Eight per cent of all right to information complaints in Gujarat relate to caste-based discrimination

By A Representative
“Akkha gamna kaam thaay pan amara falia na koi kaam thata nathi”, Chitharbhai from one of the coastal villages in Gujarat complained over phone, pointing out that the authorities in the village, to which he belongs, have been discriminating against the Dalit colony while taking up public works. Bringing this to light, senior right to information activist, Pankti Jog has said, “This is one of the most common Dalit complaints I have received on my right to information (RTI) helpline, 9924085000.”
Jog, who runs Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), has said in a statement, “I usually guide those to make such complaints to seek copies of the budget whenever I get them, and expenses done by the village panchayat for different developmental works”, but the matter does not end here.
For instance, when she further told Chitharbhai, who is also a panchayat member, to approach the village panchayat chief and the chairman of social justice committee, he told her, “We are not allowed to sit in the panchayat body meeting. We only have to sign.” Jog added, “I helped him in drafting an RTI application. I guided him to draft application to seek copy of accounts, budgets, proceeding of panchayat body meeting. Yet he kept asking me, why this discrimination against them?”
Jog further said, “I finished my conversation with Chitharbhai but his questions were still echoing in my ears. Chitharbhai wanted to seek answers and accountability for social, economic and political injustice that he and his fellow residents from ‘Dalit Vas’ are facing for years.”
Jog pointed out that this forced her to look into her statistics of calls on RTI helpline. “There were in all 2.46 lakh calls and around 11,345 cases, which directly came to the Saturday Legal Clinic during the last eight years. Of these, 7.6 per cent or 19,558 cases related to discrimination on the basis of caste”, Jog says in a statement.
“Some of the issues related to discrimination raised through RTI are ration distribution, public distribution shops, getting water from the village pond or well, separate line for mid-day meals, separate pot in the staff room for water, derogatory anti-Dalit remarks, refusal to get a house in a good locality, refusal to be allowed to sit on chair in the village panchayat meeting, or refusal to attend ceremony to establish a village temple”, Jog says.
“I am not claiming that these issues were resolved once questioned under RTI. Sometimes there are counter-arguments that there is discrimination towards upper caste communities, too. But more important is, Dalits have begun to bravely use the RTI tool to raise these issues, demanding accountability”, she concludes.

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog