Social Issues

Reservations for Dalit Priests: DSMM Congratulates Kerala Government

IN a letter written to Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, on October 8,The Dalit Shoshan Mukthi Manch has congratulated the government of Kerala for appointing priests belonging to dalit and other backward communities to various temples of Kerala. DSMM congratulated the chief minister and the state government for taking this path-breaking initiative, which will serve as a model for the entire country. Nowhere in the country such a radical step has been taken to eradicate the caste system and reduce the discrimination that the dalits face.

Second NPRD Conference: Conference of Victory, Call for Consolidation

THE thousands that had turned out at the Deshabandhu maidan in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar on September 17 braving an overcast sky and incessant showers, to mark the conclusion of the NPRD’s second conference, reflected the confidence that the disabled people of Tamil Nadu and the country reposed in the NPRD. In the NPRD and its affiliates they saw the embodiment of their hopes and aspirations.

TAMIL NADU: Caste as the Menace

ON August 29, at 10 pm, K Swaminathan, vice-president, SZIEF (AIIEA) called and asked me to free myself the next day to visit Nallur village near Thirukazhukundram.  Imparting the immediate necessity and urgency, he informed that the entire village was attacked by casteist forces when Vinayaka Chathurthi was celebrated by the dalits in that village. Accordingly, Uma Maheswari, Abinava Vidyatheerthan and myself (General Insurance, AIIEA) accompanied him to Nallur village.

On the Dera Sacha Sauda Episode

“I salute this land of deras” – this is how Narendra Modi started his address to an election rally in Sirsa in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. And his opening sentence in another election rally in Jind during the campaign was: “I salute this land of Khaps!” There remains no doubt about the complicity of the BJP government in Haryana after the orgy of arson and violence following the August 25 conviction, by a Panchkula-based special CBI court, of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet alias Ram Rahim for rape of his two followers.

Stop Social Boycott in Garagaparru village

IN the recent period both in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, attacks and atrocities on dalits are on an increase. In Telangana, during the last three months, there have been about 18 such instances. A considerable number of these attacks are happening when there are inter-caste marriages. Andhra Pradesh has registered several incidents – Deverapalli, Pachikapallam and particularly the social boycott in Garagaparru are some recent examples. Dalits are being socially boycotted since three months in this village.

Taxing Disability:Finance Ministry’s Misleading Response

AFTER several protests and noises over the ill-advised move to impose GST on a range of aids and appliances used by the disabled, finally the government responded and issued a press statement on July 4. What we get as a clarification is a misrepresentation of facts and an attempt to mislead the gullible.Even while the figures are disputed, the 2011 census places the count of the disabled population in the country at 2.1 per cent of the population. The vast majority of them come from poor economic backgrounds which is one of leading causes for disability.

ANDHRA PRADESH: Dalits Struggle for Self Respect

With the pressure exerted by the activities of the KVPS and Mahabharatha Hakkula Porata Committee, the district administration was forced to intervene and ensure that dalits are allowed participation in the conduct of Mahabharat festival. The district collector and superintendent of police had conducted many parlays with the upper caste people and the dalits that ultimately forced the upper castes to concede to the demands of the dalits.THIS is a saga of struggle for self respect by dalits, near the abode of the wealthiest Hindu God in the world.

Slanderous Campaigns Against Muslims and the Facts

“HUM paanch, Hamare pachees” - Narendra Modi himself mocked the Muslim community. The slogan ‘Hum do hamare do’ (we two, our two) implied a couple of wife and husband having two children. Modi meant that a Muslim man generally was having four wives, this counted to five and these five persons were having a total twenty-five children. The then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi made this comment in 2002. In February of that year, we witnessed the carnage in Gujarat after Godhra incident.  The election was after few months.  In several places, he was delivering speeches at that time.

NHRC Asked to Intervene in Prof Saibaba’s Case

CONCERNED over the rapidly deteriorating health condition of Prof Saibaba, a person with disability, who is in solitary confinement in the Nagpur Central Jail a delegation met the Registrar of the National Human Rights Commission on June 1 and handed over a memorandum addressed to the chairman of the NHRC.At the outset, the delegation thanked the NHRC for taking cognisance of an earlier complaint made by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) with regard to the inhuman, degrading and humiliating conditions in which Prof Saibaba is being held and sending an NHRC official

SHABBIRPUR VIOLENCE: DSMM Delegation Meets NHRC Chairperson

A DEPUTATION consisting of three members of the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch – Nathu Prasad, Surinder and Subhashini Ali (ex MP) met the National Human Rights Commission chairperson and gave him a memorandum on the brutal attack on dalit families in Shabbirpur village in Uttar Pradesh on May 5.  Members of the DSMM have been visiting the village and also the injured in the district hospital several times since May 9. The memorandum gave a detailed account of the incident and the background to it.

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