Skip to main content

Bihar poll exigency?: Modi govt to introduce tougher anti-atrocities bill in Parliament

The Narendra Modi government -- which allowed a more stringent Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Ordinance, promulgated by the previoius UPA government in March 2014, to lapse after it came to power -- wants to "secure" Dalit votes for the forthcoming Bihar assembly polls. According to sources, it has "decided" to introduce the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill this monsoon session of Parliament.
The move is particularly significant, as the Dalits constitute about eight per cent of the Bihar population. Also, a new category, Mahadalit, has been added to include certain castes which have been allegedly left out of the scheduled castes -- Musahar, Bhuiyan, Dom, Chamar, Dhobi and Nat. Activist Satya Narain Madan categorizes Mahadalits are "the poorest of the poor, majority of them have yet to taste the fruit of development."
Mahadalits, including Dalits, constitute 16 per cent of the state's population. Paswans -- a sub-caste to which Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan belongs -- alone make up four per cent of the state population. Jitan Ram Manjhi, former chief minister who broke away from Nitish Kumar and joined hands with Modi, is also a Mahadalit.
Keen on promulgation of Land Acquisition Ordinance thrice in order to ensure that its amended pro-corporate version does not lapse, the Modi government did not give a similar treatment to the PoA Ordinance. While it did introduce the ordinance as a Bill in Parliament in July last year, the Bill was sent to the a parliamentary standing committee, and allowed the Ordinance to lapse.
However, say sources, the Modi government is now "keen on pushing it" by making a few changes in the UPA's ordinance and wants it to pass in the current session of Parliament. The UPA promulgated the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Ordinance on March 4, 2014, just before the Lok Sabha elections were announced.
On one hand, the BJP-led government is is pressure from the opposition, facing criticism from the Congress for sending the Bill to the standing committee despite the fact that most parties have supported it. On the other, the RSS, say reports, is puzzled for another reason. It wants the Modi government to insert provisions that it is not "misused" against members of the upper castes. 
Interestingly, the RSS has found support from a top non-profit body involved in worldfide fight for freedom of expression since 1921, PEN International, which says, the anti-atrocities Act's provisions banning “intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate” to Dalits has been "misused" in India.
The UPA ordinance sought to strengthen the Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, by adding new categories of actions to be treated as offences. This included forcing an individual from a Dalit community to vote or not to vote for a candidate unlawfully and occupying land belonging to such individuals wrongfully.
The ordinance specified punishment for public servants from other communities who neglect their duties relating to Dalit and Adivasi people, such as not registering a complaint or a first information report. The ordinance mandated the setting up of special courts at the district level, with exclusive public prosecutors for each special court, to speed up the trial process.
The ordinance was promulgated amidst wide feeling among Dalit and Adivasi leaders that the PoA, 1989 had "failed" in deterring crimes. The National Crime Records Bureau data show that cases registered under the Act in conjunction with Indian Penal Code provisions increased from 38,449 in 2010 to 46,114 in 2013, while the conviction rate under it was below 30 per cent.
The parliamentary standing committee tabled its report on the Bill last December, affirming most of its provisions and adding some clauses on special courts for atrocities against women, headed by a woman judge. Yet, the Modi government did not table the Bill for discussion during the budget session, prompting Congress president Sonia Gandhi to protest.

Comments

TRENDING

Breaking news? Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

60 crore in Mahakumbh? It's all hype with an eye on UP polls, asserts keen BJP supporter in Amit Shah's constituency

As the Mahakumbh drew to a close, during my daily walk, I met a veteran BJP supporter—a neighbor with whom we would often share dinner in a group. An amicable person, the first thing he asked me, as he was about to take the lift to his flat, was, "How many people do you think must have participated in the holy dip?" He then stopped by to talk—which we did for a full half-hour, cutting into my walk time.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

An untold story? Still elusive: Gujarati language studies on social history of Gujarat's caste and class evolution

This is a follow-up to my earlier blog , where I mentioned that veteran scholar Prof. Ghanshyam Shah has just completed a book for publication on a topic no academic seems to have dealt with—caste and class relations in Gujarat’s social history. He forwarded me a chapter of the book, published as an "Economic & Political Weekly" article last year, which deals with the 2015 Patidar agitation in the context of how this now-powerful caste originated in the Middle Ages and how it has evolved in the post-independence era.

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.

New York-based digital company traces Modi's meteoric rise to global Hindutva ecosystem over several decades

A recent document, released by the Polis Project Inc.—a New York-based digital magazine and hybrid research and journalism organization—even as seeking to highlight the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India, has sought to trace Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meteoric rise since 2014 to the ever-expanding global Hindutva ecosystem over the last several decades.

Behind the scene? Ex-IAS, now Modi man in Yogi Cabinet, who lined up Mahakumbh VVIP comforts for Gujarat colleagues

The other day, I was talking to a senior IAS official about whether he or his colleagues had traveled to the recently concluded Mahakumbh in Allahabad, which was renamed Prayagraj by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as part of his intense Hindutva drive. He refused to reveal any names but said he had not gone there "despite arrangements for Gujarat cadre IAS officials" at the Mahakumbh VVIP site. "The water is too dirty—why take the risk?" he asked.

Socialist utopia challenging feudal and Brahminical systems: Kanwal Bharti on Sant Raidas’ vision of Begumpura

In a controversial claim, well-known Dalit writer and columnist Kanwal Bharti has asserted that a clever Brahminical move appears to be behind the Guru Granth Sahib changing the name of the 15th-16th century mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement, Sant Raidas, to Sant Ravidas.

What's wrong with those seeking to promote Sanskrit? An ex-Hindi professor has the answer

Ajay Tiwari  I have always wondered why certain elite sections are so fascinated by Sanskrit, to the extent of even practicing speaking a language that, for all practical purposes, isn’t alive. During my Times of India stint in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat state capital, I personally witnessed an IAS bureaucrat, Bhagyesh Jha, trying to converse with a friend in Sanskrit.