http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/22/stories/2009122254500500.htm
Tamil Nadu - Madurai “Discrimination against Dalits continues in Madurai city limits too” Staff Reporter MADURAI: A survey conducted by Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front revealed that casteist discrimination against Dalits continued in Madurai city limits too. The survey was conducted by 50 members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, All India Democratic Women’s Association, Students’ Federation of India and trade unions in 25 Dalit-dominant places in the city in the last six months. “Dalits mostly lived in slums where sanitation, proper drinking water supply, ration shop are absent. Their slums are along the drainage channels, where no distinction could be made between the living space and dwelling units,” P. Sampath, State coordinator of the front, said on Friday. One of the members of the front, K. Swaminathan, said in some cases, people from elsewhere were not coming forward to marry of their daughters to the youths of Thideer Nagar and Melavasal owing to the plight of their locality. “The shocking revelation is that that doctors do not even touch the Dalits while giving treatment,” Mr. Sampath alleged. Stating that discrimination against Dalits was done by the government itself, Mr. Sampath said non-Dalit sanitary workers were not involved in demeaning jobs such as removing night soil and blocks in underground drainages. “They worked either as assistants or involved in supervisory works, while the Dalits, especially the Arunthathiyars were made to do all those works,” he said. The families of sanitary workers were under the clutches of usury money-lenders as financial assistance under the Tamil Nadu Adi-Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO) continued to elude them. The Dalits have to be at the mercy of middlemen to get loans even under TAHDCO. Government-constructed dwelling units for Dalits were in bad shape. Dalits did not have house site pattas. Not only was the discrimination there in renting out houses, but also in fixing the market value of land in Dalit colonies. “The cost of land in Dalit colonies was far less than that of the neighbouring areas as evident in the colonies in Tallakulam and Arapalayam,” Mr. Swaminathan said. ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/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: zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
