"What is an Independent India, still i dont have a clue.."

What is an Indipendent India, still i dont have a clue... Caste and Gender: If somebody would ask what are the serious protest was held on Gender, it would be Pub attack, Pink Chaddi Campign, Delhi student Rape etc. These all would only tell us that majority of the responses on issues were basically based in the city. Still it does not mean that all issues of Gender related to cities are addressed. For an example listen to the voice, about how even elite women respond to harassment in university sphere. In the other hand sanitation women cleaning the road at middle of the night, has so much to tell, but no one is ready to hear her. Or even dalit girls in the universities campuses have so much to tell about how general women dominate them and also men, including dalit men. Yes I am also a dalit men and part of that system. ....I dont have a clue of Independent India If someone says that the problems faced by the elite women are at least addressed, its only dalit and marginalized sections problems are there to be addressed. Not all problems faced by elite women are addressed, and certainly our dalit women, are not even 1% addressed. Take a few minutes to watch about how dalit women is treated. Jogini system in AP. Or even the soni sori. This is what Ms. Asha Kowtal says that One point which differentiate Dalit women from other women? Is the caste system. In other words Ms. Sujatha Surapelly says that Dalit rape is consequences of caste and patriarchy, and on Haryana Rape the political parties openly said its’ consensual and not rape. It was not new in the past too that in a court proceedings in Andhra Pradesh High court one of the judges said its impossible to believe that a single man can rape a woman(tribal) because you as a tribal are well built and you could have stopped the rape but you did not hence its consensual. In other words when I see the present protest in Delhi rape, I am recalled by what Ms. Gogu Shyamala told me earlier that India represents only Brahmins and upper caste men/women, I quote “even if the middle class, upper caste, Brahmin women goes abroad but still she will have the mentality of her men, with caste, therefore she is comfortable with everything… in Karamchedu its Upper caste women who also killed madiga, and dalit women rape is only law and order problem to them”. Therefore keeping every past experiences I only like sumarise the argument as Ms. Anu Ramadass wrote No, we are not going to say why no outrage for the rape and murder of the 8 year old dalit girl in Bihar, and why no outcry for the series of horrifying gang rapes on dalit women by upper caste men in Haryana. Dalit and adivasi girls and women are raped, gang raped, mutilated and murdered all over the country by upper caste men, dominant caste men, men in uniform, and some of them, like women in all communities across castes and classes are raped by their own husbands and other relatives. Rape is not used just as an instrument of violence; it is used to perpetually define both the gender and caste vulnerability of dalit and adivasi women. You see, our battle appears to be different one. In other words you are common/general people, which according to the state you all are upper caste. Still I support your protest not that because I believe in your utopian world that upper caste women will now have laws to support her. Yes it may for few upper caste women who are politically powerful, because I say this in the experience from the law SC/ST ACT, where its not even implemented. And everyone is asking a metal change in the men’s thought, which has to be in all levels. This one point I stand with you, because dalits have been saying the change of mental of a person on caste can only eradicate the discrimination. And you have been saying laws are there to empower dalit, therefore paid very little attention to think on changing the mental of a person. Now you are realizing it. But should I take it serious that you are going to bring a change in the way men think on women, I am dam sure, you will not, because you castism, hypocrcy, Hindu religious sanctioned discrimination will get hurt if you bring that change, which cannot avoid the debate on Caste, and the contribution of Hindu religion in suppressing the women is the most which you would be very least to touch upon. None of you are going to address it in near future, it is only angering me day by day that all of your activities are making me separate and reminding me that the “India” is not for the marginalized.

Arunthathiyars murdered by Gownders

Murugesan (Arunthathiyar Dalit) murdered by Gounders in Covai-Injustice&Atrocities in Tamilnadu 1999 by Mari Muthu on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:19pm • Segudanthali Murugesan was a poor laborer who was killed brutally and unjustly by the upper caste called "Goundars" just because he and his "pregnant" wife sat near the seat where a "gounden" was seated in a public bus. This was regarded a disgrace and an excess by the gounden as an outcaste sat near him. On the same night the enraged "Gounden" went to the house of Murugesan with a mob and looted the house and tortured the family members by verbally and physically abusing them. Even his pregnant wife was not spared the atrocity. Like any other atrocities on out caste people, police were delinquent to take any action. Following the incident ATP took the issue and about 300 ATP members along with other Arunthathiyar organizations conducted a demonstration and were arrested demanding action against the culprits. Following the agitation a police case was registered and it was proceeding in favor of the affected Murugesan. Segudan Thali Murugesan Veera Vaanakam The Gounders threatened him to withdraw the case. But Murugesan was undeterred and said to them that it was a matter of the dignity of his people and his untouchable society and refused to withdraw the case. Finally he was brutally beaten and killed on 17th November, 1999 in Coimbatore district Tamil Nadu. Following the killing ATP took action which resulted in life imprisonment for two of the accused. Unfortunately the accused appealed in the high court and were released. Thus Segudanthali Murugesan sacrificed his life in the fight for self respect of the Arunthathiyar community. This incident was unlike any other atrocity. The raw cruelty and the loss of life in the name of caste were unbearable for ATP. It was a turning point in their functions, as it reinforced the indispensability to the fight against the injustice and atrocities waged against the community. Even to date it reminds the divide and the evil that persists among society in the name of caste.

Caste pariyars dalit rape Arunthathiyar dalit women

Last month, a women belonging to arunthathiyar was raped by paraiyar community, in dindugal. The Raped person was backed by Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi District secretary Arasu Few of dalit dominant community not allowing to give inner reservation to poor dalit-arunthathiyar in tamilnadu, recently one community (thirumavalavan-viduthalai chiruthaigal katchi MP) leader said: I am working fighting for poor dalits- he came to divide the dalit politics apart from his community, he didn't allow anyother poor dalits in his politics, (Thirumavalavan who is the first person against inner reservation long before in tamilnadu). Who fighter for arunthathiyar reservation? Never I can't agree this word, When krishnasamy (another on dominant dalit community politician of puthiya thamilagam MLA) went to fast against reservation at the time, why he didn't raise his voice? what is the reason behind that after two month came to gave the voice??????????? Why this dominant dalit leader are using Ambedkar Photo & not giving equality to poor dalit arunthathiyars????????? Its showing their community face! Community politics! Etc... (its applicable dominant two dalit leaders of tamilnadu=Thirumavalavan MP & Krishansamy MLA. In kovil patti, subaramaniyapuram area an arunthathiyar (scavenging caste) girl aged 10 was raped by a non Arunthathiyar but dalit (pallar) community

Cautious while writing on Dalit issues, it should not exclude more

For some time I wanted to write about the Dalit politics in General, however while reading a recent article in EPW, forced me to write as a response to the article. Dalit Political Imagination and Replication in Contemporary Tamil Nadu (EPW, Sep 8,2012)The article generally focuses on the contemporary dalit movements, excluding Arunthathiyar movements in Tamil Nadu. While framing the politics of Dalit movement the article also keeps a strong critique over the Dravidian movements and it says Caste politics continues but because of the Dravidian parties. The article elaborates the way the mainstream parites (AIADMK, DMK) manipulates schemes to woo the voters in large and also it critiques these movement for going opposition to the Periyar’s ideology. The writes seems to have a soft corner to the left movement, however with a critique on the face value of their approach on caste questions. Later part of the article talks about an alliance with the left movement, who atleast have a common agenda. In between the article the writers also take a critical position of the Dalit movements. This point was only to show that they are aware of the critique on Dalit movements in Tamil Nadu. Dalit movements in India and Tamil Nadu in particular have not seen a greater change of caste of approach of oppression in the contemporary by the Savarnas. Many talk about Melavalavu also the writer points out this and say after a major assertion of Dalit movement in this incident, as a result we don’t find such mass killings. I remember in recent discussion with Duddu Prabhakar of Kula Nirmulana Porata Samithi, that the upper caste or Caste hindus have been changing its way of approach in suppressing Dalit community. These days we would rarely find exclusively upper castes killing dalits rather they use dalits to kill or take their support or the state. The Paramagudi incident is an important factor to this context of using the state to kill Dalits. Dalits have been historically taking few points of Dr. Ambedkar, which suits them here and there and justify their unjust activities through the same argument. In this the important point we come across the inter-caste marriage and the electoral power. Apart from this Dr.Ambedkar’s ideology prevails only in his books. Even the educated masses don’t care to take his other points seriously. The major problem in the article I find the caste question. We should remember that let it be Dalits, OBC, Adivasis, Muslims, whomever is dominant in that particular region or politics tries to suppress the other. In Tamil Nadu there are so many incidents where fellow Dalit (arunthathiyar) women are raped and the community is treated as untouchables by the fellow ‘dalits’. This I feel a serious blunder the educated dalits and its leaders have been avoiding off. There must be a serious debate on this topic. It is the same reason Caste which prevails among dalits. And we can understand more clearly in G.Aloysius writing that the upper caste, OBC’s movements were largely replicating the dominant rule of Varna system during the nationalist discourse, as a way towards domination. At present I would also argue that it continues to Dalit movements too. While Thirumavalavan is waiting for an alliance with Vanniyars (OBCs) but he may not expect or even the educated dalits may not try to bring the Sub-Caste dalits under one platform. The criticizim on OBC’s especially in Tamil Nadu politics is unjust in my understanding. Because I feel there is no serious engagement with OBC’s, academically. After so many years of education we still find a large number of Dalits used by Upper caste against dalits, it is an act of ignorance. The OBC’s have been recently provided reservation policy and a strong critical engagement with this community is needed rather just terming them as a dominant force. I feel the educated Dalits are more ‘castists’, take the case of universities, in which universities that all sub-caste dalits see each other equally. When are the dalit academicians and activists going to address such issues. Also electoral politics without an ideology is nothing but building a house at the seashore. The writers say that in recent clash between two dalit groups(pallar and Pariyar) near Madurai, CPM played the mediating role in the clash. I feel sorry state of dalit politics because its not only one place where different dalit sub-caste have fight there are many, which don’t come to our notices. And the way Arunthathiyars treated by Pallars, and Pariyars is as castist as those the Pariyars accuse off. Why cant the leaders and educated class among the dalits go for a campaign of inner-caste marriages among dalits, and tell every sub caste that we are equal. But sadly every dalit movement wants to portray their own icon and discuss only theirs as the writers in the article did. I only see why arunthathiyar politics is completely neglected by these writers. It also became fashion for many to criticize Dravidian movement and Periyar, its true they deserve it. But if we look into the entire country, dalit movement in Tamil Nadu has a unique character, i.e you cannot find arunthathiyars, or any other dalit movement associated with hindutuva. Its because of Periyar’s legacy, however I don’t reject that Hindutva is present as in any other state. At last I wanted to end it with saying that if Dr. Ambedkar Cartoon witnessed a massive dalit movement, its because every dalit saw him as their figure, but still dalits don’t see lakshmipeta victims one among them, or Bathani Thola victims or Soni Sori one among them. This is one of the serious challenges dalit movement, activist, academicians have to address.

Bojja Tarakam Speech on Lakshmipeta

The original video can be seen in the following link: The following was translated by Keerti Azad. You all know the incident that happened here. I do not have to speak much here. Just as pigs and cattle are chased after and killed, the kapus (forward caste) in Lakshmipeta killed 5 malas (dalits). There are about twenty of them in the hospital. You all know this. What should happen now? We have 5 people.. (audio not clear). What is very surprising here is when you see a woman, you would think that she is a mother who gives birth and is an embodiment of kindness, but here when a mother pierced through the body of a dalit with a barsi (an iron rod with a sharp end) and remarks, “if this mala fellow is killed or not”, what should we say about such a thing! How could we even consider them as humans? We all came here (referring to the dais, where the protest meeting is happening) in such circumstances. What should we do to them? Even police also came here, they are sitting here and there are some more sitting there. As we came, they were asking us who we are. So we told them that there is a meeting and we are going there. But they are not satisfied with that answer. They want to know who we are. They are not capable of finding those people who are responsible for the incident, but they want to catch us and ask these questions. These police fellows who cannot catch Vasudeva Rao ask us who we are (the crowd clasps). Don’t these fellows know where Vasudeva Rao Naidu is? Ask them to tell us that they don’t know where he is. Anyone here, who is a responsible officer, ask him to come here and announce on this stage that they don’t know where this vasudeva rao naidu is and they are unable to trace him. The next morning after you make this announcement, we will find him and hand him over to you. Just tell us that you can’t find him. On 11th where did they meet, what was the conspiracy, in whose house did they meet, what was the plan, who got the bombs, who arranged things, look at their cell phones, you will find everything there. Can’t you even find his cell phone? If you cannot find his cell phone, just announce that you are so incompetent that you cannot find vasudeva rao’s cell phone. We will find his cell phone for you. We will uncover all the details of whom he talked to and who he planned this with. There are some people who said after the loss of lives that we lost the lives and we will mourn over their death for two days and after three more days, the grief may disappear, but what is it that we want? We want the person who is responsible for this…the one who planned this. What did they ask? We have our lands, just as you kapus are able to till the lands, we also want to till our lands. We have been tilling our lands for twelve years now. Now you are saying that we should not till the land. This land does not belong to kapus, it belongs to the government. Did those people know this or not, did these police people know this or not, did the revenue people know this or not, did your collector know this or not, did your joint collector know this or not, I don’t know…but that land belongs to the government. That belongs to the collector, that belongs to the reddy down there, but that does not belong to Kapus. Who are these kapus to tell them not to go to that land? What right do they have? They have no right. If they ever had any right that was before and later he sold it away. Now, let us say if anyone sells away his cow and then that cow gives birth to calf and now he comes back and says that both the cow and the calf are his, will we accept it? They sold away the land. Not just selling away the land, but they took some 40 jobs. There is no mala fellow in this village, who got a single job. I don’t want to speak for more than two minutes. There are others who have to speak here. Why are we saying that we should have that vasu deva rao naidu caught? We are saying that because in the report that was stolen, it was written that he was the conspirator and also responsible for the crime. We call it First Investigation Report. It was there in that. His name was there. Ask these police people to tell us that his name is not there. The convict wrote 45 names and the 46th name was his. Why is it 46th name, why wasn’t it the first name? Why didn’t he write that name first? Who took off that name? Who gave instructions that the name be removed? There are eye witnesses here. It was the minister Kondru Murali, of this area, who called the police asking them why they included vasudeva rao naidu’s name in the report. What should we do to him? Some of you here might be getting angry that I am saying this, but that is the fact. He called personally and intervened to make sure that his name is removed from the list. Why did he do that? What is the relationship between him and Vasudeva Rao? What is the relationship between him and this land? What was the necessity for him to save him? I asked Kondru Murali to issue a statement in the news paper if he is not behind saving vasu deva rao from arrest or covering up his crime. Ask him to issue a statement that he will not prevent his arrest if the police catch him. If vasudeva rao is arrested, avula srinivasa rao will come, if not avula devi fellow will come, if not devi some or the other fellow will come. Why aren’t they coming? What we need today is Vasudeva Rao’s arrest and avula srinivasa rao’s arrest. The others will come automatically, but first arrest these two. Until these two are arrested, this movement will not stop in Srikakulam. Arrest them first. How many people will you stop? You may be police people and you may have pistols etc. But how many people can you stop? First arrest this avula srinivasa rao. He should be punished, if that cannot be done, these police people should resign. Apparently there are three officers who are transferred and those posts are kept in vacancy reserved. It is not about keeping them vacant. There is a law which is known as prevention of atrocities against SCs and STs. If there is an incident like this, one should come immediately and investigate the crime scene. What does the law tell you? It tells you that if such an incident happens, the collector and the SP should go there immediately. But has the collector come? No. Has the SP come? No. First dismiss those two people. It is not about transferring these people. First dismiss them or even suspend them. After suspending them, a case should be launched against them. You studied law, you made the law. We did not make the law. Act according to that law. Why do you send these SIs and CIs? What happened to the SP and the collector? Whoever did not discharge their duties here…there was a police picketing here until the day. The picketing was withdrawn on 11th night and 12th morning. Why did you withdraw that and who gave those orders? Those fellows should come out. Who did it? Was it the minister? Botsa Satyanarayana (PCC Chief)? The collector? Ask them to tell us who asked them to withdraw and why? You should have an order right? Then tell us. On that day morning, when they saw a group of people, some body anticipated the trouble and called up the police immediately seeking their help to safeguard their lives. But police did not move. No police fellow moved. Why did you first withdraw the police and after you were told, why did you not move? This should first come to light. You should remember that the movement should be very strong if we want his arrest. Vasudeva Rao is not an ordinary person. He is not just a mandal president. He has a lot of support. He has two horns. We think that only bulls have horns. Even people have horns. One horn is Kondru Murali and the other horn is Botsa Satyanarayana. Until we break those two horns, we will not stop the struggle. We should tell them that it is their responsibility. We should ask them if they will hand vasu to the police or will you step down. So we should just remember that they should be first arrested, the case should be continued and then they should be punished. Until then we should not stop here. After Karamchedu, people thought that nothing will happen, but the court continued, the miscreants were punished. 6 people were sentenced for life and 40-50 people were sentenced for 6-7 years of imprisonment. They went to high court and later to Supreme court also. Supreme court also upheld the orders of the high court. It took 20 years for the punishment, even then finally we made sure they were punished. A supreme court judge asked us why we are still fighting the case when some of them died and some of them became old. He asked us why we can’t leave it. I answered that our people became old and died for generations together facing injustice and this fellow is only one. What about all our people who died? Then the supreme court judge confirmed the punishment. Sundur is also the same. It may be 5 or 10 years. They appealed in the high court, it may go to supreme court. If it does, then we will see. We have our own weapons. We are not going to stop. How long will we stop? Who will stop? You will do this because you have police with you, money with you, courts with you, ministers with you, will you go on killing people like that? These people are all saying go ahead and kill them. Okay let them tell you to kill us, we will see how long this will go on. That is why I am saying until those punishments happen..I am also asking another thing. They took axes and barsis and killed people and one old mother pleaded asking them not to kill her son and they even broke her hands. There was a mother who got water hoping that there is some life in his son and these fellows also broke her hands. What can I say about such people? You killed them and on top of that when the mother is trying to keep the son alive, will you break her hands? Tell me what we should do to such people. What I am asking is, wherever such ghastly incident took place we should hold a court right here not in the adjoining village. Right here. The blood is still there. Though it happened on 12th, the blood is still there. Blood is there on the doors, clothes, soil and everywhere. So these fellows who killed those people should be convicted right here. There is a third demand that I have and I will stop after that so the others can speak. I told you already, that it is the government land. They are saying that it is ours. You worked on it and now you give it back to us. That’s what they are saying. This 60 acres that the malas are cultivating, they are telling them. “This is not your land, why are you tilling this? This is our kapus land”. Actually 40 acres of those belongs to ….. They are not coming here and they are not claiming their land. Twenty acres of land belongs to Laxmipeta Kapus and they are no longer staying there. Since those kapus are not there, these people are cultivating it. All these 250 acres, according to rules, according to their own G.Os, according to the law, according to SC judgement should belong to the malas in this village. We are not talking about 60 acres. We are talking about all that 250 acres. There is an adjacent village kottipa. The malas and madigas of that village also do not have any lands. Just like the malas of this village, the mala madigas of that village also do not have any lands. Now whoever died here, we will put the biggest share aside for them. People who are injured, a little less, people who are less injured, we will set aside another small share. For those of you who did not get hurt and saved your lives, you will get some share…after all this, there is still some more…there are 250 acres there. If proper assessment is carried out, I don’t know how many hundreds of such acres will come. They will come. All those should come to laxmipeta malas and kottipa malas and madigas. Until that we will not stop anywhere. No one else can claim any rights over this land. They will come here and they will say that we will give you land else where. The CM, he comes here and he says that he will give the land some where far off. But who told you to give the land some where far off. Give us this land. Your courts, your G.Os and rules are all telling you that. But you are saying you will give it somewhere as if you have a huge estate of your father lying vacant there. This is government’s land and you are just a representative of the government. That’s all. Nothing more. Kiran Kumar Reddy, you are just a representative of the government. Today, you are there and tomorrow another CM will come. That fellow may say I will do something else. No nothing doing. The land remains here. CMs can come and go. Chandra babu came and stayed for 9 years and left. YS Rajashekar Reddy came and he went up (died). Kiran kumar came, we don’t even know where he will go tomorrow. But the land remains there. It does not go anywhere. That is why we should take those 250 acres. Just the way how you have divided the 60 acres land, in the same way, the 250 acres have to be divided amongst you by starting a cooperative society. We will all live with that land. Until then, we will have to keep the fight on. Please do not feel bad if I said something wrong. I am not a big leader like shivaji, venkatrao, pentaiah, manda Krishna madiga but Tarakam is an old man and I am older than most of them in age. I therefore tell you that we will work jointly towards the success of this movement. Today I am there and tomorrow, you all are there. We may go tomorrow. I might just die tomorrow, who knows? So what are we to do now? Our aim is to get those vasu and avula and the other criminals to be arrested and put in jail. Next thing is that the government should immediately distribute the 250 acres to all the malas and madigas here. I also request you not to have opinion differences and carry out this fight jointly. Only then, these people (pointing at the photos of the murdered farmers on the stage) who lost their lives for their right for the land will get their due. We will fight until we get all the 250 acres and that will be a fitting tribute to those people. I hope that we will achieve that and I have confidence too. When the dalit movement started in Andhra Pradesh, that may be kanchikacherla, karamchedu, vemparti, chnundur wherever it is and whatever the movement it is, we never lost our battle anywhere and this will be no different and I am very confident about this. So the pledge that we have to take today to pay the respects for these five people and B.R.Ambedkar is to strive until all the persons responsible are arrested and the 250 acres have to be vacated and redistributed. This is the oath that we have to take. Jaihind.

Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes

Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes One year ago, a Dalit (Arunthathiyar) women Panchayat President was brutally attacked. She did a remarkable job in her Panchayat as a Panchayat President. This was the fourth Dalit Panchayat President who was attacked. She is the only one to survive. The entire Arunthathiyar movement was protesting. I also wanted to contribute to the protest, so I made a documentary [Check the link: Ms.Krishnaveni Panchayat President victim of Caste system]. That was the beginning of what is today known as Dalit Camera. One of the Great Dalit leaders, Mr. Pasupathi Pandian, was brutally murdered in Tamil Nadu. Many Dalits leaders, irrespective of their sub-caste, remarked that Pasupathi Pandian was one among the very few who talked about equality for all. Despite such widely-shared opinions, there are no videos of that great leader to tell us his views (despite which however, I have to say, his contribution to Dalits in Tamil Nadu can never be erased from history). His short brief life can be read in the following link. "I am not a slave and don't make me a slave"- Annan Pasupathi Pandian, a tribute Hence, a question as well as an idea arose: why are such great person’s views and histories not recorded during their lifetime, but so vociferously remembered only once they are dead? Therefore, I thought it is important to record such people’s views and histories. In this, I can demonstrate Prof. Kancha ilaiha’s short biography here. In AP at this juncture, various Ambedkar Statues were desecrated and yet the responses from the Dalit movements were disappointingly few. Though at the beginning there were protests, later they died out. It was very very sad that on the day of Dr.Ambedkar Jayanthi, one of his statues was desecrated. While the Ambedkar Statue was desecrated in AP, dalit and Bahujan leaders were giving press statement which no mainstream media covered fully or extensively. At that point, I recorded the entire press conference and uploaded, to amend the casteist lacuna our mainstream media always exhibits in covering dalit events. Since then, I have started to record and attend many press conferences given by dalits. It was at this time that the Osmania University students were campaigning to serve beef in public place. I took all of their interviews. Osmania University students, especially Sudhershan introduced, and took me to various people on this issue. The ethics behind that was the realization that the food policy enjoyed and practiced in India is one of the major areas which we are not paying any attention to.(Dr.Veena Shatrugna: Indian Scientist has offered nothing...) Next came the Ambedkar cartoon controversy. While the entire left-liberal intelligentsia was snapping at the heels of the Dalit movements, I took a video of Dr. Satyanarayana on Ambedkar Cartoon which really contributed and changed the angle and presuppositions of the discussion. Then in Lakshmipeta 5 dalits were brutally murdered, and Karthik Navayana introduced me to few activists. With their help, I went to the village and took interviews and covered various activities on the issue. It was also at this time when in AP Special Component Plan debate was going on, and many Dalits were not aware of it (which included me too). Hence I decided to take videos explaining what SCP is. Likewise, I have taken videos illuminating other important topics also, such as the Sc/ST Act, etc. One of the very important issues which I wanted to bring to dalit Camera was the Reservation policy, since in internet public spheres like the video-sharing site youtube one finds only anti-reservation arguments. In this growing cyber-dependant age, dalits don’t have much to learn from them. Hence I thought it will be paramount to fill the gap. Also the issue of Caste and Indian judiciary was another important area Dalit Camera covered. We want to categorically stress that Dalit Camera has not contributed anything new to the dalit movement. It just took the videos of activists on the ground and also took interviews of people. In that sense, Dalit camera does a work of a chronicler and that of a postman. In doing so, Dalit camera also learnt a lot from the activists. There are many activists among Dalits who are sold to the mainstream; they have also compromised with their agenda. However, there are many Dalit activists who are sincerely and tirelessly working on the issues. Dalit camera is indebted to them. It is due to their views and opinions recorded on video that people today are appreciating Dalit Camera. These activists are perpetually facing difficulty in mobilizing funds and people for their protest, and to multiply their troubles, they don’t get media attention too. Hence this camera focuses on them. Dalit camera doesn’t deserve more attention than the movement. Another very important lesson we have learnt is from the Dalit magazines. One of the Dalit magazines which are at par with the mainstream media in Tamil Nadu is Dalit Murasu. This magazine has contributed so many things to the Dalit movements in Tamil Nadu. However, this magazine is now under severe financial crisis. The magazine might stop in future if there are no people to support it. Like this, there are so many other Dalit Magazines too. There are too many dalit activists out there bereft of any funding benefits to allow Dalit Camera to feel self-important enough to ask for generous contributions for itself alone. Problem with the present Camera: The camera we use for Dalit camera is an entry-level still camera, where the audio and video cannot be adjusted. Many-a-times, the video which was taken in this camera becomes corrupt. Few problems we constantly face are the corruption of video files, and lack of good audio quality. To achieve good sound quality in this camera, the interviews have be taken outdoor without any background disturbance. Often, we don’t get such a situation. Taking video after the sun goes down becomes a problem (especially lighting). Even if we take the video in a room with lights on then we experience the problem of unwanted echo. Some of the speakers are, obviously, only free at night. Hence, we thought it would be expedient for us to buy a camera with an external mike. The approximate budget for the video camera is Rs 45,000/- (Sony handy cam). How are we Mobilizing Money? We have experienced a dilemma in how to mobilize money for the camera. With lessons learnt from the dalit activists, we have decided to collect money of an amount which can be spared by anyone, of whatever economic means, working out there for the dalit cause, for the camera, because the camera is for them. In its supplementary role of a post-man, Dalit Camera needs only minimum contribution from all, since the movements need a lot more support than the Dalit camera. We are asking for rupees one hundred only from each individual, and not more than that at any cost. The other reason for fixing the financial policy is the expenses will not stop here. Today we might be requiring a Handy Cam with external Mike, tomorrow we might need an external Hard Disk to store all the videos, and a website to make it user friendly. While taking videos we are also getting huge amount of materials which might be useful for many people. Hence we are also planning to have a space in internet to collect and collate all the pamphlets and booklets etc in a database. As a result we also require a website to keep track of the posting and updates. In future, we may also need to get a better internet connection. At present we have three Dalit cameras excluding the present one. Those three will be operating in different states, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and New Delhi. We have to wait and see what will happen in future. Dalit Camera is still at an embryonic stage, and at this juncture, the committee is seriously considering the creation of a sustainable source to allow the Camera to survive, without becoming a burden on anyone. Hence, we have decided to collect only Rs. 100 from each person. If anyone wants to give more than that s/he can contribute on behalf of others. Also we need sustainable money to keep this camera going. At the outset, we thought we will earn through the advertisements Youtube adds to the content. Sadly, Youtube is earning a lot and giving us a pittance, which seems to us to be a clear case of exploitation. Hence we thought it is not worth to use advertisements in the videos.

In defense of the democratic struggle against Shankar's cartoon

Sign the petition The misrepresentation of Babasaheb Dr B.R. Ambedkar in an NCERT Textbook is a national shame. Blessed are the dehumanized/ For they have nothing to lose/ But their patience. —Keorapetse Kgositsile, “Mandela’s Sermon” When NCERT’s Class XI Political Science textbook, Indian Constitution at Work, came to the attention of some Dalit activists in early April, they objected to the manner in which the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, had been depicted riding a snail representing the Constitution, with prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru wielding a whip behind him and an entire crowd smiling and watching the spectacle (p.18). Six weeks later the issue was raised in parliament and a chorus of MPs cutting across party lines sought the withdrawal of the cartoon, and some even of the NCERT textbooks. Many sections of the public have not been privy to the contents of the textbook in the past six years. It is only now that these textbooks are being debated. We, the undersigned, are dismayed by the two polarized sets of reactions that have emerged. Firstly, many members who were part of the textbook advisory committee for the senior secondary level, including Chairman of the committee Hari Vasudevan, and Chief Advisors Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav, have opposed the demand for reconsidering the use of this insensitive cartoon. Subsequently, many members who have been part of various Textbook Development Committees have argued that the textbooks remain unchanged; and have been silent about the violence of the cartoons. This is a rather untenable position. We find it insulting that some intellectuals suggest that people protesting the cartoon fail to understand the “productive power of laughter” or that there’s a “fear of cartoons”. The textbooks, however good they are, and even if they mark a radical departure from past efforts, cannot be above criticism, discussion and improvement. This logic, in fact, goes against the stated aim of these textbooks: to engage skeptically and critically with what one reads. Indeed, each of the new NCERT textbooks solicits feedback, criticism and suggestions. The textbook writers may have tried their best to overcome their caste bias, but none of us is exempt from the baggage of caste, gender or other interests. As the feminist movement has clearly shown, humour is by no means exempt from prejudice. Cartoons and jokes can be vicious about minorities. Hate speech often masquerades as humour. Jokes and cartoons need to be subjected to critical scrutiny. Secondly, we do share the fear that in the name of handling the contentious cartoon on Dr Ambedkar, the UPA government might well use the opportunity to attempt to remove many cartoons and other visual/textual material from the textbooks. Crucially, these textbooks feature several posters from women’s movement, the Dalit movement and environmental movements. Also to be commended is the inclusion of a wide range of literary texts by Dalit writers. However, the textbook writers must realize that they have not done a favour to Dalits by such inclusion which was long overdue. There’s much that is good about these textbooks—a result of the pressures that the women’s movement, the Dalit movement, environmental and farmers movements, anti-SEZ mobilisations etc—that may be lost if the final say about what may or may not appear in a textbook is to be with the state. These textbooks have been drafted collectively by a range of social scientists, including some who happen to be Dalit, and in consultation with activists, NGO representatives and educationists working at the field level. However, it is not as if these textbooks are completely error-proof. Besides the offensive cartoon, the text in the Class XI textbook does not ever properly introduce Dr Ambedkar. The text does not inform the students that a Drafting Committee chaired by Dr Ambedkar drafted the Constitution. In the light of absence of proper discussion of Dr Ambedkar’s role in the Constituent Assembly, the violence of the cartoon is all the more palpable. We urge the Thorat Committee to make the necessary changes in the text as well. We wish to express dismay over the adamantine attitude of some of our academic friends who seem to treat the cartoon as sacrosanct. The implication that “dalit intellectuals have unwittingly played into the strategies of politicians” is indefensible to say the least. The lack of empathy on the part of the “intellectual classes” towards the Dalit viewpoint has been distressing. The Dalit question has always been historically deflected and postponed in this manner. When Dr Ambedkar and the early Dalit movements raised the question of caste, the nationalist movement said the anticolonial struggle was more important; when the issue of caste was raised in the feminist or left movements, it was considered divisive; when Adivasis raised the question of representation in the leadership of dam evictees’ movements, the stopping of the dam was made paramount. We also wish to bring to your attention that many Dalit activists and scholars, including some young Dalit students in the University of Pune, not only condemned the act of vandalism at the office of Prof Palshikar, but even guarded his office during the attack. This went unreported in the media. We are however deeply saddened that because of this one aberrant act, the otherwise democratic and rational engagement with this issue that Dalits and some non-Dalit intellectuals opposed to the cartoon have engaged in—through news media, blogs, Facebook, and the internet—has been portrayed as emotional and infantile. The Dalit movement has been one of the most democratic movements in this country. And for Dalits a whip is a vulgar reminder of everything feudal and casteist about this society. As the Dalitbahujan feminist blog Savari says: “The whip is inseparable from violence against slaves, dalits, women, animals and children. Almost all histories of protest against injustice, be it feminism, anti-slavery, anti-caste or anti-apartheid movements have protested and continue to protest the symbolic violence in imagery that uses instruments of violence such as the whip, noose or chains.” That the advocates of critical pedagogy do not see this as such is regrettable. It is time we realized that there is a permeable boundary between the symbolic violence of such a cartoon, and the tolerance of such cartoons by academics on the one hand, and atrocities like Bathani Tola, Melavalavu, Chunduru or Khairlanji on the other. These two sites of struggle are not non-permeable. Quite often the iconicity of Dr Ambedkar has been used by Dalits to assert their democratic rights. And the struggle against the cartoon is indeed a democratic struggle—even if the mainstream and alternative media have portrayed it as otherwise. At this stage, we petition the Thorat Committee set up to examine the textbooks to reconsider the Ambedkar cartoon (and possibly other such insensitive material). While we demand that the NCERT take into account the wide range of criticisms and feedback the textbooks have elicited, we also urge Kapil Sibal, the Union HRD Minister, to desist from seeking any major overhaul of the basic National Curriculum Framework on which the textbooks are based. We also think this is the occasion to seek fair representation of Dalits and other social minorities in NCERT’s various committees, as well as in the Senates and Syndicates of Central and State Universities; and to introspect on why Dalits and Adivasis, despite constitutional provisions for 22.5 percent reservation, occupy less than 3 percent of faculty positions in academic institutions. Sd/ 7 June 2012 1. Omprakash Valmiki, author of Joothan; Dehradun 2. Namdeo Dhasal, founder Dalit Panther, and winner of Golden Jubilee Sahitya Akademi award; Mumbai 3. Bama, author of Karukku and Sangati; Uttiramerur, Tamil Nadu 4. Siddalingaiah, founder Dalit Sangharsha Samiti and former legislator; author of Ooru-Keri; Bengaluru 5. Urmila Pawar, author of Aydaan: The Weave of My Life; Mumbai 6. G. Kalyan Rao, author of Untouchable Spring (‘Antarani Vasantam’ in Telugu) 7. Imayam, author of Beasts of Burden (Tamil) 8. Ravikumar, author Venomous Touch; editor, OUP Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing; former legislator, Tamil Nadu 9. Ruth Manorama, National Convenor, National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW) 10. K. Satyanarayana, co-editor, No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South India, and Associate Professor, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad 11. Susie Tharu, co-editor, No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South India; founder-member, Anveshi, Hyderabad 12. Anoop Kumar, activist, New Delhi 13. S. Anand, publisher, Navayana, New Delhi 14. Sushrut Jadhav, Senior Lecturer in Cross-Cultural Psychiatry, University College, London 15. M.R. Renukumar, artist, poet and activist; Kerala 16. Rekha Raj, scholar and activist; Kerala 17. Unnamati Syama Sundar, cartoonist, and research scholar, JNU, New Delhi 18. Gurram Srinivas, Asst Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU, Delhi 19. Ravichandran, director, “Dalit Camera”, a youtube channel on dalit issues, Hyderabad 20. Ajay Navaria, Hindi writer; Associate Professor, Hindi Dept, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi 21. Anita Bharti, Hindi writer and social activist, New Delhi 22. Rajni Tilak, Hindi poet; secretary, Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan; New Delhi 23. Sheel Bodhi, Dalit Lekhak Sangh; New Delhi 24. Gogu Shyamala, Telugu writer, activist and scholar; fellow, Anveshi, Hyderabad 25. P. Sivakami, political activist, and author of The Grip of Change and Anandhayee (Tamil) 26. Paul Divakar, National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, New Delhi 27. Sharmila Rege, Director, Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women’s Studies Centre, Pune Univ 28. Raj Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of English, Delhi University 29. N. Sukumar, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Delhi University 30. Hany Babu, Associate Professor, Dept of English, Delhi University 31. Sanal Mohan, Assoc. Professor, School of Social Sciences, M.G. University, Kottayam 32. Rajkumar, Associate Professor, Dayal Singh College, Delhi 33. Ajay Skaria, historian, University of Minnesota, US 34. Radhika Menon, publisher, Tulika Books, Chennai 35. Meena Kandasamy, poet, author of Ms Militancy; Chennai 36. V. Geetha, historian, and editor, Tara Books, Chennai 37. S. Japhet, Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP); National Law School of India University, Bengaluru 38. Uma Chakravarti, historian; contributor to Class XII NCERT history textbook; New Delhi 39. Gail Omvedt, scholar and chronicler of the Dalit movement; Kasegaon, Maharashtra 40. Bharat Patankar, Sharmik Mukti Dal; Kasegaon, Maharashtra 41. Ivan Kostka, publisher and editor-in-chief, Forward Press, New Delhi 42. Pramod Ranjan, Editor (Hindi), Forward Press, New Delhi 43. Umakant, independent researcher and human rights advocate, Delhi Why People Are Signing

Telengana Garjana: What the Political party TRS,TDP, INC,BJP wanted?

Hi
Recently i happened to attend a talk delivered by Mr. Sudharshan, who is pursuing PhD at osmania University. He was closely associated with Telengana Osmania University JAC. Also he often writes in Telugu daliy, on Dalit Telengana, Beef eating. In some occasion he was also invited to for live debate in regional channels.

In this video he speaks about the Students Telengana movement: Few points i give below from the video.

The difference between the Telengana movement earlier and now. Earlier movement many people died by police firing in recent telengana movement many students immolated themselves.

KCR did not have a new paper and a TV channel before the Students movement.

Jagan Mohan Reddy, had 150 MLA's in support of him, after the movement he has only 14 MLA's.

You have a statue for an immagination figure like "Telengana Tali" (Telengana mothergoddess) but you dont have a statue for a tribal leader "Koomaram Bheem" or a bhaujan figure "Chaakali Ilamma".

People broke statue in Tankband, but still there are statues across the Telengana region. And also there was only one statue of a Dalit poet, his statue was broken.

Telengana movement says we are against Andhra. Which Andhra they are against, are they against OBC,SC,ST,Minorities. Because these people do not have any say in power politics. Therefore Telengana leaders should say they are against Reddy's, Naidus etc.

KCR from an Upper Caste community doesnt want a telengana, but Dalits, OBC, ST, Minorities need Telengana.But the sad part is the Students movement at one point was threatening the power structure, but all the political party including congress, TRS, TDP, etc supressed the students movement, and made sure the Telengana movement under KCR's control.

Therefore at present if KCR says protest, they would protest.These are few point, please do watch the video and do send it to people. The audio is in Telugu.Every person has to watch.Last one point, when KCR broke the fast the Osmania Students wrote Pluckcards saying: juice kaagthuraa ma ratham thaagura, juice kaathura ma uithcha thaagura.

(Dont drink Juice drink our blood, Dont drink juice drink our Urine)





If the video doesnot work click this link

With Regards

The new form of Anti-Resrvation argument by Dr. Ajay Gudavarthy

The Castist’s Anger on Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s Statue: A small report of the politics behind the Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s Statue.

Recently around 7 statues of Dr. Ambedkar were desegregated; one was defiled on 26 January 2012. The 63rd Republic day celebration, was observed as a Black day by Dalit community and also they host black flags in protest.

The first and many of the Statues were desegregated in Amalapuram. The incident has rocked the Andhra Pradesh with many districts calling for bandh and on 30 January 2011, all the political party except Congress has given a call for bandh. The revolutionary singer Baldeer Gaddar says the police should arrest and bring out the political conspiracy behind this incident. This post will give a brief view of exactly what was the reason behind the incident. Prof. Kancha Ilaiya says you break one Ambedkar statue many will come.

Congress Party

This is a new battle within the congress after the YSR demises. YSR belongs to Reddy community and Reddy’s were a strong vote bank for the congress. After his death many leaders were fighting for the Chief Minister post. Y.S.R’s Son Jagan was trying his best to use his father’s clout to become the Chief Minister. The congress opposed. Till YSR was alive the congress party in Andhra Pradesh was within his control. Therefore after his death many people came out openly lashing at YSR. Since the Congress at the centre wanted to control the Andhra Pradesh congress, they denied giving any chance to Jagan Chief Ministership, thinking he would maintain his fathers clout. rejected Jagan floated a separate Part YSR Jagan party, this party has many chances of removing the maximum vote of Reddy population in the State. Therefore the Congress thought of a new alliance with some other community, it is only Kaapu, which is 12% in the state. Chiranjeeve is from a kaapu caste and he floated a party and had a good number of Kaapu support. And Congress and Chiranjeeve decided to align, therefore the Congress high command in delhi negotiated and made the Chiranjeeve party to merge with congress while giving important portfolio within the state. Hence, many seats were shuffled, and Dalit community became a scapegoat to woo the upper caste. As a result of Congress paying more attention to the Kaapu community, Dalits, Kammas, and the Andhra, Telengana, Rayalseema region people also came out openly against the Congress high command.

Therefore many communities within Congress expressed unhappiness and came out openly against the Congress high command.  The press too reported.

Those reports are:

Mr Harsh Kumar lamented that the party leadership is giving more importance to PR leaders than the SCs in the state who have been considered as a strong vote bank of the Congress for decades. “How can they give Cabinet posts to other communities who have not voted for Congress party in last elections and ignore SCs, BCs, STs and minorities who are the backbone of the party,” Mr Kumar wondered. He said that a legislator from the Mala community should have been inducted after the removal of Dr Shanker Rao from the Cabinet.

Some of the reports from the newspaper:

Postnoon

The proximity of APCC president Botsa Satyanarayana to Chiranjeevi, as both belong to Kapu community, too became a hot topic of debate.

Even as Azad was gearing up to meet the members of the coordination committee on the very first day on Saturday, Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao became the first to drop a bombshell, expressing anguish over the shabby treatment being meted out to ‘Kammas’, the ruling community in the Telugu Desam Party.

“We have been fortifying the party for several decades. Ever since the TDP came into being, our support became even more crucial. But we feel dejected and let down as the party is not offering any positions to us in recognition of our services. We are a poorly relegated community,” he told reporters in the Secretariat.

Times of India:

Congmen flood Azad with requests, complaints:                 

..a large chunk of Congress leaders informed Azad about the sudden importance being extended to Kapu community leaders at the cost of sincere Congress workers from other sections of society.

The Pioneer:

Where one Congress MP from Andhra region directly held Azad responsible for the state of affairs in the party, another MP from Telangana region warned that the Congress will be wiped out if Telangana was not formed. Congress would be wiped out in Telengana.

All these opposition from the dominant caste or group, however when a Dalit MP from Amalapuram gave a statement many of the Ambedkar statues was desecrated.

Who is this Harsha Kumar?

Harsha Kumar, a Dalit leader, hails from Konaseema region where scheduled castes and the Kapus have bitter rivalry and cannot stand each others. Already Harsha Kumar who is from a Dalit community was opposed by YSR to contest lok sabha election. However, with his influence he got a ticket to context in his area Amalapuram. It is a general constitutency also in this particular region Kaapus and Malas (dalit community) always had a rival. Dalits in Amalapuram are the strongest votes to Congress. Therefore when Dalits were removed from important position and those were given to non-dalit community Harsha kumar opposed. It is also to be remembered that even Kamma’s another dominant group were against the Congress high command for wooing Kaapu community. Dalits say that they were voting for congress , and Kaapus who contested against the congress is now given more priority and dalits are looked down upon.

Harsha Kumar also questioned the wisdom and the rationale behind not taking any Scheduled Caste representative in place of minister P Shankar Rao, who was sacked from the Cabinet.

He said Azad was responsible for this situation in which the Dalits were feeling neglected by the Congress party. He said that the castes which had played an important role in bringing the Congress party to power in the State were being ignored by the party.

As a response to him, the Kaapus in that region broke Ambedkar’s statue. Dalits protested against the act but still more statues of Dr. Ambedkar was defiled. Few media act too add more to the insult, they said dalit icon Dr.Ambedkar. It was none other than Deccan Chronicle IBNLive:  NDTV:   Daily pioneer:

many more like this and few addressed just his name without even giving respect: NDTV

etc. These mainstream English media never had any discussion on this matter. Which means they support the violence of the upper caste. In other words, these same media talks once in a week about Mayawathi statue, and say it is useless. And now these media’s are not talking about why the upper caste breaking the Dr. Baba Sahed B.R. Ambedkar’s statue. To put in black and white these media too do not want any dalit’s statue to be present therefore the media oppose the move in the name of ‘progressive’ and the upper caste in ground level break them.

Also adding to the point these media’s never ever had any discussion on Caste discrimination, rather they would always speak about anti-reservation and Mayawathi’s statue.Though every one knew, even few politicians and the press(not the Hindu), spoke about the caste tension between Kaapus and Malas. The police did not take any action. After the Dalits across the state protested, the police caught hold of three Dalits and blamed them as responsible. And also told they did it while they were drunk. It is so surprising that till before Harsha kumar spoke no drunkards ever broke, as soon as Harsha kumar spoke about the Kaapus, these drunkards broke. When few of the political leaders and Osmania University representation met Home ministry and told about the arrest, as a reply the Home minister laughed.

Mr. Krishank   says those three were from Scavenging community. Also he says that from the Ralegan siddhi to Amalapuram there is a big conspiracy against Dalits, Adivasi, Muslim, OBC.

Though all the political movement expect Congress called for a bandh, the mainstream media said dalits have called the bandh. Which was another insult and humiliation to the dalit movement. Where the media’s never allow Dalits, Adivasi, Muslim and OBC’s to come under one platform. The bandh had a big impact, though the media said everything went normal. On the day of Bandh few national English media approached approached OU Sc/St President Mr. Kumarasamy , hoping there would have been some violence, but they did not hear anything in the campus. Hence they did not publish the report.A popular English media which fools dalits often saying they are progressive, published a news Claiming An OU student, Krishank, later called up and informed media persons that he was responsible for the incident. When I enquired Krishank said he never called the media or they called him. Mr. Kumarasamy also feels that all political parties are just giving statements and doing nothing. 

 Today i was speaking to a person from police department, I asked about the ambedkar statue desecration in Amalapuram. He said in those districts if a police officer has to be posted, the respective officer should assure that he will not allow anyone to file any case under the SC/ST atrocity act.

More about Krishank click Postnoon

watch more video:

Ambedkar Statue Desecreation: Response from various leaders

Talks about the bandh called in AP its responses. And also opposses the hindu and indian express for giving wrong statement about him.




"The National english media came to him and asked thinking there would have been some violence, the media asked did you or your friend break something, when he replied no, they felt dejected." This is how the national media responds to dalits.

CASTE ATROCITY IN LATHOR, BOLANGIR DISTRICT OF ODISHA. MORE THAN 50 HOUSES ARE BURNT BY UPPER castes on 22/1/12.

by jadumanilion@gmail.com, dhratnakumar@gmail.com , 0827553438, 08806436110
A small boy’s incident took the shape of caste violence in Lathor, Balangir district of Odisha. The incident started at 3.00pm at lathor ,a 9th class dalit boy Ganesh Suna used to wear 2shirts every day but today he wear only a shirt, but he went to purchase a shirt and wear it over that shirt, but shopkeepers Bharat Meher and his brother Daya Meher , called him back and accused him as a thief and beat him . When the boy was returning to home helplessly at that time he met to an old man Gouranga Suna and told about the incident and by responding to the shopkeeper s the old man told that why do you beat him? If he has stolen the shirt we can pay the money for that but you should not had to beaten him, but, the shopkeepers did not listen him and beat to the old man (Gouranga Suna) too by their foot wears. Then the old man reported to his family members, and then 4/5 youth from Dalit community went to the shop and fought with them. This is the fact matter occurred at the beginning of the incident and in this way feeling of hatred created between dalit (Asavarna) and upper caste (Savarna), and upper caste take the advantage of being majority heavy over the dalit minority.
By taking the advantage of the situation, the upper castes reaction to this incident and attacked by their weapons, stick, and muscles power and fought against Dalits. Because Dalit were minority in number so they could not face the violent force of upper castes mob. So Dalit tried to save them from this brutal violence and run way from their home. Some dalit men went to the forest, some went to the nearest villages and the women saved themselves in other untouchable Ghasia Vasti (Scavenger) and saved their life. In this way the upper castes created fear among dalit.
Even the violent upper castes people looted gold ornaments and expensive materials. They burnt all the certificates of the students and other kind of valuables documents. At the same time they abused to all dalit women with derogatory language. Even the upper caste trader people like Marwadi Agrawal distributed liquor and petrol freely to ruin the dalit houses. Meanwhile some dalit tried to register an affair in the Lathor police station but police refuse to register the case and unable to handle the catastrophic situation. The Incident became very serious goes up to a level where no one able stops the upper castes; even they beat to a local news reporter of Kanak TV and threatened to The Dharitri reporter Bhubaneswar Barik . By marching they blocked all the road communication facilities and burnt tyre on the road and dug the road by which communication can be stopped towards Lathor.
The burning goes up to more than 6th hour according to OTV news channel but fact is that it’s more than 6 hour from the dalit people report and eyes witness. The Upper castes mob fearlessly attacked to fire brigade and brunt their vehicle so that the fire could not stop and they can burn all the houses. Since, nobody has courage to off the burning so everything changed in to ashes. From the current report there are no single commodities and food grains which are left out for their uses until the case is registered and fire brigade stop the fire. Police reached there at mid night and tried to protect the victimized dalit people.
On the 23 January, in the morning police high authority DIG reached to the spot with another battalion and ordered the fire brigade commandos to stop the fire. When fire was stopped at that time there was nothing which can be collected for their use. Then after the government following the case, in the late morning at 10 or 11 am the administrative officers Tahasildar and BDO reached to investigate the incident. The officers took the homeless dalit in to a Govt School and provided some kind of relief and distributed some Biscuits, Shawls and Chuda. The distributed things are useless which cannot be eaten which are low in quality. The rehabilitation programme taken by government is insufficient. And all homeless dalit accommodate in a Govt school of the particular village. The victimized and homeless dalit people need proper rehabilitation, adequate help and emotional support.
Dalit are lost their houses, property, wealth, clothes bikes, books and they are hopeless and homeless. More than 4 crores wealth has been lost. Whole Dalit Vasti is being burnt, where more than 50 fifty families were living, there is nothing to collect from the home, and they lost everything. The children women and men are displaced from the home. The rehabilitation programme which is taken by the government is insufficient; all the people are rehabilitated in a government school. Imagine the situation is very pathetic, people are crying, such a brutal attacked by the caste Hindu nobody can think on the issue even Police and administration are unable to give justice.
From TV report the Odisha Chief Minister declared to give 1 lakhs to each victimized family as compensation.
These are the victimized dalit families:

 

SL NO	Name of the Victims	Male No	Female No	Boy Age under 14	Girl Age under 14
1	Gouranga Suna	2	3	1	1
2	Byasa Suna	1	2	2
3	Nilanchala Suna	3	2	-
4	Rajhansa Suna	2	1	1
5	Simanchal Suna	1	2	4	-
6	Trinatha Tandi	4	4	-	-
7	Dolamani Tandi	1	1	-	1
8	Sikun Bag	1	2	3
9	Mahendra Suna	6	3	1	-
10	Lakhsman Suna	3	3	-	-
11	Mukhiaru Suna	1	2	1	-
12	Karunakar Suna	1	2	2	-
13	Bhadra Suna	2	2	-	-
14	Sankritan Suna	2	3	-	-
15	Akrura Suna	1	2		1
16	Madan Suna	1	1	1	-
17	Pradeep Suna	3	3	-	-
18	Dalaganjan Suna	1	2	3	-
19	Tunu Suna	1	2	3	-
20	Kadam Sagadia	1	1	4	-
21	Kangres Sagadia	2	2	2	-
22	Shankar Sagdia	3	5	-	-
23	Rameshwar Tandi	2	2	-	-
24	Kalindri Suna	1	2	-	2
25	Tine Suna	2	1	-	-
26	Dhanu Suna	3	2	1	1
27	Biranchi Suna	3	2	2	-
28	Jaganath Tandi	1	1	1	-
29	Pati Sagadia	2	2	2	4
30	Dinesh Suna	2	1	-	-
31	Kanhu Suna	3	1	1	-
32	Pancha Suna	1	2	1	1
33	Kialash Suna	1	1	2	-
34	Gulapi Suna	-	2	1	2
35	Firoj Suna	1	1	2	-
	TOTAL	65	70	41	13

 This is a fact data we collected by the reasonable resources. There are more victimized people whose name is to be enlisted.
These are the picture from the incident which speaks about the caste violence and burnt houses.
1- The burnt materials are thrown out from the home-

These are the
burnt and broken buildings. 




Documents, utensils and houses are destroyed. More than 4 crores of property have been lost.


The helpless women and innocent children are in the Govt School (relief camp).
These are the up dated news many more facts and details are yet to come……
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