times, January 22) January 8, 2007: The Hindustan Times (Harsh Mander) 50,000 HOMELESS CHILDREN ON THE STREETS OF DELHI Braving every day "Some of Ratul's friends also take up other seasonal occupations like working with caterers in the wedding season, reserving places in the trains during vacations, selling cinema tickets at higher rates, cleaning cars or taxis, buses or lorries, even trains, as vendors for tea and food stalls, apprentices in roadside automobile repair garages, carrying loads and shoe polishing. Contrary to common prejudice, only one in ten street children begs for a living, and most of these are very young." December 31, 2006: The Hindu REVERSAL OF NEGATIVE TREND FOR INDIAN LABOR? Big rise in trade union membership "While the biggest gainer is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which that has added almost 33 lakh members to its 1996 strength of 27 lakh, the CPI-affiliated All-India Trade Union Congress has moved to the third position with 33 lakh members from the fifth slot in 1996 when its membership was nine lakh." December 25, 2006: India eNews ATROCITY IN BIHAR Dalit woman paraded half-naked for stealing fruit "A middle-aged Dalit woman in Bihar was tonsured and paraded half-naked on the orders of the husband of a woman village head for allegedly stealing a few bananas." December 16-29, 2006: Frontline STATE-BY-STATE REPORT ON CONDITION OF UNTOUCHABLES Victims, still See also: further special coverage of dalit activism in Frontline in the wake of the militant mass protests: At a crossroads September-December 2006 MAHARASHTRA BURNING An atrocity left unpunished and a hero’s statue desecrated drive untouchable masses into the streets across India’s second-most populous state. September 29: Four members of an untouchable family are horrifically lynched by men and women of the dominant caste in the tiny village of Khairlanji. November 6: After over a month of negligence by the police and inaction from the state government, mass protests by untouchables break out in Nagpur and spread throughout the district. November 28: A statue of the Independence-era untouchable leader B. R. Ambedkar is beheaded in the city of Kanpur. November 29-30: Untouchable youth take to the streets in spontaneous protests across the state. In Bombay large groups target public transportation, emptying buses and a train and setting them on fire. The rape/murder of the Bhotmange family in Khairlanji village occurred on September 29, but it was only at the end of October that the story first broke in the national press, under the ironic headline “Just another rape story.” There are hundreds of atrocities against untouchables and over a thousand rapes of untouchable women officially reported every year in Maharashtra state alone. And how many go unreported? As the Khairlanji lynching itself might have. If it hadn’t been for two surviving blood relatives who secretly witnessed this public massacre, the case would never have been registered with the police: even now, no one else will talk. So why did the news of this particular horror spread mainly by word of mouth throughout the region and across the state? Why this time did rage over the incident simmer for two full months before finally boiling over in an unprecedented statewide uprising of the untouchable masses that took India by surprise?.... ...see MAHARASHTRA BURNING: anti-caste commentary Dalits, Like Flies to Feudal Lords by Shivam Vij (Tehelka, November 4, 2006) Dalit killing: No action taken against accused by Yogesh Pawar (NDTV.com, November 4) Village quiet after it ganged up to hack Dalit mother, 3 children by Vivek Deshpande (The Indian Express, November 8) Khairlanji: How the Other Half Dies? (Central Chronicle [Bhopal], November 14) He lives to see justice done by Meena Menon (The Hindu, November 17) Dalit blood on the village square by Lyla Bavadam (Frontline, November 18-December 1) A Flag Over the Dead by Dilip D'Souza (Tehelka, November 25) Kherlanji's Strange and Bitter Crop by Satya Sagar (November 29) Maharashtra: Dalit anger leaves 4 dead, 60 injured (rediff.com, November 30) Dalit Rage by Smruti Koppikar (December 5) The fear of democracy of the privileged by P. Sainath (The Hindu, December 8) Khairlanjis of the past (Frontline, December 16-29, 2006) A real agenda for Dalit liberation by Praful Bidwai (Frontline, December 16-29, 2006) And see from Sujatha's family history: Adavi Kolanu: "Humilated for wearing nice clothes, for being clean, for being literate, for being a teacher, for desiring to be treated with dignity." November 13, 2006: DNAINDIA.com HINDU RIGHT TARGETS UNTOUCHABLES Arrest dalit 'rapist', says saffron brigade "Countering dalit outbursts in the aftermath of the Kherlanji massacre, the saffron brigade, which had kept silence over this incident, joined hands on Monday. It brought Bhandara city to naught by raking up a case of alleged rape and murder of a 10-year-old minor OBC girl by a history-sheeter, belonging to the scheduled caste. The bandh [protest shutdown of city shops], which didn't have the collector's permission, was a success." November 25, 2006: The Independent (UK) CASTE OPPRESSION AND WOMEN'S OPPRESSION REINFORCE EACH OTHER Untouchable burnt to death after accusing high-caste man of rape "Asha accused a local upper-caste man of raping her last year. It was no small matter for her to go to the police in Indian rural society, where being a victim of rape is still considered deeply shameful.... In the villages, a man accused of rape may be found guilty and punished by the courts. But a woman who comes forward as a rape victim is certain of her punishment by society. She faces little prospect of marriage, and life for an unmarried woman in the villages is bleak." September-October 2006 CLERICS VS. SHABANA AZMI AND SANIA MIRZI ON MUSLIM WOMEN'S DRESS On leading Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi, after she said Muslim women need not wear a veil: "She is a woman who sings and dances and should confine herself to her profession and not speak on things she has no knowlege of."--Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari see Shabana invites clerics' ire (Central Chronicle [Bhopal], October 30, 2006) On tennis star Sania Mirzi: "The dress she wears on the tennis courts not only doesn't cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination."--Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, leading cleric of the Sunni Ulema Board. See pics here! see Tennis star deflects clothing row (BBC News, September 9, 2006) July-August, 2006 CHILD LABOR IN INDIA Two stories: children working as household servants and stitching soccer balls. In both cases, as the articles note, the children are low-caste or Muslim. Indian Child Labourers Show Ugly Side of the 'Beautiful Game' (AFP, Jul 10, 2006) Domestic child labour rampant in Delhi (NDTV.com, August 2, 2006) May 26, 2006: International Herald Tribune RESERVATIONS CONTROVERSY Letter from India: Addressing inequality in a land ruled by caste "For a snapshot of the social importance of caste in modern India, you just need to turn to the matrimonials section of any daily paper. A small minority of the advertisements declare CASTE NO BAR, but most are arranged according to caste groupings, and go along the lines of: 'Engineer with multinational corp. seeks beautiful girl from decent Brahmin family.' Sociologists estimate that more than 90 percent of people marry within their caste." May-June 2006 CASTE OPPRESSION AND WATER RIGHTS Every summer the convergence of climate, archaic infrastructure, and caste-based segregation brings us dozens of horror stories in the press about the denial of drinking water to untouchables and the atrocities that often result, no doubt representing a tiny fraction of the total such cases. Here are two recent ones: Dalits of Gaya untouched by water (CNN-IBN, May 25): "The upper castes throw away our buckets whenever we go to fill water." Dalit villager pays heavy price for water (NDTV.com, June 24): "Pradip, a young Dalit man from a remote village in Madhya Pradesh, decided to fight back when upper caste people in his village refused him water. Instead, the 20-year-old was beaten up and as a result, 250 Dalit families from his Chotiche village have been denied access to water." May 21, 2006: NDTV.com UNTOUCHABLES BOUND BY HEREDITARY OCCUPATION Dalit workers continue to face prejudice "But even today, in India's biggest cities, the men and women who enter the sewers to clean the city's filth are dalits." May 17, 2006: The Guardian UPPER-CASTE BABY-KILLERS DEFEND "MERIT" Violence feared in Indian caste row "The protests have disrupted hospital services across northern India, with the student shutdown supported by doctors. In Delhi television crews filmed babies being refused medical treatment because of a lack of staff." See below: April 2006: RESERVATIONS (AFFIRMATIVE ACTION) BILL PROPOSED May 12, 2006: The Hindu MASS ATROCITY BACKED UP BY POLICE Justice for Dalits Still a Dream "When the Dalits attempted to take out their procession, the police stopped them. The next day, in blatant violation of the law, the sarpanch allegedly instigated upper caste youth to attack the Dalits with hatchets and sickles by making announcements on a loudspeaker from the local temple. The attackers did not spare even women and children.... Instead of arresting those who attacked the Dalits, the police arrested 15 Dalits on false charges ranging from 'dacoity' to 'attempt to murder.'" April 28, 2006: The New York Post MOVIE SHOWS HIDEOUS OPPRESSION OF WIDOWS Married to Barbaric Custom The Hindi-language film Water by director Deepa Mehta, released this week in New York, exposes the custom of child marriage and the traditional treatment of widows as outcastes. Though it's set during the rise of the Independence struggle in the 1930s, these practices are still prevalent, particularly (but not only) in rural areas--see links below. We don't usually offer links to the right-wing New York Post, but their critical review (see link above) happens to get the politics just about right. See also: The film's initial production in India was called off in 2000 in the face of government harrassment and attacks by Hindu-right thugs. It was finally made in Sri Lanka after a long delay. Read this excellent first-person account of the thwarted shoot: The Politics of Deepa Metha's Water (Bright Lights Film Journal, April 2000). And see: Indian widows focus on devotion, fatalism (The Mercury News [San Jose], April 2, 2006) A Young Woman Says 'No' to Rural India's Child-Marriage Tradition (The Washington Post, September 5, 2005) India Child-Marriage Laws Ignored (CBS News, May 13, 2005) Poignant writings on widowhood in Hindu society (The Tribune [Chandigarh, India]), September 29, 2002) India's neglected widows (BBC, February 2, 2002) Though Illegal, Child Marriage Is Popular in Part of India (The New York Times, May 11, 1998) India's widows live out sentence of shame, poverty (CNN, November 6, 1997) anti-caste: from Sujatha's family narrative: brahmin widows and untouchable children April 18, 2006: Reuters HINDU MONARCHY CRUMBLING King No Longer Sacred in Nepal "'Gyanendra, thief, leave the country' is the warcry of the tens of thousands campaigning against his rule, a slogan that would have been heretical just a few years ago when the Shahs were worshipped by the Himalayan nation as reincarnations of the Hindu Lord Vishnu." See also: This Turbulent Monarchy: Nepal and the Shah dynasty (AsiaMedia, February 17, 2005) traces the rule of the bloody Shah dynasty from its founding by the eighteenth-century military king Prithvi Narayan Shah, who upon conquering Kathmandu Valley "cut off the lips and noses of every male citizen of the city-state of Kirtipur (save those who were musicians) after they successfully resisted his invasion force." (Obviously a music-lover.) Turmoil (The Hindu, February 20, 2005) discusses the recent social context: "The democracy movement had politically mobilised the voiceless, but post-multidemocracy, the representational pyramid remained even more restricted than under the Panchayat regime. Bahuns (Brahmins) and Chettris (including Ranas, Shah-Thakuris) made up 29 per cent of the population and monopolised 70 per cent to 90 per cent of the jobs and political representation. Many of the 69 indigenous nationalities which fought for multi-party democracy would turn to the Maoist revolution for their liberation. Indeed the insurgency is a testament to the failure of Nepal's experiments with (autocratic and) democratic governance to make a real difference to the desperate poverty and plight of the vast majority of Nepal's 24 million people. Forty-two per cent of them remain under the poverty line ... ." But the Maoists, who should be defended against the police and the military, offer no political alternative. They actually made a bloc with the old king, Birendra. One of their leaders declared in 2001: ''Many Marxists called the Maoists royalists. There were similar thoughts between King Birendra and us, with reference to many national interests. There was unannounced unity in the approach between us in many contexts. So, it was natural for the colonialists and their brokers to be frightened.'' See Maoist ideologue blames India, US for massacre [of royal family] (rediff.com, June 6, 2001). Update: (November 21, 2006) The Maoists have joined the bourgeois government and will liquidate their militia into the national army. See Nepal celebrates peace deal with rebels (The Guardian [UK], November 22). April 2006: rediff.com, The Nahvind Times, and Outlook India (free registration required) RESERVATIONS (AFFIRMATIVE ACTION) BILL PROPOSED A minister in the Indian government has proposed a bill that would more than double the reservation quota (number of seats reserved for students oppressed by caste) in elite higher educational institutions run by the central government. He wants to add a reservation for the Other Backward Castes (castes considered low but not untouchable) to the existing one for untouchables and tribals. What is the 49.5% quota all about? (rediff.com, April 12, 2006) explains the plan in some detail. The anti-reservations slogan "Save Merit" really means "Save Caste Privilege." Praful Bidwai in In Defence of OBC Reservations (The Nahvind Times, April 20, 2006) punctures the hypocrisy of those who take it up: "Those who oppose affirmative action radically, in principle, on the ground that it’s anti-merit, are comprehensively wrong in assuming that our society and government run on the basis of merit, as distinct from social status, clan loyalties, wealth, sifarish, political influence, overt bribery, etc. Even the best of our competition examinations don’t accurately assess merit. Take the case of the IITs, where admissions are dominated by candidates from privileged families who can afford to send them to the coaching centres of Kota in Rajasthan for long months at the expense of lakhs of rupees." In What Mandal Really Wanted (Outlook India, April 14, 2006) S.S. Gill, the secretary of the Mandal Commission, defends that commission's 1980 report. When its recommendation that reservations be extended to Other Backward Castes was finally put into practice in 1989, it provoked a vicious casteist reaction nationwide. In response to what is now being proposed, Gill asks "Why do we still require the crutch of reservations to enable students from the deprived sections to stand on their feet even 60 years after Independence? What has happened to the tall claims of affirmative action aimed at raising the educational and economic standards of the SCs, STs and OBCs, so that their children are able to compete on their own merit?" But even the minimal reforms he says are necessary are utopian in a capitalist India dominated by imperialism. And, while it's important to defend any gains for the oppressed including reservations, why shouldn't everyone be able to get a decent education and a good job? See also: How Sharad Got a Life: "As did Amit, Risha, Parag and many like them. Quotas empowered them to take on challenges. Here's their side of the story." (Outlook India [free registration required], April 24, 2006) Say Yes to Affirmative Action by Praful Bidwai (August 9, 2004) on the history of reservations policy in India: Logical step by P.S. Krishnan (Frontline, April 22-May 5, 2006) April 12, 2006: The Onion BUSINESS NEWS Air India Now Offers Business Caste Seating "'More legroom, wider seats—and no need to associate with the manual laborers,' a spokesman for the airline said Tuesday. 'Our business travelers must have lived good past lives to deserve this.'" The Onion is a satirical weekly newspaper parody published in the U.S. April 7, 2006: newkerala.com UPPER-CASTE LANDLORD MILITIAS IN BIHAR Nitish winds up Ranvir Sena probe at last stage "The last person to depose before the commission was jailed Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh, who was arrested two years ago and is believed to have masterminded the killings of at least 300 Dalits and backward castes since forming the group in 1994." April 2006: Newsline (Karachi) WORKING IN PAKISTAN'S COAL MINES EXPOSÉ: Death in the Mines "Bonded for their working life through contractors, young boys of 13 work till they are 30 years old for a paltry sum until their damaged lungs can no longer withstand the chronic exposure to coal dust." March 31, 2006: OhMyNews.com CASTE IN NEPAL Caste-based Discrimination Endures in Nepal "Dalits in Nepal are prohibited from walking in front of upper caste people and need to make an alternate path behind them." See also: more on caste in Nepal from the same journalist: When Caste Overshadows Humanity March 13, 2006: Inter Press Service News Agency CASTE-BASED BONDED LABOR IN PAKISTAN PAKISTAN: Free at Last, From Generations of Bonded Labour '''All my family members worked, including my mother and younger sister. My mother would say we have to work to pay off the loans taken by my grandfather from the landlords. However hard and long we all worked, the exorbitant interest on the loan my grandfather had taken was never paid.''' See also: In Pakistan, 'slavery' persists (The Christian Science Monitor, December 15, 2003) March 7-9, 2006: The Indian Express ANTI-HINDU COMMUNALISM Terror in Varanasi, nation on alert "The blast at the railway station was so powerful that it left a deep crater on the platform. The area was splattered with blood and human remains. The blast at the temple set off panic and led to a near stampede as people scrambled for cover. Two weddings were on in the complex when the explosion took place. People were seen ferrying the injured, including several elderly women, to the hospital. Rescue workers struggled in narrow lanes and bylanes to bring out the injured from the blast site." March 5, 2006: CNN-IBN News "LOW-CASTE" CAPITALIST POLITICIAN UP's Dalit queen turns 'crorepati' Report on the flagrant corruption of Mayawati, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh. Herself an untouchable, Mayawati leads the Bahujan Samaj Party ("Majority-people's Association Party"), a capitalist party which purports to represent the interests of low-caste constituents. See also: apparently in retailation for the story linked to above, Maya’s goons beat up CNN-IBN staff, torch car (The Indian Express, March 8) February 24, 2006: WebIndia123.com GUJARAT MASSACRE AFTERMATH Mumbai court sentenced 10 Best Bakery case accused to life imprisonment "The 17 accused have been charged with burning alive 14 people[...] during the Godhra riots." See also: this summary of the Best Bakery case from rediff.com: Best bakery: Why it is so important The Hindu's editorial: A tortuous quest for justice fact-finding reports on the 2002 anti-Muslim massacre in Gujarat from onlinevolunteers.org anti-caste: on the Gujarat massacre, 2002 February 21, 2006: The Tribune (Chandighar) POLICE ATROCITY IN HARYANA Dalit youth dies in police custody "Harjeet Singh, a Dalit youth of Niko Sarai village in Dera Baba Nanak area, was killed in Batala police’s custody allegedly due to torture. The police cremated his body at night without informing his family." February 19, 2006: The Indian Express UNTOUCHABLES IN RURAL UTTAR PRADESH Virtual prosperity "ELECTRICITY may still be a distant dream for Dalits in this Uttar Pradesh village where 70 per cent of the families live below the poverty line and many are bonded labourers, but that has not stopped their children from learning to use the internet or handle digital cameras. Indeed, some Dalits from this village of 360 families where half the land is owned by gun-toting Brahmin landlords who still regard banks with unease, have gone on to become teachers, army officers and Railway officials...." February 14, 2006: The Tribune (Chandighar) MASS ATROCITY IN HARYANA 10 injured in attack on Dalit colony "In what could be termed as the recurrence of the Gohana incident, an armed mob of upper castes, mostly Rodhs, allegedly attacked Ravidas Colony at Mehmadpur village of the district today morning. The only difference between the two incidents was that instead of torching houses of Dalits as had been done in Gohana, Ravidasis were allegedly attacked with sharp-edged weapons, including axes and swords." February 7, 2006: Outlook India (free registration required) HINDU-RIGHT CAMPAIGN IN U.S. Now, Multicultural Hindutva On the Hindu right's current campaign to revise the grade-school textbooks in California (and therefore, because of that state's weight in the textbook market, all across the U.S.). See also this letter by Professor Vinay Lal to the president of the California Board of Education Creationism By Any Other Name... by historian Romila Thapar and Sanskrit scholar Michael Witzel (Outlook India, February 28, 2006) this entertaining commentary by Vijay Prashad (CounterPunch, December 31 / January 31) Update: February 28, 2006 In a press release two organizations protesting the Hindu right's proposed revisions, the Friends of South Asia and the Coalition Against Communalism, claim victory: "The intense struggle over the content of Indian history in California textbooks ended yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the special committee of the California SBE voting unanimously to overturn a majority of contentious changes proposed by Hindu right-wing groups." February 6, 2006: Reuters and rediff.com MILITANT STRIKE BETRAYED BY LEFT FRONT After a four-day strike by over 20,000 workers against selling off the Mumbai and New Dehli airports to private companies, part of the Congress-led government's privitization drive, is called off by union leaders from the reformist left parties, the capitalist press celebrates: PM shows 'spine', wins battle with Left (Reuters): "India's government has won a crucial victory against its Communist 'allies' over airport modernisation, and will now move forward more confidently on its own reform agenda, analysts said on Monday." The Left's 'own goals' (rediff.com): "Even tactically, the Left bungled because air traffic controllers and public sector airline employees continued to work, so all that the strikers could achieve was nuisance value, not disruption of air services.... It might be argued that some of this is just shadow play, and the Left didn't really want to stop the privatisation of airports, since one of its leading lights, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the chief minister of Left Front-ruled West Bengal, had said last year that he would like to privatise Kolkata airport. Equally, the Left Democratic Front in Kerala has never criticised or come in the way of the privately-run Kochi airport. The Left's aim, ahead of the elections in West Bengal and Kerala, was probably to demonstrate to the big public sector unions and their members that it still supported them, a sort of Communist equivalent of going to a temple or church." January 28-February 10, 2006: Frontline ATROCITY IN PUNJAB: BANT SINGH Casteist assault "On January 7, Bant Singh, a resident of Jhabbar in the southern Punjab district of Mansa, was surrounded by a group of Jat youths from the same village. The upper-caste men brutally beat him with iron rods. Three days later, after gangrene set in, doctors amputated his limbs." See also: Bant Singh: Dalit, Defiant, Decapitated (Punjab Dalit Solidarity, January 19, 2006) January 28-February 10, 2006: Frontline BOOK ON MANUAL SCAVENGING Exposing an abhorrent practice review by S. Vishwanathan of India Stinking by Gita Ramaswamy "'In an age when mechanisation with harvesters and tractors has rendered thousands of manual labourers jobless," Gita notes, "it is a standing testimony to the lasting virulence of the caste system that public facility cleaning and sewage disposal are still handled by human beings.'" See also: Soiled tracks by Kancha Ilaiah (Outlook India, January 16, 2005) January 2, 2006: newkerala.com ATROCITY IN BIHAR Caste waters run deep in Bihar village "The village in Vaishali district bristled with tension, anger and pain Monday, a day after the 45-year-old woman and her five minor children were torched to death in their hut because her husband refused to withdraw a police complaint against a Yadav for the theft of a buffalo. While the killings came as a shock to members of the backward agrarian Koeri caste to which the victims belonged, they were quick to point out that they were not allowed to keep cattle and those who dared flout the unwritten rule paid for it." September 27, 2005: The Hindu (Opinion) ATROCITY IN BELKHED VILLAGE (AKOLA), MAHARASHTRA The riots and wrongs of caste by P. Sainath "The Dalits here are impoverished agricultural labourers. Some of these tiny, ruined dwellings housed 12 or more people. The over 150 families in the basti have homes bunched together, often joined by common walls. The flames must have spread quickly." September 24, 2005: United News of India RESISTANCE PROVOKES REACTION Barber women ‘sexually abused, paraded naked’ by upper community "Four women of the Bhubanpati village told reporters here on Thursday that they were 'punished' on September 19 because their husbands had refused to wash the feet of 'baratis' during a marriage ceremony sometime back." September 21, 2005: The Chicago Tribune ATROCITIES IN HARYANA Caste war shows India's lowest class still faces struggle "Higher-caste members say the Dalits just want attention and set their own homes on fire, shaved their own mustaches and made everything else up.[...]They say the Dalits are treated equally in Badhram and live pretty well. "'They even have tractors and motorcycles,' said Jagan Singh, a farmer and former village leader who belongs to the Zamindar land-owning caste. 'They even have trucks.' "'Mobile phones,' one man shouted. 'Color TVs,' another pointed out. "'They eat butter chicken every day,' Singh added." September 6, 2005: The Hindu (Opinion) MASS ATROCITY IN GOHANA, HARYANA There's a much larger house on fire by P. Sainath "About the time 50 Dalit houses were set ablaze in Gohana, the country marked 50 years of a law giving effect to the Constitution's abolition of untouchability. As if to rub in the irony, 25 more Dalit homes have been torched in the same week. This time in Akola, Maharashtra." See also: 'Gohana is Haryana's shame today' (rediff.com, September 1, 2005) Prosperity Sharpens Caste Animosities (Inter Press Service News Agency, September 19, 2005) September 5, 2005: The Washington Post CASTE AND WOMEN'S OPPRESSION A Young Woman Says 'No' to Rural India's Child-Marriage Tradition "Not only does Chaudhry accuse her would-be in-laws of demanding money in exchange for her freedom, but the leaders of her caste -- a powerful informal council known as a caste panchayat -- have also threatened Chaudhry and her family with the ultimate sanction of excommunication, or ejection from the caste. Such an outcome would rob the family of its social standing and damage the marriage prospects of Chaudhry's 18-year-old brother, among other things." August 25, 2005: rediff.com UNTOUCHABILITY IN ORISSA Dalit girl reprimanded for riding cycle through village "Her only fault was that she rode her bicycle to college through a village to attend college. Mamata Nayak, who wants to be a teacher, was reprimanded by upper caste villagers for daring to ride on the village road." August 13-25, 2005: Frontline REPRESSION OF HONDA WORKERS IN GURGAON, HARYANA Target, trade unionism For a 'New deal' for labour by Praful Bidwai (Frontline, August 13-26, 2005) Malls of the few, chawls of the many by P. Sainath (The Hindu, Opinion) anti-caste: on the repression of striking Honda workers in Gurgaon, Haryana August 12, 2005: asianage.com ATROCITIES IN HARYANA Landlords set 3 houses on fire "Landlords have ostracised dalits and confined to their homes 45 persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes since July 20, when they offered prayers at a local temple. Dalits have been beaten, and the moustache of one dalit man is lopped off every day." July 30, 2005: Indo-Asian News Service UNTOUCHABILITY IN BIHAR Dalit students refuse 'lower' caste cooking "Caste equations in all their complexities have come to the fore in a Bihar village where students, including Dalits, have refused meals cooked by Doms, the lowest ranked Dalits." July 13, 2005: The Kathmandu Post UNTOUCHABILITY IN NEPAL Touch of Dalits still unholy in Dipayal "They are not even allowed to share public taps and enter temples. They also have to speak in a demure tone with the so-called 'higher caste' people." April 20, 2005: The Onion AGE-OLD CASTE SYSTEM ADAPTS New Tech-Support Caste Arises In India "Thanks to widespread outsourcing of telephone-service jobs, a sixth caste has blossomed in India: the Khidakayas, a mid-level jati made up of technical-support workers." The Onion is a satirical weekly newspaper parody published in the U.S. January 7, 2005: The Indian Express CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN TSUNAMI RELIEF Tsunami can’t wash this away: hatred for Dalits "They are survivors from 63 damaged villages—30 of them flattened—all marooned in their own islands, facing the brunt of a majority of fishermen who are from the Meenavar community—listed in official records as Most Backward Class (MBC)—for whom Dalits are still untouchable." See also: Even Govt divides survivors on caste, says it’s practical (The Indian Express, January 8, 2005) India's untouchables forced out of relief camps (Agence France-Presse) Low caste survivors denied food and water (The Telegraph (UK), January 8, 2006) Nagapattinam inching closer to normalcy (January 12, 2005) India: End caste Bias in Tsunami Relief (Human Rights Watch, January 14, 2005) anti-caste: on discrimination against untouchable survivors of the South Asian tsunami (January 15, 2005) Tsunami Opens Fault Lines in Old Caste System (The Washington Post, January 18, 2005) `Untouchable' caste find themselves deprived of tsunami aid (The Independent (London), January 22, 2005) Caste cloud over tsunami relief (rediff.com, September 15, 2005) January 4, 2005: Reuters TSUNAMI CLEAN-UP A CASTE DUTY OF UNTOUCHABLES India's 'untouchables' gather tsunami dead '"It is our duty. If a dog is dead, or a person, we have to clean it up."' January 4, 2005: The Indian Express ATROCITY AGAINST UNTOUCHABLE CHILDREN IN HARYANA Dalits made to drink urine: Upper-caste landlords abuse 3 youths over cricket dispute Three boys "were dragged to the residence of the sarpanch, Gurdas Singh, where the landlords urinated in their juttis (shoes) and forced them to drink it at gunpoint." February 23, 2004: Outlook India (free registration required) ATROCITY AGAINST UNTOUCHABLE CHILDREN IN UTTAR PRADESH Dalit youths in this UP village win a game of cricket but lose lives in the caste war "'The cricket team from Hasanpur, made up mostly of Rajputs, seems to have taken the defeats as an insult to their pride and honour. They considered themselves invincible and couldn't stomach being defeated by Dalits,' says Pushkar Raj of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)." See also: the PUCL report "Two dalit youth killed for winning cricket matches" (January 2004) February 18, 2004: Asian Human Rights Commission MASS ATROCITY IN NEPAL Inter-Caste Marriage Became a Cause of Destruction "The young couple, who had an inter-caste marriage, has been kidnapped by the girl's relatives and the Dalit community, which the male victim belongs to, was attacked by 200 upper caste people and forced to leave the village." July 22, 2003: NewIndPress.com ATROCITY OVER DRINKING-WATER RIGHTS IN MAHARASHTRA Dalit burnt to death in Maharashtra for using handpump "Caste barriers run deep here and the Patils' writ dictates that it's their privilege to use handpumps first. On the day of the incident, the Patils reportedly tried to get fresh with Lata Shendge (17) for questioning their privilege. Her brother Dilip intervened only to be accosted by a group of belligerent Patils in the evening, who allegedly set him, his sister and his mother ablaze right outside their mud-walled hut. [...] "'Four years back, the only source of water was the Dudhna river, which was a 40-minute walk from here. We got the government to install these two pumps and now it's only a five-minute walk. These Dalits can't even give us the right to use it first,' says Damodar Patil (50), a land-owner." See also: Dalit boy killed for sister's 'folly' (NDTV.com, May 19, 2003) The caste cauldron of Maharashtra (PUCL report, December 2003) ................................................................................................................................................................. links to newspapers, mailing lists, and news archives at anti-caste: links on two atrocities in 2002 on the 2002 Indian elections on discrimination against untouchable survivors of the South Asian tsunami on the repression of Honda workers in Gurgaon, Haryana email us anti-caste home |
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| anti-caste home Below we've added links to news items related to caste, communalism, and class struggle in South Asia that may be of interest to people who visit our site. Links to outside sources are offered for the sake of information only. We don't necessarily agree with the slant of any story included here or share the aims of its author, except as noted. If you know of a recent news story you think we ought to include, please email us. What are "atrocities"? Incidents of extreme humiliation, brutalization, maiming, arson, rape, killing, and other acts of sadism inflicted by caste Hindus on untouchables are known in India as "atrocities." They are the historical correlates of anti-black lynchings in the post-Reconstruction American South. News stories of such incidents are commonplace; you can usually find at least one every time you pick up an Indian paper. By one estimate, over 100,000 cases are reported in India every year. And, of course, the great majority of these acts--committed, often in isolated settings, against destitute and illiterate people with little claim to police protection--must go unreported. ("Little claim to police protection" is in fact an understatement. Police are among the chief perpetrators.) Out of those that do make it into the press, we are including on this page only a handful of representative stories. For a more comprehensive compilation, see Dalit Solidarity News, Dalit Human Rights, or the archives of the ZestCaste mailing list. .............................................................................................................................................................................. |