3 booked for safai worker’s murder – The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/3-booked-for-safai-worker-s-murder/147102.html
Why This Kolkata Durga Puja is The First of Its Kind in The World – NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/kolkata-news/why-this-kolkata-durga-puja-is-the-first-of-its-kind-in-the-world-1233138?fb
Jayamala takes over as chief of panel on sex workers, Devadasis – Deccan Herald
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/506886/jayamala-takes-over-chief-panel.html
Why India’s “Untouchable” Women Are The Targets Of Rape & How They Are Fighting Back – Oye Times
http://www.oyetimes.com/news/india/87866-why-india-s-untouchable-women-are-the-targets-of-rape-how-they-are-fighting-back
Rural joblessness still a cause of concern in Odisha – The Pioneer
Please Watch:
Why This Kolkata Durga Puja is The First of Its Kind in The World
http://goo.gl/TQX7G1
The Tribune
3 booked for safai worker’s murder
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/3-booked-for-safai-worker-s-murder/147102.html
Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 16
Suspicious over stealing of iron material by a safai worker from a factory, its owner along with two unidentified persons beat him (safai worker) to death. He was kidnapped by them yesterday morning while his body was found on the Mehta road late last evening.
The police have booked the accused, identified as Jaspreet Singh, the owner of the factory, and the two unidentified persons on charge of murder while no arrest has been made so far as the suspects were absconding since the incident.
Raji, wife of the deaceased, Ram Singh, told the police that her husband used to do cleaning work at factories near the New Focal Point area.
She said a few days ago, some iron material was stolen from a factory.
She alleged that the factory owner suspected that the theft was committed by Ram, which he had refused.
She said: “For the past two-three days, they were visiting our residence and threatening him to confess the crime. She alleged that yesterday, at around 8.30 am, Jaspreet along with two unidentified persons came in an Innova car and bundled her husband into the vehicle and fled away. She alleged that they took him to some secluded place and thrashed her. In the evening his body was found at the Mehta road T-point and he had severe injury marks on his head.
Narinder Kaur, SHO, Mohkampura police station, said a case under Sections 302, 365 and 34, IPC, had been registered in this regard.
She said the accused took Ram to the factory where they brutally beat him up, finds the preliminary probe.
She said raids were being conducted at the suspected hideouts of the culprits who were still on the run. The raiding police parties have found his factory and the residence locked.
NDTV
Why This Kolkata Durga Puja is The First of Its Kind in The World
http://www.ndtv.com/kolkata-news/why-this-kolkata-durga-puja-is-the-first-of-its-kind-in-the-world-1233138?fb
KOLKATA: As Bengal decks up for its big festival starting Monday, one Durga Puja in a narrow north Kolkata lane has become the talk of the town, if not the world.
The idol is not the usual figure of a woman. It’s “Ardhanarishwar” – a half man, half woman. Mythologically, half Shiva, half Parvati with iconographic roots in Puranic canons, this idol worship has been organised by transgenders — hijras in common parlance.
There are similar idols at a temple at Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and at the Elephanta Caves in Mumbai.
People usually cry when Goddess Durga leaves. But Bhanu Naskar is in tears even before pujas have begun. Bhanu and friends hosting the Durga are all transgenders. And many locals have not been kind.
Wiping her tears, Bhanu says, “I am crying because I was born in this area and yet I have had to listen to a lot of criticism for this puja. We will do it. We have fought for long. We will fight for this too.”
Bhanu Naskar and friends are members of the Pratyay Gender Trust which is collaborating with the Joy Mitra Ydyami Club to organise the puja, Pratyay’s Anindya says, “When news went out that this puja is being done by hijras and transpersons, it was not really a friendly atmosphere.”
“But it was also the beginning of a dialogue which is very necessary. There has been no such dialogue before. The pujas are supposed to be ‘sarbojonin’ or a community celebrations. We are part of the community,” Anindya says.
There have been many happy surprises too. China Pal, Kolkata’s only woman idol maker, had no issues.
“Why shouldn’t I make their idol? They are human, I am human. The Mother is coming in their minds. Why shouldn’t I make the goddess for them? They are doing the puja. I hope others will support them,” she said.
Udyami Club’s Rajiv Vajpayee said, “Some people are objecting saying, why are you doing the pujas with hijras, we could have done it ourselves, were hijras needed? We are saying, why not? They are part of our society. Why can’t we walk with them?”
The pandal for this goddess is not ready, delayed partly because of local reservations. Inauguration is scheduled for Sunday evening. Transgenders worldwide are holding their breath. One of them wrote in saying, “I am getting goose bumps”.
Deccan Herald
Jayamala takes over as chief of panel on sex workers, Devadasis
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/506886/jayamala-takes-over-chief-panel.html
October 17,2015, Bengaluru, DHNS
Actor-turned-politician Jayamala, a Congress MLC, on Friday officially assumed office as chairperson of a committee to study the problems of sex workers, Devadasis and sexual minorities in the State.
The post ensures her the status of a minister-of-state rank and thus many facilities.
The committee is under the purview of the Women and Child Development department. Jayamala was appointed in May. She has been allotted a room in the Vikasa Soudha.
The first meeting of the committee under the chairmanship of Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree was held on Friday. The committee has the task of submitting its report within next six months. Usually such panels get an extension, as the given assignments are rarely completed within the timeframe. The committee will tour within and outside the State and also conduct a survey of these communities.
Umashree told the media in Bengaluru that the 15-member committee will look into bringing the marginalised sections to the mainstream. This will be the first such committee in the country, she added.
She said the aspect of legalising prostitution was constantly being debated, while little efforts were made to address the social stigma these women suffered, in addition to lack of education and health care.
“This is a highly sensitive subject, which has always stayed in the background. With the formation of the committee, these issues are now gaining visibility,” she said.
Umashree said the problems faced by these women had to be addressed scientifically and not by adopting emotional approach. The government would make concerted efforts for the welfare of these women, she added.
Oye Times
Why India’s “Untouchable” Women Are The Targets Of Rape & How They Are Fighting Back
http://www.oyetimes.com/news/india/87866-why-india-s-untouchable-women-are-the-targets-of-rape-how-they-are-fighting-back
Category: India Published on Friday, 16 October 2015 07:48
Written by Maham Javaid
Manisha Mashaal (second from right) protests with other Dalit to end sexual violence in India. Dalit women struggle to raise awareness about caste-based sexual violence.
Manisha Mashaal was 5 years old when her schoolteacher first called her an “untouchable” in front of the rest of her class.
“That’s when I found out why my family’s house was so close to the trash dumpsite of the village, and why it was so separated from houses of the dominant castes,” Mashaal said.
India is home to more than 100 million Dalit women, according to the 2011 national census. The Dalit, sometimes referred to as “untouchables,” have long been considered the lowest rung of the Indian caste system, despite the fact that India’s 1950 constitution ostensibly abolished untouchability.
Mashaal, now 27, said she faced harassment from students and teachers alike in her village of Badarpur because of her background. She said teachers threw her schoolbag out of class and refused to check her homework, while students sang rhymes taunting her and other Dalit children.
But as she grew up, the rhymes increasingly turned into threats of sexual violence, Mashaal told Refinery29. By the age of 16, she began attending Dalit-community solidarity meetings to examine how she could protect herself.
For Dalit victims of sexual violence, Marshaal said, response from police officers is often “How can you have been raped? You’re a Dalit — touching you would make anyone spiritually impure.”
And Mashaal was far from alone. A study by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights found that more than half of Dalit women had suffered physical assault. More than 46% have suffered sexual harassment. Twenty-three percent have said they had been raped.
Manisha Mashaal in Assam, India. When she was 5 years old, she says her teacher called her an “untouchable” in front of her entire class.
That attitude in India, plus the country’s attitude toward rape in general, were both reasons Mashaal and others decided to mobilize and create Dalit Women Fight. This month, the group has been traveling across North America to raise awareness to the issues Dalit women face, finding allies in the Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name movements.
Mashaal said the group is speaking out against what they see as the systemic failures of the Indian government to break the silence of caste apartheid and caste-based rape. Dalit Women Fight was the brainchild of the All India Dalit Women’s Rights Forum, created around the time of the brutal Delhi bus rape.
On December 16, 2012, six men brutally raped and beat a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi. The victim, who became widely known as Nirbhaya, later died of her injuries, and the horrific case made headlines around the world. It drew much-needed attention to the issue of rape in India, Mashaal said.
“Nirbhaya’s gang rape on a moving bus in New Delhi rocked the world. She was flown abroad for surgery; documentaries were made about her story to highlight the issue of gender-based sexual violence in India,” said Mashaal. “But what about Dalit women’s rapes that occur due to the intersectionality of gender, caste, and class? These rapes are not even allowed to be registered in police stations.”
Mashaal told Refinery29 how in August 2013, Kaffee, a 22-year-old Dalit woman who was studying to be a teacher, was abducted on her way to take an examination. The next day, Kaffee was found dead. She had been raped, and had cigarette burn marks all over her body, Mashaal said.
“We had had enough. We sat outside the government hospital for four days with her body. Our pledge was that we would not move until the police registers [the fact] that she had been raped, tortured, and murdered,” Mashaal said.
But the police maintained that Kaffee had committed suicide, and refused to even allow a medical autopsy, Mashaal said. “I don’t think Kaffee, or thousands of other Dalit girls like her, will ever receive justice,” she added.
For Dalit victims, the response from police often is “How can you have been raped? You’re a Dalit — touching you would make anyone spiritually impure.” Manisha Mashaal, Dalit Women Fight
And it isn’t only sexual-based harassment that Dalit people face. On October 8, a Dalit couple were reportedly stripped by the police in Greater Noida and paraded naked around because they insisted on registering a police report for alleged robbery, the International Business Times reported.
Dalit Women Fight members told Refinery29 that caste-based discrimination is not just relegated to far-flung villages. They said the oppression is just as apparent in the massive metropolises of India.
Anjum Singh, a 36-year-old Dalit woman, was born and raised in the bustling city of New Delhi, the capital of India. Her family has lived there for seven generations.
“New Delhi may have been revamped through the construction of giant malls and flyovers, but the mindset of people has not altered,” Singh told Refinery29. “They still refer to us as untouchables. Our neighborhoods are considered impure, we are not allowed in temples belonging to upper-caste people, and we are not allowed the basic dignity of eating or drinking with non-Dalits.”
Sushma Raj, a Dalit woman, said she had to fight her own parents to attend school rather than be married off as a child.
Singh joined Dalit Women Fight and said that a fact-finding mission by the group uncovered that during a two-month period, more than 40 cases of caste-based sexual violence went unreported in the state of Haryana. The majority of people in Harayana belong to the Jat caste, a dominant caste, Mashaal said.
“The saying goes that a Jat man cannot know what his land tastes like until he tastes the Dalit women living there,” Mashaal told Refinery29. “It is not uncommon for Dalit brides to sleep with their landlords rather than their husbands on the first night after their marriage.”
Mashaal and Singh, along with other Dalit Women Fight members, question why ending sexual violence against Dalit women is not a priority for the Indian government or the Indian media.
“When we sit in protest, whether this is in New Delhi or in the village of Badarpur, no non-Dalit women show solidarity with us,” said Mashaal. “If they show up to a sit-in or a protest, it is to ask us why we are being so dramatic or to try and make us reach a compromise with the authorities in order to silence us.”
Sushma Raj, another Dalit woman who came to the United States to raise awareness, is one of the youngest members at 25 years old. Raj is a fighter; her first major battle was against her own parents, who didn’t support her education.
“They said, ‘What will education do for you? It’s better to sit at home and get married,'” Raj told Refinery29.
But Raj said she believed that a life where she could not demand change was not a life worth living, so she went on a hunger strike.
“I told them they can either let me die or let me go to school,” Raj said.
[My parents] said, ‘What will education do for you? It’s better to sit at home and get married.’ Sushma Raj, Dalit Women Fight.
For four years, she cycled 22 miles to school each day. She also began tutoring other Dalit students in the community, and eventually was hired as a schoolteacher.
“Once my parents realized the difference education can make on life, and the difference women like me can make on the Dalit community, they fully began to support me,” Raj said. “My mother’s only concern was my marriage, but that’s a worldwide problem, isn’t it?”
Raj now lives in Patna with her husband, and they both work for the Dalit community. She is involved in fact-finding missions to learn more about rape cases, create reports, and ensure that authorities properly register and investigate these incidents.
But Dalit women often come up against significant obstacles in a system they believe is designed to work against them, activists said. Sanghapali Aruna, 34, is a Dalit activist who is also part of the Dalit Women Fight campaign.
Sanghapali Aruna said that after learning that she was from the Dalit caste, a job interviewer at one of India’s big marketing firms rescinded his offer. Since then, she has worked as an activist.
Aruna said that her father is also a Dalit activist, and growing up, she was constantly taught to be proud of her identity and caste. After a job interview at one of India’s leading marketing firms, she said the interviewer asked her what caste she belonged to after congratulating her for getting the job. Aruna said she proudly told him she was from the Dalit community.
“The interviewer didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was taken aback. He took back the job offer and told me to wait for his phone call while he makes a final decision,” Aruna said.
She never received that call, or that job. But she did become involved in Dalit activism. She questions India’s government on why Dalit women’s rapes are not even granted the same attention that non-Dalit rapes receive, which is hardly enough as it is.
“Talking about rape in India without talking about caste-based sexual violence is akin to talking about slavery in America without talking about black people,” Aruna said.
Dalit Women Fight activists arrived in San Francisco on September 29, just two days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a speech in nearby San Jose.
“India has moved on from scriptures to satellites,” Modi said in his speech. “The world has started to believe that the 21st century belongs to India.”
But Dalit women say that until caste-based discrimination and violence are eliminated, India cannot move forward.
“Forget Modi. Currently, even local police officers are not willing to give us an audience. When we take a rape case to them, they say, ‘This girl was not raped, she willingly had sexual relations and now wants to bribe the upper caste for money,’ or ‘Why would an upper-caste man touch a Dalit?’ or they write it off as a suicide,” Mashaal said.
“Neither Modi not the non-Dalit population of India is willing to admit the existence of caste-based sexual violence, much less address it,” she added.
The Pioneer
Rural joblessness still a cause of concern in Odisha
Saturday, 17 October 2015 | MANAS JENA | Bhubaneswar
The persistent disparity and deprivation in rural areas has led to spurt in unemployment, distress migration, farmer’s suicide and extreme poverty in many parts of Odisha.
The rural social culture is also changing very slowly and carrying the burden of old hegemonic control of feudal legacy. There has been huge inequality in access to productive resources such as land, education, credit and State sponsored opportunities, besides gap in income and limited sources of income. This inequality has been producing a number of issues in our rural, social and economic life. In order to generate employment in rural area, the various sectors of the State economy such as agriculture, industry and service should get balanced priority investment. Over and above, the employment policy should have a perspective for the rural poor and marginalized.
The Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011,published in 2015, says nearly three-fourth of households of the country are living in rural areas and 30.1 per cent of rural households depend on cultivation as their main source of income and employment. It is revealed that 51.14 per cent derive sustenance from manual casual labor while 56.25 per cent rural households own no agricultural land. The incidence of landlessness is highest among Dalits.
In case of Odisha, 54 per cent of rural households are without agricultural land. It is found that 75 per cent of the all rural households have an average monthly income below Rs 5,000, whereas only 9.68 per cent of rural households have salaried jobs that include jobs in Government, corporate and private sectors. Out of total about 21 lakh ST rural households, only 0.65 per cent of households are with salaried jobs and only 0.80 per cent of rural SC households are with salaried jobs.
The Directorate of Employment, Government of Odisha, says there were 2, 78,480 registrations made in 2013, whereas only 1,240 vacancies were notified. So the per cent of placement vis-à-vis registration was only 0.95. The total educated job seekers through employment exchange above matric were about 10 lakh in 2013.
The data shows that still rural Odisha continues with dependency on agriculture and manual casual labour with more than half of households without agricultural land, low income and without secured salaried employment. The Government, corporate and private sectors have not created enough employments and a very insignificant percentage of households depend on it especially from among the socially marginalized groups. The production relations in rural areas have not changed.
While private sector is using the land, water, forest, mineral, power, finance, capital and all other State sops, they ought to have a democratic employment policy that ensures diversity at work place but this is not happening.
About 70 per cent of cultivable land in Odisha is affected by either flood or drought every year in the absence of a sound water management system. It has impacted over agriculture production and rural seasonal employment with lower cropping intensity. A vast majority of rural people depends on manual casual labour but there has been experience of non-implementation of employment generating schemes by State Government in spite of provisions of schemes by Ministries. The MGNREGS being the largest job creation programme of the Government is limited to 100 days with huge irregularities. The private construction works available in rural areas are very casual in nature and do not follow any labor legislation intended for unorganized sector workers.
The provisions of minimum wage, equal wage for both men and women workers and social security measures are usually not followed by the employers in rural area.
It is seen that there is no crèche facilities for women workers in rural areas and almost all the workers have no health insurance against diseases, prolonged illness and during pregnancy. The women workers and workers of socially marginalized groups are more vulnerable in such distress situation. It has been encouraging child labour from poor and poverty stricken families for low paid causal work. The rigid caste and patriarchal structure and socially discriminatory practices restrict self employment of marginalized groups and women in the absence of approving social environment that encourages micro and small enterprises. The manufacturing sector of the State has not been improving which can generate employment for the surplus workers from agriculture. The contribution of manufacturing sector to State GDP is remaining insignificant. Mining and mineral based industries still are being continued as focus of the State Government. The rural infrastructure development projects are also not following labor intensive methods; rather they have been more capital intensive giving very limited scope of employment in rural area. The industrial development in the State has created jobless growth.
The mining and mineral-based industries have encouraged labour migration from neighboring States to emerging mining and industrial hubs of Odisha but the locals who have sacrificed land and livelihood and bear the brunt of pollution are not getting employment in their locality though there is provision to provide employment to the locals. The Government has no monitoring mechanism in the interest of the locals.
A number of State owned enterprises have been getting closed like jute mills, sugar mills, cotton mills, power looms, etc which have deprived thousands of rural poor of a salaried job in their locality. These industries were also quite helpful to agriculture as they purchased the agro products from the local farmers.
The increase in standard of living of farmers and agricultural workers will create demand for consumer goods and construction work in the locality. But unfortunately, the agriculture sector has not been promoted with State investment. The farmer cooperatives need to be promoted through farmer mobilization for productive and creative work among farmers. It has been observed that most of the farmer cooperatives are used for petty political power gain and grab the State resources in the name of agriculture development. Odisha’s consumer market has been captured by the neighbouring States with supply of food grains, vegetables, fish, egg, meat, and other consumer articles. A major part of the income of salaried groups in Odisha is spent on food items and goes to the pockets of the businessmen of other States.
The service sector in the State is in the process of getting privatized. The health, education, service delivery works of Government, such as mid day meal, welfare programmes for the vulnerable groups, housing and skill development are slowly being handed over to private parties in public private partnership mode or by following outsourcing methods with less State accountability. There is no clarity about employment policy or any good practice of labour legislation or affirmative action in such handing over process. A majority of private sector enterprises lack diversity in their work places and exclude the poor and marginalized in number of ways.
In order to minimize exclusion in labour market and to restrict the free play of market forces there must be protective and affirmative action for the marginalized groups in the employment policy of the State so that diversity and inclusive access to opportunities of employment can be ensured. This would reduce distress and insecurity of the marginalized in rural areas.
(The writer is a researcher and rights activist, who can be mailed at manasbbsr15@gmail.com Mob -9437060797)
News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET
