Kerala rape case: Pervert held for Dalit law student’s murder – Deccan cronical
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/crime/070516/kerala-rape-case-pervert-held-for-jisha-s-murder.html
Acts and guidelines fail to stop manual scavenging in Visakhapatnam – Deccan Chronicle
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/070516/acts-and-guidelines-fail-to-stop-manual-scavenging-in-visakhapatnam.html
‘Stop selective outrage over rape’ – Nyoooz
http://www.nyoooz.com/bengaluru/454844/stop-selective-outrage-over-rape
Can’t step into varsity domain, says Smriti – The telegraph
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160507/jsp/nation/story_84354.jsp#.Vy2IqPWKRdg
Central team to UP to probe Dalit’s death due to hunger – The siasat daily
http://www.siasat.com/news/central-team-probe-dalits-death-due-hunger-955646/
Dalit forum calls for attitudinal change – The hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/dalit-forum-calls-for-attitudinal-change/article8568273.ece
Dalit youth seeks police intervention – The hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/dalit-youth-seeks-police-intervention/article8568308.ece
Most on death row poor, from backward caste groups, minorities: Law University report – The Indian express
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/Indian_Express/400×60/0
Big rush for ‘social’ posting – The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/big-rush-for-social-posting/article8567710.ece
Colleges use quota students’ documents to bleed exchequer – DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-colleges-use-quota-students-documents-to-bleed-exchequer-2209907
MPs of various parties seek quota in higher judiciary – Free Press Journal
http://www.freepressjournal.in/mps-of-various-parties-seek-quota-in-higher-judiciary/842116
Stand-up India to benefit 2.5 lakh MSMEs – SME Times
http://www.smetimes.in/smetimes/news/top-stories/2016/May/07/stand-up-india-to-benefit-2.5-lakh-msmes.html
Note: Please find attachment for DMW Hindi (PDF)
Deccan cronical
Kerala rape case: Pervert held for Dalit law student’s murder
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/crime/070516/kerala-rape-case-pervert-held-for-jisha-s-murder.html\
Kochi: The Kerala police has finally zeroed in on the culprit in the Perumbavur law student rape and murder case. A top police source confirmed to this newspaper that a ‘pervert’ is in custody and the police is waiting to corroborate the scientific evidence to make a formal arrest. The source added that a man is under custody, and is an active mobile phone user. There were reports that the murderer was not using a phone that delayed the probe.
Earlier in the day, the state police chief T.P. Senkumar visited the victim’s house and told media that the probe is at a crucial phase. “We’re taking all evidences to a logical end. There is no lapse in investigation,” he said. The police was after a key suspect whom the cyber team found to be in the vicinity of the victim’s house on the fateful day on April 28.
Cops withdraw plea for footwear
The cops on Friday withdrew an application filed before the Kuruppampady Judicial First Class Magistrate to conduct scientific examination on a pair of footwear and other material objects found at the victim’s makeshift house on the banks of a local canal in Rayamangalam panchayath. The police team also used the expertise of a retired Cyber Crime Investigation Cell CI Francis Periera on Friday.
Earlier in the day Additional Director General of Police K. Padmakumar, supervising the probe said, “It appears to be a pre-meditated murder. We’ve got crucial evidence and are hopeful of cracking the case. 10 special teams are on the field even as experts, including cyber and forensic, have been called in to assist the probe.”
Deccan Chronicle
Acts and guidelines fail to stop manual scavenging in Visakhapatnam
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/070516/acts-and-guidelines-fail-to-stop-manual-scavenging-in-visakhapatnam.html
DECCAN CHRONICLE.
PublishedMay 7, 2016, 7:44 am IST
The Prohibition of Employment as
Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, framed in 2013.
Visakhapatnam: Despite various guidelines and laws prohibiting it, manual scavenging still exists in the state.
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, framed in 2013, intends to eliminate certain types of latrines, prohibit employment as manual scavengers and hazardous manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and ensure the rehabilitation of people working as manual scavengers.
Though the Sanitation Workers Association in the city refused to give the details of the people engaged to manually clean drains, a survey carried out by the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment revealed that there are about 3,455 insanitary toilets in the GVMC limits, which are manually cleaned.
The situation in rural areas is no different. The workers are directed to work by their superiors off the record who can easily flout the rules and regulations. The Indian Railways after finding it difficult to follow the law had asked for exemption but was refused by the Apex court.
About 250 workers manually clean toilets in the Waltair division, according to various workers associations. Besides, others are employed on contract for the job. The railway station has sped up the construction of washable apron on its various platforms. Work on Platform No. 4 is going on. The washable apron system helps to clean the tracks easily using water jets.
The act covers workers involved in cleaning sewers and septic tanks. Those engaging workers to manually clean the sewers without safety precautions should be punished. The deaths of workers due to asphyxiation after inhaling toxic gases when entering sewers, tanks and open drains for cleaning are recorded as deaths caused by negligence or accidental deaths.
According to reports, 1,268 such deaths have been recorded between March 2014 and March 2016. In Vizag, about five persons died in the last four years while cleaning the sewerage system.
Nyoooz
‘Stop selective outrage over rape’
http://www.nyoooz.com/bengaluru/454844/stop-selective-outrage-over-rape
Summary: “We are outraged by this selective outrage… Rape is rape, and we will protest for every women irrespective of caste or religion,” said Geeimaan, a transactivist. A dalit woman is seen as a dalit first, her body becomes a lot more dispensable… The problem is the lack of response from people,” said Christina Dhanraj, a volunteer for Dalit Women Fight. In our society, bodies of dalit women are not considered sacred enough to be protected. “There was widespread outrage over the Nirbhaya case because every urban woman could relate to it.
Bengaluru: Some 50 people, including activists and lawyers, staged a protest at Town Hall on Friday against the rape of a 29-year-old law student in Kerala. They demanded an unbiased investigation into the case, legal assistance to the woman’s family and trial in a fast- track court.”There was widespread outrage over the Nirbhaya case because every urban woman could relate to it. In our society, bodies of dalit women are not considered sacred enough to be protected.
A dalit woman is seen as a dalit first, her body becomes a lot more dispensable… The problem is the lack of response from people,” said Christina Dhanraj, a volunteer for Dalit Women Fight. “We are outraged by this selective outrage.
The telegraph
Can’t step into varsity domain, says Smriti
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160507/jsp/nation/story_84354.jsp#.Vy2IqPWKRdg
New Delhi, May 6: Human resource development minister Smriti Irani today rejected an appeal for government intervention to address students’ unrest in universities.
“This minister is a mere mortal who is tied to the Acts passed by this very Parliament, and this Parliament does not allow me to intervene into the administrative matters of any university,” Irani said, replying to a discussion.
But teachers’ associations cited the ministry’s five letters to the University of Hyderabad, which had led to the suspension of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit PhD scholar who committed suicide.
The Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Association president, Nandita Narain, said: “The pressure from the HRD ministry prompted the Hyderabad university to suspend the Dalit students from the hostel. Similarly, strong action was taken in the case of JNU students after the home minister made a statement and tweeted about a terror link.”
They also said the government, irrespective of the party in power, had always interfered in university affairs “through the UGC”.
Kesab Bhattacharya, president of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations, which represents teachers of state government-run institutions, said: “These students are young and sentimental. The issues need to be handled sympathetically. The minister can ask the UGC to intervene.”
Earlier, MPs cutting across party lines had demanded that the minister intervene since campuses are on the boil.
CPI leader D. Raja raised the hunger strike in Jawaharlal Nehru University against the “harsh penalty” on students for participating in a February 9 event in which some allegedly anti-national slogans were raised. “The university has taken punitive action. It must offer negotiation,” he said.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal had initiated the discussion yesterday, raising the students’ protest in Allahabad University against the compulsory online admission procedure. The vice-chancellor’s office has filed a police complaint against students’ union president Richa Singh and other students who started a hunger strike yesterday.#
The University of Hyderabad has been hit by protests since the suicide of Rohith Vemula in January. The students are demanding the removal of vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile, named in the FIR on the suicide.
About 50 students at IIT Bombay started a relay hunger strike today in support of the JNU students.
Congress leader Anand Bhaskar Rapolu appealed to Irani to show the “generosity” to remove all the punishments announced against students across all the universities. “It will be a great gesture, it will be a good beginning, and, it will harmonise the environment throughout the country,” he said.
But Irani did not budge. “It is a Pandora’s box. I am sure that you don’t want to open it. My request is that we don’t open it. Let the universities be autonomous enough to administer themselves,” Irani said.
Former Fedcuta president Aditya N. Mishra said the BJP government in Gujarat had recently passed the Gujarat State Higher Education Council Bill 2016 under which universities would lose their autonomy.
“The proposed Higher Education Council is to be chaired by the chief minister, with the education minister as vice-president and minister of state for education as co-vice-president. This legislation will result in completely destroying the independence of the universities,” Mishra said.
The council will give directions to universities. He said if BJP respects university autonomy, they must withdraw the GSHEC bill.
JNU protest
The JNU Teachers’ Association has said it will start a relay hunger strike that will go on indefinitely.
Rajya Sabha MPs of the Congress, CPI, CPM, JDU, NCP, BJD and nominated member K.T.S. Tulsi have asked President Pranab Mukherjee to resolve the JNU crisis. Mukherjee is the ex-officio Visitor to JNU.
The MPs met the President and said in a letter: “It is unprecedented that the vice-chancellor should take such strong action on the basis of so-called evidence which is a sub judice matter. This so-called evidence has been contradicted by the Delhi government mandated magisterial enquiry.”
Three students have been rusticated, two suspended from hostels, 14 others fined and two academics debarred from the campus after a probe that students and teachers’ unions boycotted for being unrepresentative and opaque.
The MPs said: “Under these circumstances, when the damage to the university is reaching irreparable proportions, we are urging your urgent intervention. As the visitor of the university we hope that you would intervene to ensure that justice is done. All actions taken by the VC and the university administration against the students must be withdrawn forthwith.”
JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was discharged from AIIMS this evening but is unlikely to rejoin the 13 students on indefinite hunger strike. Today, on the ninth day of the hunger strike, another student Aqsa Agha was taken to the health centre complaining of breathlessness.
Former JNUSU vice-president Anant Narayan, on hunger strike, said the struggle is not just for JNU. “The fight is against this ideological targeting of students. The student movement is answerable to future generation of students. I don’t know what the outcome will be but our goal is to do or die. We mean it. The charges must be revoked or the strike continues.”
The siasat daily
Central team to UP to probe Dalit’s death due to hunger
http://www.siasat.com/news/central-team-probe-dalits-death-due-hunger-955646/
New Delhi: Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said a team will be sent to Bundelkhand to look into the alleged death of a dalit due to hunger in Banda district in Uttar Pradesh.
Responding to the issue of the alleged death raised by Prabhat Jha (BJP) during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Paswan said Food Security Act has been implemented in the country, except two poll-bound states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
He expressed surprise that when 100 per cent foodgrains are lifted for distribution at subsidised rates, how can a person die of hunger.
“We will send a team (Bundelkhand),” he said, adding that earlier a team was also sent to Bihar.
The team, Paswan said, will also find out since when foodgrains were not being given to the affected family.
Earlier, Jha said Kanhaiya, a dalit, had died of hunger in Banda district and police was trying to hush up the case. “Why is no one shedding tears on his death,” he said.
Jha said Muni Devi, widow of the victim, has given a statement that her husband died of hunger. She also alleged that there was pressure on the family to complete the last rites of the victim.
Kumari Mayawati (BSP) said Kanhaiya’s case was not an isolated incident. According to her, there have been murders in Bundelkhand and several others too have died of hunger. She also demanded that Centre should send a team there.
The hindu
Dalit forum calls for attitudinal change
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/dalit-forum-calls-for-attitudinal-change/article8568273.ece
If the attitude of the administration and political parties towards Dalits does not change, more women from the community might meet the fate of the Dalit student murdered in Perumbavoor, P. Ramabhadran, State president of the Kerala Dalit Federation, has said.
He was inaugurating a symposium on the topic “The administration and the rights of the Scheduled Communities” here on Friday.
He said the overenthusiasm showed by the ruling and Opposition political parties in the Perumbavoor murder case was in the context of the ensuing Assembly elections.
The administration woke up to the necessity of giving her family land and house only after the student was raped and murdered. This was the case in all Dalit development projects.
He said more than 70 per cent of the complaints lodged by members of Scheduled Communities with police stations were ignored.
When a complaint against a Dalit was received there was prompt action, he alleged.
The hindu
Dalit youth seeks police intervention
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/dalit-youth-seeks-police-intervention/article8568308.ece
A 24-year-old Dalit youth has sought police intervention in rescuing his college mate, whom he claimed to have married legally two years ago,from her parents. The youth from Chekkanoorani claimed they planned to keep the marriage a secret for a few years. But her parents knew about it a few months ago. Since then they had kept her under “house arrest.” They also tortured her and were forcing her to marry a relative, he said. Fearing for her life, the youth requested the police to rescue her.
Palamedu police who registered a case of wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation rescued the girl. Enquiry into the complaint is on.
The Indian express
Most on death row poor, from backward caste groups, minorities
: Law University report
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/Indian_Express/400×60/0
The first comprehensive study of the socio-economic profile of prisoners serving the death sentence in India has revealed that most are from economically vulnerable sections, backward communities and religious minority groups.
The Death Penalty Research Project, undertaken by researchers at the National Law University in Delhi, found that over 80 per cent of prisoners facing capital punishment had not completed school and nearly half had begun working before the age of 18.
Besides, it found, a quarter of the convicts were either juveniles or between the age of 18 and 21 or above 60 years when the crime was committed. Dalits and Adivasis constituted 24.5 per cent (90 prisoners) among those on death row, whom the study gained access to, while members of religious minorities were over 20 per cent (76 prisoners).
The Hindu
Big rush for ‘social’ posting
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/big-rush-for-social-posting/article8567710.ece
NAGESH PRABHU
With high budget allocation, officials vie for stint in Social Welfare Department
With a massive annual budgetary allocation of over Rs. 16,000 crore, the Social Welfare Department appears to be a preferred destination for government employees posted in other departments. The high demand for postings here point to this phenomenon.
A major reason for seeking postings in the department is said to be the implementation of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, 2013, which mandates the Finance Department to allocate funds in proportion to the SC, ST population in all departments. The Social Welfare Department is the nodal agency for implementing the Act.
A whopping Rs. 19,000 crore was available to the department in 2016-19, including unspent money. The Act now mandates that the department spend the budgetary allocations within the financial year. Available records indicate that officials/employees of departments such as Primary and Secondary Education, Higher Education Department, Health and Family Welfare Department, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj have been absorbed into the Social Welfare Department. Principals/lecturers of junior and first grade government colleges, headmasters of government high schools, a district AYUSH officer, and a Panchayat Development Officer have already been absorbed in the department.
‘New trend’
Terming it “a new trend”, Leader of the Opposition Jadagish Shettar alleged that with the availability of more funds, more than 20 employees of other departments joined the Social Welfare Department since Minister H. Anjaneya assumed office in 2013.
However, Mr. Anjaneya defended the decision and said officials from other departments had been absorbed based on the recommendations of legislators. They had been absorbed as per the Karnataka Civil Service Rules. Many joined the same cadre as the department was facing severe shortage of staff. In the past too, several officials had been absorbed into the department, the Minster said.
But the Karnataka Social Welfare Department Gazetted Officers’ Association had opposed absorption of employees from other departments saying the existing staff would not get promotions. Association officials have urged the government to withdraw the teachers, lecturers, professors, and principals deputed or posted permanently to the department.
In 2011, the Karnataka High Court too directed the government not to depute lecturers and principals of colleges to the Social Welfare Department for implementing schemes. Asked about deputation of teachers/lecturers, Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar said he was unaware of the matter and would look into the issue as the department was facing shortage of teachers.
DNA
Colleges use quota students’ documents to bleed exchequer
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-colleges-use-quota-students-documents-to-bleed-exchequer-2209907
KANCHAN SRIVASTAVA | Sat, 7 May 2016-06:35am , dna
When students take admission in professional and higher education courses, the usual practice for college managements is to keep all the original documents of the candidates with themselves for up to one year. This is done to ensure that students don’t take admission elsewhere, thus leaving their seats vacant.
But this practice, which is followed across the country, was misused the most by colleges in Maharashtra. Several institutions in the state have been found misusing the documents of students to manufacture “bogus quota students” and claim fee reimbursements from the state exchequer.
Since scholarships and freeships for SC/ST students is extended to those studying in unaided private colleges as well, the quota turned out to be a “milking cow” for an increasing number of private institutions.
More than two dozen private colleges in Buldhana and Nandurbar districts face serious charges of secretly photocopying marksheets, school transfer certificates and caste documents submitted by bona fide students and fraudulently showing them to be enrolled in another college under their ambit or at another “friendly” institution in exchange for similar “help” from them.
Since duplicate transfer certificates can’t be accepted for admission as per rules, the social justice and special assistance and tribal development departments, which disburse the freeships and scholarships, stand accused of adopting “too liberal an approach” at the behest of college managements.
An ongoing probe into the centrally-sponsored post-matric scholarship and freeship scheme by a special task force led by Dr K Venkatesham, additional director general of police (training and special units), has led to these and some more startling revelations. Their preliminary findings were submitted to the state government in March.
The inquiry finds that many colleges even presented “inflated fake bills” and claimed extraordinarily high fees (in the case of a Buldhana-based college, it was five-fold) compared to the fee structure approved by the government. Their bills, however, were reimbursed.
Since admissions in engineering, management and other professional courses are being conducted through a common online process, college managements have found a loophole there as well. “While students switch to better colleges after an upgrade in the merit list, the previous institutions exploit their records to show them on their own rolls,” finds the probe, suggesting a huge discrepancy in the system.
Even the general category students are being fraudulently shown to belong to quotas at certain colleges. Their caste certificates were never submitted and the colleges continued to claim reimbursements under the scheme.
As a result, the government ends up paying more subsidy than that required by the actual beneficiaries. The post-matric scholarship and freeship scheme, which has an annual allocation worth Rs3,000 crore, is assumed to involve 50% pilferage.
Additionally, the state offers several other central and state scholarships to quota students. “Malpractices can’t be ruled out there as well,” a highly-placed official in Mantralaya said.
Fake SC/ST also drawing scholarships
The probe has revealed that the scholarship money meant for SC/ST students are being withdrawn by several engineering and medical students who never submit their caste and family income certificates, both of which are mandatory documents to avail of the benefits. They are now facing charges for the same.
Freeship money traced to trustees’ account
Freeship and scholarship money has been traced to the personal bank accounts of several college trustees, a gross irregularity which is now being considered as “proof” of corruption and “connivance” on the part of government officials. As per the rule, the freeship money is reimbursed to the institution and the scholarship amount is deposited in the students’ accounts.
Free Press Journal
MPs of various parties seek quota in higher judiciary
http://www.freepressjournal.in/mps-of-various-parties-seek-quota-in-higher-judiciary/842116
— By FPJ Bureau | May 07, 2016 12:09 am
Govt says no such proposal to amend Constitution for such a quota
New Delhi : Members from Congress, BSP and NCP in Rajya Sabha on Friday made a strong pitch for reservation in higher judiciary by amending Constitution and sought an all-party on the issue, even as Government insisted it was not considering any proposal to amend the Constitution for such a quota.
At the same time, Law Minister Sadananda V Gowda said that reservation does exist in lower judiciary in at least 19 states.
Replying to a question on whether the ministry has received requests or suggestions favouring reservation for OBCs, SCs, STs, Muslim and women in the judicial services, Gowda said the appointment of judges of Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution which do not provide for any quota for any caste or class of persons.
“The government has, however, requested the Chief Justices of High Courts that while sending proposals for appointment of judges, due consideration be given to suitabale candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and from amongst women,” the minister said.
He also informed the House that his predecessor Ravi Shankar Prasad had written a few letters to all Chief Justices of the High Courts to consider reservation for SCs, STs and other sections.
He said as far as the higher judiciary and higher judicial services are concerned, there were certain differences.
“The appointments of the judicial officers in the states is completely under the domain of the High Courts…there are about 19 states, where there are reservations in the appointment of judicial officers in the lower judiciary.
“But as far as High Courts and Supreme Courts are concerned, these are constitutional posts and are governed by constitutional authorities. There is no such reservation there,” he said.
The minister sought to make it clear,”there is no proposal before the government as far as constitutional amendment is concerned” to provide quota in higher judiciary.
SME Times
Stand-up India to benefit 2.5 lakh MSMEs
http://www.smetimes.in/smetimes/news/top-stories/2016/May/07/stand-up-india-to-benefit-2.5-lakh-msmes.html
SME Times News Bureau | 07 May, 2016
he central government has Friday said that the Stand-up India Scheme will benefit 2.5 lakh Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe members and women entrepreneurs in micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.
“The scheme envisages extending bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore for setting up greenfield enterprises by SC/ST and women entrepreneurs,” Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5 this year.
“The scheme is being implemented through all scheduled commercial banks. Each bank branch is to extend loans to at least one SC/ST and one women entrepreneur. Enterprises covered under the scheme may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector,” Sinha said.
While loans are to be extended by banks, a credit guarantee fund of Rs.5,000 crore for providing guarantee cover for such loans has been approved. Provision of initial capital of Rs.500 crore to the corpus in 2016-17 has been made, he said.
News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET
