Dalits - political positions
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1672518.cms
Dalit sarpanch paraded naked in MP village
Suchandana Gupta
[ 22 Jun, 2006 2319hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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BHOPAL: A Dalit woman sarpanch of Mahoikala village in Chattarpur
district of MP was beaten up, stripped and then paraded naked by upper
caste men for not paying them Rs 50,000 from the village development
fund.
The woman's plight does not end here as she had to knock the police
door repeatedly for lodging an FIR. But when she did not succeed, she
had to seek an SP MLA's help for registering the FIR four days after
the incident.
National Women's Commission chairperson Girija Vyas on Thursday asked
the Madhya Pradesh government to conduct a probe into the incident and
submit a report within a week.
According to Indira Kushwah (45), the sarpanch, local goons Lakhan
Shukla and Santosh Shukla had been harassing her for the last six
months for money. Indira told mediapersons in Chhatarpur on Thursday,
"Lakhan used to threaten me.
He used to say that I had been given money for the village development
since I was the sarpanch. He also said the money should be given to him
because I, being a Dalit, would not know how to spend it."
"On the evening of June 17, when I turned down their demand, the two,
armed with rifles, came to my hutment, dragged me and my children out
and Lakhan started beating me. He and his men then stripped me and
paraded naked in the village," she alleged.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/15/stories/2006091512720500.htm
<>Dalit woman Sarpanch holds the
post; but
wields little power
Special Correspondent
Prevented from hoisting national Tricolour at Independence Day
function: Report
JAIPUR: A Dalit woman Sarpanch in Rajasthan, being victimised on caste
grounds ever since she was elected, was prevented from hoisting the
national Tricolour at the village-level Independence Day function this
year. The Deputy Sarpanch belonging to a dominant caste is the
panchayat's de facto head and exercises all authority.
A fact-finding team of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights
(NCDHR), which visited Biwai village in Dausa district recently, found
an all-pervading atmosphere of discrimination against Dalits and
discovered the servile status of the Sarpanch as an indication of
Dalits being subjugated and forced to relinquish their basic rights.
Sarpanch Dhapa Devi, elected two years ago following the inclusion of
Biwai panchayat in the reserved category, has been rendered a "rubber
stamp'' as a result of machinations of the panchayat members and the
support enjoyed by them in the village. "Dhapa Devi, being illiterate,
is not able to resist the patently illegal actions of panchayat
members,'' said the NCDHR report.
NCDHR State secretary Satish Kumar, who led the fact-finding team, said
here on Thursday that the Deputy Sarpanch and the Panchayat Secretary
were instrumental in the cases such as unauthorised allotment of land
without getting the approval of Sarpanch and depriving several Dalits
of their title of land to benefit those belonging to higher castes.
The four-member team found that Deputy Sarpanch Deendayal Sharma had
wrongfully got his family registered in the below poverty line (BPL)
category, while Panchayat Secretary Raghavendra Singh had colluded with
other Government officials to fabricate orders for land allotment and
preparation of meals in Anganwadi Yojana.
Dhapa Devi -- being the first Dalit woman Sarpanch in the village -- is
neither given respect nor allowed to express her views in the panchayat
meetings. Mr. Kumar said the Deputy Sarpanch, in collusion with
influential people of the village, had ensured deprivation of landless
Dalits from welfare schemes and perpetuation of untouchability.
Dhapa Devi was subjected to the biggest humiliation on Independence Day
this year when she was not allowed to unfurl the national flag in the
official function. The NCDHR report said when the Sarpanch was going to
the panchayat premises to attend the function, a peon came to her to
tell that she had no need to go there because a panchayat member, Bilya
Meena, had already hoisted the flag.
"I was shocked on being informed in this manner. This happened in the
main market in broad daylight and I was insulted in front of a large
number of people,'' Dhapa Devi told the NCDHR team.
The NCDHR has demanded legal action against those who prevented the
Sarpanch from hoisting the Tricolour, cancellation of illegal land
allotments to upper caste people, establishment of a permanent police
post in Biwai to check crimes against Dalits and immediate transfer of
the Panchayat Secretary.
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/16909.html
ONLY
IN THE EXPRESS
Dalit
woman panchayat president auctioned
for 2.16 lakh in TN village
Jaya
Menon
Posted
online: Sunday,
November 19, 2006 at 0000 hrs
Highest
bidder, an
upper-caste Thevar, will get to use president as rubber stamp, get her
to sign
contracts and pocket the commission
Madurai,
November 18:You’ve
read how panchayat posts were auctioned in Tamil Nadu villages.
Here’s a more bizarre story. A Madurai
village, Kodikulam, today auctioned its president, a poor, illiterate
Dalit
woman who the villagers were forced to elect because the post was
reserved for
a Dalit woman.
Balamani
Veeman, the panchayat president, was auctioned off despite her
pleas that she would hand over all her “earnings” to the village
committee.
At
about 11 this morning, there was much excitement in Kodikulam village,
about 25 km from Madurai,
as Thevar (an ‘upper caste’) elders and the bidders gathered at the
village
square for the auction. While T Madhivanan was the hot favourite with
his offer
of Rs 2 lakh till this morning, another farmer, Karuppusamy Ayyavu
Thevar (36),
surprised everyone with his offer of Rs. 2.16 lakh and ‘won’ Balamani.
The
village had decided that the highest bidder could use Balamani as a
“rubber stamp’’ for signing agreements and other contracts for the
village and
take the “commissions’’ for himself. “Now Balamani would be under total
control
of Karuppusamy,’’ said Dhanam Pandi, a widow, who hails from the
village.
“The
auction for Balamani was to be held last Saturday along with that of
the three cummas (water tanks, where fish is reared and sold). But the
village
elders decided to take up the auction for Balamani separately,’’ said
Dhanam
after the one-hour proceedings. Balamani’s husband, Veeman, told The
Sunday
Express that he and his wife protested even today. “But the elders did
not
listen. They went ahead with the auction and Karuppusamy won,’’ said
Veeman, a
retired assistant of the Village Administrative Officer.
Denying
that he had won Balamani in an auction, Karuppusamy said he had
only been “`chosen’’ by the village “to take on the responsibility of
assisting
the president in her functions.’’ Along with Balamani, the post of
vice-president would also be thrown in as part of the deal as it would
make his
job of “helping’’ Balamani easier, Karuppusamy said. “While there was
pressure
initially to make Balamani resign as was being done in Keeripatti,
Pappapatti
and Nattamangalam in the past, we convinced a section of the villagers
that one
of us could take on the task of assisting the president,’’ he added.
A
meek farm hand, Balamani (48) works on the fields of her Thevar bosses
in
nearby Machinapatty village. “I did not want to be auctioned and told
the
elders that whatever commissions we get from contracts will be handed
over to
them. But they did not listen,’’ she said. Earning about Rs 65 a day
from her
farm work, Balamani and Veeman’s first wife are the breadwinners of the
family.
In fact, when Balamani and her husband protested against the auction,
angry
villagers demanded to know if they could hand over Rs 2 lakh, the
initial offer
of Madhivanan. “We do not have that kind of money, so we had to submit
quietly,’’ said Veeman.
When
contacted, Madurai Collector T Udayachandran said he had not heard
about the auction. “Let me check about it. If it is true, we will take
action
and monitor the village and see how the president functions,” he said.
The
recently concluded civic polls saw several villages across Tamil Nadu
auction panchayat posts, as was reprted in The Indian Express. At least
in two
cases, in Dharmapuri and Erode, the police arrested bidders based on
complaints
by the Block Divisional Officers.
ranjani_vjp@yahoo.co.in