[ZESTCaste] They deserve to die, says Krishnaiah's wife (News)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/They_deserve_to_die_says_Krishnaiahs_wife/articleshow/2426940.cms They deserve to die, says Krishnaiah's wife 4 Oct 2007, 0143 hrs IST,SUSHIL RAO,TNN HYDERABAD: They deserve the punishment. No mercy should be shown to murderers, said Uma Krishnaiah, wife of Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah who was lynched by a mob 13 years ago. Uma, who now lives in government quarters at Kundanbagh in Hyderabad with her two teenaged daughters, had tears in her eyes when she recalled the fateful day on December 5, 1994, when her husband was killed. Being the son of a labourer and a Dalit, Krishnaiah was committed to welfare of the poor. He did not deserve to die. Even if the guilty appeal to the President on the death sentence, it should not be entertained, Uma said. A chemistry lecturer at Government Degree College, Begumpet, Uma wasn't even aware that the case was in progress until she read about it in the newspapers a couple of days ago. I cannot get my husband back, but this judgment should deter powerful politicians or ruffians from killing simple people, she said. On the fateful day, Krishnaiah woke up early, at around 3.30 am, to go to Muzaffarpur for a meeting. When Uma saw him walk out of the house without wearing warm clothes in the peak of winter, she asked him to take a sweater. But he refused saying, You should think about the poor who have no clothes. At least I have clothes to wear. When he was leaving, I asked him to return home early, if possible, she recalled. Later, she came to know what happened to her husband. He pleaded with his killers to spare his life as he had two young daughters. But they didn't listen. They killed him for no reason, Uma said. Krishnaiah and Uma got to know each other during their student days in Government Degree College at Gadwal in Mahbubnagar. He wanted to make a mark in life. His main concern was to clear the IAS. Also, he wanted to marry me and as my father was not encouraging, he pledged that he would come back to him only after achieving something, Uma recalled. Soon after Krishnaiah's death, Uma took up a job. One of her daughters is pursuing engineering and another is in college. Though I want them to get into the IAS, they aren't interested, she said.
[ZESTCaste] SC members allege insult by DCC chief (News)
http://deccan.com/Region/RegionNews.asp#SC%20members%20allege%20insult%20by%20DCC%20chief SC members allege insult by DCC chief Adilabad, Oct. 3: Alleged insult of dalit mandal parishad presidents (MPPs), zilla parishad territorial constituency (ZPTC) members and sarpanches at a function in Khanapur two days ago by District Congress committee president Ravinder Rao and Khanapur market committee chairman Laxman Rao, rocked the general body meeting of zilla parishad on Wednesday. Dalit MPPs and ZPTCs belonging to the Telugu Desam obstructed the proceedings of the general body meeting, seeking justice. They staged a sit-in protest in front of the podium, demanding action against Mr Ravinder Rao and Mr S. Laxman Rao and registration of cases under the SC, ST (prevention of atrocities) Act against them. They alleged that Mr Ravinder Rao did not break a coconut at the inauguration function of the sub-registrar's office in Khanapur on October 1, saying that he would not break a coconut after breaking of coconuts by dalits. Dalit MPPs and ZPTCs submitted a memorandum to minister for roads and buildings T. Jeevan Reddy seeking justice. Their fellow MPPs and ZPTC members extended support to the victims. MPP Lavanya, ZPTC Rathod Ramu and sarpanch Akula Srinivas of Khanapur told the ZP meet that they had lodged a complaint with Khanapur police against Mr Ravinder Rao and Mr Laxman Rao on October 1. They alleged that protocol was not being followed during government meetings and elected public representatives of local bodies were not being invited. Instead, Congress leaders were sitting on the dais even in government programmes, violating rules. They were being insulted whenever they asked for information about government programmes. Mr Jeevan Reddy instructed officials concerned to conduct an inquiry into the incident. He further said that action would be taken against government officials if they failed to follow protocol at government programmes. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Ravinder Rao refuted the allegations levelled against him by some MPPs and ZPTC members and said that he did not insult them with their caste name. He said that they had created a scene during the general body meeting to derive a political mileage.
[ZESTCaste] New rules to verify SC/ST certificates (News)
http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnewsid=8532 New rules to verify SC/ST certificates Chennai, Oct 4: The Tamil Nadu Government has formulated new rules to determine the authenticity of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe community certificates. A recent Government Order issued by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department outlined changes in the constitution and function of two committees-- state-level Scrutiny Committee and district-level Vigilance Committee. The Vigilance Committee, comprising District Collector as Chairman, District Adi Dravidar Tribal Welfare Officer as Member Secretary and an anthropologist, would examine certificates issued to SC communities. The Scrutiny Committee would examine certificates issued to ST communities. The Secretary to the Government, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, the Commissioner of Tribal Welfare and an anthropologist would be its members. Members of the SCs/STs seeking entry into educational institutions or apply for jobs should file their community certificates for scrutiny six months in advance. If the claim for social status was found to be suspicious, a report would be sent to the individual concerned, for a reply within 30 days. All false certificates would be confiscated, the individual prosecuted and the educational institution or appointing authority informed. --- UNI
[ZESTCaste] Internal quotas soon, says Kumaraswamy (News)
http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/03/stories/2007100358170400.htm Karnataka - Bangalore Internal quotas soon, says Kumaraswamy Special Correspondent Chief Minister unveils statue of Babu Jagjivan Ram — Photo: K. Gopinathan A memorial: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy (right) and Deputy Chief Minister, B.S. Yediyurappa unveiling the statue of Babu Jagjivan Ram in Bangalore on Tuesday. Bangalore: Even as the fate of the coalition Government headed by him hangs in the balance, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said internal reservation (categorised quotas within the existing reservation system) would be a reality shortly. He was addressing a large gathering of Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and other poor communities after unveiling a statue of the former Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram at the western gate of the Vidhana Soudha here. Stressing that he did not want to exploit the opportunity for political purposes, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the beneficiaries of internal reservation should work for the betterment of their communities. They should not allow politicians to exploit the issue for political profit, he warned. Cornered by a few The Chief Minister said that during his programme of staying overnight in villages, he had observed that the benefits of reservation had been cornered by a few. A majority of the people in rural areas did not even have proper clothing. Such issues should be addressed effectively to achieve social justice and equality, he said. The Chief Minister said there had been apprehensions whether the Janata Dal (S) and Bharatiya Janata Party coalition would be able to address the problems faced by Dalits and backward classes. It had effectively addressed those doubts by releasing Rs. 2,560 crore for the welfare of Dalits and Other Backward Classes, Rs. 1,035 crore for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Rs. 100 crore for minorities, he said. Commitment Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said the Government was committed to the welfare of Dalits and other oppressed sections. It had earmarked Rs. 3 crore for constructing Jagjivan Ram Bhavans on the lines of the existing Ambedkar Bhavans. Additional funds would be provided for the purpose. Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K.H. Muniyappa applauded the efforts of JD(S) president H.D. Deve Gowda and the coalition Government in expediting the installation of the statue, which had been pending for over two decades. He appealed to the Centre to declare Jagjivan Ram's birthday a national holiday. Many Ministers, MLAs and MLCs were present. Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu presided over the event. -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[ZESTCaste] Caste discrimination in SVU?
Caste discrimination in SVU? http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Hindu/400x60/0 Special Correspondent TIRUPATI: Sri Venkateswara University is caught in yet another controversy. The row this time is over the alleged caste discrimination shown against university Registrar C. K. Mohan Rao at a function organised by the university's Centre for Gandhian Studies to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti and the International Day of Non-violence. The Registrar's complaint was that the organisers who invited on to the dais university's Rector K. Sivasankar Reddy among others 'deliberately' failed to extend him the same courtesy just because he happened to belong to a Scheduled Tribe. Taking serious exception to the alleged protocol violation and 'humiliation', the Registrar reportedly left the venue in a huff. Meanwhile, the All India Students Federation strongly condemned the incident and said that it once against exposed the increasing incidence of caste-discrimination in SVU.
[ZESTCaste] Creamy layer exclusion equally applicable to forward class: K Parasaran
http://www.indlawnews.com/00D05E9B90A1B45A65C7F9DEF1A363A6 Creamy layer exclusion equally applicable to forward class: K Parasaran 3 October 2007 Senior counsel K Parasaran, appearing for Centre and Tamil Nadu state defending the reservation policy of the government, contended before the Supreme Court that the principle of exclusion of creamy layer should be made equally applicable to the forward class of society, as it is being applied in the case of OBC. Mr Parasaran told the five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan that the caste reservation was fully justified, as such policy is a must for removing unequality among people belonging to different castes. He, however, did not elaborate how the principle of exclusion of creamy layer can be applied in General category without there being a reservation for the upper caste. While defending the government notification providing 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in admission to Centrally-run higher learning Educational Institutions, Mr Parasaran argued that in some cases OBCs and SC, STs are in majority and still they get lesser number of seats, while the upper caste minority gets larger share of seats. In Tamil Nadu, 69 per cent of seats are reserved for the SC/ST categories. Pleading for 100 per cent literacy and primary education to OBCs, he sought to justify that the quota policy is on the grounds of financial constraints and hence cent per cent literacy for OBC, SC, ST's is not possible. Therefore, education can be given to them only by providing reservation. Mr Parasaran also argued that OBCs must be offered some opportunities so that they may avail the same, citing the example of B R Ambedkar who according to him came up only when he was offered an opportunity through reservation. The Court, however, contested the claim of the counsel by saying that picking up a single case cannot be a justification for caste based reservation. The Court told the counsel that the reservation policy cannot continue indefinately; some time frame must be there to end the reservation after a particular period of time. Other judges on the bench were Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari. The government is defending its caste based policy on the grounds that the oppressed section of the society have become backward socially, educationally and economically due to the century-long exploitation in the name of caste. There was also some confusion whether Article 21(A) of the constitution, which makes Right to Education an integral part of Fundamental Right to Life. The arguments will continue tomorrow. (UNI)
[ZESTCaste] It wasn`t the Brahmins after all
http://www.business-standard.com/lifeleisure/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu4subLeft=6autono=300047tab=r It wasn`t the Brahmins after all T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan / New Delhi October 03, 2007 This newspaper does not pay much attention to either religion or history, let alone a combination of the two. And while I have a lot of time for history, religion strikes me as a bore. Nonetheless, there is a very good reason for writing about this book in these columns. It is the Introduction to it by Irfan Habib. Let me get to the point straightaway. Prof. Habib says that it is wrong to blame Brahminism for casteism in India. ... It seems particularly doubtful if the evolution and spread of the caste system can be attributed primarily to Brahminical inspiration. Had anyone else written this, we could have dismissed it as self-serving nonsense. But since it is no less a personage than Irfan Habib, due attention must be paid to it, whether it is politically convenient or not. His starting point is his view that as far as the main Vedas are concerned, the varna system lacks the two elements that give it is a distinctive characteristic as far as jatis were concerned: occupational fixity and endogamy (marrying within your own caste). Indeed, he says, [T]he term jati itself has not been traced to in the Vedic corpus. He then goes on to quote from the Rig Veda to show that there was no notion of permanently fixed occupations. Nor did the Brahmins, when they saw a pretty wench, not marry her, never mind what her varna was. True, the Brahmins were enjoined upon to maintain a distance. But all in all, the amount of evidence about the need for keeping such excessive distance from the lowly is rather small. Habib also says that it is an error to take all that stuff about Brahmins coming from the head of Purusha and so on. … it is clear that this is a simple declaration of social hierarchy, the class of priests, warriors, the masses and the menials being placed in descending order. He says this description would have fitted any ancient or medieval society and that by itself hardly implied the existence of the caste system. So who was or were the culprits, if not the Brahmins? The Buddhists, it would appear, and the kshatriyas. Of the former he has this to say: The Buddha's own clan, the Sakyas, were so conscious of their unmixed descent that their ancestors, reduced to a set of brothers and sisters, married each other. And as to the latter, it seems the khattiyas (which is what the Buddha called them) would reject the offspring of the union of a khattiya youth and a Brahmin as absolutely illegitimate. The Brahmins, it seems, were less fussy. Habib concludes from this that it was not an overbearing and hugely infecting priestly ideology but internal social processes that led to whatever emerged in the form of fixed occupations and endogamy. It is perfectly possible that … the repression of large groups as lowly jatis arose in society first and and entered the Brahminical codes… only later. Some of the other contributors to the book are D P Chattopadhyaya, K M Shrimali, Suvira Jaiswal, Nupur Chadhuri and Rajat Kanta Ray (who was a columnist for this paper), Barun De, M Athar Ali (Islamic background to Indian history), Shireen Moosvi, Kamlesh Mohan (on women in Sikh discourse) and D N Jha. For those who are looking for a scholarly treatment of the subject, this is an indispensable reference volume. It is not easy-going but it is worth a dip from time to time, if only to remind ourselves that we should not believe politicians and other assorted fools. RELIGION IN INDIAN HISTORY Edited by Irfan Habib Tulika Books Rs 550; 291 pages -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[ZESTCaste] Creamy layer not applicable for SC, ST reservation: SC told (News)
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=508889 SC-QUOTA Creamy layer not applicable for SC, ST reservation: SC told NEW DELHI, OCT 4 (PTI) The Centre today maintained before the Supreme Court that reservation was a constitutional promise for the upliftment of the backward classes and the concept of 'creamy layer' could not be applied to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Continuing with the arguments to defend the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in the Central Educational Institutions, senior advocate K Parasaran said SCs and STs have been defined in the Constitution which cannot be altered by bringing the concept of creamy layer. Hence, he said the concept of creamy layer was not relevant for extending the reservation for the SCs and STs. The senior advocate said that the 27 per cent quota for OBCs was a timely legislation as eradicating illiteracy will take time. When the five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan wanted to know what was the norm to help Parliament to place the law in place, Parasaran said there will be a periodic review of the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs). He said in the complexity of the modern society, Parliament was the best to control the situation. The Bench said while providing reservation for the SCs and STs it was clealry stated that it would be for the period of 10 years which has been extended over the period. It said if in the given case it was a blanket provision then it will have to go. While referring about reservations, the Bench said there are inbuilt mechanism in the Constitutional set up to take care of such situation.
[ZESTCaste] When Myths Compete (Opinion)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/LEADER_ARTICLE_When_Myths_Compete/articleshow/2423007.cms LEADER ARTICLE: When Myths Compete 3 Oct 2007, hrs IST It is tempting to read Karunanidhi's remarks on Ram and the Ramayana as a return to DMK's rationalist origins. In the heyday of the Dravidian movement, Periyar E V Ramasami Naicker, ideologue and mentor of the movement, singled out Ram for special treatment. He read the Ram katha as a political allegory that sought to preserve the social and political hegemony of Brahmanism. This critique of Ramayana, in itself a new mythology, was polemics at its best. It sought to undermine the sacredness of the text. Periyar was not merely criticising a sacred text, but he was attacking the cultural space of the ruling elite, the Brahmins. It was caste war as culture war. The battering of the Ram legend and worship was a small, but crucial, part of a larger political battle for radical social transformation. The politics that informed Periyar's critique of Ram is absent in today's Tamil Nadu politics. However, the rhetoric used by the likes of Periyar continues to shape the political discourse in the state. The form has been preserved, but at the cost of content. Karunanidhi, and most politicians in Tamil Nadu, are guilty of practising such politics. What explains Karunanidhi's attempts to join issue with the sangh parivar on the Ram issue? It is difficult to read the response purely in ideological terms because of DMK's record in dealing with the sangh parivar. The party had an alliance with BJP in the state and the Centre from 1999 to 2003. The Vajpayee cabinet included Murasoli Maran, a close relative of Karunanidhi who was also a key strategist. DMK ministers did not resign from NDA government even when the Gujarat pogroms took place. The alliance with BJP was explained as suiting DMK's interests. Self-interest could well have played a role this time as well. As M S S Pandian wrote in these columns, Ram does not arouse passions in Tamil Nadu. He is not central to the imagination of most practising Hindus in the state. Targeting Ram may not lead to a consolidation of Hindu votes against DMK and allies in the state. But Ram is central to the politics of BJP even in Tamil Nadu. Predictably, BJP is upset with DMK. As leaders fight a war of words, the Sethusamudram project has become the talking point. BJP stands accused of stalling a project that is beneficial to Tamil Nadu. The Sethusamudram project has been billed as the miracle solution for the economic development of southern Tamil Nadu. Can AIADMK, the main opposition to DMK in the state, share the platform with BJP on this issue of Tamil pride? Can it risk an electoral alliance with BJP in the event of a snap poll to Lok Sabha? Karunanidhi, with his calculated gambit, has set the agenda. Others are only reacting to DMK's moves.DMK's rhetoric is instructive about the nature of contemporary political discourse in Tamil Nadu. In some ways, it is derived from the practices set by the Dravidian movement, like the use of mass media and entertainment to get the message across. In the 1930s and '40s, street processions would be taken out to lampoon Brahmins and their gods. These were essentially political mobilisations and high on emotive content. So were the anti-Hindi protests during the 1960s when self-immolation seemed a legitimate form of dissent. These protests were ideological in nature — anti-Brahmanism and pro-regional nationalism — but they were essentially spectacles, not mere protests. The pattern of mobilisation has continued, but ideology has given way to irrational admiration for the leader. The dilution of ideology in Tamil Nadu politics began in the 1970s after DMK split. MGR as chief minister sought to live his screen image of the benevolent hero. He believed in populist gestures to shore up the base of AIADMK, the party he formed after parting ways with DMK. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have also endorsed the brand of patronage politics initiated by MGR. The inheritors of the Dravidian movement find it a convenient option because the non-Brahmin social alliance that emerged from the Dravidian movement has disintegrated. Backward castes are emerging as the new social and economic elite. Under the non-Brahmin umbrella, new caste-based parties pose a challenge to DMK and AIADMK. Dalits are organising themselves outside the dominant political set-up as they see the backward castes as oppressors in rural Tamil Nadu. DMK and AIADMK have failed to resolve these contradictions because they did not complete the political project initiated by Periyar. His self-respect agenda was not only about capturing political power, but also the creation of a rational and egalitarian society. The project was abandoned once DMK and AIADMK won office. The two parties have sought to contain the new divides in the polity, first, by building electoral alliances with caste-based outfits,
[ZESTCaste] Call For Papers: Dalit Agendas—Emancipation, Citizenship, Empowerment - Deadline: November 1, 2007
http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v54/n06/dalit.html Call For Papers: Dalit Agendas—Emancipation, Citizenship, Empowerment October 2, 2007, Volume 54, No. 6 Print Issue The Center for the Advanced Study of India and the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania will hold a major conference on critical issues relating to Dalit Studies, on December 4-6, 2008 in Philadelphia to bring together academics and intellectuals from both within and outside of formal academic institutions, including the many organic intellectuals who have kept India's Dalit movement alive by following Dr. Ambedkar's injunction to educate, organize, and agitate. The purpose of the conference will be to evaluate strategies for ensuring that Dalit agendas are recognized by and incorporated into mainstream academic dialogue and to assess the various political and social agendas, both contemporary and historic, that have sought to improve the lives of Dalits. These include Dalit political formations; print media and literary movements; colonial and postcolonial governmental practices and policies; initiatives for social and economic empowerment; feminist struggles; critiques of nationalist and radical movements; and diasporic activism. The conference will result in the production of an edited volume that will bring various Dalit agendas into dialogue and examine the conditions and contradictions of Dalit social mobility in contemporary India. Proposals from all disciplinary, methodological, and ideological perspectives are welcome. Applications are welcome from independent scholars, postgraduate students, and those working within and outside of formal academic institutions. Further information can be found on the conference website: http://casi.ssc.upenn.edu. The author of each paper proposal accepted for participation in the conference will receive an honorarium of $500 to defray the costs of any additional research that will be conducted for the paper. Travel (international or domestic, as needed) to and from Philadelphia, meals, and accommodation will be covered for all conference participants, and each contributor whose paper is accepted for publication in the edited volume will receive an additional honorarium of $500 following the final submission of their paper. Deadline for paper proposals: November 1, 2007. Applications should include: (1) a three-page description of the research to be presented at the conference and its place within your larger work and goals (2) a two-page C.V. Send to Dr. Ramnarayan S. Rawat, Department of South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 820 Williams Hall, 255 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2653. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[ZESTCaste] MP dalits live in shadow of terror (News)
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070028225ch=10/4/2007%207:21:00%20PM MP dalits live in shadow of terror Rubina khan Shapoo Thursday, October 4, 2007 (Shajapur) For the last two months, the dalits in Bapcha village in Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh are living in fear. The pressure from the powerful is so strong that the dalits' plight is not reported by the media and the administration too remains a mute spectator. Manko Bayee's husband is on the run as the Yadav-dominated village wants him out. The family repeatedly complained to the police after their belongings were stolen and crops destroyed but nothing happened. Late last month their house was ransacked. ''Our life has become hell. They have threatened to kill both of us,'' said Manko Bayee, sarpanch's wife. It all began when a Dalit boy and a Yadav girl fell in love. Villagers objected but the lovers paid no heed. In August the girl's body was found in a well at the nursery of Alka Bayee, a dalit. The boy was arrested on charges of murder but the entire Dalit community paid the price. The nursery that had over 20,000 plants was destroyed, dalit houses were looted and several families fled in fear. Those like Ratan Lal who stayed back didn't dare to approach the police. The Yadavs' decided to impose a penalty of Rs 1000 on whoever interacted with the dalits. The local MLA and MP are dalits but none have ever visited the village. The district BJP President is an influential Yadav. Though an FIR was registered 10 days after the incident, no arrests have been made so far. ''They indulged in ransacking and vandalism. We have filed a case and now the situation is normal,'' said J P Ahirwaar, SP, Shajapur. They might be the most sought after vote bank by political parties but the ground reality is that the dalits remain perpetual outsiders. Fear and helplessness amongst the dalits clearly shows that Bapcha is far from normal.
