2016-03-26

Dalit murder: police find incriminating evidence – The hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/dalit-murder-police-find-incriminating-evidence/article8398205.ece

Ganjam Village Tense after Group Clash – The new Indian express

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/Ganjam-Village-Tense-after-Group-Clash/2016/03/26/article3346726.ece

FIR against 3 for killing man on Holi – Nyoooz

http://www.nyoooz.com/lucknow/403560/fir-against-3-for-killing-man-on-holi

Drowning in liquid filth – in 21st century India – New internationalist blog

http://newint.org/blog/2016/03/24/drowning-in-liquid-filth-india-in-21st-century/

A crusader of Dalit issues from the start – Nyoooz

http://www.nyoooz.com/hyderabad/403731/a-crusader-of-dalit-issues-from-the-start

‘Rohith suicide awakened people across the nation’ – The hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/rohith-suicide-awakened-people-across-the-nation/article8383403.ece

NHRC takes up case of Hyderabad Central University – Catch news

http://www.catchnews.com/national-news/nhrc-takes-up-case-of-hyderabad-central-university-1458961005.html

A mathematician-cum-activist – Nyoooz

http://www.nyoooz.com/hyderabad/403737/a-mathematiciancumactivist

Ambedkar’s Name Comes In Tiny Fonts, Unlike Modi’s, On The Dr. Ambedkar National Memorial Foundation Stone – The huffington post

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/03/22/spot-ambedkars-name-on-th_n_9519942.html

Garden tools distributed to farmers by ICAR – NRC on Yak – The arunachal times

http://www.arunachaltimes.in/garden-tools-distributed-to-farmers-by-icar-nrc-on-yak/

Stories we don’t hear – Live mint

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/rzDZikAcCrjpmuiw8lHEVL/Stories-we-dont-hear.html

DALIT FUNDS NOT SPENT BY TDP: NAGARJUNA – Shakshi post

http://www.sakshipost.com/index.php/news/politics/77620-dalit-funds-not-spent-by-tdp-nagarjuna.html?psource=Home-Latest

Please Watch:

Sainath speaks on Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4HCP_uYKTY

URGENT APPEAL! Please contribute to

PMARC: Dalits Media Watch !

The hindu

Dalit murder: police find incriminating evidence

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/dalit-murder-police-find-incriminating-evidence/article8398205.ece

Police investigating the attack that left Dalit youth Sankar dead and his wife Kausalya grievously injured at Udumalpet in Tirupur district on March 13 have gathered incriminating proof, including scientific evidence and statement of eyewitnesses, to corroborate the sequence of events, role of the girl’s father and the identity of assailants, police sources said on Friday.

The investigation was nearing completion in the sensational case that triggered public outrage after visuals of the gruesome killing recorded by a surveillance camera installed in the vicinity of the crime scene went viral in the social media.

Besides recovering the weapons used to commit the offence and some blood-stained clothes from the possession of four suspected assailants held in Dindigul district a couple of days after the incident, investigators found that the conspiracy was chalked out after Chinnasamy, the girl’s father, made a last attempt to bring his daughter back home. The accused discussed the plan in a lodge a day before the attack.

In an apparent bid not to give caste colour to the murder, the conspirators made sure that the assailants belonged to different communities, including a Dalit. “Chinnasamy was constantly in touch with the assailants. He showed them the house where his daughter lived with Sankar and his family. One of the two motorcycles used in the attack was given by Chinnasamy and the other was a stolen one. He paid Rs. 50,000 to get his own daughter and her husband murdered,” a senior police official said

Parrying questions on the outcome of the identification parade in the Coimbatore central prison where Kausalya was taken to identify the assailants early this week, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that there was enough evidence to prove their involvement. “A few eyewitnesses have also come forward to give evidence. Investigation is nearing completion and we hope to file charge sheet in a week or two. Efforts will be made to conduct trial in a fast track court,” he said.

The new Indian express

Ganjam Village Tense after Group Clash

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/Ganjam-Village-Tense-after-Group-Clash/2016/03/26/article3346726.ece

BERHAMPUR:  Panchabhuti village under Jagannathprasad police limits in Ganjam district wore a deserted look on Friday following a clash between upper caste people and Dalits on Thursday. While 10 persons had sustained injuries in the clash that also saw houses being ransacked, most of the villagers belonging to both the groups have fled the village fearing arrest.

Police have been deployed in the village to avert any law and order situation.

Sources said after celebrating Holi, villagers, including women, had gone to the pond to take bath. Some Dalit youths allegedly passed lewd comments on girls of upper caste who were bathing in the pond. When youths of the upper caste objected, the Dalit youths assaulted them. The victims left the spot and informed their elders about it. Subsequently, the village elders, led by Sarpanch Ranjit Patra, reached the Dalit street and tried to bring about a settlement on the issue. While talks were on between the two groups of villagers, over a 100 upper caste people, armed with sharp weapons, reached the spot. Apprehending attack, the Dalits pelted stones at them following which the upper caste people ransacked their house.

Receiving information, senior police officers with one platoon armed force reached the village and seeing them, villagers fled from the spot. Those injured were admitted to the local hospital and one of them had to be shifted to MKCG after his condition deteriorated.

During investigation, police registered cases against 36 persons of upper caste and detained around eight persons for questioning.

Nyoooz

FIR against 3 for killing man on Holi

http://www.nyoooz.com/lucknow/403560/fir-against-3-for-killing-man-on-holi

Summary: The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has also been slapped on them. Lucknow: Police have booked ex-serviceman Arun Mishra and his sons Sanjay and Ajeet for murder and misuse of licensed firearm. However, the firearm has been recovered. The duo is accused of killing a dalit, Jaiprakash, on Thursday during Holi celebrations over a petty dispute on playing DJ music.Jaiprakash, according to the named FIR lodged by his wife Sushma with the police, was shot dead by Ajeet when he objected to the Mishras’ playing loud music on DJ.Police said that while Arun and Sanjay have been arrested, Ajeet is absconding.

Lucknow: Police have booked ex-serviceman Arun Mishra and his sons Sanjay and Ajeet for murder and misuse of licensed firearm. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has also been slapped on them. The duo is accused of killing a dalit, Jaiprakash, on Thursday during Holi celebrations over a petty dispute on playing DJ music.Jaiprakash, according to the named FIR lodged by his wife Sushma with the police, was shot dead by Ajeet when he objected to the Mishras’ playing loud music on DJ.Police said that while Arun and Sanjay have been arrested, Ajeet is absconding.

New internationalist blog

Drowning in liquid filth – in 21st century India

http://newint.org/blog/2016/03/24/drowning-in-liquid-filth-india-in-21st-century/

In 1996, I listened in disbelief as Martin Macwan, a dalit leader, told a Delhi gathering, ‘I am ashamed that as a dalit, working with my people for over 10 years, I did not know that balmiki people still carry shit on their heads everyday of their lives.’ It was on the eve of 50 years of independence from British colonialism. The Indian economy, we were told at that time, was poised to take off. Indians were ready to take over the internet world. Silicon Valley was ours for the asking. Yet we couldn’t deal with our own excrement with a modicum of decency. Women scooped it up, of different textures, from large open gutters, with a tin sheet, a stick broom and their bare hands. These were semi-urban toilets.

Putting on my journalistic hat, I went to Gujarat in early 1997 and visited public toilet after public toilet. I gagged often. I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever seen. And I have not led a sheltered life. Then I interviewed the family of a 19-year-old balmiki boy who while unblocking a manhole, was overcome by the toxic fumes, fell inside and died. He died for the paltry sum of about seven dollars. The boy died of drowning. Drowned in excrement. Till then I’d never given any thought to the common tiny news item ‘Man falls into manhole. Dies.’ I learnt later what this innocuously misleading little item truly meant. Imagine the indignity, the sheer horror, of drowning in shit. Imagine the nightmares his parents must have had. But perhaps they are inured to life and death as a balmiki conservancy worker.

In 1999 I wrote a book, Endless Filth’ about the horrible caste based liftetime occupation of the balmiki community, India’s ‘untouchables’ among ‘untouchables’. They are considered the lowest in India’s venal caste system and no one ever let them forget it.

That was in 1997. I have written endless newspaper articles about these people and the life they are condemned to lead by the caste system. Educated Indians ignore the unpleasant. We prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist.

Almost 20 years later, little has changed. My good friend Bejawada Wilson continues to fight for his balmiki community to end the obnoxious, disgusting practice of manual scavenging. This year 14 April will see huge hypocritical celebrations on the 125th birth anniversary of towering Indian leader Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar who fought ferociously for dalit rights. Politicians of every hue can be seen jumping on the bandwagon to claim his legacy as liberators of dalits. Few of them ever bother to enforce the formidable barrage of laws which if put into practice could end the horrific atrocities faced by dalits on a daily basis. Every day, around three men die unblocking manholes in conservancy work. Ahmedabad NGO Kamdar Swasthya Suraksha Mandal believes that at a conservative estimate, there could be over 1,000 manhole worker deaths per year across India. The real figures are much higher as many deaths are covered up and go unreported even today.

India flaunts its global presence and boasts about India’s emerging image. Yet, we seek to hide the sordid reality of no toilets and the most neglected Indians dying everyday in a manner that must shame Indian society, any decent society. But we are a venal, thick skinned people. We don’t shame easily.

Bejawada Wilson and the Safai Karmachari Andolan have held a mammoth bus yatra (journey) covering every corner of the county. Their banner says ‘Stop Killing Us’. The memorandum was handed over to the president of India last week. Wilson says, ‘In India today, we talk about spending thousands of millions on a single bullet train, but haven’t yet found a way to automatize our sewer cleaning. The enormous hype generated by the ‘Swacch (clean) Bharat (India)’ campaign literally sweeps into obscurity, the dirt of manual scavenging and balmiki mens’ deaths by drowning in shithole sewers, even now in 2016, though Gandhi raised the issue and made untouchability a global term in 1901.’

‘Stop killing us,’ pleads Wilson. Will the government of India listen?

Nyoooz

A crusader of Dalit issues from the start

http://www.nyoooz.com/hyderabad/403731/a-crusader-of-dalit-issues-from-the-start

Summary: An associate professor in the political science department, Ratnam has always been closely attached with Dalit issues, say faculty members. Having completed his doctorate from the Jawaharlal Nehru University on Dalit consciousness, he was like a support-system for Dalit students on campus. A prominent representative of the roughly 50-strong Dalit faculty members’ group, he is also the founder of the Ambedkar Studies Centre at UoH.Ratnam’s area of research and interest is Indian, Dalit and Andhra Pradesh politics. The associate professor, who is also editor of the academic journal Ambedkar Studies, is known for his sincerity and diligence among colleagues. “The faculty members have been targeted for being against the vice-chancellor’s return.

Hyderabad: Fifty-three-year-old K Y Ratnam has been employed with the University of Hyderabad (UoH) for close to 15 years. An associate professor in the political science department, Ratnam has always been closely attached with Dalit issues, say faculty members. A prominent representative of the roughly 50-strong Dalit faculty members’ group, he is also the founder of the Ambedkar Studies Centre at UoH.Ratnam’s area of research and interest is Indian, Dalit and Andhra Pradesh politics.

The associate professor, who is also editor of the academic journal Ambedkar Studies, is known for his sincerity and diligence among colleagues. Having completed his doctorate from the Jawaharlal Nehru University on Dalit consciousness, he was like a support-system for Dalit students on campus.”He is known for solving issues related to Dalits on campus. Ratnam has always supported these students, both financially and emotionally.

The hindu

‘Rohith suicide awakened people across the nation’

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/rohith-suicide-awakened-people-across-the-nation/article8383403.ece

Retired judge of Madras High Court K. Chandru said the city of Hyderabad has become a symbol of hope for democracy and freedom of thought and expression subsequent to dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide. The death has awakened many people in the entire country for the first time to the values of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Delivering his address on the topic ‘Civil society – the role of media’ as chief guest at a seminar organised by Nava Telangana news daily on its first anniversary here on Monday, Justice Chandru lambasted the present government at the Centre, saying all its actions are directed at dividing people.

“It’s an intolerant government and far worse than the Congress regime during Emergency”, he remarked. During Emergency, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had support from only police and a few Congressmen. But now, a whole ideological brigade is backing the government, he said. Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that he would visit B.R.Ambedkar’s birth place Mhow, and the recent decision by the government to acquire the house where Dr. Ambedkar lived in London, Justice Chandru said one cannot have Ambedkar on one hand and ‘Ghar Wapsi’ on the other, because Ambedkar resigned from his Cabinet post disillusioned, and announced that he would not die a Hindu. Speaking of freedom of expression, Justice Chandru said it is subject to many restrictions in the Constitution, and the Supreme Court itself ruled that the press cannot enjoy higher freedom than people. Article 124A pertaining to sedition too is a colonial remnant which was sought to be scrapped before Independence. However, it continues to exist now and “aids in arbitrary arrests”.

It’s an intolerant government and far worse than the Congress regime during Emergency-Chandru, Retired judge of Madras, High Court.

Catch news

NHRC takes up case of Hyderabad Central University

http://www.catchnews.com/national-news/nhrc-takes-up-case-of-hyderabad-central-university-1458961005.html

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo moto notice of the ’emergency-like’ situation at Hyderabad Central University and sent notices to the Union HRD ministry, the Telangana government and the Hyderabad police commissioner, asking for reports within a week.

“The commission has observed that the arbitrary act and high-handedness of senior university officials as well as police and administrative officers, as reported in media, raise serious concerns towards safety and security of the students,” the NHRC said.

Students at the university had been beaten up by enforcement agencies on 22 and 23 March for violently protesting the return of vice chancellor Appa Rao Podile who had been on leave since he was accused of abetting the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

At the same time, a strike by the university’s non-teaching staff had left the students without access to food, water and electricity. The strike was apparently in support of Appa Rao, says The Telegraph.

“No one can be deprived of the basic amenities like water, food and electricity by wilful act of the State,” said the NHRC.

The police had apparently beaten up 25 students and two teachers while arresting them on charges of vandalism. The bail hearing for these 27 people will be held on Monday.

Rohith Vemula’s family has demanded the immediate release of all the 27 people arrested, and the arrest of Appa Rao instead.

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPM, met President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday and asked him to remove Appa Rao as vice chancellor of HCU in his capacity as Visitor of the university for his “blatantly anti-Dalit stand”.

In Delhi, the JNU Students Union will march to the NHRC office on Monday, to demand the withdrawal of the cases against the Hyderabad students, and action against the university authorities.

In a joint statement, students of five other universities in Hyderabad have asked people to protest the “police repression” of the HCU students. The statement says the students were “brutalised by the police in public view” and the university administration “stopped the functioning of the mess, cut off water supply, and Internet connection”.

Nyoooz

A mathematician-cum-activist

http://www.nyoooz.com/hyderabad/403737/a-mathematiciancumactivist

Summary: Sengupta is also popular for being active in issues related to social justice. “Everybody in the university knows that Sengupta has been actively supporting the five socially boycotted Dalit students on campus since August. This, many people believe, was one of the reasons he was picked up by the police on March 22 This, many people believe, was one of the reasons he was picked up by the police on March 22. Coming from a science background, he has knowledge in other areas as well,” said a student.Sengupta is married to Arpita Jaya, a research scholar at the university.BLURBSengupta is also popular for being active in issues related to social justice.

Hyderabad: Thirty-one-year-old Tathagata Sengupta, known for his articulate nature, has been serving as the assistant professor at the mathematics department in the University of Hyderabad for nearly five years.Despite being the joint secretary of the University of Hyderabad Teachers’ Association, he has been closely associated with several issues raised by the students. Sengupta is also popular for being active in issues related to social justice. This, many people believe, was one of the reasons he was picked up by the police on March 22.”Everybody in the university knows that Sengupta has been actively supporting the five socially boycotted Dalit students on campus since August.

He is an activist and stood for many issues that plagued the university,” said a faculty member.Having pursued his masters in Mathematics from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, Sengupta is known for his brilliance. “He is an alumnus of many prestigious educational institutions around the world. He has the intellect and attitude to be a good teacher,” said Kalyan Sengupta, his father.People close to the young assistant professor also said that he is driven by a strong sense of social justice.

The huffington post

Ambedkar’s Name Comes In Tiny Fonts, Unlike Modi’s, On The Dr. Ambedkar National Memorial Foundation Stone

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/03/22/spot-ambedkars-name-on-th_n_9519942.html

While laying the foundation stone for the Dr. Ambedkar National Memorial in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid glowing tributes to BR Ambedkar on Monday, comparing him with Martin Luther King Jr.

“If Martin Luther King is seen as a symbol of fight against injustice the world over, BR Ambedkar should also be not seen as second to anyone,” Modi said at the foundation stone laying ceremony.

However, he did. And guess who he came second to? Narendra Modi himself.

A students’ group of The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras called the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC), tweeted out a photo of the foundation stone.

So, whose name do you see first? Yes, Narendra Modi’s and that’s because it comes in a font size much bigger than Ambedkar’s name.

Last year in August, the student body, many of whose members are Dalits, was suspended for a week following a complaint that they were critical of Prime Minister Modi. The HRD minister also came under fire. Later, the suspension was overturned following several meetings with the dean and the students’ body.

Yesterday, while the Prime Minister said that his government will fulfil Ambedkar’s dreams by providing electricity in 18,000 villages and when the villages get power supply, credit should be given to Ambedkar, not him–it turns out that his team didn’t quite check the foundation stone.

The arunachal times

Garden tools distributed to farmers by ICAR – NRC on Yak

http://www.arunachaltimes.in/garden-tools-distributed-to-farmers-by-icar-nrc-on-yak/

A day-long programme on ‘Demonstration on Important Garden Tools and Their Distribution to the Tribal Farming Community’ was conducted by ICAR-National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, West Kameng under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) at Sangti and Khasso on Friday. The aim and objective of the programme was to educate the farmers for adopting scientific ways of farming to enhance their production. Farmers were also motivated for the quality production, so that they can fetch good returns from the sale of their farm produce.

A total of 120 tribal farmers from five different villages of Dirang sub-division participated in the programme at Sangti and Khasso, West Kameng.

During the programme, 90 Knapsacks, 120 pruning secateurs, 120 hand hoe, 120 garden hand hoe, 120 budding and grafting knife, 120 garden tool set, 210 pruning saw, 240 sickles, 120 grubber and 30 loppers were distributed to the participants by ICAR-NRC on Yak under TSP.

Dr. N.D. Singh, Programme Coordinator, KVK, West Kameng and Dr. Vijay Paul, Senior Scientist, ICAR-NRC on Yak, Dirang were the coordinator of the programmes and Dr. W. Purnima Devi, Dr.Divya Pandey and A.K. Singh were the resource persons of the programme.

The beneficiaries and their representative ASM Khasso, Gobu appreciated the support provided by ICAR under TSP programme and requested for organizing more such kind of programmes for their support in future.

Live mint

Stories we don’t hear

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/rzDZikAcCrjpmuiw8lHEVL/Stories-we-dont-hear.html

I was in Delhi last week as part of a tribunal. Five of us (on the first day) and six of us (on the second day) heard the cases of Dalits who had not received justice in this fine nation and neighbouring countries. I will take you through some of the cases in a bit.

The tribunal was organized by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (India), Samata Foundation (Nepal) and Nagorik Udyog (Bangladesh).

There was a retired justice among us (C.L. Thool, who also chairs the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission of Maharashtra), and we were required to hear the petitioners and make recommendations to the state and local authorities in each case.

This was the first time I was a part of something like this. The briefing note we were given said “caste discrimination is one of the most serious human rights issues in India and the world today, adversely affecting more than 260 million people globally. The majority of people suffering from caste discrimination are Dalits living in South Asia. The prohibitions, restrictions and violations against Dalits are multiple; they are committed and enforced by both state and non-state actors, and are often the result of sanctioned impunity in the police and justice systems.”

At the end of the experience, it was difficult to disagree with these words. The victims were usually accompanied by a Dalit human rights defender, meaning someone who works on the ground on such issues.

Let’s take a look at a couple of the cases, which I will describe briefly.

From Gujarat

Case: Dalit girl raped and family flees after threats

Date: 25 December 2015

Brief: The village in Amreli has 100 Dalit families, and 400 dominant caste families, mostly Kshatriya, called Durbar in Gujarati. On Christmas Day, two Durbars broke into a Dalit home at 11pm and kidnapped a girl. The father filed a police complaint. The girl was raped and brought back the next morning. She was examined and one of the accused was jailed, the other bailed out.

On New Year’s Day, relatives of the man in jail came to the Dalits and threatened them. The Dalits and their extended family fled the village. A second case was filed.

Current status: Unable to return home, the Dalits have been living on the road outside the district collector’s office.

Another case from Gujarat concerned the killing of three Dalits after police opened fire on them. One of the victims died from a 7.62mm round, fired from a bodyguard’s AK-56, but there has been no forensic examination to determine who opened fire.

From Odisha

Case: Dalits denied entry into temple, followed by social boycott

Date: 17 February 2015

Brief: The residents of Mahulpala village (population 9,000) raised a fund to build a temple. Dalits, 10% of the population, contributed money and labour to this. On Shivratri, a few Dalit women went to the temple for the arti. The note said that as a practice, Dalits are not allowed inside, “hence Dalit women observed the festival by lighting the lamp outside the temple”.

The temple priest’s son took offence at this, thrashed the women and kicked their lamps aside.

When the victims filed a complaint with the police, the village boycotted the entire Dalit population, blocking access to the temple well, stopping them from going to their fields, preventing their children from going to school and refusing to sell them anything from the shops.

District officials held a “peace committee meeting” where it was decided that the Dalits would be given access only to a newly built structure in the temple compound and not inside the temple itself.

Current status: The victims have no information on what is happening with their case. Incredibly, the district administration has signed documents on the “compromise” that Dalits may only worship from outside the temple.

One of the families who came was the young couple whose two infant children were burnt alive by Rajputs in Haryana (Union minister V.K. Singh making his infamous comment about dogs in the same case). The dead children’s mother was herself burnt badly and she broke down as she told her story.

Many of them did. A family from Bihar that had lived at the edge of a lake for 70 years was booted out by upper-caste villagers who opened fire on them. The couple who came, dirt poor and probably having left their village for the first time, brought their daughter, a bouncy little thing in a dark-blue skirt and light-blue shirt. It was her school uniform, which she wore on both days, and it occurred to me that it was the only decent clothing she must have owned.

Some of the things we heard seemed medieval. There were cases of bonded labour, denial of access to wells, sexual exploitation, and extreme violence against entire Dalit hamlets. From Bihar, there was the jailing of five youth (one 15 years old), who have been locked up on the charge of being Naxals.

I had not read or heard of any of these stories before and that is not surprising. We are a nation focused on the major issues of our time (such as disagreeable slogans). The Dalits have no voice but their vote.

For two days, we heard the stories, some from Nepal and Bangladesh. What is happening in our parts in reality, and what we report and debate in our media, is akin to madness. We have no idea what is going on in India, I assure you. The morning’s papers seem to be from another country.

Lastly, I found the Dalit human rights defenders to be well-briefed and knowledgeable, and it was warming to know that the victims had some support in their fight for justice.

Aakar Patel is executive director of Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are personal. He tweets at aakar_amnesty.

Shakshi post

DALIT FUNDS NOT SPENT BY TDP: NAGARJUNA

http://www.sakshipost.com/index.php/news/politics/77620-dalit-funds-not-spent-by-tdp-nagarjuna.html?psource=Home-Latest

he YSR Congress Party has said that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has scant respect for Dalits and the SC sub-plan figures show how the fund allocations decreased.

‘Though he held a review meeting with the SC leaders and made tall claims about their welfare, he has in reality curtailed the funds allocated to SCs and STs even as the plan outlay was increased,’ party SC Cell state president Merugu Nagarjuna told reporters on Friday.

Chandrababu Naidu, who has said that no one would be willing to take birth as a Dalit, reflected similar attitude in the budgetary allocations.

The buget allocations were not in proportion to the population of SCs and STs.

Chandrababu Naidu has been deceiving Dalits and adivasis through GOs and diversion of funds, he said.

News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET

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