After TN Dalit-killing, this inter-caste couple lives in fear of being murdered by family – The minut news
http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/after-tn-dalit-killing-inter-caste-couple-lives-fear-being-murdered-family-41314
No State For Dalits: Caste tensions are boiling over in Tamil Nadu’s western districts over a whodunit – First post
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/no-state-for-dalits-caste-tensions-are-boiling-over-in-tamil-nadus-western-districts-over-a-whodunnit-2717900.html
Don’t cite ‘law & order’ to prevent women’s entry into temples – Nyoooz
http://www.nyoooz.com/mumbai/420237/dont-cite-law–order-to-prevent-womens-entry-into-temples
5 involved in murder of man arrested – The times of india
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/5-involved-in-murder-of-man-arrested/articleshow/51736483.cms
Dalit girl student was not murdered, says FSL report – The times of india
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Dalit-girl-student-was-not-murdered-says-FSL-report/articleshow/51735039.cms
Scourge of casteism won’t go easily – The hansindia
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Opinion/2016-04-08/Scourge-of-casteism-wont-go-easily/219748
Dalit Christian Outfit Extends Support to AIADMK – The news Indian express
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Dalit-Christian-Outfit-Extends-Support-to-AIADMK/2016/04/07/article3368672.ece
What’s killing Palestinians? – The arutz sheva
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210512#.Vwcl6Utxcuw
Modi Spreading Hatred, Creating Divide Among People: Sonia – Out look
http://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/modi-spreading-hatred-creating-divide-among-people-sonia/935977
Caste: mapping positive changes – Gate away house
http://www.gatewayhouse.in/caste-mapping-positive-changes/
The minut news
After TN Dalit-killing, this inter-caste couple lives in fear of being murdered by family
http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/after-tn-dalit-killing-inter-caste-couple-lives-fear-being-murdered-family-41314
On March 13, three assailants with sickles waylaid Sankar and Kausalya on a busy road in Udumalaipettai in Tamil Nadu and attacked them, killing Sankar and leaving Kausalya seriously injured. Their crime: Sankar, a Dalit, married Kausalya who hailed from the powerful Thevar community. The CCTV footage was beamed on most TV channels, sending shockwaves across the state.
Back at his home in Tiruchy, as he repeatedly watched images of the couple being attacked, a chill went down 28-year-old Kannadasan’s spine. Will his fate be the same, he wondered. He too was a Dalit, and was in love with a girl from the powerful Kongu Vellalar community. Last year, Dalit youngster Gokulraj was allegedly murdered for being friendly with a girl from that community.
Kannadasan’s fear however transformed to caution, and he decided to keep the promise he made to 21-year-old Chitra. On March 23, as planned, they registered their marriage in Namakkal, and contacted ‘Karate’ Muthukumar, a lawyer known for protecting harrowed couples. Soon after the wedding, the couple went into hiding.
Kannadasan and his wife Chitra met seven years ago. He hails from Uzhangudi and she is from Manachanallur, both small towns near Tiruchy. He started his training as a painting contractor in Manachanallur and used to meet Chitra everyday on the bus. The bus meetings turned to phone calls and then he proposed her. “I went on a bike and proposed her, she took two months to think,” he said, “but she finally said yes.”
Soon, Chitra’s parents came to know of her love-affair with Kannadasan, and they inquired about it with her. Out of fear, she flatly refused that she was in a relationship.
But with questions being raised, Kannadasan and Chitra decided to elope. He had planned to run away with her after college. It well-planned and executed, except that the girl’s family came to know about the marriage on the same day.
They immediately contacted the advocate and went into hiding. “Both me and my wife are very scared. The girl’s father and her relatives keep coming to our house and are threatening my mother and brother saying that they will kill me, they also said if I do not return they will get my brother arrested,” said Kannadasan.
The girl’s father has also reportedly threatened the girl to come back home or else they will kill Kannadasan. “The girl’s mother wants to bring the girl back home and then send her away to their native place,” said Kannadasan.
Kannadasan does not have a father and he is the one who takes care of his mother, Mahadevi and brother Rajkumar, who also works as a painting contractor. Chitra is studying M. Com at Indra Gandhi College in Manachanallur.
The newly-wedded couple only wants to return to Kannadasan’s house and start their lives without the fear of being attacked by girl’s family members like Sankar and Kausalya.
The advocate had filed a police complaint. “I went and registered a complaint at the superintendent’s office as we feel that the local police are supporting the girl’s father,” said Muthukumar.
But the couple still lives in fear. “We want the girl’s father to give a written statement that they are not going to do anything to us, they are not going to torture or threaten us, then only we are going to return to my home,” said Kannadasan, wondering who can save them from becoming a statistic in the spate of caste-killing in Tamil Nadu.
First post
No State For Dalits: Caste tensions are boiling over in Tamil Nadu’s western districts over a whodunnit
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/no-state-for-dalits-caste-tensions-are-boiling-over-in-tamil-nadus-western-districts-over-a-whodunnit-2717900.html
A strange sight met the eyes of villagers in Nallampatty near Perunthurai in Erode in March this year. A notice was pasted on the door of the house of Chinnasamy, a farm labourer, whose body had been found floating in the village well two days earlier, on March 19. The notice was signed by the police inspector of Gaundampatty circle and stated the following in Tamil.
Police Department Notice
Mrs C Subbulakshmi w/o Chinnasamy, no. 104, Rice Mill, Pudur, Nallampatty, Perunthurai Taluk, Erode district which is you, on the basis of the written complaint given by you on 20/03/16 at 2.30 in the morning Police Dept No 58/2016 CrPC 174 (suspicious death) a case has been registered and according to it your husband’s Mr Chinnasamy’s body on 20/03/16 evening has been sent to the Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital and post mortem was performed by medical officers. Inspite of the agreements you have not taken the corpse for burial from the hospital, hence the body is stored in the hospital morgue.
The abovementioned corpse has to be retrieved by you within 24 hours, say the medical officers. So, as soon as you see this notice you are informed to take the body of your husband Chinnasamy for burial from the morgue. Failing this suitable action will be initiated.
Police Inspector
Gavundampatty Circle
Erode District”
A furore had begun by then though over the suspicious death of farm labourer Chinnasamy.
The Background
The issue began on 10 March in Kizhakkupudur village near Peruntharai. A 19-year-old Dalit boy named Krishnan was attending the temple festival in the village. A villager belonging to the Gounder caste (OBC), named Marappa Gounder is alleged to have denigrated Krishnan by using his caste name.
When Krishnan retorted, Marappa Gounder allegedly pulled out his belt and whipped the boy. “After beating my son and abusing him with his caste name, Marappa Gounder then called two more people,” alleged Nallakutty, Krishnan’s father. “They tried to push him under a passing truck but luckily he escaped. Otherwise my son would have perished that same day. He has told the authorities all this,” he said.
Krishnan was admitted in Perunthurai hospital with wounds and a case was registered in Thingalur police station under the Prevention of Atrocities Against SCs/STs Act, charging Marappa Gounder and some others for violence against a Dalit. This issue was then picked up by Chinnasamy, a 45-year-old farm worker, who was also the Branch Secretary of a fringe Dalit outfit called the Dalit Freedom Party. A quarrel ensued between Chinnasamy and Marappa Gounder, according to police sources.
The Erode district authorities then went into high gear, creating a Peace committee of 14 members and discussions were held between both the Dalit and Gounder sides. The Committee met seven times but there was no progress. Locals in the area, along with Dalit activists in neighbouring districts began protests, downing shutters of shops and sitting on fast, demanding that Marappa Gounder and others be arrested.
On 19 March, Chinnasamy informed his wife that the Committee had called for a meeting again, which he would attend, then head to work straight from there. That same evening, around 7pm, villagers of Nallampatty found Chinnasamy’s corpse floating in a well in the centre of their village. This well was used by both the Gounder and Dalit communities.
The already tense area flared up. Around 300 Dalit activists from other areas along with villagers sat in protest, not allowing Chinnasamy’s body to be taken for postmortem. District police sent a 100-strong force to control the situation from deteriorating further. Six hours later, the protesters relented and allowed Chinnasamy’s body to be taken for postmortem to the Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital.
Following the postmortem, police allegedly began to spread the word that Chinnasamy died due to drowning as he had been inebriated. However, the postmortem report has still not been furnished to Chinnasamy’s family. When the family heard of this, protests began in earnest once again, and Chinnsamy’s wife refused to take the body back home for cremation in protest. This was when the police stuck the notice on the door.
Court Steps In
Chinnasamy’s wife moved the Madras High Court through counsel Rajini Kumar demanding a re-postmortem with a team of forensic experts from Chennai. On March 28, this plea was granted and a team of doctors from Chennai’s Ramachandra Medical College arrived at Coimbatore to conduct the postmortem once again on April 01. Following this, Chinnasamy’s corpse was finally laid to rest at Nallampatty.
“We have still not received any word on the postmortem report from the police,” said Rajini Kumar, counsel for Chinnasamy. “We have filed a petition in the Madras High Court, asking for a CB-CID (special unit of Tamil Nadu police) investigation into Chinnasamy’s death. We have not even received the first postmortem report,” he stated.
Police sources told Firstpost that the key accused, Marappa Gounder, was absconding. When Firstpost tried to contact him over phone, he was not reachable.
Dalit activists are livid at what they claim is a deliberate attempt by the police and “upper caste Gounders” in the area to subvert justice in Chinnasamy’s case. “Gounders in this area have been causing problems for a long time,” said A Sengottaiyan, Founder, Dalit Freedom Party. “Earlier they used to simply beat Dalits but now they have gone a step further by committing murder. Police is not taking necessary action against them. We had been giving petitions to the police regarding threats to both Chinnasamy and Krishnan since the issue began, but police did not take any action,” he stated.
As Tamil Nadu heads to polls, analysts say there is visible caste consolidation in the western and southern districts of the state. Simmering caste tensions between OBCs like Gounders, Thevars and MBCs like Vanniyars against the Dalits, have taken a murderous turn of late. On March 13, Dalit youth Sankar was hacked to death in broad daylight in a busy market square in Udumalaipet, Tirupur district, part of the western belt of the state. This murder was an honour killing, according to police sources, carried out by the family of Sankar’s Thevar wife Kausalya who had eloped with and married Sankar against her family’s wishes.
In 2015 another young Dalit engineer Gokulraj was murdered by a caste fanatic belonging to the Gounder caste for the crime of speaking to an “upper caste” classmate and this too created a furore in the state. In 2014, an alleged suicide of Ilavarasan, a Dalit youth in Dharmapuri district, caused tensions between Vanniyars and Dalits.
Nyoooz
Don’t cite ‘law & order’ to prevent women’s entry into temples
http://www.nyoooz.com/mumbai/420237/dont-cite-law–order-to-prevent-womens-entry-into-temples
Summary: He expressed his complete inability to do so in view of the religious tradition. It is especially unfortunate that women, who were a crucial part of Gandhiji’s temple entry movement for Dalits in Kerala in the 1930s, are being persecuted like this. This seemingly small and isolated incident in a distant part of the state, led to a wave of protests for temple entry by Dalits, leading to many temples being forced open to Dalits across Marathwada in quick succession. Matters came to a head after weeks of protest when one day, determined Dalits were violently obstructed by caste Hindus, leading to clashes. I was a skinny 27-year-old in my first posting as Superintendent of Police in Parbhani district in (currently drought-hit) Marathwada.
Seeing women activists involved in a scuffle with police over entry in Shani Shingnapur and Trimbakeshwar temple over the last few days, I am reminded of my own run-in with religious bigotry decades ago. I was a skinny 27-year-old in my first posting as Superintendent of Police in Parbhani district in (currently drought-hit) Marathwada. In the scorching summer of 1977, Dalits of neighbouring villages had been agitating for access to a temple in a remote village which was strongly opposed not only by the priests but also by ‘caste’ Hindus from several villages. Matters came to a head after weeks of protest when one day, determined Dalits were violently obstructed by caste Hindus, leading to clashes. Police who were thus far keeping a general bandobast for maintaining peace had to use force on this day against the mob which obstructed entry into the temple and later resorted to firing, killing one caste Hindu, and finally Dalits entered the temple and prayed there. Even as a young officer, I was clear in my mind that the police had to uphold the rule of law and the constitutional principles of equality, even if it were to cause a potential law and order situation as the upper-caste influential Hindus outnumbered Dalits.
Being green behind the ears, one didn’t consider possible repercussions, including a backlash in the form of a magisterial enquiry. This seemingly small and isolated incident in a distant part of the state, led to a wave of protests for temple entry by Dalits, leading to many temples being forced open to Dalits across Marathwada in quick succession. By a quirk of fate, a similar situation came up the next year while working as SP of Pune rural district during the annual religious procession of ‘Warkaris’, from Lord Vithal’s temple in Alandi to his abode in Pandharpur, when devotees walk for nearly 250 km, singing praises of Lord Vithal.
As per tradition, five revered Palkhis of the deity belonging to different Sansthans lead the procession. A horse used to be placed after the first four palkhis, apparently to separate these from the last one, which belonged to Dalit devotees. Social activist Baba Adhav was leading a protest of Dalit groups for some years for all Palkhis to move together, which was vehemently opposed by the temple trust at Alandi and villagers citing centuries-old religious tradition.
The times of india
5 involved in murder of man arrested
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/5-involved-in-murder-of-man-arrested/articleshow/51736483.cms
Trichy: The Karur police on Thursday arrested five persons accused of the murder of a 28-year-old man who married an upper caste woman. The arrested included a brother and relative of the woman.
Gajapriya, 27, of Ramagoundanpudur in Karur, fell in love with Suresh Arockiasamy, 28, of Aandankovil Pudhur. While Gajapriya belongs to Muthuraja community, a dominant caste in the region, Suresh was from Asari caste. When Gajapriya’s family learned about her love affair, they scorned her relationship with a man from lower caste.
As the opposition from her family increased, Gajapriya eloped with Suresh a few months ago and married him. However, the family members of Gajapriya convinced her to snap her relationship with Suresh and brought her back home within a short period of her married life.
The separation of the couple became easier for Gajapriya’s family as they didn’t register their marriage. But an unrelenting Suresh moved the Madurai Bench of Madras high court with a habeas corpus petition seeking to produce Gajapriya in the court. When Gajapriya appeared before the court, she preferred to go with her parents. Yet, the family members of Gajapriya felt that her marriage with a low caste man had brought dishonour to their family. So they hatched a plan to murder Suresh.
As planned, Gajapriya’s brother Sivanesan, 22, his relative Natarajan, 42, Puliyampatti Ganesan, Mettur Selvaraj alias Thuppakki Selvam and Sankar from Erode hacked Suresh to death at a Tasmac outlet in Aathur-Karur intersection on March 26. One of the accused even informed the police about the murder over phone.
The arrested were produced before the judicial magistrate court in Karur, which remanded them in judicial custody. They were later lodged in the Trichy central prison.
After the murder of V Sankar, a dalit youth in Udumalpet, for marrying an upper caste girl, the inter-caste couples are approaching police for protection from their family members. Recently, a dalit man sought the help of Pudukkottai police to save his lover from the likely honour killing by her father.
On Wednesday, a dalit man and a caste Hindu girl who got married recently knocked on the doors of the Trichy rural police seeking protection from the father of the girl who allegedly threatened them.
The times of india
Dalit girl student was not murdered, says FSL report
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Dalit-girl-student-was-not-murdered-says-FSL-report/articleshow/51735039.cms
Jaipur: In a fresh revelation, the Bikaner police on the basis of a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report on Friday, claimed that 17-year-old Dalit student Delta Meghwal died due to drowning and was not murdered. Two accused, Vijendra Singh and Priya Shukla, who were arrested on April 5, were presented before the court and were sent to judicial custody.
According to the police, a diatom test was conducted by the FSL laboratory in Bikaner. The report suggested that Delta was alive before she drowned. “Our stand is vindicated. The death was caused due to anti-bottom drowning. No injury was found on the body. It was a suicidal drowning and not a murder,” said Amandeep Singh Kapoor, SP, Bikaner. Police, though have found the evidences of rape.
Singh and Shukla, who were on police remand, were sent to judicial custody when produced in the court on Thursday. They have also been charged with abetment to suicide by the police. The third accused Prateek Shukla, principal of the teachers training institute, is still in police custody.
Expressing concern over the incident, PCC chief Sachin Pilot on Thursday said that the minor’s father in Barmer painfully saying that these were not the times to send girls to schools after Class X was a telling remark on the lawlessness prevailing in the state under the BJP government.
The Congress leader visited Delta’s family. “The sorrowful statement of the victim’s father has exposed the state’s prevailing law and order conditions. As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Rajasthan has witnessed rise in crimes against Scheduled Castes in past two years,” Pilot said.
The hansindia
Scourge of casteism won’t go easily
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Opinion/2016-04-08/Scourge-of-casteism-wont-go-easily/219748
Caste-based attachments are common throughout the caste ladder. Those at lower levels are more keen to assert their superiority over those at the bottom than joining with them to resist those above all of them. Similarly, those at the middle level are proud to claim superiority over all those placed at lower levels rather than joining them.
The practice of “untouchability” within so-called “untouchables” still lingers in many places however vehemently we may deny it. They serve as the popular mandate for caste. The satisfaction of having somebody below seems to add flavor to the caste system for its social functions. The addiction to caste is too strong to be given up easily. It also runs through the entire hierarchy
Cases of honour killing following inter-caste marriages, hitherto believed to be restricted to some States like Rajasthan or Haryana, seem to be common all over India not excluding the States recording educationally above national average. To the surprise of many observers, the land of Periyar EVR, the unmatched crusader against caste and caste practices who also moved closely with common people, is recording more and more instances of persecution of couples marrying out of caste. Where one is a Dalit, the event may end in a tragic death.
The latest in the series is the attack on one such couple resulting in the death of a Dalit youth in Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Since 2013 over 80 honour killings have been reported in the State and the victims include youth of both sexes. It seems that Periyar had succeeded in establishing some vital anti-Brahmanical stand like anti-Sanskrit, but not the common attachment to caste that has taken deep roots among the people of all castes. Chanting of mantras in temple worship in Tamil replacing the holy Sanskrit is accepted, but inter-caste marriage is still intolerable among many castes – high and low – provoking violent clashes.
One of the important regional political parties – the PMK – has even condemned “love marriage” as it is mostly inter-caste. Many cases of “honour killing” as punishment for inter-caste marriage also fall under atrocities against SCs and STs and/or instances of traditional patriarchy asserting its supremacy over women and the youth. Periyar’s firm conviction that untouchability cannot be eradicated without abolishing caste has made no dent in the society.
Like marriage, education is another area subjected to strong caste prejudices. Educational institutions from elementary to research level not excluding professional and technical courses are typical public places that need to be educated on concepts and practice of rights, equality, empowerment, development, and reforms. Rohith Vemula’s suicide in the Hyderabad University has been politicised leading to a call for Rohith Act to end caste-based prejudices in campuses jointly by the Congress, the CPI(M) and the AAP Party. They grabbed this opportunity to gain political advantage by assuming a strong pro-Dalit posture and by attempting to malign their opponents.
But, the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP, is neither the originator nor the sole patron of caste prejudices as they all know very well. The malady crosses party and caste borders. Caste-based attachments are common throughout the caste ladder. Those at lower levels are more keen to assert their superiority over those at the bottom than joining with them to resist those above all of them.
Similarly, those at the middle level are proud to claim superiority over all those placed at lower levels rather than joining them. The practice of “untouchability” within so-called “untouchables” still lingers in many places however vehemently we may deny it. They serve as the popular mandate for caste. The satisfaction of having somebody below seems to add flavor to the caste system for its social functions.
The addiction to caste is too strong to be given up easily. It also runs through the entire hierarchy. How else can one explain the social ostracism of the Tribal Welfare and Sports Minister of Odisha announced by the country’s highest tribal body for allowing his daughter to marry a Brahmin youth? Article 17 of the Indian Constitution in the chapter on Fundamental Rights abolishes “untouchability” and its practice in any form. Imposition of any form of disability arising out of “untouchability” is an offence punishable in accordance with the law.
Further, the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 amended and tightened as the Untouchability (Offences) Act provides punishment for denial of civil rights to the groups excluded so far. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 is specifically intended to prevent and punish crimes against the castes so designated. The term “atrocities” is used in the Act to refer to the offences committed against SCs and STs that are “ shockingly cruel and inhumane,” whereas the term “crime,” generally used in penal laws, refers to any act punishable under law. They are awarded punishments higher than for similar offences under the Indian Penal Code.
One of the objectives of the Act is to help social inclusion of Dalits into the Indian society as equal members. The Act also provides for special courts for trial of offences amounting to “atrocities” and for providing for relief and rehabilitation of victims of such violence. However, reports of Crime Research Bureau reveal high rate of complaints, but low rate of convictions.
The Act was amended in February 2016 to make it more stringent. It prescribes punishments for public servants for neglecting their official duties relating to SCs and STs. Special courts have to be set up at the district level with exclusive public prosecutors to speed up trial process.
Despite these legal remedies to protect and safeguard the equal rights of the weaker sections, shockingly cruel treatment meted out to these classes as normal customary practice and as punishment specifically for violating any practice is reported from various places as sensational news. Hundreds of forms of discriminatory practices have been noticed by researchers. Forms of untouchability are also getting “modernised” in keeping with the changing times.
Indeed, caste-based discrimination is the most complex human rights issue that haunts India. The findings of studies demonstrate the total ignorance of anti-caste laws and utter disregard for implementation of the laws among people and law enforcing authorities.
The remorseless behavior of some people committing atrocities including “honour killing” manifested in their remarks openly condemning marriage with Dalits is evidence of both ignorance of laws as well as scant respect they have for laws.Customs, conventions, and ritual practices restrain Dalits from asserting their rights; institutions like caste or Khap Panchayats, and assemblies of village elders which resolve local issues and disputes in many villages without any legal authority contribute a lot to the perpetuation of caste discriminations in villages.
Ideas are changing but not at the rate required because of official apathy and inadequate and lack of public outrage against inhuman caste discriminations. Constructing partition walls, digging separate wells, forming separate queues in ration shops, and providing separate bench for Dalit students in classrooms are found easier by the authorities to prevent clashes, but they are not solutions for this long-standing social problem. On the contrary, they are devices to perpetuate caste along with legal entitlements.
Education can certainly help social mobility and inclusion. Positive political will to enforce laws against the practice of any degree of “untouchability,” and earnestness in devising effective ways of ending social segregation on the part of society and the State are necessary. The point is that it is futile and looks like a child’s play to fight party battles over issues like that of Vemula Rohith. Every citizen is a participant in the caste system.
The news Indian express
Dalit Christian Outfit Extends Support to AIADMK
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Dalit-Christian-Outfit-Extends-Support-to-AIADMK/2016/04/07/article3368672.ece
CHENNAI:: The Dalit Christian Liberation Movement (DCLM), an organisation working for the betterment of Dalit christians, on Thursday announced its support to the ruling AIADMK in the upcoming assembly polls.
DCLM president M Mary John made the announcement at a press conference in the city. “The decision was taken at a state executive meeting held on April 4 in Villupuram,” Mary John told Express.
“We are being denied SC rights on a par with our Hindu brethren for long. It is of vital importance for the progress of Dalit Christians who constitute about 70 lakh among the Christian community in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” he added.
DCLM office bearers said they have been fighting for the rights with the union government and for that political support was needed.
“Only the AIADMK, which has more number of MP’s from the state can raise a voice for us. Also, the CM has written to the PM in the past on this issue,” Mary John said.
The DCLM has sought an audience with the AIADMK general secretary and would be meeting her soon. This is the first time that DCLM is extending support to a political party in its 25 years of existence.
The arutz sheva
What’s killing Palestinians?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210512#.Vwcl6Utxcuw
In time for World Health Day on Thursday, which this year has diabetes as its theme, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) medical information center published diabetes statistics for Palestinian residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
In 2015 the proportion of diabetes patients rose to 201 cases for every 100,000 people, meaning that an additional 9,400 Palestinian Arabs came down with diabetes last year.
In Gaza around 80,000 people were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, while 9,400 others were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
According to the figures of the PA health ministry, diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death. It comes behind heart disease, cancer, and brain disease.
Deaths from diabetes and its complications accounted for 8.9% of the cases of death.
Only 0.5% of diabetes patients are treating their disease with preventative treatment, 64.2% take pills to lower the sugar levels in their blood, 21.5% take insulin and 13.8% combine pills and insulin.
Out look
Modi Spreading Hatred, Creating Divide Among People: Sonia
http://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/modi-spreading-hatred-creating-divide-among-people-sonia/935977
Congress President Sonia Gandhi today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making grandiose statements during his visits abroad while “spreading hatred” at home, and cautioned voters in Assam against BJP’s “communal politics controlled from Nagpur”.
“Modiji jab videsh jaate hain toh sabko gale lagate hain aur awam ko lekar badi badi batein karte hain par desh mein wapas aakar nafrat failate hain (when he goes abroad he embraces all and talks big about the nation, but on returning he is engaged in spreading hatred),” Gandhi told an election rally in Lower Assam’s Sarukhetry in Barpeta district.
“The danger of communalism is looming large over Assam as the BJP is engaged in spreading communalism and dividing the society which has thrived for ages on the principles of love, peace and harmony,” Gandhi said.
“Assam is a shining example of harmony with its people following the teachings of Sankardeva and Azaan Fakir. Modiji and his ministers are moving across the state making false promises and creating divide among the people,” she said.
“BJP’s communal politics is controlled from Nagpur and this is a grave danger to democracy,” the Congress President said.
She said the development plan of Congress had always included people of all religions, castes and creeds and they had taken all parties along.
“Congress jodne ka kam karte hain, BJP todne ka (Congress does the work of uniting while BJP of breaking,” she said.
Gandhi alleged that BJP had no faith in the Constitution or democracy as was evident from “their plan to destabilise the Congress government of Assam and removal democratically elected governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.”
“The Prime Minister is keen to stifle our voice and has not stopped from attacking the Constitution. He has forgotton our nation’s traditions,” she said.
“They have forgotten our ‘Ganga-Jamuna parampara’ and have made a mockery of our traditions,” she said adding, that “the truth is that they have only one agenda to fool and divide the country by giving false promises and coining new slogans and advertisements.”
Fifteen years ago Assam was faced with insecurity, instability and violence and it was Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his ministers who toiled hard to bring peace, development and progress in the state, Gandhi said.
Educational institutions for youths, employment to lakhs of people under MGNREGA, 30 per cent reservation for women, schemes for development of the girl child, improvement in the health sector are some of major initiatives taken by the Assam government under the Congress.
“It is the chief minister and the Congress members who have brought ‘parivartan’ (change) in Assam. Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s dedication and keen interest also ensured development of the state,” she added.
The Congress leader also paid her tributes to former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who hailed from Barpeta, along with other freedom fighters of the district and appealed the people to vote for the ruling party of the state so that the process of development and progress continued.
Addressing another election rally at Jagiroad, the Congress President charged BJP with talking about bringing ‘change’ of a negative kind.
“After Narendra Modi became Prime Minister our youth and farmers are committing suicide. Our farmer brothers and sisters are awaiting relief for their produce affected by the weather. Is this change”, Gandhi wondered.
Noting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had brought about the revolutionary Land Acquisition Bill for the benefit of farmers and to get the right price for their land, Sonia said, “On the directions of Modi all the BJP states changed the law in the interest of industrialists. What kind of change is this”?
“Modi also brought about change by cutting UPA government’s subsidies for children’s education and women’s welfare. He also made major cuts in the Scheduled Caste Special Component Plan and Scheduled Tribe Sub Plan, besides plans benefiting the poor”, she said.
Referring to Assam she said, “Modi snatched away its Special Category State status (loan/grant ratio of 10:90). It is Modi’s biggest betrayal to the people of Assam”.
The AICC supremo also accused the BJP of wanting to change the GST Bill by bringing about a new law whereby there would be double taxation as already taxed goods would be taxed again when they would enter another state.
Gandhi was apprehensive that “the dry fish trade here will be severely affected by the new GST provision as the states in the North East are just across National Highways”.
She said “the people of Assam will remember that 15 years ago they could not step out of their homes after dark, Government employees did not receive their salaries for months, thousands of youth went missing, more soldiers were seen on the roads than civilians then”.
“Because of the hard work of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Congress and its workers that all this has changed and become a part of history now”, she said.
“Today people in Assam are proud that instead of the state being talked about outside for its insurgency, now its is for its economic development and progress achieved. This is change for us”, she added.
Gate away house
Caste: mapping positive changes
http://www.gatewayhouse.in/caste-mapping-positive-changes/
Sulochana, a young woman from a tribal community in Maharashtra, walks confidently to the podium to address a gathering of women sarpanches on 10th February, 2016, in Lonara village just outside Nagpur on January 26 (CK) this year. Her speech, accompanying her accepting an award for her exemplary work as the sarpanch of Chorgaon village, is a celebration of how it is possible to overcome innumerable obstacles in the fight for justice.
Ramaswamy Elango, born into a scheduled caste community in Tamil Nadu, exudes a joyous enthusiasm while presenting a seminar paper at a the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, a major Delhi think tank, on 23rd February, 2016 on how good local governance is overcoming caste prejudices in some parts of Tamil Nadu.
At the same seminar, Dr. Anand Teltumbde, a management professional at the Vinod Gupta School of Management IIT Kharagpur and human rights activist who was born into a Dalit family, makes a passionate case for annihilation of caste itself – arguing that this alone will ensure both social and economic justice.
These are fleeting glimpses of the changing face of caste in India that rarely make the headlines in national, let alone international, media. The primary reason for this is that caste discrimination and violent attacks on lower castes are still rampant across India. And the noisy and violent riots made by various groups caste-based groups, not earlier regarded as backward, for reservation quotas in government jobs and educational institutions, has stolen the headlines.
In fact, there is increasing success of how caste based discrimination is being reduced, even eliminated in some contexts.
Before they are denounced as stray anecdotes – important in themselves for a nuanced understanding of Indian democracy as a work-in-progress – it is important to look closely at patterns of change. For, as Elango says, positive stories bolster the confidence of those who are caught in bitter conflicts.
Change is being fostered by a combination of progressive legislation, political struggles by the erstwhile lower castes and sustained work by civil society organisations.
For instance, over the last 20 years thousands of women like Sulochana have been elected to panchayats across India. This has been possible not only because the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution, in 1992, created 33% reservation for women in panchayats but also because NGOs spread across India have worked to train and empower women to be more assertive and effective in local governance. Prakriti, a Nagpur based NGO set up in 1990, works in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh with a special focus on women from tribal and lower caste communities.
“Even though I got elected to the panchayat the village tried to stop me from hoisting the national flag on Independence day because I’m a woman and I’m a Dalit” Sharda Dhanvij a sarpanch from Wardha, said at Prakriti’s awards function. “But I fought for my right to hoist the flag and I succeeded” she added – drawing thunderous applause from the 150 women sarpanchs in the audience at Lonara this year.
Teltumbde, who has documented many cases of caste atrocities and campaigned to gain justice for the victims, says that this will be eliminated only when “the monster of caste [is]… annihilated by an alternate idiom of politics based on class.” Identity constructed with the idiom of caste simply ends up reinforcing it, not getting beyond it.
This assessment is validated by more and more caste-based groups, that have not earlier been regarded as backward, demanding reservation quotas in government jobs and educational institutions. Over the last one year such demands have erupted in violent agitations in Gujarat and Haryana.
But reservations, by themselves, are not enough. Teltumbde refers to reservations as a ‘mirage’ in a context where structural problems – like access to proper nutrition and education – remain unsolved. Numerous studies have shown that a large percentage of Dalit children are discriminated against in schools across India.
Part of the problem is that the bulk of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward castes, are in the informal sectors of the Indian economy. The Pune-based Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) has responded to this reality by bringing Dalit entrepreneurs under one umbrella and helping aspiring Dalit entrepreneurs. Their rallying call is: ‘Fight caste with capital’ and ‘Be job givers, not job seekers’.
So far the DICCI has touched the lies of a small portion of people at the bottom of the caste ladder. But its presence is of vital importance – as an aspirational beacon and for highlighting the number of successful Dalit entrepreneurs.
Much is known about how and why lower castes are excluded from participation in access to natural resources, educational institutions and jobs. It is equally, if not more important, for social science researchers and policy makers, to focus on what goes right in situations where discrimination has been eliminated or even reduced.
For instance, it is shameful that the vast majority of out-of-school children in India are either scheduled caste, scheduled tribe or Muslims. But it is equally significant to note that rates of enrollment and retention are on the rise. Between 2009 and 2011 the total proportion of out of school children in age group 6 to 13 years declined from 4.28% to 2.97%. In the same period the proportion of Scheduled Tribe children out of school declined from 5.60% to 4.36%.
Harsh Mander, a former bureaucrat and director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Equity Studies, acknowledges that there has been no systematic study of those communities or sectors where discrimination has been overcome or significantly reduced. Teltumbde confirms the lack of a systematic study that has theorized the positive change, largely because the pervasive phenomenon of structural discrimination overwhelms the examples of positive change.
Research institutions and policy makers which venture to undertake a systematic, and much-needed study of the positive changes will be operating on a slippery slope. Such a shift in research focus will run the risk of feeding a facile feel-good effect or detracting attention from the sheer scale of persisting caste prejudice. What is required is a more granular understanding of what is facilitating progress towards dignity for all and highlighting the precise change agents that are illuminating the path of an epochal process of transformation.
News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET
