by Pardeep Singh Attri

Chaudan saai tetees ki magh sudi pandras,

Dukhion ke kalyan hit pargte Guru Ravidas

As per this couplet Guru Ravidas was born on 15th of Magh Saudi, full-moon day of 1433 at Seer Govardhanpur at Kashi (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh). His father’s name was Santokh Das and mother’s Kalsa Devi. Guru Ravidas married to Mata Loona, a very humble woman who supported him throughout his life.

During the times of Guru, the large section of society was tottering heavily under brutal enforcement of caste system and untouchability practices, the then Untouchables bearing the most. Socially ostracized and put under strict caste-based restrictions they were living a life worse than animals.

In such environment, Guru Ravidas, a cobbler and an untouchable himself, emerged as a formidable challenge to Brahminical hegemony and spoke for the rights of downtrodden. He openly denounced all he brahminical scriptures like Vedas, Puranas, Smritis, Upanishads etc as these promoted the hegemony of Brahmins and justified the social inequality and exploitation of masses. As he says -

Charon ved kiya khandoti, Jan Ravidas kare dandoti

(I, Ravidas, proclaim all Vedas are worthless)

His was the direct attack on the spiritual hegemony of Brahmins that sprang from their claims of Vedas and other brahminical scriptures being infallible and repositories of Truth and Knowledge. While exposing the fallacies of the brahminical propaganda, Guru Ravidas made enormous efforts to provide a simple socio-religious alternative to the labouring masses that would seek equality for all human beings and require no religious rituals.

Guru Ravidas is one of the country’s foremost socio-religious revolutionary who not only attacked the socio-religious inequalities but also preached for liberty, equality and fraternity for all. He was a great poet whose couplets still reverberate among the toiling masses of this country.

He is also known as the one who invented ‘Gurumukhi’ language against Sanskrit that was monopolized by Brahmins and declared as taboo even for other caste-Hindus. The impact of Guru Ravidas on the Indian society can be well understood by the fact that the entire Sikh Bani (Sikh teachings) are written in Gurumukhi.

We all are well aware of how Babasaheb Ambedkar exhorted us to ‘Educate’ likewise, many centuries before, Guru Ravidas was saying -

Avidya ahit keen, taatay vivek deep bhava maleen

(Ignorance, no education has done much damage; it has eclipsed our rationale)

Guru’s Guru:

“If you want to destroy a society, destroy its history and the society will get destroyed automatically.” - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Hindu fundamentalists have always taken a keen interest in destroying Dalit-Bahujans history so as to make them disable mentally. Historians as usual here also played with the truth and misled the people for centuries. As Buddha is projected as 10^th avatar of Vishnu, same way Brahminical forces tried their best to project Guru Ravidas as one of their 33 crores fake gods. Many scholars tried to show Swami Ramanand as Guru Ravidas’s Guru. We all need to think logically, how could it have been possible for Swami Ramanand to accept Guru Ravidas as one of his student? Shudra rishi Shambuk was murdered by king Rama just on doing ‘meditation’/worshiping god. Daronacharya had forced Eklavaya to cut thumb of his right hand as ‘Guru Dakshina’. Time when Casteism, discrimination was on peak, when Dalits were murdered, their ears were cut down if they tried to hear praise of god, or they tried to worship, when the touch or even a shadow could impure so called upper caste people, how could it have been possible for Swami Ramanand (who was follower of king Rama’s ideas) to accept Guru Ravidas?

Some others tried to show Guru Ravidas as a Brahmin or Brahmin in his previous life, because they were not able to digest the humiliation of being thrashed by Guru Ravidas’s open challenge to caste system. They could have tolerated this shame if any Brahmin would have been talking against the caste system or challenging their supremacy as they had tolerated Char-wak. Many so called scholars have given false claims that Guru Ravidas was Brahmin in previous life and he ate meat so couldn’t reach the god (attain truth) and he was born in lower caste in next life.

In Rigveda it’s clearly mentioned that cows, horses, goats were killed and were eaten by not only non-brahmins but Brahmins also.

“…the food according to Valmiki consisted of all kinds of delicious viands. They included flesh and fruits and liquor. Rama was not a teetotaller. He drank liquor copiously and Valmiki records that Rama saw to it that Sita joined with him in his drinking bouts…” ( Uttara Kanda Sarga – 42 Sloka - 8   (Reference: ”Riddles in Hinduism” by Dr B R Ambedkar)

We need to question how many of these Hindu gods were born in lower caste after eating meat, or after not getting god (attaining truth). In no religious book of Hindus there is any such incident where after eating meat person would have been born in lower caste, then why Guru Ravidas? (Let me clear Guru Ravidas never ate meat, rather than he opposed the killing of goats, cows on Bakrid and other Hindu religious ceremonies)

All the times Manuwadi failed miserably as Guru Ravidas claimed himself as “Chamar” (Kutbandhla – a sub-caste in Uttar Pradesh) in many of his saloks and in his bani.

Kahi Ravidas khalaas chamaaa,

(Says Ravidas, the emancipated shoe maker)

In another hymn Guru Ravidas writes:

Meri jaat(i) Kutbandhla dhor dhowanta nith(i) baanaarsi aas paasaa,

(My caste is Kutbandhla; I deal with leather and live near Banaras)

In one another hymn Guru Ravidas says:

Meri Sangat poch soch din (u) raati,

Mera karamu kutilta janam kubanti,

(It keeps him in anxiety that his associates are low; my actions are considered evil and birth is lowly)

This all is just another game-plan/conspiracy of Brahmins to keep Dalit-Bahujans away from Guru Ravidas’s philosophy. Guru Ravidas’s teachings can lead Dalit-Bahujans break caste barrier and emancipate them because Guru Ravidas was among first people who talked about equality, ‘raaj’ (own rule) and Begumpura – City without sorrow. (It seems like Dr B R Ambedkar wrote constitution of India keeping Begumpura in his mind.) Guru Ravidas also said:

Aisa chahu raaj main, jahan mile saban ko ann,

Chhot baade sam basse, Ravidas rahe prasan.

As far as question of who was Guru of Guru Ravidas, Guru Ravidas never worshiped any of the 33 crore fake god, but he meditated/worshiped on one and only one almighty God. Guru Ravidas said:

Tohi, mohi, mohi tohi, antar kaisa: kanak katik jal tarang jaisa.

(There is no difference between you (god) and me as there is no difference between the gold and its ornaments, between water and its waves.)

Bhagat or Guru Ravidas:

Last year on the gurpurb of Guru Ravidas Rozana Spokesman newspapers published article that (Bhagat – as stated by newspaper) Guru Ravidas was not familiar with Sikh Gurus’ teachings & teaching/sakhis (birth tales) of Guru Ravidas were misquoted by author in ridiculing manner. The article erroneously stated that no historical facts are present about the life of Guru Ravidas. It’s madness/ridiculous to give such statements as Bani (shaloks, teachings) of Guru Ravidas is there in Guru Granth Sahib (the holy book of Sikhs) itself and 10^th Guru of Sikhs Guru Gobind Singh had asked to follow Guru Granth Saheb as ‘Guru’ after him, so the bani of all the ‘Gurus’ (including Guru Ravidas) which is included in the Guru Granth Saheb should be treated equal, why to give someone names like ‘Bhagats’ and others ‘Gurus’? This time mischiefs are played by Sikhs scholars under the affect of Brahminical forces, those have forgotten that Sikhism is separate religion which came into picture for equality, to counter the evils of Casteism in Hinduism.

Who is ‘Bhagat’ and who is ‘Guru’? Till the time a person is worshipping/meditating/trying to achieve the state of perfect-ness, is in search of truth of life, till the time person hasn’t got ‘gyan’, up-to that time you can say a person as ‘Bhagat’, but when that person have achieved truth of life, got ‘gyan’ and starts giving sermons, starts preaching, he becomes ‘Guru’ and he don’t remain as Bhagat then. A large number of kings and queens became Guru Ravidas’s disciples and they accepted him as a Guru, not only Guru but Raj-Guru also. Prominent among them were Raja Pipa, Raja Nagar Mal, Rewa Naresh, Rani Jhalan Bai, and Meera Bai (it’s wrongly projected by people that she was fan of king Krishna, but in reality she was follower of Guru Ravidas).

Meera ne gobind milya ji,

Gur milya Radas.

(Meera Padawali - 4)

Kings had built many temples dedicated to Guru Ravidas and there were later either demolished or converted to Hindu worship places.

As recorded by Dr. Lekh Raj Parwana at Page 116-117 in his book “Shri Guru Ravidas- Life and Writing”, Guru Ravidas visited northern India twice. Firstly, he was accompanied by Kabir Ji, Tarlochan Ji, Sain Ji and Dhanna Ji and met Guru Nanak Dev at ‘Chuharkana’, now known as ‘Nankana Sahib’ where Guru Nanak Dev served them food with Rs.20/- which had been given to him by his revered father Mehta Kalu for some profitable business. At his second visit to Punjab, Guru Ravidas met Guru Nanak Dev at Sant Ghat of Kali Bein in ‘Sultanpur Lodhi’. At third time he met at Guru Nanak at ‘Guru Ka Bagh’, Banaras and exchanged their views on several topics pertaining to religion, social system and liberty of human beings. Guru Ravidas gave gift of his bani of 40 hymns and one couplet to Guru Nanak Dev as desired by him.

Many a times, Mardana (he used to live with Guru Nanak Dev) used to sing hymns of Guru Ravidas in-front of Guru Nanak Dev, as asked by Guru Nanak Dev. It was the Guru Ravidas who gave the right direction to the life and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev. So, today’s Sikh scholars don’t have any right to raise any question over who was the real Guru or whom they want to call Guru or Bhagat.

Till 1920, Dalits/Untouchable’s ‘Prasad’/’religious offering’ wasn’t accepted at the Darbar Saheb/Golden Temple and no ‘ardas’ was done on the name of Dalits/untouchables. (Reference: “The Heritage of Amritsar” by S S Johar). This all shows how much these Sikh scholars were/are following Sikhism’s teachings. The religions which were considered by Dr Ambedkar for conversion, but the Sikh leaders were full of hatred/hostility towards Dalits.

Jathedars (Sikh leaders/scholars) those are becoming puppets in the hands of Manuwadi people will lead to the end of Sikhism & if such things continued the day won’t be far away when idols of Hindu deities will be seen in the “Darbar Saheb” (Golden Temple). Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) created his offshoots like PRERNA, Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, and Guru Granth Sahib Vichar Sanstha as under the name of RSS it was difficult for them to meet Sikh leaders & to misguide them. And now everyone can see Sikh scholars visiting their activities and supporting them full heartedly.

Jathedars & many others are forgetting that;

1. Sikh Gurus believed in one and only one god, whereas Hindus worship quite a number of gods, goddesses, and deities.

2. The Hindu Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva - is altogether rejected by Sikh Gurus.

3. The worship of any carved statues, images or idols is completely forbidden in Sikhism although it is allowed in Hinduism.

4. Cow is not considered as a sacred animal by Sikhs; hence it is not worshiped at all.

5. The supremacy of the Vedas, Gita and other Hindu scriptures is not recognized or accepted in Sikhism. Sikhs have their own holy book - the Guru Granth Sahib - compiled by the fifth Guru himself and completed by 10^th Guru.

6. Sikh Gurus, Guru Ravidas had rejected the caste system and all men/women are reckoned equal irrespective of their caste, colour or creed, does Hinduism do all this?

7. Sikh traditions, customs, and ceremonies of death and marriage are completely different from the Hindus.

Many Sikh scholars claim that in Guru Granth Saheb its written “Bhagata di bani”, but then you need to concentrate that for Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh, there is nothing written as ‘Guru’ word for them, but ‘Mahala – I, ‘Mahala –II’ etc is written not “bani of Guru Nanak Dev” or “bani of Guru Gobind Singh”. (‘Mahala’ means ‘Aam Admi’/‘common person’.) Will Sikh scholars accept Guru Nanak Dev as common person? At many places in the ‘Janam Sakhis’/’Birth tales’ of Guru Nanak Dev; Guru Nanak Dev is recorded as ‘Baba’, ‘Tapa’, and ‘Pir’ etc. Guru Nanak Dev himself claimed at many places as Mahala/‘common person’, ‘Shayar’, ‘Nieech’. Are Sikh scholars ready to accept Guru Nanak Dev as ‘Shayar’, ‘Nieech’ and ‘Baba’?

People those don’t want to accept Guru Ravidas as ‘Guru’ and don’t want to write ‘Guru’ in-front of Guru Ravidas’s name are only those people who don’t want to take any lesson from the teachings of Guru Ravidas. Those people are full of hatred, are not supporter of equality and practice discrimination.

Murder of Guru Ravidas:

Torture of Dalit-Bahujans is not new, Manuwadi people have always tried to suppress, depress, torture, tried to kill, murder, and loot Dalit-Bahujans. Who so ever had/have tried to raise his voice against the cruelty; evils of Hinduism was either murdered or burnt alive. Guru Namdev was tortured and was forced to leave Maharashtra, Guru (Sant) Tukaram, Sant Chokha Mal was murdered, Sant Naat Naar was burnt alive, same way Guru Ravidas was murdered at Chittorgarh by people who were opposing Guru Ravidas all the times. Guru Ravidas lived for about 151 years. (Reference: “Guru Ravidas Ki Hatya Ke Parmanik Dastawez” by Satnam Singh)

In his entire life, Guru Ravidas kept fighting for equality, against social, political, economical bullying and composed many hymns and Shaloks, which were burnt down, destroyed by so called upper caste people of that time. 40 hymns and one couplet composed by Guru Ravidas are inscribed in Guru Granth Saheb. Guru Ravidas was among first people who used “Ek-Onkar” – god is one. His teachings are relevant even today as were in 15^th century and may everyone take inspiration from Guru Ravidas’s teachings and come out of darkness.

]]> http://blog.insightyv.com/?feed=rss2&p=1184 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=1155 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=1155#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:39:12 +0000 Anoop http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=1155 An Interview with Dhammachari Subhuti

By Anoop Kumar

Dhammachari Subhuti, a British born, is an ordained member of International Buddhist order known as Friends of Western Buddhist Order (FWBO). This order was founded in London in 1967 by another British Buddhist monk known as Urgyen Sangharakshita to promote Buddhism in the West. Highly impressed by Babasaheb Ambedkar’s interpretation of Buddhism and its role in contemporary times, this Buddhist Order has been working with Indian Buddhists from ex-untouchable communities since last thirty years through its Indian wing known as Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayak Gana (TBMSG).  However, recently the Order has been renamed as the Triratna Buddhist Order (Triratna Bauddha Mahasangha) and the wider movement is called the Friends of the Triratna Buddhist Order or Triratna Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayak Gana in Hindi (TBMSG).

Dh. Subhuti speaking before Buddhist youth in Baudhgaya, Bihar (December 19th, 2009)

TBMSG has been working for the last thirty years in Maharashtra, and in some other states too, among the Dalits who have embraced Buddhism following in the footsteps of Babasaheb Ambedkar. How did your association with Ambedkarite Buddhism and Dalits begin?

Though our Indian wing was formed in 1979 as Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana, but our relationship with Dr Ambedkar and his Buddhist followers goes long back, even before the time of Babasaheb’s conversion to Buddhism in 1956.

Urgyen Sangharakshita, our teacher and the founder of TBMSG, although he was born in England, was at that time living in Kalimpong in West Bengal, where he had settled after his ordination as a bhikkhu. He first encountered Dr Ambedkar in 1950, when he read ‘The Buddha and the Future of His Religion’ in the Mahabodhi Journal.

Impressed by Dr. Ambedkar’s vision of bringing revolutionary social changes in India through the revival of Buddhism, Sangharakshita met him in Bombay as soon as he could. He found that he shared Babasaheb’s vision of Dhamma as socially relevant, as well as his strong objection to the domination by caste Hindus of the Mahabodhi Society, which was then the principal Buddhist organisation in India.

Unfortunately Babasaheb died soon after his conversion, leaving incomplete his mission to take the Buddha’s teaching to the entire country. Sangharakshita remained in India for a few more years, especially working with Babasaheb’s Buddhist followers, mainly in Maharashtra. In 1964 he returned to England and, finding that there was a growing interest in Buddhism in the West, three years later founded the TBMSG (then FWBO). However he always kept in touch with his friends and disciples among the Buddhists of India.

TBMSG was formally initiated in India in 1979. What were the immediate reasons?

In 1979, a close friend of mine and fellow member of our order, Dhammachari Lokamitra, came to India to practise yoga with Mr. Iyengar and made contact with many of Sangharakshita‘s old Buddhist friends, especially in Pune.

During his visit, he was invited to the Diksha Bhoomi in Nagpur on 14th October. There he witnessed the huge gathering of Buddhists commemorating Babasaheb’s conversion to Buddhism. He was very much inspired by the devotion and enthusiasm both for Babasaheb and for the Buddha that he saw among ordinary Dalits and he identified immediately with their quest for a revolutionary change in Indian society through the Buddha-Dhamma.

Lokamitra says that from that moment he felt clearly that he had no choice. He returned to England, closed his affairs there, and came back to India, starting work immediately with Ambedkarite Buddhists in Maharashtra, laying the foundations of TBMSG in Pune – an Indian Buddhist organisation committed to Babasaheb’s vision of Buddha-Dhamma, yet part of an international Buddhist movement.

Thanks for giving us the background of TBMSG. But prior to that how was the Buddhist mobilisation in India? What was the scene then with respect to Ambedkarite Buddhism?

The general impression that I have of those times before TBMSG started, and it is not a first hand impression, is that people were very loyal to Babasaheb and felt strongly about him and his mission. They were very proud of being Buddhist, however most knew relatively little about the Dhamma. The movement’s main focus was on socio-political activism, but the Dhamma side of it was not developed much.

Many people wanted deeper understanding of Dhamma and its practice, but they did not have much effective guidance. It seems that there were not many genuine Dhamma opportunities for Ambedkarite Buddhists, in the sense of organised Dhamma training and practice, and teachers and organisations dedicated to specifically Dhamma activities.

The coming of Lokamitra and the formation of TBMSG was therefore very much welcomed and appreciated by many. That is the impression I got when I started my own connection with the Ambedkarite movement from 1985 onwards.

What were the initial activities of TBMSG in India?

We started with Dhamma talks, meditation classes, and retreats. The retreats were especially important because they gave people the opportunity to taste the Dhamma quite deeply. People would go away for a weekend, a week, and even two weeks and meditate together, listen to and discuss the Dhamma, and develop friendships with one another on the basis of their commitment to the Dhamma.

This last point, the development of spiritual friendship, is perhaps the most important thing we did to begin with. The deep significance of friendship in human life in general and Dhamma life in particular is one of our key teachings in TBMSG, and we think that Buddhist organisations need to pay much more attention to developing positive human relationships.

During the 70s, in Maharashtra, there was a lot of churning and agitation going on. Dalit Panthers had already left their mark. There were cases of brutal caste repression happening all around, the discrimination was still acute. There was complete lack of opportunities for the Dalits in every sphere. In such an environment, Lokamitra, or for that matter any Buddhist organisation, would have found it difficult to even talk about Dhamma. What were the strategies adopted by the TBMSG then?

We started quite late in the 70s, rather you can say in the early 80s. Nonetheless you are right. Even as late as 1985, when I came to India for the first time, the atmosphere among Buddhists was strongly influenced by those agitations and one was very much aware of many atrocities happening against Dalits in Maharashtra and elsewhere.

What we have always emphasised in TBMSG is Babasaheb’s recognition of the need for a change in consciousness, individual and collective, for a deep change in social and cultural attitudes, if there is to be a real change in society – a real move towards genuine liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Though we never neglect the role of political and social activism through protests and agitations against any discrimination, we believe our main efforts need to be focused on bringing a change in the fundamental attitudes of people; and the Dhamma, as Babasaheb saw it, is the principal way to bring that about.

We found from the start that many people quickly understood this point when it was put to them clearly enough. However, we realised early on that we had to do something to help people with their social and economic problems, alongside our work of teaching the Dhamma.

Our motivation was partly a spontaneous response to the difficulties that we saw people faced around us – it would be inhuman to witness such injustice and not doing anything about it; and partly we wanted to show the power of Dhamma to change people’s life in many basic ways.

So, two other members of our Buddhist order came here from England - a doctor and a nurse. They set up a primary health care project among Dalit Buddhists in the Pune slums. They soon discovered that many children died because they got dysentery and parents did not know how to replace the salt and vitamins they lost. We were able to make some impact just by providing simple oral rehydration.

Later we also started many balwadis, as both parents usually went to work and children were left behind more or less on their own. At least we could give them some basic stimulation and education and two good meals a day.

In the end, however, we have stuck mainly to our primary emphasis. Although TBMSG is strictly non-party-political, we know that politics is necessary - but we leave that to others. We do our social work also to a limited extent, but we know that it is not our major contribution.

Our major contribution is to try to bring the practice of the Dhamma into the lives of ordinary men and women. We are trying to show that the Buddha-Dhamma is directly relevant to the situation that people face every day and that it will help them to live a happier and more successful life and to overcome the severe disadvantages from which they have suffered.

We also try to communicate that the Dhamma is the best basis for a new society in India, as Babasaheb taught us. Babasaheb refused violent revolution, although he could easily have started one: he believed that what India needed was a revolution based on the Dhamma. That is what we try to communicate and that is what we serve. We want to continue the Dhamma Revolution Babasaheb launched in India.

Babasaheb Ambedkar addressing the masses on 14th October, 1956 in Nagpur

It is now for more than half a century that Dalits are embracing Buddhism to break free from caste manacles. Fifty years of Ambedkarite Buddhism is a good enough time to reflect, to see where we are heading towards and the challenges that need to be overcome in order to have desired impact. According to you, what are challenges before Ambedkarite Buddhism?

There are many. I think the first one is to take Buddhism outside one Dalit community and one state. Babasaheb’s Buddhism has been largely confined for the last 50 years to Maharashtra and ex-Mahars. There is a strong need to take it to Dalits everywhere in the country if we are serious about the socio-cultural revolution that Babasaheb envisaged.

The second challenge is to overcome internal aspects of caste conditioning. This is a subject that interests me very much. I am from England and have become well aware of my own cultural conditioning, especially since spending time in India. We have a class system; we have there a history of racism too. Coming from that society, these are in me also and I have to work on them.

The same thing goes here. People have various kinds of conditioning that come with caste-ridden Indian society. Every Indian learns caste with their mother’s milk. So the general conditioning of caste every Indian has is quite a challenge for us to work with.

But there is special conditioning that people, who come from a Dalit background, from the bottom of the socio-economic heap, have, like lack of confidence, resentment that can’t be expressed directly and so comes out within the community rather than towards the oppressors, a sense of inferiority in relation to others socially and so on. All of this has to be worked upon.

Caste is so complex, so deep, and so protean - it is constantly changing and adapting to new politico-economic circumstances. I say it is like a chameleon in its constant adjustments. This poses a great challenge for all of us because it is deeply buried in the mind of India and re-emerges in new forms whenever the situation changes. Even when people convert to Buddhism, they bring some of these caste attitudes with them.

The third challenge is perhaps the hardest: to bring the Dhamma to the whole of Indian society. Dhamma is for all Indians no matter what their caste background is. Dr Ambedkar had this very clearly as his goal. He expected that, after the initial conversions in Nagpur, there would be a huge wave of conversions from educated and modern-minded Indians from all sections of society - but it didn’t happened. Things might have been different had Babasaheb lived longer.

The great danger is that Buddhism will be seen as merely a Dalit religion – indeed as a new caste denominator. Buddhism must not remain the religion of just one section of Indian society as a whole, otherwise caste will not be destroyed and liberty, equality, and fraternity will not be achieved.

Buddhism being reduced just to a new caste is indeed a great danger and we clearly witness this happening around us. How do we over come this?

We must overcome this danger of the marginalisation of Buddhism, referring back to Dr Ambedkar’s thoughts on conversion: Why did he choose Buddha Dhamma?

According to him, liberty, equality and fraternity can only be attained when there is a completely different set of ethical attitudes in Indian society.

In a caste-based society one does not see another person in terms of duties towards him or her as a human being, but as a member of a particular caste that stands in a particular relation to one’s own caste. Babasaheb says that this is not really ethics at all. Dr Ambedkar’s great insight was that society has to be based on some genuine ethical principles, not the pseudo-ethics of caste duty.

He says that you can only control a very small minority of incorrigible, anti-social elements by means of the police and law; the majority in society can only live in genuine harmony and respect for one another when all are guided by ethical principles, based on some spiritual vision – ’sacred and universal morality’. This sacred and universal morality is found in the Buddha-Dhamma: ‘Dhamma is morality: morality is Dhamma’.

His vision therefore applies not only to Dalits but to every member of Indian society. The great majority of the population needs at least to be touched by the transformative power of the Dhamma, if liberty, equality, and fraternity are to flourish. Our challenge is therefore to reach out to all the citizens of India, above and beyond all the divisions of caste and community.

There need to be different approaches for different sections of society. You have to approach Dalits through Dr Ambedkar, but if you approach others that way at first very few will respond. So, one has to approach them in some other way. But, yes, Dr Ambedkar has to be recognised by them before too long, because the social revolutionary dimension of Buddhism must be understood by them. They have to recognise their duties towards society as a whole.

Given the complete apathy and even active hostility shown by Indian civil society on issues pertaining to discrimination, deprivation and social exclusion this is going to be a very difficult task.

It is indeed. One of the problems with Indian society is that much of its middle class is completely amoral. It has no conscience. This is absolutely striking. People can ignore the sufferings of others right under their noses, right outside their front doors, right on the railway platforms beside them. I recently read a very interesting article by an ‘upper caste’ Indian academic in England, in which he writes that the Indian middle class has no social conscience. It created a huge furore among the Indian community in the UK – and questions were even asked in Parliament. They opposed him, but he stuck to his guns. Good for him – he is absolutely right.

I think this behaviour of Indian middle class is direct outcome of the caste system. We are too conditioned to worry about the sufferings of other people who do not belong to our castes. The only common factor in so called Indian middle class is probably their similar life styles otherwise it is just a collection of caste groups who only mingle within their groups or with comparable caste groups.

I would like to go a step further: the key issue is that caste completely negates human solidarity. It breaks society into exclusive solidarity groups. You have solidarity within each group but no solidarity outside – the only moment of collective solidarity is when a cricket match is going on against Pakistan!

So the major sense of ethical responsibility, if you can call it ethical at all, is towards your own community. It is however mainly a selfish solidarity, for the sake of mutual security, rather than a solidarity of human feeling. So this lack of social conscience is the result of the whole caste mindset that is so dominant in India. And that is why Dr Ambedkar says that we have got to have a new attitude and a new mindset. That he found in Buddhism, which is India’s true religion, the best of India.

There is quite a number of Indians from ‘upper caste’, middle class, educated back grounds who have come to Buddhism for the same sort of the reasons for which I came: personal anxiety, existential concerns - what is life for? why I am here? what is the purpose of my life? etc. Some may have been attracted due to social conscience but not many, I think.

So the challenge is to reach all sections of Indian society so that they may gain a genuine social conscience and feel their human solidarity with their oppressed brothers and sisters – and therefore work with them to change this terrible system.

What are the other challenges before Ambedkarite Buddhism?

Another challenge for us is to keep Dhamma related to social and political transformation. What do you do when you meet people and talk Dhamma with them and they say, ‘Well, I need a job?’ People say, ‘I want my children to get education’: what do you do then?

So we continuously need to reinforce the message that Dhamma is not merely about personal spiritual well being, as it is initially for many in the West, as it was for me. We need to engage with socio-economic issues. We believe that in the long run Dhamma is the answer, but in the mean time people are badly suffering and are severely mistreated. We need to address that.

We encourage people to help themselves, form Sangha, and help others. We have, for instance, an organisation in Pune, the Manuski Institute, which provides people with the information and tools to deal with caste-based atrocities and other related socio-economic issues.

But we need to keep the right balance: social work without the Dhamma ends up merely dealing with the symptoms of the problem, but Dhamma practice without social relevance becomes obscurantist, individualistic, and very subjective – and therefore not really Dhamma.

Dh. Subhuti with the members of National Network of Buddhist Youth (NNBY)

Buddhism is one of the world’s major religious traditions and therefore building linkages with wider Buddhist world was one of the main concerns of Babasaheb Ambedkar. As a practising Buddhist who is deeply involved with Buddhism as defined by Babasaheb, what are your observations on the wider Buddhist world?

Buddhism generally covers three worlds today: the old Buddhist world, the new Buddhist world of the West, and the revived Buddhist world of India.

The old Buddhist world of the East is not in good shape. There are signs of revival here and there, but it is severely battered by modernity and is often not impressive today as an example of a living faith, related to the modern situation. There are impressive people and impressive movements, but Buddhism overall is not that impressive in its old heartlands. The example before us at present is, of course, Sri Lankan Buddhism, a significant and leading proportion of whose followers are, frankly speaking, racists and have used Buddhism as a weapon of cultural dominance.

Then, you have got the new Buddhist world of the West that has emerged from what has been called the ‘Me generation’, which I myself in fact came from - spoilt children of the post-colonial west who have lived with silver spoons in their mouths and face quite different sets of problems from their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world, problems more of personal meaning and happiness. There is a strong tendency to individualism among western Buddhists and the Dhamma is often interpreted in quite narrow personal terms.

Then you have got Buddhist India, which I think is a very interesting intersection of the other two. For me, India is the key to the revival of Buddhism worldwide, because here the Buddhist movement is uncompromisingly modern and has a social conscience, as well.

This happened because Babasaheb, at least from one side, was the child of the European enlightenment, with its critical intellectual tradition, and at the same time he was also the child of the best of Indian culture: of the whole non-brahmanical shramanic traditions, of the Sant traditions represented by such as Kabir and so on, and above all of the Buddha.

So the movement initiated by him has the intellectually critical approach - if you like, the scientific approach - that is a principal feature of the modern world. Indian Buddhism is modern in this sense; on the other hand it is functioning in a traditional society with intact family structures, which we have lost to a considerable extent in much of the west, and it has a very strong commitment to social transformation.

In some ways, our Western Buddhist world shares more in common with India than the old Buddhist world of the East, because in our case we also started from a critical perspective. We in the west feel ourselves very much Buddhist, very much part of the Buddhist tradition, but we are not going to accept all aspects of it uncritically, and that is the position you take in India, following Babasaheb.

However, although there are similarities between Indian Buddhism today and western Buddhism, there are also discontinuities and some of these we should be careful to maintain. I don’t want to see western individualistic attitudes imported into India – although that is already happening, of course.

The social structure of India must change in very big ways: caste is the most obvious example, but there is also the status and treatment of women, so many of whom are subject to domination and violence. However there is much that must be preserved and not replaced by the rootlessness and individualism of the west.

As someone has said, we should ‘take the best from the west and leave the rest’! This is very much the same issue faced by the old Buddhist world, although in other respects Indian Buddhists do not share so much with them.

How do we, then, approach building linkages with the rest of the Buddhist world?

It is a great challenge to keep linkages with the rest of the Buddhist world, given the differences between its three spheres. Indian Buddhists need the help of other Buddhists, especially in the form of resources.

However, the rest of the Buddhist world needs the inspiration and example of Buddhism in India, even more than Indian Buddhists need the help of the rest of the Buddhist world. Dr Ambedkar’s Buddhist movement is, I believe, the best hope for Buddhism in the world today.

When people from the old Buddhist countries visit us here and witness the role that the Dhamma plays in transforming society, they get very inspired indeed. They become inspired not only because Buddhism is coming back to where it originated, but many of them genuinely feel that what is happening here is what they want in their country: a Buddhism that is very fresh and alive and related closely to the problems that people face in their ordinary lives.

For the Western Buddhist, Ambedkarite Buddhism is the antidote to subjectivism and psychologism, which is the plague of Buddhism there. It is so individualistic, so ‘choice based’ in the false sense – the ’spiritual supermarket’.

Buddhism is in fact the religion of choice but not of a whimsical choice. It has to be a solid and intelligent ethical choice, which is respectful of others and concerned with society.

So we need to keep this relationship between the Buddhist movement in India and Buddhist movements in the West and East. They have many differences from the Buddhism here but we have to see ourselves related to them, too.

A lot of Ambedkarite Buddhists are very dismissive of much of the old Buddhist world, for instance Tibetan Buddhism, believing that Tibetan Buddhism is degenerate. Now there is degeneration in Tibetan Buddhism, no doubt, but there is a great deal of Dhamma vitality there too. Not all is relevant for us, but I don’t think we should dismiss it out of hand.

My experience is that no matter what Buddhist traditions I look at, I find the presence of some essential Dhamma vitality. Degeneration, corruption, appropriation of tradition by powerful groups are inevitable and all human activities will have that, but you can find in all these traditions some living spiritual vitality somewhere. For instance, many of the most impressive spiritual personalities I have come across have been Tibetan Buddhists.

There are many things in most forms of traditional Buddhism that are not relevant for us and even dangerous for us in India. For instance I personally certainly have sympathy with much of Tibetan Buddhism, but so much of the imagery looks just like Hinduism and cannot therefore be communicated and practised widely here.

We do not want to encourage people to go back to the superstition that has supported their enslavement. I say leave it behind, leave it up in the Himalayas, and let’s go back to basics - let’s go back to the Buddha. We should respect these other Buddhists, honour them and not negate them as Buddhists. We just say that this or that is not relevant to us in India.

So I think we have a challenge to keep Ambedkarite Buddhism related to the wider Buddhist world without simply imitating it. We need to maintain our critical approach towards all traditions. This is our TBMSG approach: we are ecumenical, insofar as we do not align ourselves with any particular school or tradition and accept all in principle, but it is a critical ecumenical position - critical in the sense that we evaluate and discriminate what is valid and relevant for us from what is not.

Thanks so much for your elucidation on wider Buddhist world and its relationship with Ambedkarite Buddhism. I am very much sure that our readers would now have a very clear picture. Now I would like you to look back and assess the activities of TBMSG and tell us about its impact among Indian Buddhists.

In the first phase of our movement in India we were building institutions where Ambedkarite Buddhists could assemble together and engage with us through different activities like meditation, retreats, Dhamma talks etc. We were fortunate to have good support from Western Buddhists, then increasingly from Taiwan and the old Buddhist world of the East.

Nagaloka Buddhist Institute at Nagpur

We were able to create a number of impressive viharas and Dhamma centres, which are very important to give confidence and pride to the people. We have, for instance, a very nice vihara in Pune and then Nagaloka Buddhist Institute in Nagpur to train young people in Dhamma. TBMSG has also built a number of other places all around Maharashtra.

We have also established a certain amount of social work, especially setting up hostels where poor Dalit children from the villages and slums get the support and facilities they need to get a good education. We have established a number of other projects, such as literacy, HIV awareness, and rights advocacy. Although this is not our most important contribution, nonetheless it is very significant.

However, the achievement of TBMSG I most rejoice in is that many Indians have become full and equal members of our International Sangha – they constitute roughly a quarter of Triratna Bauddha Mahasangha as a whole. They are increasingly playing a key role in our movement here in India and worldwide. What is especially significant is that we now have Indian preceptors who give ordinations.

Urgyen Sangharakshita, who founded our Order, handed on his responsibilities as head of the Order to a team of Public Preceptors who give ordinations into the Order and form a kind of collective spiritual leadership – which we call the Preceptors’ College (in the sense of a council or team). There are now Indians in that College who are therefore responsible with their colleagues for the work of the Order worldwide.

One of our Indian Public Preceptors, Dhammachari Sudarshan, once told me his own experiences of caste discrimination – he used to walk several miles to school every day without water, because he would not submit to the humiliation of waiting for someone to pour it for him. His mother led the other Dalit women in their village to get water from the main well when the one set aside for them dried up. This sparked a big riot against them.

This is the background he came from. He got an education and became a Professor at the National Defence Academy. Then he joined our Order and is now a leading member. I feel very proud of what he has achieved – he is a real Ambedkarite of the old type and now he is a leading member of our Order internationally. (Tragically, since this interview was conducted, Dhammachari Sudarshan was killed in a car accident.)

TBMSG has also been successful in creating positive links between Buddhists inside and outside India. The great tragedy of Babasaheb’s premature death, within seven weeks of his conversion, was that it was not possible then to mobilise support from the old Buddhist world, which really was needed.  Babasaheb said traditional Buddhists would need to provide both manpower and money. I am sure he would have got that support, had he lived, because he was a man of international stature. But without him very little help came.

A little bit came from individual bhikkhus from Thailand and Sri Lanka but not very much initially. So we, I think, are pioneers in creating the link between the new Buddhist of the west and the Indian Buddhists, as well as between the Buddhists of the East and the Indian Buddhists.

Since last few years, TBMSG has come out of Maharashtra and has started working in different states like UP, Delhi etc.? What were the thoughts that went behind in bringing TBMSG to these places?

From very early on, Lokamitra and other Indian members of our organisation were sensitive to the fact that we needed to spread outside Maharashtra and we did begin work almost from the start, especially in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

We have always seen that there is a great danger in mainly talking to only one community, one caste – the ex-Mahars of Maharashtra. If Buddhism remains confined to only one caste it just becomes a new caste denominator and that is what has happened in Maharashtra, to some extent. Though we were very sensitive to this need to spread outside Maharashtra from the beginning, we were not able to do so much, because we were very tied up building and sustaining the basis of our movement.

Although we have certainly reached out beyond that one community and one state from the very beginning, for the last ten years or so, we have been feeling the urgency of the situation even more. Lokamitra established the Nagarjuna Training Institute at Nagaloka eight years ago and that has trained about 500 young people from 20 Indian states in the basics of Buddhism and Ambedkarism.

Some of us became particularly sensitive to this need to spread as the 50th anniversary of Babasaheb’s conversion approached. 50 years is a rather long time for the movement to be confined mainly to just one community in just one state.

Yes, the Maharashtrian Dalits have achieved a lot. They are a living example of the high value of Ambedkarite Buddhism for other Dalits anywhere in the country. They prove the effectiveness of the Dhamma. All the statistics shows that conversion to Buddhism works.

The educational standards of the Ambedkarite Buddhist community are much higher than any other comparable community in Maharashtra. Their social status is much higher and they are better organised, socially and politically. This has largely happened due to their following Babasaheb by embracing Buddhism. It has given them the self-confidence and sense of responsibility for their own lives they need in order to succeed.

They have achieved a lot but they are in great danger of isolation .We have been emphasising to Buddhists there to reach out to other Dalits, Tribals, and other backward communities - indeed to everyone who can be inspired to listen, because in the end everybody has to become Buddhist or nobody is a Buddhist. Everybody has to leave their caste; otherwise caste will go on and on, as it has gone on for thousands of years.

At first sight, the situation looks a little desperate – so many years after Babasaheb’s conversion and so little response from beyond the original Buddhist community and region. But when one looks more closely, one realises that Dr Ambedkar was far more successful than one might have thought. His example and influence has been decisive throughout the country.

Mr Kanshiram had a huge impact in revitalising Dr Ambedkar’s name and taking his philosophy to every nook and corner of the nation - for which we hail him greatly. Dr Ambedkar’s life and mission is like an earthquake that has shaken up the entire Indian society. And the tremors of that earthquake are still being felt.

All over India, in one way or another, people have started saying, ‘Enough is enough; we want change’. They are very strongly affected by the genuine democratic movement that has been inspired by Dr Ambedkar’s teachings. That movement consists of many facets. It appears to me as a large, disparate inchoate movement, having no one leader but thousands of leaders. I prefer that rather than a coherent, focused, ‘big man’ movement. We don’t want that any more.

As Babasaheb said, the age of Mahatmas is gone. We want grass root movements, coming from below, with many different people approaching very many issues with different attitudes, styles and concerns and we see ourselves as part of this very broad movement, making our own distinctive contribution.

With these thoughts in our mind we have now started concentrating on working with Ambedkarite Dalits in different parts of the country, I myself, particularly in North India.

What is your first impression while working in North India?

I find Buddhism here more interesting. To start with it is not just about one caste. You will find people from many Dalit communities, some Tribals, some OBCs, all interested in Buddhism. There is much more diversity here. I think this is largely due to Mr Kanshiram’s ‘Bahujan’ concept. I feel very excited about the potential here for spreading the Dhamma and for the Dhamma to have a real impact on society.

What have been your relationships with other Buddhist organisations in India like Mahabodhi society, All India Bhikkhu Maha Sangha etc. given that most of them represent different Buddhist traditions?

To speak of relationships with other organisations is in a way misleading. I think essentially the relations have to be personal ones between people devoted to Dhamma in different traditions and different organisations, not between organisations. On this basis we can say we have got a full spectrum of relationships with individuals in different groups, ranging from excellent friendships to people who might view us with some degree of doubt.

One major issue in our relationships with some other Buddhists in India is that in our Order we do not give any special place to bhikkhus. Our Order is based on the principle of Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels, which we believe is more important than the lifestyle you follow, and our Order consists of lay people and anagarikas, some of whom choose to wear the yellow robe – but all of whom share the same ordination and status, whether monk or lay, male or female.

We value the renunciant life very highly and we are all encouraged to move towards it, but anagarikas are not given any special status, beyond what their own personal merits justify.

It seems to us there is something not very healthy about the rather extreme hierarchical relationship there often is between bhikkhus and lay people. Some scholars believe that this developed in the early middle ages as Buddhism began to compete more and more with resurgent Brahminism: the role of the bhikkhu, they think, was modelled on that of the Brahmin so that they could out-compete them in the quest for offerings.

It seems often that lay people treat bhikkhus as a source of quasi-magical blessing, rather than as examples of a more intensive Dhamma life. We do not think this is helpful. We do not believe that anybody should be honoured simply because they wear a robe. We say we should honour anybody who is respect-worthy, monk or lay.

We know, and many bhikkhus also know, that many of them are not really proper monks and are simply living on the dana without doing anything for the Dhamma or for the people. Babasaheb spoke of the bhikkhu Sangha, in ‘The Buddha and the Future of His Religion’, as a ‘huge army of idlers’ and there is still some truth in this.

So we are not going to believe in people automatically, just because they are wearing robes. We don’t believe that the robe itself is worthy of honour – this again sounds like the old religion. It is the man or woman who is worthy of honour, not the clothes they wear.

We will honour people if they are doing good work and show themselves to be respect worthy – but respect should be earned: surely that is the lesson of thousands of years of caste. And we Dhammacharis and Dhammacharinis expect the same for ourselves. We don’t expect anybody to show respect for us automatically or accept us simply on who we say we are.

We just want to be accepted as sons and daughters of the Buddha and of Babasaheb, and if we are doing something good, give us a garland - if not, then we don’t mind. But some people seem to expect that respect should be given simply to the robe and take offence at our approach, although no offence is intended. That has been one major source of misunderstanding.

We don’t however go to the other extreme and dismiss bhikkhus out of hand, of course. There are many worthy bhikkhus and bhikkhunis and we do honour them – just as we honour worthy lay-people. We have excellent relationships with many bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. But we do not believe it is healthy to put people on the platform just because they are in a robe or because they are powerful and well known.

Another source of contention and misunderstanding is that we are very deliberately non-party-political. Politics is very important, but we have a role independent of politics, which we believe is beneficial for the Buddhist and Dalit world in general. Of course the practice of the Dhamma is a political act, in the sense that it naturally changes society.

According to Babasaheb, Democracy ultimately is a state of mind and is equal to bandhutva, which is equal to maitri, and that is what Dhamma teaches people to develop. So we very much see ourselves as politically active, in that sense. But we don’t take political platforms or support any particular party, apart from in the privacy of the ballot box, if we are entitled to vote.

Indians have this tendency of treating themselves as ‘the teachers of world’: ‘We have taught everything to the world,’ especially in the religious and spiritual sphere. How do they take a westerner preaching to them about the Buddha and his teachings? Did your foreign origin become a matter of concern while working in India?

I never came across it as a concern in a very serious way. There have been some comments and criticisms, but very few and usually as a sub-issue to something else – ‘and he’s a foreigner!’. In our Order worldwide, the principal leaders still happen to be westerners, because the Order started in the West and has a head start there. But there are now Indian Order members who are playing a very active and leading part and certainly do not just do what we say.

I think it very likely that within the next ten or twenty years Indians will be the principal leaders. One Indian Order member, with an Ambedkarite background, is already the leader of our centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Indeed, I think, the fact that I am a foreigner is often very useful because I stand outside the caste system of India. I am caste blind. I can’t be bracketed in any caste. I can’t respond to you in a caste way. I have begun to learn the caste differences but still in very theoretical way. I have none of the visceral caste responses that most Indians have.

I do identify very strongly with my Buddhist friends and get indignant when so called ‘upper’ caste people ignore me when they hear that I am a Buddhist - they immediately understand that Buddhist means Ambedkarite. Often, once they realise I am working with Ambedkarites, the conversation ends.

One of the biggest lacunas in Dalit movement has been the total lack of robust student/youth movements? How you are going to link Buddhist movement with the Dalit students residing in the campuses?

We are very much aware of the need for working with the student community. Towards this end we have, for instance, initiated our National Network of Buddhist Youth (NNBY), just two years ago, and we are active on a number of campuses, for instance we have a small and very dynamic group at JNU. NNBY is part of our attempt to create a Buddhist wing for the Dalit youth movement. We completely agree that there is a need for a Buddhist contribution to the Dalit youth movement. However, again we believe that all Buddhist organisations should be based on serious commitment to the practice of the Dhamma and on strong and deep human friendships. If these are not present, no organisation can be fully and truly Buddhist.

By  Pardeep Singh Attri

Interesting news which caught my eye today (January 16^th, 2010) “Human Resource Department’s internal appraisals of ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ showing most of its physical target’s for 2009-10 are set to be fully achieved.” – With 85% schools opened of set target, 78% teachers, 92% schools with drinking water, providing free textbooks to 92% school students.

Keeping the Muslims down

Are all the governments working for all these? Are all the children getting chance for betterment or this scheme also have just proved like just another government scheme, those never reaches to common people and common people read and listen about them only on T.V channel advertisements?

There are about 45% Dalits who don’t know how to read or write and the literacy rate for Dalit women is just 37.8%.

According to a survey by the Friends for Education, almost 52 % Muslims live below the poverty line (compared to 25 % of all Indians). Of every 100 Muslim girls admitted in schools at the primary level, only four pass out at high school while only 1 makes it to a college. The literacy level is a shocking 28% and graduates and postgraduates form less than 1 % of the total.

In the field of medicine, the percentage is just 2.4 while in the judiciary; it doesn’t go beyond 3.1 %. The community occupies the lowest rung in the development index. Its literacy rate is poor and it has a low presence in private and public sector jobs. ( reference- “Keeping the Muslim Down” by Firoz Bakhtt Ahmed, May 19 2008, HT)

A Citizen’s Review Report (7^th Jan, 2008) on “India’s Progress on the MDGs” showed that 55% of Muslims have never attended school compared to national average of 41% (rural); In Bihar 86% of enrolled children drop-out by Standard VI. 99% Dalit children study in Public schools & inadequate facilities and infrastructure as major problem for access to health & education.

There is another report by Comptroller & Audit General (CAG) showing that SC, ST’s literacy rate is very much poor in Tamil Nadu. For ST males’ literacy rate is 32.18% & for female it stands at 31.77%. Also the pass percentage of SC, ST students in 10 & 12standard examinations has dropped since 2002-03 and is much lower than the overall pass percentage during 2002-06 and this needs immediate attention in the educational development of the SC, STs.

This all is result of poor monitoring & poor implementation of the welfare schemes launched for SC, STs; humiliating Dalits in schools/colleges & delaying the scholarships for SC, STs students.

The total budget for ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ stands at Rs.131 billion and the scheme’s operation has come under severe flak from India’s official auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Out of Rs 8004.71-crore allotted for the development work of “Elementary Education” and ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, only Rs 2,324.99 crore was spent through record. For rest of the money spent on the development work there no records available & Human Resource Department is clueless about rest of the money!

It means rest of the money was simply siphoned off. In this Gujarat and Rajasthan governments come first in misusing the funds!

From the funds of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan party functions were organized & money was simply wasted on “Puja” in temples, thinking this will help in improving literacy rate!

Almost all the times, receiving green signal from ‘World Bank’ about the next installment for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Indian political leaders have started celebrating and why they shouldn’t? But if this Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan couldn’t fulfill the targets of giving education to all, this entire scheme has definitely made many policy makers millionaire! “Education for All Children” movement has proved “Money for All Politicians” nothing else.

A survey conducted by “Outlook” (April 7, 2008) showed that 71% villagers said there is high corruption in all the Government schemes & don’t reach at them. India’s external debt is already at 201.4 billion USD, but where the development is seen, in the houses of ministers? Isn’t it?

There is another worrisome part an emerging trend whereby children belonging to different social backgrounds are attending different kinds of schools. In Andhra Pradesh, there is a divide between the government primary school (GPS) located in the Dalit basti and the GPS in the forward caste hamlet — only SC students attend the former school, while the latter has very few SC students. The youth in the SC colony in the village categorically stated that even if children from the SC colony try to seek admission in the other GPS, they are discouraged and told to attend the school in their own colony.

A similar divide was observed in Tamil Nadu between the GPS and the schools run by the Adi-Dravida Welfare Board. (“Beyond the numbers” study conducted by Vimala Ramachandran)

Fifth ‘All India Educational Survey’ (AIES) showed that approximately 94% of the national population had access to a primary school within 1 km of their habitation. But how many of these children complete primary educations? This should be our main concern, not merely constructing buildings with no teacher.

All state governments are washing their hands by giving different reasons like “Hard to reach”, “Most difficult to access group” for the children those are not attending schools right now and no government is ready to take the responsibility that their welfare schemes are nothing but eye-wash/fraud on the name of welfare! There is money, money & money everywhere but before spending governments must make the schemes efficient so as social, economical, educational status can be raised.

One survey showed that about 40% of the money borrowed from ‘World Bank’ directly or indirectly goes back to them as a fee of consultancy, i.e. Indian Governments/policy makers are not able to chalk out the proper plans. Almost all the Government schemes have proved fake paper tigers only! There is an urgent need to support social reformation of SC/STs, Muslims and other minority communities to promote literacy.

Unknown Future

Lessons to be learnt:

• More than 40% students (50-60% in case of Dalits) are still out of schools, despite HRD’s claims of getting successful in enrolling more than 96% students in schools.
• Not all the schools have toilets, which affects chances of many girls’ education.
• Literacy rate has not improved a bit! Sub-Saharan Africa countries where people don’t even have enough food their literacy rate is higher (61.2%) than India (61%) - Source: 2000-2004 data from the “Education for All Global Monitoring Report”, UNESCO (2006)
• Over 71% schools have less than 3 teachers.
• Only 38% class V students in rural areas can divide simple numbers. In Tamil Nadu, only 19% children of class V can read sentence while in Uttar Pradesh it is 14%, according to annual audit by education NGO Pratham (16^th January, 2010).
• There has been a huge misuse of funds, which needs to be controlled. Monitoring and supervision of ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ program failed totally.

]]> http://blog.insightyv.com/?feed=rss2&p=1137 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=1127 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=1127#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:44:01 +0000 Pardeep Attri http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=1127 Honouring Dalits with Blood

By Pardeep Singh Attri

Never changing story: A Balmiki woman surveys her ransacked home Jhajjar. Gohana. And now Salwan, where ‘justice’ by a caste panchayat saw dalit bastis looted and burnt.

Once, I asked writers who had already written on the issue of ‘Khap Panchayats’ that “what’s the role played by caste in the brutalities of ‘Khap Panchayat’ i.e. how Dalits suffer in ‘Khap Panchayat’ system?

They replied there is no such survey or measure available to check out this, ‘Dalits’ are killed when they marry into another caste but in Haryana the problem is of ‘Khap’ (marrying within ‘Khap’), the other replied ‘Khap Panchayats’ are against modernization’ not against “Dalit’.

I wasn’t satisfied with the answers, so I tried to search and write this article explaining with brief history what led to the increase in the number of Khap Panchayat’s illegal decrees, ‘fatwas’ against Dalits.

‘Khap’ (group of 84 villages) is a system of social administration and organization in northern India (highly influenctial in Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh).

Khap Panchayat’s whole-sole motive/purpose is to work and maintain clan/caste system alive (which they have done with perfection!) and they have always worked as anti-Dalit, anti-women, and anti-modernization.

Sometimes these ‘Khap Panchayats’ are equated with ‘Kangaroo Courts’, which are the ‘sham legal proceedings’ and which are set-up in order to give the impression of a fair legal process.

Why  Landlords Are Furious

Jajmani system under which there was some interdependence between the landlords and Dalit agricultural labors, but after the green revolution (in 1970s) the dependence of Dalits on landlords decreased to some extent. This Jajmani system was broken up and Dalits got liberated from bonded labors after green revolution.

What troubled more was ‘73^rd amendment (in 1992) of Indian constitution’ which reserved seats for Dalits in Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis, Zilla Parishids (district councils) according to the Dalit population. Now, it was obvious for so called upper caste landlords to be annoyed with Dalits as Dalits were ready to sit beside them.

How could upper caste people have tolerated this when they have been forcing Dalits to drink their urine in ‘juttis’ (shoes, slippers) for thousands of years? Is there any need to discuss about reservation’s impact on the social status of Dalits? Reservation has always made anxious to so called upper caste people.

Another reason for the increased visibilities of such crimes is the rise in global level education, economic opportunities for everyone (including Dalits) in Haryana, which made possible love/inter-caste/inter-community marriages.

I agree to some extent when people say ‘Khap Panchayats’ are against modernization as ‘Khap Panchayats’ banned playing cricket at many places like in district Jind (Haryana) after the poor performance of team India in world cup. Ban hardly remained in force for few weeks afterwards everyone forgot about the ban and cricket become as popular as it was.

In another district, Rohtak (Haryana) ‘Khap Panchayats’ banned the usage of DJ’s in marriages giving the reason that it ‘disturbs animals’, it was done under ‘animal welfare’! They value animals more than human!

In places like Rajasthan, state government has established “Rajasthan GAO (cow) Seva commission.” In this scheme, special shelters are being created for 6 Lac cows. In addition to this 5 Arab, 24 crores & 85 Lakhs rupees has already been spent by Rajasthan Govts on these cows. These bans were effective for few days only, but the ban on expelling Dalits from village, boycotting Dalits remains effective life long.

Righteous Kill: Stark Realities

It is estimated that every year hundreds of married couples are murdered, are asked to leave the village, are asked to break their marriages and accept each other as brother-sister, are paraded naked, and their faces blackened by their families in order to regain/retain ‘family honour’, on the ill-fated instructions of ‘Khap Panchayat’. And mostly those suffering in these crimes are Dalits. The decisions about killing, burning homes, raping Dalit women etc are taken by these “Khap Panchayats” collectively at the open places without any fear.

It’s not always the family of the boy or girl (as promoted by these ‘Khap Panchayat’) who kills or orders to kill but the ‘Khap Panchayat’ members play an active role in executing rapes and murders. If they (boy/girl) escape, their family members are murdered/killed, gang-raped or fined heavily.

In Jhajjar, (Haryana) which is developing fast (coming NTPC thermal power plant and AIIMS-like hospital) but the condition of Dalits is as miserable as was 100s of years ago in the area. Social boycott of Dalits in this area is common thing. Number of cases of caste killing/honour killing are being reported from this area. Recently, an upper caste girl tried to marry a lower-caste boy, the girl’s sister was helping in this. Both the girls were found dead in next day.

In Dadri, District Bhiwani of Haryana caste panchayat ordered boycott of the newlywed couple, ordered them to ‘escape from village’ and their families were fined heavily. Two years back in district Kaithal (Haryana) a couple was killed and their bodies were thrown in river on the orders of these ‘Caste Panchayats’, in another case, a couple was killed and their dead bodies were kept in front of everyone in village so that ‘everyone can learn a lesson from this’.

Caste Panchayats have outgrown their function as local dispensers of justice. Today, they are epitomes of cruelty. (Photo Credit: Outlook India)

All these acts of ‘Khap Panchayats’ are not limited to Haryana only, you can see the impact of ‘Khap Panchayats’ in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab also. Recently, in district Muzaffarpur of Uttar Pradesh a women was raped by her ‘father in law’ and ‘Khap Panchayat’ ordered she should accept her ‘husband as a son.’

In another district Saharanpur, a 40 year old women was paraded naked in the village and ‘Khap Panchayat’ ordered the rape of her 17 year old daughter and people acted on the same lines. Police didn’t even register the case. In Meerut district, the same almost happened when a inter-caste marriage happened.

After two days of ‘International Human Rights Day’, on 12^th December, 2009 while commuting death sentences of two persons involved in honour killings ‘Supreme Court’ accepted ‘caste’ as a ‘stark reality’ in honour killings and said “The ‘caste’ is such a concept that grips a person even before his birth and does not leave him even after his death the vicious grip of the caste, community, religion, though totally unjustified, is a stark reality.”

On the same day (12 December, 2009) another landmark judgment came from Judicial Magistrate, (though after 11 years of case proceedings!) which imposed fine on ‘Khap Panchayat’ for issuing a fatwa excommunicating a person from the ‘Khap’ and calling for his social boycott. This is the first time that any court in Haryana has penalized a ‘Khap Panchayat’.

In another news on 25November, 2009 ‘The International Jat Intellectual Meet’ calls for drive against honour killings. I seriously doubt the goodwill intentions of these decisions as this can be just to show the ‘world’ that we are concerned about humanity/mankind while celebrating ‘International Human Rights Day’.

Nothing happens to people like Mahendra Singh Tikait, farmer leader in western Uttar Pradesh when speaking on behalf of ‘Khap Panchayats’ he makes comments like ‘only whores chose their own partners.’ Why no action was taken against him, who degraded the whole of women society?

Denying ‘Constitution’, Implementing ‘Manusmriti’

Article 13(1) and 13(2) of ‘Constitution’ deals with the “Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights” and it’s clearly written under Article 13(1) “All laws in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of this Constitution, in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be void.” and

Article 13(3a) “ ‘law’ includes any Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule, regulation, notification, custom or usage having in the territory of India the force of law.”

Though everything is written so plainly in the ‘Constitution’ of India about the equal rights for everyone, irrespective of religion, caste, color, creed, etc; even today after 60 years of Independence, ‘Khap Panchayat’ are greatly influential and are capable of petrifying people in the northern region. By keeping ‘Khap Panchayats’ alive aren’t Government’s trying to make Manu smile?

On The Part of Governments and Dalits

Much has been written and said about the issue of ‘Khap Panchayats’ by intellectuals and academicians but there has always been a lack of any initiative to dissolve ‘Khap Panchayats’ or call them illegal on the part of the Government. Not even a single leader has ever stood against, instead many local leaders of congress and other parties have glorified acts of ‘Khap Panchayat’ this cruel system, which may be because of Government’s own petty political reasons.

Another thing, why all these killings are clubbed together in the list of ‘murders’, if we can have separate laws for ‘Sati’ and ‘Dowry’ then why can’t we have separate special laws to handle crimes by ‘Khap Panchayats’?

Lack of representation of Dalits in police and print media is also a severe problem. Further, serious issue is of divisions among Dalits and lack of able Dalit leadership in the region, people in the name of Dr Ambedkar are fighting to prove that they are real ‘Karva Pullers’ of Dr Ambedkar, but reality lies somewhere else!

There is a strong need of active participation of everyone including NGOs, police, Panchayat bodies and serious/strong laws (not merely paper tigers!) against the crimes of ‘Khap Panchayat”.

P.S.: I am grateful to Advocate Dr S L Virdi, being my source of inspiration, encouragement and whose article on the same issue published in Punjabi magazine “Begampura Saher” was helpful for fulfilling my quest.

By Pardeep Singh Attri

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened - Buddha

Savitribai Phule (1831-1897), one of the supreme names who fought against the totalitarianism of caste and other social evils in India.  She was born in Naigaon, (Tha. Khandala, Distt. Satara) her father’s name was Khandoji Nevse and mother’s name was Lakshmi.

Historians, who are ought to be free from fear, sincere, open minded, open hearted, truth seeker and also have courage to show the truth at any cost. But it’s unfortunate that historians have shown distorted picture and did not show the truth to the people. As a result of this, almost everyone confuses history with fiction & historians have made people blind, deaf & dumb – have disabled people from thinking rationally.

I have always wondered why the “Teacher’s day” is not celebrated on the birthday of Savitribai Phule, the lady who started first ever school for the downtrodden.

Mahatma Jotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule were first among the people who declared war against Casteism and Brahminic-Casteist culture. The Maharashtrian pioneering couple led mass movement of uniting oppressed class against the Brahminic values and thinking. Savitribai Phule worked as an equal partner in the mission of uplifting the poor and oppressed people.

Though, she was formerly uneducated, she was encouraged and motivated by Mahatma Jotiba Phule to study. Later on she became the first lady teacher of the school started by her husband. Life of Savitribai Phule as a teacher in the school at the time when upper caste orthodox people used to look down wasn’t easy and many a times they used to pelt stones and throw dung on her.

The young couple faced severe opposition from almost all sections. Savitribai was subject to intense harassment everyday as she walked to the school. Stones, mud and dirt were flung at her as she passed. But Savitribai Phule faced everything courageously.

Savitribai Phule was the first Dalit woman, in-fact the first woman whose poems got noticed in the British Empire. Savitribai Phule was the mother of modern poetry stressing necessity of English and Education through her poems.

Go, Get Education

Be self-reliant, be industrious

Work—gather wisdom and riches,

All gets lost without knowledge

We become animal without wisdom,

Sit idle no more, go, get education

End misery of the oppressed and forsaken,

You´ve got a golden chance to learn

So learn and break the chains of caste.

Throw away the Brahman’s scriptures fast.

– Poem by Savitribai Phule

At a time when even the shadow of untouchables was considered impure, when the people were unwilling to offer water to thirsty untouchables, Savitribai Phule and Mahatma Jotiba Phule opened the well in their house for the use by untouchables. It was a challenge thrown at the Brahmins to change their mindset towards untouchables. But even after almost 200 years, dalit (untouchables) still strive for water rights.

They took initiative to give education to downtrodden, thinking that education is necessary for the restoration of social and cultural values. Savitribai Phule started ‘Mahila Seva Mandal’ in 1852, which worked for raising women’s consciousness about their human rights, dignity of life and other social issues. She went on to organise a successful barbers’ strike in Mumbai and Pune against the prevailing practice of shaving of widows’ heads.

During the 1876 to 1898 famines, Savitribai Phule worked courageously with her husband and suggested many new ways to overcome the difficult time.  They started distributing free food at many locations. She died while she was nursing a plague- affected child — she got infected while serving the affected people.

Rationally thinking people will definitely question, how could it be possible that the name of such a legend (Savitribai Phule) is omitted from the history books, when names like “Jhansi ki Rani”; Lakshmibai and names of wives and ‘girl-friends’ of Gandhi-Nehru family are given in history books?

Women of the Indian society are not aware of the greatness of Savitribai Phule, who dared to pursue the noble profession of ’teaching’ in the ‘Dark Age’. She dared to speak against the unpardonable boundaries imposed on women in Indian society, for which today’s women should be grateful to her.

Braj Ranjan Mani writes:

Savitribai Phule (1831-97), struggled and suffered with her revolutionary husband in an equal measure, but remains obscured due to casteist and sexist negligence. Apart from her identity as Jotirao Phule’s wife, she is little known even in academia. Modern India’s first woman teacher, a radical exponent of mass and female education, a champion of women’s liberation, a pioneer of engaged poetry, a courageous mass leader who took on the forces of caste and patriarchy certainly had her independent identity and contribution. It is indeed a measure of the ruthlessness of elite-controlled knowledge-production that a figure as important as Savitribai Phule fails to find any mention in the history of modern India. Her life and struggle deserves to be appreciated by a wider spectrum, and made known to non-Marathi people as well.

By Pardeep Singh Attri

“If we wish to be free, we must fight. Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” – Patrick Henry (March, 1775)

Bhima Koregaon Pillar: Honouring the Bravery of Untouchable Soldiers

History of India is nothing but the struggle between untouchables and so called upper castes. However the Indian historians have always misled us by not showing the true face of Indian History.

The glorious victory of few hundred untouchable soldiers over numerically superior Peshwa’s army in the battle of Koregaon, fought on 1st January, 1818, is one such chapter in Indian history whose significance has been carefully hidden.

On that day, when many were busy celebrating the new year, a small force of 500 mahar (an untouchable caste in Maharashtra) soldiers in the British army were preparing for a war against the most brutal Indian state of that times – Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune, Maharashtra.

In the history books, this battle is considered an important one and is known as second Anglo-Maratha war that resulted in the total destruction of Peshwa kingdom and sealed the victory of British Empire in India. However, there is a different historical dimension to this war that all of us need to be aware of.

This war was also between the Indian untouchables (who were condemned to live a life so miserable that you might not find any parallels in the world history) and Brahminism (manifested through brahmin rulers from Pune).

For mahar soldiers, this was not just another battle but it was their battle for self-respect, dignity and against the supremacy of Manusmriti. And these soldiers, just 500 of them, defeated the Peshwa army of over 30,000 in just one day. Their victory against a mighty force is perhaps unparallel in Indian history.

Maharashtrian society under brahmin’s rule followed worst form of social discrimination based on caste wherein the lower strata of society such as untouchables were confined to the stringent Brahmanical laws and subsequently their mobility and development were impaired.

The untouchables had to carry a broom stick attached to their backs so that when they enter into city, their footprints would not pollute the path. They were forced to put a pot around their neck to carry their spit in the pot. They were not allowed to hold any arms and education was completely barred. Untouchables were killed if they did not follow these restrictions. Bhima-Koregaon battle was the answer of the untouchables to the brahmin ruling class of the country.

The Battle

This battle took place on January 1st, 1818, near the banks of Bhima River in Koregaon (north-west of Pune) between few hundred mahar soldiers from the British regiment of ‘Bombay Native Light Infantry’ and the Peshwa army that constituted 20,000 horsemen and 8,000 infantry soldiers. After marching down for more than 27 miles, from Shirur to Bhima Koregaon without food and water, the untouchable warriors fought the Peshwa’s army for next 12 hours and by the end of the day defeated them completely.

This battle is significant for many reasons. First, British army fought this battle with a minuscule army expecting the worst. Secondly, the battle of Koregaon was one of the most important events which helped British to tear down the Peshwa Empire and subsequently the Peshwa had to abdicate. Thirdly and most importantly, it was an attempt by the untouchables of Maharashtra to break the shackles of the age-old caste order.

The Memory

A stamp issued by Indian Government in 1981

The men of the Bombay Native Infantry, who fought in this battle, were honored for their bravery. The official report to the British Residents at Poona recalls the “heroic valour and enduring fortitude” of the soldiers, the “disciplined intrepidity” and “devoted courage and admirable consistency” of their actions.

Much praise was showered on the untouchable soldiers, “…who endured the rigours of difficult marches when rations were low and diseases were high among men and animals. Whether they were charging ahead or were besieged or taken prisoner-of-war, whether they were storming fortresses or making tactical withdrawals, they always stood steadfast by their officers and comrades, never letting down the honour of their Regiments.”

The saga of the bravery of mahar soldiers was commemorated by the British in 1851, when they erected a Pillar (Vijay Stambh) at Koregaon inscribing the names of 22 mahar soldiers who were martyred in this battle. The pillar still stands today reminding all of us about the bravery of our forefathers and as an inspiration for our struggle against caste-system.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar also used to visit Koregaon every year on 1st January to pay homage to the untouchable soldiers and to exhort Dalits to show similar courage and determination to end brahminism from the entire country. On 1st January, 1927, he organised a big convention in Koregaon and brought the memories of bravery of the untouchable soldiers in public knowledge.

On this and every New Year eve, rather than indulging ourselves in mindless revelry let all of us pay rich tributes to our heroic forefathers who, through their bravery and courage, tore down the powerful Peshwai and brought freedom for untouchables from the fanatic brahmin rulers who ruled the land according to the diktat from Manusmriti. It is also a powerful occasion for all of us to become little more aware towards our rich history.

Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University is located at Wardha, near Nagpur, Maharashtra.  Formed in 1997 to promote and develop Hindi languague and literature, this University was established by Union government through Act of  Indian Parliament.  However, like any other educational instituion of the country, this university also has turn itself into a brahmanical space reverberating with nepotism and anti-Dalit/caste prejudices. Given below is the chargesheet prepared by Dalit students, who have been protesting against the University administration for quite some time. What is happening in this University is nothing peculiar but is just one reflection of the debasement of our university system. Is Pandit Ramchandra Guha listening?

The following peice has been taken from a blog [http://mgahv.blogspot.com/] run by the University students. We will shortly publish this peice in English too.

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देश भर में धर्मनिरपेक्ष प्रशासक की छवि निर्मित करने वाले पुलिस अधिकारी विभूति नारायण राय के महात्मा गांधी अंतरराष्ट्रीय हिन्दी विश्वविद्यालय में कुलपति बनने के बाद दलितों का उत्पीड़न तेजी के साथ बढ़ा है। क्या कोई धर्मनिरपेक्षवादी जातिवादी नहीं हो सकता है ? दलित उत्पीड़न की घटनाएं एक नई बहस खड़ी करती है।
——–

Dalit students sitting on protest in the campus

1. विश्वविद्यालय के अनुवाद विद्यापीठ में राहुल कांबले ने एम फिल की परीक्षा में टॉप ( स्वर्ण पदक) किया लेकिन पीएचडी में उसका नामांकन नहीं किया गया।अनुवाद विद्यापीठ में दो विद्यार्थियों का ही नामांकन करने का फैसला विश्वविद्यालय ने किया। पीएच.डी. के लिए चयनित विद्यार्थियों में राहुल कांबले को तीसरे नंबर पर दिखाया गया। लेकिन जब चयनित दो विद्यार्थियों में से एक विद्यार्थी ने अनुवाद विद्यापीठ में पीएचडी में नामांकन नहीं लिया तो राहुल ने अपना दावा पेश किया। लेकिन लगातार तीन महीने तक उसे प्रताड़ित किया गया। उसने नामांकन की पूरी प्रक्रिया को समझने के लिए सूचना के अधिकार के तहत विश्वविद्यालय प्रशासन से जानकारी मांगी थी।

अनुवाद विद्यापीठ के डीन प्रो. आत्मप्रकाश श्रीवास्तव ने सूचना का अधिकार कानून का इस्तेमाल करने की आड़ लेकर राहुल का नामांकन लेने से मना कर दिया। राहुल कुलपति विभूति नारायण राय के समक्ष अपनी फरियाद लेकर गया। लेकिन कुलपति ने बजाय उसके साथ न्याय करने के प्रो. आत्म प्रकाश श्रीवास्तव से माफी मांगने का निर्देश दिया। राहुल ने प्रो. आत्म प्रकाश श्रीवास्तव से चार बार माफी मांगी। उनके पैर तक पकड़े। लेकिन कुलपति ने नामांकन की स्वीकृति नहीं दी। आखिरकार राहुल ने आंदोलन करने की चेतावनी दी।

आम्बेडकर स्टूडेंट्स फोरम ने राहुल के मामले को उठाया। 8 दिसंबर को विश्वविद्यालय ने दीक्षांत समारोह का आयोजन किया था। दलित छात्रों ने उसका बहिष्कार किया। दलित छात्रों का बड़ा हिस्सा दीक्षांत समारोह में दिए जाने वाले पदकों को लेने  नहीं गया। उसी दिन राहुल कांबले आमरण अनशन पर भी बैठ गया। उसके बाद उसके समर्थन में कई दलित छात्र क्रमवार अनशन पर बैठने लगे। जबकि दीक्षांत समारोह में शामिल होने के लिए आए विश्वविद्यालय अनुदान आयोग के अध्यक्ष डा. सुखदेव थोरात ने अनशन कर रहे विद्यार्थियों के पास जाकर उनके प्रति अपनी सहानुभूति प्रगट की। लेकिन डा. थोरात के कहने के बावजूद विश्वविद्यालय प्रशासन राहुल का नामांकन लेने को तैयार नहीं हुआ।

विद्यार्थियों ने कुलाधिपति नामवर सिंह से भी मुलाकात की। उन्होंने कहा कि दलितों का जितना नामांकन गांधी के विश्वविद्यालय में होता है उतना अम्बेडकर विश्वविद्यालयों में भी नहीं होता होगा।डा. नामवर सिंह से विद्यार्थियों ने अनशन स्थल पर आने का अनुरोध किया लेकिन दो दिनों तक अनशन स्थल से सौ कदम की दूरी पर रहने के बावजूद वे अनशनकारी विद्यार्थियों से मिलने नहीं गए। कुलपति लगातार कई दिनों तक अनशन स्थल के बगल से ही सुबह टहलने के लिए निकलते रहे, लेकिन उन्होंने विद्यार्थियों से मिलने व बातचीत करने की जरूरत नहीं महसूस की। उन्होंने कहा कि विद्यार्थी छह माह और छह वर्ष तक भी आंदोलन करेंगे तो उनका नामांकन नहीं हो सकता है।

प्रति कुलपति मानवशास्त्री डा. नदीम हसनैन को यह दुख हुआ कि विद्यार्थियों के अनशन की वजह से उन्हें सुबह टहलने का अपना रास्ता बदलना पड़ा। ट्रेड यूनियन आंदोलन की पृष्टभूमि वाले विशेष कर्तव्य अधिकारी राकेश (श्रीवास्तव) ने कहा कि वर्धा जले या महाराष्ट्र या हिन्दुस्तान, राहुल का नामांकन नहीं किया जाएगा। दलित विद्यार्थी लगातार संघर्ष करते रहे।

2- पिछले सत्र में विभूति नारायण राय के कार्यभार संभालने के बाद विश्वविद्यालय में जे आर एफ पाने वाले पहले छात्र संतोष बघेल को तुलनात्मक साहित्य में पीएचडी में नामांकन देने से मना कर दिया गया। संतोष विश्वविद्यालय में पदक प्राप्त मेधावी छात्र रहा है। नामांकन नहीं किए जाने की स्थिति में संतोष बघेल को आंदोलन का रास्ता अपनाना पड़ा। दलित विधार्थियों ने जिला प्रशासन के सामने जाकर अनशन किया। लेकिन अनशन के दौरान विश्वविद्यालय प्रशासन का एक भी प्रतिनिधि उनसे मिलने नहीं गया।तब विश्वविद्यालय परिसर में संगठन बनाना और आंदोलन करना भी संभव नहीं था। पुलिस कुलपति का एक भय पूरे वातावरण में व्याप्त रहता था। बाद में उन विद्यार्थियों ने अनुसूचित जाति एवं जनजाति आयोग समेत विश्वविद्यालय अनुदान आयोग के समक्ष गुहार लगायी और बताया कि पिछले तीन वर्षों से आरक्षण नियमों का पालन नहीं किया जा रहा है।

3- साहित्य में पहले पीएचडी में यदि दलित छात्रों के नामांकन हुए तो उन्हें किसी दलित शिक्षक के तहत ही शोध कराने की अघोषित व्यवस्था हनुमान प्रसाद शुक्ला के समय में रही है।

4- 2009 में जनसंचार विभाग में पीएचडी में प्रवेश परीक्षा हुई और उसके बाद इंटरव्यू किए गए। जिस पैनल ने ये प्रक्रिया पूरी की, उसमें संस्कृति विद्यापीठ के डीन , विभागाध्यक्ष, प्रोफेसर, एक रीडर, एक विशेषज्ञ और अनुसूचित जाति एवं जनजाति की बतौर प्रतिनिधि एक रीडर थी। उस समय दस विद्यार्थियों को पीएचडी में लेना था। जब परीक्षा परिणाम आया तो उसमें पिछड़े, दलित विद्यार्थियों की तादाद ज्यादा थी। वे आरक्षण की सीट से ज्यादा सामान्य वर्ग के रूप में भी सफल घोषित किए गए।तब दस सीटों के लिए नामांकन करने की घोषणा की गई थी। लेकिन वो परीक्षा परिणाम रद्द कर  दिया गया। दोबारा परीक्षा आयोजित की गई। दोबारा परीक्षा की प्रक्रिया किस तरह से पूरी की गई गौरतलब है। विश्वविद्यालय से बाहर के एक शिक्षक ने ही प्रश्न पत्र तैयार किया। परीक्षा की कॉपी जांची और वहीं इंटरव्यू में बैठा। इस बार अनुसूचित जाति एवं जनजाति का प्रतिनिधि पैनल में नहीं था। परीक्षा परिणाम तीन दिनों की प्रक्रिया में ही निकाल दिया गया। इस परीक्षा परिणाम में ज्यादा सवर्ण विद्यार्थियों को चयनित किया गया। मजे की बात कि  इस पैनल में विभाग के एक भी शिक्षक को नहीं रखा गया। सीटों की संख्या भी दस से तेरह कर दी गई।

5- दिसंबर 6, 2009 को आम्बेडकर स्टूडेंट्स फोरम ने महापरिनिर्वाण दिवस के अवसर पर मोमबत्ती यात्रा का कार्यक्रम आयोजित किया।  यात्रा विश्वविद्यालय परिसर से होकर वर्धा स्थित आम्बेडकर प्रतिमा तक गई। इसमें दलित विद्यार्थियों के अलावा अन्य विद्यार्थी शामिल हुए। लेकिन पहली बात तो ये हुई कि इस यात्रा में विश्वविद्यालय के एक मात्र दलित प्रोफेसर लेल्ला कारुण्यकारा भी शामिल हुए तो उन्हें कारण बताओ नोटिस जारी किया गया। आरोप लगाया गया कि उन्होंने जातीय नारे लगाए। नारे थे -ब्राहम्णवाद मुर्दाबाद, मनुवाद मुर्दाबाद , जातिवाद मुर्दाबाद आदि। प्रोफेसर कारुण्यकारा को दिए गए नोटिस में कहा गया कि उन्होंने परिसर का वातावरण दूषित किया।उन्हें सात दिनों के भीतर जवाब देने के लिए कहा गया। ये भी चेतावनी दी गई कि यदि सात दिनों के भीतर जवाब नहीं दिया गया तो एकतरफा कार्रवाई कर ली जाएगी। ये नोटिस खुद विभूति नारायण राय ने जारी किया। दूसरी बात कि उसी दिन विश्वविद्यालय ने भारत-ईरान कलाओं के लोक आख्यान कार्यक्रम आयोजित किया। वह रविवार का दिन था। तीसरी बात कि शाम को लिब्रहान आयोग की रिपोर्ट पर चर्चा के लिए विश्वविद्यालय के गांधी हिल्स पर एक अलग कार्यक्रम आयोजित किया गया।

6- दिसंबर 6, 2008 को बाबासाहेब आम्बेडकर दलित एवं जनजाति अध्ययन केन्द्र ने महापरिनिर्वाण दिवस मनाने का फैसला किया था। कार्यक्रम के लिए विश्वविद्यालय प्रशासन से तीन हजार रूपये की मांग की गई थी। लेकिन दो हजार रूपये ही स्वीकृत किए गए और उसी दिन पुस्तकालय में इससे अलग कविता पाठ का एक कार्यक्रम आयोजित किया गया।इसका असर ये हुआ कि 6 दिसंबर  2009 को  दलित जनजाति अध्ययन केन्द्र ने कोई कार्यक्रम आयोजित नहीं किया।

7-दलित एवं जनजाति अध्ययन केन्द्र की बिल्डिंग के शिलान्यास पत्थर को गिरा दिया गया। इसका शिलान्यास विश्वविद्यालय अनुदान आयोग के अध्यक्ष सुखदेव थोरात ने 22 फरवरी 2007 को किया था।इसका दोबारा शिलान्यास कराने की योजना बनी और राज्यपाल आरएस गवई को 2 दिसंबर 2009 को आमंत्रित किया गया। लेकिन वो नहीं आए।आज भी वो शिलान्यास पत्थर कुड़े के ढेर के समान पड़ा हुआ है।

8-डा. आम्बेडकर दलित एवं जनजाति अध्ययन केन्द्र के भवन के निर्माण के लिए एक करोड़ रूपये मिले थे। लेकिन उसका इस्तेमाल दूसरी बिल्डिंग बनाने में कर दिया गया।

9-कुलपति विभूति नारायण राय ने कार्यभार संभालने के बाद तीन शिक्षकों को चार कारण बताओ नोटिस जारी किया और वे सभी शिक्षक दलित एवं आदिवासी हैं।

10-कुलपति विभूति नारायण राय ने अपने कार्यकाल में एक वर्ष के अंदर पचास से ज्यादा अस्थायी बहालियां की उनमें एक भी दलित एवं आदिवासी नहीं है।

11-दलित छात्र-छात्राओं के खिलाफ जातिगत पूर्वाग्रहों को कई बार घटनाओं के रूप में सामने रखना संभव नहीं हो पाता है। ऐसी न जाने कितनी बातें हैं, जो केवल दलित महसूस करता है कि उसके साथ जातिगत भेदभाव किया जा रहा है।

12-दलित विद्यार्थियों का आठ महीने तक राजीव गांधी फेलोशिप रोके रखा गया।

13-कुलपति ने विश्वविद्यालय में आयोजित एक कार्यक्रम में उत्तर प्रदेश के दलित नेताओं को लम्पट कहा।

14-कुलपति ये कहते हैं कि दलित इस विश्वविद्यालय में केवल फैलोशिप के लिए आते हैं।

15-सहायक रजिस्ट्रार (वित्त)सुशील पखिडे वित्त के एक मात्र स्थायी अधिकारी हैं ,लेकिन उन्हें वित्त से हटा दिया गया और डिस्टेन्स( दूरस्थ शिक्षा विभाग) में भेज दिया गया।

16-आयुष छात्रावास के छात्र के रूप में अमरेन्द्र शर्मा के खिलाफ एससी-एसटी एक्ट के तहत मामला दर्ज है। उन्हें आयुष छात्रावास का ही वार्डेन बना दिया गया ।जब विद्यार्थियों ने विरोध किया तो दूसरे छात्रावास का वार्डेन बना दिया गया।

17-विश्वविद्यालय में किसी विद्यार्थी को फेल नहीं किया गया है, लेकिन दलित एवं जनजाति अध्ययन केन्द्र के तीन विद्यार्थियों को फेल कर दिया गया।

एक तरफ तो दलितों के उत्पीड़न की ऐसी शिकायतें है तो दूसरी तरफ जातिवाद के कुछ और नमूने भी देखे जा सकते हैं।

1-विश्वविद्यालय के शांति एवं अहिंसा विभाग के अस्सिटेंट प्रोफेसर मनोज राय को दिल्ली सेंटर का प्रभारी बनाया गया।नियमत: ये गलत है।इन महोदय को वेतन वर्धा में विद्यार्थियों को पढ़ाने के लिए दिया जाता है, लेकिन ये महोदय कक्षा नहीं लेते हैं, बल्कि उन्हें दिल्ली में मंत्रालय और विश्वविद्यालय अनुदान आयोग के डिलिंग के काम में लगाया गया है। तीसरी बात कि कुलपति स्वंय को धर्मनिरपेक्ष कहते हैं, लेकिन मनोज राय घोषित तौर पर राष्ट्रीय स्वंयसेवक संघ से जुड़े रहे हैं।मनोज राय ने सूचना के अधिकार के तहत बतौर सूचना अधिकारी सूचना लेने की फीस दस रुपये से बढ़ाकर नियमों के विपरीत पचास रुपये कर दिया था। चूंकि वे स्वजातीय हैं, इसीलिए उनके लिए सब क्षम्य है और वे ईनाम पाने के हर तरह से हकदार हैं।

2- विश्वविद्यालय में जनसंचार विभाग का प्रमुख डा. अनिल कुमार राय अंकित को बनाया गया है। वे दक्षिणपंथी विचारों के हैं। उनके नाम से छपी दर्जनों किताबों के बारे में पूरे देश में ये छपा है और चैनलों में दिखाया गया है कि उन्होंने अपनी किताबें दूसरे लेखकों की किताबों से सामग्री लेकर छापी है। उन्हें चोर गुरु के रूप में सभी जानते हैं। कुलपति को भी ये सब पता है। उनके यहां बकायदा शिकायत दर्ज करायी गई है ।ये सब तथ्य डा. अंकित की नियुक्ति के समय भी उनके सामने मौजूद थे। लेकिन ये उनके स्वजातीय हैं, इसीलिए उनके खिलाफ कोई कार्रवाई करने के बजाय दीक्षांत समारोह के लिए उन्हें हजारों का बजट देकर मीडिया प्रभारी बना दिया गया।

जातिवादी कौन है?   आप इसे दुनिया को बताएं। धर्मनिरपेक्षतावादी की छवि बनाकर जातिवाद को कैसे सुरक्षित रखा जाता है।

By Gomathi Kumar & Sanjay Kabir

Manjula Pradeep is the Executive Director of Gujarat-based Dalit organisation Navsarjan. After receiving her Masters in Social Work (MSW) she joined the organisation in 1992 and has been  working on different issues since then. Apart from leading organisation’s legal cell on Dalit atrocities, she has been in forefront of the movements for agricultural labourers, bonded labourers and developing women cooperatives in the rural areas of Gujarat. In 1997, she completed her law degree to be able to take up cases related with caste and gender atrocities. Leading Navsarjan since 2004, Manjula Pradeep has trained hundreds of grassroots activists and has represented Dalit and Dalit women’s issues at various national and international fora.

Recently, your organisation has been in news for the study on  practices of untouchability in Gujarat? What are the findings of this study?

Illustraion by Rajesh Kumar, JNU, New Delhi

Our study on the practices of untouchability covered 1655 villages in Gujarat and took three years to complete. We have shared some of its findings with the media to create awareness. In the study, we found 99 different practices of untouchability and have tried to identify the specific regions where these are practiced. Most prevalent practices are related to right to equality in religion and religious affairs. In more than 90 % of the villages, Dalits are not allowed to enter the temples or to touch the idols and worship articles. They are not allowed to participate in the religious processions and other rituals.

In addition to that, Dalits are not allowed to sit on the chair or cot before any non-Dalit. They necessarily have to sit on the ground. The other practice that comes out very prominently is on food. Dalits are generally not invited in the community meals, if invited they are seated separately and have to carry their own vessels. They are served tea in cups ironically called Ram patras that are kept separately in non-Dalit households. Then we find untouchability being practiced against Dalits in providing basic amenities like drinking water, use of ration shops, postmen not providing their services, not allowed to touch the vegetables in shops etc.

Every one knows that there is untouchability in our country but somewhere this whole issue is being put aside and portrayed as a thing of the past.  So we carried this study to give authenticity to our claim that untouchability practices are not only alive and kicking in this country but also present everywhere and in every sphere of our social life. We cannot just wish away from the reality.

What was the methodology used for this study?

While initiating the study we were clear that it should be done scientifically, without any bias. A thorough training was provided to 200 field workers of Navsarjan for the survey and to collect information. We prepared a detailed questionnaire of 6 pages and whatever information that was collected was then scanned and fed into the computer and statistics prepared.

Also the study was carried by a mixed group (of men and women) of Navsarjan activists because we knew that if the team consisted only of men then the women in the village would not talk and if the research team had only women, the village men usually would not respond. So we had teams of two activists, a man and woman, going to each village and collecting the information through community based interviews and household surveys. Within the community, the study stratification was based on sub-castes, age and gender and within household surveys it was on age and gender. So it took 4-5 days for our colleagues to complete the survey in one village.

The study was carried through the support of Prof C. Davenport (Professor of Peace Studies & Political Science at the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA). He has already done a marvelous study on ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and has authored numerous well-researched documents on Afro-Americans and their struggles.

The practices of untouchability are found in almost every part of the country. Did you find any peculiar form of untouchability being practiced in Gujarat?

One peculiar form of untouchability we have come across is that, in many villages, milk sellers from the shepherd community do not sell milk to Dalits during the navratri festival. Navratri is celebrated for nine days across the state with great fervour and for all these nine days the milk sellers believe that they would get polluted if they sell milk to Dalits. Then there are some villages where when a rajput dies, Dalit men have to shave their heads to mourn the death. I don’t know whether this is practiced anywhere else in the country.

Apart from the untouchability practices against Dalits, did you focus on any other issues in your study?

We also focused on untouchability practices within Dalits. Though we knew about the prevalence of untouchability among different Dalit sub-castes but still it was shocking for us to know the extent of the practice. Within the Dalits also there is a hierarchy, for example, the vankar caste practices untouchability against balmikis in Gujarat. This gives us the challenge of how do we address the issue of sub-caste divisions within the Dalits while fighting for overall Dalit rights.

What are the major Dalit sub-castes in Gujarat?

Major sub-castes are Weavers (Vankar), Leather Tanners (Chamar or Rohit), Senwa, Nadia and Balmiki. There are various other Dalit sub-castes but these are the major ones.

What have been the responses on the findings of this study in Gujarat?

The study is yet to be published. But we have shared some of its major findings with the press. In response to that we have been getting some media attention. Apart from that, I have received letters from the State Social Welfare Board and Director General of Police asking for a copy of the study so that they could take action. I am waiting for the study to get translated in Gujarati and then share it with media, to the community, to people from across castes.

The findings of this study must reach to common man in Gujarat. Then, probably, there will be some challenges before us as the study not only highlights the private practices of untouchability but also that in public sphere – panchayats, schools, temples etc. I know it will create some tension.

The widespread prevalence of untouchability is one issue on which the government and so called Indian civil society has always been in the denial mode. And they have been quite successful too in doing so since independence. In such scenario what are your expectations from this study?

Coming to state’s response, I would like to quote one incident. Recently, The Times of India carried a news item on our study and had mentioned the name of one village - Lodariyal. Immediately government officials came to that village and started threatening people of Balmiki community for their talking about the untouchability practices. The officials claimed that whatever they shared was not true and forced them to give that in writing by taking their thumb impressions on blank papers. As soon as the officials left, our local activist was informed about this incident and all of us immediately rushed to the village. Now the counter affidavit has been filed by the Dalits that they were being threatened by government officials. We are also taking legal actions against the concerned government officials.

All this is going to happen, we are very well aware. It would be interesting to watch how a study that has been conducted across 1,655 villages out of 12,500 total villages in Gujarat, representing 98,000 Dalits (almost 11 % of total Dalit population in the state) can be ignored. It will be quite a challenge to do so.

When will this study be published?

We are thinking of publishing it on 14th April, 2010 on the Birth Anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

While interviewing Dalit activists and scholars, we are increasingly getting aware of rich traditions of Dalit assertions and struggles in pre-independent India. Almost every region had a well-organised Dalit movement that fought against untouchability and social exclusion, simultaneously claiming an independent identity for all untouchables.  How was the movement in Gujarat?

Gujarat, definitely, has a history of Dalit assertion but then it is a little different from other regions. With only 7 percent of its population as SC, Gujarat has the lowest concentration of Dalits in the country. Then Gujarat being the birth place of Gandhiji and one of the main centres of anti-colonial struggle, the autonomous Dalit movement against social exclusion and untouchability could never assume prominence, especially during British times.

Later every one believed that because of Gandhiji untouchability has been abolished, at least in this state. Though there had been many Dalits across Gujarat who fought against caste discrimination but their struggle was never recognised.

Even prior to colonial period there were many Dalits who sacrificed their lives for the cause. However, with the passage of time, these martyrs got religious colours. One such example is of Veer Megh Mahya, a Dalit hero, who sacrificed his life to win some freedoms for the community during the reign of King Siddhrajsinh Solanki (with his capital at Patan) in medieval period.

Who was Veer Megh Mahya?

It is said that once there was a severe drought during Siddhrajsinh Solanki’s reign and people were dying without water. The court astrologer advised the king to find a man with 32 good qualities and sacrifice him to end the drought. The hunt for the perfect man ended with Mahya, an untouchable, who hailed from Ranoda village (in present Dholka taluka, Ahmedabad).

Mahya agreed to sacrifice himself but with three conditions - the untouchables from then onwards would not carry brooms tied behind their backs, they would not tie pot around their necks for spitting and would not carry extra pocket or third sleeves on their upper garments. These were the markers of being an untouchable during those times and were strictly enforced by dominant castes. The king had to agree to these conditions and then Mahya was killed.

It is unfortunate that modern historians have never recognised him and his struggle but his memories are being kept alive by the Dalits in Gujarat.  In the rural areas, they keep a copper pot in the foundation while constructing their houses and tie a green festoon (chundadi) at their doors in memory of Veer Megh Mahya. I feel it is very important for all of us who are engaged in fighting against caste discrimination to remember the lives and struggles of our forefathers.

Thanks so much for elaborating on the study undertaken by your organisation and narrating the story of Veer Megh Mahya. We are sure that this would benefit our readers and help them to make their resolve to fight against caste-discrimination much stronger. How did you get exposed to the Dalit struggle and what motivated you to become part of it?

I belong to a family that like many other literate, urban-based Dalit families suffer from insecurities about revealing their caste identities and suffer the indignities silently. This insecurity makes children and youth of such families more vulnerable to caste-ridicule and prejudices that are prevalent in urban public spaces. My motivation came from having such a family background. I was ridiculed in school and then in college due to my caste background. I was amazed to witness how people view you differently just because of your birth in ‘low’ caste.

Then I had also gone through much gender discrimination in my own family. So there was lot of anger in me and that made me very vocal and I was always seen as a rebel child. I had to go through lot of struggles while opposing the conservatism prevalent within my family itself. I think, all this made me want to do something in the society and so I did my Masters in Social Work (MSW) from MS University Baroda and joined the organisation  - Navsarjan, which is working on caste issues, in 1992.

I was the first woman to join the organisation and started working in the villages. I realised that the world I have understood through books and cities is completely different from the reality and that made me more focussed, committed and passionate about our cause – both caste and gender.

How do you define a Dalit organization?

Dalit organization should be an organization working with a particular ideology – the ideology that liberates the entire community from the shackles of caste-based discrimination and exclusion. It should be an organisation promoting Dalits as leaders and pioneers ensuring equality in the society. It should not be an organization where you are excluded, you are isolated yourself. Dalit organisation aims towards making Dalit a powerful socio-political identity rather than making it merely an oppressed community. Anger of the Dalit community must come out and these organisations have to channelise that anger towards making it a strong community.

There are a lot of issues that are significant for any Dalit organisation. What according to you are the most important ones?

The major Dalit issue for me is constant exposing of the exploitative mechanism of caste system in our society. In a way it is not just a Dalit issue rather I would say it is a societal issue. Why only the Dalits should take the entire burden in fighting against caste system? The burden lies with the entire society. However, it is also true that this issue is not going to become the national issue till the Dalits raise their voice, assert themselves and lead the movement against caste discrimination as they are the ones who bear the maximum brunt of caste-based discrimination. So the primary responsibility, as far as I feel, lies with the Dalit organisations and by far this is the major issue they need to deal with.

Navsarjan is one of the largest Dalit organisations of the country that has led successful movements for Dalit land rights, against caste-atrocities, against manual scavenging apart from creating institutions like Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK) and opening residential schools for Dalit children. How do you mobilise the local Dalit community and activists around common issues?

Navsarjan is basically a grass-roots movement, a network of people who are politically and socially conscious and want to contribute towards fighting against caste-based discrimination. Started in 1989 as a small group of people, Navsarjan, after two decades of its involvement, has become an organisation of different Dalit groups. Within the organization, almost 95% of people are from Dalit community itself and work with the local groups. In that way, the mobilization of the community happens. There are various small groups in Gujarat and in other states too who need support from organizations like Navsarjan and so we provide them support in terms of trainings, capacity building skills etc.

How do you mobilize financial resources for the organisational activities?

Navsarjan started very modestly with almost no financial resources and when I joined it just had a small office at Rs 25 as monthly rent. But with time we were able to get right donors to carry forward our organisation’s activities. Having right donors is very important for any organisation. It is not that you only need funds for the growth of organisation but also the right kind of partnerships. Navsarjan does not believe in project-based organisations that are driven by funding agencies.

We also believe in common people’s participation and contribution in raising resources for our activities. For running our schools, we raised Rs 12 lakh from the community by taking individual contributions from different villages in Gujarat. For all our local programmes and activities, almost half of the financial resources come from the community directly.

Being engaged primarily with the issues of rural Dalits, what have been your experiences dealing with local administration?

Navsarjan has to confront the local administration and the state very often as we believe in rule of law and work for ensuring the constitutional rights for not only Dalits but for others too. We put pressure on the state to perform its responsibilities with our legal-based approach and use all the laws and provisions available. Being a grass-root organisation, the state is also very well aware of our capacity for mobilising the community. We also realise that we do work that carries some weight and therefore feel confident while dealing with the local administration on the issues that we feel are genuine and have impact on the larger society.

What kind of strategies you use to mobilize rural Dalit community on the particular issue of caste-based atrocities?

To fight caste-based atrocities and violence was the very first programme of Navsarjan and the basic issue around which its foundation was laid in 1989. In the same year, the central government came out with the Prevention of Atrocities (SC/ST) Act. Our organisation not only highlights atrocities but also fights the legal battles by using the above-mentioned Act. Navsarjan uses this Act in two ways - one is using the law effectively to get justice to the victims and then mobilising the community to condemn that particular atrocity as it is never one person or family that is affected by that incident but it is always the community that is the target.

How far the laws like Prevention of Atrocities (SC/ST) Act, 1989, are effective? How do we ensure that such laws are implemented properly?

Many laws are there to provide justice to Dalits but if we keep waiting for the state to implement them, then it is never going to happen. Such laws can be effective only when we, ourselves, learn how to use them. We conduct a lot of legal awareness campaigns within the community on POA (SC/ST) Act. It is very important that our people should know about such laws.

But more importantly the local administration including the police department must be made aware about such laws because most of the time authorities themselves are unaware of the laws and have no inclination to become aware and implement these laws.

The laws are the potent tools for the liberation of Dalits but the system itself is much prejudiced against Dalits. In context of Gujarat, I would say that Navsarjan has been able to get lot of convictions and judgements including life imprisonments for the people who were guilty of caste based violence like murders and rapes but for all this we have to push and go after the system each time.

In the last 20-30 years there has been sudden upsurge in the Dalit movement.  A  number of Dalit led organisations have come up working at different levels. What are the reasons behind this phenomenon?

I feel, one of the strongest reasons is growing awareness in the community and I think the legal awareness among the Dalits has increased manifold compared to other communities. You take any other minority or marginalised community of this country and compare. And because of this awareness the Dalits are trying to organise themselves. They have also realised that they need to fight for their rights on their own. In the period of 80s and 90s, many Dalits started their organisations in different spheres of social life and that also set models for other assertive Dalits to follow.

What are your expectations from the contemporary Dalit movement?

There are a lot of expectations. First, it should come out of identity politics and if the movement has to become truly a national one then it also needs to create a new definition of the word ‘Dalit’. In Navsarjan, we have tried to do it. For us, ‘Dalit is a moral position, where a person believes and practices equality and fight against the inequality across caste, gender and religion’. I think the Dalit movement has to work on that. We also need to introspect that within the movement where the spaces for other sub-castes are and how to take up systemic issues like manual scavenging, devdasi practices more effectively. Then there are issues of Dalit women and children that need to be highlighted and to be brought in forefront of the Dalit movement.

You have been leading one of the major civil society organisations of this country for almost five years now. Being a woman, what are the challenges you have faced while heading the organisation?

This is the question everyone has for me (laughs). It was very clear from the beginning that I have to prove doubly than any man while heading the organisation. Although I could say that I am as efficient and capable as anyone else but the thing is your identity as a woman makes people perceive you through gender lens - how could a woman lead the organisation?  The society also believes that the leadership is masculine quality. I have gone through all that and it was a bit painful but if you keep on working hard and are able to articulate your concerns, people at some point of time would start acknowledging your leadership.

Apart from having Dalit woman as head of the organisation, how far has Navsarjan provided space for other Dalit women at different levels?

Navsarjan is one organisation that is treated as a model within the Dalit movement in the sense that we are able to address the issue of caste together with talking about the role of Dalit women in the movement. It is very important as the Dalit movement is often seen as being led by Dalit men and talking only about caste as major form of discrimination by not looking at intersectionalities with different issues.

Within the organization, we have made lots of structural changes and women are occupying many important positions. If a woman is heading some organisation, it does not necessarily mean that automatically space will be created for other women. You need to create some space. But ultimately we need to make gender issues as our core agenda within the Dalit movement to bring more Dalit women leaders.

[Gomathi Kumar and Sanjay Kabir did their Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in the session 2007-09]

]]> http://blog.insightyv.com/?feed=rss2&p=1023 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=997 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=997#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:52:55 +0000 Pardeep Attri http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=997 By Pardeep Singh Attri

Dispatches from Hungary -III

When a senior Indian embassy official in Hungary is invited in a programme celebrating one of the historic national event of 20th century India, he speaks on every thing under the sun except on the event and fails to utter a single word on the most important figure involved with that particular event and his life and struggles.

This peice is in continution of articles written by Pardeep Singh Attri on his vist to Hungary.  Read his previous two articles:  Dispatches from Hungary - I and Dispatches from Hungary- II.

“I tell you, religion is for man and not man for religion. If you want to organize, consolidate and successful in this world, change this (Hindu) religion” – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Dhamma Chakka Parivartan means ’setting in motion the wheel of Dhamma’ and Diwas means ‘Day’. This is the day to refresh our memories of the very first sermon given by Buddha to his five disciples at Sarnath.

Also on 14th October, 1956, Babasaheb Ambedkar took diksha in Buddhism along with more than half a million people leaving behind the caste-virus of Hinduism.

Traces of Buddhism in Hungary can be found since 15th century (it’s around the same time when gypsies/romas migrated from Balkan regions of India, so it can be possible Buddhism here in Hungary may have been brought by these gypsies/romas).

There are few scholars in Hungary who believe that name of the capital Budapest is derived from the word Buddha. As in 19th century there were two cities Buda and Pest, on both sides (east and west) of River Duna.  The city of Buda being somewhat hilly, scholars believe there may have stood a lama monastery, Stupa or Buddha statue from which the name “Buda” is derived. “Past or “Pest” is a Persian word meaning “low”. It expresses the topographical relation between Buda and Pest. “Lower-of-Buda, Lower-of-Gompa¹” = Budapest. ²

In Hungary, contemporary Buddhism is new to Romas. Total Buddhist population of Hungary is about 15,000. Romas of village Sajokaza (population around 3300) came to know about Babasaheb Ambedkar and Buddha due to the efforts of Jai Bhim Network, that is working here from last 3 years. It was decided by Derdak Tibor, Janos and others of the Network that this time they’ll celebrate “Dhamma Chakka Parivartan Diwas” on 14th October to commemorate Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. Earlier, the Network had also organised an event on Poona Pact on 24 September, 2007.

The preparations for the celebration of Dhamma Chakka Parivartan Diwas started from 1^st October, 2009 onwards and there was lot of excitement in local Roma community, especially among the students about the event. So as to fulfill the curiosity of students of school I visited “Ozd School” twice and talked with the students about Buddhism, Dr Ambedkar, what all five colors of Buddhist flag means (Blue- Faith, Yellow- Holiness, Red- Wisdom, White- Purity and Orange- No Desire) and Diskhabhoomi, Nagpur etc.

Together with Janos, Tibor, Benu, Bharat, Katlin, we prepared the schedule of the events to take place during the celebration to be held on 14th October. We then decided to invite people from Indian Embassy as well as from Hungarian Education Ministry for the programme. In this regard on 5th October, Bharat and Janos went and met Mr. V. V. Mohan, Second Secretary of Indian Embassy and personally hand over the invitation.

Apart from various speeches by the network activists on Buddhism, we also planned for Buddha Vandana, a Buddhist play by Lazi Monika, Benu and Anna. I was also asked to deliver a lecture on ‘Buddhism and Dr Ambedkar in India’. We decided to end the celebration by a cultural programme followed by the movie on Babasaheb Ambedkar. For this whole event, we booked the ‘cultural house’ of Sajókaza.

Finally the much awaited day came, Mr. V.V. Mohan along with one of his colleague arrived at around 11am. At that time, all of us were busy in cooking food for 150 people. However, some of us welcomed Mr. Mohan and discussed about Jai Bhim Network’s activities and later took him to various Roma settlements of nearby areas.

In the afternoon, around 2 pm, we started our program with around 150 people in attendance. The other dignitaries that graced the function were Soltesz Lojosne (vice-mayor of Sajókaza) and Belik Istvan (member, local governing council). Five of us inaugurated the function by reciting Buddha Vandana on the stage followed by the welcome speech delivered by the senior activist Janos.

Then Mr V.V. Mohan was invited to speak and share his views, which he did by talking about India and the activities of Jai Bhim Network. However, what surprised me the most in his speech was that Mr. Mohan, speaking in the event on Dr. Ambedkar’s historic conversion to Buddhism, failed to utter a single word about Buddhism and Babasaheb Ambedkar. I am amazed at the audacity and stubbornness of caste-Indian psyche on maintaining a silence at all cost on Babasaheb Ambedkar and Buddhism.

After that Derdak Tibor spoke about the importance of Buddhism and Dr Ambedkar, how he converted to Buddhism, necessity of Buddhism in present life etc. Then, women congregation took place and they sang Roma songs. Then came my turn to speak on importance of Buddhism and Babasaheb in Indian context.

Initially, I was bit nervous due to my stage fear as this was only the second such opportunity for me, to speak before the gathering, the first being in Nagpur last year.  But then, Derdak Tibor being my interpreter brought me some relief and I was able to talk about the life and struggle of Babasaheb, about untouchability in India, importance of Buddhism and the role of Buddhism in empowering the whole Dalit community in the country. I also told the audience about a study that found out that people embracing Buddhism doing much better than those Dalits who have not yet converted.

At the end of the programme one of the Network activists Benu thanked everyone and distributed gifts to children among the audience. We also handed over Babasaheb Ambedkar’s pictures, Jai Bhim bands, Buddhist bracelets, books etc to Jai Bhim Network that we brought from India. It was around 5pm and the programme was concluded after serving delicious food to all participants.

After two hours we again gathered at the same venue for showing the movie on Dr Ambedkar but before that we gave a brief introduction to the movie, being translated by another Roma activist Katlin.  We also featured a short movie ‘Pay Back to Society’ directed by our friend Saurav Arya and ended the programme by reciting 22 vows of Dr Ambedkar, being translated in Hungarian language and suited to Hungarian context by Derdak Tibor. The response to the event was very warm and welcoming by the whole Roma community.

___________________________________________

1 Gompa is a meditation room/hall in Buddhists centers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gompa

2. Read “A short history of Buddhism in Hungary” at http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_10_01_03.pdf

3. Read 22vows of Dr Ambedkar applicable in social context of Hungary at http://www.jaibhim.hu/the-credo-of-jai-bhim-network/

http://www.dzsajbhim.hu/dr-ambedkar-22-fogadalma/

'Not a Pretty Picture' . Pic Courtsey @ Sudharak Olwe from http://tinyurl.com/yz6opd5

In an article “Where style has trumped substance” by Pravin Swami on 26 November, 2009, the writer comes across as making an appeal that salaries of Sanitation workers must not be increased at cost of national security.

Pravin Swami says, “Working upwards of fourteen hours a day — not counting the typically three hours spent commuting — constable Kamble earns a basic pay of Rs. 5,200 a month. Sanitation workers employed by the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation are paid less — Rs. 4,440 a month — but end up taking home similar wages, because of overtime. Indeed, until the Sixth Pay Commission recently upgraded the categorisation of police work as semi-skilled from skilled, sanitation workers actually made more money. Little has been done to upgrade the police’s living standards and training.”

This article by Pravin Swami hints to question the “higher earnings” of sanitation worker than that of security personnel.

Higher wages for sanitation worker can help them choose better education and provide better health facilities for their children and family. Although it is highly improbable, higher wages might encourage people from other castes to also join these services. In reality the working conditions and wages of sanitation workers in Mumbai is not sufficient to protect their lives. Maharashtra police personnel have comprehensive health insurance; however nothing exist of that sort for sanitation worker who are equally or more vulnerable to health crisis than police personnel.

There are around 30,000 conservancy workers in Mumbai. Most of them die cleaning this financial capital of our Country. Merciless Caste-Hindus never paid attention to the issue of untouchability that migrated to the urban sphere and its heinous impacts. There had been proposition and efforts from social scientists and policy makers to impose ESMA (Essential Services & Maintenance Act) to curtail the right to strike of conservancy workers, and also to privatize their services.

All low caste jobs while being degrading and non-dignifying in nature help the majority of this country’s people absolve their responsibility towards managing their own filth and garbage. It is worth noting the comment of Jairam Ramesh, Environment and Forest Minister who said, “Our cities are the dirtiest of the world. If there is a Nobel Prize for dirt and filth, India will win it”

Socio-culturally we have given this task of cleaning dirt in rural and urban India predominantly to “untouchables” and few other most backward castes. Can we say that “untouchables” failed to perform their merit in cleaning Indian cities and now let other communities take up responsibility to show their merit?

There are good number of research and documentaries (eg. “Lesser Humans’ by Stalin K) showing the different forms of untouchability practices amongst conservancy workers in cities. Sudharak Olwe, a National Geographic and many other awards winner had pointed out the plight of conservancy workers in Mumbai. His photo story titled, ‘In search of Dignity and Justice: The Untold Story of Mumbai’s Conservancy Workers’ puts the plight of the city’s conservancy workers in sharp focus.

The first anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, which got the undivided attention of the media and public, also took focus away from another important event that fell on November 26 – the national Constitution day. The very Constitution of India which gives liberty and freedom of expression to media, which is the fourth pillar of democracy.

Without caring for their lives, Dalits martyrs led their lives for the cause of people during 26/11, however no-one got due attention. Dalits have always been at the forefront in protecting our country (in-spite of being enslaved in their very own country for centuries), historically they have proved their bravery, but are we ready to address the gross inequality and injustice with Dalit officers in defence and security forces.

While comparing the devotion and dedication of security personnel and conservancy workers, it must be noted that few conservancy workers also lost their life while cleaning the filth of victims of 26/11 (to name few -Thakur Waghela & Bhagan Shinde). Talking about their contribution along with death of two security guards, Mumbai Board chairman Amarjit Singh Manhas said in Mumbai mirror March, 9, 2009, “The contribution of these people is as important as that of all police personnel killed in the 26/11 terror attacks. This is our way of recognizing their contribution”.

The question is “are we safe, secure, just, and equal society?” or “are we striving towards Constitutional ideals” before we talk about “are we safe and secure nation.”

Mr. Pravin Swami and fellow citizens, are we ready to address these gross violations of Dalit rights and treat them as equal dignified human being in this 21st century?

Lalit Khandare is a PhD scholar at Indiana University, USA. He is working on  ‘Autonomy, Dignity, Development, and Security amongst Urban Poor’.

]]> http://blog.insightyv.com/?feed=rss2&p=985 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=967 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=967#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:09:27 +0000 admin http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=967 An interview with Ram Kumar

By Gomathi Kumar & Sanjay Kabir

Ram Kumar (b. 1963) is UP based Dalit activist with 30 years long experience of grassroots activism. Born in a poor family, he lost his father at the age of five. His father, a communist activist, was brutally murdered by brahmin landlords for raising voice against them. Ram Kumar grew up at his maternal uncle’s home at Kanpur. After his graduation, he started working full time with communist groups and later joined Vinod Mishra led CPI (ML). He worked with Kisan Mazdoor Sangh and led many struggles.  As a result he was put behind bars for quite some time under false charges. However, in 1984, he was thrown out of CPI (ML) together with another prominent Dalit leader Lakhpat for challenging the party leadership on  the question of caste and the problems of Dalits. Since then, he has been in forefront of many grassroot struggles and has led various campaigns to secure forest rights, land rights, labour wages and Dalit rights . At present, he is the coordiantor of state level network of Dalit organisations called Dynamic Action Group (DAG) and is one of the leading voices of Dalit movement in North India.

There has been a new wave of Dalit assertion that is now visible across the country and is manifested through different forms of mobilization. What are the important incidents happened in last 20-30 years that according to you had an impact on contemporary Dalit movement?

I start with 1970s’ Dalit Panthers movement in Maharashtra. It provided a new direction to the entire Dalit movement of the country as it took up issues of Dalit identity and Dalit pride together with the questions of economic and land rights of the marginalised. For me, it is one of the major landmarks despite its very short life span.

After that, for quite some time, we did not see any autonomous Dalit movement. There were smaller, localised Ambedkarite movements here and there and some organising happening within Dalit employees but we did not witness any mass-based people’s movement or collective struggle. Then Kanshiram ji came in the scene and DS4 emerged.

Meanwhile with the death of Babu Jagjivan Ram in 1986, a sense of helplessness emerged among Dalit employees. They started thinking about who would now defend their rights, take care of the community. You would see massive growth in SC/ST employees associations in this period, which actually contributed in the growth of BSP (that was formed after DS4 by Kanshiram ji).

However, it is the decade of 1990s that is very significant for contemporary Dalit movement. Janta Dal, under the leadership of V.P. Singh, came in power at Delhi and introduced the recommendations of Mandal Commission. It was for OBCs, for their rights in education and government jobs but once it was announced, you would find that there were attacks on Dalits all around, many of their bastis were ransacked, Ambedkar statues were desecrated and an environment was created where an average person felt as if Mandal commission recommendations were for the benefits of Dalits or they were somehow solely responsible for it. In the same period BSP became an important political player and formed coalition government in Uttar Pradesh for the first time in 1993.

Thanks for providing a brief overview. 1990s was indeed a tumultuous period in the history of our country. What were the reasons behind the formation of Dynamic Action Group (DAG) as a network of Dalit organisations and NGOs in Uttar Pradesh?

During this period, some of us were fighting for the Dalit rights by involving ourselves with people’s movements at grassroots. We were also concerned with the rising brahmanism in the state under the disguise of hindutva.  As a response towards this and demolition of Babri mosque, we started a state level campaign against communalism in Uttar Pradesh. Being the coordinator, I got an opportunity to traverse the entire state, interacting with many organisations and individuals engaged in various progressive movements.

During this campaign, some of us realised that almost all NGOs and social organisations talk about Dalit rights and got big projects in the name of Dalit development but in all these projects Dalits were seen nowhere except at the bottom level. These organisations did find some Dalits as their local activists to work among the Dalit masses but in their policy and decision making processes you won’t find even a single Dalit. These organisations work for the development of  Dalits, but provide no chance for them to have any say on how this would take place. It is just another form of untouchability against Dalits.

Some of us, then, got together and started interacting with Dalit activists and organisations across the state and in 1996-97 a state-level discussion was initiated on the politics, aims and activities of the Dalit organisations and NGOs. During the discussion, each one of us felt the need of a strong platform/network where all Dalit activists and organisations could come together on some common issues and concerns. Then the process of forming a state-level platform/network was initiated and, in 1998, it was formally named as DAG with the membership of around 70 Dalit NGO’s and people’s organisations from across the state.

How do you define Dalit organisation?

People interpret the meaning of Dalit in their own ways. Every one has their own Dalits (laughs). Political parties have their own Dalits, NGOs have their own Dalits and social organisations have their own. All depends on how you perceive and look at the problem. Many believe that only SCs are Dalits, some include tribals and minorities too. But at DAG, we believe that Dalits are all those who are on the margins of the society due to their social, economic, political or religious background. If I say explicitly, for us Dalit means ex-untouchables, tribals and socio-economically backward sections from religious minorities and OBCs as all these share almost similar conditions in the Indian villages.

DAG is an issue based state-level network of Dalit organisations. What are these issues around which DAG was created?

We formed DAG with a consensus that it would not be a registered organisation and rather should become a centre for issue based grass-root movements. With this approach, we chose five core issues to focus on. The first issue, and by far the most important one, is atrocities on Dalits in rural areas. We monitor all types of caste atrocities and try to provide legal assistance to the victims. Then, we organise Dalits there and try to create a movement around that incident so that no upper/dominant caste people dare to touch the Dalits again.

The second issue is about land rights- be it forest land or allotment of pattas or illegal possessions by dominant castes or wastelands – we are committed to fight for the rights of landless Dalits.

Women rights are our third issue and we have a state-level network of Dalit women leaders from local communities.

Our fourth core issue is to bring unity among Dalit sub-castes. Babasaheb had said, “till there are castes, we can’t create a new society”. Let us forget about others for the time being and try first to remove casteism among ourselves. For that we need to have ‘roti aur beti ka sambandh’ (interdining and intermarriage) among different Dalit sub-castes.

Finally we decided that DAG must become carrier of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s philosophy and make efforts for its propagation.

These are the issues around which DAG was formed. In our annual conventions, we focus on these five issues  with an understanding that new issues can be added but none from the five core issues will be discarded. Among our member groups, many carry out other activities independently like running schools, forming self-help groups, engaging in development activities etc. But all of us have agreed to be part of state-level campaigns on these five core issues under the umbrella of DAG.

One of the core issues you mentioned about is atrocities. How do you mobilise Dalit community on this issue? How do you instil confidence in the community that has been brutalised so consistently?

We have two-pronged strategy to deal with atrocity cases. As soon as we get the information, we take legal recourse and help the victim’s family to start police proceedings like lodging the proper FIR etc. After that we need to delve into the reasons for that particular incident. Otherwise that reason could always lead to more atrocities on other Dalits living in that area because my experience says that assault on any Dalit is almost never an attack on individual but is always targeted towards the entire Dalit community living there. It is not one person’s honour, dignity that has been taken away, the target is the whole community.

Similar is with rape cases. The amount of rapes committed on Dalit women will shock you for your entire life, I can bet. The enormity of problem would depress you. These happen due to the brahminical mindset of treating Dalit woman as an object of lust and this has become part of their culture. Rape on Dalit women is not at all considered as a crime in Indian villages, it is justifiable norm there. Rape is also a big tool to bring the whole Dalit community into submission. The abuses against Dalit women are a process of abusing the whole community.

Therefore for all cases of caste atrocities, after initiating the legal process we try to organise the local Dalit community against that particular incident. To prevent further atrocities you have to make the whole Dalit community aware about why that happened and more importantly what is their responsibility towards the victim and his /her family. We have done this in many cases in places like Chitrakoot, Robertsganj and Saharanpur. This process is easier in places where there is already some movement for Dalit rights.

We have this process running right now in one village of Ambedkar Nagar. Our 12 activists got falsely implicated in court cases while fighting for the land rights of the Dalits there. On each court hearing, 97 Dalit families of that village contribute Rs. 5 each so that these activists could go to the district court without bothering about their financial expenditures. These 12 activists forego their daily wages on the hearing day and that is their contribution towards the community. Wherever there is a movement, we try to run this process. Without depending on external sources, we try to build inherent support system for our activists. This is the same process through which we mobilise local Dalit communities.

What are the dangers for the Dalit activists working at grassroots and how do you deal with these?

We have gone through some very bad experiences. As I am speaking to you today, three of our activists are in jail. They have been falsely implicated in one murder case. I have been behind bars many a times under different criminal cases. But all this is pretty much expected.

If you want to see the real face of feudal and brahminical system, you have to visit the villages. These elements rule over villages. If you are a Dalit there, you will not be able to survive unless you sit on the ground of a brahmin’s chaupal with folded hands and wish him ‘pai lagi panditji’.

The entire village economy is controlled by feudal-brahminical class and every resource is under their control. And if you raise your voice then definitely you have to pay for this. You cannot just escape. You would be beaten, you might even get killed or get implicated in false cases and put behind bars with the help of local administration. If the Dalit activist is a woman, she would be victimised through abuses and rapes. They would threaten assertive Dalits with economic sanctions and disallow them to earn their livelihoods in the village.

This is the trajectory that I have witnessed through out my activist life. These tactics have often been used to prevent our movement to hold ground. But we have to take such risks and prepare ourselves. There is no other way. We are sure that we will succeed in getting our three activists out of jail. Once they come out, they will again join the struggle. This is the only way of struggle we know.

What are the other kinds of challenges you face while working on Dalit issues?

First of all, Dalit issues are very difficult to work on. For example, take land issues. People believe that this is just a matter of gramsabha and Dalits having pattas but are not able to occupy that. I want to say that this is not the battle of pattas and their occupations. It is battle against a system that is heavily staked against Dalits. You give pattas to the Dalits but never allow them to occupy it. They are kept fighting for that their whole lives. This is not the issue of one village, the whole state apparatus and law is geared towards that only.

The same goes with cases of Dalit atrocities. When you go to the police to lodge a complaint, the first thing they would do is to force you for a compromise. I have seen IPS officers, in Dalit women rape cases, saying that, “Arey yeh to hota hi aaya hai, isme kaun si badi baat hai ” (All this keeps happening, what is the big deal?).

The presence of laws is one thing and getting those laws implemented is completely different. You must get land this is the law but you would never be allowed to occupy. In atrocity cases, the provision says that SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act must be used but for that to happen Dalits have to fight local administration. Without that kind of pressure the local police would never use the Act. This you have to do every time, in each case and every where. You have to put up a fight in each case even to lodge an FIR.

How do you recruit activists/workers for your organisation?

We don’t do recruitments as such. To find activists, you don’t put advertisements in news papers (laughs). That is not the way to run a movement. We choose people during our campaigns or when we go and support other struggles. There we identify potential Dalit youth and enquire if they are willing to work and are committed to the cause. Then we try to give them political orientation. We try to inculcate both Marxist and Ambedkarite perspectives in our activists. If he/she is an Ambedkarite, we try to orient her in little bit of Marxism and if he/she is a Marxist we provide some orientation in Ambedkarism.

Then we see what all are the requirements. What minimum support he/she needs to start working full time in the movement? On that basis we try to support our full time activists. We are very particular about the need of identifying more Dalit women activists. Wherever we have found any vocal Dalit woman in the rural areas, we have tried to bring her up on the platform. Many times males would say, “These women are not educated, what is their use?” But we don’t listen to them.

How do you mobilise financial resources for your activities? What are your experiences with different kinds of funding agencies?

The funding avenues for our kind of work are very few. In addition to that we have been very strict about funding sources for our campaigns and therefore most of the time we function without much resources. However, our plus point is that we never created a big organisational structure and kept our involvement limited to movements/campaigns. Otherwise we would have been crushed under that structure by now or would have been kept running around the funding agencies in Delhi.

As a matter of principle, we never took funds from the government agencies. But some of our friends and fellow activists did take state funds and their experiences have been horrible. The babu who sits at the government office takes huge bribes and thinks all NGO people to be corrupt and thieves. We will never be able to take this.

We take funds from non-state agencies that do movement/campaign related funding. We don’t take funds for just any purpose and are very particular about our core issues and work on that only. There are more funding opportunities  for development issues than for fighting against caste discrimination. Many a times, people would tell us that there is funding on health or environment or development, go and apply. We refuse as we never go into development works.

Why this is so?

We firmly believe that NGOs cannot carry developmental works. For that we need large amount of resources. Also development is the responsibility of state and it must perform its responsibilities. By working for development in one or two villages, we can never empower our community. Rather we will like to engage ourselves in orienting our community politically by making them aware of their rights and supporting their initiatives in fighting against caste discrimination. This is our responsibility.

For almost three decades now you have been working on the Dalit issues at grassroots, how do you see the present Dalit movement?

Unfortunately Dalit movement appears to be in great crisis and somewhat directionless to me. In UP, Behenji’s slogan of Sarvjan and talks of brahmin-Dalit alliance are making rounds. But there cannot be friendship between a snake and mongoose. I have many good friends from brahmin community but I firmly believe that brahminical mindset can never be pro-Dalit. These trends in UP politics are of much concern for all of us.

Can’t Dalit movement run without including the brahmins? Is it possible for us to go for creation of new society with an independent mindset/ideology? How relevant are Babasaheb’s writings in contemporary times? I feel all these questions must be debated and discussed.

According to Babasaheb, there are three enemies towards the creation of new society, not only for Dalits but for entire society: brahmanism, feudalism and capitalism. Now if you talk about brahmanism, it has already reached its zenith with Atal Bihari Bajpayi becoming the prime minister by chanting the name of Lord Rama. RSS has spread its tentacles across the country and in all institutions. Feudalism has morphed into corporate farming. Capitalism has become globalised today and has become borderless and limitless.

Now who is your real enemy? Where should you hit? What are your issues?  We are fighting and shooting in the dark. This is the biggest crisis of our times.

We can only overcome this by initiating various debates on our economic policies, on our social and political systems etc among ourselves and later in the whole society. Till we don’t talk about these issues we cannot build an ideology for contemporary times and never a strong Dalit movement. I am greatly miffed at those Dalits who call themselves Ambedkarites but talk only about past and on the same old parameters.

Do you believe that the problems of Dalits can only be understood by Dalits?

A lot of people think that way. I also feel that the pains of Dalits could be best understood by Dalits themselves. I have seen this happening in many cases personally. ‘Upper’ caste people can become your good friends and sympathisers. But there are many issues where you keep on explaining to them but they are unable to comprehend.

They have never faced caste-discrimination and therefore lack the insight on that. For example, in any village of north India if a brahmin goes to a thakur household, the most-aged one would welcome him with utmost humility and offer him his own bed to sit. But if any Dalit or OBC, even well educated one, goes to that household he would never dare to sit on thakur’s bed. If he did so he would be abused and might get beaten.

If you tell this phenomenon to any progressive brahmin, he would never believe it or try to understand it even if it is being practised right in front of him. He would keep repeating, “No, no, this is not true, how can this happen”.

So what I am trying to say is that there are various types of atrocities that can only be understood by the victims not by others.

Take the example of a woman travelling in a bus. She alone can understand which touch on her body was unintentional and which was to harass her. She would immediately understand. The same thing is with the Dalits. There are many issues which only Dalits can understand.

So you believe that the battle for Dalit rights can only be fought by Dalits and Dalit organisations?

I don’t believe that this struggle can only be fought by Dalit themselves. We need to build a broader front. You have to take different people along but keep the Dalit issues in prominence. If these issues are put in the back burner then the struggle for our emancipation is not possible. Our problems are not just ours only but are of entire civil society. Therefore, they have to come forward.

If they don’t, then we will be forced to say, “Tilak taraju aur talwar inko maaro joote chaar.” This would be our frustration. So, you come forward, talk about the issue, be sensitive and let us fight together against caste system otherwise we have no options other than to raise this slogan. We know such slogans are not good for the creation of new society but we are helpless.

Also I don’t think that the battle would only be fought through Dalit organisations. However, it is unfortunate but true that if you take any ‘upper’ caste headed organisation, they would indeed talk about Dalits but at very superficial level. These organisations are simply incapable of talking about the pains of Dalits in depth as they are not sensitive towards the sophistication that is happening vis-à-vis caste discrimination against the Dalits.

So, I think to discuss all these we need our own platforms. Principally, I am against caste-based organisations. I am completely a follower of Babasaheb on this. Like him I also believe that there is no end to caste-politics. But, in the given context, it is also true that to raise questions based on caste you need caste-based platforms.

May be it is a new type of democratic process needed for the smooth functioning of the democracy where it is important that the anger and resentment of marginalised section of society is allowed to come out in open, on the surface, through their own medium. After that there might be a possibility of some new kind of social or caste coalitions to emerge that could create a common understanding on different issues and lead the fight against the entire exploitative system.

[Gomathi Kumar and Sanjay Kabir did their Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in the session 2007-09]

]]> http://blog.insightyv.com/?feed=rss2&p=967 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=905 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=905#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:30:30 +0000 admin http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=905 An Interview with Dr. Umakant

By Gomathi Kumar & Sanjay Kabir

Dr. Umakant (b. 1970) is a well known Dalit activist and scholar and has represented Dalit cause at various levels. After his schooling in home state Bihar, Dr Umakant joined Delhi University and later Jawaharlal Nehru University for higher education. In the year 2000, he was awarded doctorate for his thesis ‘Human Rights of Dalits: A Case Study of Bihar (1977-1997)’. In JNU, he was one of the founder members of a Dalit student platform UDSF and later has worked with National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) and International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN). He also co-edited a book titled ‘Caste, Race and Discrimination: Discourses in International Context’ (2004).

Illustration by Rajesh Kumar, JNU, New Delhi

For almost two decades now, you have been participating in the Dalit movement, first as a student activist and later as representing our cause at many national and international fora together with leading various campaigns for Dalit rights, how did you first get exposed to the Dalit movement and when?

My exposure to the Dalit movement started quite early. I got introduced to the Ambedkarite movement and philosophy at home itself thanks to my father who was very passionate for the cause. He introduced me to the literature published by BAMCEF, DS4 and BSP in my school days itself. However, my direct participation in the movement started in 1988, from my graduation days, when I came to Delhi and joined the Department of Political Science, Hindu college for my BA (Honours).

At that time our students were scattered and had no organisation or forum to come together, even informally. I started interacting with the Dalit students and tried to organize them, not by forming any separate organisation, but by bringing them together on certain issues. However, my participation increased in 1990 when the anti-Mandal agitation against OBC reservation took place and Delhi University became its main centre.

What was the impact of anti-OBC reservation agitation of 1990 on the Dalit students? Being a conscious Dalit student what was your response?

Lot of problems started cropping up for our students during that period. Though the Mandal commission recommendations were aimed at OBCs but it was the Dalit students who were being targeted by ‘upper’ castes. Our students were being victimised, ridiculed and things really became very difficult for us in the campus. The prejudices against us were always there but this agitation gave the ‘upper’ caste students an opportunity to display them quite openly.

It was very difficult to be a Dalit student in Delhi University during that period. Therefore I felt the need of meeting all our students not only from SC and ST backgrounds but also the OBCs, to instill a sense of self-respect and not to feel demoralized due to ‘upper’ caste students’ castiest behaviour. Soon we were able to form a small group and started interacting with our students telling them not to get provoked unnecessarily but whenever there was a need, to give a befitting reply to the anti-reservationists and if they resort to physical violence, to get united and defend themselves.

During this agitation we came across many cases of violence against Dalit students carried out mainly by lumpen caste-Hindu students belonging to feudal backgrounds from UP and Bihar. Thankfully in our college nothing of that sort happened but the whole situation during anti-Mandal agitation taught me the urgency of organizing Dalit students. In 1991, I joined Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi for my master’s programme and became much more active in the movement.

You spent almost a decade in JNU as a student right from your post-graduation to doctorate. This campus has a wonderful history of Dalit student activism. What was your experience there and how did it shape your post-student life?

When I joined JNU, Dalit students here also were trying to organize themselves. I immediately teamed up with them and as a result United Dalit Students’ Forum (UDSF) came into existence in 1991. I was one of its founding members and that is where my real involvement with the Dalit student’s issues began and we got enough opportunities to sharpen ourselves, to become articulative and develop leadership skills. However, the best thing with UDSF was the concept of collective leadership in the sense that it was run by a central committee consisting of 6-10 members. No single person was allowed to take the credit. There is always a central committee and collective responsibility that actually lends much credit to an organization like UDSF. Also it helps to develop leadership qualities among our students.

UDSF was the best platform I had. I could become Dalit activist and do international advocacy at different United Nations (UN) bodies only because of my initial training as a member of UDSF. I feel happy that in such a short period I have contributed something for our cause and the entire credit goes to UDSF.

A Dalit student platform is notably absent in majority of Indian campuses. As a frontrunner and a possible role model, what were the main activities of UDSF?

In UDSF, we did many things right from writing pamphlets, making posters on Dalit issues, to writing memorandums, organizing public meetings and building campaigns on different issues both in JNU and outside. We ran study circle classes and organised public talks by inviting noted scholars like Eleanor Zelliot, Gail Omvedt and Owen Lynch - scholars who have done extensive work on Dalits. Then we had our scholars like Prof Kancha Ilaiah, Prof S.K. Thorat, Prof Jogdand and Dr. Ramaiah as our regular speakers. We had regular organisational meetings and used to participate in other public meetings also to raise our issues. Through these activities, we forced other political groups to take up our issues too.

The common perception is that students should not involve themselves in any activities other than studies. For Dalit students the dangers are much more given their weak socio-economic background. What are your thoughts on this?

I disagree. People don’t have an iota of idea about the need and importance of platforms like UDSF in all Indian campuses. Let me tell you very categorically, all active members of UDSF from my batch are more successful professionally than those who chose to remain confined in their rooms. They are now in academics, in bureaucracy; some of them have even become full time activists. You can check this yourself.

They are successful because of the work they did in UDSF and the training they received there. It benefited them a lot in terms of exposure on different issues of our community and to develop interpersonal skills. Working for UDSF gave them a very confident public persona that is prerequisite for one’s professional success. Given the prejudices and hostile campus environment such platforms are the only source for Dalit students to express themselves, have access to information, draw support from each other and become socially conscious members of the community.

Most of the Dalit students who were active in UDSF in their JNU days are still contributing to the movement in different ways. That is the real success of our organisation. It not only helps you in your career but also makes you grounded with Ambedkarite philosophy so that wherever you go, you are aware of your duties towards the community. We need such Dalit student platform in each and every Indian campus and then you will see how things change rapidly in this country.

What are the major achievements of UDSF while you were in JNU that you cherish?

One achievement of UDSF, which I really cherish the most, happened in the year 2000 and had country-wide implications. In that particular year, University Grant Commission (UGC) came out with the decision that there would be no reservations for SC and ST students in Mphil and PhD programmes in the Central Universities.

That was an arbitrary decision, clearly aimed to curb any chance of our students for pursuing higher education. Given the level of caste-prejudices and weak socio-economic status, it is almost impossible for a student from SC/ST background to get admission in these premier institutions without reservation.

UDSF immediately took up this issue and started lobbying with different students’ groups and organizing Dalit students in the JNU campus. We met various cabinet ministers, members of parliament including HRD Minister Murali Manohar Joshi. We also tried to contact Dalit students from all over the country. The efforts of UDSF were remarkable in the sense that not many were aware of such decision and if UGC was allowed to go ahead, then it was the end of the road for SC/ST students for long time to come.

Due to our constant agitation and lobbying, the matter was taken up in the Cabinet meeting. There Ram Vilas Paswan (then a cabinet minister), with whom we lobbied hard, played a major role in putting the issue in right perspective. Within a week of our agitation and lobbying we got the order cancelled. I believe this is the biggest victory for UDSF till date. We fought really hard and won, benefiting thousands of Dalit students across the country.

Another important incident of my UDSF days dates back to 1994, when JNU was celebrating its Silver Jubilee after completing 25 years of its formation and having established its credentials as the bastion of progressive thoughts and ideology. We chose this particular occasion to highlight the hollowness of such claims.

What were the exact concerns raised by UDSF on this occasion?

UDSF initiated a campaign titled ‘what JNU has given to Dalit and Adivasis in the last 25 years’. We prepared the fact-sheet about how many SC and ST teachers have been appointed, how many students admitted and what percentage of SC/ST reservation has been fulfilled in JNU admissions in this period. As expected, despite all its progressive pretensions, JNU was woefully short of fulfilling its constitutional and social obligations.

We prepared posters with these facts and figures and posted in the entire campus. The then President Shankar Dayal Sharma was to inaugurate the function. We went there with black flags, posters, banners saying that JNU has not done justice to us. It created huge flutter and the programme got cancelled. Later, if you see, many teaching positions that were lying vacant were filled up with SC/ST candidates. Such was the impact of our campaign.

Apart from raising Dalit students’ issues in the campus and outside, how did UDSF involve itself with the concerns of larger Dalit community?

Our students were always very keen on raising the issue of caste-based violence. UDSF itself came into existence due to Tsunduru Dalit massacre (Andhra Pradesh, 1991), where 8 Dalits were hacked to death. Then Dalit students felt the need of a platform to show their solidarity to the larger Dalit community as well as to put pressure on the government to punish the perpetrators.

If you notice, 1990s’ was the decade with maximum violence against Dalit community, especially in the rural areas. Almost every year there were incidents where Dalits were massacred for asserting themselves. UDSF, within its limitation, responded by organizing protests in and out of the campus, by sending fact-finding teams, organizing relief to the victims and sensitizing the campus through public talks and meetings.

Here I will like to mention one such incident. In 1998, 61 Dalits were brutally killed by the ‘upper’ caste landlords in Lakshmanpur Bathe, Bihar. I was preparing for my civil services exams together with one of my batch mates Ravindra Kumar (at present faculty in IGNOU, New Delhi). We came to know about this incident on our last day of UPSC Mains exams. That whole night we spent organizing our students from one hostel to another.

On the very next day we held big demonstration inside the campus against the killings and took UDSF delegation to various government authorities in Delhi. Then our team went to Lakshmanpur Bathe and later published a fact-finding report and sent it to the President, Prime Minister together with other concerned authorities demanding severe punishment for the killers. Through our campaign, we tried to highlight the gravity of the crime and applying pressure on the authorities to provide justice. Again it was Ram Vilas Paswan (cabinet minister in then I.K. Gujaral government) who responded very well and undertook maximum efforts to bring relief to the community.

1990s was also the period of political assertion by Dalits. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was on ascendancy and for the first time Dalits were entering into electoral politics as independent players rather than puppets in the hands of the dominant castes. JNU has vibrant student politics and its students’ union elections are keenly watched. Did Dalit students tried to enter into electoral politics there?

UDSF is a non-political platform in the sense that it does not contest students’ union elections. During its formation, we deemed necessary that it should be like this only as we needed a common platform to raise our issues. We wanted to have participation of each and every Dalit students on our platform, irrespective of his/her political leanings.

But we were aware of the importance of electoral politics too and were much influenced and inspired by the political gains made by BSP. So we started Bahujan Student Front (BSF) in 1994. It was separate from UDSF but many of us worked for both. The idea behind the formation of BSF was that JNU student elections are the best platform to bring concerns and issues of our community in open. As you pointed out rightly that JNUSU elections are covered in media through out the country and has some resonance outside the campus, therefore we formed BSF and contested elections.

I contested, in 1995, for the post of general secretary as BSF candidate. Though we lost the election, which was expected, but we were able to set the agenda of the elections. The whole students’ union election was fought around Dalit issues and for the first time our issues and concerns were debated in JNU campus. We had wonderful speakers like our presidential candidate Dr. M.P. Rana (presently a full time activist) who were able to catapult Dalit issues in the mainstream.

It was such an important event in JNU history and the best part was that we did this on our own, without any external support unlike other students groups who could maintain their presence because of their mentors outside. Though we lost the elections but the entire student community was very charged up and we received lots of encouragement from the students from marginalized sections.

BSF stood in JNUSU elections for 2-3 more years but as you know electoral politic has its own compulsion and many of us were also reaching to a point where academic accomplishment becomes an important factor. Given our weak socio-economic backgrounds we have to be very conscious of this fact and can’t take many liberties as for not only our immediate family but for many others we are the only hope for their better future.

Thanks so much for enlightening us and we are sure that your experience in JNU campus as a student activist will inspire many. But when we look at the larger picture, we get hugely disappointed. The Dalit movement has, so far, not emerged at the national level as a force to reckon with. What are the challenges towards that?

It is quite natural. Like the fragmentation in Indian society, Dalits are also divided into different groups. Like you, I also wish for pan-India Dalit movement and have been quite agitated for the lack of it. Once, I asked Prof Eleanor Zelliot, who is a well known authority on Dalit issues, about why there is no pan-India Dalit organisation or movement. I will like to quote her exact answer here.

She said, “India is like Europe. Every region has its own culture, own language. Most of these regions have very strong local Dalit movements but the problem is that these movements are not able to transcend their local barriers, regional barriers. So you will find that in Tamilnadu, or in some parts of Tamilnadu there is a strong movement but the people of neighbouring states like Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra are not aware of it at all. Even in these states there might be grassroots or even state level movements but they have no linkages with their counterparts in Tamilnadu. That is how Dalit movement has remained fragmented region wise, language wise and it is so difficult to bring them all on one national platform without transcending these barriers.”

Ideally our people should have been very well organised after 60 years of independence and our intelligentsia developed enough to play a larger role in mainstreaming our issues. There is huge disappointment in terms of our political leadership too. Instead of having one strong political platform we have many with huge differences among each other. Even in terms of our social organisations and NGOs, we seem not to have one network through which their work could be coordinated, at least on similar issues.

But 60 years is lot of time for a movement to emerge at national level?

Perhaps for country like India, working for 20, 30 and even 40 years is not enough to bring pan-India change or even to have a pan-Indian identity for one organisation. Because of the diversity in the language, culture; it is very difficult to bring people together on one platform. Then Dalits themselves are not a homogeneous group and are divided in hundreds of castes themselves. It further complicates the matter.

It is not that attempts have not been made in this direction.  In fact, in last 30 years, there have been various efforts for a pan-India Dalit organisation. The role of Kanshiram Saheb in organizing Dalits and other disadvantaged communities on one political platform was momentous. Today BSP is a party to reckon with and has presence in many states along with clear majority in one of the biggest and most populous state of the country. But you see the amount of hard work it required for Kanshiram Saheb to bring BSP up to this level. He gave his whole life for it.

We do not have very strong economic background and also lack social and cultural capital in terms of generating financial resources to run our organisations. To have a successful all India organisations you need crores of rupees. From where will you get this much money? Who will give you?

It is now that you will hear few Dalit NGOs getting decent fundings for their activities from the funding agencies. After 20-25 years of long struggle these NGOs are able to come up and locate some funding opportunities and many of them are doing commendable work at different levels.

Do you see any role of Dalit students’ activism, like that of UDSF, towards creating a pan-India Dalit movement?

There is strong need of some genuine efforts to create a pan-India Dalit movement. It will not happen automatically and that is where the Dalit students’ activism at premier institutions like JNU becomes important as these institutions have students from different states and through organisations like UDSF that represents all Dalit students, one can learn to transcend regional barriers.

However, it is also important to keep in mind that student life in campuses like JNU might not reflect the ground realities in totality and our training remains incomplete till we go out and work in the larger society. It is very important for a Dalit student activist to understand this fact because the idealism that fires your imagination, your spirit might not match with the ground realities. You might not find strong Dalit organisations at different levels or unity among our people.

But if you are really sincere towards the cause, you can make whole lot of difference. You have to take initiatives. Either you take up issues in your own way or become a full time activist by either joining any social or political platform or NGOs working on our issues and contribute there with your best intentions. You will have to sacrifice a lot because fighting for Dalit rights is not an easy job. It might not pay you politically, socially or economically. If you are determined to work for your people, nothing will stop you from raising the issue, getting justice for our community. What is needed is a team of dedicated young people with good professional background and good training. With only rhetorics we will not go very far.

After completing studies, you have been associated with organisations working for our cause and participated in various campaigns for Dalit rights both at national and international level. One of them was Durban Conference, held in 2001. This conference is often credited for bringing global attention, for the first time, to the issue of caste-discrimination in India. You participated in this conference along with many other Dalit activists. What had been your experience there?

The World Conference against Racism (WCAR) at Durban, in my opinion, was the first ever international event where Dalit activists could successfully participate and bring international attention to the caste discrimination. Creating visibility on the issue was our only goal and we had fair success in doing so. If the Dalits activists had not participated there in large numbers our issues would never have appeared at the international level as prominently as they appear now.

National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) worked as a catalyst for this campaign. It not only mobilized Dalit activists from across the country but took the campaign to different levels simultaneously – from grassroots to international forums. While we were lobbying at Durban, we were also organizing rallies, yatras in different states inside the country demanding Dalit human rights.

In Durban, we were almost at par with African and Palestinian groups in organizing and highlighting our issues. The leader of our Dalit group was even invited to address 12 heads of states that included prominent politicians like Yasar Arafat, Fidel Castro and Thabo Mbeki.

It was a remarkable achievement given the complete lack of exposure of Dalit activists in international advocacy and campaigns. It is an important milestone in the Dalit movement as it brought global attention to caste discrimination. Now we are able to intervene in different UN bodies as well on various Dalit issues. Before Durban, UN bodies never paid attention to our problem.  Just after Durban, Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) organised a thematic discussion on descent based discrimination. There, for the first time, any UN document mentioned the word ‘caste’! That’s how we could make a difference.

Highlighting the issue and making every one aware about caste discrimination at global level is very well but no international forum can directly intervene as caste is an ‘internal matter’ of the country. In such scenario, how beneficial international advocacy would be to the Dalits living in this country?

On the face of it, all these exercises may seem useless and to certain extent it is true. Going to UN and raising issue at international fora do not help you much, we know this. We never said that the participation in Durban conference will solve all your problems. But it certainly helps in creating conditions where you can demand accountability from the Indian state.

At the Durban conference our strategy was to create visibility on our issues and we did that quite successfully. After the conference, we tried to consolidate on the gains made at international level by taking up advocacy on Dalit issues at various other international fora. Also we never limited ourselves to international advocacy but are working at different levels. The unwritten motto of NCDHR is ‘we will work from village panchayats to UN level’.

So along with international advocacy we stated working on strategies to capacitate young Dalit activists to work at grassroots level. More than seventeen hundred young Dalit activists from all over the country were given trainings to fight against cases of caste atrocities. They are trained for monitoring atrocity cases, compiling data, preparing the fact finding reports on such cases and then support Dalit victims through legal interventions.  Through these activists we are also able to create a big data bank on the number of atrocities and its various forms which later could be used to demand for Dalit rights and to lobby for strong intervention from both the state and international bodies. The grassroots information has helped us in raising the issue in most effective way.

After Durban Conference, what have been the other achievements in international advocacy?

I will like to mention here about the appointment of two Special Rapporteurs, in 2005, by the UN to study caste discrimination and to prepare guidelines for tackling it. Unfortunately the UN body that appointed them got abolished during the restructuring of UN and the Rapporteurs have yet to present their reports, which are now hanging somewhere in the UN building in Geneva. We are lobbying hard to get them published so that we can at least use them as a tool to address our issues.

Then there was a conference organised in Geneva by Human Rights Council on April 10, 2008 where Indian government had to face international censure for not dealing effectively with caste discrimination. Here we submitted our report on caste discrimination and lobbied with the delegations from different countries to raise questions on the status of Dalits in the conference. In just two days, we met and presented our case to missions from about twenty countries.

You know how many of them raised our issue? Eleven of them. Indian government had to take notice and to reiterate its commitment to protect Dalit rights at the conference. This happened not because of two days of lobbying but due to our regular interventions at international levels. After Durban conference, we have used every opportunity to raise various issues on international fora - atrocities on Dalit women, untouchability, manual scavenging, lack of equal opportunities, poverty, discrimination in natural disaster relief and rehabilitations etc. Thus, most of the countries who value human rights are well aware of the caste problem and are willing to support us in pressuring Indian government to implement strict measures to empower Dalits.

Prior to the Durban Conference, were there any similar attempts to draw the global attention towards the problems faced by the Dalits?

It seems, in 1945, Babasaheb Ambedkar tried to take caste issue at international level. There is a reference in Babasaheb’s writings (Writings and Speeches Vol. 17) but what actually happened, we are not aware. Perhaps there was a conspiracy to stop Babasaheb to go to UN.

In 1945 when the League of Nations was preparing for the formal establishment of UN, there were many marginalized groups from different part of the world that were trying to submit memorandums so that their concerns also get reflected in Universal Declaration of Human rights and in other international treaties that were coming up.  At Durban, we got to know that there were exchange of letters between Babasaheb Ambedkar and prominent Afro-American leader W. E. B. Du Bois. The Black leader wrote in his biography that, “I received a letter from Dr Ambedkar, leader of untouchables from India to coordinate together to submit a memorandum”.

After the death of Babasaheb few brave attempts were made to lobby international support against caste discrimination in the country. The efforts of Dr. Laxmi Berwa (USA), Advocate Bhagwan Das (Delhi) and Henry Thayagraj (Chennai) must be highly appreciated by all of us in this regard. However, these were at best individual efforts and it is for the first time, in Durban Conference, caste issues were raised in a very systematic way in UN bodies.

After Durban Conference and getting exposed on caste issues at international level, what have been the responses of Government of India?

At least the Government of India now has started admitting the problem that yes there is some thing called caste-discrimination. Earlier they were not even doing that and kept on reiterating that caste problem is now our past. Now they are saying that we will take up the issue seriously and we will get things done inside the country. The problem is these pronouncements should also reflect in the implementation which still is not happening. For us it is going to be a long battle so that state is held accountable for all the atrocities that are committed on us.

Despite having an egalitarian Constitution and wonderful set of anti-discriminatory laws why the state is unable to implement them?

The problem lies at the way things are done at Government level. Babasaheb used to say that Manu is still alive in this country. People who are at the helm of affairs are still following manu-wad. That is why our people are having a miserable life even after 60 years of independence. Anti-discriminatory Laws and progressive constitutional provisions do not operate in vacuum. These are operating within a caste-society that does not recognize the Indian Constitution. The brahmanical social order does not recognize it. This social order decides the behaviour of dominant caste groups in our country – be it caste-Hindus, caste-Muslims, or caste-Christians.

And when such people constitute majority of those who are at helm of affairs of this country, how can there be any socio-economic change? That is why it is important for us to create a space in the decision making process and in governance of the country.  One or two Dalit persons can never bring change. With one chairperson of some government body, one planning commission member or one member in the cabinet here and there, things are not going to happen. We need to mainstream Dalit rights and concerns every where, in every sector.

You have almost two decades of activism behind you starting right from your student life to representing the Dalit cause at various fora. What are your expectations from the Dalit students now?

We need people who are willing to work for liberating our community. We do not need people who have problems in identifying themselves as Dalits. Every person who has benefited from the reservation policy has the moral duty to pay back to the society.  Don’t take benefit of reservations if you can’t pay back. You are being immoral otherwise. If there was no reservation, we would not have been here, talking to each other. You have also no rights to take reservation benefits if you are unable to defend the policy. Let’s be clear and honest to ourselves.

I feel proud to say that I am a product of reservation policy. It would not have been possible for me to get such a good education without it. Without good education, it would have been impossible for me to become an advocate of Dalit rights. My father was the first beneficiary of reservation and he struggled much to provide education not only to his children but to other relatives too. This is what every first generation beneficiary has done.

If you see around carefully, you will realize that most of educated Dalits from our parent’s generation had helped so many people, not just their own families. Every one who has benefited has paid back more than what they were supposed to. They have done their best, they have paid back to the community and it is now our responsibility to pay back.

[Gomathi Kumar and Sanjay Kabir did their Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in the session 2007-09]

Welcome to the new issue of our magazine Insight Young Voices (December 09- January 10). The theme of the present issue is ‘Mapping Contemporary Dalit Movement: Issues and Patterns of Mobilization’.

In the last 25-30 years, there has been a new wave of Dalit assertion that is visible across the country and is manifested through different forms of mobilization: political groups, ngos, socio-cultural groups, employees associations, student platforms, diasporas, religious groups etc.

In this issue we are trying to understand this phenomena through the lenses of people who are directly engaged in it. They are activists, scholars, politicians, artists, students but working together towards emancipation of our community from the clutches of brahminical social order, albeit, focusing in different areas.

For this, we have interviewed 24 people from across the country, contributing in the Dalit movement in their respective capacities. This issue carries 10 of them and are primarily from North India. In our next issue we will carry rest of the 14 interviews together with some research articles from the scholars who have been studying various aspects of Contemporary Dalit movement for quite some time.

This is our humble attempt to present various facets of Dalit movement before our readers, especially before Dalit youth and students. By no means we are attempting towards coding the entire movement in detailed manner but  trying to provide just a glimpse of  Dalit movement, as it stands today. With these two issues on Contemporary Dalit Movement, we hope to generate enough discussions and debates so that these get supplemented with out limited efforts.

We also want to inform our readers that our magazine site insightyv is going through reconstruction and hence we will be putting this entire issue on this blog by posting one article/interview on every alternate day starting from Dr. Umakant’s interview right from today.  We hope to have our website fully functional by the end of this month and then will put the present issue and all future ones on that website itself.

Jaibheem

Anoop Kumar

On behalf of Insight Editorial Collective

]]> http://blog.insightyv.com/?feed=rss2&p=903 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=895 http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=895#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:25:08 +0000 Anoop http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=895

News Courtesy: Ashok Yadav, Patna (Bihar)

By Nilesh Kumar, Ajay Hela and Anoop Kumar

[Nilesh and Ajay are pursuing their Masters in Social Work, TISS, Mumbai]

Exactly 30 years ago, Dalits, in West Bengal, came to realize the true nature of Indian state that is being dominated, in every sense, by a tiny section of population but at a great personal cost.  It was in 1979, when thousands of Dalits, refugees from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) lost their lives at Marichjhapi, in Sunderbans, for their dream of resettling in the region which they considered part of their motherland.

Marichjhapi is just one incident in the tragic tale of one of the most powerful Dalit Community-Namashudras of Bengal - who first became the victim of Hindu-Muslim communalism during the partition and later became the victims of their castes in independent India.

Moreover, the complete silence of Bengal’s civil society for almost 30 years and the fact that Dalits were killed by Communist government of West Bengal that came to power in the name of poor and dispossessed, raises some serious questions about representation of Dalits in every sphere, the constitution of civil society and the hegemony of a few privileged castes over the political power in Independent  India.

Apart from these, the Namashudra problem also poses a big question for the Dalit movement and Dalits living in other parts of the country about whether they are willing to fight for the rights of their fellow community people who, unfortunately, paid the price for sending Babasaheb Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly.

At this crucial juncture, a very prominent leader Jogendra Nath Mandal ensured his election from the Bengal province. Thus Babasaheb could enter into the constituent assembly and, later, become prime architect of Indian Constitution that guaranteed many rights for the Dalits including representation in education and government jobs.

Who was Jogendra Nath Mandal? How could Babasaheb enter into Constituent Assembly from Bengal being ambushed by Congress in Bombay province and declared persona non grata due to his exposure of Gandhi and Congress as upholder of ‘upper’ caste Hindu domination?

He could enter at the strength of the then untouchable community called Namashudras and Jogendra Nath Mandal was one of the prominent Namashudra leaders of Bengal.

Namashudras were largely an agrarian community well-known for its hardworking nature, agricultural and artisan skills. It was one of the biggest communities of Bengal, with majority of its population based in the eastern part of undivided Bengal (now Bangladesh) with a long tradition of resisting caste-hindu domination and fighting against practice of untouchability and other ignominies thrust on them by the caste system.

The Namashudra movement had been one of the most politically mobilized untouchable’s movements in colonial India that had rejected Congress’ leadership even before Dr. Ambedkar, as it was upholding the interests of landowning ‘upper’ castes under the ruse of Indian nationalism. The complete monopoly of rich Bengali Bhadralok (a land owning class of people consisting of three Hindu ‘upper’ castes – brahmins, kayasthas and vaidyas) on congress leadership validated their severe indictment of the policies of the Congress.

Even prior to Congress, the Namashudras were the only voice of resistance to much touted Bengal ‘renaissance’ that, in all practical terms, were efforts of ‘upper’ caste Hindus to consolidate themselves and aggressively bargain with British colonial government to restrict the benefits of British built institutions like that of education, judiciary, bureaucracy and local governance for themselves.

The success of the Namashudra Movement could be easily measured by the autonomous political space which they were able to chalk out for themselves in Bengal politics and in alliance with Muslims had kept the Bengal Congress Party in opposition from the 1920s. At the strength of this political space they could get Babasaheb elected to the Constituent Assembly.

This exclusion of ‘upper’ caste Hindus from power in Bengal led Hindu elite and eventually the Congress Party pressing for partition of the province at independence, so that at least the western half would return to their control. So successful they have been in their design that West Bengal is probably the only state in the country where ‘upper’ caste hegemony went completely unchallenged in independent India till today.

It is clearly manifested in every sphere of life there and one hardly comes across any murmur of Dalit assertion ever.

One of the best indicators of ‘upper’ caste Hindu domination over West Bengal would be the number of Cabinet positions enjoyed by them in the successive state governments - the tiny tri-caste Bengali elite (consisting of brahmins, kayasthas and vaidyas) increased its Cabinet composition from 78 percent under the Congress regime (1952-62) to 90 percent under the Communist regime indicating their complete domination over West Bengal.

How was this achieved? What happened to the once powerful Namashudra community that resisted the ‘upper’ caste hegemony in pre-independence India?

The Plight of Namashudras in post-independence India

Marichjhapi is one of the small islands lying within the Sundarbans area of West Bengal. It was here in 1979 that thousands of Dalits were killed by the communist led West Bengal government. Hundreds were killed directly in police firings but many more died of starvation, lack of drinking water and diseases due to the economic blockade that was imposed on them by the state government and carried out by the police and communist cadres together.

Their settlements in Marichjhapi were completely bulldozed and destroyed.  Hundreds of women were raped and killed, their bodies  either dumped in the water bodies or left behind to be eaten by the beasts of nearby jungles in one of the biggest genocide carried out by any state in independent India.

The people who survived were driven out of West Bengal to continue living with the tragic memories of their lost loved ones and perpetual longing for the soil that once constituted parts of their motherland.

What happened at Marichjhapi is just one incident in the long tragic history of this particular Bengali Dalit community that started with the partition of the country and is continued till today. They have been living in their own country as second grade citizens, scattered throughout the country.

These helpless victims belonged to a Dalit community called Namashudras and were refugees from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) who were dispatched to different parts of the country by the state government citing the lack of space in West Bengal . The  same state government took no time  and readily provided maximum possible relief and rehabilitation to the ‘upper’ caste refugees.

Apart from this, these upper caste refugees illegally occupied large areas in and around Kolkata and other major cities of Bengal and got them regularized but when it was about Dalit refugees, the then Congress Chief Minister B.C. Roy wrote to Prime Minister Nehru that ‘we have no place for them, send them to other states’.

Then these Dalit refugees, despite their vociferous protests, were dispatched to inhospitable and far flung areas of states like Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Uttaranchal, Assam to live in completely alien environment. They were driven down to these places packed in government vehicles as cattle, under strict police supervision. Later many of their settlements in different states, like Mana camp in Orissa, were turned into concentration camps as government employed the services of Indian army to guard the camps for 12 long years, lest these people would escape to West Bengal.

Marichjhapi massacre of Dalit refugees by Left government in Bengal is just one incident. Even before Marichjhapi there were numerous incidents where many Namashudra refugees got killed by police while demanding for better provisions in the camps where they were being forcefully kept.

Apart from being persecuted by the state, the Namashudras, settled outside West Bengal, also suffered enormously from various other factors. They continuously faced hostility of local populace that strongly resented the presence of outsiders in their surroundings. Most of the camps were in the areas that were not fit for agriculture and being primarily an agrarian community, totally different type of climates and soil conditions made them handicap.

Also, even the reservation provisions for which, as Dalits, they would have been eligible in West Bengal, were not recognized in the states in which they were settled, as their castes were not native to those states.  Despite all the difficulties, Namashudra refugees settled in different states kept alive their dream of returning back to the environment, culture and the land that they belonged to.

The Great Communist Betrayal

During this period from late 1960s till mid-70s, the Bengali communists led by CPI (M), which was in opposition then, took up the case of these refugees and demanded that the government settle them within their native Bengal rather than scatter them across India on the lands of other peoples.

The communist, again its leadership monopolized by ‘upper’ caste, started raising their voices in the support of Dalit refugees and promised to provide them rehabilitation in West Bengal. The sites they mentioned in West Bengal for resettlement were either the Sundarbans area of the Ganges delta or vacant land scattered in various places throughout the state. The party leaders went around various Dalit camps campaigning for their return to West Bengal, simultaneously promising full support after coming in power. Particularly one, Mr. Ram Chatterjee, who later became minister in the CPI (M) led government, exhorted the Dalit refugees by thundering, “The 5 crore Bengalis by raising their 10 crore hands are welcoming you back.”

In 1977, when the Left Front came to power, they found that the Dalit refugees had taken them at their words having disposed off whatever their meager belongings were and have marched towards West Bengal. In all, 1, 50,000 refugees arrived from Dandakaranya region of what is now Chhattisgarh expecting the communists to honour their words. Instead the Left Front government started sending them back forcibly citing the lack of space in the state – the same reason that was cited earlier when the Dalits arrived from East Bengal during the partition. It was a rude shock for the Dalit refugees who were depending on the newly elected Left Front government. Dalit refugees were brutally evicted from various railway stations, being fired upon by the West Bengal police and were denied food and water. Still many refugees managed to escape and reached Marichjhapi, an island that lies in the northern part of the Sunderbans. Thousands of other Dalit refugees also marched to Marichjhapi on feet along the railway tracks, avoiding the police.

By the end of the year 1978, there were 30,000 Dalit refugees in the island of Marichjhapi who rapidly established it as one of the best-developed islands of the Sundarbans. Within a few months tube-wells had been dug, a viable fishing industry, saltpans, dispensaries and schools were established. In short, in just few months, the hard working Namashudras built a thriving local economy without any government support in the region that is considered the poorest in West Bengal.

Deeply humiliated by the successful resettlement of Namashudra refugees in Marichjhapi, the Left Front government started their propaganda against them by stating that the ‘Marichjhapi is a part of the Sundarbans government reserve forest’ and therefore Dalit refugees were ‘violating the Forest Acts and thereby disturbing the existing and potential forest wealth and also creating ecological imbalance’.

This was a blatant lie as Marichjhapi did not fall under government reserve forest at all. The Bengali Bhadralok leadership of Left Front had to resort to such lies and take up environmental concerns as an excuse as the Marichjhapi exposed their earlier lie too regarding ‘lack of space in West Bengal’.

The West Bengal government launched a full frontal assault on the Marichjhapi and the Dalit refugees. It started with the economic blockade. The police cordoned off the whole island, cutting every communication link with the outside world.

Thirty police launches encircled the island thereby depriving the settlers of food and water; they were also tear-gassed, their huts razed, their boats sunk, their fisheries and tube-wells destroyed, and those who tried to cross the river were shot at. Several hundred men, women and children were believed to have died during that time and their bodies thrown in the river.

And those who tried to defy this economic blockade by swimming across to other islands in search of food and water were brutally shot. On January 31, 1979 the police opened fire killing 36 people who were trying to get food and water from a nearby island.

It was not that the media was not aware of the sufferings and police brutalities on hapless Namashudras. When the reports of Marichjhapi started appearing in the media, Jyoti Basu, then chief minister of Bengal, shamelessly, termed it as ‘CIA conspiracy’ against newly elected communist government of Bengal and exhorted media to support the government in ‘national interest’.

Jyoti Basu justified the police actions by accusing Namashudra refugees of being agents of foreign forces and using Marichjhapi as arms-training centre. Moreover, Jyoti Basu declared the whole area to be out of bound for media and thus effectively silencing any dissenting voices or reporting of the killings of Dalit refugees.

It took more than five months and killings of thousands of Dalit refugees for the West Bengal government to effectively crush the Namashudra resistance in Marichjhapi. Totally devastated by the government brutalities the rest of the Namsahudras were packed off, as prisoner of war, back to Chattishgarh and Andaman.

After destroying all the huts, markets, schools and all other visible markers of Namashudra settlement, West Bengal government declared, in May 1979, Marichjhapi ‘finally free from all refugees’.

Regarding the total lives lost during the West Bengal government’s assault on Marichjhapi we will quote from one of the earliest writings on this incident by A. Biswas who wrote, in 1982, that ‘…out of the 14,388 families who deserted [for West Bengal), 10,260 families returned to their previous places . . . and the remaining 4,128 families perished in transit, died of starvation, exhaustion, and many were killed in Kashipur, Kumirmari, and Marichjhapi by police firings".  [A. Biswas, 1982, "Why Dandakaranya a Failure, Why Mass Exodus, Where Solution?" The Oppressed Indian 4(4):18-20.]

Memories in the black hole

Exactly thirty years have passed by this fateful event that took place in Marichjhapi but not many from outside are aware of the communist government’s genocidal acts against Dalits. There has been complete silence even from the Bengali civil society that claims to be very progressive and free from caste biases.

The Bengali scholars, Marxist or otherwise, rule the Indian academia and write, articulate on all the problems that plague this earth. But none of them broke their silence ever on the merciless killings and eviction of people who belonged to the same Bengali society but happened to be Dalits. Marichjhapi was soon forgotten, except by the Dalits themselves.

The communists who keep on harping on fighting for the poor and dispossessed took no time in killing the same people soon after occupying the state power.

Perhaps this was the revenge of the Bengali Bhadralok, (that completely monopolizes the Bengali civil society, it’s so called scholarly class, communist and congress leadership) against Namashudra community that once successfully challenged ‘upper’ caste hegemony in undivided Bengal. So successful is the revenge that the community now lives in complete oblivion and scattered across the country without anyone standing for their rights or speaking about what actually happened in Marichjhapi in 1979.

References:

While writing this article, we have drawn heavily from following two research articles among very few that are available on the tragic tale of one our Dalit communities. We are reproducing both the articles for the benefit of our readers so that we all become aware of the tragedy and are able to fight for the justice. We are taking the liberty of posting the articles in all good faith despite the possibility of infringing copyrights.

1. Mallick, Ross, ‘Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre‘, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 58, No. 1. (Feb., 1999), pp. 104-125.

2. Jalais, Annu, ‘Dwelling on Morichjhanpi: When Tigers Became ‘Citizens’, Refugees ‘Tiger-Food’, Economic and Political Weekly, April 23, 2005    

Ross Mallick

Annu Jalais