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

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

Just 5% Gujarat Dalit households 'recognise' social reformers who inspired Ambedkar

An interesting survey conducted across 22 districts and 32 villages in Gujarat sheds light on the representation of key social reformers in Dalit households. It suggests that while Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's photo was displayed in a majority of homes, images of Lord Buddha and the 19th-century reformist couple, Savitribai Phule and Jyotiba Phule, were not as commonly represented.

Of lingering shadow of Haren Pandya's murder during Modi's Gujarat days

Sunita Williams’ return to Earth has, ironically, reopened an old wound: the mysterious murder of her first cousin, the popular BJP leader Haren Pandya, in 2003. Initially a supporter of Narendra Modi, Haren turned against him, not sparing any opportunity to do things that would embarrass Modi. Social media and some online news portals, including The Wire , are abuzz with how Modi’s recent invitation to Sunita to visit India comes against the backdrop of how he, as Gujarat’s chief minister, didn’t care to offer any official protocol support during her 2007 visit to Gujarat.

Not just Haren Pandya, even Dhirubhai Shah, youngest assembly speaker, wanted to be Gujarat CM

Dhirubhai Shah with Keshubhai Patel When Keshubhai Patel was sought to be replaced by the BJP high command in 2001, everyone knows that Narendra Modi became the final choice. However, someone who was part of the top circles those days now tells me something I had no knowledge of—that the choice was between Modi and a Kutch MLA, Dhirubhai Shah, who served as the 16th Speaker from March 1998 to December 2002 during the 10th Assembly, the youngest to take the office.

Area set aside in Ahmedabad for PM's affordable housing scheme 'has gone to big builders'

Following my article on affordable housing in Counterview, which quoted a top real estate consultant, I was informed that affordable housing—a scheme introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—has deviated from its original intent. A former senior bureaucrat, whom I used to meet during my Sachivalaya days, told me that an entire area in Ahmedabad, designated for the scheme, has been used to construct costly houses instead.

Search This Blog