‘Dignity of labour applies only to societies where equality is the norm’
Even if you are a Dalit and you think some other subcaste is lower to you and feel happy about it, you are just practising a 3,000-year-old system, says Bezwada Wilson Only if we can come out of the mindset of finding joy in being superior to another person can we overcome the caste system, says Bezwada Wilson, co-founder and National Convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA.) “Even if you are a Dalit and you think some other subcaste is lower to you and feel happy about it, you are just practising a 3000-year-old system,” he said, speaking at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) as part of the intersectionality series. He argued that similar is the case with patriarchy too and that men of most communities consider women lower to them. The Magsaysay award winner further noted that considering oneself as inferior to someone else was equally dangerous. “The scavengers feel that they are inferior to everybody else in this country because they have to clean, carry and dispose of human excreta and garbage. But in other countries who are doing similar work, people don’t feel the same way because of dignity of labour.” However, he noted that the concept of dignity of labour shouldn’t be applied in the Indian context to ask someone to clean another person’s toilet. “Only when you are able to understand and attain an equal society can you bring up the dignity of labour. We are unfortunately far away from it,” he said. Fighting caste-based occupation In 1993, the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act,1993 prohibited the construction of dry toilets and employment of manual scavengers to clean them. Wilson noted that despite the prohibition the practice continued in several parts of the country in the years that followed unhindered. In 1994, Wilson founded the SKA along with activist Paul Diwakar and former chief secretary of Tripura S.R. Sankaran to document continuing scavenging practices and fight against it. “S.R. Sankaran was with Safai Karmachari Andolan for 18 years. We were determined to destroy caste-based occupation. S.R. Sankaran, who was born as a Brahmin, was the chairperson. We shouldn’t be adamant that only a Dalit should lead, and others should be kept away. We cannot again practise the caste system in our organisations and discriminate people by caste names,” he said. Pursuing justice In 2003, SKA, 18 other civil society organisations, and a few individuals and manual scavengers filed Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court naming all states and government departments of Education, Judiciary, Defence and Railways as violators of the Manual Scavenging (Prohibition) Act. “You can’t always expect justice to come to you. Try to take a step to go and stand by the side of justice,” he said. Wilson noted that the case helped to create awareness around the issue and made officials answerable to manual scavengers for the first time. However, he pointed out that in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir, dry latrines still existed and women continued cleaning them. “After so many years of independence and despite being a democratic country how can this continue?” he questioned. To address this issue, SKA would launch a campaign in the said states, he said. Courtesy: Note: This news is originally published on https://www.thehindu.com and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Caste Census: This caste has largest population in India, not Brahmins, Dalits, SCs, the name is…; know key facts about caste-based census
As the name suggests, caste census is a caste-based survey of the country’s population aimed to determine the exact number of people of each caste living in India as accurately as humanly possible. Caste Census: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government has announced to carry out a caste-based census across the country, meeting a long-standing demand of the opposition INDIA bloc led by the Congress, which is hailing the announcement as a major victory. Opposition parties, especially the Congress and its INDIA bloc ally, the Samajwadi Party (SP), have been rallying for a caste census for a very long time, and now Centre has announced that the same will be conducted countrywide. According to reports, caste census is likely begin in the coming months, and is likely to be completed by mid 2026. Interestingly, there is already some data about the population of different castes in India. Let us find out which caste has the largest population in the country: Caste with largest population Based on the 2011 general census, there are as many as 46 lakh different castes in India, and contrary to popular belief, the Dalits or Scheduled Castes (SCs) are not the largest caste in India. According to the 1931 census, the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are have a 52 percent share in the country’s population, making them the largest caste-based group in India. This was also taken as the baseline when the Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented by the V.P. Singh government in 1990. However, it must be noted that the figures are based on data which is nearly a century old, and the current census could reveal a vastly different set of figures. What is caste census and who benefits? As the name suggests, caste census is a caste-based survey of the country’s population aimed to determine the exact number of people of each caste living in India as accurately as humanly possible. Although caste census has been conducted in India earlier, but the OBCs were not included in the survey at the time, which will not be the case in coming caste-based census. Caste census proponents assert that it will clarify the social, educational, political and economic standing and participation of various castes, and help build an equitable society based on the principle of ‘jitni aabadi utna haq (larger the population, greater the right)’. On the other hand, critics of caste-based survey claim it is a ploy to divide the Indian society, particularly the Hindu majority, into caste-based sub-groups for vote-bank politics. Courtesy: India.com Note: This news is originally published on https://www.india.com and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Dalit boy thrashed by fuel station owner, three others in Dharmapuri district.
DHARMAPURI: The A Pallipatty police in Dharmapuri district on Thursday registered a case against four men, including a fuel station owner, on charges of assaulting a dalit boy. The police began searches for the men who attacked the 17-year-old boy. The boy had worked at the fuel station run by Ramakrishnan, 48. He left the job to assist his uncle. This angered Ramakrishnan. On Tuesday night, Ramakrishnan and others allegedly tied the boy to a tree and beat him up, said a police officer at the A Pallipatty station. The boy was freed when his parents arrived there on Wednesday morning. They took the boy to Dharmapuri Government Medical College and Hospital and filed a complaint at the A Pallipatty police station. The police registered a case against the four men, including Ramakrishnan, under the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act on Thursday. Courtesy: times of india Note: This news is originally published on https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
‘Won’t let you live here’: Dalit man thrashed, abused in Gurgaon
Gurgaon: A 30-year-old Dalit man was allegedly assaulted and abused with casteist slurs by a neighbour and his associates who suspected that he had broken a car window last week in Faridabad’s Ballabgarh. Police said on Thursday that they registered a case under sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 3(5) (common intention) and 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) of BNS along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Shravan Kumar told police he was returning home in Tirkha Colony from a market when his neighbour, Prakash alias Monu, called out to him around 7pm on April 27. Prakash (30) asked Shravan if he was responsible for breaking a car’s window. Shravan denied any role, after which Prakash and another man, Rajesh Pandit, allegedly started hurling casteist slurs and beat him up. The 30-year-old said in his complaint that he went back home without retaliating, but Prakash, his father and 8-10 men, some of them armed with guns, came to his house and threatened him and his mother. Hurling slurs again, Prakash allegedly said, “We won’t let a Dalit live here.” Shravan said he lives in the colony with his mother, and the incident alarmed the two of them. He said he had several injuries and went to a govt hospital for treatment. According to his complaint, Shravan had blunt injuries to his face, shoulder and head. Doctors recommended further evaluations. The 30-year-old said he was hesitant about filing a police complaint because of attempts to resolve the issue by the colony’s residents. But he approached Ballabgarh City police station after the two sides could not reach a compromise. “We have registered a case and further investigation will be carried out accordingly,” a senior police official said. Courtesy: Times of India Note: This news is originally published on https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com and is for use by the non-military/non-commercial community, especially those in the human rights sector.
Dalit scholar’s struggles expose flaws in faculty hiring in Telugu states
Dr Swaroop, a PhD holder from University of Hyderabad, has been taken for a ride by private universities in both the Telugu states. Hyderabad: The working class in the country has celebrated May 1, Labour Day, with discontent, hoping for a better tomorrow. While the political parties and left organisations held high-pitched meetings on how the rights of the workers have been violated by successive governments, the story of a Dalit assistant professor sheds light on the plight of PhD holders being reduced to ‘adda coolies’ (workers picked up from labour addas on roads) in the two Telugu states. Dr Swaroop, 40, a native of Vijayawada, had earned his doctorate in political science from the University of Hyderabad in 2022. After a year-long stint as a guest faculty, he applied for the position of an assistant professor in Mohan Babu University, Tirupati, in its school of liberal arts, which turned out to be physically non-existent after he joined the service. There were quite a few assistant professors (economics, anthropology, sociology and political science) including an associate dean in the school of liberal arts in October 2022 who were recruited along with him. Swaroop and the new recruits were shocked after joining their duties, when they found that there was neither that department, nor any infrastructure created to run that school in the university. “To show the University Grants Commission that arts courses were also being offered to gain university status, faculty was recruited. But in reality these social sciences programs were not being offered. As per the National Education Policy of 2020, individual social sciences programs need to be established, and a multi-disciplinary approach should be cultivated across various disciplines. Hence, social sciences faculty could be utilised to also teach the science students. But this was not done,” claims Swaroop, speaking with Siasat.com. In the absence of a full-fledged setup, these assistant professors were allegedly used by the university administration to escort the students and their parents into the campus, to provide counseling to them and to run office chores. This was nothing related to teaching respective subjects to the students, who were also non-existent in these streams. A few months later, all the recruits resigned and left, except Swaroop, who worked there for a year and a half. “After 6 months, the university administration told us that there was no work load, and they made us sit in the security office at the main gate of the campus,” recalls Swaroop. In the absence of any recruitment of teaching faculty in the universities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the past 11 years or so, Swaroop continued to work at Mohan Babu University, even as others who were recruited along with him started resigning one by one. “Initially I was offered Rs 55,000 per month on a consolidated basis. However, to seek recognition from UGC as a state private university, it was submitted by the administration that all the faculty members were being offered central government seventh pay commission pay-scales. As per the norms, an assistant professor needs to be paid in the pay band ranging between Rs 57,500 to Rs 92,500,” Swaroop notes. He was paid Rs 55,000 for 16 months, and in the last 2 months his salary was cut-short by 50 percent, and was paid only Rs 27,500. Pay-slips were also generated for that amount, making it difficult for him to secure a job in a good pay-scale in any other institutions. In February 2024, he was allegedly made to resign by the university administration. While the university claimed various reasons for its decision, Swaroop alleges discrimination, manipulation of facts and malpractice. Swaroop approached the National Commission of Scheduled Castes, Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission, and has submitted representations also to the chief minister of AP, minister of education, deputy superintendent of police (Tirupati west), superintendent of police (Tirupati), AP director general of police, the president of India, UGC, the Union minister of education and others, alleging injustice meted out to him. Almost a year has passed, but there has been no relief or justice served to him. Meanwhile, he received a call from GITAM Deemed University, Rudraram campus in Sangareddy district recently, offering him an assistant professor of political science post in the school of education. As he has a bachelors in education, combined with a PhD, his profile was shortlisted, and he cleared the interview of the selection committee of GITAM. Along with the details of other faculty recruited, his details were also uploaded on the university’s website as a recruited faculty member. “An affidavit was taken from me, assuring that I wouldn’t work for any other institution on a regular basis, until another regular faculty is recruited for that post,” Swaroop says. Just couple of days ago, he received a call from the GITAM human resources department, informing him that he was not selected for that position due to low grades in his BEd. Now Swaroop is at the cross-roads of his life, with a disturbed start in his professional career, with no recruitments in public universities of AP or Telangana in sight, and having lost trust in the private universities. Interestingly, in Telangana the private universities are having a free hand in the absence of a regulatory mechanism to put a check on such manipulations. As per sources, the private and deemed universities in Telangana don’t come under the purview of the Telangana Council of Higher Education. The Council has already placed a proposal before chief minister A Revanth Reddy to bring these private universities under its purview, the decision of which is pending before the chief minister, who also holds the education portfolio. At an age where people like him are married and enjoying with their families, Swaroop remains single, despite exceptional educational credentials, though coming from an under-privileged Madiga community which has been facing discrimination since ages. Neither SC categorisation, nor tall-talk of those in power about the empowerment of Dalits can assuage the situation which deserving