Dalits again forcibly displaced in Gujarat: Families of a Porbandar village "coerced" to migrate out

In a fresh incident of forced migration, Dalit families of Bhodadhar village of Ranavav taluka, Porbandar district, were coerced to leave their place of living, following upper caste persons destroying their houses. Bringing the incident to the notice of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who is also chairman of the SC-ST monitoring committee of the state government, senior activist of the Navsarjan Trust, Kantilal Parmar, has alleged the house were destroyed with the “malicious intention to force the Dalits out of the village.” He added, “The houses were destroyed with by using JCB machines, and the reason was -- the Dalits had refused to take back their police complaint under the anti-atrocities law.”
The Dalits’ houses were destroyed under the pretext that these houses were constructed on government land, and it was “part of the effort to remove encroachments on the common village land.” The collector made this clear in a letter by AM Gandhi, district collector, to the village panchayat, who warned that the anti-encroachment drive resolution, passed by the village panchayat in April 2013, would lead to “serious law and order problems” in the village. Hence, he asked the panchayat to stop the drive forthwith. Yet, apparently, the upper caste persons continued with their so-called anti-encroachment drive.

Interestingly, an official document, signed by the taluka development officer, contradicts the claim of the village panchayat resolution. The document, dated January 1, 2002, says that the Dalits were being handed over 20 sq metres land to construct the houses under the Indira Awas Yojna, for which the government would provide sufficient subsidy to each of the families. The document specifically says that the houses were being allowed to be built because the Dalits’ houses were destroyed during the earthquake on January 26, 2001.
Parmar, who was in Porbandar to make an on-the-spot persons of the assessment of the situation, said, “In all, 14 Dalits who lived in four houses were forced to move out of the village following destruction of the houses on December 18, 2013, fearing for their life. Saying that this was a “clear violation of different sections of the Indian constitution”, including Article 14 (equality before the law), Article 15 (prohibition of caste based discrimination), Article 21 (right to live as dignified citizens), the anti-atrocities Act and its different rules, and several sections of the Indian Penal Code, Parmar has put up several demands.

Calling it a “serious violation of human rights”, Parmar said, each of these families should be given 10 acres of land to cultivate and make a living, even as asking the CM to ensure that deputy sarpanch Lakha Rajshi Bheda and panchayat member Kamlesh Meraman be “removed from their post” for taking part in the atrocity. At the same time, he suggested, the state government must take steps against the local police officials who did nothing to ensure that the situation did not go out of hand. “The police officials must immediately act by registering a case against those responsible for the atrocity”, he added.
Making a general demand, Parmar said, “The Gujarat government must come up with a contingency plan to ensure that the Dalits are not forced to migrate from their village in the state’s rural areas.” In all, so far, Navsarjan Trust – which is a Dalit rights organization -- has recorded nearly 75 cases of forced migration of Dalits in Gujarat, for which it has held at least two hearings. Wanting the state government to immediately ensure that the internally displaced Dalits are “properly rehabilitated, Parmar said, “Those who commit atrocities of this kind should be severely dealt with, even if they are forced to out of their districts.”

While the Dalit families from Porbandar were forced to leave their village on December 30, 2013, this was the second incident of imposed migration in less than then days in Gujarat. On December 22, 2013, as many as seven families of Morzam village of Nakhatrana taluka, Kutch district, were forced to migrate out and began living in makeshift tents in Makhana village. “At that time also we had demanded from the state government to come up with a contingency plan for the Dalit internally displaced persons. However, the officials have not taken any heed to this”, Parmar has pointed out.

Comments

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

In lieu of tribute to Pritish Nandy, said to be instrumental in collapse of Reliance-controlled daily

It is widely reported that Pritish Nandy , journalist, author, animal activist, and politician, has passed away. While it is customary to pay tributes to a departing soul—and I, too, have joined those who have posted heartfelt condolences on social media—I cannot forget the way he treated me when he was editor of the Reliance-controlled Business and Political Observer (BPO), for which I had been working informally in Moscow.

Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

Challenging patriarchy? Adopting maternal and marital surnames: Resistance continues

Anandiben Patel The other day, I was talking with a group of family friends. The discussion revolved around someone very close to me who had not changed her official name in documents, including her Aadhaar and passport, after her marriage. However, on social media and within her husband's family, she had adopted her husband's surname as a suffix to her own. I mentioned that there is a growing trend—though not yet widespread—where women prefer to retain their maiden names or add their maiden surnames alongside their husband's surname. Another emerging trend is where men choose to add their mother's name, or even their wife's name, to their own. This revelation surprised my family friends.

Search This Blog