Palash Biswas

UNTOUCHABILITY AND STARVATION LIVE TOGETHER IN INDIA

Untouchability and Starvation Live together in India! This is the ultimate truth of sense shining, to be Hindu Superpower India!

Local goons raided a Dalit hamlet and attacked women and children for allegedly ‘frolicking’ in a community temple in Shivalapar village under Shahpur police station in Danapur of Patna district on Friday evening.A tiff erupted between the Dalits and Ramavtar Yadav, when he objected to the Dalit children ‘dirtying the premises of the Goddess Durga temple.’

Yadav and his three sons Sanjay, Umesh and Dinesh raided the hamlet, comprising 50 families.

They caught hold of Gyanati Devi, pulled her hair, beat her up and poured boiling ‘Dal’ on her.

Her six-month-old daughter Sunita, too, suffered burns.

Untouchability Offenses Act (1955, India)

Encyclopædia Britannica: Related Articles

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Influence on status of untouchables

...the constitution provides these groups with specific educational and vocational privileges and grants them special representation in the Indian parliament. In support of these efforts, the Untouchability (Offenses) Act (1955) provides penalties for preventing anyone from enjoying a wide variety of religious, occupational, and social rights on the grounds that he is a Harijan, the name...No results were returned.

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The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is responsible for all round development of Scheduled Castes and to bring them in the mainstream of national life and ensure their full participation in socio-economic development of the country.

Nearly 50 percent of the world's hungry live in India, a low-income, food-deficit country. Around 35 percent of India's population - 350 million - is considered food-insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum energy requirements. In 1947, untouchability was banned by the Indian constitution established after independence from the British. Yet, as a social organization and economic constraint, untouchability is very much alive today. Its grip and that of the caste system, from which it derives, will necessarily be challenged to the very core if India is to become an industrialized nation. This question has now become urgent for India's 800 million people. As the 21st century nears, either India will find within itself the capacity for cultural regeneration permitting economic development, or as Mahatma Gandhi predicted, Hinduism will perish, and India with it.

Nutritional and health indicators are extremely low. Nearly nine out of 10 pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from malnutrition and anemia. Anemia in pregnant women causes 20 percent of infant mortality. More than half of the children under five are moderately or severely malnourished, or suffer from stunting.

More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human.

Human rights abuses against these people, known as Dalits, are legion. A random sampling of headlines in mainstream Indian newspapers tells their story: "Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits".

Dalits are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls," said Smita Narula, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, and author of Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "Untouchables." Human Rights Watch is a worldwide activist organization based in New York.

India's Untouchables are relegated to the lowest jobs, and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, paraded naked, beaten, and raped with impunity by upper-caste Hindus seeking to keep them in their place. Merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood is a life-threatening offense.

Nearly 90 percent of all the poor Indians and 95 percent of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits, according to figures presented at the International Dalit Conference that took place May 16 to 18 in Vancouver, Canada.

National Commission for socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities

A decision has been taken to appoint a National Commission to recommend measures for welfare of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities.

The Terms of Reference of the commission are:

to suggest criteria for identification of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities.

to recommend measures for welfare of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities, including reservations in education and government employment.

to suggest the necessary constitutional, legal and administrative modalities as required for the implementation of their recommendations, and

to present a Report of their deliberations and recommendations.

http://socialjustice.nic.in/newpolicies/welcome.htm

RESEARCH/EVALUATION STUDIES SPONSORED UNDER THE SCHEME OF GRANT IN AID FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is implementing a number of Schemes for the welfare and development of Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities, the disabled, children in need of care and protection, the aged, victims of alcohol and drug abuse, etc. It is necessary that the impact of these Schemes/Programmes should be assessed and evaluated from time to time, so that these can be suitably modified /revised to make them more effective or phased out if their utility is found to be doubtful. It is also necessary to identify through research, areas where social problems are likely to arise in future so that the Ministry can plan timely interventions. The Ministry, therefore, sponsors research and evaluation studies under the Scheme of Grant in aid Rules for Research and Publications to assist in the task of review and future planning.

Under the Scheme, Universities/Research Institutions and Professional bodies are given financial assistance to meet the expenditure on research and evaluation studies in the broad areas of Social Policy, Social Development and Social Welfare, particularly to evaluate the Programmes/Schemes implemented for the welfare and development of Disabled Persons, OBCs, and Minorities and in the field of Social Defense.

Research proposals on the specified priority areas from established research institutions and universities are considered.

In cases, where it is felt that the problem needs to be studied on larger scale, a common research design is devised and the study on the subjects carried out simultaneously in several States/UTs.

The types of studies sponsored by the Ministry are (i) Evaluation Studies; (ii) Diagnostic Studies; and (iii) Documentation Studies. In the case of evaluation studies, the Ministry's programmes/schemes implemented at the field level are evaluated to know the effectiveness of the schemes and to modify/revise the schemes appropriately. The diagnostic studies are those on social problems relating to the areas of prostitution, drug abuse, the aged, children in difficult circumstances, minorities and OBCs and the disabled population. The documentation type of studies are - Preparation of summary of research projects, Preparation of Handbook of Social Welfare Statistics, Preparation of Compendium of Schemes, Directory of voluntary organizations in the field of Social Welfare, etc.

Since the inception of the Scheme from 1973-74, 433 Research/Evaluation Studies have been sponsored. The findings and recommendations of all these studies have been useful for the Ministry for evolving further intervention at the policy and implementation level. The reports are being utilized by research professionals working in related fields to review the progress of work and to identify social problems requiring urgent intervention.

The list of Research/Evaluation Studies sponsored from 1973-74 to 2003-04 (up to 31st December, 2004) is annexed.

The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) has decided to launch a state wide agitation in Haryana in protest against the "continuous atrocities on dalits" in the state. A decision to this effect will be taken at a joint meeting of various Dalit organizations which has been convened by NCDHR on September 15 at Delhi. According to Arun Khote, secretary of the NCDHR, the Dalit organization have taken a serious note of the alleged murder of Rakesh alias Lara and incidents of violence and arson in Gohana town and else where in the country and they have decided to call a joint meeting on September 15 in Delhi to chalk out the future course of action on this issue. He said that the Dalit organizations wanted to impose President's rule in Haryana and declaration of Haryana as Dalit Utpeeran Grast Rajya. He also disclosed that the NCDHR has already apprised the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and Kumari Selja Union Minister of State about the incidents of atrocities on dalits in Haryana and demanded immediate taking of steps to check such cases in future. Referring to the alleged murder of Rakesh alias Lara, Khote said that it was a conspiracy and per-planned murder and the police have utterly failed to ensure the safety of dalits. If such types of atrocities continued, the Dalit organizations have no alternative but to launch a statewide agitation on this issue.

The Communist Party of India on Saturday demanded an end to the intimidation of Dalits in the Gohana area of Sonepat district in Haryana. This demand was made a day after CPI national secretary D. Raja visited Gohana, where a Dalit youth was killed last week resulting in clashes in several districts of the State.

Posted on September 4, 2007