.National Academy for Dalit: Athavale to back Sena-BJP in BMC polls

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Athavale to back Sena-BJP in BMC polls

May 8, 2011,

MUMBAI: The ruling Congress-NCP alliance has been left shaken after prominent Dalit leaderRamdas Athavale, who leads an RPI faction, expressed his intention to support the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the upcoming elections in the state, adding fuel to the Shiv Shakti-Bhim Shakti social engineering theme declared by the Sena's executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

Thackeray had declared his interest in seeking support from Dalits during the last Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, but did not receive much support from Dalit outfits. However, things have changed as RPI factions are now weary of the Congress-NCP alliance, which did not give them any share in power during the last ten years.

Athavale walked into the BJP state headquarters for the first time on Friday and held a closed-door meeting with BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who has been supportive of the idea of joining forces with RPI factions in the state.

Athavale's faction has clout in several pockets in Mumbai and its suburbs, and will become a deciding factor in the upcoming BMC elections in 2012. He had emerged as a giant-killer after defeating former CM and Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi in the last Lok Sabha

elections.

Speaking to TOI about the possibility of extending support to the Shiv Sena-BJP saffron alliance in the state, Athavale said, "The state has become insensitive to the problems faced by the downtrodden living in slums in the city and in other parts of the state. Though we have ideological differences with Sena-BJP, if they are willing to have an understanding of the issues important to the RPI, we will not hesitate from supporting them in the coming elections. We have decided to fight against the massive corruption that has grown in the last decade."

Athavale wanted NCP president Sharad Pawar to accommodate him in the NCP quota in the Union government, but that did not materialize.

After Gadkari and other senior BJP leaders, Athavale is now all set to visit Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. He is willing to support the Sena-BJP alliance if the saffron front is ready to share seats with the RPI factions. A senior Congress leader conceded that in case Athavale, who has been supporting the NCP since its inception, leaves Sharad Pawar, it will be a real jolt to the ruling Congress-NCP alliance in the state.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Athavale-to-back-Sena-BJP-in-BMC-polls/articleshow/8193228.cms

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AnonymousMay 9, 2011 at 1:12 PM
Documentary - "Freedom in Fetters" explores the condition of Orissa and the dalit people after the communal violence between Hindu and Christian. The documentary traces the occurrences and effects of the long-reigning communal violence on the tribals in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, India. It showcases the plight of the victims of a heinous tragedy which carried on for a long time, unchecked, in a beautiful and peaceful district of a secular and democratic country which boasts of embracing multi-ethnic groups.

To watch please visit - http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/2212
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Population of Dalit as Per GOI

SCHEDULED CASTES

According to the 2001 Census, the Scheduled Castes population in India is 166,635,700 persons, constituting 16.2 per cent of the country’s total population. Being rural people, four fifth (79.8 per cent) of them live in rural areas and rest one-fifth (20.2 per cent) live in urban areas. The sex ratio of 936 females per thousand males is slightly higher than national average of 933 sex ratios.

The highest percentage of Scheduled Castes population to the total Scheduled Castes population of the country live in Uttar Pradesh (21.1 per cent) followed by West Bengal (11.1 per cent) and Bihar (7.8 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (7.4 percent) and Tamil Nadu (7.1.percent). In fact, more than 57 per cent of total Scheduled Castes population inhabit in these five States. Proportionately, the largest proportion of population of the Scheduled Castes to total population of the State is in Punjab (28.9 per cent), followed by Himachal Pradesh (24.7 per cent) and West Bengal (23 percent). In Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Pondicherry proportion of SCs population is exactly equal to the National average of 16.2 per cent. The smallest concentration of the Scheduled Castes population is in the North-Eastern tribal States such as Mizoram (with negligible or only 272 persons) followed by Meghalaya (0.5 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh (0.6 per cent).

As per the 2001 Census, there are 22 districts where the Scheduled Castes population is 30 per cent or more. In majority of the districts (i.e., 273 districts) the concentration of SCs population to the total population is between 10 to 20 per cent. In Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, no Scheduled Caste is notified.

SCHEDULED TRIBES

According to the 2001 Census, the total population of the Scheduled Tribes in India is 84,326,240 persons, constituting 8.2 per cent of the total population of the country. 91.7 per cent of them lives in rural areas, whereas, only 8.3 per cent inhabit in urban areas. The sex ratio of Scheduled Tribes population at 978 females per thousand males is higher than that of the total population of the country as well as that of Scheduled Castes.

Madhya Pradesh accounts for the highest percentage of Scheduled Tribes population to total STs population of the country (14.5 percent) followed by Maharashtra (10.2 per cent), Orissa (9.7 per cent), Gujarat (8.9 per cent), Rajasthan (8.4 per cent), Jharkhand (8.4 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (7.8 per cent). In fact, 68 per cent of the country’s Scheduled Tribes population lives in these seven States only. The proportion of the Scheduled Tribes to the total population of the States/Union territories is highest in Mizoram (94.5 %) and Lakshadweep (94.5 %) followed by Nagaland (89.1 %), Meghalaya (85.9 %). Within the major states Chhattisgarh (31.8%) has the highest percentage of Scheduled Tribes population followed by Jharkhand (26.3%) and Orissa(22.1%). These proportions are in the lowest in Uttar Pradesh (0.1 %), Bihar (0.9 %), Tamil Nadu (1.0 %) and Kerala (1.1%).

As per the 2001 Census, there are 75 districts where Scheduled Tribes population is 50 per cent or more as per the 2001 Census. In majority of the districts (i.e., 403 districts), the concentration of Scheduled Tribes population to its total population is less than 20 percent.

Dalit and Education

Dalit children, being disproportionately poor, most heavily suffer the ills of an inequitable and ineffective education system in India. The Indian constitution pledges to provide free and compulsory education for all children up to age fourteen. However, in 1993 only 16.2% of primary school age Dalit children in were enrolled in school as compared to 83.8% of primary aged children from non-scheduled castes.29 According to the India Education Report, school attendance in rural areas in 1993-94 was 64.3% for Dalit boys and 46.2% for Dalit girls, compared to 74.9% among boys and 61% girls from other social groups30 Dalits lagged behind the general population by as many as 15 percentage points in literacy, and according to the 1991 Census, barely 24 per cent of Dalit women were literate. Statistics also show that Dalit children are more likely to drop out than their non-Dalit counterparts, particularly in the early elementary stages. Education represents one way to break out of cycles of poverty and distress, but it is also a by-product of such economic conditions. Even when Dalits are allowed access to school, Dalit students face substandard conditions. Ninety-nine percent of Dalit students come from government schools that lack basic infrastructure, classrooms, teachers and teaching aid. In contrast, it is common for non-Dalit children to seek private tutoring or to access private education of generally better quality. The motivation to do so comes from the fact that most primary government schools are considered low quality. Few Dalits are able to access such supplementation to their education; this furthers the education gap. Once enrolled, discrimination continues to obstruct the access of Dalit children to schooling as well as to affect the quality of education they receive. Source: Ellyn Artis, Chad Doobay and Karen Lyons: Workshop on Human Rights: From Grassroots Courage to International Influence, The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, January 2003

National Academy for Dalit (NAD)

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Athavale to back Sena-BJP in BMC polls

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