UP: Dalit youth killed in Rampur, two accused arrested after encounter with police, know the whole matter
In the case of murder of a Dalit youth, the police have arrested two accused during an encounter. One accused was injured by a bullet in retaliatory action by the police. On July 8, Suraj was attacked with sticks and iron rods, after which he died during treatment. After the death of a Dalit youth resident of village Bhainsia Jwalapur, who was injured in the fight, the police arrested two accused youths during an encounter on Friday night. One accused was injured by police bullets and is admitted in the district hospital. On July 8, Ranjit, son of late Mohan Lal, resident of village Bhainsia Jwalapur, filed a report against eight people, naming three people of village Saktua. It was alleged in the report that his brother Suraj (19) was injured by eight youths on the Nainital highway by beating him with sticks and iron rods. CO Ravindra Pratap Singh said that on Friday the police arrested Imran and Rizwan, residents of village Saktua and Nitin, resident of village Tamra, who came to light. After this, Suraj died during treatment in Rudrapur hospital on Friday night. According to the CO, Kotwali in-charge Balwan Singh was patrolling with his team late on Friday night. On the Nainital highway, an informer informed that two youths related to the incident of Dalit youth Suraj were seen on the road near GD Goenka School in village Dibdiba, adjacent to the Uttarakhand border. After this, the police surrounded Shakir son of Mohammad Sabir, resident of Mohalla Paharganj, Ward No. 15, Police Station Rudrapur Udham Singh Nagar and Vishal son of Rajkumar, village Tamra and tried to catch them. According to the Kotwali in-charge, at 2:45 in the night, both the youths started entering the guava orchard on the roadside. During this, Shakir fired at the police party with a pistol, in which the policemen narrowly escaped. During this, the police retaliated in self-defense. The police bullet hit Shakir’s right calf due to which he got injured and fell on the spot. The police caught the accused. A pistol and two cartridges were recovered from the accused’s possession, while Vishal was caught from a guava orchard. It is claimed that two cartridges have been recovered from Vishal. The police brought the injured Shakir to the community health center. After this, the doctors referred him to the district hospital. The police have taken action to arrest both the accused youths. Senior officials also inspected the spot at night. The forensic team also reached the spot and collected evidence. CO Ravindra Pratap Singh said that so far five people have been arrested in the assault incident. The police is conducting raids to arrest the remaining accused, who will be arrested soon. Published by: Vimal Sharma Courtesy: Hindi News
Cong assures support to Dalit, tribal detainees after Karchhana violence
Prayagraj: Senior Congress leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai, Congress MP from Barabanki Tanuj Punia, and Allahabad MP Ujjwal Raman Singh, visited Naini Jail on Saturday to meet individuals from Dalit and tribal communities who were arrested following the recent Karchhana unrest. The leaders assured that the party will provide all possible support, including legal assistance, to those in custody. They emphasised that the party stands firmly with the marginalised and will continue to fight for their rights. Ajay Rai described the Karchhana incident as “deeply unfortunate” and said: “The way Dalit and tribal individuals were targeted is unacceptable. The Congress party will not leave them alone. We are committed to ensuring they receive justice.” Ujjwal Raman Singh said the Congress has always stood with the oppressed and the underprivileged. “We will ensure these detainees face no further hardship and are granted a fair and speedy legal process,” he said. Tanuj Punia said: “We believe these arrests were made with political bias. The Congress party is taking this issue seriously and will do everything possible to secure justice and support their release through legal means.” The leaders also demanded a fair and impartial investigation into the incident and vowed to pressurise the govt for strict action against those responsible. The Karchhana violence took place when supporters of Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad went on a rampage for over two hours, damaging about a dozen vehicles and pelting police with stones. They accused police of not allowing the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief to meet the family of a Dalit man allegedly burnt to death in Karchana and that of a “rape survivor” in the nearby Kaushambi district. The mob damaged three police vehicles, and cops resorted to baton charge to disperse them. About half a dozen persons were reportedly injured in the clash. Police, after registering an FIR against 53 named and over 500 unknown persons, roped in 15 teams to ensure the arrest of troublemakers. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Food Habits as Marker of Caste
Dalit cuisine is not about choice; it’s about accessibility. Their food practices are a result of deprivation, not abundance. Even today, most Dalits navigate meals not as a matter of taste, tradition, or celebration-but as a question of survival. As one Dalit writer, Anita Bharti, pithily puts it, “The upper-caste minimum is our maximum.” I came face-to-face with this unsettling reality during a conversation that began warmly, reflectively, but left a deep impression on me. I met Shahu Patole the author of much acclaimed book ‘Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada’ at the Jaipur Literature Festival earlier this year. Expecting a discussion on regional variations or perhaps culinary culture viewed through a sociological lens, I was instead led into a world I had neither experienced nor fully imagined. That single interaction-and later, the book itself-influenced me more deeply than I had anticipated. Perhaps that’s because of where I come from. As a Kashmiri Brahmin, I grew up in a cultural setting where caste-as it manifests in much of India-was virtually absent. Kashmiri society was historically divided along religious lines, not fragmented into caste hierarchies. Terms like “impure,” “untouchable,” or even the notion of “separate kitchens” were alien to our vocabulary. We never had to confront the daily violence of caste. It was not part of our lived reality. That explains why ‘Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada’ revealed a world I had never encountered-not even in the margins of my upbringing. I had naively assumed that food was a great equalizer, a universal act of sharing. The book showed me how wrong I was. It spoke of denied ingredients, segregated utensils, and the humiliation wrapped into everyday meals-not as distant history, but as current lived experience. What emerges from reading the book is that food is not just what we eat-it is who we are, where we belong, and how we are perceived? Whether through caste in India or class in Western societies, cuisine reflects deep-rooted structures of power, identity, and aspiration. Recognizing this helps us understand not just eating habits, but also the underlying social dynamics, and in the case of Indian Dalits, of inclusion, exclusion, and resistance. ‘Dalit’ refers to the over 16% of Indians historically excluded from the Hindu caste system and relegated to menial, hereditary occupations with no scope for upward mobility. Though un-touchability was outlawed in 1947, caste-based exclusion continues to persist across different regions – though not as sharp as it used to be. The term ‘Dalit-meaning “broken” or “scattered”-was first used by Jyotirao Phule and later championed by B.R. Ambedkar. It was further politicized by the Dalit Panthers in 1972 as a symbol of anti-caste assertion. Denied access to land, markets, and communal kitchens, Dalits have had to make do with what remained-scraps, discarded parts, and coarse grains. Their culinary traditions have emerged from this exclusion, eating beef, pork, wild greens, and offal not by preference but by compulsion. These methods have evolved into rich food heritages, yet their cuisine carries the deep scars of stigma and shame, and remains marginalized in both popular culture and academic study. No wonder, Indian food taboos divide not only humans from gods but also upper castes from oppressed communities. The Brahmin obsession with satvik food-devoid of meat, garlic, onion, or root vegetables-is projected as morally superior, while Dalit and tribal diets, born out of scarcity and survival, are dismissed as impure. Therefore, from what we eat to how it’s cooked and who serves it, every layer of food culture is shaped by centuries of social stratification. Shahu Patole has been bold in arguing that in India, food is never just food-it is memory, identity, status, and most critically, caste. His book is a manifesto of remembrance, dignity, and defiance. The issue is not whether bee larvae are nutritious or jowar rotis are fashionable, but why some are mocked for what they eat while others are applauded. Shows like Master Chef India and critics like Vir Sanghvi promote a sanitized, upper-caste version of Indian cuisine-glossy thalis and dairy-laden desserts-while ignoring the food of the oppressed. Another Dalit writer, Chittibabu Padavala, elaborates on this point by asserting that in India, food is far more than sustenance-it is a social identifier shaped by caste, hierarchy and purity politics. “The push for vegetarianism-especially when backed by state coercion, vigilante violence, or digital food policing-is not about health or climate alone, but about enforcing Brahmanical norms across society.” One wonders whether Shahu Patole is familiar with the large sections of Brahmin communities-Kashmiri, Bengali, Assamese, etc.-who are non-vegetarians. Needless to mention, that Hitler was vegetarian and therefore food habits are not indicators of one’s moral character. The irony is stark. The second-largest meat-eating population in the world is now being subjected to culinary uniformity. The myth of a unified Indian cuisine-by attempting to erase Dalit food practices from literature and media-is bound to fail. Coming back to Shahu Patole, his book, originally published in Marathi as Anna He Apoorna Brahma, documents the food customs of the Mahar and Mang communities of Maharashtra. The work serves both as cultural archive and political critique. He offers recipes for dishes made from every part of the animal-bones, blood, intestines, bee larvae plucked from walls, and the epiglottis of the goat-all treated as delicacies. A dish made from dill easily foraged in the village is common, as are onions toasted on an open flame, and chutneys made from fat chilies pounded into a fiery mash with salt. When I asked Shahu if bee larvae is a good source of protein, and if bhakris provide good nutrition, he was indignant. “It doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “That’s not what people were thinking when they foraged. It was what was accessible, and it was what was cooked. These analytical frameworks that assign one meaning to each dish are luxuries our communities never had.” Patole notes, “We all know the plates of the upper castes, but our meals remain in the shadows.” His work brings those shadows into visibility. While India faces twin
NOS funding cuts signal systemic exclusion of Dalits, minorities from educational opportunities
In a manner, it is an extension of the violence visited upon the Dalits and the minorities by Hindutva proponents on the streets and in homes A recent piece of news reported by a few national English dailies, but which didn’t seem to get much traction in regional newspapers or in public discussions, was regarding a substantial cut in the number of National Overseas Scholarships (NOS). The NOS programme was instituted in 1954-55 to provide financial support to students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Denotified Nomadic Tribes (DNT), semi-nomadic tribes, landless agricultural labourers, or traditional artisan categories, with a family income below Rs 8 lakh per annum, for study and research in foreign universities. Left in limbo On July 1, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced provisional scholarship awards to only 40 of the 106 candidates selected for NOS for the academic year 2025-26, with a statement that letters for the remaining 66 candidates “may be issued… subject to availability of funds.” In previous years, all students in the selected list had received provisional scholarship letters at the same time, but this year less than half of the selected candidates received the award letters, leaving the rest in limbo, not knowing what the outcome is going to be. A Ministry official was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times, “It is an issue with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs not approving the money allocated to these scholarship schemes. We have the money but we also need green signal from above to give it out.” The Cabinet committee is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP govt’s larger agenda While this may appear to be a minor glitch in the flow of funds — which will be rectified in a short time and all the selected candidates allowed to pursue their higher studies and further their careers — a closer look will suggest there is much more to the picture than what is apparent. And that it is in line with a much larger agenda of the BJP government of systematically denying students of the SC, ST and minority communities scholarships and much needed support for their education. A simple enumeration of developments in the last few years will serve to place the matter into perspective: In the 2022-23 Union Budget, there was a huge reduction of over 99 per cent in funds allocated to the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF), which works for the educational upliftment of minority communities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains. While the previous year’s Budget allocated Rs 90 crore, the 2022-23 Budget allotted a paltry Rs 1 lakh to the foundation. As a result, the stipend payments of more than 1,400 PhD scholars from these communities have been stalled since January 2025 and some from even earlier. Funds for the National Fellowship for SC and ST students were cut by 99.99 per cent as the allocation dropped from Rs 240 crore in the revised estimates (RE) for 2024 to just Rs 0.02 crore in the budget estimates (BE) for 2025. The National Testing Agency (NTA) initially released a selection list of 865 scholars in March 2025 for the National Fellowship for SC and ST students, but a ‘revised list’ was issued in April which cut down selections to only 487 of the previously chosen candidates. The NOS scheme, mentioned earlier, saw a reduction of 99.8 per cent from Rs 6 crore in RE 2024 to Rs 0.01 crore in BE 2025. In 2022, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had excluded “topics/courses concerning Indian Culture/heritage/History/Social studies on India based research topics” from the NOS scheme. The Pre-Matric Scholarship for Minorities was reduced by 72.4 per cent to Rs 90 crore in BE 2025 from Rs 326.16 crore in RE 2024. It has also been restricted to students of classes IX and X. The Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities has been decreased by 69.9 per cent, from Rs 1,145.38 crore in RE 2024 to Rs 343.91 crore in BE 2025. The Merit-cum-Means (MCM) Scholarship first saw a reduction 42.6 per cent to Rs 19.41 crore in the 2025 Budget. According to the latest reports, it has been discontinued due to “overlap with similar schemes of other ministries.” The Dr Ambedkar Scheme of Interest Subsidy on Educational Loan for Overseas Studies for OBC and OEC students incurred a cut of 56.66 per cent to Rs 8.16 crore from Rs 15.30 crore in BE 2025. An RTI enquiry filled by activist MA Akram brought to light that more than 50 per cent of the funds slotted for minority educational programmes have not been used. Specifically, of the Rs 305.8 crore allocated for fee reimbursement scheme, Rs 174.23 crore remained unutilised. Maulana Azad Foundation shut Even more tellingly, on February 7 of this year, the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) issued an abrupt order to close down the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, without assigning any reasons for the decision. The Foundation was established in 1989, coinciding with the birth centenary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of India, as a non-profit organisation under the MoMA to address the educational disparities faced by minority communities, particularly Muslims, in India. Over the years, it has provided significant service for the educational upliftment of minorities through a variety of schemes spanning across the entire spectrum of education from the primary to higher education and research. Despite this, the order of closure came without any warning. It also mandated the transfer of surplus funds worth Rs 669.71 with the Foundation to the Consolidated Fund of India. Criticism of MoMA It is crucial to note that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, chaired by BJP lawmaker PC Mohan, was quite caustic in its criticism of the Ministry of Minority Affairs for the sharp reduction in funding and the inordinate delays in funding approvals. In its report of January 2025, the Committee stated that the delays and cuts have left students and institutions
Tamil Nadu SC/ST commission investigates death of Dalit medical student in Coimbatore
She was found dead in a restroom at the institute on Sunday morning, with the door latched from the inside. COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has initiated an investigation into the death of a postgraduate medical student at a private hospital in Coimbatore. While the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has taken suo motu cognizance of the case, the state commission conducted an inquiry on Friday based on petitions from several organizations, according to sources. Sources indicate that K Bhavapoorani (29), from Vagurampatti in Namakkal, belonged to the SC Arunthathiyar community. She was pursuing a postgraduate degree in anesthesiology at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Coimbatore city. She was found dead in a restroom at the institute on Sunday morning, with the door latched from the inside. She was on night duty and was last seen by colleagues around 1.00 am on Sunday. Multiple calls were made to her mobile when she was not seen. She was later found dead in a restroom around 7.00 am. The Peelamedu police stated that a case was registered under Section 194 (suspicious death) of the BNS Act, and further investigation is underway. The state commission conducted an inquiry on Friday. National Commission for SC seeks report on PG medical student’s death in Coimbatore SC/ST commission members S Selvakumar and M Pon Dhous held an inquiry with the victim’s family members. Government officials, including police officials and the institute’s management, have also recorded their statements. “There were no external injuries on the body as per the initial findings of the post-mortem held on Monday. The body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem. A syringe with a drug was found inside the restroom, which will be examined in a laboratory. The cause of death will be known only after the post-mortem report is released. The victim’s family is raising multiple questions, casting doubt on the nature of her death,” sources said. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Dalit Teen Assault Sparks Uproar in Muzaffarnagar
A Dalit teenager in Muzaffarnagar was allegedly assaulted by five individuals who also made casteist remarks against him. The authorities have registered a case under various sections, including those of the SC/ST Act, following the teenager’s complaint. In a disturbing incident in Muzaffarnagar, a Dalit teenager has reportedly been assaulted by five individuals who also made caste-related slurs against him, as confirmed by local police on Sunday. The alleged attack took place in Badhai Kala village when 19-year-old Gullu was on his way to a shop. A confrontation ensued in which, according to the victim’s complaint, the perpetrators – identified as Azad, Ankur, Nitin, Deepak, and Saurabh – verbally abused and physically assaulted him. The accused have been charged under pertinent sections, including those of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, according to Charthawal Station House Officer Jasvir Singh. The case has raised significant concerns about caste-based violence in the region. Courtesy : Devdiscourse Note: This news is originally published on https:/devdiscourse.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Witness protection granted to Dalit complainant in Dharmasthala mass burial case
Additionally, the complainant recorded his statements before the Principal Civil Judge and JMFC, Belthangady Taluk. However, the advocates expressed concern over being barred from being present during the statement recording, citing the complainant’s difficulty with the legal process. Synopsis: A Dalit man who alleged a decades-long cover-up of murders and sexual assaults at the Dharmasthala temple in Karnataka has been granted protection under the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018. His advocates described the authorities’ response as “positive”, though raised concern that he was made to record his statement before the court without their presence, despite his explicit request. A week after a Dalit man, formerly employed as a sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, alleged a 20-year cover-up of murders and sexual assaults, his request for protection under the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, has been granted. In a statement issued on Friday, July 11, advocates representing the complainant, Ojaswi Gowda and Sachin Deshpande, described the response from the relevant authorities as “positive.” “A communication to this effect was sent to us on the evening of 10-Jul-2025 by the authorities concerned,” the statement reads. “The Complainant conveys his gratitude to the District judiciary, Dakshina Kannada, the Police authorities in Dakshina Kannada and the Government of Karnataka for acting expeditiously on the request for Witness Protection for the Complainant.” Additionally, the complainant recorded his statements before the Principal Civil Judge and JMFC, Belthangady Taluk, on Friday under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which corresponds to Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, the advocates expressed concern over being barred from being present during the statement recording, citing the complainant’s difficulty with the legal process. “We, the advocates, were firmly and clearly instructed by the complainant beforehand that one of us should be present in court while he made his statements to the court. He is illiterate, has never been to court before, and had expressed serious difficulty with the process. We clearly informed the Court of this concern,” the statement reads. “However, the Court did not agree to the presence of the advocates and commenced the recording of the complainant’s statement in our absence. This is for your information and record.” Shocking allegations of criminal conspiracy spanning decades In a detailed complaint addressed to the Dakshina Kannada Police Commissioner on July 3, the survivor, who has requested anonymity, alleged that between 1995 and 2014, he was forced under death threats to dispose of hundreds of bodies, many showing signs of sexual violence and brutal murders. Dakshina Kannada police have registered an FIR (Crime Number 39/2025) under Section 211(a) of the BNS, after obtaining court permission. In a statement, they said the complaint will be investigated in accordance with the law. The complainant said he was coming forward after all these years because he could no longer remain silent, and described three specific incidents, including being forced to bury a teenage sexual assault victim in 2010. Other incidents included the burning of the body of a woman whose face had been disfigured with acid, and several instances in which the destitute were allegedly suffocated to death in a systematic manner. The complainant said he fled Dharmasthala in 2014 after a member of his own family was sexually harassed, and returned recently to exhume one of the “hundreds” of bodies he said he had buried, to present as evidence. Attaching photographs of the exhumed body with his complaint, he urged an immediate investigation. He said he was unable to reveal the identities of the accused until he and his family were accorded witness protection. He also requested that the buried bodies be exhumed and given proper last rites. On Thursday, a week after the initial complaint, advocates Ojaswi Gowda and Sachin Deshpande urged all 788 Members of Parliament to take note of the case ahead of the Monsoon session. (Edited by Dese Gowda) Courtesy : The South First Note: This news is originally published on https:/thesouthfirst.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Lucknow police files chargesheet within 24 hours in rape case of Dalit minor
Seven-year-old survivor’s statement recorded, forensic and medico-legal procedures completed swiftly; officials seek fast-track trial In a rare instance of expedited legal action, the Lucknow Police on Friday (July 11, 2025) filed a chargesheet within 24 hours in a case involving the rape of a seven-year-old Dalit girl. The incident took place in the Gauri Gali area of Swanapur village, under the jurisdiction of Malihabad police station, on Wednesday (July 9, 2025) evening. Minor dalit girl raped in UP’s Rampur The accused, identified as 20-year-old Suchit Yadav, was arrested within 10 hours of the alleged assault. “All evidences were collected, accused arrested, forensic and medical formalities were completed. Judicial magistrate recorded statement of victim. The court-related legal duty was performed and Lucknow Police Commissionerate completed the investigation and chargesheeted the above case within 24 hours, first time in U.P. The government will be requested for considering the above case in fast-track court,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Malihabad, Vineet Singh told The Hindu. According to the police, the minor had gone to bathe at a nearby tubewell when the accused lured her to an isolated room near a drain in Madhavpur village, where the alleged assault occurred. District Magistrate, Lucknow, was closely involved in the investigation, directing the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Health Services to ensure that medico-legal formalities were completed during the night. “Modern technology, mobile locations, CCTV footage and intelligence systems were used to promptly nab the accused within 10 hours of the crime to expedite the legal process,” ACP Singh added. Mayank Kumar Courtesy : The Hindu Note: This news is originally published on https:/thehindu.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
NHRC seeks report on ‘social boycott’ of 10 Dalit families in Ganjam
Berhampur: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought an action taken report from the Odisha govt regarding the alleged social boycott of 10 Dalit families in a village in Ganjam district. The boycott stemmed from a dispute over the construction of a kalyan mandap (community hall). NHRC scheduled a hearing on the matter during its camp sitting in Bhubaneswar on July 21. The commission has requested detailed reports to be submitted within a week after issuing the order on Thursday. The development follows a petition filed by a Berhampur-based rights NGO. In response, NHRC has issued letters to the chief secretary, director general of police (DGP) and the Ganjam collector, urging them to address the issue. The commission also instructed that the relevant authorities, victims and complainants or their representatives be present at the hearing. The special secretary (home), who also serves as nodal officer for the camp, has been tasked with coordinating the attendance of the complainants and victims, ensuring they receive necessary assistance to reach the venue. The NGO’s petition alleges that the Dalit families faced ostracism from other villagers due to their efforts to construct the kalyan mandap, that was reportedly obstructed. The petition claims the act violates Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution. The organisation has urged the NHRC to take cognisance and direct the state govt to conduct a high-level investigation to eradicate such social injustices. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
In-charge Collector adopts Dalit family
Naresh NandamOngole: Prakasam district in-charge Collector Ronanki Gopala Krishna conducted a surprise inspection of Social Welfare Department Boys’ Hostel and Residential Girls School in Ammanabrolu on Friday. He reviewed attendance and stock registers, finding discrepancies between recorded inventory and actual stock in the storeroom. Expressing dissatisfaction with the maintenance standards, the Collector issued immediate directives to install mosquito mesh on windows by Monday, repair toilets and improve general maintenance, set up complaint boxes and menu charts, arrange first aid kits, and establish a kitchen garden in available space. At Residential Girls School, he interacted with students, assessed their academic progress, and personally served them lunch to check food quality. He emphasised strict adherence to the state government’s prescribed menu and ensured students receive education kits, uniforms, and shoes as mandated. As part of P-4 scheme designed to connect the bottom 20 percent of society with the top 10 percent of wealthy citizens, Collector Gopala Krishna personally adopted the family of Gollapati Mariyamma, a Dalit widow from Mallavam village in Maddipaddu mandal. He met with the family and interacted with them. Mariyamma, who lost her husband and struggles with daily wage work while caring for her daughter and son, was promised comprehensive support by the Collector. The Collector assured immediate house construction approval on her ancestral land, additional financial support for construction, help establishing a grocery or tiffin shop for livelihood, skill training in tailoring and craft work for her daughter, educational support to complete her daughter’s Intermediate studies, and provided monthly grocery supplies and vegetables as immediate help. During his visit to Mallavam village, locals highlighted lack of cremation grounds and drainage systems. The Collector directed Tahsildar Adilakshmi to resolve the cremation ground issue and ordered MPDO Jyoti to implement phased construction of drainage canals. Naresh Nandam Courtesy : The Hans India Note: This news is originally published on https:/thehansindia.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.