Barred from accessing water from common bore, Dalits villagers may be forced to migrate

Dalits meet in Lunasan village to decide on future action

Following a glaring instance of discrimination against the Dalits in a North Gujarat village, a representation by the Dalits rural folk to the district collector, Mehsana, has said they are being forced to migrate from their village because the “non-Dalits” are prohibiting them to access water from the public bore. This is happening despite the fact that the village, which is dominated by the other backward caste (OBC) Thakore caste, has a Dalit sarpanch and a Dalit member in the village panchayat, the representation regretted.
The instance of Dalits not being allowed to access water suggests that the Gujarat government’s much-talked-about effort to usher in an era of samras or a homogeneous atmosphere is nothing but an effort to hide caste and class contradictions in the state’s villages, say Dalit activists. It also suggests that the effort usher in samras is, if anything, an attempt to install the upper caste hegemony, these activists point out.
The issue concerns Lunasan village in Kadi taluka, from where one of the senior-most ministers of the Gujarat government hails – Nitin Patel. “The forcible ban on access to water has been going on for the last more than six months”, the representation said, adding, “This is part of the anti-Dalit, untouchability practices currently being aggressively pursued by the non-Dalits. The bore belongs to the village panchayat. It does not belong to any private individual.”

Things have lately reached such a point that, said the representation, some non-Dalit men of the village used abusive words and then beat up of several of the Dalit men and women, who had gone to fetch water from the common bore late in the evening recently. The result was that on May 16, the Dalits were forced to register a police complaint.
The complaint not just said that the public bore is not being allowed to be used. It added that the pipeline connecting the bore with the Dalit locality, where 100 Dalits live, has been deliberately breached. “Most of the Dalits are either wage workers or eke out their living as cattle breeders. More often than not, they have to depend on private tankers by spending huge sums to get water”, the representation pointed out.
Asking the district collector to “immediately act” and ensure that the Dalits are not discriminated against, the representation – a copy of which was obtained from NGO Navsarjan Trust’s senior activist Kirit Rathod – threatened, in case the officialdom refuses to act, the Dalits would be forced to move out of the village. “It is a clear case of social boycott by non-Dalits against the Dalits, and the officialdom should not tolerate this”, Rathod told Counterview.

Comments

Despite Hindutva hold claim, 18% Hindus in US don't want to be identified with Hinduism!

Scanning through news items on the Google News app on my mobile — which is what I do almost every morning — I came across a story published on India.com, which I found somewhat misleading. The headline said, "Muslim population drops significantly in THIS country as over 25% Muslims leave Islam due to…, the country is…"

Adani Group a key player in Indo-Israel defence cooperation: Tel Aviv daily

Said to be one of the most influential Israeli dailies, "Haaretz" (literally: News of the Land) has identified the Adani Group—known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi—as one of the key Indian business houses engaged in defence cooperation with Israel. Pointing out that India supplied the Israeli military with Hermes 900 drones, the daily reported that this advanced aerial vehicle came off “the production line in a factory set up in Hyderabad, as part of the cooperation between the Israeli Elbit and India's Adani Group.”

Beyond Indus water treaty suspension: A 'nationalist' push despite harsh climate realities

The suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) appears to have pushed the middle classes, at least in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Gujarat, further towards what the powers-that-be would consider—a "positive" direction. As usual, during my morning walk, I tried talking with a neighbour about what impact it would have. Ignoring what is widely considered a "security lapse," this person, who had just returned after buying milk, compared the Modi move with Trump.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Search This Blog